In my recent post, Do You Have an Imaginary Business?  I shared with you the number one question you needed to answer before you could move tangibly into making your business real. You need to determine your WHY!

Now, that you’ve got your WHY . . .(and if you still don’t, keep working it, it’s the cornerstone to your success) you can take the next 5 steps to taking your business from imaginary to real.

Make Your Business REAL

#1 Name it and claim it.
You can’t change what you won’t acknowledge. Look hard at what you are doing, is it real, productive and profitable or imaginary? AND IF IT’S REAL, AWESOME, THIS WILL WORK FOR YOU AS WELL.

I hear a lot of excuses around why people aren’t doing the business they say they want to do.  Get bold, and be brave, admit they are excuses and you’ll be able to move forward much faster because you won’t be fooling yourself anymore.

#2 Make the list of all the things you think you need to do, (and that you think are holding up your success)
Yes, the giant grandaddy list of them all, the one that puts you in lock down and overwhelm, that’s the one I want you to write. Leave nothing out, you’ll be prioritizing and categorizing in the next step, you need the master list first . . . business cards, website, social media, LinkedIn profile, business license, certifications, etc.

#3 Prioritize your list by those activities that will generate leads and income (directly, not indirectly)
These activities go to the top of your agenda, before social media, before a logo design, before your website (unless you are in e-commerce.) While all of these pieces are necessary in the big picture, to immediately get money in the door, you need to get out and meet people, face to face, voice to voice by phone and find out if they have a need and if you are a fit.
Yes, there is a sales process, but staying at home in your PJ’s and wringing your hands while making excuses isn’t part of it! (We’ll tackle sales process in a future post.)

#4 Break it down to get it done
Everything else on your list gets broken down into bite sized pieces and one piece at a time gets knocked off your list.  Be sure to add the name of a resource next to each piece who can help you, whether it is an actual service provider, a tool, a program, or whatever else you think is relevant.

#5 Get out and meet people who can move your business forward.
Hint: This means prospects, not colleagues. While it’s fun to hang out with colleagues, it doesn’t make you money. Get over it.

BONUS: Find a coach you resonate with who will keep you on task, provide resources and strategy to grow your business, and not take any of your excuses!

Now, you have the genuine beginnings of a real (no longer imaginary) business and you’ll make real money to fund your real dreams!

Please share your comments below, I want to know where you are in business (real or imaginary) and what you think is holding you back.

WHAT’S YOUR BIG EXCUSE?? Share below.

Is your business real or imaginary? It’s an important question.

Are you making excuses or making money?

I experienced two conversations this week with coaches, both of whom, currently have imaginary businesses. One has named it and claimed it and is ready to move into a real business that makes real money and give up the endless string of excuses.

The other coach hasn’t named it and is in denial so won’t be moving forward.

In case you aren’t sure, an imaginary business is one that makes very little or no money, you do actual revenue producing work less than 10 hours a month, and you share a continual string of excuses as to why you aren’t farther along the path to success.

Excuses you might be making include:

• I can’t afford a website . . .
• I don’t have a logo . . .
• I need another certification . . .
• I’m waiting until after Memorial Day . . .
• I’m waiting until my kids are grown up . . .
• I don’t have the right image . . .
• I hate networking . . .
• The economy is still uncertain . . .
• I don’t understand social media . . .
• I feel overwhelmed . . .
• Everyone says XYZ about the kind of person I am . . .

Do you want to stop having an imaginary business, and enjoy making a real difference for real money with real clients? It’s simpler than you might think.

Oh, and there is one question you need to answer first . . . WHY do you want to have a business?

Without a big enough why and actual numbers applied, you won’t do the necessary work and remain imaginary.

Here are some WHY’s to inspire you . . .

• I want to empower women in my culture to live freely and follow their dreams.
• I want to take care of my aging parents comfortably.
• I want to fund trusts for my children’s college education.
• I want to find a cure for XYZ disease.
• I want to create a foundation that invests in the dreams of entrepreneurs.
• I want to experience freedom from financial anxiety and enjoy financial security.
• I want to live in a penthouse in NYC.
• I want to spend a week on The Orient Express.

