making money succeed discipline entrepreneur professional development units professional skills project management small business
One of the things that I see many Entrepreneurs falling victim to is getting behind in their own skill sets or profession. It takes a little discipline to make sure you are staying current with what is going on in your area of expertise. The reasons for falling behind are many but a few of the common ones are "I have no time for training", or "I don't have the money right now, I'll do it next month". The reality is that as small business people, the demands on our time and money are great and it’s pretty easy to push off the activities that we need to do to stay current.
I have fallen victim to this myself. As a certified Project Manager, I have to have “Professional Development Units” or PDUs to keep my certification. Last year, I didn’t get any PDUs because I was so busy with a couple of projects. This year turned out to be the same. Here we are on the home stretch towards the end of the year and I’m just getting around to it now. The important point is that I’m taking some time to update and refresh my skill sets for project management, even though I’m extremely busy and could have easily kept consulting and making money over the next few days that I’m spending in training.
The consequences of not updating our skill sets can be severe. If we aren’t current in our professional skills, the need for our products or services will decline. So we may be very busy now but if we don’t make sure our skill sets are up to date, we soon find ourselves with all kinds of time on our hands.
So, how can you keep yourself up to date if you are a busy entrepreneur? I’ll share some of the methods that I use to keep my skills up. These work for me but you may need to find your own as we all learn differently. First, I like to take on new and challenging projects that stretch my skill sets. This forces me to learn new things in order to complete the project successfully. I’m not suggesting that you take on jobs or projects that you are qualified to do but rather ones that stretch you out of your comfort zone. We can all do those things that we do all the time in our sleep but what happens when that particular skill isn’t needed anymore?
Secondly, I read all of the time. I read a trade magazine on project management each month. I supplement this with a marketing magazine and then usually have a book on the go as well. I find this is a good way to keep up with trends.
Lastly, I usually try to set aside a week a year for formal training. Last year I didn’t get it in but I will likely put in more than a week next year. The obvious formal training is taking a course at the local College or through one of the registered educational providers. However, attending symposiums, conventions or trade shows that have educational sessions usually fall into this category as well and have some great fringe benefits such as networking and a variety of topics. Don’t forget about online training as well. There are lots of online courses and webinars (web seminars) for just about any profession. Many Universities are now offering their course offerings online as well.
Bottom line, keeping your skill set current really isn’t an option. Your skill sets form part of the foundation that your business sits on and if you allow it to crumble, your business may soon crumble too. Ensure you have what you need to succeed on purpose.
I thought I would try something a little different in this blog post. I just recently finished reading Designing the Moment: Web Interface Design Concepts In Action. You are likely saying, I'm not a web designer, this won't apply to me. STOP! Don't click away because this book is exactly what you need if you never intend on building your own site and I'm going to tell you why. I'm not a web designer either and never expect that I will become one. However, I do own web sites and this book was great in teaching me at a high level what works and what doesn't work on web sites. There is no coding in the book which is perfect for those of us that are not going to build the site. The book simply talks about the features that our visitors are going to experience, what they expect when they visit our sites and what happens when they don't experience what they expect.
I think it is a MUST read for anyone that either currently has a web site or is thinking of having a web site in the future. Your likely wondering why I would say that, or thinking "I have no interest in web design and it would be a waste of time". Let me explain why you MUST read this book. First, every business must have a web site as part of their marketing plan in today's business world. It's the first step to business legitimacy and huge component of your marketing. So we all need a web site but most web sites suck. After reading this book, I know that I have had some stinkers. With the web site being so important to our business, wouldn't you like to have a web site that works and communicates to your visitors that you are ready for their business, that you care about them enough to make a easy to use site, and one that is a pleasant experience for them. If you do care about your visitors and your future customers, then read the book. It's not a large text book, its a small easy read so you don't have that excuse.
Second, when I'm have a web site built, it cost me money. This book provide the information to me, the none design person, so I can ask the right questions and make sure that I am getting my money's worth. There are so many people out there calling themselves web designers, so this book provides you with enough knowledge that you can ask intelligent questions to ensure that they know their stuff before you hire them. We have all been on a site that looked beautiful, with great images and pictures, etc but when you tried to do certain things it was difficult or not possible. I've owned a couple of those sites in my business career. This book would have helped me back then to ensure the designer not only created a beautiful site but one that was easy to use as well so people would come back again. In fact after reading this book we have been working on one of our current sites to improve it. We actually completely redesigned the site from scratch at a huge cost because we realized that the other design violated so many of things this book said you weren't suppose to. I wish I had read the book a year earlier.
