First: Who are you? What do you stand for? And what do you have to offer?  You need to get crystal clear on these three questions.  Because, if you don’t know who you are… neither will your clients.

Here’s a great exercise to help you understand who you are and how others perceive you.  Sum yourself up in three words/adjectives, then ask two close family/friends, two business contacts, two clients, and two new acquaintances to do the same.  By doing this you’ll really start to see how you’re perceived and this is great because you can start to build your brand around the true and authentic you.  So if you are trying to build a brand that says “Hey! I’m the Dominatrix of Marketing” and your friends, business contacts, and clients are writing down that you are shy, sweet, and an introvert… it might be time to hone in on those characteristics and use them to your advantage instead of giving a false sense of whom you really are.  Be REAL.  People buy from REAL people.

Don’t be afraid to use a nickname or attribute that you might think is a handicap and work it to your advantage.  They call me Britni Bitch, and contrary to what most people think when they hear that name, it’s not because I’m a bitch.  When I say “Hey I’m Britni Bitch!”  It’s because I’m spunky, always looking fabulous, and I rock socks when it comes to branding and design.  It’s spicy and fun and our clients really get a kick out of it.  It’s MY brand.

Once you’ve brainstormed and taken this consensus of how others portray you, it’s time to start putting it together visually.  You know that saying “Go to the mattresses!” ?  Well as a designer I say, “Go to the Pinterest!”  That is your battle station for anything brand, marketing, and design planning.  Pinterest is where you can create boards of inspiration and bring ideas together; whether it’s for your brand or your products… and simply pin away.  Collect colors, images, and symbols that represent your personal brand.

The last step is to HIRE A DESIGNER!  If you want to look legit, hire legit.  There are plenty of sub-contracting sites out there that allow you to post a job and set a price range (Guru.com, Elance.com, and Odesk.com… just to name a few).  Once you hire someone hand those Pinterest boards over to them and trust in them to visually execute your brand.  And don’t be afraid to hop on the phone with your designer and get really clear about YOUR vision too!

I’ve just given you your launching pad.

Happy Branding!

-Britni Hanley, Co-Creative Director

So I want you to take a minute and imagine a marketing strategy that’s:

• Been around over 100 years
• CRAZY effective
• Brings in nearly $2 Trillion in sales
• AND that is being almost completely ignored by our industry?
• BUT all the “Big Boys” – Bank of America, Disney, CapitalOne and Time Warner Cable – are using it, loving it and raking in the money!

It’s called Direct Mail Marketing.

Think Magazine subscriptions, Record Clubs, Sweepstakes, Time-Life Books, Credit Card Offers….. that letter from Aunt Edna.

You see, direct mail is basically sending you some physical mail to elicit a response, whether that is to get a magazine, a book, join a sweepstakes or to visit your Aunt in Tallahassee.

Direct Mail works, in fact as other sectors of advertising are falling off in their effectiveness, direct mail is growing – especially when it’s used for cross-channel marketing (basically using a postcard or letter to drive traffic to a website or salespage).

Remember, it’s only “junk mail” when you don’t want it or aren’t looking for it.

But if you get a card, letter or DVD in the mail and it’s exactly what you need, it has the answer you’re looking for you’d be really happy and grateful, wouldn’t you?

It also works because as Suzanne says all the time “Zigg” while they “Zagg”. And since so many people in our industry are not using mail, then simply sending some mail is a “Zigg” – because let’s face it… everyone’s email in-box is pretty full these days.

Think about it, do you get less than a 100 emails a day? Now imagine what your prospects inbox looks like as they are looking for a solution to their problem.

So how are we using Direct Mail here at Suzanne Evans Coaching?

• We mail a copy of our Free DVD when you first join our list
• We send pre-event postcards to let people know when we’ve got a new event happening in their area
• We send registration gifts to people who register for various events and programs (what’s great about this is that we can then involve them before the event even starts
• We send “lumpy” letters – i.e. last year’s Be the Change Button, which went viral on social media and created a lot of buzz for the event.
• We promote book and product launches through postcards, fliers and letters
• And Fun surprise mailings

And the best thing about Direct Mail Marketing is that you can use it wherever you are in your business.

• Just starting out – send a warm letter
• Having an event – send a postcard
• Send a freebie CD or DVD through the mail
• Hosting a meetup – send an invitation
• Targeting a high-end group of prospects – FedEx a personal DVD player with a professionally edited video of your offer on it and put a post-it that says “Play Me”
• Integrate mail into any “Big Push: campaigns you have, like we do for Be the Change.

Direct Mail is a powerful, effective and underutilized marketing strategy that can have you standing out from the others in your field.

