by Donna Gunter, The Internet Marketing Automation Coach (TM)

The notion of doing a business retreat for myself is very new, although not novel, as we used to conduct a retreat each year as a part of both the Student Affairs staff and the Residence Life staff at the college where I once worked. When I heard about this same concept for self-employed business owners from Business Coach Chris Barrow, I thought, “Why am I not doing that for myself?” Thus, my Annual Business Retreat was born.

Here’s how you can create this annual retreat experience for yourself:

1. Book 3 days for your retreat on your calendar. Ideally, you’ll want to be in a location where you’re not readily accessible at a time of the year when you can devote serious time to business planning and development. If you can’t find 3 days together, at a minimum book 3 half-day slots that you can devote to this activity.

2. Isolate yourself from the distractions of life. My initial retreat experience involved staying with a friend in her guest home about 10 miles out of town. She lives in the mountains, so my cell phone didn’t work, and the house wasn’t wired for phone service, so that meant no phone calls and no Internet surfing. My friend and her husband worked all week and drove their cars to work, so I had no way to escape, as my friend’s house is very rural and there’s nothing to escape to within walking distance. Forcing myself into isolation left me with little choice than to work on my retreat materials.

3. Do your work in a serene environment. I have fond memories of last year’s retreat experience — sitting out on the back deck with a moderate temperature and low humidity, and the breeze was gently blowing the trees of the woodsy area I faced. There were no people passing by, no cars on the road — just me and nature and my computer. It was perfect. I took breaks as I needed them during the day.

4. Be willing to go in an unexpected direction. At the beginning of the process, ask yourself some hard questions during your retreat. My favorite is, “What kind of business do you truly want?” Answer this question as though money is no object, using your best assets and skills with none of your perceived weaknesses or liabilities, incorporating the best of what you also want in your personal life. The answer you receive may surprise you, and will serve as a great jumping off point to begin writing your business vision.

5. Write your three-year vision. This statement shouldn’t be a vision in which you expect to accomplish everything in the next 36 months. Instead, think of it as a rolling vision, or something you’ll continue to work on and revise at a minimum each year at your retreat. Expect it to evolve and change, as most visions do, but at least you’ll have some idea of what direction you’re headed.

6. Be willing to acknowledge all that was good, bad, and ugly about your business and your life in the past year. Hiding from the truth, even if you’re only hiding it from yourself, won’t do you or your business any good. It was my experience in writing about what I didn’t like during the past year and what didn’t work so well for me that led me to the place of creating my ideal day/week/year and gave me the information about how to structure that new vision for myself.

7. Create your 90-Day Goals List. After you’ve mapped out a 3-year vision for yourself, you now need to translate the upcoming year’s vision into a set of measurable goals. The easiest and most manageable way of doing this is to create a 90 Day Goals List. On this list, you take 7 categories: Business, Financial, Family, Social, Physical, Intellectual, and Spiritual, and create 3 goals for each category. Do this every quarter, and put the task on your calendar on the first day of every quarter (Jan. 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1) so that it becomes a habit.

8. Plan your finances for the upcoming year. On your retreat take your financial records — your Excel spreadsheets or Quickbooks or Quicken files — so that you know your financial standing. Note your expected personal and business expenditures for the upcoming year, along with things you’d like to do and items you’d like to purchase, and then plan your income, or how you’re planning on paying for your expenses.

9. Map out your entire year on your calendar. Based on your vision and financial goals, you’ll craft your upcoming year’s calendar in terms of vacation time, travel, other kinds of rest days, profit-generating days with clients, and business development days. I did this for the first time for 2004, and it’s made all the difference in keeping me focused!

10. Be patient. As I began this process last year, my thoughts and my direction and my work on this vision were just not “wowing” me–I was having a hard time dredging up any enthusiasm about where I had been in my business and where I was going. I continued to plod along regardless, doing my writing and completing my tasks, hoping that at some point I’d have a breakthrough that I could get really excited about. Everything finally jelled with me late in the third day, when I resurrected an idea I’d had several years ago but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, yet it seemed to match perfectly and pull together all of these disjointed ideas I had. Had I not remained patient and vowed to continue to move forward with the process, I wouldn’t have found the direction and motivation that I needed.

An annual business retreat is the most powerful thing I’ve ever done for my business and it gave me clarity of intention for my life and business like nothing else I’ve ever done. Knowing where I’m going and how I’m going to get there and developing the financial picture of that plan was extraordinarily empowering. Don’t delay in creating this this process for your business!

Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time by teaching them how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise, and get found online.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

If you’re looking for a fantastic way to boost revenue selling your products or services, you should highly consider setting up an affiliate program. A lot of people have amazing success doing this. An affiliate program is designed to help others to sell your products for you. They earn a commission each time they make a sale.

What’s in it for you? You gain exposure to potential sales that you might never have on your own. Your affiliates advertise your products on their websites, blogs, and newsletters.

