1. You can’t see the big picture. When you are caught up in the day-to-day details of business, sometimes you can’t see the big picture. With a little help you can clearly see the direction of your business and the steps you need to take to proceed.

2. You don’t know how. Technical difficulties and other things that you don’t know how to do may prevent you from going after what you really want. With a little help, you can better understand how to execute your plans and have the confidence to move forward.

3. Two brains are better than one. If you’ve ever brainstormed alone and then with a group of people, you understand that brain power works wonders in collaborative atmospheres. With a little help, you can turn your brainstorming and creative energy into a productive strategy session.

4. You can’t organize your ideas. If you have a great idea before every meal of the day, you might be frustrated trying to decide what to implement and how to organize your great idea/ideas. With a little help, you can share your great idea with the world.

5. You are overextended. You can not do it all well. You may be the king or queen of multi-tasking, but when you go in to many directions, something in your life suffers. With a little help, you can prioritize, delegate and focus on doing what you do best.

6. You are afraid of success and failure. If things change and you start making money or you launch a new idea and everyone thinks it sucks, then you are faced with success or failure. Both places are different from where you sit now and change is scary. With a little help, you will see that you can survive failure and enjoy success.

7. You feel stuck. Lack of motivation and inspiration can leave you in a holding pattern. You don’t know what to do next. With a little help, you can harness creativity, and learn how to maintain excitement about your business.

8. You want to stand out without crying for attention. Self promotion does not have to be intrusive and boastful. With a little help, you can learn how to genuinely introduce your business to the market and let the world know why it should like you, trust you and work with you.

9. You know something has to change. Maybe you are working a job you hate, or involved in a failing business. Or, you love your job but work so much that you never see your family. With a little help, you can identify what matters most and start to build a life to support the most meaningful part of your life.

10. It’s time. With everything you have to do in a day, it never seems like the right time to ask for help and grow or start your business. With a little help, it will become clear that the right time is right now.

Admitting weakness is your biggest strength. When you begin to ask for what you need, you can create a business and lifestyle that you enjoy. What are you waiting for?

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.

P.S. The Goodblog Project starts May 21st. Registration closes on Friday. Let me know how I can help you do your best work.

Reading The $100 Startup by the super-smart Chris Guillebeau made me rethink things with this …

“You’ve probably heard the expression “The customer is always right,” but most small business owners quickly discover this is not true. Yes, you want to focus on meeting people’s needs and going above and beyond them whenever you can, but any single customer does not always know what’s best for your whole business. These customers may not be the right ones for your business, and there’s nothing wrong with saying farewell to them so you can focus on serving other people.”

Often, we want so desperately to please everyone that we sacrifice our best work by working overtime to please the unpleasable.

When you find that you are dealing with someone unreasonable and unpleasable, do not engage in conversation or a heated debate. You don’t have time.

Instead, treat kindly, offer a refund and get back to work.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.

P.S. The Goodblog Project starts May 21st.

This blog and website is not all about blogging, but more often than not, people want to know how use their blog to grow or support a business. A blog can be more effective than a newsletter and other advertising if you are saying the right things to the right people.

I typically charge $2000 – $3500 to work 1:1 with a client for 4-6 weeks and while my clients are very different, there is some common information that they are all looking for. I’ve been thinking about how I can help more people for less money. I think I found a way!

The Goodblog Project

This is a course/consulting/collaboration project all in one and is only open to 10 people.

This 5 Week program is for you if:

• $3500 is not in your budget.
• You have a blog and are ready to grow your readership.
• You want to take things to the next level but don’t know where to start.
• You want to collaborate and support other bloggers but haven’t formed a strong network.
• You want to generate revenue without spammy ads on your site.
• You want to create multiple revenue streams from your blog.
• You want your blog to support your existing business.
• You want to simplify your workflow.
• You want to create and contribute with a blog that is good and does good.

If that sounds like you, read on for more details…

There will only be 10 participants in this 5 week project. These 10 bloggers will become your network, your circle and I’ll teach you how to help each other. You won’t all be in a similar niche, but you will all strive to help others with your blog topic. We’ll be working collaboratively through Google Docs, as another opportunity to connect.

As one of the 10 participants, you’ll receive …

• 2 thirty minute 1:1 coaching calls with me
• email support each week
• 2 blog reviews before/after
• weekly homework assignments
• writing assignments with open critique
• 4 weekly webinars to elaborate on the week’s topic and time for Q&A
• all course materials listed below

The following content will be delivered via articles and video.

