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Event Planning: Understanding Your Audience
The first rule of creating products, a new service offering, or of event planning is to understand your event audience. This is true no matter what business or market you are in. You must be connected with the pulse of your event audience to know in advance whether or not they can afford it, want and need what you offer, and can take advantage of the opportunity.

Learning about your audience will also help you overcome many objections such as cost, subject matter, location, and time.
Your Audience’s Budget
If you know your audience well, you’ll know what type of disposable income they have. This allows you to plan and price your event accordingly. Once you know what they can afford, you can create a realistic budget for your event based on your audience’s ability to pay.
The Topics They Care About
Knowing your event audience will help you pick just the right topic and theme for your live, in-person event. Remember, you need to make them want to leave their home to listen to your subject matter.
The People They’d Want to Meet
Aside from meeting you in person, there may be others whom they would really want to meet in person. It’s important for you to know who these people are so that you can invite them to attend as a keynote speaker, or Joint Venture partner for the event.
Locations They’ll Love
Understanding who your audience is also helps you know what locations they’d love to visit. Even though in most cases people don’t see much of the area they’re in when they attend an event, the location still matters. Will it be too cold, too hot, too exotic, too costly? Only knowing your audience well can help you determine which is best.
At the Right Time
The other concern that knowing your audience can help clarify is the time factor. When an event should be held – which time of year, which days of the week or over a weekend – can all be answered by a thorough understanding of your audience.

Knowing your audience will help you overcome any objections they may have to attending an event. Use your knowledge to create an event that they’d want to attend, can afford to attend, and are able to attend. To learn more about your audience, it’s important that you go where they go (online and off), survey them, and listen to what they have to say.

You can study your audience via social media, free in-person meet ups and webinars. Leave no stone unturned to learn more about your audience so that you can put on a live event that is both profitable and fun for all involved, including yourself.

I love organising events. Why not contact me on 07701 351686 to see what I can do for you?

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Tips for Having a Successful Event
Having a successful event requires a little more work than a webinar or teleseminar but they are much more profitable and fun. For sure, they take a bit of planning, but if you follow these tips you’ll be well on your way.
Have a Clear Objective
Your first need is to have a clear objective. That is the only way you can successfully market it to your audience as well as potential partners and sponsors. People can see when something is well thought out or not.
Find  Partners
A partner (or two or three) can help you pull off a much larger and well attended event than if you did it all alone. The partners should be people who offer complementary products and services to yours rather than direct competitors.
Hire an Event Planner or Virtual Assistant
The cost of an event planner or VA is more than worth it when you consider all the little things that need to be done to ensure your event goes smoothly. Someone who is experienced in these things can actually save you money by helping prevent costly mistakes.
Recruit Volunteers
Once you know that the event is going to happen and you’ve sold a few tickets, it’s time to recruit some volunteers. The best volunteers are those who have signed up for information about your event but for whatever reason cannot afford to go but fit within your demographic.
Market Everywhere
Well, market wherever your audience lives, plays, works and socialises. Your marketing should be directed and specific in order to get a good response. You can have Meetups, webinars, articles, blog posts, and more to promote your event. Everyone involved should be promoting the event with these methods. Also consider advertising your event in the local paper to attract new people who might not find you online.
Collect Leads
During your marketing, find ways to collect leads because the people you market to via email directly are more likely to sign up for your event than people who find your information in other ways. Consider allowing affiliates to market your event too.
Find Sponsors
If you can land a well-known sponsor for your event it will make your event seem even more impressive when you say “sponsored by xyz ” if that company is well known and trusted by your audience.
Choose the Right Venue
One of the most important decisions you’ll make is where your event will occur. Ensure that the space is right for the size of your event. You don’t want people to feel too crowded, or as if they are swallowed up by the venue. You also want the style of the event to fit in with the style your audience has in terms of them worrying about what to wear and how to present themselves.
Get Technical Help
Even if you’re great with technology, monitors, computers, microphones and whatnot you really want someone else to take care of these issues. You want to be a personality at the event, not the technical person because it will take away from some of the fun for you. You’ll have enough to do as it is.
Practice the Performance
Your speech, the order of the talks, the use of the technology and so forth needs to be completed on site at the event location when possible to avoid any issues with lighting, technology or even walking up a step or two to get to the platform. This will make you all look more professional and avoid mishaps.
Test Technology
It’s been mentioned more than once in this list, but that’s how important it is. You should ask speakers to send you a copy of their presentation prior to the event so that if something happens you’ll have a copy, they’ll have a copy, and put a copy in the cloud just in case. But do not assume the internet or the projector will work. Have back up plans.
Allow for Breaks
Don’t forget to put realistic breaks into your event so that your participants do not get too tired or uncomfortable. Even interesting talks can put people to sleep if they are uncomfortable, hungry, or need to use the bathroom.
Ensure the Temperature is Comfortable
A very important component of a successful event is how the environment feels to the participants. You don’t want it to be too cold or too warm in the location. If there is an issue, ask for it to be fixed on behalf of your guests.
Serve Healthy Food
It’s tempting to go crazy and serve heavy food that will shock and awe the participants but you really want them to focus on your message and not their full and possibly sick and over fed stomachs. Give options for different types of people. You can survey the attendees to ensure the food choice fits most people.

