We made those up ourselves, we’re not just copying the whole Buddhist Zen koan thing, I promise. Paradox must’ve been in the spiritual morphic field at the time.

This leads me to today’s paradoxical curve ball, “giving more by giving less.” Instead of an article, I’m just giving you three links.

Link Number One: The Toolkit

Recently we’ve been inspired by something Dave Navarro, the Launch Coach, has done. He created a library of workbooks just to give away for free. You don’t have to sign up for anything, you can just have’em.

He relies on the quality of what he’s giving to inspire folks to sign up for his weekly newsletter. I love the sense of freedom and trust he brings to this process.

So, like any good business would do, we’re copying him. We’re launching our Business Heart Toolkit with a workbook and an audio. We’ll add more over time, and if you’re subscribed, you’ll hear about it.

And yes, please share the Toolkit link far and wide. We’d love for lots of folks to get help from it.

The Business Heart Toolkit

Link Number Two: The Nitty Gritty Heart

A few years ago I was at a workshop in California, and I was having lunch with another participant, who happens to be a very successful and somewhat well-known author and business teacher. He confided in me that he taught his clients strategy but didn’t know how to talk about or teach the spirituality he used in his own business without scaring those clients off.

Since then I’ve noticed that there are MANY successful business people who aren’t necessarily known for their spiritual approach, even if they aren’t hiding it under a rock, and yet have a profound relationship to spirit in their every day work in business.

I believe this is an untold story. You can watch and emulate really successful business people, but if you don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes spiritually for them, you may miss out the juiciest part of what they have to teach.

Thus the Nitty Gritty Heart interview series. I’m seeking out folks who are known to be successful and getting them to talk about how they integrate the numbers and details of business with the non-linear Divine wisdom of spirit. The interviews are shortish, 20-30 minutes and revolve around three deceptively simple questions.

So far I’ve published two of these. I’ll let you know as more are released:

Interview Number One: Pam Slim, Escape from Cubicle Nation
Interview Number Two: Matthew Ray Scott, Strategic Incubator

Upcoming Events

Just a reminder that on March 19 I’ll be speaking at Andrea J. Lee’s “Wealthy Thought Leader” event and she has a “Live-Via-Video” option if it’s too late notice for you to get yourself to Vancouver, British Columbia.

Then March 25-26 I’ll be teaching our two-day Sacred Moment seminar, to help you learn how to craft offers, price them, and then enroll clients without manipulation or hype. Yes, the sales conversation can carry as much sacredness as the product or service you offer.

And just like we’re copying Dave, we’re working hard to copy Andrea. We’re seeing if we can offer a Live-Via-Video option for our seminar as well. More on this if it comes to pass.

Click here to read about the seminar. And click here to listen to the recording of the Sacred Moment preview call I did.

p.s. Need hands-on help in your business?

We have two fabulous practitioners, Jason and Judy, ready to roll up their sleeves and work with you. Check out the Organic Business Development Program, there you can read about both Judy and Jason to see which one your heart clicks with. And then talk to one of them—they want to help you fly.

There are many nice and wonderful things to say here, including how humbled I am when this kind of connection happens. But we’re talking about search engines, Google, and your business, so let’s focus there.

It’s a wonderful thing, eh? Someone you’ve never met, who you’ve never reached out to or put much effort into finding, finds you through their own efforts using a search engine. Voilá! You have a new client.

The magic that makes this happen more often and more dependably comes with something called “Search Engine Optimization” or “SEO” for short. You, or someone you hire, takes the time and energy to optimize the language and coding on your website so you pop up in other people’s search results. They click through, fall in love, and become your client without any other effort on your part. Pretty nifty.

When you have a new business, or an older business that until recently has done well with word-of-mouth and referrals newly visible on the web, the lure of SEO can be strong, appear so magical.

You don’t have to get in anyone’s face.
You don’t have to do awkward networking meetings.
You don’t have to be perfect.

It’s all done through a machine-like intermediary.

Although it may sound good, I have to admit, I don’t recommend folks spend much money on SEO early in their business.

(Short break while all the SEO experts whip me with wet spaghetti strands.)

Am I Trashing SEO?

No. I’m not. I’m just saying it has a time and a place. Putting a lot of effort and money into SEO early on in your micro-business is not necessarily the best option.

I tend to work at the opposite end of the spectrum. People have been telling me for years to get on the SEO bandwagon, and I’ve “been meaning” to get to it for that long. I do know folks who have invested in SEO and seen results. It can work like the dickens.

It can also cost like the dickens.

I guess I haven’t really pursued it because we’re overwhelmed, waiting for the Tooth Fairy to do our SEO for us, doing pretty well with what we’re doing. And what has been working so well, Mr. Heart of Business, you ask?

The Generosity of Happy Customers and Colleagues

When someone comes through a Google search, all she has to make a decision about your offers is her trust in Google providing a relevant link and the strength of your written words. Sometimes that can work magic, if the moment is right for her.

But when someone comes as a referral, it carries so much more weight. Having someone she trusts lead her to your website can allow her to look beyond the occasional weak or unclear spot in your writing. Someone who loves her telling her to go to the site and sign up for the newsletter” may just cause her to follow that advice, without looking around too much.

This gives you some room to focus your attention on making sure your website is warm, welcoming, and clear. You can write with the idea that many of the people will come to you because someone told them directly, or because they clicked through on a link from someone they like, respect, or otherwise trust.

Which Is Easier For You?

If a good friend of mine showed up with someone I should meet, I’d have a much easier time speaking to them both than if a stranger showed alone on my doorstep. I can do both, but the first situation seems a little more natural, doesn’t it?

