Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

I Want to Start My Own Business

A lot of people say “I want to start my own business.’ They are attracted to the glamorized idea about what that means…freedom, flexibility, be your own boss, make a lot of money.  But what does it really mean to start your own business?

Do you have the right stuff and the right reasons to start your own business?  Is being self-employed right for you or are you better off going the employee route?   There is no assessment or road map that can provide a definitive answer to these questions.

Here are a few questions to help you explore in more detail, what you mean when you say “I want to start my own business.”

1. What is your reason for starting a business?
2. Describe the  business you want to start?  Be very specific.
3. Who do you want to work with?  What kind of people?  Describe them in detail so you will know them when you see them. (Target Market )
4. What specific niche will you market to ?  (Ideal Client: A specific section of the larger target market )
5. What is the Problem, Need, Want, or Desire  (PNWD) that your ideal  clients have – that your business will provide the solution for?
6. Where will you find these people and how will you let them know that you have the solution to their PNWD ?
7. What will you sell them? ( Product/Services)
8. How much do you want to earn from your business?
9. How many services or products,  at what price,  will you have to sell to earn that amount of money?
10. What does a day in the life of a person running this business look like ?  How closely does this lifestyle match your skills and strengths; your life plan?

About You

1. What are your top five personal strengths?

2. How would you describe your personality:

3. On a scale of 1 (least) to 7 (most) rate your preference for the following:

• Coaching, Counseling, other client interaction services
• Business administration and management
• Technology
• Speaking to groups
• Writing
• Creating tools and materials to use in your business
• Networking to meet new clients or business partners
• Teaching ( in person or via teleclass or webinar)
• Marketing your business
• Asking clients to working with you and pay you what you are worth
• Working with a lot of solitude
• Engaging with others when I work

What is the one “day in the life” of a self-employed entrepreneur you would

Like most

Like least

What did you discover by completing this worksheet?  What steps do you need to take to further prepare you to start a business?  What is your immediate next step?

These questions are often very difficult to answer in the early stages of starting a business.  “But I don’t know” is a common answer.  What will you do to help you clarify the answers?

Answering all the questions and putting all the pieces together can be tough. Books, seminars, and websites can be helpful but in reality they are only a superficial roadmap.  You are left on your own to implement all you learn.

Email me for a complimentary, no obligation business strategy session to what you discovered and to explore the next steps on your path to your business.

StrategySession@JeanCaton.net

Good luck!  Being elf-employed (an entrepreneur)  can be a very rewarding way to earn a living.

10 Commandments of Effective Networking – Caton

I used to hate Networking.  After all I am an evidenced based Introvert!!  I had it all wrong.  I thought it was all about me !  No wonder I got such a poor response.

I thought it was about selling myself.  Wrong again.

Now that I have learned what effective Networking is all about – building relationships, collaboration and helping others – it has changed my entire attitude and approach!

I even developed a free report on the topic:  The Ten Commandments of Effective Networking…Why Passing out Your Business Card is NOT one of them!

Whether you are an entrepreneur, Business Woman working in an organization, or are in transition, networking is a skill to hone.  A warm network is a valuable business asset.

Many entrepreneurs launch their business without a clear, simple business model as a guide.  The basic business model elements are depicted on this slide.  How good are you at each step of the process.  Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10.  Email me your questions and I will personally answer each one. Jean@JeanCaton.net

Note:

Money Mountain Concept: Free to VIP products.  Bring clients into your system with free or low cost items. Keep them buying from you – up the mountain of increasing value products and services.

Repeat Sales:  Create and sell over and over.  Examples E-Books, Home Study Programs, CD’s and the like

Public Speaking is the number one fear. Yet is is an essential business skill. Business leaders must be good speakers. Successful business owners must be confident and convincing to attract clients who want to do business with them. Overcoming fear of public speaking is not something that you can learn about in a book. You must look inside first to discover the root cause of the fear.

A Presentation is a Conversation – Not a Performance!

