When Is It Okay to Not Get Paid?
Someone was getting started, like brand-new, in their business, and I recommended giving away free sessions to people, willy-nilly. And she was like: “You know, we’ve got bills to pay. How much is really okay to give away, without going gonzo about it?” Fair question. Giving it away for marketing purposes can have limited impact. […]
What Is It About "Help"?
I was just reading my friend and neighbor Havi’s blog (who, by the way, is top-shelf reading) about some things she’s grateful for, and she started off the list talking about hiring and receiving help. I won’t make this complicated. I won’t make this drawn-out, or too processed. I’ll just lay it out for your […]
How Spiritual Teachers Make a Living
How can you charge for spiritual teachings! They should be free! It’s all the rage to use spirituality and other ‘intangibles’ in your business, especially in service businesses- which seems to be provoking some rage from folks. Like the email a friend of mine received at the beginning of this paragraph.
Looking for Two Portland-Based Interns
Last year was a crazy year at Heart of Business. We went on a bumpy hiring adventure, and found an amazing collaboratrix in Kate Williams. Plus, we also have a Trainer-In-Chief with Jim Brosseau, and a whole heart-filled community of small business entrepreneurs. Success! We’re now poised for our next stage of growth. Yes, even […]
How to Eat Like An Entrepreneur
If you’ve been following by ezine or the blog, then you know my life has been a little crazy lately. Between twins, my very, very ill mother-in-law, and lots going on in the business, it’s been hard to maintain my center. From the email and flurry of comments on the blog, this state of craziness […]
Remember to Include Time Into the Equation
I’d only worked within Heart of Business for three months when I helped with last October’s Path to Profitability Retreat. Learning how to prepare for the retreat happened in a chaotic, crash-course sort of way, by necessity. I stayed in my own room in a separate building from Mark and Holly. Not once did we […]
The Most Wearing Two Weeks Imaginable
About two weeks ago, my wife Holly and I planned our first date, with friends watching our boys, since November 11, 2008- which is when our aforementioned adopted twin sons were born. If you’re a parent, especially a parent of twins, or know someone, you know why five months had gone by without a date. […]
The Real Heart-Juice to Social Networking
It’s beyond passé to say that social networking is all the rage, and in fact I’ve written about it before (Does the Cutting Edge of Social Media Really Pay?). Things like Facebook, Twitter, and other on-line platforms really *can* help your business. You either already know this and are engaged with it and wondering “Huh? […]
Luddite Offline Marketing
In our community The Business Oasis, Tenter Kate Jones (that’s what we call people who hang out in the forum- “The Tent”) posted the following, and I asked her permission to share it on the blog, because I loved the point she made, in this internet-mad world. So, without further ado, here’s Kate: Luddites, in […]
The Two Easiest Steps to Repeat Clients
Okay, you’ve got two new clients signed up, whew! But then… a newish client completes. And then another one. You’re not ahead at all, you’re right where you started. Oy. What a treadmill! If only clients would stick around for awhile, you could catch your breath and feel stable. Maybe you’d even work on developing […]