Just got word that a big project we’d invested a lot of effort into isn’t going to happen. In the past, I would have pinned a lot of hopes on that money coming in, and been in a panic when it didn’t.

These days I know better. No project is certain until the money’s in the till.

So many metaphors come to mind. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, f’rinstance. It’s easy to say, look, we’ve got eggs, therefore, we’ll have chickens. Or, look, we’ve got hot prospects, therefore we’ve got a project.

Speaking of eggs, don’t put ‘em all in one basket. If you earn your living primarily from a single client, that client owns you. In reality, you’re en employee, not an entrepreneur. Have plenty of smaller eggs, not just one large one.

And more than one basket, if you can arrange it.

Twenty small streams of income is more stable than 2 large streams. Seems nothing is stable these days, so when you start juggling all those chickens and eggs and baskets, be prepared to lose a few.

If you’ve got spares, there’ll always be enough for that omelette.

Recently a personal interaction reminded me of an anecdote I read some years ago about tea. (I love tea, but this may be my first business lesson about it.)

When tea first arrived in England it was expensive. Not, a little bit pricey expensive, but prohibitive, only for the rich expensive. But it caught on quickly, because, well, it’s great.

One woman in the south took a full pound of her expensive cache and sent it to her sister in the north, telling her how marvelous it was. Her sister boiled it, dumped the black liquid off and served it like a vegetable. She wrote back about how terrible it was.

She’d prepared it like a vegetable, which she understood, instead of seeing it for what it was: something entirely new.

Some business folks hear about the ‘new marketing’ and assume it’s just more of the old marketing, except online. They still want instant results, measured in dollars return on dollars invested. They want ways to convince people to buy, no matter what they’re selling. They spend time and money bolting a website and blog and email autoresponders onto their old-school advertising.

They’re dumping the tea and eating the leaves, and then they wonder why it doesn’t work.

If you help your clients with their marketing efforts, you may, like the first woman in the story, assume that they’ll know how to brew a pot of social media marketing. Erm, tea. Whatever.

But, like the second woman, they don’t. They can’t. Because it’s so foreign to them, they have nothing to connect it to. Give information away, with no firm plan for monetising it? That don’t make no sense!

Had the first woman included some simple instructions along with her glowing praise, the story may have had a happier ending. Don’t leave anything to chance. Clients who are new to the new marketing will need a lot of hand-holding, a lot of encouragement and explanation and nudging.

Don’t assume they get it, unless you actually see them drinking the tea.

Several bloggers have already hosted interviews of our book, The Commonsense Entrepreneur- Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee and we greatly appreciate that.

We’re being hosted today, October 15, 2009, at this blog (thank you Lee):
http://myofficeassist.org/blog/2009/10/15/the-commonsense-virtual-assistant-becoming-an-entrepreneur-not-an-employee/

Other dates are:
10/23 – Rachel Rasmussen
http://rescuedeskblog.com

10/27 – Janine Gregor
http://yourvirtualwizard.com/Blog.aspx

Come join us on the tour and leave a comment.

I’m very excited to announce a new VA Coaching Program.

If you’d like to start your new year with a bang, subscribe to our 5-month program.

Benefits:

• Access by email 24/7
• One 1-hour phone call each month with Joel and Sue
• Review of website, particularly in the area of marketing and SEO, any marketing materials, including business cards, brochures, postcards, cold calling scripts, etc., blog, articles and rates
• Assistance developing description of your ideal client, creating a 30-60 second pitch, a one page business plan, one page marketing plan and marketing calendar
• Products as listed below, one each month
• PDFs as listed below, one each month
• Questionnaire to determine your specific coaching needs
• We only work with ten clients at a time

Books and CDs included, valued at over $100:
(one mailed each month of paid coaching)

• The Commonsense Virtual Assistant: Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee

• Motivation 101: 5 Steps to Activate Your Potential in Any Economy, An Audio Mastery Course

• 49 Commonsense Business Observations

• The Commonsense Entrepreneur

• Surprise bonus business book

Bonus PDFs included:

• Self Promotion: Getting Started – includes marketing tools and resources

• Blogging for Your Business: includes 3 Keys to Successful Blogging and 5 Ways to Promote Your Blog, Finding the Time to Write and What to Write About, Ideas on How to Get More Traffic to Your Blog and a questionnaire to help you get started

• Article Submissions and Press Release Sites

• Duct Tape Marketing Guide: 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success

• Marketing and Promoting Your Teleseminar: a list of online sites you can post your teleseminars

• Weekly teleclass with coaches Joel D Canfield and Jerry L Kennedy

• Digital copies of all Business Heretics products: audios and ebooks

• First look at all new Canfield Kennedy content posted at the website

With Guest Speaker Joel D Canfield

Wednesday, September 24, 2008
5:00 pm–6:00 pm Pacific

Join us for one hour to learn how focusing on the customer in every aspect of your business, not just those we traditionally associate with customer service, will help your business thrive.

Who Should Attend? –Solo professionals and New Small Business Operators

Customer–centric thinking is vital to service related small businesses. Too many service related businesses have gotten so wrapped up in process, cost–cutting, and gimmicky advertising that they’ve forgotten that without customers, there is no business. Even those who remember the customer don’t always know what customers want and how to provide it.

Customer–centric thinking means focusing on the customer in every aspect of your business, not just those we traditionally associate with customer service.

Know the four basic consumer needs. Get inside the minds of your suspects, prospects and clients to see how they make decisions, how they learn, and how meeting their greatest unfilled emotional need can help you succeed.

You will learn:

* The single most important thing to know about a client or prospect
* The four basic consumer needs
* How to avoid ‘zero sum’ thinking in persuasion
* How to achieve synergy instead of compromise
* The core of effective ethical persuasion
* How to avoid three consumer decision–making roadblocks
* How to use emotional bank accounts in permission marketing
* Why communication mirroring is important
* How most people’s self-perception affects how you do business

Format: Barbara Davis, life and business coach, will have a one–on–one discussion with Joel about The Commonsense Entrepreneur.

About Joel D Canfield: Joel D Canfield, The Commonsense Entrepreneur, speaks, writes, and consults on customer–centric thinking as a primary tool for service related small businesses to reach their business goals. His topics include Commonsense Customer–Centric Thinking, Effective Entrepreneurial Etiquette, Commonsense Small Business Marketing, and Cultivating Quality Employees.

Joel has written two business books this year, 49 Commonsense Business Observations and The Commonsense Entrepreneur.

Registration: This is a Complimentary Teleseminar – Just go to Uncover Your Brilliance and click on the button below (Register!) click on Check Out and fill out the form; that’s all you have to do! We’ll email you the teleseminar telephone and pin number. We’ll send a reminder a few days before the call.