Is Your Email Marketing Leaving Money on the Table?

One of the most underutilized marketing tools in businesses these days is the use of emails.

If you have 5000 people on an email list and you increase the effectiveness of your results by 5%, then you will have 250 MORE people that want to buy from you. Multiply 250 x how much a customer is worth to you. That is how much money you are leaving on the table. Do I have your attention?

Want to take it off the table? (duh, of course you would!)

Ok. so how do you do it?

…. with effective email marketing.

Let me tell you a story…

I suffer from a case of a constant conundrum. In my professional life working with clients, I like to be bottom line pure information. In my personal life, I like to play, goof off, have fun and tell stories, especially with my wife and 4 kids.

So what’s the conundrum?

Someone told me a long time ago that “people buy from people”. If the whole relationship I have with my clients and my email list is purely professional, then how much of a relationship do I have?

If I’m so focused on facts, figures and “how-to’s” (all important) that I forget to be personable with clients and my email list, then a relationship is NOT created.

I recently had someone say to me, “I wanted to work with you because of the pictures of your family on your website. You look like a nice guy that knows his stuff.” People will come to you for your knowledge and stick with you for the substance of who you are. (That’s how it is with dating and marriage too isn’t it?)

Shameless confession, I used to write a weekly email newsletter diligently for years until I got burnt out. It was great at the beginning because I started by telling stories and entertaining while educating. Then I switched to “How to’s”…

• How to double the number of leads from your website with one strategy you can implement in the next hour
• How to get a continuous and never-ending flow of high quality leads to your professional practice for $20 each
• How to – ugh, if this is all you do you will get burned out too!!!

I got tired of the how to’s. I got burned out. I wasn’t having fun. I was beginning to feel like a mechanical robot.

And when I was doing purely “how-to’s”, the feedback and comments I got dwindled significantly – you could say it fell faster than a fat boy falling off a cliff!

… meaning – the people I was emailing got burned out too.

To make your email marketing effective, yes, have pitch content, have “how-to’s”, and please, please, please, please, please have the personal touch.

When you do this, you will be pleasantly surprised at how your sales (and enjoyment) will increase.

To your success,

Blessings eh!

P.S. Opt-outs are ok. They will happen. If people opt-out because you are being who you are, then why would you want them around?

How Chuck Doubled His Business from $6.8M to $15.2M In Uncertain Times

I was reading an article that had links to a kazillion different related articles on every internet marketing topic under the sun – 5 Ways to Use Social Media in Your Business, Get Paid to Post on Facebook (yes, people pay people to post on their Facebook pages to make them look more credible – ridiculous eh?! What would be a good sarcastic comment here?), Use LinkedIn SEO PPC and your Magic 8-ball (remember those?!!) to get Quality Leads Faster.

I’m sure the articles had valid content. The point is that I think business owners are too easily seduced by bright shiny objects. Sure you can use many of them to make significant gains but they are NOT, and should never be the focus of any marketing campaign.

Case Study: It’s About The Customer

Chuck hired us to help him. He owned a manufacturing company that made parts for Fortune 100 companies. His sales had been steadily growing for a number of years through his team’s hard work. But then two unexpected things happened: the economy tanked and secondly, his biggest customer decided to discontinue a product and cancel their orders. Ouch.

Tough pill to swallow. Chuck was now faced with hard business decisions – does he lay employees off, slash prices to win some instant cheap business, move to a smaller production facility to cut expenses, or does he do something else? What??

He asked us to help him and here’s what we did….

Fantasy Scenario: we setup a Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest account with lots of bright fancy-schmancy colors and graphics to portray an upbeat happy professional image that would be appealing to the diverse group of potential clients. We brought in Suzie Sunshine to tweet and post about all the happy things going on in the company. Every picture showed everyone smiling and happy. We built a great new website and ranked #1 on highly searched keyword terms and rolled out email blasts showing how wonderful we were. Sales skyrocketed faster than a speeding bullet and everyone was happy, held hands, swayed side to side and sang “kumbaya”. And we did this in 30 days.

… did you pick up the hint of sarcasm there?

Reality – What We Did To Stop the Hemorrhaging, Right the State of Ship and DOUBLE His Business: Understanding that not every tactic works for every business, we came in and analyzed the situation. We were looking for where the biggest holes and opportunities were. We looked at his sales and identified his best clients.  Something interesting revealed itself here – we found that all his best clients had almost the same emotional DNA. Their pschyographic makeup (personality, values, attitudes and interests) were almost identical. We dug deeper and thoroughly understood their hot buttons, their emotional buying language and all the B.S. that drove them crazy.

