Can you relate to this? An “opportunity” comes along to service a client for what appears to be a lucrative sum of money and then here’s the BUT -, but the opportunity costs sanity, energy and ridiculous amounts of patience to maintain.  What seems to be a profitable venture becomes a painful distraction from the rest of the business.

I am referring to a particular situation recently, when I managed to briefly meander off the tight adherence to my target market which is heart-centered entrepreneurs, primarily women, committed to making a difference in the world, having integrity and passion for what they do and offer.

The social media client I took on has none of the qualities I just mentioned.  I have gotten familiar  (after entering the agreement with them) with several products this company sells and generally the goods are of poor quality and there is great disparity between the quality stated on the web catalog and the quality given.  This is a slight problem, when organic social media success happens by promotion of the value and quality a business offers by it’s “fans” (aka loyal customers) = social proof.

The “practical” side of me justified the acceptance of aforementioned relationship as a “good business decision” and in today’s economic world I would have been crazy to decline an “opportunity” that so many others would want!  I really want to say to the client is “the reason you have problems with repeat sales and client retention is the fact that you are selling crappy goods, social media presence is the LEAST of your concerns”.   Two things that may be likely if I say this:

1) It will end the agreement and I could receive the title: “Most Tactless Vendor Ever Retained”

2) The client will hear those words every time someone complains about the products and MAYBE, JUST MAYBE it would plant the seeds of productive change

Chalk this up to the lesson book. We’ll call it lesson #10,987 in the business school of hard knocks.  The LESSON:  I hire my clients as much as they hire me! Time to straighten my red velvet rope and move on.

Now…to proceed with a healthy strategy to exit this business relationship so that it leaves both me and the client with more wisdom than we started with.

via Desiree Scales http://post.ly/ewGK

Universal Casket – In passing one may guess their target market is anyone that plans on being buried in a casket. However, I would bet that their marketing plan has a very specific consumer who is in a specific age, sex, psychographic and economic group.

Does the description of your target market go something like this…”Women or Men between 20-55″ or worse yet “Women and Men between 20-55″? I hear this and cringe and hope for a further elaboration…because this description is what I call the shotgun approach to hitting the broad side of a barn.

Personally, Michael Port is the teacher that got me to let go of the limiting belief that I couldn’t or shouldn’t narrow my target market. I didn’t want to limit my options. He teaches about the ‘red velvet rope’ that must be in place so that you don’t spend your time courting all the wrong customers. When I followed his instructions, my business went to from nothing to booked.

Here are 3 keys that changed my entire target market perspective and have resulted in success for me:
1) Write a narrative story of your ideal client. Give your character a name. Describe everything about them (where they live, what they do in their spare time, what their pain points are, what they are passionate about, what they watch, EVERYTHING).

2) Identify the average sale value and annual revenue of your ideal client. Yep – if you are wasting your time trying to sell services to people who can’t afford you then what are you doing? Is your product or service an investable opportunity for your prospect? While you don’t know what is in their bank account, it is important to be aware of your pricing and packaging as it relates to your target.

3) Be picky about your networking choices. Review where you feel at home networking and where you feel like you are swimming upstream. I quit wasting time and money attending networking events with people who weren’t in my target market and amazingly my confidence increased, my qualified leads increased and most importantly my referral business grew. I changed from networking to being a part of my business community of birds of like feather.

To your passionate success~ M

Then, BoobQuake.  If you are wondering just Google the word and you will be led to a plethora of blog, news, twitter, YouTube and other sites giving you as much information as you could possible wish on the subject matter.  In summary, it was triggered by the comment of an Iranian cleric who condemned scantily clad women and blamed them for earthquakes (no I’m not joking).  I’m not going to dovetail into a religious diatribe on this but at the core of it his original comments are driven to motivate behavior by fear. There’s even a boobquake hashtag running on Twitter just search #boobquake.