What is one thing you could add right now to your marketing and business building efforts?

Start adding direct mail today and take your piece of the Trillion Dollar Secret.

-Brian Stark, Director of Strategic Development

I came away with such a new perspective and realization that sometimes we forget some of the simple ways we can rejuvenate, motivate and even inspire ourselves….For example:

Celebration:

Whew, did these women love to celebrate. At even the slightest moment of  “good” news, they would break into song out of gratitude for us being there to work with them.

This would happen frequently whether they were singing a song about “working for the gold” or another song we heard called “I thank you for the rest of my life.” Come on…don’t you just love that?!

It reminded me that so often we take things for granted…like getting a new client. That’s I am so adamant about doing a happy dance every time we here at SEC bring on a new client, every time a home study is sold…really any time money comes into our business. That sense of celebration and excitement creates a joyful and grateful place to do all our work from.

Giving:

At the end of our journey, the women passed around a big bag and each of the shop owners placed one of their curios they normally sell in the bag as a symbol of their appreciation. It brought nearly all of us to tears. Realizing, that should they sell one of these items in their shop, it meant money to feed themselves and their families for at least a day or two…  but they were willing to share what they had with us… oh… so beautiful.

It was a great reminder how important it is to not wait until you have “enough” to give, before you actually do give. The power in giving is when we give from a place of knowing there is always enough and that whatever we do give to others will come back to us many times over.

Community:

You could feel the sense of support and community even though these women pretty much sold the same items from shop to shop in their Curio Market. Their shops were small little sectioned of squares of space, each full of African bowls, carvings and batik cloth.

It was so exciting to see the love they had for each other and to discuss with them new ways they could further support each other in promoting each other’s shops so they could all thrive as a whole.

I came back with a new sense of my own community, not just the incredible group of entrepreneurs I went to Zimbabwe with, but also my connection to you… the Suzanne Evans Community… as well as my colleagues, friends and family.

We aren’t meant to do this all alone and the more we can celebrate with each other, give to one another and support each other in our growth, the more all of us succeed and truly create the change we want to see in the world.

So here is my question to you…are you taking time everyday to celebrate, give and build your community? If not, start right NOW.

What is one thing you can celebrate right now in your life and in your business? Did you get a new client? Did some unexpected money come in? Do you have food in your refrigerator? Do you have a refrigerator? Whatever it is… Celebrate it!

What is one piece of giving you could do today? Can you donate some time or money to a cause that is dear to your heart? Can you give some canned food to the food shelter? Can you go online and donate $25 to Kiva.com and help an entrepreneur in a developing country?  Whatever it is… Give It!

What is one thing you could do today to build community? Can you connect with your accountability partner? Can you reach out to a friend or mentor who understands building a business? Can you connect with a facebook friend and offer some support? Whatever it is… Build Community around it!

Make sure you are bringing these 3 things into your business and into your life EVERY day, and who knows, you may just burst into song too!

-Paige Stapleton, SEC Director of Client Development

1.) Its where your clients are – This is fairly simple, almost every single person is somehow connected to social media. Therefore if utilized correctly it can get you connected to a countless amount of people who are either interested in what you are providing or connect you with people of similar interest who can help you grow your business. You can almost think of it as a gigantic cyber-networking event that never ends!

2.) Using Social Media Leads Creates More Sales – If you are marketing yourself correctly through social media, it is reaching thousands more people than if you weren’t. I will guarantee that if you utilize social media the amount of inbound leads you receive will be astonishing. It may take some time to get traction and followers the vertical you are in but once you do you will see a huge difference. Like anything else the more you are committed to building your following the quicker you will build your following!

3.) Social Media is Free! –  This really leaves you with no reason to avoid using social media. Unless you upgrade a specific platform which in some cases is necessary once you get comfortable most social media platforms are totally free. This makes your investment into utilizing social media low risk & high reward, which is always a good route to go!

 4.) It’s not leaving anytime soon – Social Media is continuing to grow and different platforms are continuously being updated and created… Don’t get left behind and start making more money!

-Jason Gasbarro, Client Enrollment Specialist

1) It takes it. It really does….especially in the beginning.

2) I loved what I was doing. The more I did it. The more I loved it.

3) I know from experience, my mentors, and study that you can outrun anybody if you put in the effort and I am living proof. I am not the smartest or the best but I can outwork and out last anyone.

4) It was all a part of a grand plan. (Most people don’t know this about me- I never shared it until now)

My friend, Larry Winget, says “Dreams don’t come true. Plans come true.” And I have had a plan for everything in my business every year, every month, every day from the start. 90% of all of it I have shared with my clients, tribe, and team, and the rest has been my personal plan.

