When you’re good at what you do, but you hate to sell…

What to do when you hate to sell

You’re awesome at what you do, you’re super passionate, and you know in your heart you make a real difference in people’s lives. So why then is so darn hard when it comes to selling someone your service, products or programs? What happens to you when the moment comes to ask someone to work with you; or because you hate to sell, do you even get that close? Maybe you’re thinking, “I’m a coach, speaker, (fill in the blank with what you do), I’m not a sales person.”

Zippppppppppppppp. (Insert sound of needle scratching record here).

You see my friend, as an entrepreneur, you are in sales, and it’s critical to your business that you’re able to do it well. Without the moola, there is no business (or there’s not one for very long).

But I know how it can make you feel. You don’t want people to think you’re just “using” them, or that you only want their money. I know you genuinely want to just help them (and so you might even be tempted to do it for free).

So how can you take the “ick” factor out of it? Is it possible? You betcha!

Years ago I learned something SO powerful, it completely shifted the way I saw things so I didn’t dread having “the talk” anymore; and it can change things for you too!

Many years ago when I was in the fitness industry, part of the expectation of my job was sales. After a couple of free sessions, I was required to ask if people would like to continue on working with me (I had to ask for money – gasp!). But when it came to that dreaded day when I had to have “the talk” with them, I hated it. It was uncomfortable for me, so avoided it, and you know what – my pay showed it.

BUT

One day, something happened that totally changed my perspective (and my income!). I was reviewing the progress of one of my long term clients, and we were both blown away by the progress he’d made. He’d gone from being in pain and not even being able to stand up straight, to being active, standing tall, and pain free! The results were amazing!

And then, BAM, it hit me.

If I hadn’t asked him to work with me, he would never have had that improvement. By asking him to invest with me, I had offered him an opportunity to improve his life with someone who put their whole heart and soul into helping people – me.

If I hadn’t asked him to work with me, what if he’d chosen to work with someone else who didn’t care so much, who wasn’t as qualified, or what if he quit working out altogether because there was no one to encourage him along the way?

It’s the same with your tribe.

When you stop thinking of it as “asking for money” but instead understand how much better that person’s life will be from working with you, it gets a whole lot easier to invite them to improve their life with you by their side.

Selling now means you’re inviting someone to change their life with you. {Tweet that little nugget!}

By inviting someone to work with you, you are genuinely helping them. In fact, the more you can see how much they need your help, the more passionate you can become about extending that invitation to them.

And that can flip the switch – you may never feel the same way about selling again!

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Stop doing everything for free

Are you SO passionate to help everyone that you’re working for free and giving wayyyyyy too much away? Woop – it’s time to step back and slow down for a minute. Today, I give your mind something to munch on – and it’s all about the value of your business so you can stop doing everything for free!

Stepping into that power and confidence of your value can completely change your business and bridge the gap from giving it all away to finally learning how to flourish!

Spend the next 7 minutes learning how stepping into your value can mean big changes for your success!

LOVE hearing from you! Please take a sec and let me know what you think! xo

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Is success taking too long?

I hear you – you’re working really hard but success feels like it’s taking too long to happen. You feel like you’re running out of energy, time, or the desire to continue to keep going like this. You want to go to the next level in your business, but it’s just not happening. You might even be ready to jump ship.

Hang on…

Maybe you think that you’re failing at what you do, but the truth is you’re great at what you do, you’re just missing some of the pieces of the puzzle you need to know that don’t know now.

You’ve gotta get the f-out of your own way. (Fear, people, I mean fear).

Maybe you’re saying, “I don’t have fear around taking the next step.”. But if you haven’t taken that next step yet, why not? Often it’s fear (conscious or subconscious) that will keep you stuck.

Fear often comes wrapped up in the indecisiveness of not being able to focus down your business, and it’s cloaked in lack of clarity. Without knowing where to focus, what the next step looks like and how to achieve it, fear can lurk deep (and disguised) as the state of overwhelm, and you might even feel resistance around it.

What’s the key to focus?

The golden key lies in knowing what distinguishes you from others in what you do and how you do it. For many passionate entrepreneurs this is the part that can sometimes feel scary – maybe even restrictive; but the truth is, it frees you to take that next step forward!

Taking your business to the next level means not just knowing what you are amazing at, but really owning your uniqueness in a way that you unquestionably believe that how you do what you do that makes you one of a kind among your competitors – and then leveraging it!

It’s what makes you unshakable and untouchable – do you have it nailed down?

With that one piece of the puzzle you gain incredible clarity into your business, you start to communicate confidently, you can begin to sell with ease. In other words, you can finally stop giving everything away for free, charge what you’re really worth and feel good about it!