In closing, if you own a site or are thinking you may build a site in the future. Read this book and save yourself time and money. It's an easy read and well worth the investment of your time. Here is a link to the book: Designing the Moment: Web Interface Design Concepts in Action
russell brunson information product making money micro continuity video products
Do you have lots of ideas for an information product? Not sure how to do it? We have all been there. In fact this is a cycle that repeats itself as we constantly come up with new ideas and we have pretty much created all the different major types of information products out there. We have created eBooks (text), audio products, video products and membership sites. The one that impresses us the most is the Micro Continuity product.
Let me quickly explain a Micro Continuity product. A Micro Continuity product is any product that can be delivered digitally and over a period of time. It can be text, audio or video messages or lessons that are divided into a series and you deliver it one a day, week or month to the client. As you might guess, the audio or video are the fastest to produce. For more information on Micro Continuity products, see Martha's article or Russell Bronson's Micro Continuity Program.
So why do we like the Micro Continuity so much? Well, we can get products out quickly for one. We can actually begin selling the product after we have 2 or 3 lessons created. We don't have to build the whole thing in advance. The advantage of this is pretty obvious. While you are working on the balance of the product you are already making money. The reason that we can start selling with only a small portion completed it that we deliver these over time so as long as we have the first 2 completed, we have a couple of weeks to create lesson 3, and so on.
The second reason we like it so much is that customers like it too. If you have ever tried to sell memberships to a membership site you know that it can be pretty difficult. You could have tons of great content in the site but people really don't like committing to 19, 27 or 47 dollars ever month for ever. If you get a paying member, it is likely that they jump on, grab as much content as is useful to them as possible and quit after a couple of months. With the Micro Continuity program, the exit is already arranged for them so they feel better about the smaller commitment. I think for this reason its easier to get them to start in the first place and then they stay for the duration (provided you are giving them the content they WANT).
That is why we like the Micro Continuity products so much. There are many more advantages but these are two big ones for us. In fact we are launching a new Micro Continuity program soon called 20/20 that Gary Gzik and the team are working on. Its a product that helps people achieve TRUE happiness. Something we all want but we struggle to achieve it. I think it will be a great product and help millions of people work towards achieving their happiness. Watch for it in the next few weeks. Its likely to take off fast.
Did you ever notice that it takes a lot of work to plan a holiday? I am sure you have. The pets have to be looked after,... ( for more click on the link below)
The main premise when Gary and I started the CFBE Network was to create a network where coaches and consultant could come together to get the resources they need and more importantly, to build relationships with other coaches and consultants. These relationships are so important because we can’t be all things to all people. With strong, trusted relationships with other coaches and consultants everyone can call on them to provide a complete package of services to our clients. When I started my business, many of my initial contracts were because of the relationships that I had with colleagues. I was able to go into their clients (either as a subcontractor or as the consultant) and provide a service that my colleague didn’t. Likewise, I call on them when I need something for a client that Gary and I are not able to provide. These networks of fellow coaches and consultants have allowed us to flourish and grow.
We want to give each of you the opportunity to build relationships with existing and new colleagues in the network. One of the best ways is to show your expertise to the others is writing articles. Posting articles in the CFBE Network site allows your colleagues to see what you are up to, what you are passionate about and where your expertise lies. As an added bonus, we are going to take the best 1 or 2 articles every two weeks and publish in this newsletter that goes out to our mailing list.
What do you need to do to get published? It is really easy, write excellent articles about the type of coaching or consulting that you do. The articles should be providing useful information rather than just a promotional piece about your business. Remember, you want to show off your expertise and impress them. Be insightful.
We will also give special consideration to articles that would help other coaches and consultants with developing their business. For instance, if your skills are around time management and organization, write articles that show this expertise off but also impart some wisdom that we all can take away. You don’t have to give away trade secrets put if the readers have aha moments reading your articles, they will begin to follow you on the CFBE Network. Who knows, that could be the big break you need as they walk into one of their clients and the client needs the exact products/services that you offer.
Don’t wait, start posting your articles today and get the attention of your peers. You never know where this will lead.
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