An Innovative Way to Get in Front of Clients

I had to smile today as I enjoyed my green tea and a scan through my emails.  I love when people start taking innovative actions when times get tough.

Humans never move when they are comfortable but watch them go when times get tough.

I loved what we can learn from an innovative way hotels are getting more guests in beds.

As it gets harder to sell hotel beds as less people travel the globe due to factors such as technology advances bringing people together virtually, a greater consciousness of the ecological damage the travel industry brings to the planet and overall the financial crunch means less spending in general.

So hotels are needing to get smarter.


We can learn a lot from this industry because therapists have exactly the same problem hotels have.  At the end of each day, any beds not filled are never available to sell again on that day.  Yes they can sell tomorrow’s beds, but today’s beds are never available again.

Treatment rooms or consults are the same.  If you didn’t fill yesterday’s diary - the opportunity to get revenue from those spots has gone.  So watching the way hotels think and market is a good habit to get into.

Springwise had a link to a service that scans twitter and picks up on destinations people have mentioned in their tweets.  The hotel sends those people some local area knowledge or a discounted room offer to that twitter account. 

Some hotels are reporting a 9% uptake on their direct twitter offers.  This is huge as most direct campaigns would celebrate if they got a 2-3% response.

Why the big difference?

They are adding value, saving their customers time and solving a problem for their clients. 

In some instances they are solving a problem before the client even thought too hard about fixing it.

This is marketing genius which you can replicate on a smaller scale.

It's our equivalent of dropping a flyer on the bedside table of someone who is about to get out of bed and complain of an ache and pain or emotional deficiency.  They are delivering a solution at a time of pain. 

Humans are lazy creatures.  

In most instances if a suitable solution comes their way at a price and service level suitable to them .... they will most likely take it.

The reason this campaign by hotels is working is because this is very targeted marketing.  The hotel knows its customers well and presents only one solution to their problem - a room in a hotel in the city they are visiting in the near future. 

Its your classic WHO & WHAT situation.  They know WHO their customers are and WHAT those customer want.

These hotels are getting under the noses of people solving problems AND saving them time.

How can you do that?

If you are very clear WHO you work with - simply figure out where your people are hanging out - what their problems are on a daily basis and get yourself, your message and your offerings in front of them, at a time when they are thinking about their problem.

People with a certain problem start seeking solutions in similar places

The golden question to answer is .... where do your people hang out????


But an even better question is ..... who else has my people?  This is the question the hotel has answered - they have figured out that their customers tweet their travel plans out to their network. 

Do people tweet or facebook their problems on a daily basis - YOU BET!  If you exactly solve their particular problem, then a simple google search to see if that person has a public profile and you could drop one of your flyers in the post to them.  It can be that simple.  If you are really brave you could make the offer directly in the post they've made - but truly I find that a bit intrusive.  You must discern what's the right level of contact for you. 

People leave clues everywhere - you need to get your intuitive super power glasses on and start seeing those opportunities everywhere.

It is so much easier to sell something to someone who wants what you’ve got.  You’ve just got to get very creative about figuring out where the problem YOU solve occurs in THEIR life.

For instance, if a child is having a hissy fit on the supermarket floor and the parent looks up and sees a flyer on the notice board for a hissy fit behaviorist or a golfer walks into the club room from a round of golf and finds a person who can improve their swing by loosening up their muscles - I reckon they will be pretty interested in at least hearing about your services.

Where are your people and what are their problems?

What You Need In Place When A Big Online Opportunity Comes Calling

Many experts and online entrepreneurs dream of the day when someone with a big fan base or database mentions them or promotes them.

Few are ready for what might occur next.

This week a client released her first product and the night before it was released her WordPress site got hacked. When she phoned up the people at the help desk of the company who hosts her site she may have well of been speaking Swahili.

They a) couldn’t even see the problem and b) even if they could – they would have had no idea how to solve her now massive and stressful problem.

When big opportunities come our way – we must have good systems in place and be ready for the onslaught of visitors.

I have an even sadder tale to tell – I remember I had something going off one time = people were hitting my site AND purchasing AND my scummy hosting provider automatically shut my site down because my plan ran out of bandwidth. It ran out because abnormal numbers were hitting the site.

At the time I didn’t even know what bandwidth was, but I suddenly became very aware of the consequences of not having enough because people stopped buying!

When you consider that you pay for a service that allows people to hit our sites, you might expect that they might give you some time to sort the problem out before shutting you down.  Most will send an automated reminder to tell you that you are nearing your limit and if you are getting loads of visitors, that little extra you had up your sleeve is gone in 5 minutes due to high visitor numbers and BANG they shut you down!

So to make the most of the dream of hundreds of people visiting you and your website – this is the minimum you need in place to ensure you don’t get shut down or that your system doesn’t fold under pressure.

