Covey Says:

“‘Begin with the end in mind’ is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.”

One of your most important tasks as a business owner or entrepreneur is that mental, or first creation that Covey speaks of. You must envision the outcome. You must know what you want for your business. Only then, can you successfully engage in the second, or physical, creation.

When you know where you’re going, you know the direction you need to travel and the the roads you need to take to get there.

Whereas Mark Twain reminded us that “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”

Far too many businesses, fall into this trap. Because they don’t know where they’re going, every road looks like a good option. And so they end up trying them all, heading this way and that way, circling back and realizing they’ve already been there.

If you’ve ever wondered why your business keeps ending up in the same place, it’s probably because you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t have the end in mind!

Your business vision describes the way you imagine and intend your business to look in five, ten or more years. This vision should engender passion and excitement to keep you moving forward. It motivates you, any employees, and all who come into contact with you and your business to take the inspired actions necessary to attain the vision.

To be effective, your business vision needs to be bold, expansive and inspiring. Think of the phrase that Neale Donald Walsh uses in his Conversations with God series: The Grandest Version of the Greatest Vision you’ve ever had. That should apply to your business vision.

When formulating your business vision, step outside the box of your own limiting beliefs and the beliefs of those around you. It’s much better to have a business vision that is too grand, too large, too expansive and not achieve it than to be too realistic and limit yourself before you even begin.

It was Michelangelo who said,

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.

An expansive vision provides you with motivation to keep going. A grand vision, one that clearly and passionately expresses a big dream, can also help call in the support you need to create it. People are attracted to boldness. People want to attach themselves to and support a big dream. Make it yours!

When beginning to work on your business vision, don’t get caught up in style or format. Just start dreaming and writing. Ultimately you may refine these ideas into a formal vision statement.

But for now, let your imagination play and let yourself experience the feelings associated with your big vision.

For a great story about the power of vision, check out this interview that Ryan Higgins did with Frank Kern.

Your vision is the top of the mountain you are climbing. If you know you’re going to the top, you know that if you just keep hiking up, you’ll eventually get there.

But don’t worry… there are always other mountains to climb!

What is your business vision?

And for those of you who are new to marketing – whether online or offline – scarcity occurs when there is a limitation on a product or service. This limitation can be an actual limited product supply – “We only have 200 of these models left” – or a time or quantity based discount or special offer – “This early-bird pricing is only available until September 18th. After that the price doubles!”

One thing we know is that scarcity works!

When done well, this technique has proven to create a sense of urgency in customers and prospects that causes them to pull out that credit card and make the purchase NOW!

In most cases that’s a good thing for everyone. It’s certainly a good thing for you as the business owner. But it is often also a good thing for the prospect. When the product or service being marketed is truly a valuable resource, sometimes giving the prospect that little extra “nudge” gets them to say yes to something that will benefit them.

Obviously, as with any effective marketing technique, it can also be used without integrity – and I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of examples of scarcity being used in that way.

But for the conscious business owner, an important question to ask is: “When do scarcity tactics cross the line and diverge from the path of integrity?”

Certainly there is a place for scarcity tactics within the marketing toolbox of the conscious business owner. But this path is one that quickly can turn into a slippery slope.

I’ve noticed that some of my virtual mentors – people and businesses that I consider examples of how conscious and successful can coexist within a business – using scarcity tactics in a manner that seems to be heading down that slippery slope.

If you read my Evolving Times blog, you know that I’m a big fan of motivational events and seminars. I’ve attended many events put on by Peak Potentials Training, James Ray, Robert Kiyosaki, and others. Each of these events has provided me with major value, and I highly recommend them. And, without exception, they use scarcity techniques to upsell additional events and products.

If you want to see some truly brilliant marketing in action, attend one of these events. You will get to witness master marketers at work! Even without the value you get from the event, the opportunity to learn from and model their marketing methods on its own is worth the cost of admission!

But, as I’ve observed their methods, I’ve begun to question whether or not some of their marketing tactics cross the line and start sliding down that path away from integrity?

In some cases, I would say yes.

If you’ve been to one of these events, you already know what I’m talking about. When they do a sales pitch or a “bookstore” for another product or event, they use lots of tactics to whip the crowd into a buying frenzy!

But the tactic that gets people – sometimes hundreds of them– literally running to the back of the room with their credit cards in hand is scarcity.

Now don’t get me wrong, I feel they are completely justified in offering “at seminar” special pricing. It makes sense to provide an incentive and benefit – a big discount – to the participants who take action during the event.

However, they often create a further sense of urgency by saying that enrollment at that price is limited to a certain number of people. And this is where I begin to question the integrity of their tactics.

It just seems arbitrary. Often they do not give any reason for the additional limiting factor. It seems to have been pulled out of thin air.

But the real issue I have with it, is that I have never seen that second limiting factor enforced. I have often estimated the number of people at the sales tables. And, unless my estimates are way off, far more people are purchasing the “special” than the number they said were available. And, as far as I can tell, no one was turned away or told that they would have to pay the higher, non-limited, price.

