So what to do? How to deal?
I have found in my experience these things help:

Keep a to do list at your desk or workstation.
At the end of the day, write down what you intend to do tomorrow. Follow up calls, phone numbers, due dates, projects, email responses, and orders. Write these all down. The idea is if you know what you need to remember is written down, you don’t have to expend the mental bandwidth to keep in your head. In today’s world, smartphones can make this even easier. Keep a to do list that synchronizes between your mobile device and your computer. Take the load off your already busy mind.

Don’t handle bills and business emails in the last hour before you go to sleep.
Thinking about money, especially when it is going away, is a stressor due to our social conditioning. Sending emails sets up triggers in your mind about how someone might respond and then your response in turn. Send it in the morning or tackle that task earlier in the evening.

Do not take a laptop/tablet/smartphone into your bedroom. Ever.
That is not the place for it, and mixing work with rest and pleasure makes it harder to step away from it when you need to. Make your bedroom a sanctuary. No phone (if you feel you need one for “emergencies” keep a landline with the ringer turned off). Minimal electronic lights in the room (I’ve gone so far as to put a spot of black tape over the indicator light on the fan and water cooler). Their light can signal to your brain that it is not time to sleep.

Don’t watch TV in bed.
See above. I don’t even have a TV in the bedroom.

Try to develop a routine before bed that gradually winds down your mental energy level.
Some people watch sitcoms, other knit, and I like to read, but it really doesn’t matter as long as it is something you find comforting, calming, and easy. Don’t pick a source of potential frustration or something that requires focus. You are trying to wind down, not wind up.

Take melatonin tablets.
All I can say is don’t make this one a habit. Consider it a last resort.

Do relaxation exercises.
Mentally work your way through your body, consciously relaxing muscles, even if you don’t think they are tense. Start with your toes, then your feet, traveling up your legs to your buttocks. Mentally release the tension in your abs, your chest, and your shoulders. Finally relax your neck, mouth, and cheeks. You’ll be surprised at how much tension we carry around without noticing it until we draw our own attention to it.

Anecdotally, I have heard these activities help:

• Yoga
• Taking a bath
• Drinking warm milk
• Massage
• Breathing excerises
• Meditation

Finally, if none of this works, then talk to your doctor/chiropractor/counselor/therapist/shrink/shaman about treatment options. It might be medication, or maybe an idea not mentioned above. Whatever you do, don’t ignore it. Relaxation and the sleep it leads to is a crucial part of your health.

The post An Apple a Week: Relaxation and Sleep appeared first on Greener Grass Marketing.

First, when starting any effort that could lead to new business (i.e. marketing campaigns, trade shows, potential partnerships, etc…), I try to answer one question: what is the most optimistic number of responses that I could get from this effort. Once I have that number, I begin to ask myself if my business would be able to handle getting that kind of response. There are a few caveats here: can your business do this without costing you future relationships with clients, partners, and employees? For the most part, you will realize your company is not in a place to handle any crazy influx and you would have to hire new employees or buy new equipment. As we know, a business can’t do this for a growth that is only potential. This is where things get tricky. So now we have to find ways to scale rapidly if needed or control the flux of business so it’s not lost.

If it’s employees you may need, contact local temp businesses and find if the people they have access to have the skills you need.

If it’s new equipment, find place to rent it.

If it’s space, then find a place large enough for the right price.

Getting all of this thought through ahead of time will allow you to respond quickly with a solid understanding of how your business can grow if it needs too. Many businesses that find themselves in this predicament have only one way to grow… Work Harder Longer Hours. This strategy can only accomplish so much before you hit a wall, and by that time it may be too late. Take the extra time and protect your company’s image.

Thanks for reading my piece, and don’t forget to add yourself to the RSS feed and never miss the unending and ever improving flurry of valuable content.

The post A Day in Your Shoes: When Growth Goes Bad. appeared first on Greener Grass Marketing.

Do not just blast unsolicited offers to your followers.
This concept worked for traditional advertisement, and it still has its time and place, but that place is not social media. This model was created for one-way marketing mediums, like postal mailings and newspapers. It is dated and inappropriate for social media, which makes two-way communication possible. People use social media to–wait for it–socialize. They log on to Facebook, Google+, or Twitter to see what their friends are up to, share what they’re doing, catch up on popular news, gossip, and countless other things people do in groups. They are not there to be hawked at; they want to interact.

Do not forget to bring people from social media venues onto properties under your control.
This means you need to make sure whatever you are doing on social media is targeted to getting people to visit your website. There you can fully control what they experience, and you can collect their contact information so you can properly market directly to them without having to subject yourself to the vagrancies of your social media channels (who might not always be there).

