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I was talking to a moonlighting franchise owner yesterday and they have a huge goal too. They’ve been in business about two years, have a great mailing list (this is a huge plus) and offer a top-notch product and service. However, they told me yesterday that they wanted to see that huge growth instantly, which in my opinion was just too fast. You need time to implement these marketing plans and grow at a nice steady pace.

Most moonlighters have limited time to work on their businesses and thus, limited time in which to market. They always want quick results, but expend too much effort to get those results in too short a time and always fail.

So, how does a moonlighter do it?

1. Give yourself three years. At least, if you have mind to double your business and open two more locations, give yourself five years (especially in this economy). Better to slow down your growth and make sure you have sufficient cash flow, otherwise, you’ll need bailing out soon and trust me, there will be no more bailout left by then. Natch.

2. Set up a multi-step marketing funnel. Remember, you may need to sell your product/service to a prospect about seven or eight times BEFORE you get a sale. Each time, you need to offer more of a value and solution so that your prospect trusts you more.

(lifted from Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid, buy the book here)

Step 1, drive people to your web site.
Step 2, offer a freebie and capture contact information.
Step 3, continue contact and help find a solution so they buy a low-barrier item from you ( not your most expensive package)
Step 4, over-deliver on the step 3 purchase, and give your client incredible value for his money
Step 5, help customers move to the next level of your sales cycle by offering a higher-level product or service; this takes time and might not happen immediately, you may repeat steps 3 and 4 several times before a prospect purchases your higher-end offerings

3. Keep your product and service offerings top-notch and offer impeccable customer service. This is not time to fudge your obligation to your clients, nor a time to kick back and enjoy the riches you’ve made by selling to more people. Remember, a business never goes into neutral and runs itself. Someone is always running it, and each new success brings with it new challenges. Prepare yourself for the long term position of providing solutions and proving to your clients that you are worth every penny.

4. Break down each goal by year (three-year or five-year plans) and then each of those by month and by week and by day. That way your HUGE plans actually require a little bit of action each day. Say you want to increase your monthly revenue. Taking three years, that can be divided up by three, so that your increase each year is smaller, but will add up at the end of the three years to the total you have planned for. Then break down that growth number into the number of clients you must gain, the amount of sales you must make each day without fail, the amount of projects you must take without fail.

5. Stay inspired every day. Don’t let a day go by without you renewing your inspiration somehow, whether it’s by reviewing your business plan or three-year plan, or some sort of marketing inspiration that you trust to get you revved up again. Get your must-do items done in the first part of your day if you can. That way you feel accomplished and in good spirits to deal effectively with your clients. For moonlighting entrepreneurs, that means very early mornings. Or if you work better at night, do it late at night and then go to bed knowing you’ve prepared for your following day. Whatever keeps you feeling good, this you must do.

Have a great day everyone! Keep those businesses going. Free enterprise is the backbone of this country and we need you.

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Twitter is really fun. Most people I talk to roll their eyes when I mention Twitter, just because to them it’s another “thing” for their busy to-do lists. Well, sure, if you look at it that way.

However, if you look at it like I do, you’ll find it’s a great way to build a following, start a conversation, increase your network, and ahem, build your business. Don’t believe me?

Read on.

1. Business is not about force-feeding your product or service to clients and customers. Is it? If you’ve run (or do run) a business, you know that a relationship with your customers and clients is the most important way to have a successful business. You are friendly and accommodating, you help them find products or services that meet their needs, and you send them coupons or news from your business so they know you are working to find the best stuff or develop the best services . . . so their lives will be easier!

2. Business is not about one-time sales. Everyone knows it’s easier to keep up with returning customers or clients than to go out and find new ones. It’s cheaper too. Plus, returning (and happy) customers tell other customers and your business grows. If you get the same folks coming year after year to your yearly Christmas extravaganza, that says something about your business. You have built quality relationships with people. Bingo.