Back up – Back UP – BACK UP!

A hacked or attacked website usually means one thing – a complete reload from a clean source to ensure everything has been removed. If you don’t have a backup of your current website files (yes including that small change you made yesterday that took hours to complete) then you may need to re-write the whole site! OUCH!

I have all my files on my GoDaddy* server, on the hard drives of my TWO Macs and then use Dropbox to store all my hard drive files using cloud technology. Total overkill *yes* but it means I can access my files anywhere in the world that has the Internet if I need to reload my site.

Extreme perhaps – but you will thank me the morning your site gets hacked and now looks like a porn site and you are due on stage in 30 minutes to sell a big event and your website is the point of entry for the hundreds of people in the room.

Pay for unlimited bandwidth

I still don’t know what bandwidth is, but I don’t have to care because I’ve got the problem covered - again GoDaddy* sorted that for me. All you need to know about bandwidth is that you need a lot of it if you do get a rush on your site so it won’t fold.

My best advise is to pay the price for an unlimited service and never worry about it again!

Get reliable hosting

Use a company to host your website that is available 24/7 AND their staff are experienced.

I have the GoDaddy* unlimited bandwidth and website package. They promise to fix your problem on the first call and have 24/7 support staff who have always fixed my challenges in one phone call.  There are many other great suppliers you can use – and these days the cost is very low – it truly is a case of invest before you need it.

Who ever you use, make fine sure they are set up to handle big volume traffic – and be aware most hosting companies are set up to take the traffic like you might expect the local hardware store to generate. Ensure all your suppliers can take a worldwide online product or event release.

Its also good policy to have some of your eggs in one basket.  Most tech companies will start blaming each other when you have multiple suppliers.  There are pros and cons from having one supplier host everything - but when there are problems it is nice to know a) they see how everything is functioning together and b) they can't blame third parties and c) you won't end up the one with a massive problem and no idea how to solve it.

Capture those hot leads!

Have a way to capture visitors to your site by way of a free product or offering that collects their email address so you can stay in touch once the hoop-la dies down.

These days just offering a newsletter isn’t enough – you need something unique and appealing to your target audience and you need to be able to follow up. People don’t start to purchase until they have had at least 7 “touches” from you. If you haven’t friended them or collected their email address you can’t touch them again – the magic is in the follow up.

Stay tuned

Be around to respond quickly to queries or problems that come up – just before an event or product release is not the time to take that vacation or go sit on a mountainside to chant.

Use companies who already have big name clients and are used to high volumes.

You MUST HAVE a good customer relationship management system (CRM)

OK so you’ve got it all down to date – you have a robust website that will take whatever is thrown at it – you have a free product and the visitors are sucking it up like ice cream on a hot day and BANG! Your CRM tells you that you have reached your capacity and it has stopped letting visitors sign for your free program.

When this happens anyone who comes to your site will visit and go and you have no way to stay in touch with them in the future – in fact you won’t even know who came by!

Mail Chimp is an excellent free service that allows you to store up to 2,000 people for free. Those numbers make most people think its "enough", but when you consider at any given time there are millions of people on Facebook and there could be millions watching an ad roll past and decide to click on it, then 2,000 people simply isn’t enough.

You are going to fold pretty quickly if your system won’t allow those people to give you their email details so you can stay in touch with them in the future.

I have a system called Infusionsoft and a package that starts to tremble at 500,000 people – no that’s not a typo that’s half a million people securely stored before it even starts to get antsy.

There are many other great CRM systems out there but always be certain you can talk to someone who can answer your questions very quickly. Always check their customer service hours and rates before you sign up.  Some now charge you big bucks if you want to speak with them – they have you over a barrel if something does go wrong and this then becomes an expensive mistake on every level.

Don’t just sit idol

Be promoting the event yourself, just don’t sit back and leave it to the promoter – help the promoter promote you by promoting them! It’s a win for everyone if you do.

Ensure you are wired to stay in touch

Link up your Facebook, twitter, newsletters, blogs etc to your website (tell me you have those!) – we want to create as many opportunities for new people to interact with you as is humanly possible.

Are You Mobile Friendly?

High numbers of people now view your website via mobile phone devices or iPads - make sure they can see you and not just a jumble of rubbish that they will click out of fast.

You have 10 seconds or less to impress

Stats show you have around 10 seconds to interest and hold the attention of a new web site visitor. Ensure your site is ready to serve immediately – that your core message is communicated within the first 10 seconds - hello and welcome – is not a good opening – they need to understand immediately what’s in it for them to stay.

If you fail to captivate and capture that 10 second opportunity you can be assured it will be a lost opportunity unless you can figure out how to get them back.  Think about it, why would someone return to anything that failed to appeal the first time - this really is the time to get it right the first time.