I struggle a bit trying to reconcile my belief in the value of the events and products they are offering and some of their marketing tactics that, in my mind, stray from the place of integrity.

And these questionable marketing tactics extend beyond the live events and into some of their Internet marketing tactics.

Here’s an example of an Internet Marketing scarcity tactic from a person I – still – consider one of my primary role models. I must admit that when I saw this, it definitely shook the pedestal that I had placed him on!

Now, at face value, there’s nothing wrong with this tactic. In fact, you certainly COULD use this kind of tactic with integrity. However, the webpage for this event had this text – exactly as you see it here – for at least 6-weeks prior to the event – and it’s still up there even though the event happened over 2-weeks ago. So either they were having a really hard time selling that last seat or they were stretching the truth a bit!

Now if integrity is not one of your core values, than, by all means, go ahead and use scarcity in any way you desire. The Machiavellian approach to Internet Marketing – the ends justify the means – definitely does work. And you see it put to good use by a lot of online marketers.

But if you are a conscious business owner for whom integrity matters the question becomes:

“Can you harness the power of scarcity with integrity?

I believe you can!

And here are the guidelines that I use when incorporating scarcity tactics into my marketing efforts:

1. Be sure the product you are offering is of true value.

This – hopefully – goes without saying. But I’m saying it anyway. As a conscious business person, it is your responsibility to ensure that you are offering high value to the right people. From a long-term, business success standpoint, it makes absolutely no sense to offer products or services that are anything less than the best you have to offer.

2. Market to the appropriate target audience.

Do you know who you are marketing to? If not, you’re going to run into trouble. Get very clear on your target market and make sure you market to them! And test that target market: If your return rate is much higher than 5% you probably need to tweak your marketing strategies to ensure that you’re marketing to and attracting the right types of customers.

3. Clearly describe your target market in your sales copy.

Once you know who you are marketing to, make that clear on your sales page. Don’t be afraid to include copy to filter out inappropriate prospects. While you may lose some short-term sales, ultimately, this is going to increase your business credibility, reduce your return rate and increase the lifetime value of your customers.

4. Offer, and honor, a money back guarantee.

When you use scarcity in your marketing, no matter how clear you are in your sales copy, some people who are not appropriate will end up pulling the trigger and purchasing your product or service. If you’re going to use scarcity tactics to create a sense of urgency that causes people to buy, you must be willing to back it up with a strong guarantee.

5. Make it real.

Artificial scarcity can very quickly erode a business’s credibility. How many times have you seen a sales page with an offer such as “Today only the price is 50% off” only to discover, when you go back a few days later that the price and the offer is exactly the same. You know, something like this:

“P.P.S. Don’t forget. This price is guaranteed for today only. We’ve increased the price before and will probably do so again. I’ll keep it here at least until midnight tonight (EST), but make no promise about what it will cost you tomorrow. If you pass on this now – you may not be able to buy x at this price when you come back to this site tomorrow.”

If you’re going to use scarcity, make it real, and take the time to put the technical pieces into place so that it truly is a one-time-offer. Check out your shopping cart to see if you can set up automatic expiration dates for coupon codes. The cart I use, 1shoppingcart, can do that and a lot more.

Also if you’re going to create a one-time-offer, make sure it really is! If you want an example of a one-time-ofer that really does go away, visit my Energetics of Attraction Digital Learning Course page. I’m using a product called ShowStopper to set up the one-time-offer. It’s inexpensive and easy to install – though I have noticed a few little kinks! There are also free scripts that you can download and install. And you could also set this up on a wordpress page using a plugin.

For another example of a truly masterful one-time-offer, sign up for a free Simpleology 101 account. I consider Mark Joyner to be a master at using marketing tactics that work with integrity! Pay close attention to what happens after you sign up!

6. Be clear about the reason.

Why is this scarcity in place? Why is the product limited? Why will the price go up after midnight? If it’s a bogus reason, you’ve instantly lost credibility. Make it real. There are a ton of valid reasons why you would place a limitation on a product or service. It’s a bit more difficult with digital info-products. But if you use your imagination I bet you can come up with some good ones! And when you do, make sure you let your prospects know the reason.

So those are the guidelines I use to ensure that the scarcity tactics I use – and in fact, all marketing tactics I use – are used with integrity.

I’d love to know your thoughts. What guidelines have a left out? What are your thoughts on using scarcity in general? Do you have other examples of scarcity marketing that works with integrity?

The bottom line: If you’re a conscious business owner, go ahead and use scarcity, it works. But use it with awareness and an eye towards long-term business sustainability rather than short-term profit. If you do that, everyone wins!

And by the way, this post is an entry in the Problogger Group Writing Contest. There’s still time to enter!

Well, believe me, you’re not alone. This is one of the most common issues I see when working with coaching clients.

Most people recognize the power of creating task lists but far fewer people seem to know how to do it effectively. And here’s the interesting thing: A task list done poorly is worse than no task list!