3. Business is about word-of-mouth. Sure, you can run a successful business on new clients or customers, but sooner or later, your business can flourish if you get word of mouth customers and referral customers. Happy customers tell other customers who want to be happy. You aren’t just pushing a product or service, you are spreading your name as a solution, a helpful company, a company that everyone wants to do business with.

4. Once you get a following, you want them to stick around. In this crazy yo-yo economy (one day we’re doing better, the next day, not so much), the most important thing is transparency and communication with clients and customers. They are looking for companies that are real, that talk to them on a continual basis, and that offer true solutions to their most pressing problems. Seth Godin’s book Tribes talks about this, and this is what Twitter can do for you.

5. On Twitter, you can communicate with your customers or with other professionals in your industry or in other industries. You keep yourself in communication with a lot of people who see you Twitter often throughout the day or week. They Twitter back or not. It’s a great tool to keep that transparency and communication going. And even if you only Twitter to your colleagues or to others you meet online, your Twitter is great practice for learning to be more communicative and open about your day-to-day stuff.

I hope I have convinced some readers to get going on Twitter. I’m sold on it.

Check Out These Resources and See For Yourself

Twitip, a blog about Twitter for Twitter users.

Joel Comm, a friend of mine, wrote a great ebook on Twitter. Get it here.

Follow me on Twitter: @TrishLawrence

Have a great Tuesday!

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I’m not talking about personal blogs. I’m talking about company blogs, corporate blogs.

I am a corporate blogger. I help companies develop their presence online. How do I do that exactly? I write great content, to a specific niche (which is the company’s core readership).

I didn’t start out to do this. I kinda stumbled into it about a year ago when people looked at my own blog (which is so not a corporate blog) and liked my writing voice. It’s an extension of my own business personality. I know what I think when I’m talking business. I am not a wallflower when it comes to my clients. I may be a social misfit, but I know my customer and I know how to help them. Long story short: clients started talking to me about getting that voice for their own blogs. I had no problem with that. Only one issue. I had only written in my voice. Now I had to write in someone else’s.

It took a few tries, but then the first few clients hired me on and the corporate blogging just began to grow on its own. I know a whole lot more today than I knew at the beginning of 2008 about writing other people’s blogs.

The next question everyone asks is: Why does a company need a blog?

Easy answer and I’m going to give it to you straight. The Internet is here to stay. Even if you’re not even online with your products or services, the Internet is where you’ll find the majority of your customers and even if you are a mostly word of mouth business, why not utilize the Internet to speed up that word of mouth process? Couldn’t hurt. I’ve seen amazing results for many companies, both large and small, when they started blogging. It’s called social media. You get known from your blog (and some other social media platform like Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook) and voila, people start equating you with your specialty. It’s the magic of the Internet. Instant platform.

Platform? I know, sounds like another term plucked from obscurity and now everyone throws it around.

Platform, or your niche, is where your influence lies. This is your following, your tribe, your industry, your place to showcase your knowledge. This is your market, your audience, your customer. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a large group of people who trust you to answer their questions about a certain subject? They trust you so much they buy services and products from you without even asking how much. They are repeat customers because they trust that you know your stuff and will guide them to the best results.

That’s what a blog does. It gathers together the people looking for the same thing–what you know best–and connects you with them.

Not convinced? Neither was a client of mine a few months ago. We dipped our toe into the blogging water and we tried a lukewarm version of a blog that was entertaining but not quite there. It was static. Didn’t do anything. Finally, we developed more of a industry-specific niche. We developed a nice blog that showcased this industry and already, the posts radiate the company’s knowledge much more than it did just last summer. Those waves will come back to this business owner in innumerable ways. She will be seen as an expert in her industry and people will continue to flock to her for information and products that help them assimilate that information, while other companies will hire her for projects that will allow her to communicate her knowledge on a much larger scale.

If you have any questions about corporate blogging and how it can improve your company’s platform and influence (and can bring you more customers), please contact me via Twitter.