Form meaningful relationships

Then once all these wonderful opportunities are harnessed – you need a way to go back and form meaningful relationships with your new Facebook friends, Twitter followers or newsletter subscribers - or by whatever means you have captured them. Again if you want to keep these new people in your circle of light for the next few years, you are going to have to start reminding them who you are and how you can serve them …. without scaring them away with hard sell tactics.

If you've built it - they can come!  

Great opportunities need to be taken seriously and you need to take yourself seriously.

If you want to be seen as an expert and present yourself to the world as someone worth working further with, you need to be ready, have invested in systems that not only work but will take the load.

Now is not the time to rely on free services that are patched together with band aids.  If you want people to take you seriously, you need to take your  IT seriously and learn what you need to do to be successful out in the big wide world of the internet.

All too much??

Best book a complimentary session with me if this overwhelms you but you know you need to get this right.  Not being ready for opportunites can cost you in SO many ways.  It may be the one time in your whole career where you have the world come to your doorstep. You need to be ready to offer a big slice of home made cake and a big soft comfy sofa to sit your guests on.

Most fail to offer their internet friends and visitors even the most basic of hospitality and wonder why they don't stick around for a chat.

Show em you care, form meaningful relationships and give extreme value and they will stick around for a very long time ….. and isn’t that what we are about – being of service to others for a very long time?

*GoDaddy’s CEO has taken a lot of flack from PETA over the elephant shooting incident. I don’t condone the shooting of anything, but sometimes things get so far out of whack I can at least see why it is necessary to protect villager and their food supplies. You can read his response on his blog and discern if his product is right for you. As for the racy ads – well those women have choice and they are being well paid for the sponsorship and why should the guys always get these highly paid sponsorship deals – again discern if this is right for you.

Healthy Marketing TeleSummit

I am going to be appearing at the Heathy Marketing Telesummit on the 14th September and it was wonderful to interview the creator of the program Krishna Everson. You can listen to the interview here:



The Heathy Marketing Telesummit will see ten marekting experts interviewed over six weeks and there will be a heap of great marketing ideas and concepts shared, all for free, to help natural therapists grow their business.

I trust you will be able to join us and in particular listen to my segment on the 14th of September 2010 (whihc of course will be FABULOUS) where I'm going to be talking about Making Your Story Your Glory.

You have to register on the website so you will receive all the information regarding the calls and how to get on them.

Hear you on a call soon! 

Don't forget to register at the website www.HealthyMarketingTelesummit.com

Patience is a Virtue

There is a saying that has been dated back to the thirteenth century:

    “Patience is a virtue,

    Possess it if you can,

    Seldom found in woman,

    Never found in man”

I could also add rarely found in people starting out in marketing!


Why is patience so important when marketing your products and services?

I was on a great teleclass recently with Jay Conrad Levinson, the genius who coined the phrase “Guerrilla Marketing” back in the 80’s. On this recent call Jay shared 12 Personality Traits of Wealthy Guerrilla Marketers.

His #1 trait was patience.

Many would think there would be many more fancy things he could have thought up to place in the #1 spot but I also believe patience is the number one thing you need when growing your natural therapy business because patience and persistent consistent action brings results in every other area of life ......... so why wouldn't it bring success in marketing.

I encourage my people to start doing good things like blogging and setting up their website and regularly doing newsletters very early in the set up of their practice.    I get VERY frustrated when I go back to them a few months later and ask how they are going with those tasks only to hear them say that they gave up because they thought it a waste of time because no one was reading them.

One client was recently featured on a two hour radio program.  Was her website finished, did she have a free product to offer the listeners to encourage them to visit her site?  Did she have a blog so people could get a sense of her opinions and methods? No, so all she could do was hope they would write down her phone number.  People will remember a catchy website name but they have little hope of remembering a phone number so her wonderful piece of free publicity was limited to people with a pen and paper close by.

Another client was recently telling me how her partner had read the single blog post one of my old clients had put up and it changed his life in that instance.  Imagine if he had kept up the posting, he might by now have changed many more lives with his words.

You can see why I get frustrated when people lose patience because they end up losing patients.

These stories highlight the need for patience.  It is also based in the beautiful words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Take the first step in faith.
You don't have to see the whole staircase,
just take the first step.

Marketing is all about the first step, not the staircase.

Most who are starting out want the big sweeping staircase from Gone with the Wind but the reality is that most don't have the budget to purchase one step, let alone the whole solution.  That is where Guerrilla Marketing hit the spot for so many people because it offered low cost ways to get your message out and gave many of us the faith to stay in the game because Jay's methods worked for so many.