We then came up with a list of high profile potential clients in different verticals that had three characteristics:

1. They had money
2. They were NOT interested in the cheapest price and instead were willing to pay more for value-add
3. They matched the psychographic makeup of their best clients

We did not go after every company. We pulled a very tight list and developed a very clear and succinct marketing message. We crafted a strong value proposition. We had proof out the wazoo to validate all our claims. Then we rolled out the tactics. We used a list, direct mail, email and yep, we even used their sales staff (by the way, good ‘ole fashion sales works wonderfully in this economy when used with proper marketing strategies).

The result?

Sales stopped sliding downhill. We gained footing and started moving uphill. The growth was gradual at first and then gained the momentum of a freight train. Sales went from $6.8 Million per year to $15.2 Million per year. And the sales were spread out over a number of verticals giving them security in case something happened to one of the verticals.

Chuck was happy.

And guess how long this whole process took? …. 30 days? 90 days? 6 months? …. Nope. None of these. It took 2 years to make this happen. When you’re making core level changes, sometimes change doesn’t happen overnight. (The snake-oil salesman of internet marketing and social media hype will get mad at me for saying this, but oh, well, I’ll get over it!)

Key Lessons Here:

#1: Know your customer. Whoever understands the customer best wins.

#2: Develop your strategy around your business’ strengths and objectives. NOT whatever bright shiny object is pitched. Remember fish chase after bright shiny objects. They also end up dead on the dinner plate.

#3: Get your core marketing in place – your unique selling proposition and your value proposition.

#4: Develop the right media mix FOR YOUR BUSINESS. Even though most of our business is internet marketing related, we still look to phase in traditional media where it makes sense.

#5: Be patient. It takes work and energy to make BIG gains. Don’t expect to make radical changes and dominate your market in 30 days. Turn “Hype-TV” off and have a 12-24 month (or more) growth plan.

And lastly, go after it with FOCUS and DETERMINATION.

Blessings,

P.S. If you have questions or want help with your situation, email me at Chris@ChrisGoegan.com or Click Here to Request a Free Consultation

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Three Major Forces Changing Internet Marketing

Read this if you are not yet in the game but want to get in, or if you want to win bigger:

The vast majority of people you have met in the last few months have told you that internet marketing is flat and that nothing has changed for some time except for some changes just recently to Google’s algorithms. But if you start challenging the way these folks are thinking, you can start to see the market from a different perspective. The perspective we use.

Let me explain…

Internet marketing and the Big G (Google) have been changing over the last several years. A few years ago you could slap up a web page, send people to it and you’d have instant business. It was a gold rush. Now things have changed significantly due to the three market forces which I explain below. 80-90% of companies are failing or struggling while 95% of the spoils are going to the top 1% of businesses. The rich get richer and the poor struggle. The good news is, you get to pick what camp you are in – if you understand these forces and act accordingly.

Three market forces that we follow very closely have formed an important window that we can step through – if we time it right. We don’t know how long the window will be open, but if you get into action now, you can grow your business 50% or maybe even 2x faster than using any other marketing medium out there.

Here’s our analysis of the way the market is moving:

#1 Competitive Factors – everyone and their brother are jumping into the market. With the insurgence of competition in internet marketing, the prospect has many more choices. Most competitors are marketing wrong and it will take some time for them to figure it out. You have to be wise on how to position yourself.

#2 Economic Factors – With more competitors jumping online, and with Google working really hard to reduce the inventory of searches, the cost of getting traffic is increasing. Click costs that were $0.50 a few years ago are now up to $5 and in some highly competitive markets $50 – $100 per click. There is still a window of time to have a feast of business if you hunt the right keywords and have a wise engagement and ascension plan.

#3 Technology Factors – A lot of other media is clamoring for your marketing and advertising dollars – with Facebook, Pinterest, Mobile, Twitter, YouTube, etc., Most of the advertising platforms are weak with a lower proportion of buyers and they are struggling trying to figure out how to gain profits. We know a strategy that will shortcut your success and allow you to climb to the top of the heap of whatever traffic source you choose. How long the window is open, I don’t know.

This may or may not be news to you, but this is what is going on and how the market is moving NOW. All three forces are essential to your online strategy.

Again, if you’re not in the market and want to, or if you want to win bigger, then you have a short market window to step through.

If you fight against these forces you will struggle. If you hit it right, though, you’ll be one of the few businesses that gets through this small window with a wide grin on your face.