Now, that you’ve got your WHY . . .(and if you still don’t, keep working it, it’s the cornerstone to your success) you can take the next 5 steps to taking your business from imaginary to real. Coming up in next week’s post!

SHARE YOUR WHY in the comments below!

Every time I turned around this week, I was hit by another reminder of how important it is to ASK for what you need and want, both personally and professionally.

And it isn’t just about ASKING that matters. It is also about how you create opportunities for people to say YES and give you what you are asking for.

She Asked Her Way to $1M

Instead of my own video this week, I wanted to share an extraordinary TED Talk that Amanda Palmer gave. She is a musician, punk meets cabaret (by her own admission, not for everyone.) She has traveled all over the world giving concerts and connecting with people. The coolest part is that she learned early on that one of the keys to asking and receiving is connecting with another person and “seeing” them as they truly are.

She actually began her career standing on a street corner in New Orleans as a living statue. In fact, for 5 years, she was known as the 8 foot bride and made money only by donations. What she learned about ASKING is here, WATCH IT!

When the record label she signed with deemed her album a flop because it only sold 25K copies, she decided to do something radical. From there on out, she gave away all of her music. The result proved extraordinary. When she needed funding for her next album (remember she was dropped by her first label because she didn’t sell enough copies), she turned to Crowd Funding. She needed to raise $100K, well if you watch the video, you’ll know what happened . . .

There are 3 Extraordinary Lessons in Creating a YES Environment for Your Ask, that I took from her work.

#1 Give your best content and material away for free.
Whether it is performing a song, providing a webinar, hosting a teleseminar, providing a radio show with expert interviews, blogging, publishing an ebook or creating video and podcasts, don’t be stingy. Stop with the teases and give your best away always. Your audience will come back for more and support you when the time is right. This also creates a priceless sense of reciprocity so that your market wants to support you.

#2 Connect with your market (audience).
Being real, authentic, and genuine will give you the market connection you are looking for. In the age of technology with high tech and high distrust, the more you reveal of yourself, the more your market (audience) will connect with you. Don’t try to be perfect, be the awesome imperfect human that you are.

#3 Trust in yourself and your market (audience)
When you become vulnerable and trust that your expert content, your unique talent, and your genuineness are enough, that trust will be rewarded by an unshakeable connection to your market who will be there when you need them most. (If you doubt this, WATCH THE VIDEO!)

Please share both your experiences and your comments with ASKING for what you want in life and business!

“It feels like I’m stuck in a tunnel and can’t see the light,” that’s what I heard from a friend Thursday night when I found myself at one of my favorite Italian restaurants. It was after 9pm when I stopped in intending to grab a salad and sip on their homemade limoncello (I have a weakness for all things citrus.) They were clearing out for the night so we had a chance to sit and catch up.

This friend is a wildly talented guy with more energy than any five people I know. He is a gracious host and his staff love him. During the day, he tunes pianos and can currently even be spotted at the Decorator’s Showhouse on weekends playing piano.

He was in a bit of a funk Thursday night. While he loves his work and is really good at it, he also loves piano playing and tuning and can’t quite see past where he is now to where he can go with everything. He’s in one of those tunnels we all find ourselves in from time to time when we can’t see far enough to view the light at the end and just feel stuck. Can you relate? (This is especially prevalent among those of you who are multi-talented creatives, wearing multiple hats!)

Our conversation reminded me of the times I’ve fallen into stuck and stalled (despite my thrive mentality) because it is so damn easy. Being positive, on the other hand, takes effort and courage. And, yes, there are those days you just don’t want to be upbeat. You want to kill the next sunshiny person you encounter. You want to pop Mary Poppins. I hear you!

In fact, it was Monday morning when I read in my inspirational calendar “Remember that deciding to be happy and healthy requires courage and focus. It is ever so much easier to allow negativity and fear to run your life.”

