The 1 Ton Phone

If we're growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone.
-John Maxwell




The fear of the phone is so very common amongst business owners. There is no shame in knowing that you KNOW you have to make calls to get business, yet you avoid the phone like it's got the plague. We all understand, we have all done it.



I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who was saying how they only had a couple of customers that month and didn't want to spend a lot of money on an advertising campaign. She then asked me what I would do. I said I'd get on the phone, start calling people, see what's going on. She said she hated doing that and was going to run the ad campaign... Oh well.



Referrals can be the life blood of your business, but how do you get one and from who?



The people who give you referrals are the ones who know and like you. Lots of business owners put their social lives on hold in order to advance their business. It is a huge mistake. How can you get to know new people and have those you know like you, if they never get to spend time with you? The solution is to call them. Don't call to talk shop, call to see what's going on in their lives, call to see if there is anything you can help them with. Do they have a fundraiser going on? Any special events for their kids? I'm telling you from both a parent and a business owner's point of view, buying a few chocolate bars or an $8 roll of wrapping paper goes a long, long way in developing relationships!



Want to call people but have no idea what to say? Try keeping a log. Just a few notes on what's going on with them. See if they are on Facebook or Twitter, it will give you a better idea of what to talk to them about. In the log try to keep track of kids, pets, spouses, any issues they may be having. If they mention in January that Jane is working on her final project for graduation in June, that gives you a great reason to call back in June!!



If you need to set appointments for presentations? This is BY FAR the hardest reason on why you need to call people. Calling someone out of the blue, or even someone you know well and putting yourself out there opens a huge door on our self-esteem. There's lots of outcomes and I think I've heard them all. From rude, to excited, to unwilling to can't wait, you never know what's going to happen on the other end of that phone. But it MUST, MUST, MUST be done. Try working out different approaches, some people wouldn't' listen for a second if they thought you were trying to sell them something, but if they thought they were listening as a favor to you or to see if they know someone, it can be a different story. Try and figure out what approach would work for them and if nothing else, just try, try, try again.



Using the phone to build your business is like any other tool or skill you need to be effective. I don't think any of us were born with a great ability to set appointments, get referrals or build relationships. We have to practice at it. Start small, try 5 phone calls a day. Just keep working at it. Like all other skills, it will grow with time, and soon you will be great at it!





Have a Blessed Day,



Brandy Deming



CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com
http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings
http://www.twitter.com/brandysbiz

I Suck At This!

How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success.
-Elbert Hubbard



Over the last month I have been homeschooling my son. It is a growing experience for us both. I have always appreciated teachers, they do something that I would not even try to do in my wildest dreams. This experience has made me appreciate them even more. As we struggle over grammar, spelling, math and Spanish, I hear myself repeating the same words over and over again.

"I suck at this!" he will cry out.

"You don't suck, you just don't have enough practice." I tell him, "No one is good at anything their first try, they have to practice, practice, practice. Just be patient"

It struck me today how true that is. It's not that we really try to limit ourselves and what we can do, it's more like we expect our god-given gifts to appear to us. As if one day we shall wake up and know that we are supposed to write a great novel, or be a great business person, or even to be the best parent. Unfortunately many of the talents and gifts that we need and want in life have to be learned.

Learning is a hard process that takes much patience. I am a seamstress, by no means the best seamstress, but I can stitch together many types and styles of clothes. I sewed my first dress when I was 11. Even after so many years of sewing, there are things I have to learn and many, many things I have yet to do well, let alone perfect. I can think back to so many scrapped projects, panels sewn in the wrong way, mis-matched button and button holes, crooked hems, bad seams and just general disasters that have lead me to this point. This point where I can take a tissue pattern, some thread, cloth and notions and bring forth a beautiful gown.

Thinking about all the work and mistakes that have gone into this learning process, I have to ask myself why I think that, in just a few years, I could change my life. Why I would be so down on myself for not succeeding in all of the tasks I set out for myself?

It is my personal lack of patience. I told myself I was being patient at 6 months and a year. That my success was right around the corner. But then after that year had passed, I started to think I must be doing something wrong. That maybe I had chosen the wrong path, that this was fates way of telling me to do something different. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, and I say "No!". It's not the wrong path, I am just learning.

I am taking steps down this long, winding, difficult road of self-improvement and self-realization. One day I will have what I want and do what I want to do. I just need to keep learning, keep reading. I will one day be able to help those around me to succeed in their endeavors. I will find those people who will help me by helping themselves. I am absolutely positive that we are not all lost causes and have a set life laid out before us. I have faith that we can be whatever we want to be in life.

This belief guides me and keeps me on my path of learning. This learning will never be done, ever. And I am thankful for it.

Have a Blessed Day,



Brandy Deming

CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com
http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings

Loving Yourself or Abusing Yourself?

Self-love is not opposed to the love of other people. You cannot really love yourself and do yourself a favor without doing people a favor, and vise versa.

-Dr. Karl A. Menninger

Our biggest critic is ourselves. We are taught to try to be perfect, to get everything 'just so', but do we really, really have to have everything together all the time? Too often we run ourselves ragged trying to live up to our perceived expectations and then when we don't meet them we beat ourselves up about it. We must start being happy with what we have done and not be so down on ourselves about what we haven't been able to do, or didn't do well.


