Posts Tagged "Entrepreneurial"

Gluttony & Self-Indulgence in Entrepreneur Land

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Apr 1, 2009 in blog | 2 comments

If you watch American Idol at all, you’ll notice that one of the words Simon Cowell uses a lot is self-indulgent (I suppose that might be two words). He uses this word after a performer has chosen a song simply because he/she liked it and not because (a) anyone else would or (b) it was relevant and made sense.

This trend is not just found on the stages of American Idol.

In entrepreneur land, we see this all the time. People are adding service upon service upon service to showcase all of their expansive knowledge yet there is no consistency, congruency or cleanliness to it. It’s more like someone decided to wake up every day, forgetting the previous day’s ideas, and create more things that are similar yet maybe just slightly different.

Other times, we land on someone’s website only to be lost in the maze and confusion that is their site. Products? Store? Resources? Help for You? “Where do I go to just spend my money?” is probably what you will find yourself saying out loud. A few minutes later, you’ll click that tiny red x or you’ll go back to Google and go elsewhere.

The thing is, everyone can change their gluttonous ways and change their websites… It’s just that most people can’t stop doing what they are doing. The reason is usually because they are trying to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. While I commend this approach (because it involves action), you need to do it in a way that still makes sense to your consumer.

So, how can you change your ways if you air on the side of gluttony and self-indulgence? Here are some ideas.

1. Less is Definitely More

Streamline, streamline, streamline. Don’t offer six masterminds. Offer one and bundle up what you were going to spread out over six. Also, you don’t need to offer every single ebook and audio program that you own as individual products. Group things together that make sense to be grouped and offer them as packages.

2. Be Careful With Buzz Terms

Mastermind, mentorship program, bootcamp, self-study, e-book, audio program, etc. These are all words we use to describe service offerings but BE CAREFUL here. You do not want to have a mastermind and a mentorship program that offer similar things but one to a group and one to a single person. Yes, the logic sounds great but imagine looking at someone’s website and seeing two things with the same name. Without doing research and WORK, I would never know what you were offering.

3. Only Offer Things That Make Sense & That Appeal to Your Audience

This is where a lot of people fail. The general consensus is that if you’ve created it, of course people will want it! Chances are though, if it’s not highly targeted to your audience, they won’t buy it. So, instead of focusing your time on creating sales pages, setting up products, etc. focus instead on the current products that are selling.

Do you remember the 80/20 rule? If we apply it here, 80% of your income will come from the top 20% of your products. Therefore, you don’t need to spend your time on the stuff that doesn’t sell. Take it down, streamline and make your bestsellers known!

If you are guilty of doing the above, you might want to consider getting outside help and an outside perspective on this. Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees and we just need to admit that and get help.

(Editor’s Note: If you are looking for help in this area, we are here! You can purchase a one-hour call with Erin where you’ll spend the time analyzing your current websites, your service offerings, etc. to see if you are leaving money on the table by either confusing your website visitors or not packaging services up properly. Click here to purchase a one hour call and we’ll get you scheduled right away!)

Would you like to use this article in your publication, on your blog or in some other fashion? You can so long as you include this bio with it:

Erin Blaskie is the owner of Business Services, ETC – A Global Internet Marketing & Implementation Firm. Her company helps businesses from around the world take their practice online and create huge success using various internet marketing tactics. Erin herself has been featured in three print books (”Becoming an Online Business Manager” by Tina Forsyth, “My So-Called Freelance Life” by Michelle Goodman, and “The Official AWE Emerging Trends Guide 2009” compiled by the Association of Web Entrepreneurs), honored as Office Arrow’s 2008 Runner-Up Business Woman of the Year, interviewed by countless gurus and media personalities (John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, Sheri McConnell, Stacy Karacostas, Gina McNew) and featured in major news publications (ABCNews.com, Ottawa Citizen and Employment Journal).

