Is the art of focus a difficult concept for you to grasp? If you’re an entrepreneur, most likely it is. You see, entrepreneurs are typically blessed with busy, brilliant, creative minds. The downside is that it’s difficult to curb that right-brained activity for long enough to focus on completing our goals. What a dilemma! We’d be hard-pressed to succeed without those right-brained qualities, but how do we let the left-brain function take over when the right-brain wants to run the show? How can we follow through on the action steps that are necessary to make a goal or plan come to fruition? Create, create, create; that’s what we do. We’re always chasing the answers, ideas, and permission to make our wonderful ideas even better but when it comes to bringing those ideas fully to life; well that’s where the waters get murky. Sound familiar? If it does, here are some steps that may help you get from here to there with both oars in the water….

Remember, in these times, a successful businessperson must use whole mind thinking. We need to create processes, systems, and solutions in addition to being creative and utilizing our out-of-the-box thinking skills. Hopefully, these 10 steps to planning your plan will help you do just that. Use these steps to create focus so that you can get these fabulous ideas out of your mind and cashing in at the bank.

1) Tell it to three people, not a village: When you create a new concept, plan, or goal for your business discuss it with 3 people. That’s it – 3 people. Perhaps your coach, a close friend, and a peer. You will drive yourself crazy if you put your idea in front of too many people; everyone will have a different opinion and enough feedback to fill a sizeable hard drive. Some will love your idea; others will think you’re a lunatic to believe it will work, and everyone will have a way to “improve” upon it. Remember, this business is about your clients/customers and only you know what makes them happy. It’s also about your passion and values; and only you can possibly connect to those. Let your ideas be representative of your passion and your clients’ needs, not the opinions of a multitude of friends, family members, and peers. You’ll soon discover that the true answers are within you, so why create stress and waste time when you already have the answers? Brainstorming with your Mastermind Group or your coach is critical at times, but no need to ask the opinion of every person you know.

2) Compare yourself only to YOU: At times it’s tempting to take a look at the competition, and that’s good and necessary. But it stops being useful when we begin to beat ourselves up for not achieving everything that the competition has achieved. When I began coaching, I would frequently go to other coach’s websites and make myself feel wholly inadequate because I wasn’t doing everything that every other coach on the face of the earth was doing. Yikes! How is that possible? Thankfully, I’ve learned to rein myself in and realize that we each have a unique offering and there is room enough in this Universe for thousands of successful coaches. There is room in this Universe for millions of successful people and your unique offerings will make you one of them. When you compare, compare your achievements to your own goals and how far you’ve come – not to the goals of others.

3) Examine it: Write down all of the reasons that you want to achieve this goal and all of its benefits. Are you doing this for the right reasons? Do you feel that it is in integrity with your values and your business model? If not, this is the time to revise the goal until it feels right, don’t wait until you’re knee deep in problems. Also, why limit yourself to logic in this phase? Use that outstanding intuition as well.

4) Analyze it: Don’t over analyze, but be diligent in examining the logic and the feasibility of your idea, and ask yourself, “How will I know when I’ve successfully achieved this goal?” and “How is it measurable?” Ask, “At what point is this goal complete and how will I know that I’ve succeeded?” Most importantly; “Is this idea a good fit in my long term vision?”

5) Plan for it: Identify your end-goal and write it at the top of a piece of paper (or a Word doc). Then create the steps you will take to achieve that goal. Be very specific so that each step has one or more action steps. So, whether it’s information gathering, writing content, individual marketing steps, or creating infrastructure, each category may have a number of action steps. In other words, every large step must be broken down into bite-sized pieces so you know exactly what to do next when the time comes.

6) Challenge it: Identify any possible blocks or obstacles in your plan or goal. What might they be and how will you address them if they arise? Now, don’t go getting all pessimistic on me here. Simply take a look at technical challenges, marketing challenges, etc. and the resources that you possess to address any questions as they arise. Is your marketing plan for a new product or service strong enough? Do you need new software or hardware to implement your idea? Who do you know who could help you in these areas – or others? These challenges, if you encounter them, are simply detours that you WILL maneuver successfully if you plan for them.

7) Make it friendly: Referring to step #5, where you’ve identified your bite-sized action steps, create a user-friendly document for each series of steps. For instance, if your next step is adding a shopping cart to your site, have a “shopping cart” document that details each step along the way. Now give yourself a timeline to complete all of these steps. I leave this document open on my desktop, and between my client sessions I refer to it to see what the next action step is – and I DO IT. No thinking about how I can change it, make it better, or even how I can procrastinate on it. I am now on auto-pilot because all I have to do is read and ACT. Wow, what a difference it makes when you don’t have to decide what to do next….ahhhh.