I’m more relaxed, and so are my visitors. It makes for a much pleasanter conversation.

Which Is Exactly What Happens For Us

When someone joins our email list, we ask them to give us one additional piece of information beyond their name and email. We ask them: “How did you hear about us?” By and large, people tell us.

Here are how ten randomly picked subscribers found us recently:

How: [name] (Meaning they wrote in someone’s name, but we don’t want to publish that name without permission.)
How: Friend referred me
How: a colleague
How: Biznik (A business networking site we participate on.)
How: My partner
How: My friend [name] is using your workbook and shared the link via Google Wave
How: I received the link from a friend who bought your book
How: I don’t remember! Sorry!
How: [link to a blog post] (There was an actual link. Strangely, the link didn’t mention us at all, but we were on that person’s list of blogs they read, aka the blogroll on the sidebar.)
How: Through Havi’s web site (www.thefluentself.com)

Ten subscribers on this particular day and not a single one came through a search engine. Of course, if we had great SEO, maybe we would’ve had 15 or 20 subscribers, or even more. And that’s why we should do SEO. (Okay! Okay! We’ll do SEO! In 2010…)

But it’s also why it’s not strictly necessary. If we never did SEO, we would do just fine. And you’ll be just fine, too.

What to Do Instead of SEO

As I mentioned above, instead of SEO, focus on making your website warm, welcoming and clear. And the way to do that is to focus on how you’re using your words, both in what you’re saying and how you’re saying it.

Make the conversation with your web visitor comfortable. To do that, you can adopt a few methods that good conversationalists use. And by “good” I mean people enjoy speaking with them.

• They listen.
• They ask questions.
• When they do tell stories, they make sure they are relevant to who is there.
• They notice people’s moods and respond to them.

Entire forests have been felled (oh, the trees!) to print all that’s been written about healthy communication. But let me hit some key points.

Keys to Organic Referrals

• Listen to your clients.

When your clients and customers tell you about their pain or struggle, listen. Notice the language they use. Do they say, “I need to transform this block in my relationship?” Or do they say, “I just wish we could put this constant, gut-wrenching arguing behind us?”

Often our clients say things, offer insight into how they perceive their situations, that have a lot of vitality and oomph to them, things that hit you in the kishkes. Our challenge as business owners is to use what they say in our marketing copy without taking all the oomph out.

Make note of the phrases they use that just pow, hit you in the oompher. Then use that language exactly, or nearly exactly, on your website.

• Talk about yourself. But not too much.

If you feel the desire to describe yourself and what you do, think twice. Ask, “Do I just need to write, or would someone visiting the website sincerely want to know this about me, or what I do, right now?”

You may notice that you can get away with saying a lot less than you think you need to. I learned this recently when my nine year-old niece asked a question about God and the devil. I had to bite my tongue to keep from going off on a long esoteric explanation. Instead just answer the question she asked.

Nine year-olds, as well as potential clients, get bored easily when there’s a lot of information that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with what they are asking. Sure, you may see the relevance. But if they don’t, or if it takes more than a few moments to make that relevance clear, they’ll get bored and wander off to go play archeological dig in the backyard with the kids from next door.

• Answer a lot of client questions. A lot of them.

Our website is full of answers to little questions our clients ask. Not questions about us, but questions about the problems we help to solve. When a client likes an answer, they sometimes send people they know who are asking the same question.

And don’t just answer the question, be a little daring. Have strong opinions like, new businesses shouldn’t spend money on SEO. Show your personality by writing sentences with phrases like “hit you in the oompher.” Make your writing more than helpful, make it memorable and personal.

The Funny Thing That Happens

As you do these three things–using your client’s expressions of the problems you help them with, talking about yourself and your services only as they relate to what people want to know, and answering lots of questions–not only do you get referrals, but you  also get Google juice in the form of organic Search Engine Optimization.

That’s right. Unadulterated content has its own kind of clout with search engines. Organic Google juice squeezes out of all the authentic, client-centered, heart-centered website copy you write helping you rise up higher on search results.

Here’s how some other subscribers found us:

How: googling
How: search engine
How: searching for “mastermind”
How: search for “money and heart”
How: internet search about money and spirituality
How: I searched for home page solutions
How: Through Internet

If you are new or struggling as a self-employed person or have a super-small business, please don’t spend gobs of money you don’t have on SEO. By writing to and about the folks you’re helping, you’ll get some of that good stuff anyway.

When you have more clients and are making more money, you can procrastinate hiring an SEO person like we have. Except don’t do the procrastination part.

p.s. Free call today: You’ve Got One Year, Go!

It’s no secret that the early-bird deadline for Opening the Moneyflow year-long course is coming up. Over half the spots are definitely taken, and we have a whole group of eager-beavers with their applications in that we’re still working through. If everyone who applied ends up joining, 45 out of 60 seats will be gone.

But “everybody else is doing it” is not a good reason to jump in. That’s why I’m doing a no-cost call on “You’ve Got One Year: Go!” I intend to outline why we’ve put together our year-long program as we have.

Yes, it’s to help you consider taking the year-long course. But it’s also to help you think through how to structure this next year so your business has a good chance of moving toward momentum, even if you don’t spend the year with us.

The no-cost teleclass is going to be mostly content, with a small chunk of time devoted to pitching the program. If you think you can gain some benefit from listening, please feel free to register for the call even if you have zero intention of joining us for the year.

Check out the details and sign up.

And while you’re at it, check out the Opening the Moneyflow program itself, if you’re so inclined.