There are 3 Simple Secrets to Tapping Your Happy Factor:

1. Talk to trusted friends, find others who have been where you are and get inspired by how they got through it. We all have these times. I call this Kick-in-the-pants Therapy.
2. Watch the news. I know this may sound counter intuitive, but there is always some disaster going on that will give you the necessary wake up call to how damn lucky you really are and set you on the gratitude path. I call this Thank You Therapy.
3. Acknowledge your greatness. Create a list of 100 adjectives to describe yourself. Check in with friends, family, co-workers, and more. You’ll be surprised to learn that what you see isn’t what they see. I call this Trust Your Brilliance Therapy.

Time and again when I have assigned these “therapies” to clients (and of course to friends and colleagues in a funk), I’ve watched as they start to shift their attitude from one frustration to fun, from stalled to soaring, from negative to nice. Go for it.

I dare you, and get in touch with the results.

It won’t take long.

As always, I welcome your comments and shares here. You are the reason I’m here!

I am embarrassed to confess that I have a multiple personality disorder. I didn’t realize it until I went searching for an introduction for an upcoming event and found no less than 36 different introductions on file over the past decade. OMG, I am one person, not 36. Even if I’d updated annually with new accomplishments, milestones achieved and honors, it would be less than 10.

I’m betting you may be suffering from a similar disorder though I hope with fewer personalities! Even though my topics may be similar in many cases, the audiences are different enough to warrant a new introduction (at least I thought so.) This is the biggest reason I am saying “NO,” to a lot right now. I’m focused only my perfect fits in all formats, speaking, consulting, and coaching.

My last week of “NO” is leading to a lifetime of “YES.” I want to invite you to do the same. Here are 5 Simple Secrets to Being Whole and Happy in Your Business:

1. Pick one specialty within the millions out there and focus on it. If you need help, think of the experts you know and see how many you can identify by specialty. (Jeff Herring does Article Marketing. Kim Roach is the Traffic Queen. Lou Bortone is Video King . . . and so on.) You will make more as a specialist, than a generalist always.

2. Pick no more than three target markets and get really detailed in your focus. You should be able to write each market a personal note that would address their pain points, their priorities, and present your services or product as their ideal solution.

3. Create one signature talk that you give regularly to networking groups, in teleseminars, as a webinar, and even in interviews. You’ll even use your talking points as the basis for blog posts, articles, and your book!  One talk that summarizes your key learning points and gives people a delicious taste of what you offer so they want more.

4. Focus exclusively on where your target market hangs out, online and offline. Don’t get sidetracked by bright shiny opportunities to chase new crowds and dabble in new markets.

5. Become a BIG FISH in a LITTLE POND, instead of a guppy in the ocean. Stop being a best kept secret and become well known and profitable for your talent, gifts, and delivery of them.

The most important piece in this is in the video here, GO WATCH IT!

Be who you are and you’ll love what you do … really.

I’ve started having to scroll through junk again these days since my email filters have gone wonky. To my horror I discovered . . . (WATCH the VIDEO)

that I’ve been added arbitrarily, no permission asked (and none granted), to even more mailing lists belonging to colleagues, business acquaintances and networking contacts.

This is NOT okay.  This is not good email etiquette nor sound list (or community) building.

It is never okay to add anyone, without their express permission, to your mailing list. Not only is it inappropriate and poor email etiquette, it is against the law and you can be fined or your account shut down for spamming.

Here are a handful of ways you might meet people, where it is NOT okay for you to simply add them to your list.

•  You are their coach, or they are your coach (it is still optional!)
• You met them on a panel you moderated or participated in (happened recently.)
• You met them at a networking event and traded business cards. (Real estate agent did this to me recently, I’m not in the market!)
• You attended a seminar and sat next to each other and swapped cards and conversation.
• You met them in a Starbuck’s line.
• You connected with them on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.