Week 1: Subscribers & Content (May 21 – 25)

• The Beauty of Feedburner
• Dedicated Mailing Lists
• Focus Your Content & Create an Editorial Calendar
• Where to Find Creative Motivation and Inspiration
• Comments on Your site and Others to Grow Your Readership
• How to Grow Gracefully
• Fight Your Fear: You are Good Enough
• Weekly Webinar

Week 2: Social Media (May 28 – June 1)

• Twitter
• Facebook
• More Social, Less Media
• Rules of Engagement
• Notifications
• Fight Your Fear: Publish, Ship, Get it out
• Weekly Webinar

Week 5: Product Development (June 18 – 22)

• Simple steps to write an ebook
• Why You Should Bring in the Experts (with list of my partners)
• Develop a Course
• Kill it on Kindle
• How to Market and Sell without feeling like (or acting like) a sleazy salesperson.
• Fight Your Fear: Ask for Money
• Weekly Webinar

Each week will have 3 overall objectives: 1. Grow Readership. 2. Generate Revenue. 3. Do it simply and honestly.

Bonus: I know I am starting to sound like the Ginsu knife guy, but I want this to be productive and fun, so I’ll also be sending you …

• a weekly music mix
• a mini-exercise routine to help get the creative juices flowing
• my best writing practices

If that’s not enough, with your permission, I’ll include you in a special case study post on Be More with Less for business. I want to show you that you don’t have to be an expert in anything that we are learning to succeed. You only need to know enough about what really matters. Instead of getting lost in the details and fear of technology, let’s make progress and do good!

The articles above may change slightly based on feedback from the group. After signing up, you’ll receive a survey so I can better assess your needs.

Moving forward this program will be offered for $995 or more, but for the first session, I’m offering a reduced rate of $750. Gentle payment plans are available. Email me for more information or buy now to get started on May 21 …

 $750

Not sure if this is right for you? Ask me.

P.S. If a payment plan is helpful, let me know!

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.

You can try to do everything on your own, but when you partner with companies that do great work, you have time and attention to do your best work.

my partners in business

OurDeal OurDeal was created to take the frustrations out of creating, sending and signing contracts. No longer do you have to wrestle with writing a contract yourself, numerous emails back and forth and the headaches of fax machines. With OurDeal, everything is done digitally and is as legally binding as signature on paper.

Shoeboxed Eliminating paper is only one of the many benefits of using shoeboxes. Send documents, receipts and business cards in one of their pre-paid envelopes, through free online and desktop uploaders, via email or with one of their free mobile apps.

Ejunkie E-junkie provides shopping cart and buy now buttons to let you sell downloads and tangible goods on your website. You can easily set up affiliate programs for your products as well.

Outright Outright automates your small-business accounting tasks by pulling all of your accounts into one place and organizing them in a smart way.

OmmWriter If you write for your business, OmmWriter provides a distraction free space to organize your thoughts and let the words flow.

WorkFlowy  WorkFlowy is an organizational tool that makes life easier. It can help you organize personal to-dos, collaborate on large team projects, take notes, write research papers, keep a journal, plan a wedding, and much more.

books and membership programs

Art & Money This is a must read for all artists and entrepreneurs that want to sell good stuff in a meaningful way online.

Unconventional Guide for Publishing I used the step by step recommendations in this book to craft a compelling query letter and book proposal.

AList Blogging I joined the AList Blogging Club almost 2 years ago. I am still a member and continue to benefit from the boot camps and new information along with hundreds of archived articles related specifically to blogging. More valuable than the material are the connections and friendships I’ve made.

Problogger’s Guide to Blogging for Your Business If you want to learn about blogging for your existing business, this is the book you’ve been looking for.

Some of these resources are free, some are not. Some are affiliates, some are not. An affiliate program is never the most appealing factor to me in a recommendation. The most appealing part to me is sharing good businesses and products that can help your business grow.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.

Today I took things a step further and unsubscribed. The furniture store then sent me a $25.00 gift certificate as thanks for being on their list.

Each contact that I received previously was a cheesy email version of their sales flyer. Why did they wait until I unsubscribed to give me a reason to come into their store?

The message with the gift card was “We are sorry that our emails were not of interest to you. Please accept a $25 gift certificate as a thank you for your time. Click on the image below to download your personalized card.”

I may not have a been a potential customer to begin with, but now instead of probably not doing business with them, I’m completely opposed to it. $25 does not change that.

Instead they could have…

• sent me an option to opt in
• asked me why I was unsubscribing
• sent a gift card to thank a current customer

This is a great reminder that adding people to a mailing list without their permission will generally ensure that they won’t do business with you.

What do you think? Agree or disagree? Continue the conversation.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.

Change doesn’t have to be radical, but simple shifts in how you see and do things are necessary.

Simple Shifts in Business for…

Sales, Realtors, Business Owners, Entrepreneurs

• Instead of numbers first, put people first.
• Replace the words leads, prospects and conversions with people.
• Give people what they want, not what you want.
• In social media, be social. Have a conversation. With people.
• Don’t add people to your mailing list because they gave you a business card.
• Stop calling to “follow up” or “check in”.
• Say “I don’t know” when you don’t know.
• Make every interaction valuable for people.