Do not think that the number of fans, followers and/or likes means anything to your business.
It’s just a number and, sure, it is great to have people interested, but if you cannot monetize them then it’s just a waste of time. You need to have systems in place to convert people who come to your site (see above) to actual sales. This conversion cannot happen by luck or by circumstance. It needs to happen automatically and intentinally.

Do not fail to add value.
It’s easy to get caught up in promoting your message, talking endlessly about yourself and how great your products and services are. While it is very important to be a self-promoter, it is also important not to bore your friends and followers with selfish tirades in every post. Instead, try to forge a connection with your audience. Comment on their posts and pictures, ask questions, and get to know the people with whom you want to do business. Post or forward an article (that isn’t directly about you) that might interest your audience, or put up a witty quote that made you laugh. Don’t just pitch yourself every single time you’re online. Try to limit your pitches to every 3rd or 5th interaction and you’ll see that people will be more responsive than when you were just loudly parading yourself around

The post Four Things NOT to do on Social Media. appeared first on Greener Grass Marketing.

Sometimes you need to just take a deep breath and take the metaphorical plunge. Just try it sometime, gather just enough information that you have a general grasp of the concept and implement it. You’ll find that most of the time you’ll learn it faster when you have to think on your feet and you’ll find that you’ll implement a lot more changes when you aren’t sitting around trying to become an expert on a new concept. The idea of becoming and expert prior to implementing something is bunk anyway, how can you become an expert without having the experience of doing?

Sure, some changes might not work but everyone that does grows their business and grows themselves within their business. Even the ones that fail to take off the way you had hoped or envisioned will still teach you and make your future approaches and attempts better and more effective. That will be a whole lot more valuable than time spent reading about something or, worse yet, money spent on books for good ideas that go unread.

So what are you waiting for? What changes have you considered to your business but not implement? Go out and do it, right now. Let me know how it worked for you and what you learned.

The post Apple a Week: Just Do It. appeared first on Greener Grass Marketing.

Taking the stairs: I know it’s cliché but just a couple of floors of stairs a few times a day (if you work in a multistory building, think on how often you use the elevator ) can make a big difference for your health. This works your glutes and legs as well as providing some cardio.

Push-ups: Do these every hour or every time you come back from the bathroom, just knock out a quick set of 10. These will work out your arms, chest and back.

Squats: You can probably do a set of 15 of these in a couple of minutes without working up a sweat. This exercise will help your legs, glutes and your posture.

Grip Squeezes: Use a training ball, ring or spring squeezer to knock out a few sets of 15 throughout the day. They are a great way to keep your wrist and forearm strong.

Tricep Dips: Use the edge of your desk or something suitably stable to build arm strength.

Leg Lifts: Lie on your side and lift your leg sideways, holding it at the top for a second. Drop it slowly and hold it for a second hovering above the other leg without touching it, and repeat. Do a set of 15 on each leg. This will strengthen your hip abductors and improve your balance.

Calve raises: Find a step that you can stand on your with your toes, allowing you to dip down so that your calves are stretched, then lift up with your toes to raise yourself. Repeat 15-20 times a couple of times a day to shape your calves and improve your leg strength.

Do these and you’ll find that you’ll be in better health and have more energy to tackle whatever your business is going to throw at you.

The post Apple a Week: Easy Workouts for the Office appeared first on Greener Grass Marketing.

How, you ask? Well, always be sure to respond to any comments they might make about your posts. When you do this, be sure to use warm, personable language rather than cold, emotionless corporate-speak. Interject a little humor or personal anecdote. Being real is the key to forging powerful relationships (on and off the web). In addition to responding to comments made on your page, be sure to read what they are posting on their pages. This affords you two great opportunities. One–you can see what matters and what is of interest to your potential customers. This information is very valuable and should be put to use. Two–when you see their posts, you can comment on them and draw them into an interaction. This back and forth engages your Facebook friends and draws them into your sphere of influence.

Use your Facebook profile and the friends associated with it to reach audiences that are not in your sphere of influence. You have to make active systems for drawing people from your social media channels to the website you control. Remember that Facebook, Twitter and the ilk can fail, change their access policies, or expel you from access unexpectedly. If you have not taken the steps to project your influence beyond social media then you will have lost access to hundreds of potential clients and their referrals.

Draw your audience to your properties (website, physical location, etc) so they become accustomed to coming to you for their relevant needs. A great analogy of this can be found in McDonald’s. A large part of their success is they nearly always control the real estate stores are located on. People become accustomed to the location of their neighborhood McDonald’s and come to rely on their reliable location. McDonald’s does not subject itself to the vagrancies of landlords or rising lease rates, it brings customers to its sphere of influence and dominates it.

Create your sphere of influence, draw people to it through social media such as Facebook, and dominate.

