03.09.10

The Mistakes I Made Creating My First Info-Product

Posted in Marketing at 8:25 am UTC by Michele PW

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My first information product was an ebook called “Got Ideas? Unleash Your Creativity and Make More Money.”

Bet you didn’t know that, did you? That’s because it was a complete flop.

Yes, my first foray into the wonderful world of info-marketing was pretty much a train wreck.

So why I am talking about it now? Because I realized the other day the lessons I learned were invaluable and my failures could help you become a success.

So sit back, grab a cup of coffee and let me share the story of my first info-product. It was about six years ago (2004). This was my beginning of my 2-year “transition” period, where I transformed my business from freelance copywriter with 80% of my business coming from local businesses to entrepreneur/business owner with a national and international client base and having the resources and team to help my clients on a much bigger scale.

Needless to say this was a nerve-wracking time, filled with ups and downs and LOTS of “learning opportunities.” One of those “learning opportunities” came in the form of my first ebook.

When I first decided to make this transition from freelance copywriter to entrepreneur/biz owner, I did what many of you either are doing or have done — invest A LOT of time, money and energy learning stuff. And one of the things I learned was I should be selling an info-product.

Well, I’m a writer, right? I could write an ebook.

At the same time, I was also in the middle of a rebranding (remember, I was making a transition so everything was changing). Since creativity is one of my passions, I had decided to combine creativity and marketing/copywriting and have that become the foundation of my business. This would be perfect I thought. No one else is doing it, I could be the only one, and I’ll kick this whole thing off by writing a book about it.

So I spent MONTHS writing this book. I put aside HOURS of my time every day writing it. It ended up being 144 pages of solid content. I finally finished it that summer, put up a (pretty bad) sales letter and waited for all the money to come rolling in.

Needless to say, that never happened.

I did sell a handful of them. Maybe a dozen or two. Not nearly the amount I had assumed I’d sell.

Now, I wasn’t exactly discouraged after this but it was a shock. Like being dunked in the ice cold water of reality. It caused me to do a heck of lot more research into how to successfully sell online. I didn’t take my failure personally — rather I instead decided to use my failures as a jumping off point that would help me turn my next product into a success.

However, I know a lot of you DO venture into these murky waters, end up with a failure on your hands and become so discouraged you never sell anything online again. I don’t want that for you. You see, EVERYONE who is ever sold anything online has had a lemon or two (or ten or a hundred). It doesn’t mean the process doesn’t work (it does) it just means you need to know the pitfalls to avoid so you end up with a success and not a failure.

So what mistakes did I make? Well, let me tell you, I made a bunch and I’m going to share those with you over the next couple of weeks. But one mistake I did NOT make was having a bad product. Like many of you who are struggling selling a product, your product is fabulous. The flaws are in the other parts of the process and that’s why you’re not seeing the success you deserve.

So stay tuned for next week and part 2!

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02.28.10

The Biggest Mistake Entrepreneurs Make that Impact Their Sales

Posted in General at 12:27 pm UTC by Michele PW

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Awhile ago, I was attending an event and I met someone who offered a service I needed. We exchanged cards and promised to be in touch when we returned home.

When I got home I turned over all those business cards to my team member as usual to enter into our database for follow up. It was about a month later when I realized this potential vendor had not contacted me or followed up with me. I no longer had the cards so I couldn’t look through them and I couldn’t remember her name or her business name and I didn’t have the time to comb through my database looking for her.

Needless to say, she didn’t get the project. And the sad part was I was ready to give it to her, that was why I thought of her a month later. But she hadn’t followed up so she never got a chance to get the business. I ended up finding someone else.

The morale of the story — you need to follow up with your prospects. Period.

Look, I know you’re spending a lot of time and money attracting leads into your business. You’re networking at live events, networking virtually using social networking, blogging, speaking, and probably a million other things.

So when those leads DO flow into your business, are you following up with them? Are you treating them like the gold they are?

I see this mistake happen over and over again. Entrepreneurs spend so much time and effort to bring leads home and then they never follow up. All those business cards get piled up on their desk never to get into a database. They have every intention of sending out a regular ezine for those online leads but somehow it never gets done. They rarely pick up the phone to connect with a warm (or even hot) prospect.

And then they wonder why their business isn’t growing and they struggle getting clients in the door.

