This past year has been hard on a lot of people - mortgages, plummeting stocks, job loss, divorces, and more. I have friends and family members who have been through the ringer. And this past year have brought my husband and me our own share of financial pressures.

I saw this post on the Webmomz blog and wanted to share it since we all need a little inspiration from time to time:

You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.

Next time…

• You wake up unmotivated to build your business…BUILD it anyway!
• The phone feels like 1,000lbs when you’re trying to pick it up and make that prospecting call…PICK it up anyway!
• You want to send an email, card, or flyer to someone but you get “too busy”…SEND it anyway!
• You see a business owner who know could benefit from your product/service but you get too nervous because of their “prestige”…SHOW it anyway!

Finally…

• Next time you see your dreams flash before your eyes and it seems like they are too far away…DREAM BIG ANYWAY! Why? Because doing your daily activities in this business IS building your dream!

Remember, the sweetest part of the “dream” isn’t the end outcome. It’s the journey of who you become along the way.

Look fear in the face and always remember to… go for it and get it done!

Best, Wendy Maynard

I am thrilled to announce the arrival of our son, Ripley Asher Riddle, born on his due date of October 17th. He weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces and was 19.25 inches. I had an unexpected C-section, but I am recovering quickly. Both Nathan and I love being new parents and are so delighted to have our little son. I have been working from home instead of my office and adjusting to life as a new mommy. It’s definitely an interesting juggling act so far.

In celebration of Ripley’s birth and as a “thanks” to you, I am running a special on my best-selling Maven Marketing System. Through his birth month (until midnight of November 17th), you can purchase the Maven Marketing System for 50% off! You’ll see the discounted price when you checkout. You get all of the bonus items that come with it too!

Best, Wendy

Experts are sought after, are well known, command higher fees and get more business with less effort. The media calls experts to get quotes for articles. Associations call them to speak at their events. People remember them.

Becoming an expert is no accident - it takes hard work that follows strategic planning and ongoing effort. But it is a crucial part of your marketing if you want to customers to seek YOU out. Get known as the go-to guy or gal in your field. The more well you are known, the more prospects will trust you. You become part of their world and will be invited to be other people’s center of influence.

Here are a few things that can help you to position yourself as an expert:

•    Write articles for industry magazines and online directories.
•    Start a blog and update it regularly.
•    Write a book.
•    Begin podcasting to your audience.
•    Ask for customer testimonials to include with your marketing materials.
•    Become a public speaker.
•    Give radio interviews.
•    Send press releases to your local media.
•    Give interviews for other experts’ teleclasses and online events.

Remember, the first step is to believe in your own expertise. People will perceive you in alignment with the way that you present yourself. But, it starts in your own mind.

When you believe in yourself as a capable, valuable provider of a service, your audience will also perceive you as an expert. And people will begin to take notice of you. Are you confident in your own values and abilities? If not, what can you do to grow your skills?

Make sure you are walking the walk of an expert. Everything you do should reflect your expertise. Make sure you dress well. Don’t show up to at a meeting late. Make sure all of your marketing materials are professionally designed. Give away some of your expertise via tip sheets, fre.e reports, and articles.

Be professional in the way you act with prospects and customers. Provide excellent customer service always. If you have employees, they are also an extension of your expertise, so make sure everyone and everything that represents you and your company shines.

When you speak to your prospects, remember you are not “selling” them. Instead, you are offering them a solution to their problems. Ask plenty of questions to make sure you understand what your client needs and speak back to them in a manner that expresses your understanding of their issues. Keep the focus on your customer, not on you. Be honest, show integrity, and express a sincere desire to help them. Offer valuable information that gives people a taste of what benefits they will receive from hiring you.

ACTION ITEM: Have you positioned yourself as an expert in your industry? The time to get started is right now! What will help you do this? What can you do in the next year to accelerate your learning? What events can you attend? What new information do you want to attain?

Ready to boost the marketing for your business? Then order a copy of the Maven Marketing Home Study System! It’s everything you need to know to attract the best customers for your business. You’ll learn how to describe what makes your business remarkable, how to get new customers calling YOU, and lots of other valuable strategies to help you fill your sales pipeline quickly. (Why struggle with your marketing anymore?) Get it now at 50% off!

Sarah Palin winks, blows kisses, gives a “shout out” to the third graders back home who are getting extra credit, and drops the “G” off the end her words. She’s just so cute and folksy.

She actually says things like “Say it ain’t so, Joe!” and “Doggone it”  and “You betcha.” And, she sounds a lot like Frances McDormand playing Marge Gunderson in Fargo. Has she always spoken like this? Or is she just trying to play up her down-home brand appeal?

Palin is certainly creating her own personality brand, but it’s not working with most people. Recent polls show that skepticism of Palin continues to grow.

Though she initially transformed the race with her energizing presence and a fiery convention speech, Palin is now a much less positive force: Six in 10 voters see her as lacking the experience to be an effective president, and a third are now less likely to vote for McCain because of her.

Maybe folksy isn’t the brand that sells for this election…

As part of your marketing efforts, be sure to offer discounts and sales. People love them and it’s a great way to create cash flow. You can use incentives to entice new people to try your services/products. Sales are also a powerful tool to encourage past customers to come back to your company if they’ve drifted away.

Here are some pointers to help you with your sales:

1. Offer a trial discount: If you want to get people to try a program or product you are launching, you can have a pre-release sale or a trial membership like I offered for my Maven Success Circle. You can also offer an early-bird discount for a seminar or workshop.

2. Create pre-launch sales excitement: For the best example of this, review the buzz that was created around the newest versions of the iPhone and the iPod. Steve Jobs is a master. You can do this same thing prior to the release of your next product or service. Generate excitement in your ezine, your blog, and have pre-launch teleseminars.