In both cases fear is the underlying motivator that created the original buzz.  Fear that exposing larger than an A cup on an underwear commercial may somehow corrupt the minds of the innocents starring at the boob-tube (hey wait maybe that’s the whole reason it has that nickname???).  Fear that if a woman is comfortable in her body what other powers may she possess?

P.S. I love my Cacique bras

The lesson to business owners who want to use social media is this:  be authentic and don’t be afraid to trigger an emotion in your audience.  Playing safe makes you a wall flower.  Playing on the edges (if done with integrity and authenticity) can earn you unknown exposure to eyes you’ll never meet.  Are you motivating with Joy, Pain, Fear, Passion,or something else?  Pick an emotion that fits you and your brand and watch what happens.

Personally, while it creates buzz, I think the fear emotion is over-used and under-enlightened. Namaste!

1. Amancio Ortega:  “Railway worker’s son started as a gofer in a shirt store.”
2. Larry Ellison: “Studied physics at U. of Chicago; didn’t graduate.”
3. Li-Ka Shing: “Humble origins: quit school at age 15 to support his family; made plastic flowers that he exported to U.S. in the 1950s.”
4. Sergey Brin – So like Google: “Introduced goats to Google campus lawn last year; animals less harmful to the environment than lawn mower.”
5. David Koch – “pledged $100 million to alma mater (MIT) for cancer research last year. “
6. Jeffrey Bezos – “Former Wall Streeter quit hedge funds before 30th birthday to sell books online from Seattle garage. Founded Amazon.com 1994, public 3 years later; didn’t turn profit until late 2001.”
7. Donald Bren – “Has permanently protected more than half of 93,000-acre Irvine Ranch, creating public parks and trails.” (I plan on doing this, buying large plots of green space in urban areas to stop urban sprawl AND having a good attorney who will win any emminant domain cases along the way)
8. Vladimir Potanin – “became the first Russian billionaire to announce he will transfer his fortune to charity and not his children.” (agreed – train your children to make their own billions and leave a legacy with charity)
9. George Kaiser – “George Kaiser Family Foundation battles cycle of poverty: champions fight against intergenerational poverty; supports community health, public education and incarceration alternatives.”
10. Mark Zuckerberg – (youngest billionaire at 25 and responsible for triggering Facebook addictions )”Fresh-faced entrepreneur launched Facebook from Harvard dorm room in 2004. Left school for Silicon Valley later that year”

The skeptic would argue that some have that money because they “screwed people over” or “they were just luckier than everyone else”.   I tried to find billionaires that were “self made” and I’ll leave their karma to work itself out.  Sadly, all the women I found (at least in the top 100 list) inherited their billions.  I wonder how long before a self-made female billionaire hits the top 100….

Right now “Millionaire” is my milestone objective, specifically, I have a target network worth focus of $50,000,000.  That’s what I am comfortable with setting as a goal.  Then again, recently one of my teachers reminded me that I need to add a zero to that number which then would make it $500,000,000 and then heck at that point I’m half way to a billion   

Don’t stop believing! ~Megha

The pressure of pregnancy on my “I can do it all” attitude has been an incredible distilling factor.  AND I have to also give due credit to The Fresh Entrepreneur program that I recently did via Ladies Who Launch for challenging me to take all the business planning I have done to this point and run it through the filter of my authentic branding.

Here’s what my distilling of my vision and my commitment to my business and my life has given me:

I have forgiven myself for initially creating a business model which I have worked for three years to fit myself into because I chose the business based on the logic of doing business versus the passion of my heart.  When I say “forgiven” I mean I have finally allowed myself to let go of the vision I first painted because it hasn’t inspired me at my core and thus I have been unable to communicate it effectively to others.

I find I am not alone in this – many people start businesses because the model makes “logical sense” …. but here’s the problem with “logical sense” – usually the brain is plugged in, working overtime and the heart has not been summoned to sense the true inspiration in the work.   I truly believe that the floodgates to prosperity and providence in our work are only locked until we let our hearts move our businesses instead of our brains. (disclaimer – this is not to say you leave your intelligence at the door!)

