Why You Should Never Discount Your Prices
It seems like such an easy fix: “25% off!” “Buy now and I’ll reduce the price by $100!” Discounting as a selling tactic seems as natural and easy as all get-out. Which is why you should never, ever discount. Discounting is a cancer in business, that eats at your heart, and at the heart of […]
How to Deal with "Freeloaders" in Your Business
‘Can you give me your (class/product/offer) for free, or reduced cost? I’m in a tough situation, and need the help.’ Have you ever had anyone ask you this in your business? If you haven’t, it’s either because you’re invisible, you’ve only been in business for five minutes, or because you look mean. 🙂 Years ago, […]
Why It's So Hard to Ask for Money and How to Make It Easier
“What’s wrong with me?” Someone in the marketing class was complaining to us, about himself. “My bank account is near zero, and I have twenty thousand dollars in accounts receivable- and all I need to do is send out the invoices.” “Why can’t I send them out? I feel out of integrity with myself.” In […]
Profitability: How to Get From "Just Enough" to "Extra."
During the last Heart of Money class someone was asking why scraping by is the norm, and it’s so hard to come by having extra money. It came up in the context of paying yourself first. I had told them that you have to pay yourself first, into a savings account or other account, before […]
When Business Planning Becomes Necessary
Recently we watched an exciting video “Bear and the Potty.” I think that was the title. Anyway, it was about a big brown bear teaching all these little animals, who were outgrowing their diapers, to use the potty. Of course, we were watching it as we were babysitting a four year-old for some friends. There […]
Why You Don't Need a Business Plan
For a truly micro-business, or being self-employed, a business plan is a recipe for disaster. A formal business plan can be over 100 pages, full of all kinds of strange things like ‘competitive market analysis’ and ‘financial forecasting.’ Ugh. You know who reads business plans? Banks and funders. You know who writes business plans? Businesses […]
How to Use Systems Without Turning into a Heartless Zombie
You can tell as soon as you pick up the phone before the other person has even said anything. That little silence, the clattering in the background, tells you it’s a telemarketer on the other end of the line, and there is nothing they have to say that is worth your precious time. The business […]
How to Hand Off Your Most Hated Tasks
A few years ago I hired a bookkeeper because, frankly, I hated bookkeeping so much that I wasn’t doing it. I hated it, felt overwhelmed and intimidated by it. And our taxes were a mess. So I happily handed off the bookkeeping task to someone who had been referred to me. A YEAR later I […]
How to be Consistently, Creatively Productive
== Flash back two years == As I sit down to write an article, I feel stumped. I’ve got an hour to “get it done,” and meanwhile I’m just staring at the screen… 55 minutes later, with a few sentences written, I have to stop, and I’m off to the next thing- two back-to-back conference […]
How to Tame a Hydra-Headed Business Project
That book you wanted to write, that retreat you wanted to lead, the website you wanted to create? It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Now, weeks or months into it, you’re facing the seven-headed hydra of ancient Greek mythology. Every time you finish a task, two more sprout in its place. […]