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I worked freelance for almost 12 years, by myself, out of a home office, as a copyeditor/proofreader/developmental editor, researcher, writer, primarily for the Christian publishing marketplace. I expanded in 2000 to scholarly/college publishing and got some great training in medical publishing. In early 2007, I started freelancing for my current employer, and was hired in June. I’m still working for the BMJ Group, London, from my home office. My life has changed in that my mornings are spent on the phone and email with my London colleagues and once they are done for the day, I finish up my work and then around 4, begin my client stuff. Usually, I can get it all done before 6, but some days I’m still going after dinner, often until midnight. I write well at night, so I do a lot of the writing projects then.

Funny thing is, I didn’t even realize how my business model had changed until about six months ago. Moonlighting as an entrepreneur is a lot different than having your whole day to devote to your business pursuits. In exchange for the paycheck and benefits, you’re selling your most productive time to others. This is fine, unless you feel that you’re slowly dying inside.

I don’t feel that way . . . yet. I’m not sure how I was able to switch over so successfully (um, perhaps I didn’t have a clue, but God did; FYI, I am a person of faith) and I really feel like I have the best of both worlds. I now have more courage than I did when I was full-time freelance. I turn down a lot of projects that I just don’t want to do. I don’t feel like I have to work myself to death on low-paying projects just to pay the mortgage. All that is great for now. I remember telling myself a few years ago that I was not one of those people who could sell myelf for a paycheck. Look at me now.

So today, I’m thankful for change. I know in this economy and political season, change seems kinda scary, necessary, and yet, still undefinable. Embrace it. Don’t fight it. Our lives are not static, held still to a moment in time when everything fits. Our lives flex and shift, often in an instant, and that’s what they are supposed to do. Have courage.

I’m thankful for:

1. The new things I’ve learned since June 2007 and the things I will learn in 2009-2010. So many things. I can’t even list them all. How to be employed, how to follow your boss, even when you haven’t met him/her, how to understand over a telephone exactly what your job should be, and so on. Talk about strengthening muscles I never knew I had!

2. The shifting of my business in ways I never even imagined. When I let go of the really terrible projects I used to hang onto so tight, wow, I cleared out entire sections of bad vibes from my creativity. It made me so brave! I am fearless about taking on projects that just a few short years ago, I would have walked away from.

3. The steadiness of my schedule. My family won’t believe me, but my schedule now is so much less chaotic than it was. I used to work until things were done, not when the clock chimed midnight. I used to double-book, even triple-book, my time to make sure my bills were paid on time. I look back on those years and say “that’s when I learned to work.” Now, I work, but I have time off. Last night by 6:30, I was on the couch, curled up and ready to finish my PD James mystery. Nothing left to do by then, except read and relax. I LOVE this. It has tripled my creativity. I have so many ideas, well, let’s just say I better still be writing novels at 88, like PD James. And I hope I look as good as she does. Wow.

4. Less time thinking about cash flow, more time thinking about improving business practices and marketing campaigns. I used to literally pray in the paychecks. Freelancers know exactly what I mean when I say that. The check is payable within 30 days, but it’s day 39 and no check in sight. How often do you call accounting? That used to just use up all my thinking time. Now, I’m in full swing planning 2009-2011 marketing, how to streamline my business, new software demos, office organizing. Wow. Plus with the advent of Paypal, I get paid much quicker for a lot of projects. It’s just those publishers that drag their feet while paying.

5. Preparation to go freelance again someday, or into another full-time job. I know that Penelope Trunk always advises to prepare for your next job as soon as you get your current job. I take that to heart. I have contacts deep in the Seattle job market (it’s not looking too bad for my profession) and I’m collecting information for the next move. It might be freelance though, because by 2010, I hope to be agented and writing books. I really love my job and I would love to keep at it as long as we can go.

Have a great Thanksgiving! Talk to you all Monday.

It’s reported Britain’s highest tax bracket will pay 61% in taxes in 2009! Yowza. That’s a terrible burden. A lot of UK residents are in that tax bracket. Once they start paying that tax, I bet they will no longer stay in that bracket for long. Rumors of the country of Britain going bankrupt and needing IMF bailout? Hungary is already there. Iceland is trying to recover after their bankruptcy and the people of Iceland are rioting today against their leadership. So sad. Desperation is a terrible thing to watch and to experience. Lesson to be learned?