There’s just no substitute for following up. (Have you heard the saying “the fortune is in the follow up?”) Giving someone your business card is NOT the same thing as following up with them. You’re relying on them to not lose your business card AND to remember the solution you offer when they’re ready for it. That just isn’t realistic.

You need to be the one to initiate, build and maintain the relationship. You need to be the one to remind the prospect about the solution you offer and how it will transform their life. Not the other way around.

Now I realize you’ve probably heard this before and you probably already know it. So if you’re not consistently following up, why not? What’s stopping you?

Most likely it’s 2 reasons — time and fear.

You’re busy and you don’t have the time to properly follow up. And you’re afraid you’re bugging your prospects if you do follow up.

I get it. I really do. I was there myself once. But here’s the thing — if you don’t get over those 2 issues, you’re never going to grow your business or enjoy consistent cash flow.

So here are 2 quick fixes to help you get started:

1. Who said YOU have to be the one to follow up? Get some help! Notice in my story I said I handed the business cards I collected to someone on my team to enter into my database. I did not say I was the one doing the entering. Have someone help you. (And the best part is you can probably justify the cost of this help because it directly impacts your bottom line).

2. Follow up doesn’t have to be calling people up and asking for work. Do things people will look forward to getting — send them articles, tips, or maybe something funny that entertains them. Think about ways you can stay in contact with your prospects that’s not about just making sales calls.

Remember, it typically takes 7 “touches” before a prospect turns into a client (and in the “new” economy it’s probably going to take a lot more). So don’t be discouraged if you’re first few attempts don’t turn into anything. Be persistent and consistent and eventually you’ll see your hard work paying off.

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02.12.10

I want to launch a product but I don’t know where to start?

Posted in Marketing at 11:26 am UTC by Michele PW

This is a great question. And here’s where I want you to start — by assessing your current situation.

Even before you put together a plan, you need to do this. Because if you don’t have a good handle on your current situation, you’re not going to be able to put together a plan that emphasizes your strengths and minimizes your weaknesses.

So here are some things you should look at:

• How big is your email list? (Also known as your email database)
• How responsive is your email list? (In other words, how many people buy/sign up for a teleclass/etc. when you send out an email asking them to?)
• How many affiliates/JV partners/associates/etc. do you know who would be happy to help promote you?
• How many friends/followers do you have on social networking sites?
• What products/programs do you currently have and could launch or relaunch?
• Do you have any products/programs in the works?

Now, the important thing to keep in mind when you’re answering these questions is there is NO wrong answer. I don’t want anyone to feel bad no matter where you’re at. We all had to start somewhere. And here’s the best part — no matter where you’re at right now, there IS a launch plan that can help you jump start your business!

If you want more information on how to create and execute a successful product launch, join me for my free preview call – “3 Simple Secrets To Launching Your Next Product or Program and Hearing Ka-Ching in Your Business” at Noon Pacific on Feb 17. Here’s the link so you can sign up: http://michelepw.com/launch

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02.10.10

What Marketing CAN’T Do For Your Business

Posted in Marketing at 8:59 am UTC by Michele PW

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Now we’re on to Part 2 — What Marketing Can’t Do For You.

Remember, marketing isn’t a magic button (although it’s pretty darn close). But it can’t fix everything. Below are 5 things marketing can’t do for you:

1. Marketing can’t make you an overnight success. Just because you start a marketing program doesn’t mean you’re immediately going to see your business explode. Marketing is about getting your name in front of your target market (and ideal prospects) on a regular basis until they finally decide to give you a try.

2. Marketing is not about doing something once and forgetting about it. The very best marketers test. And test. And test.

For instance, maybe your Web site isn’t converting visitors to customers as well as it should be. You could hire a copywriter to tweak it for you. You could test the different elements to see what raises your conversion level. That’s one way to use testing. You can also test different headlines, different offers, etc.

And in this same spirit, marketing is not about sending out one ezine then taking 3 months to send out the next one. Or promoting a product by sending a couple of emails. Marketing is about taking consistent action, not just a flurry of activity here and there.

3. Marketing can’t fix a bad experience. This is a big one. If your customers have a lousy experience with your products or services or with your customer service reps or sales people, etc., that’s it. Worse yet, not only have you lost a customer for good, that customer will probably tell others about their bad experience. So now you’ve lost more potential customers as well.

Marketing can get people in the door, but it can’t ensure they’ll have an experience they’ll want to repeat. Before assuming more marketing is what you need, take a moment and make sure your current customers are truly satisfied with your business.

