A One-on-One, In-depth Program to Accelerate Your Business’ Success

If you’re a small business owner who wants to make a difference and make a profit, growing your business in a way that’s in alignment with your values can feel really hard.

For one thing, you probably went into business because you’re very good at doing something, and you sincerely want to leave your customers in a better place for having worked with you.

Whether you are a massage therapist, an accountant, or a life coach, you looked out on the world and thought, “I can bring with my expertise a quality of care and service to my work that the world could really use.”

And you’re right: there’s a real hunger in the marketplace for business owners who bring more than simply a solution to a problem. You, yourself, probably prefer working with vendors and partners and customers who “get” and agree with your values.

Knowing these things, it’s now time to find help to take your business to the next level. Perhaps . . .

• You’re just getting started and just plain overwhelmed. You had no idea that running a business would require so many decisions and actions.
• You’ve been in business for a year or two and it’s clear you’ve gone about as far as you can on your own. You know the answer isn’t to work harder, but you could really use some help understanding what working smarter means and how to do it.

For example, you’re going to tons of networking events in your town, you’re connecting with people and perhaps getting customers, but do you really have to work so hard? Aren’t there better ways to attract customers.

• The thought of “going out and selling” puts your stomach in knots. It feels so icky and phony. But it seems like that’s how everyone does it.

• You keep hearing about all sorts of new, cool ways to get customers: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It sounds kind of interesting, but do you really need to learn all this technical stuff? Heck you haven’t even gotten your website up yet!

You’re wondering when all the benefits of having your own business will ever be yours to enjoy, like having more time for friends and family, making a living doing what you love, and supporting what’s most important to you, will ever be yours to enjoy. Does it ever get easier?

You’ve been trying to improve your situation…

Reading those business books, taking classes, and attending workshops just isn’t doing the trick.

There are literally millions of books, courses, workshops, and seminars available that promise to have your phone ringing off the hook and your profits soaring into the stratosphere.

So you’ve read the recommended books and spent a chunk of time and money on classes and seminars. But even with oodles of great ideas and information, you’re still not making the progress you want.

You may even be wondering what’s wrong with this picture. You take a class promising you that ”anyone can have a successful business following our methods,” and you still don’t succeed!

So what’s it going to take?

Books and classes and seminars are a great start for accelerating your business’ growth. You really do need to learn how to talk about your business so prospective customers understand how you can help, and it’s super useful to understand different ways to get the word out about your business.

So you learn lots and lots of very practical how-tos and bucket loads of factoids.

But you are still missing something very important, which enables you to implement all that great information effectively:

You can understand everything intellectually, but if your heart isn’t coming along for the ride, you either won’t take action or the action you take will lack real energy and conviction.

Either way you don’t get the results you want: people responding with interest and enthusiasm to your offers.

The help you need is a balanced approach, which includes:

• Becoming clear about who your ideal customers are and the problems you help them solve.
• Knowing that what you do to grow your business fits your values and how you want to show up in the world.
• Not only understanding your options, but creating a firm foundation for choosing the best options for your business.
• Knowing how to talk to prospective customers so they understand why you’re the best choice.
• Understanding what activities to do and when to do them so that you get the best results.
• Grasping the nuts and bolts of a specific marketing activity to implement that activity successfully.
• Knowing what opportunities to act on and what opportunities to ignore.

When you feel supported in a way that is in alignment with your heart and values and enables you to choose and implement the right activities, you have a business that can make a meaningful difference,  stay healthy, and be growing its bottom line.

Heart-Centered AND Practical “Down-to-Business” Results

This program is one of the very few that addresses both the nuts and bolts business end as well as the inner spiritual, heart-centered work. If you’re like any of us, a business owner who wants to make a difference and make a profit, you need to address both in order to have the kind of business you want.

Our clients are typically small business owners who are doing what they do because they believe they can make a positive difference through their work. Often they have a better, more innovative way to help their clients and customers get better results.

If you’re wondering what we cover in the Organic Business Development Program and whether we address issues you’re facing in your own business, read on.

What Does the Organic Business Development Program Cover?