Confession time: we’ve been selling a lot recently. If you’ve been reading this newsletter over the last weeks, you may feel similarly to the reader who asked, “Can you tone it down a bit? Love your offers, but just a little less.” A few echoing sentiments have been less polite.

I wanted to let you know that I’ve been having the same “errr errr” in my heart, and thinking “We’re on an overdone edge here.” And I wanted to talk openly about how and why this has been happening. As always, there have been lessons we’re learning as a result, which means there are lessons to offer. I also want give you a heads up about the rest of the year and ask for your help and advice.

Some People Say You Can’t Sell Too Much

When I asked folks for feedback on Twitter about our promotional schedule, some told me, “Hey, you can’t sell too much.” “People who are upset wouldn’t have bought from you anyway.” “You’re just thinning the herd.”

These were people of integrity, not quick-buck sleazy marketers. However, as comforting as those answers were intended to be, they didn’t have the “clunk of truth” in my heart.

Many people with big hearts, you included perhaps, are nervous about promoting at all. Not because of being shy. Not because of fear of sales.

I believe it’s because you sense what I sense–that there is a line you can go over, and you don’t have an accurate way to judge where that line is. The stakes are too high in your heart, around integrity, generosity and caring, to risk crossing it.

Had we gone over that line?

Where Is The Line?

My father had an email list of 7000 people for the family retail store, and he would send out three emails a week. Three sales emails a week promoting products. People loved it and it brought in customers in droves.

If we did that, we’d maybe have three people left subscribing–Kate, me, and my wife Holly. Although I don’t think Holly would be reading them.

What I’m saying is that there is no hard-and-fast rule about where the line is. You just have to listen.

Your Heart’s Ringtone

Despite the umpteen promotions I’ve run over the years, I still get nervous before clicking “send” on an email promotion. I also hear that even veteran actors are still susceptible to stage fright before walking out into the spotlight.

Popular wisdom encourages you to face your fear and let it go, but I think for me that nervousness is healthy. It means my heart recognizes that there is something at stake, that it matters. That what I do affects people. That what you do affects people

Although that initial fear is not your heart, it is your heart’s ringtone. Are you going to pick up and listen?

Louder and Louder

Over the last few months that ring tone has been getting louder. And I keep picking up and listening. At first, and for quite awhile, it was just my usual nervousness before a launch, and checking in with my heart allowed me to settle into clarity and ease.

But more recently a different message has been coming through. The message of “enough.” I’m tired of asking and want to be giving more.

When people I trusted and liked, people I had personal connections to, started giving feedback of “too much” that was one signal. Another was the  qualitative difference in the message in my heart. The fear of being on stage I’m all-too-familiar with. This was different. I wasn’t feeling scared or unnerved, but rather feeling a quiet certainty in my heart. “Enough.”

This listening is so important. Sometimes fear signals the opposite message of the truth. Sometimes it points you right at the exact message of the truth. But the fear is not the messenger you want to follow.

When you hear the ringtone of fear, take a breath. Stop. Remember the Divine, that love is always available, and that you’re okay. And then pick up and listen.

For me, the message was this: “Enough.”

There’s a problem, however. The business is on a track we can’t easily get off.

When Heart and Business Collide

You see, we’ve been wanting to change the focus of our business model for awhile. In the last several years, I’ve been accustomed to offering an intimate, small-group six-month program, and not selling a whole lot else in between, so there was a lot of spaciousness between.

This year it became really clear in our hearts to reach more people. That meant no small groups. Starting at mid-year we began offering larger sized classes over fewer weeks and at lower prices. This shift in structure and presentation has been fantastic. I’m so glad we’ve done it.

Obviously, the courses haven’t been lasting six months. They’ve lasted six or eight weeks. So suddenly this year we, and you, found ourselves in a much shorter promotional cycle.

I can assure you that 2010 will be different. For one, we will have a year-long program for those who are interested. For another, we’re planning how to do it all a differently. For a third, I’m getting past the brand-new-parent overwhelm thing.

That said, we do have more offers coming down the pike for the rest of this year, and we just can’t not offer them. My question is how to follow through with our offers while honoring you and honoring what my heart is saying?

Following my heart message of “Enough,” the one I shared with you at the beginning, came one of those noggin knocking suggestions from my gentle amazing friend Martin Rutte [www.martinrutte.com]. He asked, “Why don’t you just tell people what’s going on?”

Of course.

So let me wrap this up by telling you one thing we do to keep promotions from going over the line, one big mistake I made, and one request of you all.

Keys to Stopping Short of the Selling Line

• Make promotional emails super clear.

There is a school of thought that says make the promotional emails look like your newsletters, so people will read them. I hate that.

Every Wednesday the weekly article goes out with the subject line “Business Heart: Title of Article.” Our promotional emails don’t have that. Plus, in the first line or two of the email itself, I mention the name of the offer.

I do this explicitly so that if you’re not interested you can just delete it quickly, without feeling as if you’ve been “suckered” into reading a promotional email. At the same time if you are interested, you don’t miss any deadlines.

• The mistake–didn’t use the opt-in list.

I ran the No More Square Wheels teleclass as a way of gauging interest in the subject. I also made it explicit that I was going to promote the class through that opt-in list.

Then I forgot. I did. I sent out a few emails to that list, but then proceeded to send all of the promotional emails out to the general list. The original idea was to do the opposite– a few to the general list, and more to the opt-in list.

You could say I was being an evil marketer just manipulating you. But in reality, I just goofed up. Gah.

Don’t do that.

