1. Tell people who you are with a Website…

◦ In today’s world every business, service or product based, needs an online presence.  Your website can be a single, information only page, or several pages providing basic information about who you are, what you do, and what service or product you offer.  A lot of people today use a web presence to validate that your product or service is legitimate.

◦ Today the cost of having your own website can be zero to less than $75 per year. All of the following free and low cost options do not require any programming or web design skills. They all offer free templates and themes to get you started.

◦ Options -

▪ Free options – check out WordPress.com and Blogger.com.

▪ Low cost options- GoDaddy’s Website Tonight -  and Intuit Small Business.

2. Publish a Newsletter…

◦ Offer a free online/email based newsletter.  A newsletter is perfect for both online and offline businesses whether you are a restaurant, independent pet supply store, an online retailer or a coach or consultant.

◦ Newsletters give you an opportunity to share what you know, what is happening in your business and your industry and establish an ongoing relationship with your customers and clients. Use your newsletter to share articles, tips, business specials, offer coupons or tell your customer/client about upcoming events.

◦ Build your contact list, but make sure you do it the right way. Ask people to join your list; ask them for permission to contact them. You never want to be considered ‘spam’, so ask first.

▪ Collect your customer and client email addresses both online and off. If you have a home demonstration or party, pass out information cards for your visitors to complete, including their email addresses. Have a sign up sheet in your store or restaurant for people to sign up. And, always have an opt-in box, or sign-up box on your website.

◦ Options for sending out your newsletter -

▪ Free option – You can begin by using your own contact database in your email program and use a simple email letter like you would for a friend. It doesn’t have to be fancy to begin with. This is how I started. Just remember, when you use your own email program make sure you ‘BCC’ your customers to protect their email addresses and identities.

▪ Low cost option – Depending on the number of people on your list the cost for using an email marketing program can vary. Constant Contact and Aweber are two of the leaders in this area.

▪ (Note – I use Constant Contact. If you decide to try them, let me know and I will send you an invite. This will give you and me a $30 credit.)

3. Engage your customers and clients using free Social Media tools…

◦ Free Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin help you expand your business beyond your physical geography, meet new people, discover new resources, and stay in touch daily with your customer and clients.

◦ If you have a restaurant, coffee shop, or retail store you can share specials of the day with your friends and followers, let customers know of holiday hours, or closings due to inclement weather.

◦ There are so many ways that social media can help grow your business that it is impossible to share them all today. I will be covering this topic in much more depth in the coming weeks and months. (If you have specific questions please email me.)

4. Create your own Information Products…

◦ Regardless of your product or service, you want to create some information products for your clients/customers to purchase.  These can be self-learning guides and/or how to guides, audio CD’s of taped seminars or lectures or interviews (you and/or other experts), workbooks, e-learning courses, etc.

◦ These provide an additional revenue stream that once up and going requires limited time and effort on your part.

◦ If you are a consultant or coach these products can provide valuable information for clients or customers to get to know you better before deciding to work with you. And, some people or companies are just ‘do-it-yourselfers’ and just want the expert information you are providing.

5. Investigate Memberships and Premium Services…

◦ Exclusivity sells and attracts.  People like to belong to a select group.

◦ Memberships – This option allows you to sell to and work more closely with your best and most adoring customers and fans. Some memberships are free, while others are for a fee. Either way it is very important to provide premium benefits to your customer and clients such as discounts, sample merchandise, invitations for special member only events, member only access to information and resources and other member only products and services related to your particular business.

◦ Premium Services – This option works best for consultants and coaches. Provide a prescreening ‘application’. The ‘application lets potential clients know that due to the demands on your time and your expertise you must verify that your services and their needs are match.  This technique allows you to charge a premium/top rate for your services, improves the lead conversion rate and provides you an opportunity to work with companies or individuals that more closely fit your ideal client profile.

In her weekly newsletter yesterday, Sandy Dempsey posed the question: “What does success look like?”. If you aren’t already a subscriber to Sandy’s newsletter, I invite you to join me Sunday mornings at The Dreaming Cafe..

As a fine arts and art education major, I was immersed in theory and technique. While developing those skills was necessary in order to implement the images dancing around in my head, a focus on “getting it right” got in the way of getting the feeling down. As my work moved towards precision, it moved away from expression, became stiff and too cerebral. In other words, I spent too much studio time in my head instead of my heart. For me, the process of painting became joyless when I began judging my work on outcome. 

I realize that classic elements and theory in visual art, music, dance or writing are vital aspects of a solid education in the arts. I cringe when I read grammatical errors in literature. But how do we balance the mastery of the details with letting the creative light flow from our inner source? 

I recall a conflict with the director of the preschool where I first “taught art” in my early twenties. I used my alloted art instruction time to expose the children to elements of design, showing them how a squiggly line gives a different feel than a straight line and how muddy colors put them in a different mood than bright or pastel colors. I helped them observe how objects further away were less vibrant and smaller than those in the foreground.  Pretty complex concepts for a preschooler, yet they appeared to grasp the basics because we made it fun.  I showed them the color wheel and then let them “play” with mixing colors. Some of the exercises were eatable. Ketchup and mustard make orange. Add mayonnaise and you get peach or what we in those days so socially inappropriately referred to as “skin tone.” 

When introducing the kids to the works of different masters, I tried to make it fun and relevant for them. We had a Jackson Pollack morning when the kids squirted different colored icing all over white sheet cakes and then got to eat their “paintings.”

None of this went over well with the director who said she understood the purpose but wanted to please the parents who didn’t understand why their kids weren’t coming home with identical turkey crafts at Thanksgiving or gingerbread men at Christmas. We butted heads, I stuck to my guns and knew I needed to be self employed soon. 

Fast forward three decades and  I missed the creative process. I’d let it go, I believed, in the interest of earning a living selling other artists work. The truth was, I had stopped creating because when I tried to “do it right” it lost it’s joy for me. I enrolled in creative workshops with descriptions like “Intuitive Water Color” and “Painting from the Soul”.  The first day or so in these classes, I was able to get out of my head and connect more with my heart. the expression flowed and it was joyful. Imagines were forming on the paper, bypassing my head. I swear some of them emerged from deep in my bones, almost as if my DNA knew things I couldn’t possibly know. 

Then came the “sharing” and suddenly I was judging my art. In one workshop, the facilitator, a psychologist, had us “act out” our paintings. When I returned to the act of painting after that, the flow was blocked. I knew I’d have to dramatize what I painted and again became attached to outcome. Once I knew what came out of my hand would be analyzed, I froze. 

When my son, Todd, was young, he loved to write. His work had a fresh, open tone. Then an adult in his life began correcting his grammar and punctuation mid stream and he gradually stopped writing for pleasure. He also loved to go to the piano and just “play” as opposed to reading music. Then, lessons meant practice and correction and while he played well once he understood theory, he no longer “composed.” 

We’ve all known kids who after their first ballet lessons were discouraged from continuing because they lacked grace and poise.  I think about how different the experience would have been if the same child had been put in a room without mirrors and encouraged to just “feel” the music and move freely without attachment to appearance. 

I recognize that if someone is planning a career in the arts, it’s vital to master technique but what about all of us who were either discouraged because we weren’t “naturals” or eliminated ourselves from the creative game because we judged our outward appearance? 

Looking back over my teaching and learning experiences, I am convinced we should all spend more time finger painting, drumming on pots and pans and dancing blindfolded. 

What are your creative blocks? What puts you in the flow? When was the last time you made mud pies or painted with your toes?