Although no two businesses are exactly alike, organic business development clients work on the following:

Aligning with the larger reality

A really important element covered in the Organic Business Development Program is to identify the bigger reality of your business—what difference do you want to make in the world, and how will your business contribute.

Every small business owner has moments in which he or she wonders whether what they’re doing really matters in the larger scheme of things. After all, it all comes down to the fact that it’s your business.

You need to know in your heart that what you’re doing really matters. It’s not enough to just understand intellectually. This is because your heart has a real need to feel a connection to this larger picture, and without a heart-centered connection, you’re going to be depending on will power and discipline to keep going.

Not that there’s anything wrong with will power, but if it’s the only thing getting you out of bed in the morning, you end up with a business that may be financially successful, but your overall quality of life will suffer.

When you have clearly identified the big, juicy reason you started a business, it becomes so much easier to deal with the inevitable challenges that arise. You have a purpose to keep your eye on. Deeply knowing why you’re in business also opens up more options in terms of how you reach your goals, because your focus is on how to reach your vision rather than how to solve a particular problem.

Getting clear about who your client is and what problem you’re helping them solve

If you struggle with articulating why a customer should work with your business rather than a competitor’s, you probably need to clarify who your customer is and the problem you can help them solve.

When you can say clearly and confidently, “These are the people I work with, and this is the problem I help them solve,” it’s like a beacon of light in the darkness for your prospective clients. And it enables your business to immediately stand out from others who seem to be offering the same thing.

Creating a marketing message that immediately tells your client, “Hey I can help you!”

Once you can articulate who you work with and the problems you help them solve, prospective clients will be saying, “Tell me more!” and you need a marketing message that expands on who you help and how you help.

We’ll work together to create a simply, concise customer-focused story, which goes into a bit more detail about the problems you help clients with and how you’re their best choice.

A successful marketing message builds trust and interest to the point that your ideal prospects are ready to take the next step. So we make sure your message ends with a strong “call to action” that tells them precisely what to do next to get more help.

Choosing Marketing Activities that Help Prospects Become Customers

One of the most common questions small business owners ask is, “How do I know what marketing actions to take and when am I supposed to do them?”

There are so many possible marketing activities available to small business owners; it can feel overwhelming trying to decide what to do first: a website? a newsletter? networking? a blog?

And it IS overwhelming when you don’t know where to start.

Fortunately, there is a method underlying the giant hairball that is small business marketing. The place we begin is remembering that marketing is about developing trusting relationships with people who fit your definition of an ideal client. Simply put:

You want to help strangers become prospects and prospects to become customers.

We then choose one or two activities that are designed to help your ideal customer move to the next phase of the relationship when they’re ready. We also make sure the activities you are doing are ones that fit your strengths and interests.

If you’re a strong writer, articles are a great way to market your business. If the thought of writing articles makes you queasy, you can do presentations or record short talks that folks can listen to online.

Sales with Grace and Ease

Most sales programs and trainings treat sales like a military operation in which closing a sale is like taking a strategic hill. I don’t know about you but treating prospective customers as “the enemy” doesn’t exactly set a very productive tone to the potential business relationship.

At Heart of Business, we see the moment when someone decides to become a paying customer as something that’s pretty darn special because it takes a lot of trust and faith on both sides for a sale to happen.

You’ll learn how to foster trust and confidence in your prospect so that they can take the big step to becoming a paying customer. You’ll also learn how to ask the right questions, how to answer customer questions, and how to help your prospect make the decision to become a customer in a way that feels natural and right for them, not icky or manipulative.

Help with Specific Marketing Activities: Websites, Copywriting, Networking and More

Again, there’s tons of information available on how to create a website and how to write a sales page and how to network. And most of the information is very helpful.

But that information misses the boat when it comes to creating marketing that feels real and sincere to the business owner who is doing the marketing and to the prospective customer who is being marketed to.

And for your marketing to be effective, it’s very important that your voice and your sincere desire to make a difference come through along with your solution.