The staircase appears after you have patiently worked your strategies for a long time and been patient enough to test and measure your results, tweaking as you go and eventually working out what it is you like doing and what it is your clients like receiving.  I’ll give you a hint – when those two things are the same, magic happens BUT it takes a little time, effort, energy, frustration and feeling like you are wasting your time to get to that point.

But if you don’t start you will always be struggling to get your message refined enough for people to want to listen to you.

Marketing is not a short term fix.  You can’t write one newsletter and expect miracles.  I’m not saying that won’t happen but in my experience it takes a little while for you to find your voice and find out what does resonate with your people and what does get them commenting and letting you know they are reading.

For a long time I also thought no one was reading until I started to speak to small groups and associations.  Then people would start coming up to me and talking about small things I had written in a newsletter that had helped them or had inspired an action that helped them move to the next level.

If I hadn’t been patient enough to keep writing even when I thought no one was listening, then for sure I would have given up and those people wouldn’t have had that small success or small step up that made a difference for them.

Jay shared on his call a strategy that is key to Guerrilla marketing and that is the concept of getting known.  He shared the importance of getting known by forming interactive dialogue not monologue with your audience.  The Internet creates so many ways you can interact with potential clients but most still aren’t making the most of it because they run out of patience and stop the activities that could result in many more clients being attracted to them.

During the call Jay also spoke of a survey that was done that calculated how many times it took for someone to experience your marketing message before they bought something.  The magical answer that this survey came up with was nine times.  I’ve heard some experts say it takes eleven touches before someone will move from apathy to “purchase readiness”

Each one of these “touches” or “experiences” of you or your products and services moves the potential client one step closer to purchasing from you.

But here’s the thing – there is another crippling piece of information that goes with being patient – you must also be consistent in getting your message out or people will forget you.  I have heard it said that if you don’t keep in touch with your people at least bi-monthly they will forget you.

It stands to reason then that if you only have one post on your blog, have sent a couple of newsletters and meant to get around to building a website and people can’t easily find you, then you are going to struggle.

If you are prepared to get into the game for the long haul, these are the things you will need to have on your to do list:

• Send out your newsletter each month
• Post to your blog at least once a week
• Spend 15 minutes each day on social media sites
• Create a free e-product to give away on your website that gives people a taste of what you do
• Speak to people in your target market, it can be small groups to start with at least twice per month
• Submitting articles to websites or media once a month
• Make contact with an important person in your industry (at least one per week) and then make it easy for those people to send you clients
• Arranging small workshops so people can understand how much you know about your preferred topic and get to know a little more about you.

Most certainly the most powerful way I know of connecting with people is in person so that puts speaking right up on top of the list of things you patiently need to be delivering to people.


If you take these type of actions, eventually people are going to notice you and then guess what?  Your business will start to get traction.


Natural therapists are some of the most patient people I have ever met.  They will sit for hours listening to people’s stories, taking case notes, being there for their clients at all hours of the day and night.


So why not move some of the traits of patience over to your marketing and start doing all the actions that are necessary to grow your business.

Have You Got A Media Policy?

“Free publicity” are two words that string together almost as well as ‘Free lunch” BUT media can be a lot of work so being prepared is a good thing.

I am often approached to speak or comment about Tree-Change or in my instance the Dark Side of Tree-Change or Sea-Change Adventures. I’ve done brief interviews on Current Affairs TV programs and some of the big newspapers and a little bit of radio.

It all sounds great but....

I can’t say I’ve got a lot of direct clients from this activity but what it has given me is a lot of recognition. I was stunned the first time I mentioned my media when I was speaking and someone from the crowd came up afterward and said they saw the program and they hadn’t immediately joined the dots on me and the program that featured me, but during the talk they did. Suddenly I went from nobody to someone in the blink of an eye and it made for an easy conversation with a total stranger and further established me in her mind.

I have found media gives you credibility and recognition on many levels. Placed in a strong WHO and WHAT situation I have seen clients inundated when their message hit the right spot at the right time. But if you aren’t certain the placement is going to give you new opportunities or recognition or leverage you can use later, then it’s the old story – you might be better to spend that valuable chunk of time at the beach.

Get a Plan

What I’m saying is that like everything in business – you need to have at least thought about it before you plunge in without a plan.

The thing most forget is that media takes time and time is the one thing most people want more of – so to waste your time doesn’t make much sense. You will be interviewed and often a photographer will be sent to film you. The average investment of time is about 30 – 40 minutes for the interview and 30 minutes for the photos but one photographer took over two hours to get the photos and kept me in one pose for over 10 minutes while he got it just right. The photos turned out brilliantly but in hindsight I might have been doing better work on my business somewhere else.

The media is highly alluring and reporters on deadline can be highly demanding and are skilled at pushing you in the direction they want you to go in.

