Get More Clients Online

Recurring Income Tips: 10 Examples of Continuity Income in a Service-Based Business

Tired of the day-to-day struggle of chasing one client to the next? Want a better way to run your business that enables you to better predict your monthly income? One of the best ways to stabilize your income when you're a self-employed service professional is to create a monthly recurring source of income for yourself, commonly referred to as a continuity program.

Many continuity programs focus on providing products each month (think of any number of beauty product clubs you see on infomercials) or providing coaching or information (think of an Inner Circle Club where the members get one call per month from an expert, along with a CD and transcript of the call).  While there's nothing wrong with these continuity models, I think that an independent service professional builds the strongest business when the business contains multiple streams of income, or in this case, multiple streams of recurring income.  I'm in the process of updating my business model to include service-based recurring revenue, all related to Internet marketing tasks.

Here are 13 examples of how I've seen recurring income for services offered:

1.  Landscaping and yard care:  I pay a monthly retainer to a local landscaper for complete care of my yard, from mowing the grass to picking up limbs after a storm to replenishing the mulch in the plant beds to staking the crepe myrtle trees to the ground during hurricane season.  I don't worry at all about anything to do with yard maintenance, and I occasionally hire them at an extra fee to add additional plants to the landscape.

2.  Housecleaning: I pay a twice-monthly retainer to a small company to come and completely clean my house two times a month. I HATE housecleaning, so this is one of my favorite checks to write, as I do enjoy nice, clean-smelling surroundings.

3.  Air conditioning/heating:  I pay a yearly fee for our AC service to come out twice a year and check and clean the AC/Heating system, once before the AC season and once before the heating season.  They check connections, knock out the dust, and inspect both the inside and outside units.  Upon completion, they give me a checklist of what they did, and let me know if there were any problems of which I should be aware.

4.  Accountant/bookkeeper:  A monthly retainer to enter a business owner's income and expenses has long been a recurring income strategy of accountants and bookkeepers.  Most of these businesses then turn to that same person to do their business and personal income taxes, as well as buying additional consulting time regarding major financial moves or investments.

5.  Blog designer:  For service businesses with Wordpress blogs, finding someone to help you if your blog crashes or if a feature stops working can be a nightmare, as there's no tech support provided with this open source software.  I've begun to see many blog designers offering monthly blog maintenance packages where they upgrade the software and plug-ins each month, as well as back up the blog, and provide other services as necessary to keep your blogsite up and running smoothly.

6.  Web site designer:  The primary way that I've seen web designers create recurring income is through the sale of web site hosting packages.  Once they have designed a site for you, you continue to be their customer by paying them a monthly, quarterly, or annual hosting fee for your site.  Many web designers include basic tech support/trouble-shooting in this fee, so if you have a problem receiving your email, for example, you can call or email them for assistance.

7.  Publicist:  I think there's a need for publicity experts to offer packages featuring 1-2 custom press releases per month optimized for online submission and SEO.  Many business owners won't take the time to write their own releases (or simply don't know how).  Finding someone who can create a release from a previously written article would be great for online business owners who would like to use these releases as part of their traffic generation strategy.

8.  Writer:  A writer who is familiar with creating articles for traffic generation could offer a couple of 600-800 word keyword-optimized articles for a monthly fee.  An online business owner could use these articles in her ezine, blog, or in an information product.

8.  Videographer: I just signed up with a service that will give me a 1-minute flash video every month. All I have to do is provide the info for the voiceover, and images (like logos or head shots) or video (of me talking to a web cam, for example) to add in, if I have them.  They do everything else, and have a stock of rights-free images and video that can use in my videos if needed.

9.  Audio voiceover:  Ever wanted to create a podcast or audio version of your ezine?  I think this is a great opportunity for audio voiceover experts to offer a retainer to provide a professional "reading" of written material that you create that you can repurpose in any fashion that you like.

10.  Newsletter expert: I've been working with a company who formats and publishes my ezine each week for a monthly retainer.  I simply give them the articles and images for the ezine, and they put it together in an HTML file that is uploaded to my email marketing service as well as placed on my web site.

