Alicia's Plog

8 Ways to Grow Your Business During a Summer Lull

Have things slowed down for your business now that the warmer months are upon us and people are on vacation or otherwise taking a break from their usual routines? Use this downtime to focus on getting your business ready to rock for the fall by implementing some of the 8 ideas below:

1. Evaluate your staffing needs.

If you haven't hired an assistant yet, whether that's a virtual assistant, an in-person assistant, or a combination of the two, now is a great time to do so. Begin by creating your ideal profile of what you want your assistant to look like, and then start putting out feelers to your networks about exactly what you're looking for in an assistant.

Once you've found the right person for you, the summer months are a great time to train someone so they are up to speed come the busier fall months.

If you already have help, take some time to evaluate their performance. This includes taking a look not just at your current assistant(s) but also any outside vendors you work with, like your web designer, your shopping cart system, your list service, or your copywriter.

If you're finding their work to not be meeting your needs and expectations, follow the same process as you did for hiring an assistant. Start with creating the ideal profile of who you're looking for and then put that information out to your networks for recommendations.

Increase Your Bottom Line by Hiring Help

Do you do everything yourself when it comes to running your business? Or are you like I used to be and find it difficult to delegate to others, at least sometimes? Do you think you don't have the money to hire help? Well, I'm going to show you how hiring help can help increase your bottom line dramatically.

Not delegating is one of the major hurdles my private clients seem to struggle with. They are doing everything themselves and are so busy with the little administrative things that they have little time to devote to their "genius" work - developing products and services for their niche and working directly with their clients. Once they've hired help, either a virtual assistant or an in-office assistant, and move through the growing pains of delegating and trusting that the work will get done (and might even get done faster and better than they could do it themselves), I can always sense a feeling of freedom and excitement as the space opens up for them to work on the things that are really creative and inspiring to them, instead of dealing with invoices or fixing a glitch with their web page. And very soon after, their business really starts to move forward because they have the time and focus to dedicate to increasing their product and services line, which, of course, translates into more profits.

5 Simple Steps to a Website that Makes Sales

Is your website producing leads for you or is it just sitting out there in cyberspace looking pretty? Obviously, you want your website to work for you to generate leads and make sales, not just be a pretty brochure for your business.

Here are 5 simple ways you can make your website make more sales for you.

1. A Professional Look

It needs to LOOK professional - which is different than it being created by a professional (although that is certainly an option). By looking professional, I mean that there are NO ADS, especially anything that flashes, jumps around, or otherwise looks like a casino.

2. A Way For Prospects to Contact You

You want to make sure you give your visitors a way to contact you, preferably in the upper top right corner or sidebar on the left - but still above the fold (no scrolling down to try to find out how to hire you!). Include your dedicated email address* and your business phone number. Add a physical address at the bottom of your page to solidify your existence.

*You need to have a dedicated email address - which means that your email is something like alicia@clientabundance.com and not allyoop@yahoo.com. A dedicated email address comes with your web host. Follow their instructions on how to set one up.

You don't want a potential client slipping away because he or she can't locate your email address or phone number.

From the Universe....

It's a clear, calm morning here at the lake - mostly blue sky with promises of a great day ahead - yeah! :)

Every morning I get a message from the Universe from www.tut.com - some of them are profound, most of them make me think, usually they make me smile, and sometimes they make me laugh out loud... here's one from earlier this week:

I said, "Yes!" Alicia, when you first thought of "it".

"Now!" when you first asked.

And, "Hallelujah! So be it! Coming right up!" when you first gave thanks in advance...

Believing in you,
    The Universe

It's reminded me that I can 'place my order' with the Universe whenever I want and it will move mountains to make things happen for me - if I come from a place of gratitude and abundance. It's been a good reminder for me as of late, as I've been more anxious and overwhelmed than usual so I've been having a bit of a hard time relaxing and leaning into the easiness of everyday here that could be mine... so no more! I'm breathing deep and letting the peace and calm of this quiet morning wash over me and I will let my gratitude for being here color every moment forward.

What are you giving thanks for in advance?

cheers,
~ A

At the lake...

Well, we are finally settled into our cottage at the lake and are very happy to be here... breathing that fresh NH air, feeling that warm sun... oh wait, there's no sun - not yet anyway - we've had rain for the last few days, but it's been fine really. We spent most of yesterday unpacking and putting in the sailboat (she's docked right next to me :)), and early this morning, I stocked up on groceries while James is off getting odds and ends for the house and the boat this afternoon. Chloe's sleeping peacefully and our local loon has already been by to say hello... so when the sun does make its appearance (supposedly tomorrow), we'll be more than ready for it!

At the moment, the rain is holding off so I'm sitting on the dock, enjoying the view and doing some writing for myself and for a client. When Chloe wakes up, if it's not raining, we'll take a swim and play on our beach here until dinner... even on a cloudy day - it's still wonderful to be here.

Hope you're enjoying wherever you are at the moment, too :)

Cheers,
~ A

10 Ways to Earn More, Work Less, and Enjoy Your Summer

If you're anything like me, you start looking forward to summer as soon as the calendar flips to a new year. Take advantage of summer's slower pace and people's more casual attitudes and plan to not only take time off but to make some money while you do!

1. Commit to your vacation time.
If you haven't already scheduled a break for this summer, stop reading this right now and do so! Even if you don't have plans to go away or if your budget is tight, I strongly encourage you to put at least a long weekend break into your calendar now - and then make sure you do anything you want for those few days - EXCEPT work. You'll come back to your business refreshed and recharged. You know you will and you know you need it.

2. Have a summer sale.
Are there some products or programs in your funnel that you could offer a summer discount on? I'd be willing to bet there's at least one. Kick off the summer season by offering your prospects a special deal on one or more of your offerings.

3. Make a special offer to your current clients and customers.
Summer's a great time to give your current clients and customers a special deal. For example, if they've already purchased something from you at the first level of your funnel, offer them a special deal for investing in an additional offering of yours, maybe at the next higher-priced level of your funnel.

So, if they've already spent $50 on one of your products, offer them a $50 discount towards another of your offerings.