The post So I have More Friends on Facebook. Now what? appeared first on Greener Grass Marketing.

The concept is to kick up the demands on your body by a performing at the peak of your capacity for short bursts, doing a short working recovery and then ramping up your efforts again to elevate your heart rate to approximately 90% of your maximum heart rate (a good rule of thumb to determine maximum heart rate is to take your age and subtract it from 220) for about 30 seconds.You then ease up a little and do a lighter exercise for a short while to rest. Your working recovery target heart rate is about 60% of your maximum heart rate, ideally for 90 – 120 secs. Remember, it is a working recovery. Do not simply collapse and stop moving. Power walk or jog to bring your heart rate down, taking care to breathe properly (inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth with deep, regular breaths).

After doing this for a few weeks you’ll feel your stamina improving, your explosive strength increasing and your energy levels skyrocketing. As soon as you start to witness positive benefits and noticing that your after workout recovery is shortening then take the work out to the next step: add weights to the routine, increase the time at 90% of maximum to 45 seconds and/or increase your resting time to 60 – 90 secs. Keep pushing yourself.

Upbeat music will help your heart rate; pick a genre that energizes you and that drives you. I’m a classic rock guy but anything from EDM to Southern Rap works. Just make sure it is powerfully energizing to you and that it creates in you a feeling of positivity.

Here is a sample workout, but don’t feel constrained by these suggestions. Any heavy cardio combined with weights or resistance training can elevate your heart rate sufficiently.

Box Jumps ( add weights to kick it up a notch) – 10 reps
Jump Rope – 30 secs (increase to 1 min as you advance)
Walk for 2 mins (reduce to 90 secs as you advance)
Shadow Box ( with weights?) – 25 jabs, each hand
Hindu Squat for 30 secs
Walk for 2 mins (reduce to 90 secs as you advance)
Burpees – 10 reps
Crunches – 10 reps
Walk for 2 mins (reduce to 90 secs as you advance)

Repeat for 4-6 cycles.

Other exercises to consider:
Back and forths
Rope work
Power squats
Depth jumps
Sled pulling

Remember to rest only as long as you HAVE to. The idea is push your body’s boundaries and increase your potential. Keep moving, keep breathing and make sure your keep an eye on your heart rate.

Legal disclaimer for our overly litigious society: this is not meant to be construed as medical advice. All opinions presented are those of the author. Please consult a physician before starting a new exercise routine. Neither Greener Grass Marketing, LLC or Edgar Sarmiento assume any liability for injuries you may incur. Please be careful and drink lots of water. Namaste.

I recommend heart rate monitors from Polar (www.polarusa.com) for tracking your heart rate.

The post Hitting your target with H.I.I.T. appeared first on Greener Grass Marketing.

Freelancing Advantage: Work on your time, at your pace.
One of the greatest things about freelancing is being your own boss. You work when you want to, how you want to, where you want to. Do you want to pump out your copy at midnight naked at home with a cup of hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps? Have at it! No one is there to stop you, and as long as you perform your client doesn’t really care (and, hell, they don’t need to know!). You also get to make your own deadlines. Give the client your personal expectations on when the project will be complete (and you better damn well have it done on time).
The Problem: Not having a solid work schedule can actually decrease productivity for some people. You also run the risk of overloading yourself with work you cannot complete in the time slot you’ve set up, so be careful.

Company Advantage: Stable, unchanging schedule.
If you’re comfortable working a nine to five job and you value your weekends and evenings, working with a company may benefit you. Since you will most likely do all your work on company time, you tend to have a bit more reliable spare time. Instead of getting a couple of months off after working nonstop for seven, you can plan vacations and events without worrying about your work schedule changing last minute.
The Problem: Of course, nothing is set and stone, and as a salaried copywriter you may find yourself working long hours for big projects. Also, with only two weeks of vacation every year, you’re limited on just how much you can do or how long you can be gone.

Freelancing Advantage: Varied experience.
Freelancers have the opportunity to work with hundreds of companies, writing copy for all kinds of products and services, organizations or single clients. They get to experience a wide range of different kinds of copy and audiences, which can greatly enhance their copywriting skills. It also makes their work exciting–something new is always on the horizon. They are less likely to get totally bored with their work because work is always changing!
The Problem: Of course, the quick changeover from job to job can limit how well you’re able to test your copy. Though this isn’t necessarily true and depends heavily on the nature of the client and contract, sometimes all you get is the writing experience and not the fine-tuning.

Company Advantage: Specialization.
If you’re tied to a company, you specialize in copywriting to a specific audience for a specific audience. And you will get very, very good at it. When all you do all day is figure out how to talk to one group of people, you start to understand things other people simply can’t. Other copywriters will struggle filling your spot without months of research to learn what you know. You also get the experience of testing your copy over and over and over again to make sure you yield the absolute best results from your writing.
The Problem: Unfortunately, specializing can (though won’t necessarily) make it more difficult for you to adapt your voice to address a different audience. This could make it more difficult for you to get other jobs if you can’t demonstrate other experience.