Get Organised

I believe having a media policy in your business right from the start will keep you clear and concise and a good media kit wins the hearts of journos and saves you a heap of time.

I am being featured in a Tree Change story in a couple of weeks and the video below shows a short snap of what you go through to get ONE photo. This was a fun and easy shoot down at The Boathouse on Lake Daylesford but it took about 30 minutes to get that ONE photo and you have to be ok with a camera very close to your face. PLUS I won’t know which one they use until I pick up a copy next week so media also includes a HEAP OF TRUST – but that’s a whole new blog post!

Another Tough Day at the Office

The Importance of Being Media Ready

I had just come off my weekly Teleclass to my clients in London and it was 9.15pm at night. I was washing up the last of the dishes from the celebration of Australia Day with 15 friends in my back yard.

As I was reflecting on just how blessed I was to have friends who fill me with such joy …… when I was startled by the shrill sound of the telephone.

It was a reporter from the ABC in Brisbane apologetic about the time and date but asking for comment for tomorrows breakfast news. Someone has released a study on seachange and treechange and she wanted me to comment.

This is just a valuable example of how important it is to be media ready. The media have no shame as to how and when they will contact you and when they get you on the phone in these odd circumstances, they want your opinion NOW. This is the power of a strong WHO and WHAT and is what happens when your website its keyword rich with the topic they are looking for.

If you haven’t encountered the media yet, what I have found to be most common is that they will tell you their name and the media outlet they are from. Immediately after that they will rocket straight into what they want from you and what their story or article is about.

The big thing to remember is that reporters work to tight deadlines and are constantly stressed and time poor. The easier you can make it for them, the more chance you have of being called for other stories.

Media such as magazines or specialty interest stories have wider deadlines but radio and general news want your comments NOW.

The answer is to have general comments prepared and ready and to be clear which side of a story you are on and be very willing to add value where you can.

To deal with the NOW situation, I recommend the following, assuming you feel comfortable about the story and wish to be quoted.

1. Take control immediately and turn the tables and start asking as many questions as you can think about on the spot about the article or the story they are proposing.

2. Always keep a pad and pen by the phone and scribble down as much as you can

3. Don’t feel pressured to give an immediate response, buy yourself some time by simply asking them to phone you back.

4. Go immediately to your office space or a quiet space

5. No matter what is going on in your life, focus into the NOW moment

6. Quickly decide one or two points you want to get across that relate to the story.

7. When the reporter phones back, be clear and concise with your answers, keeping your comments as relevant as you can to the topic

8. Try to add value to their story and if possible try to give an opposing point of view or a different take on the story

9. Then shamelessly self promote your media inclusion to anyone who will listen!!!

The media are simply looking for content and if you can quickly get to the point they will love you.

BUT be warned - the media can make or break you and you have to be prepared and willing to accept the consequences if they do a bad story. I had an instance where I got a small inclusion in a story about the dark side of seachange and a reader took exception to my circumstances and wrote a damming letter to the editor which got printed the following week. It was so bad my friends encouraged me not to read it and to this day I haven’t but the story itself got me a lot of recognition I could never have achieved on my own.

So tread with caution but also know free pr and free media is one of the quickest ways to get recognition and your name out to many for free.

So you will hear me on the ABC in Brisbane tomorrow commenting on recent research that says Treechangers and Seachangers are changing their behaviors because the nature of some popular destinations like Byron Bay have become over populated. I quickly chose to take the stance that people moving to a new place will always seek things that are known to them and will still seek places like Byron or Daylesford because we have culture such as cafes and restaurants that will help them acclimatize. There were a thousand takes on the story but that was the one I chose after a long busy day.

The golden rule of media from my rock and roll days was: any news is good news and it generally is, so get yourself media ready and get that message out to the world.

Then afterwards you self promote and ensure you are even more ready for the next call.

The Importance of Standing Out in Business

There are many things that make up a successful small business but by far one of the most important things we need to keep in mind when we have a small business is to stand out and be different.

Being different helps in three ways

1. When you stand out from the crowd it makes it easy for people to remember you.

2. Finding creative ways to stand out draws attention to your business and frequently brings PR and free plugs that you may not have normally achieved.

3. You attract people of like mind to your business, which makes the sales process easy for you because they have attracted to you naturally rather than you trying to draw them in.

I was reminded of the importance of standing out when it came time to choose the winner of this years Utopia prize draw of a months coaching with me. When you view the video you will see how a very simple addition to the entry form made the selection of a winner a no-brainer.

It also highlights the need to be vigilant and adding creative bursts of colour to everything we do.

How to Avoid Ending Up Burnt Out & Broke When Organising Your Event

Events are a wonderful way to get your message out to a larger audience and also to start positioning yourself as an expert in your chosen field.

