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When you started your own business or left your corporate job in the pursuit of the entrepreneur’s dream, you no doubt imagined that you would have more control over your hours.  You pictured having an actual life, outside of work.  Yet, if you didn’t take certain steps to protect your time, you might have found that you are working MORE not less.  What went wrong?

Time is one of the few things that you will never get back.  Recently, a four-year-old child asked his mother, “Mom, when will it be July 2010 again?”  It seemed like a logical question to this young child, but the answer only caused some confusion and a tinge of sadness.

Watch out for time vampires.
You have to fight hard to protect your time from the “time vampires” who want to steal it away.  These are people who stop by your office and want to chat or call you on the phone and ask, “do you have a minute?” A minute turns into 15 or 30 minutes.  The next thing you know, it is dark outside and you still haven’t finished your work for the day.

How do you protect yourself from these so-called time vampires?  You have to set rules and let everyone know them.  For example, establish certain hours where you will take phone calls. Let your employees know that when your door is closed, you are not to be disturbed.

You are in control.
As a small business owner, you are pulled in many different directions and the additional hours you spend at the office or store, are hours taken away from your family.  You are the controller of your time – don’t let anyone take it away from you without your permission.

To find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, visit Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

We live in a fast-paced society that wants information quickly and easily.  Even emails are becoming less popular, as instant messaging and texting is a much faster way to communicate with someone.  Dropping a letter in the mail almost sounds unheard of, but from a business perspective, “snail mail” still works.  In fact, monthly newsletters that are sent by the good old-fashioned U.S. Postal Service will help you stay in front of your prospects and current customers.

Newsletters still work, but not just any newsletter.  Using a canned, boilerplate newsletter that you do nothing more than slap your name and a stamp on, will not be as effective and may end up turning off your customers.  You need to have a personalized newsletter that contains information that would be interesting to your audience.

A monthly newsletter is not as difficult as you might think.  Create a folder where you can store article ideas and topics for future newsletters.  When it comes time to write your newsletter you will find that instead of having the problem of not knowing what to write about, you have too many options to choose from. Not a bad problem to have!

If you don’t want to write all of the articles yourself, you can ask a local business owner if he or she wants to contribute an article.  When the newsletter is printed, you can drop some copies off at his or her place of business, which will not only reach that person’s customers, but could also lead more people your way.

Don’t discount the significance of a monthly mailed newsletter.  It is well worth your time and effort.

To find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, visit Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

It would be pretty nice if you were the “go-to” person when it comes to anything relating to your field or specialty.  You could have so much business that you could actually become picky regarding which customers you wanted to work with.

Let’s take it a step farther.

What if you were able to stay friends with the clients you turned away and the other business professionals you referred them to? All of this might sound like a far-reaching goal, something that only other people are able to accomplish.  However, it is very achievable and it begins with creating your group of followers.

Your followers, fans, herd or whatever you want to call them, are the ones who are going to help your business grow.  This is a group of former customers, current customers, leads, family members, friends and acquaintances.  Any time someone responds to your marketing message, you can add him or her to your group.

Once you have your group, you have to stay in front of them or “top of mind.” You can do so by providing them with interesting information and by staying in constant contact. Monthly newsletters are one way to cultivate your following and so is the use of social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter.

When people start to feel like they can trust what you have to say, they will not only turn to you when they need your services, they will also refer their friends and family members to you.

To find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, visit Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

How many business owners share the mentality that there is only so much market share to go around? If they grab a piece of the “share,” in their minds, someone else won’t get it.  That doesn’t sit well with everybody. However, market share is an outdated concept and one that will only hurt your ability to build wealth.

In Dan Kennedy’s article, How To Liberate Your Wealth Magnetism, (which is excerpted from his new book, No B.S. Wealth Attraction in the New Economy,) he talks about how “most people’s world view of wealth is a zero-sum game.” Meaning, the amount of wealth that is available is limited and that each dollar you receive is at someone else’s expense.

You need to have the mindset that wealth is unlimited.  There is an unlimited number of opportunities at your fingertips.  It doesn’t matter if you are a small business owner or if you run a large corporation, you can reach a global audience of customers who are looking for your products and services.  We can thank the Internet for that.

Throw away your old way of thinking that you can only gain a certain percentage of the market.  Mr. Kennedy said it best in his article, “if you believe wealth is limited, if you view it as a zero-sum game, you are inhibited.  This inhibition affects all sorts of things you do or don’t do, such as what you’ll charge, for example, or who you’ll ask for money.”

To find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, visit Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

The latest recession might make people think twice about their spending and saving habits. It might even make them re-evaluate what is important in life.  What it shouldn’t do is create a fear of money.

In Dan Kennedy’s article, What to Expect, As We Transition From Recession to New Economy, (which is excerpted from his new book, No B.S. Wealth Attraction in the New Economy,) he provides some great insight into fears and the impact on wealth.  According to Mr. Kennedy, “you should be prudent about money. You can’t afford to be fearful about money.”

He talked about the effect the Great Depression had on many people who lived through it.  They started to hoard food and money and became adverse to debt.  They would rather “fix it” than “replace it.”  There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with being cautious with money; problems start to arise when a genuine fear or paranoia develops.

Most people can stand to be a little more prudent with their money, but money fears should never dictate the choices that are made.  It is not healthy and it will keep you from pursuing opportunities that will build wealth.

If you want to thrive in the “New Economy,” don’t let fear govern you. Instead, “combine the never-changing principles and forces governing the movement of money with rational thought, reasoned optimism, creative vision, sound and timely strategy, and aggressive opportunism.”