What’s in it for them? A commission check of course. There are thousands of people out there that make more than a decent living selling other peoples products. This works well for the affiliate because they don’t have to spend time developing their own product or service to make money. They can dedicate their time to selling yours.

If you’re not sure how to do this, there are many resources available online that will help you set up your affiliate program. You can do it in just one day. I use 1shoppingcart.com for my affiliate program. They pretty much do everything for you except develop your product. They’ll help you with banner and URL codes as well as track your affiliates and make it easy to pay them.

After setting up your program, you’ll need to spend a little bit of time promoting it to affiliates. You will need a page dedicated to your affiliates. Some sample text ads as well as text they can use in an email message. Provide them with banners. You may want to offer several articles that they can incorporate their affiliate code into. Affiliate also benefit from regular messages from you reminding them to promote your service (these could be in the form of an autoresponder); they will also want to know about any sales or promotions you have upcoming.

The more successful they are, the more successful you are!

I thought I would share with you a few products and tools that I absolutely love.  They make my life so much easier. In fact, I honestly don’t know what I would do without them now that I found them!  They save me much needed time and energy. Check them out! I’m sure you’ll find they just might make your life easier too!

Blue Host – I’ve used several hosting services in the last few years and find that BlueHost is the most affordable and reliable. The value Blue Host offers for the price is flat out stunning. You can host an unlimited number of domains and you get unlimited bandwidth. That’s important in today’s online business environment as video and audio become more important.

Word Press – If you are searching for a blogging platform that really delivers, there is no comparison. WordPress installs quickly and painlessly, works well right out of the box and is massively extensible with themes and plugins for a truly unique blog. I’ve never met anyone who regretted moving their blogging to the WordPress platform.

Studio Press– If you’re in the market for a spectacular WordPress theme you have to check out StudioPress. The themes at StudioPress are all search engine optimized and easily customizable from the WordPress dashboard without having to learn any PHP or HTML at all. Whether you’re just getting started as a blogger or you’ve been at it for a while, StudioPress will give you the professional advantage, making your blog the best it can be.

Thesis - Another very poplar theme. I’ve worked with both and find them easy to customize and the support is second to none.

My Dropbox – Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer and they’ll be instantly available on any other computer where you’ve installed the Dropbox. You can even create links to share your files with others, and your files are securely backed up if anything goes wrong with your computer. It’s free for up to 2 gigs. I was thrilled when I discovered this.

Roboform – Do you struggle with managing all of your logins and associated passwords?  Roboform is a tool that manages your logins and passwords while maintaining strict security protocols through encryption. You can also use it to create profiles for filling out any kind of online form that you use frequently such as comment forms, article and directory submission forms as well as social bookmarking sites. There’s also a synch tool that allows you to securely store your passwords on the Roboform server so you’ll never lose another password or login again. It is an indispensable tool that keeps me organized and running efficiently.  Check it out!

1ShoppingCart – This is the premiere site for all your eCommerce needs.  1ShoppingCart solves the challenges faced by many online business owners including:  order processing, autoresponders, email marketing, affiliate program creation and maintenance and more. It really handles every ecommerce application you’ll ever need in one reliable, secure and easy solution.

Learn About Online Business- Learnaboutonlinebusiness.com offers a variety of services and products to help online businesses make the most of their web presence.  I attended the Blog Design Bootcamp and  learned tricks and techniques that made my site more effective even though I had been using WordPress for a while.

Tungle – Accelerate your calendar! Tungle handles everything from time zones to double bookings. Great for online scheduling. You can even integrate Tungle with LinkedIn, Xing, Facebook, Ning and your blog allowing people to see when you are free and schedule meetings with you.

Smooth sailing…

A conversation between two amazing VAs prompted this post. It was about what a virtual assistant can do to help ease the stress of the holiday season. The answer – a VA can help or even take over some of the things you don’t have the time to do.

• Gifts – Researching and purchasing gifts for family, friends, and business associates.
• Holiday Cards – Hand sign, address, and mail your holiday cards. Send a holiday email to your contact list.
• Holiday Party - I can help in selecting the menu, providing the recipes and the grocery list. Or, find you a caterer.  Going bigger? I can research and secure a banquet room and food service.
• Holiday Travel – Are you planning to travel this holiday season? Let me handle the flight and accommodation details for you and your family.

If you have holiday needs that are not listed above, contact me to discuss them.

I’m in the process of completely rethinking my business model, and that will be my primary focus as I plan this year’s business retreat for myself.  Your business model doesn’t have to be at all complex, but should provide the guiding force for all that you do, like guiding you to the opportunities to accept (and those to decline), the joint ventures and strategic alliances to pursue, and the new ideas you should retain and develop, as well as those to let go of.

Here’s are the 4 steps I’m following as I create the blueprint for my business model:

1.  Make clients pay well for your most valuable commodity — your time.  I see many service business owners tying themselves up with (and tying themselves down to) far too many 1:1 clients.  You have only so many hours in the day, and at some point you’ll hit the wall and not be able to expand the number of 1:1 clients you see.  Sure, you can hire and train additional staff to handle the overflow, but in many cases, you make less money in this model while tripling your headaches.  Make your 1:1 time with clients your highest-fee service, charging a premium fee to dispense your expertise.