• Our request for your advice:

We do have a few more offers planned for the rest of the year:

- The home study version of the current course–Heart of Business Momentum.
- Our year-long program, which starts in January.
- A soft re-launch of the Business Oasis, which has received a face-lift.
- Our usual end-of-the-year product promotions.

Four things, and only three more months. The things we’re doing to listen to the “enough” voice include: the Oasis is actually a “soft” launch–meaning we’re mentioning it, but we’re not pushing it in any kind of campaign. And the home study promotion and the end-of-year product promotions will be relatively short, one or two weeks each, maximum.

My request for your advice comes in two parts: What would you do if you were in our shoes? What would feel good to you as one of our readers?

These are purposefully open-ended questions. We’re eager to listen to any and all sincere feedback.

Read on to learn how Jim and I are developing heart-centered sales and marketing for Livin Spoonful.

My client, Jim, is using cold calling as his main strategy for growing his organic food products business, Livin’ Spoonful. He’s contacting health food retailers who might be a good fit for carrying his line of gluten-free crackers.

It’s a good strategy, because it’s extremely direct, and for the most part Jim is hitting his new account objectives.

Recently, Jim and I had an interesting meeting on whether there was room for refining his approach. We discovered something very interesting.

After we finished doing a role play where I pretended to be a prospective account, I told my client that for the most part he did a fine job. He established rapport and credibility pretty quickly into the call, and I was ready to order a sample by the time we hung up.

But something was missing. What was it?

I asked Jim to tell me about cold-call situations in which he was wildly successful. The common denominator was a raving fan somewhere in the picture: someone who had sent him leads or had already spoken to someone at the store.

So the most successful calls weren’t purely cold calls, they were actually a bit warm, because someone who loved Livin’ Spoonful products had created a heart-centered connection in advance of Jim’s call.

So how can Jim create the conditions that inspire raving fans to help Livin’ Spoonful sales?

The “ah ha” comes in understanding what needs are being met by the raving fan.

Because in every way, it always comes down to how your business meets its customer or client needs.

Customers become raving fans for a couple reasons:

1. They get to look good. When you turn others onto a wonderful product or service, you get to be a little bit of a rockstar: the guy or gal “in the know.”
2. They get to share in something larger than themselves.

Reason #1 is common to all raving fans. It’s a little ego trip, and we all need little ego trips now and then, especially when it produces wins for everyone: the person making the referral, the seller, and the new customer.

Reason #2 is less common, because most businesses don’t do much in the way of communicating their larger mission or vision.

Jim is a business owner who DOES have a big vision for how Livin; Spoonful makes a difference in the world. He sees producing food that tastes delicious and is good for you as a way to heal people’s relationship with food.

And most of the stores Jim sells his product to share his vision or at least share his values.

This means if you are a raving fan of Livin’ Spoonful, you get to be part of something very large and profound. It is a heart-based, spiritual connection, whatever your faith.

The lesson for Jim and I is this: finding ways to communicate what your business stands for is incredibly important in the most practical of marketing activities.

Jim and I are still working on the “how” in how this will show up in the way he manages cold calls, but nevertheless a big breakthrough for us both.

The first is Trisha Cupra, who I’ve known for years, despite our being on opposite sides of the world. If you’ve been around for a few months you may have noticed a sudden change in the email newsletter from all-text and butt-ugly to beautiful, formatted, and easy-to-read.

She’s the one who designed the newsletter, made it work, and continues to help us get it out every week. Plus, she’s been helping with a variety of other design and web-based projects with more to come.

I shouldn’t tell you about her, because if she gets too busy and doesn’t have time for us we’d be lost. But the greater good wins. If you need a website makeover, design, or html newsletter created with someone who also offers clear, responsible communication, hire Trisha-while you still can. Visit her site at Blue Owl Web Design.

The second is Judy Murdoch. Judy has been around for quite awhile, too. She’s been a client and participant in nearly every program we’ve offered over the last few years, including a beta train-the-trainer program we ran earlier this year.

She’s now an official Heart of Business practitioner, working with clients, helping them get their business going. She has a passion for and speciality in creating heart-centered information products. Watch for her offering a course on the topic next year in our 12-month business development program that we haven’t announced to the world yet, except I just did.

Judy is working with individual clients, but she can only handle so many at a time. If you’re needing the particular flavor of help that Heart of Business provides, then I recommend having a conversation with her. Check out her offer. fill out the form, and talk to her. You’ll be happy you did.

And now, on to our regularly scheduled program…

The Article: More on Class Filling, or, Is It Worth Selling?

Last week I delved into “Another Way to Fill A Class,” comparing having a longer promotion campaign to building up anticipation and having a very short buying window.

But what if your stuff doesn’t sell at all? One reader asked this question:

“Hey Mark! Have another request I’d like your thoughts on. I agree that building a product, program or business to sell out at big bucks takes lots of care and feeding over a long period of time, but not all ideas are worth that investment in time.

“I see lots of wonderfully heart centered folks who so sincerely want to make a difference in people’s lives, create products that aren’t going to sell no matter what they do or how long they do it because there’s no market.

“My motto has become (after operating in that fashion for way too long) ‘test fast and build slowly.’ I take the guidance that’s coming through, test it quickly, and then decide whether it’s worth developing.

“How do you advise clients about when to persistently pursue and when to bail? There is a time for each, but how does one decide?

Susan
http://www.newnichefinder.com“

It’s so true. There are offers that just won’t sell no matter how you jiggle with the price, how much compelling copy you write, or how many people you offer it to.

Putting a lot of time and effort into an offer like that is really painful, so it’s good to know ahead of time whether it is marketable. But… how do you know?