Stop it, just STOP IT! When I want to be on your list, I’ll do it this way (it is up to the individual, not up to you):

• Opt-in form on your website
• Exit Pop with opt-in on your website
• Sign up on the clipboard you pass around at a live event (not my favorite)
• Give you my business card with YES printed clearly on the back because you asked those of us who were interested, to let you know at a live event you spoke at.

This is not about building your numbers. When you add people without permission, we are well within our rights to tag you as SPAM  when we unsubscribe.

Besides don’t you think that if I am truly your target market (not a colleague, not an acquaintance, not a random networking meet up, not a friend, not a competitor) and you provide genuine value, I’d jump on your list? Don’t you think I’d clamor to be in your community?

Meeting me either virtually or live in reality DOES NOT give you permission to add me to any list you have, that is unprofessional email etiquette.  It does give me the right to label you SPAM when I unsubscribe (yes I know I said that once already, it needs to be reiterated), and ultimately enough of those incidents and your email service (Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, Infusionsoft, Aweber or others) is going to penalize you accordingly. In addition, you will have pissed off potential clients and customers who will likely tell others about their unfortunate experience.

As always, your comments are valuable to me, please share your thoughts on email etiquette, permission based marketing and your experience with people spamming you, below.

You are unique and so is your business, in fact, the greatest point of differentiation you have, or USP (unique selling proposition) is YOU! (If you doubt me, WATCH the VIDEO.)

One-size- fits-all solutions aren’t going to fit you.  You deserve strategy as unique as YOU and YOUR BUSINESS.

The best coaching I’ve ever received wasn’t in the programs that lasted 6 months or 12 months but in the one that lasted 30-90 minutes and gave me that KICK IN THE PANTS, that SHOT IN THE ARM, and those PROVEN STRATEGIES and TESTED TOOLS that when I applied them, moved business forward.

Stop making success so darned complicated. You are on the edge of it, I can feel it, you are just standing in your own way.
Will you let me help you step out of your way and get what you want most?

You deserve a faster answer to your burning business challenges and one that doesn’t require a big commitment in time or dollars. Are you with me?

I’ve got some one shots opened up. You know me, I’m not pitching or selling you. This is a simple invitation. You either know you are a fit and we can take you amazing places, or you know you aren’t ready. Either way is totally fine, I just want you to make up your mind, NOW!

Tell me what is stopping you so I can blast it out of your way:
http://melissagalt.com/phone-and-skype-consulting/

This is about showing you how to tap into the magic of being yourself so you’ll CONNECT QUICKLY WITH CLIENTS AND CUSTOMERS, FIND THE FUN IN YOUR BUSINESS, and REAP THE REWARDS. (You also know I’m not making you any promises because I can tell you what to do, BUT (and it’s a HUGE BUT) your action is what decides your success, sitting on your BUTT does not.)

Are you ready?
http://melissagalt.com/phone-and-skype-consulting/

This is a true story, just the highlights (or lowlights depending on your interpretation). I had a wild and unexpected encounter a couple of days ago with my past … (WATCH the VIDEO)

We all have history, colorful, quirky sometimes history we wish had never happened and that we could forget. Be grateful for all of it! You have learned priceless (often expensive and painful) lessons in every experience you’ve had.

Your willingness to share those stories, and those lessons are what will make you memorable, valuable, real, and even hirable. Now, I’m not suggesting that you simply beat us all over the head with your stories, again and again and again. There is an art to storytelling, nuances you must master, and even a few rules to know so you can break them (best kind of rules to have, don’t you think?)

I had a former friend who did that once, she recounted the same story 5X in one night. At the end of the night, I could repeat her stories better than my own, and hers didn’t seem to have any point!

Next time you tell a story, make sure it has the 3 R’s of Storytelling:

#1 Relevant
It needs to relate to the conversation you are having and not come out of left field randomly.

#2 Real
It needs to be a real story, not some fictionalized or embellished version of reality.

#3 Right Timing
You need to be far enough past the story that telling it doesn’t turn into some sort of quest for therapy to get past it.

BONUS! #4 Rich Detail
The richer in detail your story is, the more memorable it will be.