Why is that?

Because when you create an ineffective task list you inevitably end up with tasks left undone. Any time you think, say or write done something you’re going to do, and don’t do it, you are reinforcing a pattern of failure.

Think about it from a Law of Attraction perspective. Remember, the Law of Attraction says that what you focus on expands. If you keep writing down a huge list of things you’re going to get done every day and only complete half of them and then rolling the other half over to the next day’s list, what are you focusing on?

Right, the unfinished tasks!

So how do you create an effective task list? Well here are 9 things I keep in mind when creating my daily task list. Check them out, give them a try, and see if they help you crank up your productivity and success!

1. Start with the end in mind.

I don’t think Steven Covey will mind if we start off with one of his habits! One of the biggest stumbling blocks I observe in my clients is that they don’t know why they are doing the things they’re doing. They don’t have the end in mind. If you’re just writing down a bunch of stuff to do without knowing why you’re doing it, it’s very likely that some of those things won’t get done. And it’s very likely that the things that do get done will not take you where you want to be. After all, someone once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s very likely you’ll get there!” Where are you going? What is your “end?” You should have a very clear picture of where you’re going and why you’re doing what you’re doing. Each time you create a new active task list, take a moment or two and get very clear about where this list is taking you.

2. Know your priorities and make sure the tasks that address those are on your list.

The only way to really know your priorities is to follow step number 7 above. Know where you’re going and you’ll know what your priorities are for that day.

3. Only put things on your active list that you are absolutely intending to complete today.

We all have a long list of important things that need to get done. And writing them all down is a great idea. But just because they’re written down doesn’t mean we’re going to do them right now. Have one list where you write down all of your tasks and ideas so you won’t forget them. Then, when you create your next active task list, refer to your master list to see what is ready to move to the active list for that day.

4. Think “Micro-Tasks.”

Another big problem I’ve observed in the goal setting and productivity habits of my clients is the tendency to create tasks that are far too big. You want big goals but small tasks! Writing down a task to, “Build website” (to give an over-the-top example) is going to lead to problems. That’s the goal. Tasks for your active list will include: Research web designers, hire a web designer, write first draft of homepage content, write second draft of homepage content, etc. As I was writing my task list today I caught myself writing a task to “Read Charlotte’s new client questionnaire.” That seems like a simple task, but after I wrote it I realized I hadn’t printed it out yet. So I added a task, “Print Charlotte’s client questionnaire.” This may seem like a silly example, but having that extra, specific task, serves a couple of important purposes. First it encourages me to think clearly and plan effectively. And, second, it gives me another task to check off my list. And never underestimate the power that little checkmark has to validate and reinforce your patterns of success!

5. Be specific.

“Make prospect calls” is not a specific task. “Make 5 prospect calls” is better. But the best would be to list the 5 specific calls you’re going to make. “Call John Smith. Call Becky Jones.” Etc.

6. Do not add to your list while you’re working on it.

Don’t fall into the “bottomless cup of coffee” method of task creation. We all have ideas come up while we’re working. We all remember things we’re supposed to do after our task list is written. Resist the temptation to add those items to your active task list. As new ideas come up, and as you remember things you’re supposed to do, add them to the master list and when you create your next active list pull them over, if they make the cut.

7. Shorter is better.

Don’t you just love the feeling of crossing that last task off your list? I sure do! And there is a very important reason why you want to do that every day. Finishing all the tasks on your list reinforces a pattern of completion and success! And that is extremely important. Most of us have patterns of “mostly done,” or “almost done,” or “90% there” hard wired into our brains. 90% done is not done. If you’re leading the race 99% of the way to the finish line and then stop at the last step, you lose! Every time you leave a task list incomplete for the day, you reinforce a pattern of incompleteness.

8. Have a separate “busy work” list.

All of our lives are full. We all have lots of “stuff” that needs to get done. Resist the temptation to add that non-productive stuff to your active list. Instead, have a separate list for your “busywork.” This list includes, email, administrative work, organizing, bill paying, invoicing, etc. If you work at home, anything non-work related goes on this list. Tackle the items on this list during your “non-prime-time” periods of the day and, ideally, only after you have completed one active task list.

9. Celebrate!

Remember, you want to shift your focus off of what’s not done and onto your successes. So each time you complete your task list for the day, reward yourself. Do a happy dance. Have a little chocolate. Whatever is going to reinforce and help you celebrate your success.

Here’s the bottom line.

Keep your list short, specific and on target so that you can complete it every day and reinforce the critical success habit of completion!

If you want to check out some task list resources these are a few good ones:

The system I use for my task management is Simpleology: The Simple Science of Getting What You Want. I’ve been using Simpleology for over 2-years and have seen the system evolve from a paper-based system to a completely web-based version. This one has definitely worked for me. It’s really a perfect solution if you spend most of your time at the computer.

If your work takes you out and about and you’re away from the computer for much of the day, check out, David Allen’s Getting Things Done system.

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.

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.

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

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!