The answer is relatively easy, and Susan wrote it herself up above: “test fast and build slowly.” What often sabotages our ability to do what is sensible is subscribing to the business mantra “think big.” Don’t think big. Think small.

It’s really easy to have big dreams. I’ve heard so many people who have a goal of “being on Oprah” or “owning a retreat center” or “reaching a million people.”

Whoa, People. Why Such Big Goals?

In your chest there’s a war going on. It’s the war between the ego, who wants to control things so it can feel safe, and your heart, which wants to be humble and of service. Of course, someone whose heart has won over their ego can have a huge impact, and there are plenty of examples of that.

Well, maybe not plenty of examples. But, still, there are some. Consider Nelson Mandela. Consider the Dalai Lama. Consider Mother Teresa. One thing they each had in common: None of them really started with a global vision. They all started small.

It turns out that the vision they were each involved in ended up having a global impact. But that wasn’t their aim. They were just focused on being of service to what was in front of them, to the immediate and strategic (yes, strategic) needs of the people and issues they were working for.

The paths they were on happened to lead to big places. But they didn’t aim for it, at least not at first.

Each Rung of the Ladder Leads to the Next Rung

I’m about to speak “motivational-business-coach” heresy. But it’s okay, because I’m not motivational, and I’m not a coach. But anyway, on to the heresy.

If you are small fry, and I consider myself “small fry” just as a point of comparison, let go of your big dreams. Let go. Ease your grip on visions of fame and fortune, or of impact and Oprah. Loosen your fingers and breathe.

Instead of a million people, would you be okay if you helped a few hundred or a thousand people? Good. Deep breath. Let that in.

Once you get there, we can talk about 5,000 to 10,000 people. But not before.

Now You’re Ready

Suddenly, the stakes aren’t so high. If you have an offer that you are considering, before you try to network across the known universe and create some big launch that might never sell, try it on a small scale.

Say, five people. Can you get five people to buy an individual, one-on-one, custom version of whatever it is you’re developing? Can you sell it to them as a beta, fitting it to them?

Once those five people are happy, can you then create a packaged, off-the-shelf version of the same thing and sell it to a few dozen people? Maybe a class. Maybe a product. Maybe just leading 24 people individually through your program or offer.

Then, you’re looking for three things.

1. People are loving it. I mean loving it. I mean ga-ga over it. Well, they shouldn’t worship it as an idol, that would be bad karma anyway, but you want them to really dig it.

This means that you have the possibility of having a larger number of raving fans, which increases word-of-mouth referrals, which can make you successful at that next rung of the ladder when you broaden your reach.

A classic story here is about the birth of the Post-It Note. Someone at the 3M company was experimenting with low-adhesive glues and created a small number of pads with a bit of the glue on one end. He gave it out to a few people, who loved it. Loved it. Couldn’t get enough of them. Begged for more.

That’s a good sign, people begging for more. Look for that. If, on the other hand, people don’t want any more after they’ve had the first taste and instead respond with a bland statement like “Oh yeah, that was nice; I’m all set for now, thanks,” then something may be missing from your offer.

2. You’ve identified who really needs it. As you work with folks, you’ll no doubt discover that some people do really well with it, and some people do kinda okay with it. And some people really, really need it, and that it makes a big difference in their lives.

Who are those people? How do they talk about the problem it solves? How do they identify themselves? What communities or groups do they belong to? Where are there more of those people?

3. It’s getting easier to sell. The first time you sold it to someone you were nervous, and it didn’t happen so easily. The next few times were only slightly easier. By the twentieth time it’s gotten a lot more butter-like.

You begin to notice that the conversations begin to sound similar, that you cover a lot of the same ground with each person in the sales process. The same questions come up in every new sales conversation.

Aha! That’s a sign that you could put it all down in a sales page on a website and have a reasonably good chance of success. That means it’s scalable, and you could offer it to many more people.

If you’re willing to let go of big dreams and just focus on the next rung on your ladder, you have a chance of actually climbing somewhere. Just keep taking those ladder rungs one at a time, and who knows where you’ll end up.

But don’t worry about that right now. Breathe. Think small. Test. You’ll know when you’ve got something people want, because they are buying it from you.

Makes you wonder… How do “they” do that?

Earlier this year in my article, “7 Necessaries for Filling a Course“, under the subhead “Allowing More Time Than You Think,” I wrote:

“Often it takes more time than one imagines to make a significant decision. For instance, Holly and I have been thinking about signing up for a baby sign-language class since before the boys were born. We finally signed up a week ago, because they were old enough, and because we mused about it for months, years even, while trying to learn from books.

“If this is the first time you are launching your course, in many ways it’s actually marketing for next year’s or next season’s course.

“We’ve failed to sell out our Path to Profitability, although we’ve had some very healthy numbers (18+ people the last two years), because of this factor. It just takes a good long while for people to make space in their schedule to come to a five-day retreat.

“And, please note, it’s mid-May, and I’m beginning to mention the retreat right now, and it happens in November. And I still think I’m late on the lead time. We’ll see what happens.”

Am I totally wrong about how long it takes people to decide? Our retreat doesn’t sell out previously with two months notice, but Teaching Sells totally blows it out of the water in six hours? These folks just open the doors, the crowds come rushing in, where was the decision-making time about this one?

Christmas in Season

The week before Christmas at my parents’ former retail store (they sold it recently, I’ll write about that on the blog) they would see lines that reached to the back of the building. It was a mob scene all day long for days, and sales were often double or triple the usual amount.