Bonuses:

11.  Social networking expert:  I've seen many virtual assistants offer a "social networking done for you" type retainer in which they  go in to your social networking platforms and update your status, look for and add friends/followers, and send your followers/friends birthday wishes.

12.  Tech support specialist:  I pay a monthly retainer to a group who'll install scripts and blogs for me, update web sites, create forms on pages, among other things.  They offer a point system in that I purchase so many points each month, and what I don't use rolls over to the next month.  I've also seen companies offer tech support subscriptions for troubleshooting computer issues. So, rather than paying $200 to have Outlook reinstalled if it crashes, you could pay a tech support company a monthly retainer to help you  with tech emergencies without a wait.

13. Software developer:  There are any number of products for which I pay monthly fees to access a software service, from audio/video hosting to a shopping cart system to an email marketing system to an online collaboration system to a receipt scanning system.  This type of recurring income is the most powerful, as you have a large chunk of your business assets tied up in this service when you subscribe to the service, which makes it unlikely that you'll ever leave the service, as it's time-consuming and painful to change services.

Did any of these ideas spark an idea for your business?  I'm fairly certain that there's an opportunity for every service business to offer a continuity service program.  What can you offer?

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time by teaching them how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise, and get found online.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

5 Secrets to Turbocharging Your Online Business with a Telesummit, Today!

I've been listening to a number of list building and lead generation teleclasses lately, and many of them have been offered in the form of a telesummit. A telesummit is a virtual online conference that offers a line-up of varied speakers over a period of time, like a few days or over several weeks.  The telesummit is usually organized by a theme, like outsourcing or lead generation, or for a particular target market, like the online telesummit for virtual assistants for which I was recently a guest speaker.

Participation in many of these telesummits requires you to pay a registration fee, but the model I've been seeing a great deal recently is the "free for live" model in which registrants can participate in the "live" version of the program, but if they're not able to be on the call live, the only way that they can access the content is to pay a registration fee for the audio file and PDF transcripts.

What I love about telesummits is that they are perfect for a downturned economy.  There's no airline reservation to make, no hotel to book, no clothes to pack, no shuttle fees to pay, no bad hotel food to endure....it's simply conducted from the convenience of your home, the home of your speakers, and the home of your participants.  You offer high value with low cost -- a great combination!

In my opinion, this type of event is a genius way to turbocharge your business.  Here are 5 secrets to turcharging your online business with a telesummit:

1.  Grows your list fast.  Many telesummit hosts report that holding a telesummit has helped them grow their list from 2,000 to 10,000 or 15,000 or greater in a span of only a few weeks when the participants are required to give their name and email address to get the telesummit call-in information.  Best of all, the additions to the host's email list are perfect leads for their target market. How did this happen?  Because the host carefully chose their speakers who market products and services to a similar target market and created a telesummit around an issue or theme important to their target market.  And, in an ideal world, the speaker has a large list and agrees to help market the telesummit to that list.

2. Establishes you as the preeminent expert. When you hold an event featuring well-known speakers, you suddenly become the authority, or the expert in the field.  After all, how else could you have attracted these experts if you were not an expert yourself? 

3.  Helps you open the door for valuable joint ventures (JVs) and strategic alliances.  Once you've invited someone to be a guest on your telesummit, you have provided a great service to them by introducing them to others who may not have previously heard of them. And, if you offered some healthy affiliate commissions for telesummit upgrades, they love you because you've helped them make money without a lot of effort. Assuming that your event was a success and there were no major hiccups in the process, this success has paved the way for future joint ventures and strategic alliances with this person.  This certainly beats cold-calling someone to try and speak to them to sell them on a JV proposal, doesn't it?

4. Increases your credibility.  Another key factor in hosting a telesummit is that the notoriety of your speakers rubs off on you as the host.  One of the quickest ways to go from "no name" to "big name" in your industry is to invite the industry experts to speak at your telesummit. The fact that you now have a connection with the movers and shakers in your industry gives you a leg up boosting your own credibility and expertise in the industry.

5. Makes some cash in the process.  In addition to the advantages listed previously, there are a number of ways to make a little money in this free telesummit model.  First, you offer every participant the ability to "upgrade" to get all the recordings and transcripts of the telesummit.  Creating a price increase deadline (before summit vs after summit pricing) may encourage more participants to buy.  Secondly, once the telesummit is complete, you can go back to your speakers and offer to interview them a second time exclusively for members of their list.  The upsell in this second interview is the complete telesummit recordings and transcripts, on which you pay them a healthy commission on all packages sold.