What I have worked out is that events are risky at best and you MUST know what you are doing or you will lose your blouse on an event and end up with tears before bedtime!

Many find the thought too daunting and never have a go because there is so much to learn and do and......well......it does involve the one thing most would rather die than do, which is public speaking. We are not saying there isn’t a lot to learn and do but if you are prepared to follow a process and do some early leg work, then the rewards on every level can be huge.

Like everything the answer is to start early and to start small and take on the challenges in bite sized chunks.

Samantha Richardson and my good self ran a teleclass last night that gave some quick and dirty tips and strategies to help you gain the confidence to get your own events started.

“The action happens at the front of the room”
Margaret Gill, Abundant Private Practices

When I first started out in my small business I knew I had to network but I was totally useless at it. As it turns out this became a wonderful strength because it made me realise that at a networking event you are very lucky to get ten people knowing what you do but everyone goes home knowing who the speaker is. That realisation changed my life and still today I rarely go to networking events in any other capacity than the speaker (yes, I’m still a rubbish networker!),

I went from someone who was petrified of speaking to someone who loves to speak in front of an audience.

The biggest thing I learnt was the importance of clarity. We discuss this on the audio below.

The audio will also give you the following three marketing tips you can use to start to put bums on seats at events

1. The importance of building a strong database

2. What are affiliates and how can they help get people to your events

3. How to leverage other people’s events to get exposure for your event and still have the event organiser love you

But please burn Sam's wise words into your brain because these tips are only meant to be a taster - there is a whole lot more you need to know.

“There is no one way to get lots of people to an event
but there are lots of ways to get one person to an event”
Samantha Richardson, Evolution Events

You can listen to the audio here:


MP3 File

If you feel you are ready to take the next big step you will love our live event YOUR NEXT BIG LEAP which is running in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane – you can find out more here. http://yournextbigleap.eventbrite.com/

If you live in Adelaide don't forget we are speaking at two networking events at the end of May 09 more details here

Oh and BTW - little Harry was just fine, although he did spend the next few days looking like an extra from a Rocky movie - he has hopefully learnt about playing in games with your big brother - the injury factor grows! You will understand when you listen to the audio.

How to Make More Money Without Working Any Harder

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is: "how can I make more money in my practice but not work as hard?"

It’s the 90 million dollars question in this industry because most natural therapists and health and wellbeing practitioners have to be physically present or working on clients to generate income. It becomes exhausting and eventually makes the practice unsustainable and burns the therapist out - that is not abundant!

My Guest GURU this month opened up a wonderful revenue opportunity for therapists by offering a website that allows you to use pre-recorded music, images and voice over scripts to easily record your own CD's and audio to sell or give away (or a mixture of both) on your website or in interactions with clients and prospective clients.

This includes your own ability to do voice over’s and if you want to, you can record a full CD of music, meditations - in fact there are all sorts of wonderful ways you could use this product including creating your own videos.

You can listen to the call below and get an idea of how easy this can be or you can get more information on The Chill Sessions website here

Having your own CD's not only puts your practice into a new professional class but it also allows your customers to take a little bit of you home with them when they leave your practice - just like you can take a little bit of a musician home to listen to again and again after the gig.

What struck me about this particular product was firstly that it does seem very easy and most of the hard work is done for you and secondly there are two human beings on the end of the phone who will talk you through any techno challenges you have with the creation of your product.

You can listen to the audio from the Guest GURU call here - just click on the slider below:

The Chill Sessions

MP3 File

Getting the Most from Your Participation in Membership Sites

Membership sites and forums such as Weekend Workshops and my own free membership site The Health and Wellbeing Practitioners Network are fabulous ways to build your profile out in cyberspace, connect with people you couldn’t normally get to and to help you to get known.

We had a wonderful time with John when he was my MOSH Pit Guest GURU for September 08. John shared a lot of technical knowledge on the call, so please take a listen as he was very generous in his sharing.

Click the slider below to hear John Hardgrave of Weekend Workshops speaking about the value of Membership Forums and all the things we need to know to get the most from our participation in sites like Weekend Workshops.



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When you have a small business it is important to join these sites and let people see your expertise. Membership sites are no different to going to a networking event. You need to make an impact quickly.

The things I see as important to remember when joining a membership site

1. Don’t hide – add your full name and a photo – make yourself memorable. Would you just put your first name on your business card (I hope not!) – these membership sites are like virtual business cards – except you can now add so much more information to help people know why they would want to work with you.

2. Be of service – give helpful advise to people when they have questions, make your comments memorable for people.

3. Communicate clearly – tell people your WHO and WHAT very clearly – WHO you work with and WHAT problems you solve for them – it makes it easy then for people to want to work with you.