And all of that came from just a few emails the week before. There wasn’t a big buildup in their marketing campaign. The people read the emails, and they came in, in hordes.

Yeah right. You and I both know that it’s foolish to believe that the few emails my father sent out could have created that buying frenzy. It was the Christmas season, and folks here in the United States have been conditioned for decades to go out and buy lots of stuff the week before Christmas for presents and for parties.

The emails just reminded them where to go, but they were going anyway. All those people had already decided that they were going to be buying something that week.

Christmas in September

The Teaching Sells $750,000 one-day launch was years in the making. Brian Clark, Teaching Sells co-founder, runs one of the most popular blogs in the world, with tens of thousands of readers. He’s been around for years. People have gotten to know him over those years.

What’s more, this is not the first launch for Teaching Sells. It first launched on October 29, 2007, with an initial “try it for a week and see” price of $1. Yup, just a buck.

In two years, the price went from an initial “check things out” price to $1500.

Read that sentence again. In two years. During that time, the crew at Teaching Sells delivered top notch content, built up relationships, and in general did a great job of spreading the word.

The Issue Is Self-Care

Many heart-centered business folks are givers. We want to help people. And so, because we focus so much on wanting to help people wanting to show up in that space with a client in need, it’s easy for us to not give as much attention to ourself or our business.

When you launch something, whether it’s a program, a class, or a product, it’s a birth. It requires a lot to prepare, to be ready for it, and it requires a lot of care once it arrives.

And that’s okay. Because your launch is a vehicle for love and caring, it deserves that time and attention. It really does.

Take a moment right now to breathe. If you’re contemplating or already working on something to be launched, ask the heart of your business: Is it okay to give it the attention it needs to succeed?

The Other Issue Is Build-Up

Whether you are running an eight week promotional campaign for a course, with the early-bird deadline at the six week mark; or you are building up anticipation over eight weeks and then opening the door for sales at the end of the promotion, the game is basically the same.

In the first scenario, people hear about the course over time, and then decide before a deadline. In the second scenario, people hear about the course over time, and then decide on a deadline.

Of course, it must be really fun to build up that kind of anticipation and see a whole bunch of excited clients rush through the doors in a few hours. That’s generally what happens when we hit the early-bird deadlines in our promotions. About half the people trickle in, and then the other half rush the doors at the deadline.

3 a.m. Feedings

I know, I know, it’s a lot. Especially when you just want to work with clients. Our twin boys are ten months old, and I need more naps than I can get to.

One fun thing about launches and children is, although they take a lot of up-front work, eventually they grow up, go out into the world, and you get to enjoy the good stuff, without having to change poopy diapers any more.

Here’s the difference between children and launches: children take eighteen years to grow up, launches don’t take nearly that long.

Although there’s plenty to do in a launch, let me give you some of what you need to do to make it successful. It’s true that we’ve never had a quarter of million dollar launch, but we’ve had our share of $30K launches, so perhaps it might work for you.

Keys to the Launch

• Build Up Relationships

If you have the Three Journeys of Marketing working in your business, then you are already growing a list of people who trust you and will buy easily when you offer.

However, a launch can be even more effective if you have others who are willing to promote to their own community. A big part of why our Heart of Money course launch was so successful is because we had several dozen people who trusted us, and were willing to tell their people about it.

How many people? All told, probably about 100,000. Makes it a little easier to sell 80 of something when you have a crowd that big.

And the effectiveness is a million times better than advertising. You could advertise and get in front of 100,000 to 1,000,000 people that won’t listen to you. But get two dozen folks who have the earned trust and ears of those 100,000 people, and suddenly those numbers mean something.

• You Need a Left Brain

There are a lot of different pieces to it. My buddy and fellow Portlander Chris Guillebeau mentions at least 61 different logistical details to launching a product.

Take a deep breath. Here’s a question to answer truthfully: are you truly a detail person? Are you good at organizing lists of things and make sure they get done? If you are, then you’re all good!

Many creative and visionary people think details and logistics are the furthest thing from love and the Divine. However, there is love in every detail. If you’ve ever taken a biology class and seen the intricacy of life, then you know it takes a lot of love to create with details.

Understanding that there are a lot of details doesn’t mean you need to be overwhelmed. It means that you have to give it the time and attention it deserves. Yes, it does take days to get a sales page written and working effectively. Yes, the process of hooking up emails and blogs and affiliate links and all of that stuff is intricate.

So if push comes to shove, it might be worthwhile to hire a virtual assistant or a coach to help you manage the project.

• Put Time and Content Into the Build-Up

“Teaching Sells” released a great deal of information prior to the launch. A professionally-produced video, several well-designed pdf documents. A lot of stuff. It got people juiced up, interested, and gave them a taste.

What can you release ahead of time that will give folks a substantial taste of what your course is about?

But wait, let’s think beyond just the eight-week promotion. The fact is, “Teaching Sells” has been around since November, 2007. All kinds of people have been experiencing it, talking about, spreading the word. It’s had a lot of time for the buzz to build. Similarly, our Heart of Money course ran for several years, over 20 times, before our super-fast sell-out.

As you can see, it helps if you can repeat an offer over time. Some folks, led by a fear of boredom, keep changing what they do every year, and so it’s hard to gain momentum in your offers.

Launching a program and selling it out can happen. To start to get a handle on it, remember, first you want to take a breath and notice that your launch needs and deserves the TLC of space, time and attention. I know it’s a bit simplistic to just say, “create a mix of influential relationships, great content give-aways, and add a dose of project management,” but that’s what it takes.

No More Square Wheels. Or Round Wheel, Either.