Examine your business model and see how well a telesummit fits into the mix.  You'll need to begin planning 8-10 weeks in advance, but once you see the results, you may want to make your telesummit an annual event.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

7 Reasons Why an Online Business is the PERFECT Business for Introverts

I recently realized that much of my 1970's childhood upbringing both enhanced my natural tendency toward introversion and prepared me to own a virtual online business.  I grew up out in the country, about 10 miles out of town.  My friends lived 10 miles from town in other directions (about 20 miles from me), and my parents, having raised my siblings and me with a Depression-era mentality, didn't believe it was necessary to chauffeur us from place-to-place like parents do today.  In fact, other than getting to school each day on the school bus, we were limited to one trip to town per week on Saturdays.  There were no after-school trips or activities unless we could find alternate transportation back home, which was difficult, at best.  Is it any wonder I could relate so well to "The Waltons" or to "Little House on the Prairie"?  LOL 

There was also no vast array of cable television channels, DVD movies, or video game entertainment options available to us. We got reception for only 2 television channels on a good day, so we had to become adept at entertaining ourselves (or we'd be put to work doing household chores if we complained that we were bored).  I had only my cousins or siblings to hang out with, and if we were mad at each other, then I was on my own.  Hanging out by myself became my norm, as did responsibility for structuring my time. This was the genesis of my ability to work by myself at home.

This lifestyle meant that I could only talk to my friends during the time we were in school together.  Fortunately, we did have a phone, even though it was on a party line, as private lines weren't available in the country at that point. We essentially shared the line with 3 other families, 2 of which were our relatives.  Despite the challenge of navigating a 4-party line system, I still managed to spend 2-3 hours each night (and more on weekends or during the summer) on the phone with my friends, since we'd do homework together and talk about what had happened during the day.  This gave birth to my ability to collaborate virtually across distances using the telephone.

And, because our shopping was limited to White's Auto (my aunt and uncle's store that also carried toys, appliances, and household goods) and Gibson's Department Store, we ordered many things from catalogs.  In fact, my Christmas list was almost always exclusively chosen out of the Sears and Roebuck Wish Book, or perhaps from something I saw in the S&H Greenstamps catalog.  I spent many a summer afternoon pasting Green Stamps into Green Stamps books (these stamps were given based on the dollar amount of your purchase at the grocery store).  This gave birth to my ability to locate and purchase goods and resources remotely.

Because of our isolation, we eagerly awaited mail delivery each day, as that brought interesting material to read.  I was allowed to subscribe to a number of magazines, which I read from cover-to-cover. Because making long-distance calls wasn't allowed, I often kept in touch with out-of-towns friends and relatives through frequent letter writing.  This was the birth of virtual information gathering and sharing for me.

So, given this upbringing, it's no wonder that the whole idea of creating a virtual online business wasn't a new concept to me.  I'd been doing this all of my life, except that advances in technology now make the process MUCH easier than when I was a kid.  Add to that my natural inclination toward introversion, and it was a match made in heaven.

Introverts often take a beating in traditional employment, as by-and-large they are an outnumbered minority. Since extroversion is the more common personality trait, those who don't live their lives under those ways of being often don't fit into what society deems as "the norm."  In many cases, entrepreneurship is the way that introverts choose to make a living, as they can set their own rules, and the structure of an online business offers some key advantages for introverts.

If you are naturally an introvert, here are 7 reasons why an online business may be ideal for you:

1.  Home-based.  You can run your business from the comfort of your own home.  You don't have to get dressed if you don't want, nor talk to anyone all day.  Best of all, you completely eliminate any and all involvement in office politics and office gossip.

2.  Clients come to you.  If you engage in proper traffic-generating strategies and spend some time on search engine optimization for your web site, you can get 100% of clients online without having to go look for them.  I haven't actively sought out clients in years.

3.  Virtual networking.  An online business requires no 1:1, face-to-face networking, as many clients find you through Internet searches.  However, with the advent of social networking, you can even engage in this virtually, as well, if you wish.