If there is a specific area in your marketing that you want support with: how to create a website that attracts customers, writing a sales page that helps prospects take the next step, networking in a way that leads to productive, enjoyable business relationships, and so on, I can address each of these areas with you in a way that is effective and that you heart can feel good about.

So how exactly does this Organic Business Development Program work anyway? Read on.

How the Organic Business Development Program Works

We meet regularly each month to plan and strategize, discuss specific steps for implementation, troubleshoot problems, and brainstorm.

• Eight individual 60-minute sessions over a 4-month period. Typically, we meet by phone, but in-person meetings are available if you live within the Denver, Colorado metro area.

• Laser calls between scheduled meetings. Stuck trying to accomplish something? Need input on a big decision? Just need some encouragement? You can call between scheduled meetings to discuss these and other specific issues.

• Unlimited e-mail support. Want me to evaluate a new product offer or a page on your website? If it’s not super urgent, just email me, let me know what you need and when you need it and I’ll respond, often on the same day.

• Specific next steps to work on between sessions. You’ll be accomplishing substantive work and remember, I’m always available by phone and email for support.

• Recorded sessions. Have you ever been in a meeting where someone says something that’s really good, something you want to remember but no one wrote it down? By recording our sessions, you can focus on the discussion without worrying about taking notes.

The recordings are yours, and you can listen to them as often as you wish at your convenience.

With your commitment, at the end of the four months, you will have taken substantive steps toward getting more clients and growing your bottom line. You will also feel a genuine, stronger sense of confidence in your ability to bring about real change for your customers.

By saying yes to receiving direct, one-on-one support, you are saying that you want a more fulfilling and profitable business, one where you can be of service, making the world a better place while enjoying solid financial stability.

Your Investment

The Basic Organic Business Development Program is for business owners who want to make significant forward progress in their business and are committed to doing so.

The program costs $1,000 for the package of 8 individual sessions, $250/month for 4 months. We accept Visa/MC/Amex. Plus you’ll need a copy of  Unveiling the Heart of Your Business, by Mark Silver (pdf version, $65, hardcopy, $85 + shipping). And you’ll need to purchase a membership to The Business Oasis membership site (subscription options include: $150/six months or $300/year).

This assumes that you are one person: the business owner or primary decision-maker. For partnerships or organizations where more than one person needs support, let’s talk and find out what structure is needed.

The cost represents a significant investment in your business future. This isn’t intended for those who want to make minor improvements, or aren’t sure what help they need. This is meant to be an investment that will pay for itself many times over in revenue, opportunity and peace of mind.

If you want to feel like you are really living your life’s purpose, and feel supported by your business, then we want to help you make it happen.

The best way to start is to read about our practitioners, below, and see which one you resonate with. Fill out the form for your chosen practitioner, and Judy or Jason will read what you write and contact you to set up a time to talk.

Our Practitioners

Jason Stein

“If I could declare one Super Power I possess, it’s to help people in business not operate alone. Imagine if Clark Kent didn’t have Louis Lane or if Batman didn’t have Robin. It would be easy to forget about the possibilities in life and crawl into the darkness.

“But with the help of others, you can overcome the given obstacles and celebrate the small successes that often happen in your business.”

(+) Click to read more about Jason and to fill out an application to speak with him.

Yollana Shore

“I’ve been a healing practitioner for over ten years, and healing and awakening are core values in my life. Yet it’s clear to me that no matter how evolved you are spiritually, no matter how much work you have done on yourself, you still need to have your feet on the ground, and the ability to navigate the practicalities of business, work and money – aka ‘making a living’.

“It’s truly an honour for me to be able to work with Heart of Business to help others to find the right combination of practical strategies and healing for your heart, so you can “drop the baggage” and move your business forward to support your life.”

(+) Click to read more about Yollana and to fill out an application to speak with her.

Judy Murdoch

“I’ve been involved in promoting and marketing businesses for over 25-years. I began my career in the corporate world doing consumer research for major advertising and consumer product companies.

“I eventually made my way to helping small businesses develop and implement marketing programs with a special emphasis on guerrilla marketing.”

(+) Click to read more about Judy and to fill out an application to speak with her.