3. Try discounting to groups: If you provide services or products to large companies or associations, you can offer a discount if a group signs up together. This can encourage more participation. You can also offer incentives to organizers to bring a group - for example, bring a group of 5 or more people and the leader can register for free.

4. Tell-A-Friend incentive: This is an effective promotional tool and can be used in a number of ways. For instance, a postcard mailing could promote “Register for XYZ program and register your friend for 5o% off with this postcard” or “Two registrations for the price of one with this coupon” and so on.

5. Make a reason for your sale: You can hold a sa1e because of a special event like Mother’s Day or your birthday or the anniversary of your business. Promote it to your customers in a way that gets them excited and be sure to let them know the offer is good for a limited time only!

6. Send out multiple reminders: Whether you are promoting your sale via e-mail, direct mail, or your ezine (or in all three), it’s important that you remind people several times about your sa1e. Why? Because all of us are bombarded by lots of information and it’s easy to miss a single notice about something.

7. Expect orders right before the deadline: Make sure to send out a reminder on the day of the deadline. Don’t be surprised if 50% or more of your orders come in at the 11th hour. Many of us are procrastinators and will put in the order at the last minute. But, if you don’t send a reminder…you probably won’t get the order at all.

The key is to avoid using any one discounting or sales strategy too often. Pull it out of your marketing tool box a few times a year. And mix up the types of offers you are making. Otherwise it can seem like you are simply inflating the original price and then you devalue your services/products. But when you need a cash infusion or are launching a new product…go for it!

Ok Future Mr. President McCain or Obama, we’re watching you. And your body language says a lot about the type of person we are electing. Body language is critical to the way in which we market ourselves. Human beings are constantly taking cues from one another’s tone, expressions, and body language.

Which brings me to Man Hugs. The hug is muscling its way into the culture of the American male. You can read more about the Art of the Man Hug on a post I wrote last year: Males Learn the Art of the Man Hug

And then I saw some man hugging going on with our presidential candidates. I’m curious to know your thoughts on what their body language says about Obama and McCain. What do you think of how they hug and who they hug?

There’s a whole lotta political lovin’ going on. Check out these images:

McCain Hugs Bush

McCain hugging Arnold

McCain hugging Kissinger

McCain hugs Lieberman

Obama Hugs Ted Kennedy

Obama Hugs Al Gore

Obama Hugging Kerry

Obama and McCain Share a Moment

Do you ever sit down to write your next ezine article or blog post and find yourself utterly and completely stumped? You have plenty of expertise in your field. And, you can always find things to say to your clients. But there is something about sitting down to create new content that can leave us at a complete loss of what to write.

Here are 7 tips to relight your creative spark and allow you to easily create content:

1. Answer a question. Pick a question that your clients frequently ask. Answer the question in a short article. You can keep a running list of FAQs and refer to this whenever you get stumped. The great thing about answering client questions is that you know you are providing information that is useful and will help showcase your expertise.

2. Respond to hot topics in your industry. Review your industry publications, ezines, and blogs for what people are talking about and offer your opinion on the subject. Don’t be scared to be controversial or disagree with the majority. This is what will set you apart. Your readers want to know what YOU think.

3. Comment on a statistic or study. There is always ongoing research in every industry. Look up some recent statistics in your field and write an article or blog post about it. For instance, I wrote an article about keeping in touch with customers because a study showed that most salespeople give up after one or two contacts even though most sales are made after the fourth contact!

4. Use a numbered tip list. This article you are reading right now is an example of this format. You can pick a topic and then share a number of points on the subject. Try headlines such as: “Top 3 Ways to…” and “5 Secrets on How to…” and “11 Ways You Can…” and so on. Magazines often use these type of articles because they are easy to read and quickly disseminate information to the reader.

5. Interview someone in your field. Pick a few questions to ask someone who is well known in your industry. I like to use this type of article to highlight an expert who has complimentary knowledge to mine or deep expertise on a topic that will be very useful to my audience. For instance, my expertise is in marketing but I might choose to interview an authority on publishing a book or on public relations.

6. Share your latest gem. To stay at the top of our business game, most of us read industry publications, attend seminars, and/or listen to teleseminars. When you learn something new that will help your clients, write about it. Your audience will be grateful to you for teaching them about the latest and greatest. You can also offer a review of an event or resource as well. I have done several book reviews for my blog audience.

7. Use Your Success Stories. People learn quickly from stories. So, use a client case study to demonstrate how a particular challenge can be overcome. Then, you can use the success story as a launch pad for more general advice. This type of article will teach your readers and reinforce your position as the expert.

Action Item: Keep a running list of article ideas - jot these down when they come to you. Keep it near your computer. By taking a look at it the next time you are in a pinch, you’ll have quick ways to develop story ideas or your ezine and blog.

Ready to boost the marketing for your business? Then order a copy of the Maven Marketing Home Study System! It’s everything you need to know to attract the best customers for your business. You’ll learn how to describe what makes your business remarkable, how to get new customers calling YOU, and lots of other valuable strategies to help you fill your sales pipeline quickly. (Why struggle with your marketing anymore?)

I’ve been keeping a secret from you.

I’m pregnant! This is our first child. Nathan and I are both tickled about becoming parents. I am having my baby shower next weekend with lots of great women friends to support me. Nathan is inviting a bunch of his biking friends up for Labor Day weekend for a pre-baby hard-core cycling weekend.

Our son (yes, it’s a boy - we saw the parts on the ultrasound) is due on October 17th. I have been slowly setting up the nursery with lots of cool wall hangings and I even painted a crazy cat picture for him. I’ve also been doing a lot of strategic thinking about how this baby will affect my businesses and family dynamic. I’ll be sharing more of my process in future issues.

Best, Wendy