Years ago when I read the quote about ” living a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can live the rest of your life like most people can’t ” it made a ton of sense to me.

Basketball players can’t play for ever.

Opera singers voices change.

Carpenters hand eventually get shaky

But no matter what you do you can set yourself up for forever. And that is what I have been doing the last five years. I intentionally lived my life in such a way that I could live it in a certain way now. Don’t get me wrong….I work hard. I manage 15-17 full time employees, run 20 events a year, 20 launches, speak 1-2 times a month, but I have been able to scale back, slow down, and shift priorities.

It was always my plan.

I was known for super late nights …..I am now usually in bed by 10.

I coached 7-9 hours a day…..I now coach 3.

I did all my own copy, launch planning, sales, and management….. I now do about 10%

I worked in the evening and on weekends…. now only on occasion or when I want to.

I did not get lucky or lazy. It was a plan. And it worked because if you work a plan it always does. Here is my advice to you if you want to set yourself up for long term.

1) Have a plan. And work it. To an insane default. Do every damn thing you say you will do.

2) Don’t launch a business and expect to get to be where I am now and when you are not get pissed and stop. It took me and every other Inc 500 winner years to get to here. Be patient. Work the plan.

3) Over hire as you get more and more successful. Last year I over staffed myself. I knew it. But I was hiring for where I wanted to go and not where I was.

4) Know what you want out of life. Business sucks if your life sucks. Money does not replace joy.

So, you too can start to give some of it up. It just might not be this year, but plan it and it will happen.

-Suzanne Evans

1.) Hire The Right People – I know it sounds simple right? We will call this the groundwork for creating your work family. Always remember that somebody who was a great fit at a previous work place might not be the perfect fit for your company. Find people who care about your business and you, and more importantly have personality. As Suzanne always says, “You can teach skill but you can’t teach personality.” Hire people that you can connect with that also have a passion to learn! If it takes longer to find the right person or more interviews just remember that this is the groundwork for the perfect company culture.

2.) Communication – Now that you took that extra step to find the right fit for your company you need to create and grow an on going relationship with them. Taking the time to sit with your employees on a regular basis to discuss both the good and the bad shows that you genuinely care about your employee and will ultimately lead he/she to learn and work harder for you. Any employee who cares about their boss will go that extra mile for the company.

3.) Transparency – This is such an important component to keeping employees happy and motivated. I mean in reality who is going to be motivated to work towards a goal when they don’t even know what is going on or better yet what the goal is? Always keep your employees in the loop on what is going on with the company. You never know what you can learn from your employees. Being Transparent will also build trust and create that team vibe you have always dreamed of!

4.) Celebrate – Rewarding your employees does a great deal in motivating them onto the next success of the company. One thing that you need to find out is what type of reward motivates your employee the most; the same reward could have a different effect on a different employee.

5.) Be Positive – Building your business is not always going to go as planned or always go the right way. Remember that your employees are mirrors of you. Once you become negative and nasty it will unmotivated them from there jobs. Find ways to communicate loses in a positive way as hard as it might be. Positivity goes a long way!

Now it’s time for you to create YOUR culture!

Jason Gasbarro, Client Enrollment Extraordinaire

At first I hated it, but I remembered my friends saying that it takes a little while to get use to it.  After a week I turned into a fan of the quick keys.  At the time I only knew a handful of the quick keys, but they were very beneficial.

Some of you may be asking yourself, “what is a quick key?”   A quick key is a key, or a combination of keys that, when pressed at one time, it performs a task.  For instance, rather then type a word and having to highlight the word and click the bold button to make it bold, you can press down the command key and “B” key before you type the word you want to be bold.

The quick keys I’ll be going over are for Macs.  Sorry PC users.

Command + B = Bold

Command + I = Italicize

Command + U = Underline

Command + D = Font properties

Command + C = Copy

Command + V = Paste

Command + X = Cut

Command + A = Select all

Command + Z = Undo

Command + S = Save

Command + N = New blank document

Command + O = Open a document

Command + W = Close document

Command + P = Print properties

These quick keys are the main ones you’ll use while using Microsoft Word.  Start off by using a couple, and once you start getting use to using quick keys, start using more of them.  The more you learn to use, the quicker you’ll be able to finish documents.  Quick keys are not just for Microsoft Word.  Search online for quick keys for other programs you use often.  Once you get a good grasp on quick keys, you will ask yourself why you didn’t start using them sooner.

Brad Adams, Executive Assistant

One way that employers may attract, motivate and retain talent is by providing desirable or attractive benefits.  However, benefits are costly and the costs are rising.  In order to balance the competing objectives of providing benefits that will be attractive to employees and controlling costs, employers need to consider a number of issues.

