You may have heard it before: Experts get paid a lot more than Generalists, and the way to attract a lot of clients is to position yourself as an expert in your field. Being the accepted Go-to Person for your particular field is the easiest way to stand out and have clients choose your service over your competitors’. Ok so far so good. But how do we do this in the fastest way possible you might ask.

When people hear the word ‘Expert’ they often think of somebody who has been in one field for a long time. Many people balk at the idea of claiming expert status for themselves thinking “Who am I to claim I am an expert, I don’t know anywhere near enough to be an expert. When I ask clients how long they need to have been in a field before they can claim to be an expert, they often answer with “at least five years”. Hmm, so what are you meant to do in the meantime? Just accepting the fact that you are merely mediocre? Marketing yourself as a beginner?? No way. Nobody wants to work with a beginner. So who decides from what point onwards you can call yourself an expert?

And really it can be so easy if you just make that one small but important mindset shift that lets you claim expert status no matter where you are at and how long you have been doing what you’re doing.

Here is the all important question:

Who is your audience?

Expert status is always relative. Here’s an example. I am a total tennis novice. For me the tennis coach giving lessons at my local club is an expert at what he does. But for a professional player, like the world’s number one, Roger Federer he is not really the expert, he’s an amateur. Roger needs somebody MUCH more experienced and knowledgeable than my local tennis coach to assist him in his training.

Point being, who do you cater for with your expertise? If my local tennis coach compared himself to Roger Federer’s trainer, he would never be able to claim expert status. He will be forever an amateur. Feeling like the eternal amateur isn’t going to be good for his image and not very client attractive. Not to mention what it will do for his self esteem. But for a tennis novice like me, my local trainer is THE expert I want to work with as he can relate to me as a beginner, he knows how to teach beginners like me and he can easily take me to the goal I want to achieve when it comes to playing tennis. Maybe better than Roger Federer’s trainer who really would be totally bored working with a beginner like me.

Now how about you? If you are having issues claiming expert status, then who are you comparing yourself to? A competitor who has been in the industry you just entered for 10 years? Is that why you can’t claim to be the expert? And who are you looking at catering for? Where are they at in their journey? And what level of expertise will most serve them right now?

Now if you needed to be THE BEST to be an expert, then wouldn’t every local tennis coach be out of work while Roger Federer’s trainer was inundated with clients? I think we both know the local tennis coach down the road has nothing to fear from Roger’s coach. And both can quite happily call themselves experts, as they are both speaking to a different audience.

So what is your audience? And how far ahead of them are you? Can you take them forward the steps they are seeking to take? If yes, great then you are an expert in their eyes RIGHT NOW.

Next week I will share with you three ways you can position yourself as an expert almost instantly. Hint – check out my Client Attraction Week Telesummit where I team up with seven other experts to bring you highly effective strategies for positioning yourself as an expert…. you can attend for FREE, check it out… http://www.clientprosperity.com/telesummitsales

In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the whole Expert Status thing? I’d love to know, please leave me a note…

Have you ever looked back at the end of the day wondering where the hours went and what you actually achieved? It can be frustrating when a day gets clogged up with unproductive tasks and you don’t get to the money making stuff that you really should attend to.

The number one thing you need in order to grow your business fast and successfully (apart from Passion) is FOCUS!

Focus on Income Producing Activities. What does that really mean? As Solo-Entrepreneurs there are three things that we should be focused on 95% of the time:

Marketing: Marketing takes most of the time, especially when starting out and realistically also when you are already up and running. The good news for all those of you saying you don’t like to market: The lines between Marketing and Working with Clients get blurred when using Attraction Marketing Principles. That means Marketing is actually fun because you educate and build relationships while you do it.

Work with Clients: No brainer. Of course you want to spend time servicing your clients really well. As a Solopreneur YOU and your Expertise are the the commodity so of course this is an important part, and usually the most fun part of your days.

Innovation: It’s critical that you constantly learn new things and innovate within your field. Your clients expect it, it is the lifeblood of your business. And it keeps things exciting for you as well.

You should be spending 95% of your time in any of these three areas. If you are not, you are wasting time. Let me share with you my top tips for ridding yourself of time wasters so you can be as focused and productive as possible to reach your big 2010 goals.

Tip 1: Have set working hours where you ONLY spend time on income producing activities.

During your working hours you should not be focusing on anything else. That means no lower value activities (eg admin), no distracting activities (eg a private email, a youtube video someone sent you etc) and no personal chores like shopping etc. Set your working hours so you can realistically achieve this and stick to it no matter what. You will need to find time for the excluded activities somehwere else. This is critical for you to stay focused.

Tip 2: Batch activities

This is so important as different tasks require a different mindset.  Changing it all the time is a waste. So have a standard diary for the week . Batch all our client work on certain days, your marketing on certain days etc, you get the idea. If  you are not already doing it, you will notice that this saves you heaps of time. It also makes it really easy to plan the week and estimate how long bigger projects will take you to complete.