Good planning and plenty of forethought will help ensure your event is a huge success. Not only that, but you’ll be able to create a profitable and fun outing for everyone involved.

I have years of experience in organising events and it’s one of my favourite things to do. If you want to wow your clients, and don’t know where to start, call me on 07701 351686 and we can discuss your needs. Or have a look at what else I can do.

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Get Seen, Get Traffic: Three Ways to Borrow Someone Else’s Audience
Ask nearly anyone who runs an online business what their biggest struggle is, and chances are they’ll say “I need to get more traffic.”

You need traffic to build an email list, make sales, fill your coaching courses, come on your yoga retreats.

So the big question is, where do you get more traffic from?

You could buy ads, but if you aren’t careful, you might just fill your list with less-than-ideal audience members and that will do nothing for your sales. You could focus your time and energy on search engine optimisation but unless you have years to build your business (and who does?) then SEO should not be your top choice.

Fortunately you have other options.
Be a Guest
Everyone needs content. It’s the one thing that remains consistent among all content creators—there is never enough. That’s where you can help.

By guest posting on other business owners’ blogs, you can “borrow” some of their traffic.

You can’t simply regurgitate old content and send it out in a dozen directions though. To get the best results, you’ll want to:

Create custom content designed with your host’s unique audience in mind
Provide value with innovative ideas and strategies
Inject your personality so those new to you will instantly connect with you
Offer a compelling reason to click through to your website or blog for more information

Partner Up
No list? Here’s a quick way to “borrow” someone else’s list to kickstart your own: Schedule a free event with a partner.

Here’s how it works.

You (as the one with the small list) create a compelling, free training course which leads naturally to a low-cost, no-brainer product
Install an affiliate tracking system such as aMember, Infusionsoft or 1Shopping Cart
Offer your best affiliates a higher percentage of profits in exchange for co-hosting your webinar and bringing their traffic along for the ride.

This is a win/win for both of you, as you gain the traffic while your affiliate gets a bigger payday. Just be sure you have a good funnel in place so that your new list members can benefit from all that you have to offer.
Get More Traffic by Being Interviewed
Want to really show off your expert status and bring traffic back to your site, too? The easiest way is to get on the interview circuit. Just like authors with new books and actors with new movies, coaches and service providers can get in front of new audiences simply by answering questions about what they know.

Of course, you’re probably not going to appear on the Loose Women or The Graham Norton Show (although that’s not impossible), but there are still plenty of opportunities out there for consultants in every niche.

Look for interview and speaking opportunities on:

Podcasts
Other blogs
YouTube
Local events
Industry conferences

Start by contacting your colleagues and podcast and blog hosts you most admire. Get the word out with your friends and your list that you’re looking for opportunities.

Even if you don’t yet have a list of your own, it’s easy (and fun) to get more traffic simply by making yourself available for these and other opportunities. Each guest post, podcast interview and webinar is another chance to get in front of a whole new market, so take advantage of it!

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Pain Points: What You Must Know About Your Potential Clients
How well do you know your potential clients?

Chances are you’ve developed at least a simple client avatar. You know her business, her age, her income and education levels. You know where she lives and how many kids she has and what her biggest dreams are.

But do you really know what drives her?

We’re not talking about just what she wants (we all want more money and free time). But more importantly, you need to know what her biggest pain points are. Work this out, and you’ll not only be able to service her needs better, but your sales copy will dramatically improve as well.
Identify your own pain
Think about it—if you’re uncomfortable with technology, and once in a DIY mood you destroyed your website during a simple update, then website management becomes a huge pain point for you. Now imagine you find a VA who not only works with WordPress, but who calmly shares examples of how she’s rescued client websites after such disasters.

She’s clearly addressed your biggest pain point, and you’re sold!

The same is true for your potential clients. Show them you can help them avoid those pain points—or better yet, eliminate them completely—and you’ll forge an instant bond.
Now think about your clients
Now you may already have a good idea what causes your clients pain, but if not, you have plenty of ways to find out.