Confidence and clarity open the door to success.

Wait? Did I just hear a big sigh of relief? Good! It doesn’t have to be so complicated. Clarity makes everything easier, and when that happens, success speeds up! To help you move to the next level, I challenge you to answer honestly – do you know what your unique value is, and are you really, really owning it? Love to hear from you on this!

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Tired of feeling stressed out in your business?

Stop stressing about your business

Stress is an unavoidable part of being an entrepreneur. But if you’re feeling stressed out in your business, not because things are going well, but because things aren’t going anywhere, it could be a key indicator that it’s time for different action.

Three of the biggest causes of stress and overwhelm I see women go through in their business are;

1. COMPARISON ANGST

You’d think that the stories of those more successful than you would be inspiring, but so often it’s just the opposite. Comparing yourself to someone in your industry who has become a very successful leader, can shut you down, cause overwhelm and feelings of “who am I to think that I can compete.”

* Your Strategies:

1. Understand that many of the people you see who have “made it big” weren’t overnight success stories. Many of them have been at it for 10+ years, finding their way and never giving up. There’s a lesson in that.

2. Owning YOUR unique value and what you bring to the table that no one else can, empowers you develop confidence and strength in yourself and your branding message. You can’t be that guru you admire, but they can’t be you either! Everyone has their USP – Unique Selling Proposition. What’s yours?

2. RUNNING OUT OF TIME

You’ve been in business awhile, and been working so hard, yet you feel like you’re “still” spinning your wheels, not getting anywhere, and time is running out to make it work. You may find yourself using others as an example for what to do you in YOUR business, and implementing strategies without understanding why, or what benefit it will bring to your business.

* Your Strategies

1. When you know your USP and own your worth, you can create a plan that is strategic, built for you and your path to success, and will give you the greatest ROI (return on investment) of time and energy.

2. Being busy doesn’t mean that you’re doing things that are productive to your success. The Pareto principle of business states that you reap 80% of your success from 20% of your actions. Are you focused on the 20% that produce results?

3. NOT MAKING ANY (OR ENOUGH) MONEY

There is a misconception that when you become an entrepreneur, you can quickly and easily be rolling in money. This myth is further reinforced by the “earn 6 figures overnight” kinds of trainings available everywhere you look. The truth is, building a business of any kind takes time, and even more importantly takes strategy. Guessing doesn’t cut it.

* Your Strategies

1. Before you spend money on training, do you understand where it fits in the big picture? I remember the first online training I took. I thought if I knew how to create products, I could sell them and make money, but it didn’t work that way. I was at step 1 and the training was more like step 10.

2. Have a plan so you know every day that what you’re doing is bringing you one step closer to where you want to be, no if’s, and’s or but’s. Strategy rules.

So put that business hat back on, fill your tank with strategy so you can stop feeling stressed out, and begin to thrive in the confidence that you are doing what you need to do to build your success! Need some help? Let’s chat!

Love to hear your thoughts! Please take a moment and leave your comment below!

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Stop struggling to charge (what you’re worth) in your business.

entrepreneurs stop struggling in your business and charge your worth and value for what you do.

I see brilliant women struggle with this every day – they struggle to charge (or charge what they’re really worth) for what they do. These are women with a strong sense of confidence in themselves, but when it comes to their business confidence – BAM, they cringe at the mere thought of asking for money! It doesn’t always have to be a struggle!

Don’t take this personally but…

When your business is built around something you are truly passionate and heart-felt about, it becomes very personal and that creates vulnerability. Vulnerability opens the door to insecurities, judging yourself, undermining your unique value and the value of what you bring to the table for others. It’s a dangerous mindset trap.

The closer your business is to your heart, the harder it can be to be objective.

The more you take it personally, the more tangled up you can get in EMOTION. You can’t build a business on emotion; business must be built with objectivity and strategy. The mission of your heart is to help people; but the purpose of a business is to make money and grow. If you can’t bring yourself to embrace your worth and feel GOOD about charging people money for what you do, you’re business will be hooped.

Here are three strategies you can apply right now to stop struggling to charge (or charge your real worth) for what you do.

Work from your heart, do business from your brain.

Step into your CEOP – “CEO Penthouse”, walk into that business office in your mind, where things are done strategically and objectively and own it! When you look out the window of this place, you can see yourself below, doing what you love helping people, but in the penthouse, it’s all business baby! Create that division between your gift and your business, and you’ll easily be more objective!

Clarity creates business confidence.

Can you, in one or two sentences, describe with clarity what you do and who you bring a solution to? If you don’t know with clarity exactly what you do, who you help, or how you help them, it’s difficult to develop the business confidence you need to charge for what you do. Confusion undermines business confidence, and clarity CREATES it. (click & tweet this tip) Get clear on what you do, and immediately you’ll start to develop your business confidence!