Tips to overcome this fear:

Become aware of the specific fearful situation

Get to the root cause of the fear by listening to the story you are telling yourself in your head

Challenge the facts that support that story. Look for evidence it is accurate.

Tell yourself the opposite story

Rehearse the conversation or presentation to increase your clarity and confidence

Turn on the light so that you can see there really is no monster under the bed

Shut down the head chatter that is scaring you away.

Remember, the audience does not know they are the ‘audience.’ They simply think they are one person sitting listening to you.

Seek resources to help you build some speaking skills to boost your confidence.

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

For a complimentary coaching conversation to help you develop a strategy to overcome your fear of public speaking simply email Jean@JeanCaton.net and request a mini-consult

Read the entire article: Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6800556

End of Year Reflection 2011

Directions: Find a quiet place to spend 10-15 minutes to reflect on your past year and to look ahead to 2012. Acknowledge your accomplishments; learn from your do-overs. Write down your responses to the following 9 questions and save this document to refer back to during the year.

1.  What are the top three actions I took in 2011 that I am most proud I accomplished?

2.  What was my major disappointment? What am I doing to move beyond it?

3. What is the # 1 lesson I learned from my challenges in 2011? What different actions or decisions will I make in the future?

4.  What is the one most important professional goal I want to accomplish in 2011? What will be different when I achieve that goal?

5.  What am I willing to do (or stop doing) to make that goal a reality?

6. What new solutions, skills, support, or investment is required?

7. What barriers do I anticipate that have prevented me from achieving my goals in the past? How will I prevent them this year?

8. Who are three people I am most grateful to have in my life (in addition to my immediate family?) How will I acknowledge my gratitude to them?

9. What will make 2012 the best year yet for me, for my family, for my career?

Reflect for a few moments on what you discovered. Each day remind your self when you get up that this day will never come again. And knowing that make it a wonderful 366 days.

“You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can’t have it.”                                                                      – Robert Anthony

©2011 Jean Caton

http://www.JeanCaton.net

info@JeanCaton.net

Wow!  I am back to work 1/2 day today after an amazing 2 week vacation.  No special adventure.  SImply drove to my Cape Cod home with my two cats and visited family.  NO electronics as I shut off my wireless for the winter.  I went to the local library for an occasional ‘fix’

Hay House Radio and Stitcher were my only ‘noise.’

I am glad this longest break I have EVER taken is nearing an end.  It helps me realize Why I Work! 

My Money Why!  Give more to my nieces and their family.  They are such amazing women and mothers. I want to  make their lives a little easier and more luxurious.

An Opportunity to Create!  My work is an inspirational and empowering creative outlet.  I love creating business and career strategies with my clients.

A Privilege and a Pleasure!  As I witness my clients’ progress, both personally and professionally, I realize what an important part of my work that is and has always been.  From my days as a Dietetic Internship Director to my work as a manager and leader in corporate America to my natural purpose in life – my work as a business woman’s coach and mentor.

How about you?  Why do you work?  I encourage you to revisit this question as it was so motivational for me on this first work day of the new year.

Are you ever curious why others get promoted, secure the key assignments, or are selected for the ‘high performer’ talent pool – and you are overlooked?  You know you have as much talent as they do – maybe more. If you work hard and receive good performance reviews and yet are consistently passed over for promotions to leadership and management positions, perhaps you are lacking an executive presence.

What is Executive Presence? The term executive presence is an ambiguous term. Some think of executive presence simply as your image.  There is more to it than that.  Executive presence is tough to define.  However, you seem to know it when someone walks into the room that creates a certain impression and commands attention.

Executive presence is a combination of attributes, many of which are non-verbal.  It is a self-assurance, a style, an energy, a way of being that says …I am capable and confident.  I am a leader (even when you may not have the title “leader”.)

Simply put, executive presence is about impression – the impression you create on others who are in a position to make a difference in your career or business.  It may be the difference between getting the promotion you want or hearing disheartening comments such as “you are not ready yet” to move into management.  It has less to do with your actual skills and abilities than it does with others’ perception of your capabilities based on what they observe.  There is a significant subjective component to executive presence.