Tip 3: Outsource all non-income producing activities

As soon as you can afford it, outsource your non-income producing activties. Most people wait too long before they do this. Remember, the more you outsource the more you are able to focus on income producing activities and make money. I know the more I outsource, the more money I make. It is an investment that definitely pays off. If you choose the right team members who are professionals who know their craft and have a service mentality, you will be better off because you have outsourced. Don’t wait too long, do it as soon as possible!

Focus is important not only to get more done but also so you have more time off to spend doing what you love. That’s really important so you replenish your energy and your creativity.

What do you think of these tips? HOw are they working for you? What are your top tips to avoid time wasters?

I would love to hear from you, please leave me a comment here on the blog!

Your Database or ‘List’ as some people call it, is one of if not the greatest asset in your business. Your List are your subscribers, people you communicate with regularly usually via email, and who you build a relationship with.

Growing a subscriber base that is really responsive to your messages, that loves what you do and that responds to your offers is extremely important for your business success. Quality is more important than quantity here and again, you want to make sure the number of relationships you have grows steadily. The more relationships you cultivate and the better your subscriber knows, likes and trusts you the better.

Believe me, the more your database grows, the easier it is to market your programs and products and the more money you are going to make, simply because you will reach more people who are ready to do business with you at any given point in time.

So how do you grow your subscriber list quickly with lots of ideal potential clients who respond to your messages?

It goes almost without saying that you MUST know your ideal client profile. Knowing your ideal client makes it easy to tailor your message and to show them that you have the solutions they are looking for. So know their age, their gender, their income level, their typical life circumstance (eg are they an entrepreneur, a mom, an employed professional etc.), their attributes: eg. are they tech savvy, have certain hobbies, passions etc.

Here are 3 things you can do that tend to help your ideal potential clients find you and become your subscribers:

1. Write an Article about the most pressing problem your ideal clients have and outline your solutions. Be generous and give some of your best strategies. Telling them what the strategies are will inspire your ideal client to see what is possible for them and will position you as the ‘go-to’ Expert. Submit the article to relevant article directories on the internet, make it available as a newsletter contribution for other people in related industries who already have a relationship with your potential clients, or post it on relevant resource sites. Make sure you add your contact details including your website link at the end motivating people to go to your site to get more information.

2. Do a free teleseminar on the topic you wrote the article about. Collaborate with people in related industries who already have a relationship with your client base. Ideally your service should compliment theirs. Arrange for them to promote and endorse your free teleseminar to their subscribers. Their subscribers need to come to your website and leave their name and email address to get the free teleseminar. You can then start to engage them in a conversation by educating them about possible solutions to their most pressing problem. Again, be generous with your expertise but don’t give away ‘the whole store’. Make sure your collaborator benefits from this relationship so it’s a true win-win.

3. Create a massively valuable free giveaway that people tell other people about because it’s so valuable. You can record your free teleseminar and make the recording available to your subscribers. If it’s good they are going to want to tell their friends about it and so they come back to your site. Again, to get the free giveaway they need to register on your website and give their name and email address helping you to start a conversation with them.

Don’t be afraid to give great value, it will pay off for you, it always has for me. I know that a lot of my subscribers read my ezine, come to my free teleseminars and tell their friends and colleagues about it. People do start to know, like and trust me and that’s what growing your List is all about.

So go and spread the good stuff you have and you’ll attract lots of great new subscribers for your tribe!

Have you settled on a niche yet? I know it’s not an easy decision to make for most service professionals and it’s the most important decision you will ever make in your business. It can mean the difference between a thriving business and a total lemon.

A lot of people are resisting making the decision for the fear of getting it wrong and losing their business. I used to be one of them. Apart from the fear of losing clients I was also extremely fond of all the different things I was doing and didn’t want to let go of any of them. I love stimulation and variety (probably smiliar to you).

On thing I have learned over the last few years is though: You MUST settle on a niche to be financially successful (beyond the $100,000 ceiling you can just reach without making this decision, but you’ll be working hard to maintain that for the rest of your life).

I have a step by step process that effectively leads you to make that decision. Many of my Market your Brilliance Workshop attendees made the decision on the workshop weekend, they had huge breakthroughs. I want to share with you the fundamental questions that start this process off so you can get yourself into the frame of mind that helps you make this all important decision.

So here it goes, you may want to do this with me as we go through:

Step1: Find out what you are passionate about

There is no point starting a business when your heart is not 100% in it. That’s why it makes sense to do this process from the inside out and start with what your heart tells you. When you do this, don’t think about how you will make it happen, will someone buy it etc. that just sabotages the process. That comes later. For now just focus on what you are really passionate about. Believe me without this passion you won’t have the commitment you need to make your business a success. This is especially true for us heart-centred entrepreneurs. Being an NLP Expert I use processes here that uncover your passion by engaging the unconscious mind.