8 ) Create the habit: Now the trick is to remember to look at your working document. Until it becomes habit, put a reminder in your Outlook calendar or sticky notes throughout your home. Referring to your task list needs to become a default setting for you so that you don’t get off track with other projects and grand ideas that can wait until another time. Stick to this project; put other ideas in a separate “idea” document so that your mind is free and willing to stick to this one goal until it’s complete.

9) Get the psychological edge: Sometimes, larger goals lead us to feel like we’re on a treadmill; working hard and going nowhere. I like to use the “double strike through” feature in Word to indicate that I’ve achieved my steps…I don’t delete them as I go. This way, when I refer to my action plan document I can see how far I’ve come. Eventually, I accept that I’m making progress and I delete the completed tasks – that feels good too!

10) Celebrate along the way: The big picture is just that – BIG. Get off the treadmill every now and then and celebrate all that you’ve achieved. Describe it out loud to one of your 3 people; when you do this it really sinks in and you will feel good about yourself and your goals. It’s important to feel like you’re achieving and not sinking in the quicksand of it all. This will keep your motivation strong and your vision secure.

Summing this up; it’s critical that you write down your goals, talk them through with someone who will offer solid feedback and perhaps some accountability, and create the daily habit (and time) to achieve something on your goals list. I keep my Fridays as an “admin and marketing” day and focus on my goals all day long – every, single week – no exceptions. If you can’t take an entire day then schedule in 2-hour blocks of time at least 3 times a week. You have the time. Think about how much time is either spent doing non-entrepreneurial tasks or mentally processing and re-hashing the same information. That’s right; if you outsource and get focused you will have the time.

OK. Go create the plan, follow the 10-steps and let me know what you’ve achieved in 3-month’s time! Most importantly, have fun with it. You’re an entrepreneur because you have spirit, creativity, and passion – enjoy them!

Reader Discretion Advised.

This post contains uses of the word ‘recession’ that may cause panic attacks in small business owners. Readers are advised to continue reading as the following post may contain tips for growing your business even in challenging economic times.

Christine Beck of Aiko Designs asks: “I recently left my day job to pursue my own jewelry business full-time and the economy isn’t in the best shape at the moment — do you have any suggestions or tips for those of us starting out in challenging economic times?”

First off, Christine, your jewelry is gorgeous, classic and feminine - love it. Big kudos for being FEARLESS enough to follow your dream. Starting a business is a lot like having a baby – it’s never going to feel like the right time and you’re never going to feel 100% ready. It is crazy scary, no matter what the market conditions are like. So the advice I have for you isn’t just practical, it’s emotional too. Here goes…

1. Be a sales maven. Everyone is worried about cash flow right now. That doesn’t mean that no one is going to buy your jewelry, but it does mean that there is more competition for your customers’ dollars. That means it’s time to start working on your sales skills. If you truly believe in the quality of what you do, now is the time to start promoting yourself and your business. Here’s the good news. If you can master it now, think about how good you’ll be when the economy loosens up! In the meantime, here are 3 books that will help you hone your skills:
   • How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is a classic for a reason.
   • Secrets of Great Rainmakers by Jeffrey Fox is quick, easy and will remind you never to give up!
   • The Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource by Jeffrey Gitomer. The title says it all.
2. Shore up liquidity. Here’s the bad news. The mortgage meltdown has made banks less willing to extend credit, even to the most creditworthy borrowers. Now here’s how it affect you. Plan ahead. Don’t wait until you NEED the money to apply for credit. Make sure that you at least have a line of credit. At the very least, go in to the bank and apply for overdraft and then a line of credit. Don’t get in over your head right now. Make sure you allow enough time to apply and fix anything that could be getting in between you and the financing you need.
3. Get a cheering section. Don’t be surprised if people in your life warn you how difficult it is to start your own business, especially in a market like this. They will amplify that whisper of doubt in your head until you can’t think straight. Surround yourself with people who believe in you no matter what.
4. Learn the word ‘arbitrage.’ When the economy is tough, many talented people are looking for work or are looking for contract work between gigs. For you, that could mean access to skilled people at relatively low costs. Think creatively!
5. Watch your costs. No need for extreme austerity. Just take an afternoon and comb through your expenses. You’ll be surprised at how many small changes you can make and save yourself some dinero.