[tags]Gluttony, self-indulgence, self-indulgent, entrepreneur, entrepreneurial, small business, solopreneur, marketing, internet marketing, service offerings, choices, Erin Blaskie, BSETC[/tags]

Two Really Important Entrepreneurial Quotes

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jan 19, 2009 in blog | 2 comments

Two great quotes to start your week off right.  Too many times we are so “stuck” in the midst of our businesses that the initial feeling we had when we started wears a little thin.  I hope these two quotes help you to forge forward and create a new path for yourself and your business.

Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t. – A student in Warren G. Tracy’s class, entrepreneur

If you read the first quote and are having doubts in its truth or you’re feeling any resistance to it, here’s another one to help you see the importance of hard work, perseverance, dedication, focus and passion.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover – Mark Twain, author

I’d love to know how these two quotes inspire you to be a brave entrepreneur. Share in a comment!

[tags]Entrepreneur, entrepreneurial, entreprenurialism, BSETC, Erin Blaskie, Business Services ETC, internet marketing, internet marketing strategy, entrepreneur quotes, entrepreneurial quotes, work quotes, inspirational quotes, Mark Twain, Warren G Tracy[/tags]

Hello, I Live on Entrepreneurial Island

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jan 13, 2009 in blog | 4 comments

We entrepreneurs are a stubborn bunch… I am sure you are shaking your head in agreement.  Yes, we entrepreneurs suffer from a lot of things… one of those things is stubbornness.  We enter the business world because we want to do our own thing, be our own boss, have our own way and revert back to that semi-selfish behavior we had as children and particularly as teenagers.

It works for the most part… When we are an island on our own, trudging through the to-dos, the management, the accounting, etc., we are a one-person show – a solitary organization that wants to make a difference.  Then, our island needs support and we bring in team members and joint venture partners and we realize that other people are entering our business who also have an opinion and sometimes, a damn good one!

They are now a part of this little island we kept so solitary before and they notice things like the thousands of coconuts that were knocked from the tree only to rot away unused and they notice that our systems for finding food and proper shelter are all wrong… and since we invited them in to share this sacred space, they comment on it.  Trying to help us improve our space.  Telling us things that we may not see having been here so long.  And, more often than not, we don’t want to hear it, accept it or listen to it.

We, as entrepreneurs, tolerate a lot in our own businesses.  Our inefficiencies, our trouble spots, our hardships… We internalize it all and “deal with it” because that’s who we are – big, strong, proud entrepreneurs.  Little do we know, we are actually causing ourselves a great injustice.  Instead of allowing these people to shape our world and make it better, we dismiss their opinion and more often than not, make them the issue…

We also get ourselves into sticky situations sometimes.  Taking on more than we can handle, allowing our expenses to far exceed our income and all the while saying, “If only Jill stepped up to play a bigger role” or “If only Jack cared about my company as much as I did.”  What we don’t realize is that these problems stem from ourselves.  We were the ones who led the ship… we carved the path… and since we didn’t want outside advice, we are the only ones to blame.  We got ourselves into our current situation.

Last year, I brought on an amazing team.  Although we’ve experienced a lot in the past year (both good and bad), the one thing I did was listen to my team.  I saw our trouble spots and I worked damn hard to change them.  I saw our inefficiencies and I didn’t allow my pride and my stubbornness to get in the way.  I said, “Yep, that part of the business is awful and needs to be changed” and I invited in their ideas on how we could fix it.

So, the lesson here is to not be an island. Don’t think that you can go it alone, don’t try to do it alone and for the love of Earl… throw your pride in the closet.  If a team member, coach or colleague is shouting out to you about an issue or problem, listen and take it in.  There’s a good chance if you choose to ignore it or lash out that really, deep down inside you know it’s true.  Sometimes the truth hurts but you can’t have the sweet without the bitter.

[tags]Entrepreneurial, entrepreneur, pride, stubborn, stubbornness, BSETC, internet marketing, internet marketing strategy, internet marketing support, Erin Blaskie[/tags]