Praestabilis: Excelllence in Marketing

Welcome to Episode 141 of Praestabilis: Excellence in Marketing

In Episode #141 of Praestabilis: Excellence in Marketing, I’m Asking “How Are You Defining Success?” Creating a business as an entrepreneur allows you to live a lifestyle by design, with both time freedom and financial freedom. Think about how you want to live each day and then take action to make it happen.

Over the years I’ve changed many things, while others have remained the same. Instead of making changes just for the sake of change, think about what you could change up and what makes sense to remain at least mostly the same.

Years ago, I used to put together my blog posts on a single topic, like copywriting or list building or creation digital products into a simple document that I referred to as a ‘Focus Guide’ and gave them away to my list and to my prospects. Each of these documents contained resources and an ‘About the Author’ page that helped me to build my credibility, visibility, and profitability.

For the first time ever, I am recommending that you write a book about yourself, your niche topic, and how you serve others. I first did this in 2009 and now I have written and published twenty-eight full-length, non-fiction books on the topics of entrepreneurship, personal, development, and authorship.

Life can be messy. Are their ways you can keep moving forward when your personal life is turning upside down? Yes! Finding joy in helping and serving others, as well as compartmentalizing what is currently going on in your life are just two of the ways to deal with change and situations outside of your control.

I recommend that you choose two social media platforms to use for the sole purpose of helping your prospects find and connect with you online. My favorite is X – formerly known as Twitter, and I also use LinkedIn and YouTube as my favorite social media sites to grow my business. Please connect with me on these sites and let me know how I may best serve you as you build and grow your profitable business.

Is your list of what you are willing to do longer than your list of what you don’t want to do? I recommend a mile-long “to-do” list and a daily schedule of no more than four things that you will work on each day in your business.

Find a mentor who believes in you and get started with creating a lifestyle by design that you want and deserve.

I’m recommending James Clear’s “Atomic Habits” – https://ConnieLoves.me/AtomicHabits – as a book to help you alleviate your fears. We all have hopes, dreams, goals, and fears regarding our life experiences. I have found that if we build up our confidence and have faith that everything will turn out in a way that will be beneficial to all, we can continue to move forward without negative effects.

Having an online business requires confidence. These are some questions to ask yourself:

Who will you serve?

What are your prospects pain points?

What’s your idea?

How will it be created, and then delivered?

How will you sell it online?

Creating a simple product or online course is the beginning of living a lifestyle by design. Reach out to me any time at conniegreenhouse at yahoo dot com if you’d like to know more about getting started as an online entrepreneur.

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My first online course back in 2006 was a simple one with three audio trainings and a workbook. Then, I began creating more sophisticated, but not more complicated courses. I’ve used the “Really Simple” branding for many courses at least 25 times, as well as using other terms and phrases based on the keywords I am optimizing for with each new course.

Having your own online course on a topic you want to become known for will give you leverage to grow your business exponentially over time.

It’s interesting to me that we as humans sometimes take things for granted that later on we know we should have appreciated in the moment.

What I’m referring to here is having an online business you can run from home, or from anywhere in the world. There’s a window of opportunity that isn’t always open, and right now this window is wide open to everyone. A lot of it depends upon economic factors. I almost went back to graduate school two years ago to study economics, but decided against it because of the film and television writing I’m pursuing, but that’s a story for another time.

Someone I work closely with had posted this quote from Richard Branson the other day: “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” This does NOT apply to online business, but instead refers to starting a physical, brick and mortar business. I know several people in both of my cities who borrowed against their homes, cashed out retirement savings, and sold family heirlooms to start businesses in the community, only to go bankrupt a couple of years later.

What I’m saying here is that this is the time to get your online business off the ground and up and running profitably. It’s so inexpensive in comparison, and the biggest expense I incur is what I pay mentors to guide me in the right direction. Yes, I still have a mentor and recommend you do as well. This isn’t coaching, but instead a personal relationship you’ll build over time that could lead to strategic alliance partnerships and lifelong friendships. I’m at conniegreenhouse at yahoo dot com if you want to know more about mentoring with me.

The four widely accepted learning modalities (or modes) are known by the acronym VARK: Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, Kinesthetic. They are sometimes inaccurately referred to as “learning styles” which implies that each learner has a “style” of learning that should be maximized in all learning situations.

Focusing on consistency, productivity, and creativity makes sense for all online entrepreneurs in 2024. I’m also sharing some effective and time-proven strategies with you here that will make a difference in your business, as well as in your personal life experience.

Each day I focus on writing, creating, marketing, and teaching/learning/mentoring. My writing began as short and simple blog posts and blossomed into more than twenty-five full-length books.

My writing is my oeuvre, my body of work that is my legacy to family, friends, colleagues, and those who follow me. During 2023 I wrote and published more than 400 thousand words. This breaks down to one full-length book, Self-Directed: Inspire, Motivate, and Empower Yourself to the Greatness That Lies Within; the current book on marketing that is more than halfway written; 8 short reports on topics of interest to the people I work with online; one hundred thirty-eight blog posts on three different blogs I maintain; and 382 email messages to my online community.

These are  practical strategies for effective time management, emphasizing the importance of creating a balance between work and personal life. Achieving work-life harmony requires effective time management strategies that allow you to balance professional and personal responsibilities. Here are some strategies to help you manage your time more efficiently:

1. Set Clear Priorities: Identify your most important tasks and priorities for both work and personal life. Focus on what truly matters and allocate time accordingly.

2. Use a Time Management System: Choose a time management system that works for you, whether it’s a digital tool like Todoist or Trello, or a physical planner. Organize tasks, set deadlines, and track your progress. Schedules vs To-Do Lists

3. Prioritize Tasks with the Eisenhower Matrix: Categorize tasks into four quadrants: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important. Prioritize tasks based on these categories.

4. Batch Similar Tasks: Group similar tasks together and tackle them during specific time blocks. This reduces the mental load of switching between different types of activities.

5. Time Blocking: Allocate specific blocks of time to different activities. This includes work tasks, personal commitments, and breaks. Stick to the schedule as much as possible.

6. Learn to Say No: Be selective about taking on new commitments. Saying no when necessary helps you avoid over-committing and allows you to focus on your existing priorities.

7. Delegate When Possible: Delegate tasks that others can handle. This applies to both professional and personal responsibilities. It’s okay to ask for help.

8. Practice the Two-Minute Rule: If a task takes less than two minutes, do it immediately. This prevents small tasks from piling up and becoming overwhelming.

9. Limit Multitasking: Focus on one task at a time. Multitasking can reduce efficiency and increase stress. Complete one task before moving on to the next.

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You’re starting a conversation with your emails, and building a relationship with your prospects, customers, and clients over time. I’ve been online as an entrepreneur, marketer, and writer since 2006, and while much has changed, I believe that more has remained the same. Here, I’m discussing how we marketed in those early days, and why email marketing still remains top of mind.

Most recently, I’ve co-hosted an Advanced Email Marketing Conference with Ellen Finkelstein. In April of 2023, I hosted my latest live marketing event in Los Angeles, and more recently I’ve hosted my Santa Barbara Retreat for those I mentor and teach.