Websites/Blogs

• Turn off the music.
• Pull down the pop-ups.
• Be Mobile Friendly.
• Add your picture.
• Use a light background and dark text.
• Kill auto video/audio.
• Don’t add people to your mailing list without permission.

Notifications

• Notifications are distractions. Turn them off. All of them.
• You don’t need your phone to remind you that you have email.
• The first thing you see when you open your computer doesn’t have to be an announcement of who is on or off Skype.
• You don’t need an email to tell you who subscribed and who unsubscribed from anything.
• Birds don’t need to chirp when someone mentions you on Twitter.

Social Media/Email

• Be social for 20 minutes and then get back to work.
• Stop auto tweeting.
• Stop following everyone that follows you.
• Don’t check email when you don’t know what to do next.
• Don’t check email hoping for something great to happen.
• Don’t check email because it makes you feel busy.
• Check email 1-3 times a day and respond thoughtfully.
• Do good work not busy work.

If you work for yourself, you know that your customers (people) put food on your table. If you work for someone else, remember that your boss might sign your check, but it’s your customers (people) that make that check good.

Out-behave your competition and start treating your customers like people instead of dollar signs. If you don’t do these things, you will lose business to someone who does. If you do these things, get ready to grow.

Let’s continue the conversation on G+. What are other things that need to change in how we do business?

Need more inspiration to do good business? Read Jonathan Field’s 10 Commandments of Epic Business 

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.

Let me know if I can help you do business on purpose.

Are you tossing and turning about your existing job or business or is it a new project, business dream or pieces of an unsolved puzzle? Maybe you want to start a blog, write an ebook or launch an online class but don’t know how to get started. Maybe you want to expand your local business with a great website or new product line. What do you want to do?

Dreaming about leaving a job and working for yourself can keep you up too. How will you make money? What can you offer? How long will it take?

Perhaps you are wondering if someone else can help, but you’ve been hesitant to ask. You’ll never know the answer unless you ask the question.

When a business issue keeps me up at night, I draw the line. I love thinking about business, but I love my sleep more.

I want to help you sleep better.

Email bemorewithless@gmail.com and tell me what keeps you up at night. I will email you back and let you know how I can help or ask for more information. I’ll give you some immediate ideas, maybe a few questions, or a request for a brief phone call. From there, I’ll send a proposal with ideas about how we can get you back to sleeping soundly.

A great night of sleep + moving forward with my help will ensure that you wake up excited to get to work.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.

I emailed ourdeal.com and let them know that I was having trouble and gave them the specifics.

That same day, I received this email:

Hi Courtney,

Thank you for trying out OurDeal. I am sorry for the confusion that our system caused. You are right, the price is not currently being displayed properly. Each template’s price is supposed to be shown when you click on it; in the template preview. That is something our technicians will get to work on immediately.

Our paid plans allow you to send a certain number of premium contracts each month, regardless of the contract’s individual price. Moreover, you also have the ability to upload a contract to be digitized into a “personal template” if you do not find an agreement that meets your specific requirements.

As a thank you for trying OurDeal and for providing valuable feedback regarding a bug, I would like to offer you one month of the Basic plan for free.

Once you have full access to all of the agreements, please let me know if you have any questions whatsoever. If you don’t see an agreement that meets your specific needs, please let me know, and we can work to create one that will.

Best,
Kyle

Because they did the following things, they now have a client for life:

• They responded quickly and let me know they heard me
• They apologized
• They said I was right
• They explained the system.
• They offered me a free month
• They offered to further customize their service for me

They could have done any 2 of things and won me over, but by doing all 6, I had to tell the world about them.

Our Deal does business on purpose.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.

Let me know if I can help you do business on purpose. I’m offering a special mini-session consulting rate with my book bundles.

try something new

• start a new blog
• connect with a new business partner
• join a new social media platform

or if you are stuck in business, try something new in your life

• take a new yoga class
• eat a new type of fruit for lunch
• visit a new city

Often, the smallest change makes the biggest difference. Routine is nice, but with a little something new, you’ll open up to possibility and opportunities that you may have overlooked.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.

Let me know if I can help you grow your tribe and business. I’m offering a special mini-session consulting rate with my book bundles.

This brilliant, yet simple philosophy + a dedication to changing the world and a desire to “live life on our terms” are the ingredients for the incredible success of Revolution Apparel’s recent Kickstarter success. They set out to raise $20,000 to fund their minimalist fashion line, starting with the first piece in the collection, the Versalette.

With a small tribe of …

• 500 Facebook Likes
• 800 Twitter Followers
• 594 Kickstarter Contributors

… they’ve raised $47,715 and have 6 more days to increase funding. Since the launch of their Kickstarter campaign less than a month ago, their tribe has grown. They attracted the right kind of people for their business by being themselves in everything that they do.

You can do that too.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.

Let me know if I can help you grow your tribe and business.