You get to choose – what will it be?

Blessings,

P.S. If you have questions or want help with your situation,  email me at Chris@ChrisGoegan.com or Click Here to Request a Free Consultation

 

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Google Relents! … well kinda

Last week Google announced that they knew what was best for your business by saying that they were going to take control of your Adwords account by changing how your ads show after only 30 days. (If you missed it click here: http://www.chrisgoegan.com/changes-at-google-what-you-need-to-know/)

My comment was that it seemed like “more government” and “big brother knows best”.

Maybe that’s a wee bit offside. Bottom line is that Google has NOT had a good reputation with their advertisers. Well, the small players like you and me that is.

Recently Google has been changing things up some. Maybe it’s the fear of being taken over by Facebook? Whatever it is, some of the changes have been nice. They now have a customer service department where you can get a live human being on the phone right away. Having live customer service is a good thing. (Buyer beware, I wouldn’t recommend doing everything they say, I tested their suggestions on a campaign and the results were disastrous – click costs went up, conversions went down, cost per lead skyrocketed, and quality score plummeted)

And now they just relented on their latest policy. They rescinded their 30 day window for taking control of how your ads are displayed.

… well kinda…

They are changing the window from 30 days to 90 days. But even better is they gave you an option to opt-out of this altogether. And they if enough people opt out may make it back to normal.

Here’s the link to opt-out: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/rotateoptout/

Decide what you want to do.

I have opt-ed out. And for my private clients I recommend they opt-out.

Oh, and if you decide to opt-out, it will take you less than 30 seconds. You will need your Client ID number which can be found in the top left of the screen. If you need help with this contact me at Chris@ChrisGoegan.com and I will be happy to help you.

Blessings,

P.S. If you want to know (in plain English) how any of this stuff affects your business, you can email me at Chris@ChrisGoegan.com or Click Here to request a Consult.

Changes at Google… What You Need to Know

Google is changing things up (again!). If you’re not used to them changing the game you had better get used to it. They are a moving target and they will continue to change. Love ‘em or hate ‘em they remain a powerhouse for filling your business with leads and sales.

Google has recently made changes to it’s algorithms and this will affect you. If you are using Google, take heed. (If you’re NOT using them why aren’t you in the game? To get in the game, Click Here to request a Consult)

There are three areas that Google has recently changed:

1. Adwords – keyword matching and ad rotation
2. SEO -content and links
3. Free Product Listings are now being replaced with PAID Product Listing Ads

Ok, there’s also a 4th that they just announced – Google Places is being replaced with with Google Plus Local. Have peace knowing that all Google Places pages are automatically converted to the new format. Google is making lots of changes in this arena and it will be interesting seeing the impact over time.

Here’s a BRIEF summary of each one:

1. Adwords – Keyword matching and ad rotation

First Keyword Matching: Google will include plurals, misspellings, and other close variants to your exact and phrase match keywords. The automatic default is to allow keyword matching. Keep this if you are only occasionally in Adwords and don’t care about minimizing costs or risks or about how well it performs. What this is really Google starting to blend exact, phrase and broad match so they can make MORE money from your account. If you want to maximize your returns, then it’s important to understand that this will create poorer performing and less than optimal campaigns. Every keyword is a different conversation, and altering them slightly can affect conversions greatly. Just by adding an “s” at the end of a simple search term can change it from a highly converting keyword to a “tire kicker” keyword. Smart Adwords marketers know this and have separate strategies and landing pages for both. If you want to turn this feature off, in your Adwords account go to “Settings”, “Keyword Matching Options” and select “Do not include close variants”

Next up, changes to the ad rotations. Ugh! What a pain in the butt that Google is doing this. The smart way to run campaigns is to play a game called “Beat the Champ”. Where you put two ads in a cage against each other to slug it out. The one that has the better click through rate is the champ. You retire the old one and bring on a new contender. Very powerful.

Well Google has determined they will take control of this from you and they will give 30 days (for now) to determine the winner and will give it the majority of the traffic. Makes it wayyyyyyy harder to test. This is horrible if you want control over testing because most times you want ads to run against each other for longer than Google “determines is best” … sounds like “more government” doesn’t it?

Brad Geddes who posted this on Google+was able to confirm from “multiple sources” at Google that any action in ad group, including pausing or un-deleting ads will reset the clock on your 30 days.