As always, I welcome your comments and best of all YOUR STORIES! Share below and when you enjoyed this post, share it with friends.

PS. In case you didn’t get THE POINT in The Spy Who Loved Me . . . oh the tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive, ultimately his web untangled and I had enough distance to see the deceit. Keep your perspective always in romance and business!

Are you a list maker like me?

Do you start your day with a full page of items to tackle only to find that you get through less than half, and you wind up rolling more than half of your list to the next day?

I used to do that until I found a way to chunk my day into easy to digest (and accomplish) bite-size pieces. This will revolutionize how much you get done and allow you more time for fun.

The secret is in the video, go watch it now!

The cool part is that you can actually color code using this same method (oooh, I thought you’d like that, after all you are a creative and focused on providing transformation.) Make this easy and color code your TO CONQUER cards and TO COMPLETE indexes by project, by job, by client, by organization. They are ready reference, totally portable, and will keep you focused and on point to completion and accomplishment.

Never again will you feel overwhelmed once you’ve mastered the art of mini-lists to chunk down the big tasks and tall orders into doable pieces that get done.

Yes, I do know about and have Evernote, I just find that using a pen and paper actually helps me capture and remember more than digits on a keyboard. When you find yourself scattered and feeling overwhelmed, maybe it’s time to let go of all the tech tools and return to a tried and true method of getting more done and having more fun.

As always, I love to hear from you, share your comments here about how you get and stay organized, the old fashioned way!

One of the toughest things about networking is knowing what to say. And I don’t mean the usual “blah, blah, blah” about your business. I mean being both interested and interesting so that you’ll be remembered beyond your tagline. (You do have a tagline, don’t you?)  This is about being a good conversationalist. It means you’ll always have something relevant and either educational or entertaining to share at a networking event, over a business lunch, or at a client dinner.

Think beyond the business box. Know that you will be in that red carpet ready position, being on the spot and needing to shine (isn’t that what red carpet walkers are?) So here are just 3 Wickedly Simply Ways to Red Carpet Ready Your Conversations (networking tips):

#1 Listen to News Once a Day (at least)
You don’t need to become a news junkie, but you do need to be up on the latest headlines both locally, nationally and globally. Personally, I’m a radio fan, and don’t watch TV news unless in the gym, do what works for you. Skip the politics unless it is something particularly colorful and non-partisan like when Congressman Anthony Weiner was caught with his proverbial pants down. Know the big stories so you can contribute your opinion and thoughts to a discussion.

#2 Get to the Movies
You don’t even have to go to a theatre anymore, but can watch Netflix at home or do it the old fashioned way and rent a video from Blockbuster.  And when you travel, I am a big fan of taking at least one night with room service to gorge myself on the latest lodgenet movie features in the comfort of my room. This makes it simple to have conversation with just about anyone since movies are so well publicized and everyone has their favorite stars, themes, and more. And don’t forget YouTUBE and my favorite, TED and TEDx talks.

#3 Read Business and General Interest Publications (not just your industry)
Whether you like your reading online or offline isn’t the point, the point is that you broaden your horizons, stretch your mind, and discover some of the new things going on in the world today outside of your industry (and inside it.) Some of my favorites include Fast Company, INC., Forbes (online), Robb Report and Entrepreneur magazine. I also indulge in Smithsonian when at the chiropractors, and design and decorating publications (House Beautiful, Traditional Home, Dwell) when traveling.

The key to being a good conversationalist and gifted networker is that you are a well rounded individual and can easily move in and out of a variety of conversations on a variety of topics. You don’t need to be an expert, except in your field, but being able to discuss current events, current entertainment, newsworthy and notable individuals and companies, as well as your own expertise will make you irresistible to be around and add to your networking abilities.

So, as always, I want to HEAR FROM YOU! In the comments below, share HOW YOU STAY IN CONVERSATIONAL SHAPE, what are your sources for news, entertainment (sports too), and business and general interest. How do you build your Renaissance factor?