You've probably have heard the saying:  "the money is in the list",

well - it's true.  It is in your list.  And it's a frustration that a client brought to her mentoring call this week. She was all flustered because she keeps hearing that to do any good, you've just got to have a BIG list.

What's the point of having a list of ten or thousands if no-one is opening your emails, let alone buying from you.  Wouldn't it be better to have a smaller list, filled with clients who can't wait to open your emails and read what you have to say.  Who look forward to your latest product or service launch, and are happy to purchase from you.

No I'm not saying that you stay with a small list, you do want to continue to build it, but build it strategically. The way you can do this is by being very clear on your strategy around building your list.  If you have a clear strategy, you build quality rather than a quantity. 

Your first strategy is to be very clear on who your ideal clients are. The clearer you can be about this, the better understanding you will have around what you can share with them.  If you've worked through our e-book on 'Identifying Your Ideal Clients', you will be clear on who these people are. Take time to really understand what their concerns, challenges and dreams are.  Develop your avatar about these clients and have it somewhere you can see it regularly to remind you about them.

Your second strategy is developing a relationship with your clients through the content you provide.  When writing, make sure you are conversational. This isn't the time to become a bureaucratic writer!

A tip to remember is when writing articles or emails imagine that you are sitting across the table having a coffee with your ideal client. Have a conversation with them, use conversation tones and make it easy for them to get to know you.

For those of us who aren't natural writers, it does take time to get use to writing in this style.  I know for me it took a while to write more conversational, as having a Defence Force background my style was very militant and rigid.  Even now after many, many years I still find I'm learning from each article I write.

The final strategy is to be aware of how you position yourself.  You want your clients to see you as a leader within the marketplace.  To see you as someone who is willing to take a stand on what you believe in and inspire others. Someone who is willing to tell your story to connect with your clients.

Think about the e-newsletters you currently open and read, what makes you want to open those particular emails? My guess is that it has less to do with the instructional information, but more to do with the individual person and how you see them...

Now you've got a strategy to follow, what are some of the tactics you've used to build your list?  Please share them with us on our blog or Facebook page.

Our mission is to support you in starting, growing and leading your business.  To do this, we provide you with the tools, strategies and knowledge that will help you get the edge in your industry.  Over the next few months, we have new programs coming out to support those of you who are new to business, as well as higher end programs for those of you who have been in business for a while and want more personalised business growth coaching.

The key foundations we’ve developed that run through
all parts of our coaching, focuses on FOUR Foundations: You, Your clients, Your offer, and Your message.

When you have these four foundations in place, your business is growing strong.

Although I would love to walk you through specifically what modules, key points, and measures form the basis of each of this foundations, we really don’t have the room here in today’s article, so what I am going to do is share with you some of the key snippets about the first foundation. 

The first of these foundations is: YOU!  And yes, mindset is very much a part of this foundation.  I’m going to say this as it is - it really doesn’t matter how educated you may be, if you don’t have the right mindset for business success, you will struggle to grow your business. 

There is more to the YOU than just a positive mindset – it’s also about how you think about work, what you do to structure your days, how you lead your business, and what you do to continually stay ahead of what is happening in the marketplace. 

The key point here is being clear on your work ethic. What actions do you do day in and day out that are building your business?

Growing a business takes time; it takes energy, focus and hard work. But it doesn’t need to be rocket science. You can grow your business by working smarter, not harder.  Be smart about how you build your business, don’t wipe yourself out or put those closest to you on the ‘back burner’, thinking they will be there when you reach your goal.  They may not! 

Another important point is to look at the activities within your business that you can outsource.  What is it that you don’t need to be doing, that you can outsource to someone else?  

Make a list of all the critical and non-critical tasks and then look at what competencies some-one needs to have to work on the non-critical tasks for you.  Once you're clear on what type of person you need, take time to either bring some-one in to do this work for you, or outsource it.  Remember that you can bring contractors in and out of your business on a project-by-project basis if you need to. 

It’s important to take time to detach from your work, and to nourish the people and activities that are important to you.  Using the excuse that you’re too busy to spend time with those who mean the most to you just doesn’t cut it.  I see it all too often, in fact I’ve done it myself, and it makes having a successful business very hollow.

Another key point is take time to detach each day from your business. 

What can you do at the end of the day, that will allow you to detach from your business?  Make a list of the things you can do and work your way through this list – have some serious fun!

Finally, I would like to leave you this final key point, which is to have a vision for your business that is bigger than you!

I would love to hear back from you, about what you believe also sits under the YOU foundation.  As mentioned earlier, our aim is to support you as much as we can, so please let us know what else you need from us.

“That’s not how I see myself!”

Is the usual response that I get from clients when I ask them, “Do you see yourself as a leader?” 

Then the conversation invariably turns into a discussion about how leaders are usually men and women who, in moments of crisis, stand up and make a great difference to a course of events.  Unfortunately, this image creates a belief that you can’t be a leader unless there is some type of crisis and through this you have the ability to inspire thousands.

But really, the definition of leadership is simply ‘the ability to guide, direct, or influence people’.  And the reality is, YOU lead every day!

Let’s remember:  Mothers and fathers lead, little children lead and as a business owner, you lead.

So tell me?  “How do you see yourself as leader?”

Still not sure how this fits into your circumstances?  Think about a time recently when you’ve influenced another by the decisions you made, or when a conversation you had affected someone else’s decisions.  You may want to consider when you’ve chosen to spend time focusing on the growth of your business rather than getting caught in putting out the day to day fires…..

This is leadership, it’s your own personal leadership and guess what – you are upfront leading…..

Now that doesn’t mean you don’t make mistakes and you don’t always get everything 100% correct, and that the wheels won’t come off on the odd occasion.  They probably will! 

But when you make the choice to see yourself as a leader, you know what value you bring to your business, to your clients and to yourself. 

You understand that at these times you still have to put out some fires, deal with the day to day events, as well as all that other *fun* stuff. But you know when you’re in this frame of mind, your focus is about managing and management, and you don’t stay there very long. 

And the reason you don’t stay there for very long is because you’ve made the decision to lead your life rather than manage it.

To lead your life - over the next few days, take some time and list all the roles you play in your business.  Identify where these roles fit – are they “Leadership” or are they “Management”?  Look at where you are spending most of your time. 

If you are spending more of your time managing, ask yourself:

“What impact does this have on my business and my life?” 

“What do I get from managing rather than leading my life?”

“What needs to change, so that I can spend more time leading?” 

“What is one action I can do today, that will move me from managing my life into leading my life?”

When you’ve answered these questions, take that one action step and do it, then tomorrow take one more action, keep this going until you are spending most of your time leading. 

Take a moment to comment below and let me know how it feels to lead rather than manage….

Oh, if you want to find out more about how you can lead rather than manage, then click here....