Freelancing Advantage: The potential to make millions.
Probably one of the biggest pulls to freelancing is the potential money you could be making. Seriously, it’s huge. Gary Halbert, one of the best copywriters in history, could pull in over a million dollars in income from one contract. Let’s say he had four of those a year? Do the math. Extremely good copywriters can build up huge reputations that make their work worth obscene amounts of money.
The Problem: Most of these hugely successful copywriters are ridiculously talented, and they are not the norm. The other path? Freelancers who make enough to get by but can’t be sure they’ll get the contracts they need.

Company Advantage: That dependable paycheck.
Contrary to freelancing, if you are tied to a company you have a dependable paycheck for a certain amount every single month no matter what. Did you have a slow quarter? No problem. You made the same about of money you did when you were busy as hell the quarter before that. For people who need to know they have money coming in, having that paycheck can make the difference between freelancing and company copywriting.
The Problem: You will never pull in the kind of money exceptional freelancers can. Period.

So, which kind of copywriter are you? Freelancer? Company-tied? Do you have any advice for other copywriters out there, just starting out? Let us know!

The post Write Brained: To Freelance or Not To Freelance? appeared first on Greener Grass Marketing.

1. CocoChia Bars – these are actually tasty and healthy! A little pricey and only available from one or two places, you can get them direct from the manufacturer, Living Fuel. Don’t let their “Christian Company” spiel stop you, they don’t seem to proselytize or anything.

2. FRS Energy Drink – not loaded with caffeine or sugar like most commercial “energy drinks,” this gives me good focus and pick up without giving me the jitters or a crash. Check out their products online, but buy them in person. I wouldn’t recommend you sign up for the auto-shipment, but that’s just my natural instinct with all automatic purchases. I usually find it cheaper in local grocery stores and I don’t have to pay shipping.

3. Trader Joe’s Raw Almonds – well priced, raw, and a handful is capable of sustaining you for a two hour meeting. Healthy and satisfying, I always travel with a small bag in case I get trapped on the tarmac.

4. Chia Seeds – I add a tablespoon to cereal, yogurt, smoothies and baked goods. They are surprisingly fun to eat and tasty. This is a great way to perk up oatmeal or other bland foods. I get mine at Trader Joes but there are a tremendous amount of varieties easily available.

5. Baby Carrots – Running late to an appointment? Grab a handful of these. Realized you haven’t eaten as many fruits and vegetables as you intended today? Grab a handful of these. They are filling and satisfying to eat. Low calorie and chock-full of nutrition. They are cheap and easy to find.

6. Local Honey – Great for allergies and a quick burst of energy before the gym or a meeting. If you are going to use a sweetener, let this be the one. Great in tea and useful when cooking. Make sure you get honey local to where you spend the most time. The website I linked to sounds like an escort service or dating site, but it can help you find honey that is relevant to your needs and tastes.

The post An Apple a Week: Quick Food Tips and Recommendations appeared first on Greener Grass Marketing.

What does it mean to have this kind of system in place? It means you start handling sales objections early in the marketing phase. Do you have a higher price point than your competitors? Then you had better explain upfront how your service is more valuable. Perhaps you can offer a payment plan or subscription that provides a unique value to your customers and adds to your bottom line. When you handle the objections ahead of time, your sales team has to spend less time on hard selling and can focus on the ultimate goal of creating a powerful buying experience.

Another important aspect of teamwork is that each member must not only know what their role is but they also need to know everyone else’s role. This means if your marketing team is running promotions, your salespeople should know just as much about that promotion so they can fulfill expectations set by marketing. Think back on a frustrating experience you might have had dealing with a company where the left did not know what the right hand was doing–do you want customers to experience that frustration while dealing with your business?

Along those same lines you should make sure to foster a spirit of teamwork between those handling intake and those doing the closings. Make sure they genuinely know each other and appreciate each other’s roles. We’ve all known the hotshot salesperson who thinks he is a gift to the company and that everyone else works there just to make his job possible. This kind of person is toxic to your atmosphere and will make it nearly impossible to get the rest of the staff onboard.

Finally, make sure the company has a clear and unified goal everyone is pulling towards. Broadcast this goal clearly and ensure everyone in the company knows it, believes it, and wants it. At the end of the day, everyone must understand how and why to bring in customers. They also need to understand what their role is in the greater picture of attracting customers and producing revenue for the company.

The post Making Sales and Marketing Work As a Team appeared first on Greener Grass Marketing.