I need to keep moving along on my Dave Ramsey steps. I believe he’s got the answer (Total Money Makeover) and am so grateful to my sister who introduced us all to him in 2005. Truly Dave R. has changed our lives. And just in the nick of time.

My five things I’m thankful for today are:

1. My job. According to our CEO, we look good for 2009. It’s 2010 when things will start to be affected. However, they have no control over everything and since I work for a company in England, well, things may get interesting. I’m not worried though. I have learned that worrying before you actually have to face the thing wastes valuable energy. My faith has taught me that I only need to actually start to worry the day the thing appears. Harder to do than you think. I get continual lessons in this on a daily basis.

2. My moonlighting work. I am happily booked up into next year with projects and jobs and plans. I do love it. Especially when I have amazing clients and really fun projects. And when I realize I can tone it down and not double or triple book because the projects won’t cancel on me.

3. My cleaner, streamlined, slightly organized office space. It’s half the size it was before, but a quick reorg made it more useable. Three desktops and three laptops makes it a tad harder to organize, but one desktop is headed out to recycle soon. We are just cleaning it off. I love my office! Thanks to hubby for hooking up a handy switch for the dying Dells. We have a plan!

4. My home. It’s comfy, restful, and welcoming. And it’s clean! Amazing what a deep dusting will do! My dozen trips to Goodwill lately have paid off and everything has a place (yippee), except for the books. Somehow I’ve pulled too many off the shelves and now feel like I’m drowning in them again. The great 2010 built-in bookcases project is still in its infancy, but it may get rolling here soon if we can come to a consensus. I want C.S. Lewis bookshelves!

5. My sweet hubby, who deserves his own blog post, his own blog! He rewired the office, cleaned, hauled, scrubbed, and laughed at all my jokes this past weekend. It’s a really cool thing to be on a team in marriage. The ability to work together toward a common goal is very satisfying. And it helps that we actually like each other quite a lot. I think I like him more and more each day. I also adore him. But I’ll spare you all that affectation.

The Thanksgiving gratefulness posts will continue tomorrow.

Addendum: I got to 25k words on the WIP for Nanowrimo. I got sidetracked last week with a new idea and promptly wrote several thousand words for that. I KNOW! So, I didn’t “win” Nanowrimo this year, but I got a lot of juice out of it. Feeling good. Thanks for reading along with my crazy writing schedule.

Happy Tuesday!

I have been making a Thanksgiving week grateful list for myself. Everything that I can truly say I am thankful for right now. No matter what comes tomorrow.

1. Wild apple tree growing above Interstate 167 northbound. The apples were dripping over the overpass and getting crushed by cars in the onramp lane. They were beautiful apples, good enough to eat. I felt like having hubby stop the car, so I could gather some. There is an abundance this harvest and that is a huge blessing.

2. A giving spirit. While at Barnes & Noble last night (yes, finally to pick up my PD James in print, since Kindle is so slow and I can’t stand to wait; plus I had an extra 20% off coupon for one item) I noticed a book-giving campaign for kids. It was great. A bunch of bookmarks were placed in the kid’s book department and I was able to donate a book to a needy child. Cool!

3. Hope. Not only the hope of the amazing Obama campaign, but the hope of the 57 million who voted the other way. Hope that we will be just fine. Hope that our president-elect, even if we didn’t vote for him, will do great things. Hope that he will listen to good counsel in these days.

4. Gorgeous Pacific Northwest weather. The views of the Bay are breathtaking. I live four minutes from the waterfront. How about being able to just turn a corner and end up gazing out at Elliott Bay? Yup, that’s amazing. And I love it.

5. Family and friends. Some of my beloved family is coming up for Thanksgiving and I am thrilled. We are spending T-day with friends as well. Everyone is pitching in to help with food and it will be a nice few days of relaxation.

What are you thankful for this week?