One more thing. Since you’re sourcing gemstones and precious metals (both of which are expensive right now), make sure you have built in a decent margin for yourself.

To creating a bold business and an extraordinary life!

Starla

Nicole originally asked if she should pay for online advertising before her products were ready. Nicole followed up with this question: Did you mean that I should pay for traffic after I do this even though my services aren’t ready? I expect a 6/1 launch date (I hope!), so do I wait or perhaps pay for some text ads on Google, now? A 125×125 ad here or there? What do you suggest?

Read Part 1 of my answer here, How to prepare your website for a paid advertising campaign. And here’s part 2.

Hi again Nicole.

I’m going to be right up front with you and tell you that I’m more than a bit biased against Google Adwords.
Now I know that there are lots of people out there who are having great success with Adwords. And I also know that in order to launch an effective adwords campaign you must either spend a LOT of time learning the system or hire someone good to do the work for you.

Either way you end up investing a lot more into your campaign. And that means that your potential return on investment (ROI) is immediately going down.

Google Adwords is not nearly as simple and easy as people seem to think. Unless you are in an extremely focused and highly targeted industry, If you simply bid on the popular keyword phrases for your business you will pay a lot of money and probably get visitors who are not targeted to your specific products and services.

Adwords pays off when you find hundreds - literally - of highly targeted keyword phrases that you can get for low bid amounts. That keyword research and inputting the data into Adwords can take a huge amount of time. Then you have to write great copy for your ads and get the campaigns set up. Then there’s the ongoing optimization to continuously improve the conversion rate of your campaign.

Unless you are willing to devote a major chunk of time learning how to effectively run an Adwords campaign or are willing to pay someone hundreds or thousands of dollars each month to manage your campaign, in most cases you will be throwing money away. (Which Google will not mind at all!)

Some people run short-term Adwords campaigns to test their landing pages. This can be an effective way to generate some short-term, targeted traffic to generate a statistically accurate testing sample. But again, unless you do it well, you will end up throwing money away on non-targeted traffic.

Bottom line for Adwords: If you’re planning on doing it yourself, set aside at least a full week to learn how to set up an effective campaign and get it started. Then plan on at least 3 hours each week to optimize your campaigns.

If you want to do it yourself, here are some adwords resources to check out:

The official Google Adwords Learning Center.

The official Adwords Blog.

Aaron Wall’s SEOBook blog, Free SEO Tools and Training Program

If you would rather not take the time to learn about Adwords - and put that time to better use creating more products and marketing materials - you can find qualified adwords experts at reasonable prices through services such as Elance.com and Guru.com. If you use one of these services, be sure to be very specific when you describe your project, check their credentials carefully, and speak with one or more of their existing clients.

Next week we’ll look at banner advertising.

Before I get back to Part 2 of the answer to Nicole’s follow up question on pay-per-click advertising just a quick head’s up that StomperNet is opening up to new members for just a week. If you don’t know about StomperNet, it’s a (THE?) membership site for successful Internet Marketers. It’s definitely not cheap, but if you’re serious about growing your online business, the courses, products and events that are included in your membership could well be worth it.

You can get a sneak peek inside StomperNet here.

But here’s the best part, as part of their pre-launch, the StomperNet folks have released an awesome series of videos and a truly amazing software program. So even if you’re not interested in joining StomperNet, if you have a website you’ll definitely want to check out the videos and take advantage of their free Site Seer software. It gives you a huge amount of information about your web site that you can use to begin immediately improving your site’s performance.

Also, the information they’ve packed into the video tutorials on this software is incredible. Even if you don’t use the Site Seer Software, you’ll learn a ton of practical information about your site just by watching those videos!

You can download the Site Seer Software, watch the video tutorial along with other great tutorials on the StomperNet Going Natural Page.

Nicole at Picknick’s Brain follows up with:

Did you mean that I should pay for traffic after I do this even though my services aren’t ready? I expect a 6/1 launch date (I hope!), so do I wait or perhaps pay for some text ads on Google, now? A 125×125 ad here or there? What do you suggest?

Hi Nicole.

I’m going to make this a two-part answer. In this post, I’ll address the specific components you want to have in place on your site before you set up any type of paid advertising. Then, in part two, we’ll look at the pros and cons of Pay-per-click and banner advertising and explore when it makes sense to use them.