4.  Telephone marketing.  No longer do you need to travel to a meeting to speak to your target market. Instead, you can speak to groups via a teleconference bridge line or webinar service and convey the same information with much less hassle. 

5.  Virtual client conferences.  All client contacts can be handled on the phone rather than meeting them face-to-face for coffee.  This may be a big leap for your clients to make, depending on your business and your target market, for you may have to train them to understand that you can be as effective by phone as you can in person.

6.  Little selling required.  Introverts generally hate the selling process.  Rather than having to engage prospects in a sales conversation, you can set up your web site to disqualify prospects.  Thus, only those "perfect" clients enter your marketing funnel, many of whom are already primed to hire you by the time you speak with them.

7.  Connect through information sharing. Introverts are naturally reticent about tooting their own horn.  So, instead, you can demonstrate your expertise by sharing what you know in articles and blog posts that you've written. Knowledge marketing makes is very easy for introverts to connect with their target market.

If you're an introvert and you desire to be self-employed but wonder how you'll ever be able to generate enough sales to make a living, take heart.  You can create an online business and use your natural introvert tenedencies to make it a profitable business.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

8 Secrets to Fill Your Business in 60 Days

Recently I was asked in an interview to imagine that I was starting all over again, and as a newbie, how I would fill my business in 60 days. Things have changed tremendously since I began my online business in 1999, mostly for the better. Most of the steps, however remain the same. Best of all, the strategies I recommend to fill your business are the same ones that can be applied to any business, and then applied again and again to other online ventures. Here are 8 secrets to filling the prospect funnel in your business in 60 days:

1. Success mindset. Don't gloss over this strategy -- it may be the most important of all. If you truly want to succeed in your business and are passionate about what you do, nothing will hold you back. This often means that you have to step out in faith that you'll succeed, and most importantly, believe in yourself as a success. Sure, you may stumble, or even fall, but you must be willing to pick yourself back up and persevere -- even without a safety net hanging under you.

2. Target market. The biggest mistake that business owners make is wanting to sell to everyone. If you've tried this, you have no doubt discovered that casting your net around everyone is a very difficult task. Narrowing that group to a more manageable number will actually serve you much better, believe it or not. If you can identify a smaller group of hungry prospects who are willing to pay for the solutions to the problems that keep them awake at night (or those who are willing to pay for more information about a hobby or interest that occupies much of their free time) AND who are reachable in groups (associations, membership sites, magazines, newsletters, discussion forums or lists, social networking groups, etc.), then you have made a key discovery that will catapult your business forward.

3. Client Attraction Device. You've heard it said time and time again that "the money is in the list." This still holds true today, as well. Without a list of interested prospects to whom you can market, you don't have a business. The quickest way to begin to develop a list is to give something away. Yes, you heard me correctly. If you have content you have already created, dig through that to see if you have something appropriate for your chosen target market.

If not, identify a problem of your target market, and create some content that answers one of those problems. Perhaps it's a checklist, a Top 10 list, an ebook or special report, an audio interview, a podcast, a video -- do whatever is easiest for you. Just ensure that it is in a plug and play format , i.e. don't make your prospect download some weird software that's not commonplace to read and view this material.

Make sure that your Client Attraction Device has some valuable content in it. Nothing is more frustrating to me than to read a free giveaway that only serves to remind me that I have a problem and offers no solution unless I pay for it. Don't be afraid to demonstrate your expertise by giving "how to" information away. Trust me, if you are truly good at what you do, there's no way that you can share everything you know on a topic in one short information product. Your Client Attraction Device starts your prospects on the like, know, and trust road that is imperative for them to travel before they will decide to buy something from you.

4. Email marketing system. You must have some way to collect your prospect's information and a system by which you can stay in contact with them. The best way to do this is by purchasing email marketing services. I use GetMoreClientsAutoresponder.com.  Do not use a free service for this, nor try to send emails out of your Outlook program. If you want to be a serous online business owner, invest in the most important asset in your business -- your email marketing system.