1. Manually pausing ads and then reactivating them a few minutes later (I don’t know if there’s a minimum timeframe they have to be paused for).
2. Set an automated rule, using Labels, that pauses all ads (with a Label you set up for this purpose) at a certain time and another rule that activates them an hour later (rules are only run on the hour). You could do this at 3AM on a Sunday (assuming that’s not a time your ads get much action) to minimize any impact and reactivate them at 4AM.
3. Use the API to pause/activate ads.

What’s the big deal with this stuff? Why not just accept that Google knows what’s best for your business?

… it matters a great deal… competition on the internet is much more extreme know. Industries that were slam dunks 1-2 years ago have grown fiercely competitive and it’s only going to get worse. The days of “easy money” online are a thing of the past. As business owners we need every advantage we can get. And if these little things can change your conversions by 15 – 50%, don’t you think you should pay attention to it?

2. SEO -content and links

3. Free Product Listings are now being replaced with PAID Product Listing Ads

Google Product Search is getting a new name, Google Shopping, and a new business model where only merchants that pay will be listed. It’s the first time Google will decommission a search product that previously listed companies for free. The company says the change will improve the searcher experience, but it will also likely raise new worries that Google may further cut free listings elsewhere (source SearchEngineLand.com)

This is so new that nobody really knows how this will affect things. If it follows suit as everything else Google related, savvy marketers who understand Adwords and how to convert traffic will gain an unfair advantage over everyone else.

Hope this helps give you an understanding so you can take appropriate action to avoid losing position in the marketplace.

Blessings,

P.S. If you want to know (in plain English) how any of this stuff affects your business, you can email me at Chris@ChrisGoegan.com or Click Here to request a Consult.

Do Your 2012 Goals Excite You?

Ok, it’s that time of the year. You know the drill. 2011 is done and 2012 is starting. So you reflect on 2011, if you hit your goals, what you did right, what you did wrong. Yada, yada yada.

And all this is good but if your goals don’t excite you, then it is b-o-r-i-n-g and the work becomes mundane.

My son got an air soft BB gun for Christmas. He’s wanted one for two years and has been looking at them with the same passion that Ralphie did in the famous movie “A Christmas Story”. And just like Ralphie he didn’t think he would get one. (“you’ll shoot your eye out”)

And then on Christmas morning he just about exploded with joy when he found one wrapped under the tree.

Immediately he was outside popping rounds off. He made a cutout figure of a “mean guy” out of a piece of cardboard and set that up as a target. He put several holes in the mean guy. Turns out he’s a pretty good shot!

He was so fired up for a couple of days and then he started getting bored of it. Every day shooting at the same thing gets boring. If all he did was shoot at the same target then the gun would be collecting dust in a week.

We did something exciting yesterday. We went for a hike in a canyon with his pellet gun packed in the backpack. He couldn’t believe that we were bringing it. I said we were off on an adventure. My kids LOVE adventures.

Once on the trail and away from civilization we took it out…. a boy, his gun and wilderness.

He was a little awestruck at first that he could fire it (and yes, I’ve trained him that it’s safety first). After a few awkward moments he fired his first round. Then we put up leaves on a fencepost and fired rounds into that. The leaf had so many holes in it that it looked like one of those snowflakes cut out of paper. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. And this morning, he was out shooting at his homemade targets with a new vigor and enthusiasm.

I think it’s like that with our goals.

If we don’t have anything meaningful or worthwhile to us, then the work becomes mundane and we lack passion.

So when it comes to your 2012 goals, what goal or major objective excites you?

Are there new markets you want to break into?

Is there a new business you want to start?

Would you like to have automated systems delivering you a consistent flowing river of new business?

What is it for you?

 

Blessings,

Merry Christmas eh!!

In the spirit of Christmas, here’s how the story of the Nativity might be told today through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, Google Maps, GMail, Foursquare, Amazon…

My favorite part is where they hit the “Avoid Romans” button on Google Maps. Must be a new feature.

Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas.

Blessings,

The Biggest Threat To Businessowners Who Want To Increase Revenue

As a marketing and internet marketing consultant I see a lot of stuff, and this is one that really makes my skin crawl.

I don’t know of one businessowner that doesn’t want more business. We all do.

Some are getting businesses off the ground. Some are doing well. Others are getting by. And others are just plain getting their butts kicked.

For the businessowners that are looking to grow business and revenues, I’m talking to you.

You’ve got a problem on your hands.

No, I don’t mean your problem is not having enough business, we all face that at some time. Your problem is knowing what voices you should listen to and what ones you should avoid like the bubonic plague.

As you look for ways to get more leads, prospects, transactions and customers, you get bombarded with a plethora of ways to market your business.

… Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, SEO, Adwords, SEM, Video, YouTube, Direct Mail, buying email lists, buying mailing lists, magazines, val pak, autoresponders, newsletters, tv, radio, social bookmarking… hey, I get pitched the same stuff you do!

… and this is only a partial list!

If you’re stuck struggling to market your business and trying to discern what to do, then pay close attention.

The ones to avoid are the ones that scream “Big Easy Money”.

Proverbs tells us of two women clamoring for our attention: Woman Wisdom, and Woman Folly.

Here is what it says about Woman Wisdom:

The Way of Wisdom

“Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town,”Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks sense she says,”Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

Contrast that to what it says about Woman Folly:

The Way of Folly

“The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.”

This comes from the book of Proverbs in the bible. Proverbs was written by King Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived. Proverbs is a compilation of principles and skills for better living. Whether you read the bible or not, Proverbs has great advice that we can all use.

It’s interesting reading about Woman Wisdom and Folly. Folly is loud, brash, seductive and leaves her victims for dead. In marketing and internet marketing, this equates to the get rich quick, dominate the internet, make $1,000,000 overnight stuff. “Everybody is on Facebook, you should too!” or “97% of all business is found online”

… Shocking stat: According to LocalSearchAssociation.org (note the irony) the two top resources used by consumers in choosing local businesses are: search engines and the Yellow Pages, neck ‘n neck. In a given month, 67% have used online search engines and 62% have used the printed Yellow Pages books for this purpose.

How many times have you heard someone say “no one uses the Yellow Pages anymore!” They say that to set you up to take your money. If you are going to invest in marketing and advertising, you should RESEARCH what is best for you.

I’m sick and fed up with people being pitched over-hyped B.S. with no hard factual information or methodical testing. Frankly it pisses me off seeing how many people are being taken out there.

I am METICULOUS in differentiating between facts and fiction. It probably stems from my days as an engineer. Engineers hate hype. You need to be equally meticulous about discerning what is right and what is intended to separate you from your hard earned money for the sake of a slick talking snake oil salesman.

Clients routinely come limping to me when they start working with me, telling me stories of how they have lost thousands, or tens of thousands of dollar or more to Woman Folly. It takes some time to get them seeing right and when they do, they feel a renewed sense of vigor, confidence and excitement. They are also keenly aware of the work involved to get them to where they want to go.

I know that’s not as sexy as the lure of fast money now. I wish the “Big Money Easy” illusion were real and truth to be told, I need to watch myself and protect myself from being seduced by it.

You should too.

Because it will leave your business (or bank account) dead.

Follow Woman Wisdom instead. It may not be as attractive short term, but she’s a whole lot prettier in the long run.

Love to hear your comments or stories.

Blessings,

Lies Lies Lies!!

I’m in the mood for a good rant today…

Tell Me Lies, tell me sweet little lies
~Tell Me Lies, Tell me tell me lies~
Oh no no, you can’t disguise
~You can’t disguise, no you can’t disguise~
Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

It’s a song by Fleetwood Mac called “Tell Me Lies”. Maybe you’ve heard it? Catchy tune. (if you know it, bet you’re singing it in your head!)

So what does it have to do with anything?

I’m fed up with the lies, the pure garbage that is being fed to people and unscrupulous marketing.

… let me tell you a story…

I stepped into the world of touch screen phones. Yep, I got tired of waiting for Blackberry to come out with a new phone for T-Mobile and upgraded into the new HTC Sensation. It’s a touch screen, big display, 4G, has all the bells and whistles, android, easy to use – I love it and so does my wife. My kids love “Angry Birds” – wow what an addictive waste of time that game is eh?!!

I get my first bill and trying to be a good steward I review it to make sure there are no surprises.

Wrong.

2 bogus charges. Ugh. That means I’ve gotta call customer service. Fortunately T-Mobile has great customer service. I usually get a cheery, delightful person who is happy to help. Today was no exception. I got Jessica, a pure delight. She reviewed the charges in question with me.

The first was for insurance. When I got the phone, the sales guy pushed this hard on me. I declined several times and he persisted like a battering ram taking out a castle door. He said “it’s free for 30 days” so I relented and said ok.

Guess what? … it wasn’t free. Not only that, the T-Mobile rep said they have no authority to do that.

My Blood Starts To Boil

The second bogus charge: there’s a monthly charge of $9.99 to allow us to download ringtones from a 3rd party. Neither me or my wife signed up for it. Some cheesy 3rd party company bogussly (is that a word?!!) spammed us some cryptic texts. Irritated, we replied for them to stop.