And since you have been bold enough to ask your question publicly, I’m going to use your site - www.picknicksbrain.com - as an example. I hope you don’t mind.

In an online marketing campaign, there are many variables. Some of those variables are within your control and some of them are not. In this post we’re going to look at the variables that are completely within your control: Namely, your website’s homepage, landing pages, subscriber sign up form, etc. Each of these components will be crucial in the success of your online marketing. And each of these factors is completely within your control.

As I mentioned in the previous post I recommend a two - or more - step process of converting prospects into customers. You can certainly attempt to convert new visitors into customers on their first visit, but experience and testing has shown that converting a new visitor to a subscriber first almost always leads to a higher customer conversion rate down the line.

Looking at your site, I see that you’ve added a Free Quick Guide to the sidebar. Great! That gives visitors an opportunity to join your list and get a valuable resource.

Now lets take a look at your offer and see if we can spruce it up a bit for the visitors who are going to be pouring in soon!

First, the offer itself gets lost on the page. There’s nothing to set it apart from the other links. I honestly didn’t even notice it the first time I went to your site. That’s not good!

This offer should be your primary focus. It should one of the first things - if not THE first thing - that your visitors see.

Use a different color. Use a larger font. Create a graphic. Experiment with different styles and then measure your conversion rate.

If you’re using Aweber for your email list, experiment with their excellent and easy to create pop-ups, hover and lightbox ads. In one test I ran, a static signup form converted at 7% and a lightbox signup form converted at 34%!

Second, consider changing the title of the offer. Instead of Free Quick Guide, which doesn’t tell me much about the product, consider using a title that focuses on the benefit your product offers. In this case it could be something like:

• Help Your Child Sleep Soundly - A Free Guide
• End Your Sleepless Nights… And Your Child’s - Get Your Free Guide Now!
• Sleep Like a Baby While Your Baby Sleeps Through the Night…

You get the idea. Zero in on the benefit your product provides and make that your title.

Next let’s look at your sign up form. When you’re converting a first time visitor to a subscriber always remember that Less is More! At this point in the process you don’t need to know their address and the number of children they have. Would it be nice to know? Of Course. But keep in mind that every extra field your visitor has to fill in decreases your conversion rate!

At this point in the process I would recommend you ask for their name and email address and that’s it!

And just as every extra field on your form means lost subscribers, every extra click also translates to lost subscribers. So put the entire form in your sidebar. Let people sign up right there. No need to click through to a sign up page.

And if you do it this way, you can use Aweber’s excellent split-testing feature to test different copy, colors, etc. You can even test the conversion rates on a form with name and email only versus one with name, email, address, and number of children. (You could discover that in your target market your conversion rate is higher when you ask for more info!)

Now what about your landing page?

If you are going to launch a paid advertising campaign you will definitely want a landing page devoted to your Free Quick Guide… er… The Secrets of Sleeping Babies Free Report!

You can use your existing sign up page, but flesh it out a bit. Start by changing the title as mentioned above. Then list some of the key things they will learn when they download the free report. Use bullets and focus on benefits. If you have testimonials include a couple of great ones here. If you don’t have testimonials, now would be a good time to ask for some!

You want to make this landing page as good as any sales page. This is your chance to get people into your system. If you don’t convert them now, they may not return. (But don’t worry too much; there are millions of others out there!)

So here’s your pre-paid-advertising checklist:

• Create a benefit-focused title for your free report
• Make your sign up form eye-catching
• Remove all extraneous fields from your sign up form (just name and email for now)
• Set up split tests with different types of sign up forms (hover, pop up, lightbox, etc)
• Create a landing page with bulleted benefits and testimonials

Once you’ve got those pieces in place it will be time to look at your paid advertising options. I’ll be posting part two of this answer later this week.

John Jones III http://www.10minutes.org asks:

When should I consider a business coach, if at all?

Great question, John.

Since I am a business coach, you’re probably expecting me to say, “John, if you’re serious about your business, you should have a coach. In fact, all business owners should hire a coach.”

Nope. I’m not going to say that. A good coach knows when a client isn’t ready. A desperate coach will take anyone.

Let me explain.

First off, you can hire a coach at ANY stage of your business, but that doesn’t mean that you should. Think about it this way. A coach really is like a personal trainer. A trainer can help you if you’ve just started out on a new regimen, bored with your workout routine, trying to lose weight or training for something big. Kind of like your business. Anyone can hire one, but if you’re not going to stick with the program, it won’t be a good use of your time or money.