4. Go deep not shallow – make meaningful connection with people, don’t just click on every single member and ask them to become “your friend”. Site owners also hate this behavior as it makes us uncomfortable due to security reasons and lets us know you are “shallow” – same of the person who runs around a room handing business cards out willy nilly without even stopping to find out who they are giving them to.

5. Join a special interest group – if there isn’t one on your special interest, create one and drive it – you will gain BIG brownie points with the site owner if you do this by adding value for their people.

6. Give value – perhaps load an audio others can benefit from, make a short informational video you can load via YouTube, write an article, post a blog.

7. No one likes a smart arse! Be genuinely interested in helping people not putting them down or making yourself out to be smarter than them. If you know more, simply give that information generously and with love – you will be loved for it!

8. Share a deal. - if you have been offered something on special or have something you can’t use – then offer it to others on the membership site.

9. Share a bit about yourself – load photos of you doing interesting things (we don’t want to see ALL your holiday pics) but if it would be of interest – load it on up.

10. GIVE VALUE, GIVE VALUE, GIVE VALUE!!

You can join my The Health and Wellbeing Practitioners Network - click here

Molly Carlile Awarded a Churchill Trust Fellowship

Congratualtions to friend of Abundant Private Practices and June MOSH Pit Guest GURU - MS MOLLY CARLILE who last week was awarded a Churchill Trust Fellowship award to further her studies overseas.

The grant has been given to Molly to explore how the arts are being used in health promotion to facilitate community 'death discussions'. She will travel to the USA, U.K. and Ireland to interview people involved in the area and to make valuable contacts that will continue her work in this area.

GO MOLLY!!!! A grand example of how following your dreams and putting in consistent perstistent action gets results.

You can hear Molly being our Guest GURU in the MOSH Pit in June in the post below.

You can learn more about Churchill Fellowships here http://www.churchilltrust.com.au/index.php

The Benefits of Using Teleclasses in Your Business

Teleclasses are a great way to add new revenue streams to your business, but very few holistic practitioners are actually running them. Certainly it is an uphill battle to make people understand how easy teleclasses are to participate in and run but that little bit of extra effort is well worth the reward.

Even if you just ran one per month with 10 participants paying $50 each – that extra $500 per month equates to an extra $6,000 per annum. Teleclasses could pay for that overseas trip you thought you couldn't afford.

The benefits of teleclasses are many but here are Top Ten I love the best:

1. Amazingly cheap (no room hire or travel costs)

2. Convenience (you don’t need to leave home)

3. 100% efficient use of your time (no need to factor in traffic or public transport)

4. Location friendly (you can do them from home or the office or the beach!)

5. Full interaction of participants

6. Classes are recorded so your participants can listen again until they fully
grasp the concepts

7. You can sell the recordings on your website or create CD’s and create passive revenue streams

8. You only need a landline telephone

9. No fuss - you can do the class in your pyjamas if you like

10. Its fun and easy!

Check out my website to learn what teleclasses I have on offer.

Media Opportunities For You All

This week there has been comment in the media on two bits of mainstream science confirming a lot of what we know already.

I noticed a TV news article on Sunday night quoting a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia quoting that “from 2001 to 2003 there was a 40 per cent decrease in the number of Australian women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and a 6.7 per cent reduction in the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer, equivalent to 600 fewer cases”. You can read the article on Medical News Today.

Also this week OpEdNews.com had a significant article about The 2008 Epigenetic Medicine Award Ceremony in LA celebrating the work being done in Epigentics, sometimes called Soul Medicine. According to Soul Medicine Institute (SMI), “Epigenetics is the new science describing influences that alter the expression of genes.” Epi- means above; so epigenetic means control of DNA from above or outside the gene. SMI notes that, “New research shows that consciousness (beliefs, feelings, prayer, energy, thought) may have epigenetic effects.”

The historic, first Epigenetic Medicine Award went to Randy Jirtle, Ph.D., director of the Laboratory of Epigenetics and Imprinting at Duke University. Dr. Jirtle is a professor of radiation oncology at the school's medical center. His groundbreaking research with agouti mice has revealed that a mother's diet during pregnancy can influence gene expression in her offspring by altering the epigenome. The result of changing the diet of the mother mouse caused two genetically identical mice to be born, one predisposed to cancer and obesity and one “normal” mouse baby. Guess which one had the good diet?

Gee whiz, a lot of this stuff is not exactly rocket science to us and the natural medicine world has “known” this for eons but it is wonderful news for your business.

As science starts to prove the theories of natural medicine, more people will feel comfortable embracing some of the more out there concepts like mice eating well during pregnancy.

This means more clients for your business.

I haven’t even read all the facts on either of these things BUT for you guys it is a grand excuse to have an in depth read and then go into the media and quote this research and hold yourself up as an expert on mice eating well (no seriously) on how diet and natural therapies are changing our world and how your business is the place that can help people live healthier and happier lives.