4. Marketing can’t fix a flawed business. Much like tip number 3, marketing can’t fix cash flow issues or staff problems.

Okay, I can hear all of you saying “Of course, marketing can’t fix staffing problems.” I know you know this, but I think what happens is sometimes you get so caught up in the day-to-day challenges of running a business you can’t see the forest for the trees.

Let me explain. Let’s say you have a business that’s struggling with cash flow. The first thing that springs to mind may be revving up marketing. After all, the idea behind marketing is to increase revenue. On the surface that makes sense. However, if you look a little closer, what you might find are expenses that are out of whack or not getting invoices out in a timely manner. So what you should be fixing is your accounting problems rather than changing your marketing.

5. Marketing can’t make people buy things they either don’t want or can’t afford. It doesn’t matter how great your product or service is, if you’re selling to people who either don’t have the interest or the means to buy it, then your marketing is going to fail no matter how brilliant it may be.

So basically it all boils down to this, before you decide you need more marketing, take a few moments and make sure marketing is really the right solution for your business.

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02.06.10

How do I launch a product and/or create a buzz without annoying people?

Posted in General at 10:14 am UTC by Michele PW

This is a great question. And the answer is you can’t. BUT there are steps you can take to minimize annoying people.

First, let me explain why it’s impossible to create a buzz/launch a product without annoying some people. If you want people to buy from you, you need to ask for the sale. And if they don’t want to buy from you, eventually they will get annoyed with you asking for the sale. (Buying is an emotional process, so the only way you’re going to get people interested in buying in the first place is if you push a few emotional buttons.)

But if you don’t ask for the sale (and you need to do it more frequently now because people are hanging on to their money tighter) you won’t get as many sales. So you have to decide what your threshold is in terms of annoying people or making sales.

Now, there ARE steps you can take to keep the annoyance to a minimum. If you provide high quality information during your launch and if you’re honest with people when you contact them (in other words, no more “my server crashed so if you couldn’t get in, that’s why and you should try now” unless your server really DID crash.) Give them good, honest reasons for contacting them and it won’t be nearly as annoying to them.

If you more information on how to create and execute a successful product launch, join me for my free preview call – “3 Simple Secrets To Launching Your Next Product or Program and Hearing Ka-Ching in Your Business” at Noon Pacific on Feb 17. Here’s the link so you can sign up: www.michelepw.com/launch/

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02.03.10

What Marketing Can Do For You

Posted in General at 8:37 am UTC by Michele PW

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What Marketing Can Do For You (And No, the Answer Isn’t Everything)

While marketing is as close to a magic button we have (think the Staples Easy Button) to transforming your business, it’s still not an actual magic button.

So I thought I would clear up some misconceptions about marketing in this two-part series: What Marketing Can Do For You and What Marketing Can’t Do For You. We’ll start with the positive.

Over the years, I’ve had dealings with some business owners who have a rather skewed perception of marketing. They think you throw a few ads out there, get a couple of press releases printed and voila! You’re a big success.

Oh, if it only were that easy. (Although if it were, I probably wouldn’t have a job.)

But there’s no getting around that to have a successful business, you need a solid marketing plan.

So what CAN marketing do for you? Increase your business – no question about it. You need to be marketing if you want to grow your business.

However (and this is a really big however) marketing is NOT going to result in overnight success. Marketing is about slow growth, building on last week’s success and forgetting about last month’s failures. (Or what you THINK are failures. It’s not uncommon that a campaign you think is a dismal disappointment may be what caused the next campaign to take off.)

Marketing is about frequency — about your target market seeing your offer over and over again until they’re finally ready to buy. Without that very important frequency, your business will start to stagnate and eventually die.

Now that doesn’t mean you won’t have a major success with a campaign. Even a massive, amazing, unbelievable success. You’ll run one ad or be featured in an article and wham! You end up with more orders than you know what to do with. While that’s a great shot in the arm, it probably won’t last unless you keep building upon it. Eventually the orders will dry up and you’ll be back to where you were before.

Marketing is also about being consistent. This goes back to building on successes. Your customers need to see your message over and over again. This builds trust and credibility. Plus, your current customers will also respond to that frequency. Not only will they not “forget” about you and go to your competitor, but it will help build their trust in you as well.