Remember how great it felt when you found YOUR solution?

Remember when YOU struggled with the problem you now help others solve? Remember that sense of desperation, how you’d give anything to make that pain go away? Remember how AMAZING it felt when you finally figured out your solution? THAT feeling is what you bring to your clients! They need you and they see the value in what you do. Testimonials are a great way to affirm your value through the eyes of others. Don’t have any yet? Get some. Then read them from the perspective of your clients. Put yourself in their shoes, and identify with their relief and joy for what you’ve done for them.

Did you identify with one or all of these three areas that might have created a challenge for you to charge for what you do? Which tip helped you the most? Give me a shout below and let me know!

Want more help? Join the Mojo Diva Biz Club!

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How to hang on – the emotional roller coaster of entrepreneurship!

Hang on - the emotional roller coaster of entrepreneurship!

Does “Am I going crazy?” more often than not seem like a fitting mantra for how you feel these days? Does it seem like you’re riding an emotional roller coaster, where one day you feel totally confident and great, but the very next day (for absolutely no reason) you feel like a big loser?

Shhhhhhhhhh, no one else knows, right?

Maybe you’ve been thinking you’re the only one going through this. After all, everyone else seems like they’re doing awesome. So, as a business owner, you put your game face on and keep your secret safe.

But other entrepreneurs already know your secret – because it’s their secret too.

The truth is, we ALL experience these kinds of swings. And the closer your business is to your heart, the more emotion you’re likely to feel. So how do you hang on through the down times?

Have friends in low places.

Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely road, and support of others on the same path is crucial. Surround yourself with other entrepreneurs you really trust to open up to, who have ‘been there done that’ and who will lift you up. Friends who are there not just when you’re at the top, but also when you’re in your low places too. Don’t be afraid to reach out to them when you need them.

Give yourself a reality check.

It’s important to understand that this roller coaster of emotion is part of the journey as an entrepreneur. Give yourself a reality check – “I’m an entrepreneur and this is part of my reality, but this too shall pass”. It always does – it will this time and it will next time too.

Have a plan and stick with it.

Let’s face it – on a good day you’ll aim for the stars and on a bad day, you’ll aim for bed to pull the covers over your head. Having a plan gives you a way to stay on course. It’s not left to your discrimination what you will or won’t aspire to do on a bad day - you will have a list of things you know must be done. A ‘to-do’ list of tasks can be a wonderful way to lose yourself in objective actions that, as you get them done, can actually give you a sense of accomplishment and help you to feel better.

When all else fails…

Grab your coat and head out the door! Go to the gym, to a movie, have coffee with a friend. Do something that will give you a break away from thinking about work, and allow yourself some space to regroup and refresh. Remember, burnout can suck the life out of you (making you plunge emotionally), so be sure to step away from the computer and realize that you perform better when it’s not all work and no play. (Click here to tweet)

So, on your next dip to the bottom, remember that soon you’ll be back up again, and now you have tips to help make the ride not so bad after all.

What do you think?

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Marketing doesn’t have to feel sleazy

Marketing doesn't have to feel sleazy

I swear at least 3 times a week, I end up in a conversation with an entrepreneur who tells me how much she hates the online marketing ‘game’. She’s beyond tired what seems to her as false hope, b.s., over-the-top promises, and inevitably ends up saying, “I don’t want to be THAT person.”. There you have it. Marketing makes her feel sleazy, and maybe it makes you feel that way too. But it doesn’t have to.

Really? Absolutely!

Feelings (including sleazy) are just associations WE create through our own experiences. But you’re in control here, and there are things I want you to consider that are going to help you to transform the way you feel about marketing, so you can start doing it and feeling good about it!

First, let’s examine what you DO for people.

Do you bring them some kind of relief or results that changes their life? Do you bring real VALUE to them? If you answered yes, then you’re good on your end. Because marketing crap will make you feel like crap.

Second, are you surrounded BY those people?

How weird would it be sell peanuts to people who are allergic to them? It doesn’t make sense, and neither does surrounding yourself with people who don’t want what you have. Period.

Third, are you using strategies that are ALIGNED with your values?

If this part isn’t right, this is where that sleazy feeling can come in. If you’re marketing yourself based on principles that aren’t in alignment with who you are, what you believe, or your values, you’ll FEEL IT and your marketing will reflect it! (Plus, you’ll hate doing it, and rightly so). It’s important to work in the walk of integrity.

Without good marketing, your business is hooped. Luckily, now you know how to change it up, keep it real, and stop feeling sleazy about marketing what you do!

What do you think?

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