5. Blogsite. A blogsite, which is a website/blog hybrid, is the quickest way to build an online presence. The two most popular blogging platforms, the fee-based  Typepad and open source software,  Wordpress, can be used to create a blogsite very quickly. If you want either of them customized with a particular look or feel, that may take a bit longer and require a greater investment. However, either will work well to get you started, and both will permit you to enter your email marketing system's signup code onto a page so that you can immediately begin to collect contact information from prospects who have requested your Client Attraction Device.

6. Stay in touch. Whether you do this by submitting regular blog posts or publishing an email newsletter (or both), you need to reach out and touch your prospects at least weekly (or several times a week if you are blogging). Give them some insights about what's happening with you personally as well as sharing some aspect of your expertise with them by creating a content-rich article or answering their questions. And, don't forget to sell -- offer some product or service in each email newsletter, or submit regular blog posts that remind your readers about what you are selling.

7. Social networking. Never before have we had the opportunity to connect with others online easily and inexpensively as we do now with social networking. Create profiles on the social network(s) used by your target market, do research to add friends/followers in your target market, and use the status updates to be useful to your followers, i.e. by sharing resources, asking questions, and updating them about how you help clients/customers.

8. Drive traffic to your site. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, but my favorite starts with writing an article. Once it's written, I publish it in my ezine, my blog, and to my website and syndicate it on article directories all over the Web through GetMoreClientsArticles.com. Then I have the option of making a podcast with the content; creating a screencast video or "talking head" video from it; writing and submitting a press release; creating a teleclass; create a Q&A radio show interview opportunity; breaking up the points as separate Twitter posts, or Tweets, and tweeting them to my followers; or sharing it on my Squidoo lens or other information-sharing portals. The point here is to work once and profit, profit, profit. Repurpose one article as many ways as you can to drive traffic back to your blogsite and thus get more and more prospects to sign up on your list and ultimately convert them to customers.

The advent of the Internet makes it easier than every to create and promote a business online with very little startup capital. And, if done correctly, the strategies will results in you filling your business in 60 days with eager and willing prospects ready to buy what you are offering.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.OnlineBizU.com

Comfort Zone Buster: 5 Ways to Re-Energize Your Online Business

One of the greatest pitfalls I've discovered as an online business owner is getting stuck in my own comfort zone.  In this comfort zone I'm quite capable, comfortable, stress-free, and quite frankly, caught in a rut.  When I make the unconscious decision to "nest" in my own comfort zone, I usually become bored in a short period of time.  It seems as though there's nothing more to do, no more great challenges to tackle, nothing to which I anticipate and look forward -- in other words, a slow yet painless death of my business.

When I feel the walls of this comfortable rut grow higher and higher, I think of a story shared by a life coach at a conference I attended several years ago. This coach was vacationing in Australia and had the opportunity to go bungee-jumping.  This sport scared her greatly, so she spent the first 3 weeks of her visit coming up with all the reasons she didn't want to participate. Eventually she decided that she would regret this missed opportunity if she didn't rise to this challenge, and made a reservation to go on a jump. On the day of her jump, after she harnessed up, the two people in line in front of her backed out. She was now in a do or die position -- it was her turn to jump -- and she had to decide if she really wanted to do this.

Her bungee jumping coach came up to her and whispered, "You wouldn't be here if this wasn't what you wanted to do." She realized he was right, and she jumped. This defining moment in her life enables her to coach her clients to "jump" from where they are to where they want to be, even though it might be the scariest moment in their lives.

How would your life or business be different if you forced yourself out of your comfort zone? What is it that will make you move forward to get where you want to be?  Here are 5 strategies that I use re-energize my online business when I get a bit too cozy in my comfort zone rut:

1.  Read magazines/books/trade publications in other industries.  I love to use this activity as a way to generate ideas for my business -- it stirs my creativity. Reading what others are successfully doing in their industries inspires to me determine if I can replicate their success in my own business or industry.

2. Contact someone who intimidates you.  We all have these gurus in our industries that may scare us or intimidate us a bit because of their popularity.  Or, perhaps their success scares you in some way. Determine what you'd like to learn from them, and request to speak with them by phone, email, or in-person for a short amount of time to ask them a few questions. If you don't personally know them, find someone who does and request an introduction.  More than likely they'll agree, and you'll discover that they're just as human as you are..;)

3.  Ask for honest feedback from a trusted colleague.  Many times when we stay wrapped up in our businesses, it's hard to see where we need improvement or additions because we've become accustomed to how things are. Ask a trusted colleague for honest feedback about some aspect of your business.  You can create your own mastermind group (see how to do that here) and ask for this on a regular basis, as I do.