2.  Ongoing recurring revenue is key.  Feast or famine seems to shape the life of the service business owner, regardless of industry.  Wouldn’t your life be much more sane if you knew that you could count on recurring revenue each and every month, rather than having to  constantly go out and find new clients?  This was one of the models I adopted early on in my virtual assistant practice, i.e. working exclusively with clients on retainer rather than a “pay as you go” model.  What is it that your clients need from you that you could provide on an ongoing basis with them that isn’t time-intensive for you?

3.  Always have an upgrade.  Never offer a stand-alone product or program that doesn’t have a natural tie-in to the next level of program or service that you offer. If there’s no way to leverage what you’re offering into some type of upgrade, don’t offer it! For example, a free teleclass can lead participants to enroll in a paid short-term group program.  From that program, plan to enroll a certain percentage of those participants into a recurring revenue continuity program. You can then upgrade a percentage of these participants into a live event or small ongoing mentoring program, and from there make an upgrade offer to your premium 1:1 time.

4.  Design the blueprint.  Brainstorm all of the types of programs, products, and services you might offer in your business.  Your list might look like the one below:
 

• Consulting

• 1:1 Service Provision

• Group Coaching/Mentoring/Continuity Programs

• Sale of Info Products

• Private Retreats

• Strategy Sessions

• Live Events

• Speaking

• Information Products or Books

• Licensing/Certification Training

• Teleseminars/Webinars

• Subscription Membership Website

Pick 3-5 of these items that will make up your business model, and then determine what percentage of income you want to derive from each.  Your total needs to equal 100%. Then, determine the order in which you offer the components of your program over the next 1-2 years.  This becomes your blueprint for action.

How do you determine your success? If your business still suffers from feast and famine, take a long, hard look at your business model for the solution. Every offer you make in your business should flow seamlessly into the next, which will result in a steady, predictable income that you can increase over time as you become more expert at designing and following your blueprint.

Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

How I feel each day is directly related to the amount of email in my inbox. A perfect day ends in an empty inbox. For me, Eudora works great. It’s strictly an email client, I use ‘it’ for email and Outlook for contacts, calendar, etc.

I have a lot of folders set up in Eudora to organize my email. Each client has a minimum of two folders - Misc. and Completed. I set up a filter so if a client sends me an email it goes directly into their Misc folder. When an email arrives each folder in Eudora opens its own tab.

Why is this so important to me? Having the tab open tells me that I have a task to complete for that particular client. Once the task is completed I move the email to the Completed folder and close the Misc tab. This not only keeps me on track, but keeps my Inbox empty.

When reading my friend Stacy’s blog this morning (which prompted this post), I was reminded that not all people work the same way as I do. She has a completely different way of handling her emails. Read how she tamed her Inbox.

I hope one of these solutions will help you when tackling your email overload.

It’s called “The 11 Most Crucial Emotional Triggers That Convert Prospects Into Customers.”

(In a hurry? Sign up for this complimentary call now here)

The important thing to know is that Sue’s methods work – she’s helped everyone from home-based moms to seasoned business owners double or triple their revenues by ramping up their business marketing.

You see, there’s a monumental shift happening in marketing, and in business.

Previous marketing models are failing and fading. Entrepreneurs who are continuing to operate as they have previously are finding the same old strategies are not working anymore. In fact, they are likely hurting their business.

The “traditional” paradigms for marketing are collapsing. And those who know will be leading the way as they listen to Sue talk about…

Sue will explain it all on this one-time call.  Again, learn more and register for this free teleseminar on August 18 here.

Register Now!

I’m a pretty organized person, ask anyone who knows me. But I recently came across Get Organized Wizard and was blown away by amount of information provided by Michele Connolly.

She provides articles, tips, lists, and resources among other things.  If you are looking for organization for your Life, Home, and Kids this is the place for you.

You can read through her many articles or buy her amazing Life & Goal Organizer Deluxe – Premium Pack.

You can never be too organized.

I read an article yesterday that came through my Facebook or Twitter about social networking squatters. Today I’m not able to find it. If you posted about this yesterday, please let me know and I will give you the kudos for this one.

Maybe you’re on LinkedIn or Facebook, maybe more. But have you considered or even know about all of the other networking sites out there? Even if you aren’t doing the social networking thing right now, you’ll want to register your name on the various social networking sites. Why? Because if you don’t someone else will!

Imagine your potential or current customers looking for you and finding someone else using your name or your business name. You have no control over the content coming out with your name on it.

Quickly check the availability of your name or your business name using KnowEm.

Are you losing customers at the last minute? On your shopping cart page?

Eddie Davis is the senior director of merchant services at PayPal shares tips on turning clicks into cash. Read the full article here.