Considering the next class is all about No More Square Wheels, some intrepid reader sent me this:

“A new bicycle reinvents the wheel, with a pentagon and triangle.”

Interesting… For the heart: What are you doing in your business that everyone else is doing the exact same way because it’s “accepted wisdom.” And maybe, just maybe you could do something else?

How to Get Any Work Done (When Connecting Is Your Job)

The fabulous, pink-haired marketing maven Sonia Simone, who is also one of the people running the incredibly popular Copyblogger as well as a teacher over at Teaching Sells (which I’ll talk about their one-day $750,000 sell-out in this Wednesday’s article), takes on the big bugaboo in social media: time.

Lots of people have talked about productivity. But, the truth is, the interwebs are on 24-7, and we’re expected to appear to be everywhere all at once.

Except when you’re a mom, and a human being, occasionally you want to do something else other than tweet or write on a blog. How does she handle?

How to Get Any Work Done (When Connecting Is Your Job)

I have to admit to being a bit in the weeds on this one, too. Her article prompted me to download an egg timer Mac desktop widget.

For the heart: Are you managing the overwhelming flow? How are you deciding when to do what and for how long? Do you have the support to interrupt yourself?

Hooking Up With the Big Fish

Dave Navarro, the Launch Coach, co-author of “How to Launch the **** Out of Your eBook” takes on a delightful subject: connecting with influential people to help launch your business.

Anyone who has worked with me knows that I think that strategic alliances are really the most powerful way to get your business out in the world. A strategic alliance, to be clear, is when someone who loves and trusts you then introduces your work, especially a specific offer, to their community/list.

Through strategic alliances word of the Heart of Money course reached over 100,000 people. Nice. We’re hoping for a similar reach for the Heart of Business Momentum.

Anyway, all of this was a three-paragraph rambling way to say that Dave has written a no-nonsense, clear, open-heart way to begin to build relationships of integrity with influential people you admire.

For the heart: How are you giving to the people you admire? Just that simple question. Once you’ve answered that, it will be easier to find an open path to how to actually approach them.

Inspired Organizing from Jen Hofmann

Once upon a time my office was a mess. A real mess. an overwhelmed dirty, dingy mess. Well, maybe not dirty and dingy- but I couldn’t find anything, I had a stack of papers that I never looked through, and I just felt oppressed by stuff.

Now, no one could say my office is the picture-perfect. But that’s okay. It’s me. I know where things are. I have a flow. And there is beauty. I’m so much more organized than I was.

All due to Jen Hofmann. Jen is a sweet heart, and a sharp, sharp person with a lot of compassion and a deep understanding of how to help you organize in a way that is intuitive for you.

She’s running a course. Inspired Organizing. Is your office a mess? Do you feel oppressed by stuff? Do you need your office to really work? Grab one of the last four spots. Only do it today, because it’s the early-bird price.

And before she takes my advice and doubles her price. Triples, really.

So long for Monday! And while you’re musing, don’t forget to sign up for The Heart of Business Moment. That is, if you were going to. ’cause the early-bird deadline is this coming Friday.

So, I’m working. And, just to make it fun, I thought I would share some cool stuff I’ve come across over the last few weeks.

Freedom From Self Improvement Day

My buddy Jennifer Louden is making a tradition of Freedom from Self-Improvement Day. It has to do with, in my words, the infinite power of the Divine Quality of Acceptance. And, it means it’s okay not to keep trying to fix yourself.

Free Jennifer from under the bed.

For the heart: in trying to improve yourself or your business, are you trying to “fix” yourself, or are you following a natural evolution of growth and development?

Two Shoes for Me, Two Shoes For You

I was delighted to see this heart-centered, social justice-empowered shoe business. Although I don’t know much about them beyond their web page, I love the business model. For one, it’s not based on “free.” Instead, there is a sustainable model of development that scales the giving as the business itself grows.

And, it’s not anything “extra”– buying shoes is something you probably do anyway.

Question: Has anyone bought from Tom’s Shoes? I’m curious what your experience has been.

Self-Employment Telesummit

One of my big guilts this past few weeks is that my close friend Molly Gordon has been launching the Self-Employment Telessummit. She has lined up an amazing cast of presenters. I know “amazing” gets tossed around a lot, but she’s really got people who are, in my opinion, top flight and heart-centered.

And it’s an excellent reframe: self employment has been normal for us humans for centuries- why does it suddenly seem so challenging?

The guilt comes in because I haven’t really let people know as whole-heartedly as I wanted to. I plead our own consuming projects, like the Heart of Money Course and the subsequent homestudy launch, as well as the upcoming marketing course.

But, that doesn’t take away from what a big bunch of awesome the telesummit is. (Yes, it’s true, I’m one of the faculty.) Take a look and see if it speaks to you. If it does, jump in.

For the heart: What about self-employment or being in biz feels “abnormal” to you? What would help it feel just plain normal?

Free and Not So

A few weeks ago there was a big debate raging over “free.” Meaning, would the need for small businesses, especially service businesses, to provide more and more top quality free content eventually run them all out of business as they ransack their warehouses of intellectual property to give away more and more carrots?

I would write about it, except Jonathan Fields did in so much more depth. Read what he wrote.

For the heart: What does your heart say about the relationship between free and paid content?

So Ends Numbah One.

I’m hoping to keep this up, a weekly sharing of heart-biz stuff I find that strikes me. Some entertaining, some examples, and some who knows what…

Having a full business in momentum is sexy. Having lots of money in the bank is is attractive. Feeling fulfilled and “in flow” is inspiring.