4.  Participate in an activity that flies in the face of your beliefs.  Nothing stirs the pot like participating in some function where you're the minority -- where there are few others who believe what you believe or hold the values that you hold.  Be patient, and permit those you meet to fully express their point of view.  You never know -- you might actually learn something, or better yet, get an idea or inspiration to propel yourself forward.

5.  Attend an event that scares you. I recently enrolled in a coaching program where the coach is speaking about several subjects that scare me, as these subjects are areas in which I need a great deal of improvement. However, I know that in order for me to succeed, I need to follow her model, as she's already manifested great success by using it. I'm still completely resisting several of the strategies (screaming loudly, in fact), but that's ok, as I know that when I'm truly ready, I'll quickly move forward to implementation.

Acknowledge your need for ongoing creativity and innovation as an online business owner.  Sometimes the change you desire may be painless, while in other cases you might find yourself kicking and screaming all the way, yet willing to take the chance to move yourself forward. In my experience, the louder you resist, the more profound the change....:)  Are you ready to jump?

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?  You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online  Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent  service professionals learn how to automate  their businesses, leverage their expertise on  the Internet, and get more clients online. To  claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online  Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet  Marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com.

Why Didn't I Think of This?

I love to cook and consequently have a collection of roughly 100 cookbooks.  However, in the past few years, most of my new recipes have been gleaned from watching the shows on the Food Network.  I have a binder filled with Giada's and Rachael's and Paula's and Tyler's recipes, and many more that I've printed out but haven't yet filed away.  I've tried many of the recipes, and have liked more than not, and wanted to pare down the book to my tried-and-true favorites in one handy place.

Enter TasteBook.com.

The recently launched TasteBook Web site turns digital recipe boxes into ring-bound custom cookbooks.

TasteBook is linked with the culinary Web site Epicurious.com, which means users can import recipes and photos from its tremendous database, drawn from Gourmet and Bon Appétit magazines. Users also can add their own recipes to TasteBook accounts, then add them to their books, which cost $35 for 100 recipes.

Once users select their recipes (except for personal recipes, everything is drag-and-drop) and cover art, the attractive and sturdy books are printed and delivered in about a week.

The drawback at the moment is that recipes are limited to those on Epicurious.com or those users are willing to type in manually. The company promises that in 2008 users will be able to link to numerous other online recipe sources. I'm anxiously awaiting a link to FoodNetwork.com.

It's $35 at www.tastebook.com.

10 Key Questions to Ask to Unlock Your Expertise

Many business owners wrestle with this notion of "expertise", feeling certain that they don't know enough to be looked upon by anyone as an expert. I avoided that expert label as well for my first 5 or so years in business, despite being very good at what I did.  I was always comparing myself to other "experts" in the field and felt myself falling sadly short on the experience meter of what I thought an expert should be.

As I reflect back on those early years, I now have to laugh at my lack of self-confidence.  The only thing holding me back from declaring my expertise was me.  Granted, I have run into a few nay-sayers over the years who have belittled my lack of experience in their industry and refused to talk with me further because of their skewed perceptions of my abilities.  However, I've come to realize that many of those types of people are bogged down in their own fear, and it is easier for them to criticize others than to take any action to move themselves forward.

I also held myself back by filling my head with the "ought-tos" -- someone else is doing this certain thing, and I "ought to" be doing it as well.  Or, I was encouraged by well meaning friends that I "ought to" go in this direction instead.  Or, I let myself become distracted by the BSOS (Bright Shiny Object Syndrome) and head in a direction that I would later end up regretting.

I wish I'd had someone early who could have really helped me determine my expertise in my particular industry. After many wrong turns and hitting alot of dead ends, I've devised this list of questions to help you determine your expertise and help you stand out from your peers.