Well, I guess they didn’t and instead they signed us up for their service and we got dinged for it. Purely unethical in my books. I’m sure they make a tidy profit, afterall how many people have cell phones and how many times do people check their phone bills? The T-Mobile rep said that this kind of stuff unfortunately happens a lot. And to cancel this bogus service, we have to contact the 3rd party and have them remove it. You can be sure I’ll check my bill next month!!

Happy Ending to This Story

Jessica “Your Friendly Neighborhood T-Mobile Rep” to the rescue!! – she reversed both charges and got us all squared away. She made it such a pleasant experience. And I’m grateful for her.

Thank you Jessica.

What Does This Have To Do With Marketing?

I have clients come to me time and time again looking for advice. I get contacted out of the blue by clients, some have gone months without reaching out to me and suddenly they want advice on a variety of topics – internet marketing, SEO, Social Media, Facebook, website design, landing pages, USP’s, the list goes on.

Why do they contact me?

Just like the garbage I had to deal with on my phone bill, there’s so much crap being thrown around out there about marketing. There are a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing.

YOU MUST KNOW THIS AND BEWARE

I’ve had clients Adwords accounts turned off because they were seduced, I’ve had clients waste THOUSANDS of dollars changing their site to appease someone jibber-jabbing about SEO (I’ve got a great story about a test we did where we got multiple listings on the first page of Google for a term that has over 4,100,000,000 – yes, you read that right, multiple first page listing out of OVER 4 BILLION SEARCHES!! – there were some radically strange things going on that we uncovered but I’ll save that story one for another day.)

I’ve had clients come to me that have wasted tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on “guru’s” and other consultants. And within the first few minutes we could identify the problem.

Bottom line: you must be able to decipher fact from fiction and the truth from fantasy and seduction. If you can’t you’re doomed and will waste money, and even worse, massive amounts of time.

With the exhaustive expansion of online media and ways of getting traffic, if you can’t decipher this on your own, then I suggest you have a trusted adviser you can turn to. The bible says there’s safety in a multitude of counselors. Whether you read the bible or not, this is good common sense. Who are your trusted advisers?

And with all the seduction and wolves in sheep’s clothing out there, sometimes messages like this get missed.

A problem I have is I don’t have a bright shiny object I pitch.

What I do have is:

• time tested and proven, yet cutting edge and radically different methods for increasing sales
• what’s working now
• and straight answers for today’s problems

I guess that’s why people keep coming back to me for advice and allow me to help.

In your business, your clients and prospects are getting pitched garbage and B.S. too. If you help them decipher what’s real and what’s fantasy, they will keep coming back and refer more business to you.

Blessings,

P.S. Amazing how a good rant can improve your mood!

 

What I Learned From My 2 Day Old Son

First of all I feel blessed and honoured to be the proud daddy of baby #4 – my son Ryden James Goegan.

What a cute little guy eh? That rounds it out to 2 boys and 2 girls. So we have an even balance of testosterone and estrogen in our house. (even though I know the estrogen always wins – us wise ones let them!! Lol.

Both baby and mom are home and doing fine. My wife enjoyed her full 3 Day, 2 Night vacation getaway at the hospital. She LOVED getting served 3 meals a day, for which she didn’t have to go shopping, and having it cleaned up for her. And having someone check on her and see if she needed anything. What a great service eh?!! … I said if they threw in a pedicure and manicure we might never get her back! … I’m glad to have them back home.

When they were in the hospital I learned, (or re-learned) a lesson when he was 2 days old.

… I took a few days off from my busy schedule and was playing Mr. Mom with the other 3 kiddos. I had a bunch of things bouncing around in my head and was feeling a little guilty about taking time off from work. Afterall, I have goals, deadlines, client commitments, and objectives I’m striving after. And the thought running through my mind was “How can I afford to take time off? I’ve got too much to do!”

Sad but true. I get caught up in my busy little world and unfortunately the pace in my head sometimes is too ridiculously fast. Ever have a problem with an overactive mind and have challenges slowing down? I do.

So what did I learn?

I learned to slow down again. My son sleeps. He slowly wakes and adjusts to the world around him. He opens his eyes ever so casually. He eats and pauses. Then eats some more. He burps and plays. Then he sleeps. Everything happens at such a relaxed pace. I strayed from that and forgot what that was like.

I think I will remind myself to be more relaxed.

… and maybe burp and play more?!!

Happy Easter.

Blessings,

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