I leave you with this quote by Goethe.  I am seeing it come to life now – even though I am putting finishing touches on my revised business, things are already flowing from it and I am not “working” at it at all! The people, the opportunities and the support is showing up and I haven’t even started asking around yet….be in the flow.  Namaste!

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back– Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

I work with people on the use of social media and other web-based technologies, but as a student of human sociology I’m very troubled by the over-stimulus that is occurring at the speed of our technology.  I’ve decided that I’m going to start doing a lot more observation of this issue and am curious to see what the long term effects of our technology on our humanity.

I am becoming over-stimulated by the number of friend requests on Linked-In and Facebook from people who don’t know me from Adam and many of whom don’t even have a common connection to me.  They then send me a generic message or no message to be connected to me.  Do they really need what I have to say to be added to their stream?  Do I really want to take the time to get to know them when they connected with me through no compelling means other than I got put on their mass invite list? Do I want to invest the time to ask them – “hey why did you send me a generic message”? .…hmmm wait I think I just had an idea for a social test….

Every second on Twitter, another over-zealous internet marketing is telling us how to get 10,000 more followers?  I don’t want numbers, I want people that personally decide to follow me because of something about me or what I say and vice-versa I want to follow them because they have something inspiring, educational, or compelling that makes me want to know them across the miles of digital space.

I think we, as a society connected through the social web, risk desensitizing our human-to-human relationships in exchange for the little statistical number of people we mostly don’t know.  Because, when we add so much “noise” to our radar we miss what is being said by people that really matter.  With that said, I think we can also connect to people beyond our immediate circle of friends and enrich and deepen our social circles – BUT that is very different than friending random strangers with whom you don’t share a common belief, friend or association.

The point of this post is to stimulate the conversation of “how” to we shift the trend away from the mass innundation of impersonal messaging and instead make our social web work in favor of our natural human instinct.  Ideas?

My immediate thought is that we have to still get “off-line” with our friends (phone, greeting cards, etc), opt to go to Tweet-Ups (meeting the real faces behind your Twitter account), and begin to question the people who randomly try to connect with us simply to add to their statistical numbers.

What do you do to make your social network be real human relationships?  My one action is that I am investing in Send Out Cards so that I can start getting back to the off-line power of communication.

Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo

There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.  ~Lady Blessington

Today I want to introduce you to another of the radiant, positive people in my circle.  Elizabeth Lombardo, PhD, MS, PT is a clinical psychologist, physical therapist and author of “A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness” who helps people around the world have less stress and more happiness, regardless of what is going on in life.

I am so grateful to have within my circle of friends and business associates so many people who are committed to raising the vibration of positive consciousness.  People like Dr. Lombardo help counterbalance the energetic vacuum that is such a persistent part of the frequent messages floating through our airwaves.

I’ve asked her to share a few of her thoughts below.  You can also visit her website http://www.AHappyYou.com and download a free chapter of her book.

What is the most important lesson that you have learned about business that no one could teach you in a class or a book?

Make sure you are using your strengths and farming out the tasks that are can’t stand.  Yes, it costs money. But think of how much money you waste when you do those tasks and your positive energy is depleted.  This is an important component of the happiness prescription.

Write down at least 3 things you feel grateful for everyday.  This may seem simple but I guarantee it will change you.  Ask yourself “What would I miss most tomorrow if I lost everything and everyone today?”  And start appreciating it all while you still can.

Looking for more happiness and less stress?  Go to www.AHappyYou.com for tons of free info and to learn more about my bestselling book.

Also be a part of The American Dreams Sweepstakes where our lucky winner (out of over 5,000 entries) wins a year of free mortgage and tons of free help, including happiness training with me  Videos will share with the world the great tools the experts are sharing.

Please feel free to stay connected with me and stop by and say hello on Facebook or Twitter

I am beginning to learn a new way of life that will continue to evolve for at least the next several years. For right now, in the 1st trimester of my pregnancy, I have had to set aside virtually all non-essential business decisions and focus on retaining enough energy to honor my agreements with my clients and still maintain my well-being.  In the past,  I could pull off being a “driven” entrepreneur without enough sleep or a few missed meals…I have had my wake-up call!!!

