Entrepreneur on a Mission Part 2: What’s Your Business Model?
If you spend any amount of time hanging around with entrepreneurial innovators, visionaries, and reformers, you'll hear this question frequently. Entrepreneur #1 sketches out his or her brave new idea for making a living while changing the world, and Entrepreneur #2...
Entrepreneur on a Mission Part 1: Get Clear About Your Mission
Congratulations! You've discovered you're an entrepreneur on a mission. But when someone asks you to explain what your mission is, it no longer seems as clear as it did when the light bulb first went on in your head. One's mission can be a slippery thing, morphing...
Packaging Your Services as a Product
One of the biggest challenges in selling professional services is that what you are offering is intangible. Your product can't be seen, touched, or tasted. Until your prospective clients experience what you do, they have no way of knowing if it will turn out, whether...
Waking Up from Groundhog Day
Every spring in my household, we experience a period we have come to call Groundhog Day. I've always loved the Bill Murray movie of the same name, a sweet fable about an egocentric, mean-spirited newscaster doomed to live the same day over and over until he learns to...
New Year’s Revolution
No, that's not a typo in the title. Resolutions are easy; most of us make them at least once a year. A revolution, on the other hand, is something you may not have made since you started your business. Launching a new business is actually quite revolutionary. When you...
There’s More than One Way to Grow a Business
Every self-employed professional wants to earn more from his or her business. When you ask professionals how they plan to meet that goal, they usually talk about doing a better job at marketing or doing more of it. But in fact, there are many ways to go about growing...
What’s Your Marketing Attitude?
Self-employed professionals pay a lot of attention to the mechanics of marketing. They take classes, read books, and hire experts to learn how to do the best job possible. When I first work with a client, I often discover that his or her knowledge of marketing...
More Money or the Pursuit of Happiness?
We self-employed professionals are constantly faced with difficult choices about how to best grow our businesses. Should I pursue this line of business or that one? Would it serve me better to choose Niche A or Niche B? Shall I spend my time building a relationship...
Have You Created an Impossible Business?
It's easy to think that any business can be successful if you work hard enough, but there are many situations where this just isn't so. Consultants, coaches, and other service professionals often start a business believing that all they need to do is charge a...
If You Can’t Make a Living, How Can You Make a Difference?
What made you decide to go into business for yourself? Did you want to make more money, gain more freedom, enjoy yourself more, or make more of an impact on the world? For many self-employed professionals, the desire to help others as well as themselves plays a...
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