Marketing doesn’t seem to be any of those things. It can seem a lot more like drudgery, manipulation, and plastic surgery all wrapped up into one little package.

Of course, marketing is what helps your business access those other sexy things, like momentum, money, clients, and flow. But do you follow through consistently and effectively?

Why You (Probably) Don’t Follow Through

If you learn marketing in a way that has you feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, or thinking “okay, that’s a good idea, but ugh!” What’s that gonna do? Are you actually going to follow through for more than a day or a week?

Or, how about when it doesn’t work, won’t that just feed your beliefs about how miserable, hard and painful marketing is?

Yucko. Who would want to keep doing that?

Why Marketing Is So Painful

The big reason marketing tends to feel so burdensome is that it is given too much to do. Too much, too fast, and even to do things that aren’t even in the realm of marketing.

For instance, marketing should not:

• Try to get people to buy directly.
• Try to attract anyone in.
• Try to move people in big jumps.

I’ve got something else in mind for us.

My Job September 8 and September 29

Here’s my job: to show you that marketing IS nourishing, inspiring and, yes, sexy. Here’s where I’m coming from:

• -Marketing is the first and most consistent way your business can share love in the world.
• -Marketing can be the start of a healing process, whether or not someone buys. Yes, I’ll say it again–marketing can actually be healing.
• -Marketing, when done well, can nourish your heart and leave you inspired and connected.

I delivered very similar teachings around finances in the Heart of Money Transformational Journey through very specific exercises. Now I want you to get the same thing in this other very critical part of business- marketing and how to build momentum.

Over the past nine years Heart of Business has helped 1000’s of small business owners implement effective business strategies from an authentic sense of spiritual nourishment. Yum!

First No More Square Wheels no-cost call on September 8

On September 8, 1pm pacific I’ll lead a no-cost conference call. Yes, there will be a lot of content. And yes, I’ll be hoping to inspire you into taking the (very affordable) course.

More info and register here: No More Square Wheels no-cost teleclass.

Then, Sep 29, the Heart of Business Momentum

September 18 is the early-bird deadline, September 29 the course starts. Plus, there are limited seats. More information and you can sign up here:

The Heart of Business Momentum: Three Journeys to an Ongoing Flow of Clients and Money

Business and marketing has had such a huge impact on the world, and unfortunately, it’s mostly been a harmful impact these past couple of centuries.

I’m looking for as many people as possible to join me in bringing a sense of love and healing into the world of effective business.

Please ask any questions you may have.

And it plops. Fails. Doesn’t look like it did in the cookbook. The waves of despair start lapping at the shore of misery, and whatever other hyperbolic imagery occurs to you. Darn it! Was the information bad? Were you tricked? Why didn’t it work like you expected it to?

Totally normal expectation, and, I’m sorry to report, it’s not an unusual outcome.

Let Me Tell Your Two Stories of Failure

When it was time to hire someone else to help at Heart of Business, I talked to a friend of mine who had been a CEO that hired lots of people, and got great advice from him. I read some of the top interviewing books. And my wife, Holly, and I went through the steps.

Two bad hires. In a row. Fine people, just really bad fits. And then the third was totally golden: Kate Williams, who, if you haven’t had the pleasure to meet yet, I hope you do someday.  She’s amazing at all sorts of stuff, including managing this business for success.

Here’s another one. I had learned about marketing from all kinds of experts, from various angles. As a result, I had great content, a good sales page, testimonials and success cases, a decent list of email subscribers, and a history of selling out other courses.

But my own marketing course? I couldn’t fill it. Painful, especially when someone emailed me, “I’m not going to take a marketing course from someone who can’t even fill it.” Until, on the advice of a great friend of mine, Jason Stein of Freetobeparents.com, I tweaked the title of the course. It sold out.

Humbling. And that’s just two stories out of many. And they keep happening all the time to me.

The Spiritual Lesson About Success and Failure

You’re not going to like this. Well, I didn’t like it, and so I’m guessing you aren’t going to like it, either.

Life, and business, is not about success. And no, it’s not about “learning some lesson,” either, although that’s what happens from time to time.

Ancient spiritual teachings tell us that the aim of life is to find love everywhere. To be overly attached to success and to abhor struggle, failure, or other hardships is a subtle turning away from love.

Here’s a question I love asking my heart when I’m struggling: “Is love available even here?”

The Implications for Your Business

Business and life have risks associated with them. Marketing, hiring, and other business development thingamadoodles you may take on are not paint-by-number projects. Sometimes they work out wonderfully. Sometimes there’s challenge and struggle involved.

What’s certain is that you can make decisions easier and temper the risks by learning from trusted sources, whether it’s friends, teachers, books, or other places. Not learning from others is a sure recipe for drawn out struggle. Kinda like trying to learn the tuba by yourself while wearing earplugs.

You might eventually do okay with it, but why put yourself through that?

However, it’s also important to understand that the learning process doesn’t preclude struggle. Wisdom is gained through experience, and experience is gained through, well, doing it and seeing what happens and then learning from what you see.

All of this is perhaps somewhat obvious, but I’ve seen many people, including myself, put a tremendous amount of hope and expectation on having other people “save” them. My message to you is, if possible, to let go of the idea that someone else’s wisdom is going to save you from struggle.

When you do struggle, ask yourself the question, “Is love available even here?” That can reduce the fear of trying new things, when your heart can receive the knowledge that you are cared for even in, perhaps especially in, times of struggle.

And then keep doing it. That third hire, that umpteenth tweak of a course title, that next iteration is the charm. Your business can succeed, if only you’re willing to let go of attachment to success, and find love even in the struggle.