Even our language can effect the way we feel about ourselves. If we fail to meet a goal, or stumble off our path we say that we failed. We did not fail, we just didn't quite succeed. We need to brush ourselves off, reassess the situation and move forward. Be proud that we tried. I was in Pilates class yesterday with about 10 other women and the instructor said a wonderful thing, "Don't worry if you cannot complete the moves this time, you are here, that's what counts. You are now better then everyone else out there who isn't even trying."


What a great way to think about life!


If you are trying to build a business and you didn't achieve your goal. Don't worry. At least you are trying. Think about the millions of people out there who are grinding away at a dead end job every day, making no progress at all. You are at least trying. And the more you try, the more you'll succeed. Maybe other people haven't had set-backs in their business, but at least you took the initiative and started your own business! Celebrate your courage and determination, not the parts that are less then successful.


Trying to loose weight is another doosey. If you feel you are falling behind on your health goals, don't worry, just keep at it! There are millions out there who constantly complain about needing to loose weight, but you are doing something about it! Feel fabulous that you are trying, because... the more you try, the more you'll succeed!


Let's see if we can add a little more self-love into our lives. Celebrate all the wonderful things we do. Dismiss those things that don't go right. Get back up and try again... and again! Life is a journey, not a destination.



Have a Blessed Day,


Brandy Deming

CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com
http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings
http://www.twitter.com/brandysbiz

Listening

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."

-Sir Winston Churchill

This wonderful thought occurred to me yesterday. We tend to see ourselves and others as either a success or failure. We accomplish or fail. There is this whole entire grey area between failure and success that we call life. We should find a different yard stick to measure ourselves by. Lets put aside bank accounts, cars and clothes. Lets look at our lives, that grey area. Are you happy? Are those around you happy? Do you have that special someone? Do you have friends? How's your extended family? Think about it. Give yourself a pat on the back if you had a positive answer and reaction to all the questions... heck... if you have 3 out of 5 you're doing good.

The point is not that we don't need money and the like to be successful, the point is that the small efforts we make to ensure personal, family and relationships succeed are the same set of skills used to be a success in business. If you know how to listen, when to have which emotional reaction, can give advise when needed and are pleasant to be around, more people will flock to you and your business.

Lets take listening as an example, verbal and non-verbal. When your wife [or husband] is telling you how their day went, do you smile and nod or listen? If you can't actually remember how your significant other's day went yesterday, you were just going along with the conversation, and not really listening. Mind what they are saying, try to take mental notes [write them down when you are done if you tend to forget things easily] look at how they are standing, keep eye contact. Does it look like there is something else they want to say? Do they look like they want a response from you? Are the just venting? Now, the next day try and recall how their day was. Check your notes. Try doing this activity 2-5 times a week. If you don't have a significant other, try it with a friend or roommate.

How does this pertain to business? Listen, listen, LISTEN!! To co-workers, management, clients, bartenders, whomever. You never know when your next jewel of information will come to you. For example, with Send Out Cards, I use the Internet to send a physical card through the postal service, with a first class stamp. Did you know that the postal service was going to cut back a day of delivery because of lack of mail? [not a joke or plug http://kuow.org/program.php?id=1646 ] I now feel that sending cards is patriotic. I want to support my postal service. How did I learn about this spin to my business? Listening to a conversation in line at Albertsons.

Listening will also get you more customers. I know people who will drive an extra 45 minutes to go to a dentist because they see him as a part of their extended family. And how does he do it? He has trained himself and all the staff to take notes of the small talk that they have (names of dogs, ages of children, painting the house, buying a new car, etc.). Then the next time they come in, or when he send them their birthday card, he can add in a personal note ie. How is the new puppy? I hope your enjoying the new car! How was Cindy's 9th birthday? Amazing! How to stay above the game!

Try and remember to listen and pay attention to your loved ones. A truly loving, compassionate companion is not only a hit with their family and friends. But the positive energy and uplift you'll start radiating will attract others to you creating a influx of customers.

Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming

CelticBlessings4u@Gmail.com

http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings
http://www.twitter.com/brandysbiz

Getting Back Up

"If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. what we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down."

-Mary Pickford

It seems as though when we have a goal, that we go sprinting towards it. The freshness and all the ideas of how to reach that goal keeps our momentum at a lightening pace. But, inevitably, something does not work. Something creates a speed bump in the road and we have to slow down. Money, people, timing, location, materials, it is always something. The road to success is littered in failure. Tons of it. Little failures and big failures. Thomas Edison found hundreds (if not thousands) of ways to not create a light bulb ... and one way to make a light bulb. Where would we be if one of those hundreds of bumps of failure on Thomas Edison's path to success had been the one that made him stay down? The one that made him throw his hands up in the air and be done with the whole project?

Everyone struggles towards success, it is part of life. I have found many ways not to do things. I have found dozens of ways to not loose weight, 6 ways to not quit smoking, 1 way to not stay married, several ways to not be a good parent, 8 ways to not make money, many ways to be a bad friend and I could keep going. But I went past a lot of those failures... I push through a lot of current failures, to find what works. Wade through disaster to the hill of success. I found a way to loose weight (50lb so far), I found a way to quit smoking (2 weeks now!), I work constantly at being a good mom, friend and daughter.

We all must accept the fact that we will fall, and that those around us will fall. We must focus on picking ourselves up, being a shoulder to lean on and an ear to listen so that we can help others up as well. Every day IS a new day. Cling onto hope and determination as your spiritual life preservers. And never, ever, ever stop dreaming.

Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming

http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings

http://www.twitter.com/brandysbiz