Talk to them. What do they most often ask or complain about?
Listen in on forums, on social media, and other places your audience hangs out. What are they struggling with?
Reader surveys. These can be a rich source of information in any market. Pay special attention to the words and phrases your readers use to describe their troubles.
Keep an eye on your competition. What pain points are they addressing?

Once you’ve uncovered your ideal clients’ biggest pain points, you’ll have a powerful tool that you can use not only in your sales copy, but it will also help define your service offerings. If you can help your clients overcome the most painful issues they face—whether it’s a lack of technological knowledge, or no time to do their social media, you’ll instantly become a more valuable resource in your niche.

And when you incorporate those same pain points in your sales copy, your conversions will dramatically increase as well.

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The Art of Soft Selling: How to Get the Click Without (Really) Asking for It
We’ve all seen those old-style sales pages filled with yellow highlights and screaming red text and lots of “BUY NOW” buttons, and when we think of copywriting, that’s often what comes to mind. While that style of sales page can be effective, it’s not the only way to make sales. Let me tell you about the art of soft selling. Because by taking a more subtle approach, you might find that you generate more interest—and potentially more sales.
Stories Sell
One effective way to entice readers to click through to your sales page is with stories. These can be your stories or those of other people, with the goal of helping your readers to see themselves in the same situation.

Did you help a client turn her chaotic household into a calm oasis with better organisational skills? Her story on your sales page will get more clicks than all the yellow highlight you can buy.

What about that time you binned your entire business plan and started again because you simply weren’t passionate about your work? Your potential clients will be anxious to learn more, and will click through without even being asked.

Stories are powerful, and you can use them everywhere: in your blog posts, in your emails, on your sales pages, and even in videos and  social media.
Be Genuinely Helpful
Want to build a reputation as the go-to person in your niche? All it takes is to help people. Answer questions on social media, volunteer to speak to groups who need your advice, write blogs that address the most common issues your readers face.

By volunteering your time and knowledge, you’ll attract a wide audience of potential customers who may need your services in the future. Who will they turn to? That very helpful person who went out of her way to offer assistance in the past.

Now I’m not saying you have to give away all your valuable time. But if you really want to show off your expertise, you can’t do better than a little volunteer work. Not only will you make an impression with the person you help. But chances are she’ll share with her friends as well, further expanding your audience.

Of course this doesn’t mean that there is no place in your business for a strong call to action. “Click here to buy” and “Learn more” are still useful (and even necessary) on sales and opt-in pages. The key is to know when to make a subtle offer, and when to offer a bit more hand holding. The art of soft selling isn’t an easy one to learn. But with a bit of practise it will become evident when to employ it and when to go in harder.

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Mindset Tricks of Successful Entrepreneurs
Want to know what sets the very successful apart from the wannabe entrepreneurs?

It’s not money, or brilliant ideas, or even powerful friends.

All of those things (and more) are nice to have, but they’re not a requirement of success. What is a must-have, though, is a good attitude. Without the proper mindset, you’ll constantly be battling your own brain, and that’s exhausting.

You’ll allow yourself to believe your ideas are no good
You’ll remain convinced that you aren’t smart enough
You’ll be certain that someone else did it (whatever “it” is) better

And before you know it, you’ll have talked yourself right out of launching your new program, asking for a JV partnership, or writing your book. In no time at all, you’ll be back at your day job, working away on someone else’s business because you don’t have the confidence to create your own.

But a simple mindset change can make all the difference.
Dress for Success
Ladies, this one is for you. When we work at home, it’s easy to fall into a habit of wearing sweatpants and T-shirts to the office. After all, why dress up just for the dog?

But if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to instantly shift your mindset in the right direction, ditch the yoga pants and break out the lipstick. You’ll suddenly find you feel more professional, more confident, and sexier, too. (That last one won’t help your business, but it might help your love life, and that can’t hurt, can it?)
Never Let Fear Drive Your Decisions
Too many would-be entrepreneurs operate with a scarcity mindset rather than approaching business from a place of abundance. Rather than telling yourself that you can’t afford to hire a Virtual Assistant or work with a Business Coach, try re-framing your thoughts.

Instead of thinking, “I can’t afford to attend that event,” ask yourself, “How can I earn the money so I can afford to go?”

In place of saying, “I have to do everything myself because I can’t afford to hire a Virtual Assistant,” remind yourself that your hourly rate potential is much more than you’d pay a VA. Then fill those hours you’re saving by outsourcing with money-making tasks of your own.

By reformatting your thoughts, you’ll turn that negative money talk into positive solutions that help you grow.