You can read more here:

http://www.epiaward.com/

http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/NEW-EPIGENETIC-SCIENCE-AWA-by-Meryl-Ann-Butler-080530-226.html

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/109520.php

ABC Radio Interview on Sea Change

Audio of my ABC Radio Interview - Wednesday 19th March 2008


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I was recently interviewed on the ABC in Perth Australia.

I had a fun time being interviewed by James Lush and Andrew Wynne about Sea Change on the 720 ABC Morning Program.

The program looks at some aspect of modern life and they spoke with me about my own experience of sea change or in my instance tree change, the things I learned from it and the sort of things that are useful to others undergoing a similar change.

Sea change or tree change is something that has become very popular in the last few years but it has it's challenges. If you can last the first few years it has enormous benefits in terms of lifestyle and ability to feel in control of your life.

They introduce me about 5 minutes into the show and I'm on for about 25 minutes. It was really fun to do and I couldn't believe how quickly the time went by.

If you would like to listen you can just click on the link above and it will start to play for you.

Using YouTube to Get Known

Today I am #1 on YouTube in the category of #42 - Most Viewed (Today) - Howto & Style - Australia – it’s the biggest load of rubbish I’ve ever produced but 31 people have watched it SO FAR!

This is the power of the free tools that are available

When you use tools like Blogger and YouTube alongside your own tools (I used my newsletter) they can become very powerful. I put a small note in my newsletter which gave people the option to click through and watch the video after I wrote a story on having harmonious workspaces. I'm not suggesting you all go out and madly film your office and just bung it up there - it's not about the topic it is all about the underlying story and message that gives people a reason to click. But it does show the power of the internet.

You might notice there has also been blog posts on the same topic.

Tools like Blogger, YouTube, Ning, MySpace, FaceBook are called Social Networks.

Here is a massive hint for anyone who is interested in using these free but very powerful social networks. One common message placed in many different places = gets clicks.

Social Networks work because every now and then someone who doesn't know you clicks and suddenly they DO know you. People that already know you get to know a little more about you. Eventually trust builds up and eventually they will become clients and they will refer someone who will become a client.

People image you need a lot of time to participate in all these activities. I'll be totally honest with you here - they take a bit of time to set up and get in motion but like any of your marketing activities once that train is rolling it is VERY easy to maintain.

If you aren't using or at least learning how to participate in these social networks - then you are missing out big time.

You can view my masterpiece here (I used my mobile phone to record it so the quality is pretty naff but 31 people have watched it:

Do I need a Blog if I already have a Website

Blogs are a relatively new way of communicating with people. The question I get asked most about them is:

“If I have a Website – why do I need a Blog?”

In answer to the question do I need a blog and a website, I can tell you that I was surfing on Google recently and something I was looking for gave my website in the first page of the search results. Gotta love that! But….what I was most delighted to see two entries down in the Google search results was a blog post I had done recently appearing just below my website.

Having a Blog and a Website doubles your chance of being found.

My website has been floating around out in cyberspace for over two years now. My blog has been out there for five months and it is almost ranking as well as my website. I would like to predict that in a couple of months my blog will out rank my website.

When you compare the cost of the website and the time it takes to get web pages loaded = HOURS of work! Then compare that to a free blog and the 15 minutes it takes to write a blog post – I can only surmise that my blog is working for me.

This article by Dr. Charles Baldwin will give you some more ideas on why blogs work.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

How Writing Articles Gets You Known

A friend recently sent me an article on getting outside your comfort zone. The topic is close to my heart and I might as well have written the article myself. I’ve included the link below for you but that’s not the point of this blog post.

People often ask me why they should write articles. Well this is a good example of how any article can be a powerful tool in your PR campaign.

The newsletter that this article appears in is for a Government Department. Somewhere in that Government Department some poor soul is given the task of creating articles of interest to feed to the waiting readers every Tuesday. A big ask for even the most prolific of writers. What they have done to overcome their content challenge is to go to an article publishing service and they probably got this item for free or they may also have purchased it. The reason the author gave it away for free is because they understand that it will get into places (like this) and it will get them free publicity. Free publicity are two of my favourite words linked together – my most favourite two words linked together are Free Lunch but we all know that to be a bit of a thing of the past!

So if you write articles there are websites that will list your article so people can come on and promote the article and your business by way of the little resource paragraph at the bottom of the article. This article even let him list his website plus the landing page you happen to land on - has his books that you can buy. Do you get the chain of events here. From one article he could get known to thousands of people without even getting out of bed that day.

If you have any ability to string a few words together I would recommend you start writing articles and submitting them for publication. The trick is to have a strong WHO & WHAT in place so your articles can be listed with people in your target market.

You can read the article here