First of all, companies should consider employees concerns about equity.  Equity is when executives receive substantially better benefit packages than a company’s “rank and file” employees.  Employee dissatisfaction may result and significant disparities between executive and employee benefits can sometimes become an issue in labor union negotiations.  As an example some company executives can receive what is called a golden handshake or golden parachute.  A golden parachute or handshake is a clause put in an executive’s contract to grant them large benefits if their employment is terminated.  This type of package can be viewed as a benefit to the executive receiving the contract, but a disadvantage to those employees at a lower level.  The view from the employer’s side is that they secure work for high-paid executives, but the downside is that the contract does not specify the executive to perform well.

Next, employers considering benefits to attract, retain and motivate employees need to take into consideration economic issues.  According to National Underwriter Life & Health magazine, in a 2006 study, 90% of the benefit managers surveyed rated “controlling costs of both health and welfare benefits” as the most important factor they consider in making benefit decisions.  As benefit costs appear to be increasing exponentially, employers are trying to control those costs.  In addition to paying some share of employee’s benefit costs, companies must pay costs of administrating the plan.  Administrative costs are those costs to the employer via fees from equity companies who are the initial benefit provider.  According to the survey listed above, reducing human resources administrative costs was significantly lower in importance this year compared to a similar study constructed in 2002. This is perhaps a sign that concerns of increasing costs in medical plans are taking precedence over reducing administrative costs.  While controlling costs may improve a company’s bottom line, going too far in this direction by reducing benefits or by shifting more of the costs to employees may reduce job satisfaction or motivation on part of employer’s workers.

Employers designing benefits plans may also run into certain political issues.  For example, Wal-Mart recently experienced a surge of negative public opinion and political outcry when memos came to light that revealed that the company had contemplated cutting benefit costs by dismissing elderly workers and those with health problems and limiting employees eligibility by restricting many to part time schedules.  Another political issue is if married employees with families receive benefits for their spouse or daycare benefits for their children.  Offering coverage for controversial or experimental medical treatments, or denying such coverage could have political repercussions as could the denial of benefits to unmarried life partners.  Lastly, the Starbucks article could bring up a point on politics.  This article speaks how employees are eligible to participate in the company’s 401(K) plan if they are full time or part time and receives over 240 hours of work.  It would seem that the misappropriation could be seen that a full time worker is getting similar benefits as compared to the part time worker.

Competitiveness may be a key factor when employers are deciding what benefits to contribute to employees.  The attractiveness of your benefits package can make a difference, with regards to attracting new hires, between pulling in star candidates and having to settle for average performers, especially when the labor market is tight. (Potter and Youngman)  The disadvantage of using employee benefits to attract new applicants is it may take additional effort to make them feel that your benefits are better than the next interviewing company’s.  The key to competitiveness is differentiation.  Even when particular benefit elements are seen as desirable or almost universally offered, employers could still differentiate their programs.

“More experienced” applicants may be the ones most likely to place the most weight on a company’s benefits package in considering whether to accept a job offer.  According to Employee Benefit News, much is being written about the value of retaining and recruiting older workers. The advantages of having mature employees-baby boomers and members of the Silent Generation preceding them-are well known, they tend to be stable and loyal. Most are highly skilled. Workers with long tenures possess workplace experience and institutional knowledge that is difficult, if not impossible to replace.  If there is a downside to employing a veteran workforce, it’s higher health care bills. There’s no getting around the fact that older human assets break down more often and require more costly maintenance.

Lastly, employers looking to make benefit decisions based on employee attractiveness, retention and motivation need to look at overall employee satisfaction.  Again, according to the National Underwriter Life & Health magazine, in a 2006 study found that attracting and retaining employees and increasing employee job satisfaction continue to be the two most important goals of benefit plans among over 500 employers with 10 to 2000+ employees.  They said, “Helping employees plan for their financial future is also key.”

A factor to consider along with job satisfaction is motivation.  To further explain the connection between job satisfaction and motivation and employee benefits, it is useful to take a look at Hertzberg’s theory.  Hertzberg’s theory describes motivation as being based on two factors: motivators that are associated with job satisfaction, and hygiene and maintenance factors, which are called job dis-satisfiers.  Motivators consist of achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility and advancement.  They are central and related directly to the nature of the work and rewards attainable from work performance.  Hygiene includes company policy and administration, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations with superiors, subordinates and peers and working conditions.  These are extrinsic and associated with the work environment. The important thing to remember is that these two factors are different.  For instance, providing for hygiene needs can prevent dissatisfaction for the employee and disadvantages to the employer, but does not contribute to satisfaction and therefore cannot increase motivation.  The best way to increase motivation is from the central factors, so it is advantageous for employers to identify and utilize effective motivators.