Lastly, marketing is about working hard. There’s no getting around it. To be successful means putting in the time and energy to continually market yourself. (You can also pay someone to help you with it, but basically it comes down to someone somewhere has to put in the time to continually market you.)

If you remember nothing else, remember this: If you don’t implement your marketing strategies, nothing is going to happen.

That last sentence seems obvious, but again, I’m amazed at how many people I run into who aren’t willing to do the work. They talk about it, but when it actually comes down to doing something, they somehow never seem to get around to it.

One way to overcome that is to plan on doing one task or a little marketing every day. Then it doesn’t seem quite so overwhelming. Me, I make a commitment to do X number of marketing tasks a week, regardless of how much time that takes.

Marketing is a commitment. There’s no getting around it. If you have a business, then you have no choice but to make a commitment to marketing on a consistent basis until the day comes when you decide you don’t want a business anymore.

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01.30.10

Do you have a question on product launches?

Posted in General at 10:21 am UTC by Michele PW

Are you planning on doing a product launch in 2010? I’d love to get your biggest question about how to create and/or execute a successful product launch. Here’s the link to give me your question:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VT2QGQX

I’m going to be hosting a preview call on Feb. 18 where I’ll be answering all your questions about product launches. Stay tuned for more details!

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01.23.10

Do those long-copy sales letters actually work?

Posted in Copywriting at 10:42 am UTC by Michele PW

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This is one of those questions I get ALL the time.

“I never read those long-copy sales letters. They can’t possibly work, can they?”

“MY target market doesn’t read those long-copy sales letters, they want shorter letters.”

“I can’t imagine anyone reading that much.”

And so on.

Okay, before I get around to answering the question, let me quickly explain what a long-copy sales letter is. It’s those sales letters that are dotted across the web where you have to scroll down and down and down before you finally find the price.

Yeah. You know the ones.

So do they work? Yes they do — IF they’re done right.

Here’s the thing. The reason they work is NOT because they’re long. Length doesn’t equal sales. What DOES equal sales is if you properly answer all of your ideal client’s questions and objections and demonstrate your product/service/program will solve your ideal client’s problems.

And all that takes words. How many words depends on how expensive an investment your solution is.

Think of a conversation. Let’s say it takes you 30 minutes to have a sales call with a prospect. Well, if you take that call and transcribe it, it’s going to be around 10 pages long depending on how fast you talk. And that’s just one person.

Now you have a call with another person selling the same program. That person asks different questions, but it’s still 30 minutes. Now you have 20 pages worth of transcripts.

Are you starting to see how the long-copy sales letter gets so long?

Granted you’re probably not going to hear completely different questions time after time. But you can see how the pages will start to add up. (The reality is, a sales letter is actually much shorter than any of your one-on-one sales calls.)

Okay, so now you understand how these letters get so long. But what about the whole “you-don’t-read-them-or-your-ideal-clients-don’t-read-them?” Well, I have 2 reasons why that happens:

1. You’re not the ideal client. I don’t care how great or how poor the sales letter is, if you’re not the ideal client, you’re going to have very little interest in reading the letter. (And here’s the kicker — reading is a hypnotic activity, which means you don’t remember when you ARE reading but you DO remember when you don’t finish something. So you’re going to remember all those half-read sales letters much more clearly than the ones you actually finish.)

2. The sales letter is poorly written. This is probably even more common than the first one. Look, you can’t bore anyone into buying anything. And there are a lot of people who don’t understand the long-copy sales letter, so they simply throw a lot of words on the page and hope for the best. That is NOT how to write a sales letter. You need to connect with your ideal client and do it in such a way that they feel compelled to keep reading. A whole bunch of words ain’t going to make the sale (especially a whole bunch of boring words that don’t inspire anyone to do anything).

Bottom line — studies have shown over and over again that long-copy sales letters sell more then shorter sales letter. (Just as long as they’re well written.) So, even if you don’t completely understand it, don’t worry about it. Give your ideal clients what they want to make a decision to invest with you — a well-written, interesting long-copy sales letter.

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01.16.10

Is it possible to sell without being sales-y?

Posted in General at 8:25 am UTC by Michele PW

The short answer? Yes and no.

Now before you click away and say “boy that wasn’t helpful” let me explain what I meant.

Yes you CAN sell without feeling inauthentic or hype-y or like you need to take a shower. I regularly create copy that does this for myself and my clients. The trick is to connect with your ideal clients on a deep level (more on that in a moment).