Step 2: Your ideal client and their problem

Who is it that you want to work with and what problem do you solve for them? This is the time to get really specific in articulating these things. The clearer you are the better. And yes that means some people won’t fit into your profile anymore. That’s the point.
If you don’t set a clear boundary around who you work with, then nobody in particular will feel spoken to. And here is the crux of it: If you can find 5 people that want to work with you because you offer exactly what they need and you are confident your solution will solve their problem, then you have a good chance of building a viable business. Because if you can find 5 then you can find more. It’s then just a question of how do you find them and that can be solved.

Step 3: Does your ideal client have enough spending power?

So you know they have a problem you can solve. Do they want to solve it? Is it important enough for them to spend money on solving it? Do they have the spending power to buy your solution? This is critical and sometimes overlooked. Some of the biggest problems we have are not the ones we spend the most money on solving. Ever thought about it that way? Look at your own life and your spending patterns, what do you really need (be honest) and what do you spend the most money on?

How did you go? Has your view of your niche changed at all? still undecided? If you need a way to tighten this up and really nail it down, if you are having a couple of alternatives to choose from here is what I suggest:

1. Go out and test your ideas on an audience of your envisaged ideal clients

2. Get help from a mentor who is unbiased and can ask the questions that you may be avoiding to look at because of fears or emotional attachments to a particular niche.

This is one focus of our Platinum 2010 Program. All my Platinum Program Members will be guided to making sound decisions on their niche so they have a solid base to build their business on. It’s much easier to see your vision unfold once you have made these basic decisions. Could it be time for you to step up and become part of a Mentoring Program that holds you to your goals and helps you to realise them with sound advice, savvy coaching and a great sense of community?
Go to www.clientprosperity.com/platinum to get your Platinum Invitation letter and application form.

If you are not doing this, you might be missing out on business:
Since I mentioned on one of my calls that I get a lot of business out of attending live events, a few people have asked me “How do you do it?”.

I actually see attending live events as an important part of my business development strategy. In fact, it is one of my most important ones. My business wouldn’t be where it is today without this strategy, I am totally serious about that.

Let me explain.

Apart from the knowledge and new ideas you attend a workshop for in the first place, it’s the people you meet that are one of the greatest assets a live event has to offer. It’s a unique opportunity to create Joint Venture Partnerships, meet new clients and create business relationships with people who supply exactly the missing ingredient to solve a problem you are having.
Sometimes payoffs from these side effects are much greater than what you expected from the workshop in the first place.

So do you want to know how I do it? I am going to share with you the 5 things I do to make sure every workshop I attend more than pays for itself. They are so easy everyone can do them now – immediately. It’s the fastest way I know to get business. So read on.

1. Set your intent
When I went to the States my intent was to create one new business opportunity and make a firm arrangement for my own mentoring for 2010. I was very clear about that, thought about it on the plane going there and wrote it down.
Then when getting there I trusted that it would all sort itself out and while it was in the back of my mind, I was unattached to this outcome and focused on having a good time. And it did all work itself out, I got exactly what I wanted.

2. Be strategic about who you hang out with
While good things often come from unexpected places, I still recommend you make some educated guesses as to who would be useful to spend time with, have conversations with, get to know.
If you know who is attending, plan in advance who you would like to meet and connect with.

3. Give and you shall receive
Listen and watch out for opportunities to add value. Be generous with your knowledge and give so others benefit from having spoken to you. I always aim to leave someone I spoke to a bit richer for having had our conversation. Sometimes it’s not your knowledge they need, sometimes it’s simply an opinion, an open ear, a compliment, a connection to someone who can help them.
All of these things will be appreciated and you will be remembered for it.

4. Be clear about what you can offer people you meet
If people want to know more about what you do, be sure to be prepared. What is the introdctory offer you can make them?
Is there a way to get started while you are there (if you are both travelling), or can you make an appointment for the near future.
Lock it in, it’s much more likely to happen if it’s in the diary straight away.

5. Don’t push your business cards onto others
This is a ‘Don’t’ that you are probably already familiar with. I generally don’t give my business card to anyone these days unless they ask for it. Otherwise the card will most likely end up in the bin or the drawer anyway and I don’t want that. Be choosy and don’t give your card to just anyone. They have to be qualified and really interested (they kind of have to earn the right to have your card).

If you do these things, then I’d be surprised if you didn’t generate new business from attending a life event. It has worked for me for years. I’d love to know what you think. What are your tips? Please leave me a comment!

One such life event that can bring a lot of opportunities is my Market your Brilliance Intensive, coming up this coming weekend, 14-15 November in Sydney. We still a handfull of tickets, hurry before they are all gone. Feel free to contact me if you want to know more. You can call 02 9879 5850 or use the contact us form on the webpage.