In conclusion, in considering how to use benefits as a means to attract, retain and motivate employees companies need to take into account issues related to equity, cost, politics, competition, recruiting and even job satisfaction and motivation.  Overall it is interesting to see employers who worry more about the benefits that are provided than the employees do.  Although benefits are a consideration of potential employees, the top consideration when deciding to join or remain with an employer is “the quality of coworker and/or customer relationships,” followed by the opportunity for work/life balance and “working for an organization whose purpose/mission they agree with.”

Lindsey Pascoe, Controller

1. Establish a vision — Suzanne Evans calls it a Movement. Seth Godin calls it Tribes. Whatever you call it, as a leader you must choose a final destination that’s worth the journey. Great leaders see outcomes that are worthy of people’s efforts. By worthy, I am not talking about money but at things that are important, contributing to people, to community and to the world. I love this saying “Anyone can steer the ship, it takes a leader to chart the course. A leader sees the whole trip in their mind before they leave the dock.” They have vision for getting to their destination, they understand what it will take to get there, they know who they’ll need on the team to be successful, and they recognize the obstacles long before they appear on the horizon.

2. Get Your Ego in Check — This is the secret for going from mediocrity to extraordinary success. You need to channel your ego’s energy into the larger goal of a great business. You can be incredibly ambitious, but your ambition is first and foremost for your business, not yourself. Where leaders make mistakes is when they start operating out of ego and think they’re somebody special…they get confused and off track. Things don’t get done and a lot of productivity is lost.

3. Serve Others — This step has 2 components: both external and internal. To serve inside your company, become a servant leader — one who strives to fulfill the needs of those who he or she leads. I love — not only like or respect — my team. I am not bashful about hugging them, encouraging them, about celebrating their successes. I want to know what is going on with their families, I want to know how their life is; I want to know what they need. I want people around me who love me, respect me and want to be with me. To serve externally, it is about donating of time, resources, ideas and items — all beyond just writing a check to a charity. The best way to receive is to give and then give some more.

4. Lead By Example — Mahatma Gandhi states “We must become the change we want to see.” It sounds very simple but it is incredibly true. The best leaders understand that people are keenly observing them and they’re aware that people believe what they see and not necessarily what they hear. So the best leaders are true examples. I will never forget Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s actions after 9/11 in his example of leadership, strength and resilience that inspired a nation.

5. Don’t Quit — No matter what happens, don’t quit. When the road gets bumpy, never, ever, give up. Persistence means sticking to your guns. No Plan B. No going back to getting a J-O-B. It’s keeping your commitment and taking actions consistent with your word. It’s all about “walking your talk.”

When you look around, see how many leaders you can identify in your life. They will have high endurance. They stay in the pool longer, swim more laps. When everyone else has gone to bed, the light in their home office is still on. These are the people who will impact the world.

The most important ingredient in leadership is self-leadership. Ask yourself these questions “Can you lead yourself? Do you have the discipline to create the habits that will allow you to improve upon and build something based on consistency and sustainability. Can you do it over and over? Can you do it well? Can you do enough to make an impact?”

- Cathi Harley
- Director of Coaching

Approximately three months ago, I was given the project to get things ready and setup up for what we call a Master Mind.  Basically, a Master Mind is three day, small conference that we have for our clients in the “Hell Raiser” group.  Two weeks into working on it (among the usual daily work), I could feel the stress getting higher than normal.  In the middle of the third week, I felt like there was too many things I needed to get done and I would most likely forget to do something.

In order to stop my head from exploding, I came up with the idea to create a mind map for the Master Mind.  If I thought I was forgetting something, I would take a quick look at the mind map to remind myself; instead of trying to recall it from memory.  Here is an example of a mind map.

The main bubble in the middle I had was “Master Mind” and I broke that up into 3 categories.  The categories were “Conference Room”, “Catering” and “HIA Conference Center”.  Then I broke down each of those categories, and kept breaking it down until there was nothing else left for them.

After creating a mind map, you are able to see how all the pieces fit together more easily.  Being able to see the whole picture at once took a good amount of stress off my shoulders and made me feel more confident in completing the project correctly.  When I completed a section of the mind map, I highlighted it so I would know not to concentrate in that area anymore.

This is a great tool to use when you have lots of things going on in your head.  It is also good to do if you are a visual person that needs to see something for it to make sense.  Next time you have a big project, give the mind map a try and see how it works for you.

-Brad Adams, Executive Assistant