But why I said no is because you STILL have to ask for the sale. There’s really no way to get around that. And depending on how sensitive you are, asking for the sale might still feel very uncomfortable for you.

Now, back to connecting to your ideal clients on a deep level. I’m going to be going into this topic in much more detail during Leesa Barnes’ Last Ever Social Media Telesummit (check out http://www.michelepw.com/sms2010 for more info) but let me give you a tip here to get you started.

Answer this question — in your ideal client’s words (not YOUR words, that’s the key here) — “what’s keeping your ideal client up at night and why?”

You may want to take some time and journal about it to really capture what your ideal client is thinking and feeling.

And if you want to learn more about this, make sure you check out Leesa Barnes’ Last Ever Social Media Summit — http://www.michelepw.com/sms2010. It’s starting this coming week. Would love to see you there!

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01.08.10

Business Success — Are You Playing to Win or Playing Not to Lose?

Posted in Business at 1:11 pm UTC by Michele PW

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You may have heard the phrase “playing to win or playing not to lose.” And while it sounds good to say “you’re playing to win” in your business, what exactly does that really mean?

Okay, well first off, let’s define these phrases. To me, playing to win means playing all out. Going for broke. Leaving nothing on the table. You’re putting everything out there to win and holding nothing back.

Playing not to lose means holding something back. Being conservative. Taking some of your chips off the table. Making sure if you don’t win, you minimize your losses.

Now is there a time for each of these? Of course. Playing not to lose makes a lot of sense in certain situations. Vegas for instance. Betting your retirement on a spin of the roulette wheel isn’t real bright. (Even if by some miraculous chance it works, it’s still not too bright.)

And if that’s the way you want to approach your business and your life (playing not to lose) then there’s nothing wrong with it. You can still be successful playing not to lose.

But typically, if that’s your approach, you’re not going to play as big as you could be. And you’re probably not going to make the kind of money you’re capable of.

So how do you know if you’re playing to win or playing not to lose? Well, here are a few signs.

Playing to win in your business:

* You take risks (and a lot of those risks other people just don’t “get”). Maybe you invest in a high end coaching program or mentorship. Maybe you decide to launch a product that looks on the outside to be a bad idea. Maybe you decide to expand and hire a team even though you really can’t afford it right now.

* You take advantage of opportunities even if they don’t appear to be a good idea on the surface.

* You turn down opportunities even if on the surface they look perfect. (Ah, didn’t think I’d say that, did you?)

* You make decisions from the place you want to be, not necessarily the place you’re at now. (Even if that’s a really scary place to be.)

Playing not to lose in your business:

* You make decisions based on what you can afford rather than what you need. Okay, a caveat here. I’m NOT saying you should spend your life savings or go into massive debt with no way of paying it off. What I AM saying is sometimes you have to take a risk. For instance, hiring team members. What happens a lot of time is you need the help desperately but you don’t quite have the cash flow. If you never take that first step and hire someone, even on a small basis, you’ll never free yourself up to start making more money.

* You’re ultra careful about the risks you take (or you don’t take risks at all)

* You probably aren’t marketing as much as you should be because deep down inside, you don’t want your business to grow very big (after all, you’d start to lose control of it if it did grow to big). Or you aren’t marketing as much because what if it doesn’t work? What if you make this big public splash with your marketing and it fails? It’s bad enough it doesn’t work but now everyone will know it.

* You don’t try a lot of new things — speaking, marketing, etc.

Now, I want to be clear. There’s nothing wrong with playing not to lose, but chances are you WILL be playing small. You’re going to miss opportunities to get your message and vision out in a big way. You’re not going to take chances where you might fall on your face (especially if you fall on your face in a public way).

But, if you decide to play to win, the rules change. Sure you might fall flat on your face in a public way. But you also could be growing a business that makes a huge difference in the world (not to mention makes you a handsome income to boot).

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01.03.10

Do those sales letters really need to be so long?

Posted in General at 9:46 pm UTC by Michele PW

Ah, this is THE number 1 question I get asked. “Do you really need all those words on a long sales letter? I never read those long sales letters, do they actually work?

The short answer is “yes.” (See, direct response copywriters CAN be brief.) And no, it’s not because I can charge all sorts of money the longer they get. It’s because yes, long sales letters actually make more sales than shorter ones.