So here is my Am I ready to hire a coach quiz:

1. Am I willing to make the financial investment? Coaching isn’t cheap, at least good coaching isn’t. It’s a long-term investment. Yes, you will see some benefits up front, but don’t go into it as a last resort or expecting a quick fix. Real change takes time, so be sure that you’re willing to make the financial investment to make it happen.
2. Am I ready to really TRY? Like most things, you will get out of it what you put into it. If you just show up each week and expect the coach to do all the work, guess what? You’re quickly going to wonder why you’re paying someone for a bunch of questions. It’s the client’s job to go into each meeting with objectives for the meeting, updates, and questions. It also means that your coach will be pushing you to take action between meetings. Are you ready for some accountability?
3. Do I need a push? No matter how self-motivated you are, sometimes you need a push, new ideas or motivation. Again, think of the personal trainer. If you’re feeling stuck in a rut, that is the perfect time to hire a coach.
4. Do I need objective feedback? Face it, your friends and family have a vested interest in your choices and they’re probably not shy about telling you what they think. Sometimes you need a sounding board, not advice.
5. Are you willing to get naked? To make any real change, you’ve got to get naked. That means that you have to be willing to look at the stuff that’s held you back in the past. It’s vulnerable, scary and humbling. If you’re willing to go there, you and your coach can make huge strides.

If you answered yes, then the next step is how to hire a coach. That’s a whole ‘nother post, but I’ll leave you with this. You are hiring someone to be your partner. They are going to go through a lot with you, so make sure you want them in your inner circle. Trust. Connection. Respect. Those are the makings of a successful coaching relationship.

Hope that helps, John.

Starla

Lizzie Flynn wants to know: “How much does your ‘brand’ reputation matter right now and in the future? For instance, my brand is my name, so what is the importance of my name’s reputation?”

Great question Lizzie, and great foresight as well. Your instincts are probably telling you that brand and reputation go hand-in-hand in many ways. It’s a fuzzy area for some because they are different, and yet so much alike. So let’s first take a look at defining the two and how your reputation can support and influence your brand, and visa versa.

A good brand will heighten consumer awareness, emotional attachment, and be represented or rooted in the company in way of culture, beliefs, operational methodology and so forth. Starbucks is a great example of a corporation that has solidly rooted itself in its brand. From the “attitude” of the barista behind the espresso bar, to the “attitude” of their product and environment, the Starbucks brand creates a “grass roots” image of global awareness and commitment to their company mission. Whether perceived or real, this image branding goes to the core of the company and is accepted widely by the consumer. Starbuck’s belief and message is that by putting people before product they have created a loyal community following worldwide and a commitment from the best coffee growers around the world. And “Bucks’” fans worldwide buy into it – to the tune of 8 billion dollars a year!

Now turning to reputation, using the same corporation as an example: Let’s look at the quality customer service, community-minded spirit, warm environment, global awareness, relationships, and quality product that this brand touts. The level to which they adhere to their brand’s commitment is what creates their reputation. If the average consumer went into a store 3 times in a row and found that the environment was not welcoming, the coffee was stale, there was rarely a fair trade option, the service was poor, and the caramel macchiato never tasted the same, it’s unlikely that this consumer would return. (Well, unless he’s a die-hard venti dry skinny cappuccino fan and options were slim.)

So, in this coach’s humble opinion, yes – reputation is critical to a brand’s success – right from the beginning. Reputation is a piece of branding and visa versa. With that said, a company like Starbucks would be hard-pressed to see the impact of losing a few disgruntled customers, but for a smaller company your reputation for customer service, reliability, quality, and so on, are indeed, strong factors. As you establish this reputation, make sure to embed it into your brand as best as possible. Taglines, mission statements, the “flavor” of your website, photography, and even the use of specific colors, are all good ways to deliver this message and marry your brand and your reputation in the public’s eye. Also, remember that if your name is your brand it’s no longer all about you. This name now represents something far bigger than you are, especially if you are creating a company that you hope to sell someday. Brand it solidly and create a solid reputation.

Good luck Lizzie, let us know if you have any more questions!