Interested in hearing more about what I can do to make your business successful? Call me on 07701 351686 for a chat. My clients find their income increases when they work with me, because they have more time to spend on their business. Check out my list of services to see what I enjoy doing most. If what you want isn’t there, call me anyway. I’m sure I can help.

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3 Proven Ways to Market Your New Business
The world is filled with great ideas and broke business owners with fabulous products but no sales because they don’t know how to market their offering.

The fact is, ideas are not what drives most business success. Marketing does. So before you resign from your day job to branch out on your own, it pays to have a solid marketing plan in place. Start with these 3 ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
Free Webinars
For information product sellers, coaches, and service providers, one of the best sources of new clients is in free training webinars. No matter what your niche, the promise of free training is enough to entice potential clients to part with an email address and an hour of their time. You’ll be able to use their email address for marketing later as long as they give consent.

Not only that, but webinars are a fantastic way for those potential customers to get to know you better. And the better they know you, the more likely they are to buy.
Content Marketing
Not comfortable hosting a webinar? Take to your laptop and start sharing your thoughts and ideas via your blog, e-books, guest articles and other written content. For internet marketers, this gives readers a taste of what they can expect from your product. If you sell physical products, it provides the perfect opportunity to share usage tips and other information with your buyers.

Of course, there’s another important benefit to content marketing: search engine optimisation (SEO). Google and other search engines index the words on your website and use the information to present search results to their users. Content marketing is a tool you can use to maximise these results, and to bring more potential buyers to your website.
Paid Advertising
Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google and plenty of other sites all offer paid placement. With today’s powerful analytics tools, it’s easy to create ads and drive traffic inexpensively. Consider starting with Facebook, since the cost is low and it’s easy to target your ads to your ideal client. Once you’ve perfected your funnel, you can branch out into more costly ads with a larger reach, such as Google AdWords or another ad network.

Don’t limit yourself to these three marketing methods though. There are dozens of others you can try, including affiliate programs, JV partnerships, automated funnels, direct mail campaigns, and even television advertising. The key is to keep testing and tweaking to make the most of every marketing effort, so that your business continues to grow.

A Virtual Assistant has very likely been through all of these methods and more to market her own business. I know I certainly have. Why not give me a call on 07701 351686 to discuss how I can help your business grow? And if you’re happy, please see my list of services to find out how else I can help.

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How To Have a Stress Free Business Launch
Let’s face it, the last thing you want to do now that you’ve decided to finally leave the 9 to 5 job is to add more stress to your life. Isn’t that why you decided to build your own business in the first place? You’re looking for a stress free lifestyle where your boss, colleagues and the limitations of your old job are things of the past.

But if you’re trading all that in for a different kind of stress, what have you really gained? Before you kiss your desk goodbye, be sure you first build a solid foundation—and I don’t just mean business-wise.
Build a Financial Safety Net
Nothing stresses us out quite like worrying about money. Whether you’re concerned about those University tuition fees you’ll be facing in a few years, or worse, not sure how you’re going to pay the mortgage, it’s easy to lose your business mojo. As a new business owner, you certainly don’t want money trouble casting a shadow over your entrepreneurial dream.

Before you hand in your resignation, set aside some cash in case of a rainy day. Aim for at least three months of living expenses but more is definitely better. Hopefully you won’t need it but having some cash on hand will definitely relieve the pressure of having a new business that’s not earning its keep—yet.
Make Sure Your Family is on Board
Money troubles are bad, but there may be one thing that’s worse: an unsupportive partner. And as any entrepreneur will tell you, not everyone understands the drive to be a business owner. In fact, most people find it pretty scary to step away from your regular income to chase after a dream.

If that sounds like your husband (or wife) don’t take it personally. They’re not making a statement about your ability. More than likely, they’re just worried about what the future holds. Do your best to understand where they’re coming from, and be sure to explain your ideas clearly, why you are confident it will work, and how you plan to cover the start up expenses and manage the risk.

If he or she is still not on board, consider starting slow, with a part-time business while still doing your day job. That will give you the opportunity to prove your idea is workable, and might just help your partner get as excited about it as you are.
Make Time for YOU
No matter what’s going on with your money, your partner or your business, you need to be sure to schedule some “you” time. No one can work all the time, regardless of how driven you are. And no one can stay stress free while maintaining a nonstop schedule. Go for a walk, the gym, get a pedicure, or just binge watch your favourite guilty pleasure TV. The point is simply to take time away from your desk to rest and rejuvenate. Without it, you’ll soon find yourself overwhelmed and stressed, even if you truly love your new business.

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