Why do they work? Well, it’s because people have a lot of questions when they’re deciding whether to buy something or not. And if you don’t answer all those questions to their satisfaction they’re not going to plunk down the money.

Think of it this way. You’re on the phone with a prospective client. Let’s say it takes 30 minutes to explain what you’re selling so they feel comfortable enough to buy. Now imagine you’ve transcribed that 30 minute call. That’s at least 20 pages of text. 20 pages. And it’s only for one person. What about the next person? Sure some of the questions will be the same but there will also be different questions.

And, the more expensive product/service you’re selling, the more questions your prospective clients will have. And the longer on the phone you’ll be with them (hence longer copy). That’s why you see more copy for more expensive programs.

So when you look at it that way, sales letters are actually much shorter than you’d expect. You need to answer as many questions and overcome as many objections as possible for as many different prospects as possible. And using a sales letter you can probably do it more efficiently than being on the phone with them.

If you want to learn more about this along with other tips on how to write online copy that sells your brilliance so you make more money with less effort, then you need to join me on January 6. I’m going to be hosting a special Q&A call with my business partner Lisa Cherney, the Juicy Marketing Expert, answering all your questions.  (Just in time to start making money in 2010!) Here’s the link to learn more and reserve your space: http://bigmoneyonlinesecrets.com

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12.26.09

How do you write sales letters so they don’t sound so hype-y?

Posted in General at 8:52 am UTC by Michele PW

As a direct response copywriter this is a question I get asked a lot. And I completely get it. After all, so many sales letters and emails sound so inauthentic and hype-y, (not to mention just plain badly written) why WOULD you want to sound like them?

So how do you write a sales letter that doesn’t sound hype-y and yet still makes you money? The answer is actually very simple – you need to make a connection with your ideal clients.

You see, the more you connect with what’s keeping your ideal clients’ up at night, the more you provide a solution to that, the more you speak to your ideal clients in their language and talk to them about issues that concern them, the more persuasive your sales letters and emails will be. Best yet, they also won’t sound hype-y because you’ll be connecting to them on a deeper level then just screaming things like “make more money” or “lose 100 pounds in a month.”

If you want to learn more about this along with other tips on how to write online copy that sells your brilliance so you make more money with less effort, then you need to join me on January 6. I’m going to be hosting a special Q&A call with my business partner Lisa Cherney, the Juicy Marketing Expert, answering all your questions.  (Just in time to start making money in 2010!) Here’s the link to learn more and reserve your space: http://bigmoneyonlinesecrets.com

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12.24.09

What Ohio State Football can Teach You About Your Business

Posted in Business at 1:49 pm UTC by Michele PW

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If you follow college football, you’ve probably run across Ohio State a time or two. Their football program is very old and very prestigious.

But I’m still cringing at the thought of watching them get beaten by Oregon at the Rose Bowl. (Yes I’m fairly certain they’ll lose although I do hope I’m wrong.) As a Big Ten fan, I’m really tired of watching Ohio State get hammered in these big, national games.

(Of course, if MY team, the Wisconsin Badgers, would ever actually beat them in conference, maybe all of this would be different but I digress.)

For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Why did Ohio State win so darn many games only to consistently embarrass the Big Ten in big out-of-conference games? Jim Tressel is an excellent coach. Isn’t he?

Well, this year I finally got my answer. Yes Jim Tressel is an excellent coach. But he plays not to lose. He doesn’t play to win.

And that, my friends, is why he loses the big games. Because those teams come to win. And Tressel is coming not to lose. (And that’s why he’s probably gong to lose to Oregon at the Rose Bowl because Oregon has been playing to win all season.)

So what exactly does it mean to play not to lose? Well it means playing very conservatively. You punt the ball rather than going for it on 4th and short. You go for the field goal rather than the touchdown. You build very strong defenses. You commit very few penalties. You have a very well coached team.

It also means you don’t take chances. You don’t have quarterbacks that heave the ball down the field in broken plays that can result in an interception or an 80-yard touchdown. You also don’t win a lot of shootouts. And if your game plan isn’t working, you don’t have a lot of options because winging it isn’t something you do.

And you’re also pretty uninteresting to watch. (Sorry Buckeye fans but it’s true.)

Now, can you win games playing not to lose? Absolutely. Tressel has a very respectable record. (Much better than my Badgers.) He’s won the Big Ten Title nearly every year.