Nicole Asks: I just launched a new design of my website. I am new to all of this. My primary goal is the business, not the blog, so I’m combining social networking with traditional advertising. But, I don’t have my services offered up yet as it’s requiring some programming that won’t be done until the end of the month. However, I can see merit in bringing visitors to the site now and the blog. I just don’t know if I should invest a small amount of money in advertising before the services go live or not. I think a couple hundred dollars to advertise on a few blogs (including this one) would not be a large investment. But, is it worth it if I don’t have anything to sell yet?

Thank you so much for any advice you might have on this subject.

Nicole - PickNicksBrain.com

Hi Nicole

First of all congratulations! You’ve got a great looking site with excellent information!

As far as advertising goes I would encourage you to hold off until you set up a system for capturing visitor emails. You want to immediately start to convert visitors into subscribers.

It’s great that you’ve got your blog set up for both RSS and Email subscriptions. But since you are focusing more of your attention on the business side of things you’ll also want to have a separate email list.

Keep in mind that a more effective and sustainable approach to online marketing is to take a long-term view. Your primary goal should NOT be to sell to visitors the first time they come to your site. That might make you money up front, but you’ll be losing out on the ongoing sales.

Instead, focus on providing great information (you’re already starting to do that) and encourage people to join your list with an incentive - a free report or recording of a teleclass for instance. My guess is that you already have some material that you could easily turn into a free report and offer as a sign up incentive.

These visitors who convert into subscribers are much more likely to become customers and, if you treat them right, they will very likely become customers for life!

That’s what you want.

Even when you begin advertising, I encourage you to think of it as a two-step process.

1. Convert visitors to subscribers.
2. Convert subscribers to customers.

On the technical side I recommend two email solutions:

If you want an integrated solution that includes a shopping cart, email and autoresponder management, and affiliate management you’ll want to go with 1ShoppingCart. I’ve been using it for over 3-years and it keeps getting better.

That said, the individual parts of an all-in-one solution will never be as good as a dedicated solution. So if you are just looking for a top-notch email and autoresponder system, I recommend Aweber. I am in the process of migrating my list from 1ShoppingCart to Aweber mainly for its higher email deliverability. But I am also enjoying the ease of use, the enhanced testing and tracking functions and their flexible blog subscriptions.

Whatever email service you choose, make sure it has - and you use - double or confirmed opt in for your list. Even though your list will be a bit smaller, it will be more responsive and more legal!

To your success!

Ed

I run a small handyman and remodeling business and have a hard time generating enough billable hours. I don’t feel comfortable billing for things like giving an estimate, picking up supplies, and cleaning up. So I end up spending far more time working on a job than my estimate.
Handy Bruce

Bruce. Let’s get the practical piece out of the way first.

I can understand not billing for your estimates. However, once you have been hired and are “on the job” your time is billable. Time spent going to the hardware store or lumber yard is billable time. Time spent cleaning up the site is billable time. If you’re not including that in your estimates and on your invoices, you’re going to feel short-changed and continue to struggle in your business.

So a quick and practical answer is to begin charging for all of your time once you’re on the job.

Now let’s take a look at what is going on under the surface because I can already hear you replying with a big BUT: “But if I include those hours in my estimates, I won’t get the jobs!”

If you’re not charging for all of your time, you’re undervaluing your work. And that means you’re undervaluing yourself.

Your ability to receive abundance, whether monetary or otherwise, is a direct reflection of the value you place on yourself.

Now while you did not come out and say it in your question, I sense a bit of frustration and even resentment that you’re not making as much money as you would like. That resentment is a sign that you are coming up against the edge of your financial comfort zone. And it’s also a sign that you’re ready to expand that comfort zone.

Here’s my suggestion: The next time you bid a job, determine how many hours you’ll spend on tasks you do not currently bill for – getting supplies, cleaning up, etc. – and include some of that time in your estimate. For instance if a job will have 3 hours of that “unbillable” time, include 1-hour of it in your estimate.

Why not include it all?

Because you don’t want to shock your system. If you push your comfort zone too far too fast you will lose clients because your ability to believe in the value of what you are providing will not match up to the estimate.

It would be like trying to run a marathon when you’ve only been jogging for a month: You wouldn’t finish the race because your body would not be “in shape” for that kind of exertion.

Well think of your ability to receive as a muscle that needs to be exercised. If you push it too far, it’s not going to make it and could even get injured – you’ll lose clients. But if you don’t push it at all, it will never get stronger and may even get weaker.

So start by billing for some of those hours and as you get more comfortable add more. If you do this consistently, within a short time, you should be able to bill for all of your time, feel great about doing so and have clients lining up to hire you!