When someone observes how you look, act, sound, respond, play the game (or not), brand yourself (or not) they make subjective assumptions about you that go well beyond the facts. They translate the impression you create into a “story” about you.

If you aspire to advance to managerial and leadership positions in your organization, or want to attract top clients to your company, you must possess the intangible, yet essential, attribute called executive presence. 

The idea of  having your own business is very appealing. A lot of people are attracted to the freedom, flexibility and joy of being their own boss.  However, the reality is, running a successful business is not all that easy.   It may be more enjoyable than a traditional job but a profitable business requires a lot of hard work.  And you certainly do not work only when you want to.  And all the work is not always fun.  

Run your business like a business not like a hobby.  What does this mean?  This means you work. It does not mean you simply work when it is convenient.  When you are not engaged delivering services to your clients you are marketing your business to attract more clients.  This also means you pay attention to your money including incoming sales and outgoing expenses and investments.

It means investing in your business and not trying to do it all on your own.  You need to spend money to make money.  Do what you do best and delegate or hire the rest. That may mean spending can get ahead of income because you are investing for the business you want to have – not the one you currently have.

One way to test if you are running your business like a business owner or hobbyist owner is to give yourself a performance review.  Do you meet or exceed expectations? Or need improvement?   What is your area for growth (aka weakness) to improve in the coming year? Do you deserve a raise?  Would you hire you?

Perfectionist is definitely not a term I relate to. I tend to be a completionist most of the time – but not always.

At the end of the year I reflected on the goals I set out to achieve, the ones I completed, and those that were left undone. I feel great about my accomplishments and I want to determine what got in the way of completing the goals that were not achieved.

A common reasons a goal remains on our to do list and never ends up on the done list is because we are not 100% committed to do what it takes to get them done. Completion may mean moving into our discomfort zone because we are stepping into unknown territory. We busy ourselves with other seemingly urgent or maybe unimportant activities and then use the excuse “I don’t have time.”

Other enemies of completion are perfectionism and procrastination. Perfectionism and the subsequent procrastination are rooted in fear. It is not fear of the task itself or perfect results that causes the procrastination. What is there to fear about speaking in front of a group, teaching a teleclass, or making a sales call ? Yet we procrastinate about doing certain tasks because of a fear that we often do not recognize. Instead of prioritizing the task and working to complete it, we hide behind an excuse such as “I don’t have the time, the money or maybe the know-how.” When in reality what we really fear is a concern that we may fail, or be rejected, laughed at, judged, or criticized. So we procrastinate. We are often not even aware that these and other related fears are the real reason our progress gets derailed.

Coaching tips:

Read Take a new look at achieving your goals

• Identify the benefit of completing your goals - what will be different
• Focus on the benefits/results not on the process
• Find a mentor, coach, or accountability buddy to support you
• Join a Mastermind group
• Revise or eliminate goals that never get achieved

Identify your Niche and Ideal Client 

A common mistake many entrepreneurs make is not to identify and market to a specific niche.They try to be all things to all people, fearing they will not be able to attract enough clients if they narrow their niche.

Often times entrepreneurs think they have identified a niche market when they  work with ‘women.’  The good thing about that market is it is very large – half the population.  But it is not a real target market. And certainly not a niche.

Women over 40, middle to upper income, who live in Florida does not constitute a niche either.  An effective description goes much deeper.  It describes not only the prospects demographics but also the psychographics ( emotions), and the problem, need, want, or desire that these individuals seek a solution for.

Your niche market is the specific group of individuals who need your business solutions (products or services) the most.

There are several factors to consider when selecting your niche. An excellent way to identify a group to select for your niche is to work with someone like you. If you ‘are one’ or ‘were one’ then you have the knowledge and the credibility to achieve expert status with your niche.

Others will pay you to learn about and be inspired by your ‘before’ and ‘after’ success story.  Begin to define your niche by looking inside at who you are.  Then match that to a market need that energizes you.