The problem happens when he gets to the big games. Now I’m not a coach nor did I ever play football but I do watch a lot of it and here’s what I think happens. If you’re not able to prevent Ohio from executing their game plan, you’re toast. If Ohio can execute their game plan, they’re going to do it very well and probably beat you.

But, if you throw a wrench in that game plan, if you throw them off, well then Ohio has a problem. They’re not good at improvising nor do they take chances. And if you don’t take a chance, especially when the chips are down, you’re probably not going to win those games.

So what about you? Are you playing not to lose or are you playing to win? Sure you can do well playing not to lose, but you’re never going to play as big of a game as you could be. Play to win, sure you might fall on your face from time to time but you’ll probably end up playing bigger than you ever thought possible.

So what does it mean to play to win or play not to lose? I’ll talk about that more in next week’s article.

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12.15.09

What’s your biggest question about how to write online copy that sells your brilliance so you make more money with less effort?

Posted in General at 9:02 am UTC by Michele PW

Well it’s that time of year again where we spend time putting together our goals for the new year. One of my goals is to help as many entrepreneurs as possible reach THEIR financial goals. So, in order to help you better, I’d love to get your response to this question:

What’s your biggest question about how to write online copy that sells your brilliance so you make more money with less effort?

Click here to let me know your question: http://budurl.com/JOMEB

And, on January 6, I’m going to be hosting a special Q&A call with my business partner Lisa Cherney, the Juicy Marketing Expert, answering all your questions.  (Just in time to start making money in 2010!)

It will only take a few minutes of your time, I’d love to get your feedback. Here’s that link again:

Click here to let me know your question: http://budurl.com/JOMEB

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12.07.09

When Bad Things Happen to Good Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

Posted in General, PodCast at 9:58 am UTC by Michele PW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

It’s an unfortunate fact of life (and business). Out of the blue you get a nasty email from someone. Sometimes it’s about an article you’ve written. Sometimes it’s accompanied by a refund request. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it’s tied to anything at all.

Or maybe you discover someone writing malicious things about you on a blog or a forum. Or maybe some other negative things suddenly start getting tweeted or posted to Facebook about you, your products or your business.

Stuff happens. As a business owner and entrepreneur, the more successful you become, the more you open yourself up to criticism, negative feedback or just plain being attacked.

As someone who is both a writer AND a business owner, I know all about what happens when you’re dealing with unwelcome criticism. (I write fiction so yes, I’ve dealt with my share of negative feedback.) But if this is something new for you, or even if it’s not new but you’re feeling like you’ve just been sucker-punched by something out of the blue, I thought I’d share a few insights to help you get through it.

1. Know you’re not alone. We’ve ALL been there. And I mean exactly that. It doesn’t matter how small or big your business is, stuff like this is going to happen. So know that no matter what just happened to you, there are a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners out there who will both sympathize and emphasize.

2. See it for what it is. All criticism is not created equally. Sometimes what someone is saying has absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with their own issues. Sometimes they have a legitimate complaint but the person is so unhappy with their own life they blow it completely out of portion because they just want to strike out at someone and you’re the one they picked.

And sometimes they have a legitimate beef AND they handled it fine, but you just didn’t want to hear it. An example of this is some of the criticism I’ve gotten from some of my stories. The people were thoughtful and absolutely right. And I hated them. (Until I got over myself and slunk back to the keyboard to make the edits.)

Now the third option doesn’t happen too often (unless you’re a fiction writer) but the first two do. You just have to see it for what it is. If there’s something buried in the anger and name-calling you can use to improve your products, services or business, by all means use it. But know the rest of it has absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.

(And you’ll know when the criticism is right. Trust me. Your gut will tell you.)

3. Be kind to yourself. When these things happen, it can hurt. And that’s okay. Call a friend. Or better yet, your mother (if you can). Write about it in your journal. Take a walk. Don’t bury your feelings, let yourself feel bad and then let it go. Don’t tell yourself it doesn’t matter and let it fester inside you, deal with it. Get it out of you. And then let it go.

4. Let someone else deal with these things. Whenever possible, have someone else in your business be a filter for stuff like this. Let other people take care of refund requests or just read the nasty emails and they can decide if there’s a legitimate complaint buried in there or not. Protect yourself, there’s no need for you to see everything or deal with everything. Yes you’ll have to step in if something big happens, but let other people take care of the small stuff. The small stuff is what wears you down anyway. Save yourself for the big things and don’t worry about the rest.

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