Here’s a prime example:  Yesterday I was supposed to attend a women’s social media networking event scheduled for 6:30 in the evening.  Thinking that I would be in, out and on with my prenatal appointment by that time I had told several people I would be in attendance.  I forgot to factor in the lab time of a prenatal visit, four vials of blood later I went from “I don’t feel so well…” to “Mrs. Rodriguez can you hear me?”  – yep I fainted.  Apparently not that surprising to them, but for me it derailed my grand networking plan for the evening.  We came to discover it was dehydration which I take full responsibility for since I had been doing my normal “I’m busy” routine.

In the moment where they were making sure I was conscious and stable, I didn’t care about missing that meeting, I cared that I do what is necessary to have a healthy pregnancy and do what is right for my and the baby’s welfare.   The urge rose within me that no one and nothing takes priority over motherhood.  And for the first time in my life, I am truly beginning to understand how much I have underestimated the energy and resolve of mom business owners!

I still hold firm to the belief it is possible to have both the successful business and a happy motherhood, but it will require much better time management and boundary definition between my business and personal life

Now it’s time for another nap – I’ve never been this tired in my whole life!  Oh and I’ll celebrate the fact that I gathered enough energy to write a blog post!

Angela Stalcup

This is the first of the regular weekly post you will read about one of the passionate business owners I am blessed to know.  A year ago, I attended a Ladies Who Launch meeting and participated in their Vision Story exercise which was an awesome way to start the year.

Angela Stalcup is the Atlanta Market Director for Ladies Who Launch, a support community for entrepreneurial women, as well as Curvy Empowerment Officer at her blog “The Curvy Life” www.curvylife.com. I have a great deal of respect for Angela because she is truly authentic and comes from the heart. She roots for all of the women in her network and in general is a strong voice for the power of the woman entrepreneur to realize her dreams.

Here are a few of Angela’s thoughts on business and giving back….

What is one valuable business lesson you have learned from EXPERIENCE rather than from teachers or books?

While it is essential to have an action plan, I spent many years trapped in the “How” of my dreams, or more specifically, in the “I-don’t-know-how” of my dreams, and never moved forward. I learned that every time I claim the “What” (the specifics of the dream) and release the “How” (the exact path for getting there), then act when an opportunity appears, the “How” becomes clear. Then I can create the plan that enables the “How.”

What strategy do you have to give back and/or make a difference as a result of your success?

Every woman that reaches her dreams makes the world a better place, thus growing our business and reaching as many as need our help means every day for us is a life-changing enterprise.

What products or services would you like to let everyone know about?

Every month we have meetings and workshops, (http://www.ladieswholaunch.com/Atlanta) but we’ve got some great ones lined up to kick off 2010: 

Claiming Your Vision Story, January 13, 2010, 6:00-8:30PM: With 12 questions we take attendees step-by-step through their own “Vision Story” for 2010. http://www.ladieswholaunch.com/atlanta/event/1761

The Fresh Entrepreneur Workshop (6 Week Program), starting January 19, 2010, 10:00AM. This workshop covers seven essentials for launching to the next level with a strong focus on the modern way of growing a business. http://www.ladieswholaunch.com/atlanta/event/1747

The Incubator Intensive Workshop (4 Weeks), starting January 19, 2010, 10:00AM. Spend four weeks getting clarity on a business, idea or project. http://www.ladieswholaunch.com/atlanta/event/1733

Find Angela on Twitter @LWLAtlanta

Ladies Who Launch Facebook Fan Page

Welcome to MeghaSuccess – my blog focused on inspired entrepreneurship and a place of community for my network of fellow business owners. It has taken me a year to get to starting my own blog and beginning on January 4, 2010 it will become a regular part of my communications plan.

Ironically, I’ve helped a lot of other people get their websites running and mine has lagged behind.

Please pardon my dust and I look forward to connecting with you in the new year!