Don’t sit back and watch other people build their wealth. Put your fears aside and search for new opportunities.

To find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, visit Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Too many small business owners and entrepreneurs have the wrong mentality when it comes to potential customers.  They become elated when a prospect calls and makes an appointment, but fail to recognize it as an “opportunity” rather than a mere “incident.”

In Dan Kennedy’s article, Think ‘Process’ and ‘Relationship’ Not ‘Sales Incident,’ (which is excerpted from his new book, No B.S. Wealth Attraction in the New Economy,) he refers to this type of scenario as “the start of work to be done, not an end result or outcome.”  Basically, his point is that if you celebrate the appointment, reservation or other event and misunderstand that this is just the beginning, you are missing the mark.  If you want to build wealth, you have to develop and cultivate relationships with your customers.

It doesn’t matter what type of business you might be in, there are always opportunities to increase your wealth.  Mr. Kennedy gives several examples in his article, including a restaurant owner who can go the extra step after someone makes a reservation, by sending that person a special voucher for a free bottle of wine if they bring a friend.  An oil change shop can even improve its process by selling a coupon book to a customer for pre-paid services or finding out about the other cars owned by family members.

When a customer steps foot in your store or office, you have to think about the long-term relationship. After all, your customers are your assets.

To find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, visit Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Things go wrong – it is just the way of life.  If you are an entrepreneur not only should you be prepared for issues to arise, you should expect them too.

When it comes to problems and mistakes, it isn’t so much how they occurred that is going to draw attention; it is how you handle them.  In Dan Kennedy’s article, “Pressure-Prosperity Link,” (which is excerpted from his new book, No B.S. Wealth Attraction in the New Economy,) he talks about how the “world watches and responds to the way you handle these situations.  If you blame others, blame circumstances, offer up excuses, you telegraph weakness.”

If you are going for immediate sympathy and pity, then go right ahead and give as many excuses as you want.  However, don’t anticipate that you will gain respect by doing so.  According to Mr. Kennedy, “wealth is never transferred based on pity.”

The way to garner respect is not through excuse making.  It comes from taking responsibility, even if there was nothing you could have done to prevent your problems.  Don’t be one of those business owners who blames the economy, government, competition and who knows what else, for his or her circumstances.  Take ownership.

Here’s what you need to do – “step up, accept responsibility, offer no excuses, and roll up your sleeves and work.” That is how you will draw strength and respect.

To find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, visit Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

When times are tough, business is slow and sales are down, it is easy to want to bury your head in the sand.  Living in denial and maybe even in your pajamas, seems like a better option than putting yourself out there.  If you are embarrassed to join fellow business owners at a cocktail party or networking club, you have to get over.

In Dan Kennedy’s article (which is excerpted from his new book, No B.S. Wealth Attraction in the New Economy,) “When You Meet Money On Its Path, It Means You’re Walking in the Right Direction,” he talks about the “wealth attraction power of being somewhere.”

The article starts out talking about Donald Trump and how in his most difficult periods, he fought the urge to stay hidden at home.  He attended an important gala decked out in his tuxedo, even though he wanted to stay home.

To build your wealth, you need to be somewhere and be in motion.  That doesn’t mean that you have to be at an actual event, it could be that you decide to write a book or create an informative newsletter.  Being somewhere could be speaking at a local event or business group.

Mr. Kennedy ends the article by saying, “be everywhere that’s relevant, everywhere your ideal customer or clients are, and be omnipresent in those environments.”

To find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, visit Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Buffoonery at its best here in Virginia.

Fairfax County (my home) has launched a  $1,000,000.00 TV campaign to attract businesses to Virginia.  Gerald Gordon, president and chief executive of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority was quoted in the Washington Post as saying “we’ve got the momentum built.  A lot of our competition is unable to do this now.”

What? Not able to engage in massive waste?

So, lets see–some guy is sitting around waiting to watch his favorite team play and he’s interrupted by a TV ad that says “move to Virginia and he picks up the phone, calls his CEO, and starts the move?” That’s really going to happen?

Here’s what’s actually going to happen: 99.99999999% of the eyes that view the ad aren’t even a qualified prospect for the message of the ad. Of the minuscule percentage that might actually be qualified (i.e. be in a position to influence a company to pick up and move to Virginia) how many of those will actually be ready, willing and able to move?

Here’s the great thing about ads like this. They are absolutely untrackable. So the agency that created it and the nitwits that approved it won’t ever be able to tell, one way or the other, whether it creates even $1.00 in return on investment (ROI) for Virginia. I’ll bet there’s no call to action, no unique URL and no unique, trackable phone number in the ad. Its great because neither the creators nor the approvers of this this massive waste of taxpayer money can  ever be held responsible for its total failure.

But….they’ll gather around the boardroom and pat themselves on the back and say, “look at that great ad…aren’t we smart?”

Far better to have taken that million and targeted companies that were likely to have some interest in moving to Fairfax and doing something to market directly to them.

To be out of the office on an adoption trip for a month.

Between my Great Legal Marketing conference for attorneys and the two and a half (extended by another half week due to the blizzards) weeks in China to adopt David and Leah I was out of the office for 31 days. I would have thought this to be impossible in years gone past. However with a little bit of technology, including Skype, and a great staff who understands not only what we do but why we do things and what language we usually talk to people the world kept running me.

We are working on an exciting new small-business owners Magazine for Northern Virginia and of course our Glazer Kennedy group which meets monthly continues to bring together some of the smartest entrepreneurs in Northern Virginia. We hope you will join us soon.