1.  What comes easily to you?  I always viewed the stuff that came easily to me as stuff that everyone knew and was good at.  I made the mistake many people make -- because it comes easily to me, it must be that easy for everyone.  What comes easily to you, may, indeed come easily to others, but by and large that's not the case. Don't dismiss all the skills, talents, and abilities you have that seem to be innate -- they are a vital key in excavating your expertise. 

2.  What are you good at doing?  Look at your skill set and how you spend your time.  What kinds of tasks, activities and experience are you good at doing?  Make a list of those for this discovery process.

3.  For what reasons do people ask for your help?  Over the years, people have sought you out for your help and experience in certain areas.  Why did they come to you?  What did you offer to them?  What benefit did they gain by getting your help?  What results did your assistance help them achieve?

4,  What have you achieved based on what you know?  Don't overlook any of your experiences, as they may provide valuable clues to help you in this journey.  Your achievements could include awards or accolades that you've won, or could simply be accomplishments that you've achieved for yourself, your business, your life, or for your clients.

5.  What are you naturally drawn to learn?  You've been learning all of your life, and some subjects are naturally more appealing to you.  Some are so appealing that you learn about them just because you want to -- there's no other reward or economic payoff for you.  What kinds of information do you soak up like a sponge?

6.  What parts of your past work/volunteer experiences have been most enjoyable?  We've all held jobs that we loved and others that we regret ever taking.  What parts of your work experiences or volunteer stints did you like the most?  Did the enjoyment come in the tasks performed or from the people with whom you worked or the environment in which you worked?

7.  What kinds of tasks do you complete in which time flies quickly?  Have you found yourself doing something and before you know it several hours have passed?  Those are the kinds of tasks to note in this question.  When time passes effortlessly because you're fully engaged, that's a sure sign that you love whatever it is that you're doing.

8.  What have you spent lots of money and time on getting good at?  Your employer or friends or spouse may force you to spend time learning things you don't really want to learn as a  condition of your employment or because your want to be a good friend or a supportive spouse.  Aside from those, on what do you spend your time and money to learn more about?

9.  What major obstacles have you overcome in your life?  Sometimes stumbling blocks and obstacles and low points in our lives offer the greatest learning experiences. In my mid-30s I ripped apart my life and moved halfway across the country and started all over again as a single divorced woman with no job -- I had only the dream of becoming self-employed.  I glossed over that part of my life and didn't share that story for several years because I was embarrassed about my failed marriage and ashamed of the fact that I had to move back in with my mother for a short while to get back on my feet again.  It took me a long time to realize that this experience of building a new virtual businesses from my small, rural East Texas hometown using only connections made online and Internet marketing strategies wasn't simply a survival strategy -- it was an example of how I could teach others to do the same.  How can your obstacles serve as teaching moments for others?

10.  What would you be doing if money were no object?  If you were to win the lottery and then do the world tour with your new-found wealth, eventually you would return home and realize that you need to be doing something to fill the endless days.  Shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills like Paris Hilton is sure to grow old fast. So, how would you spend your time day-to-day?

Your knowledge, likes and dislikes, and life experiences are all valuable keys to help you unlock your expertise.  Learn to value these experiences and realize that there are others who desperately need what you know and will benefit from this expertise.

How to Use Google Alerts to Boost Your Business

Google Alerts are a handy little email notification service provided by Google to let you know when new information in which you might be interested has been posted somewhere online and spidered by the Google searchbot.  It's a no-cost way for you to determine what's been written online about both you and your competition, as well as to track any number of other terms that will aid you in your market research efforts. You can also use this system as a way to research market trends or statistics and determine "what's hot" in your target market to give you topic ideas for future articles, blog posts, and product and service offerings.

Here's how to set up and use your Google Alerts account:

1.  Brainstorm a list of terms and keywords you want to track. You list should include the following:

• your name
• your company's name
• names of your products or programs
• the name and/or company name of your competitors
• keyword terms pertinent in your industry or to your business
• names of "moves and shakers" in your industry
• names of potential joint venture/strategic alliance partners

Don't worry about brainstorming absolutely everything in this step.  Google Alerts makes it simple to add additional alerts as you need them.

2.  Create a Google account.  You can do so at http://www.google.com/alerts by following the sign in links, which will eventually bring you to a page where you create a new Google account.  If you already use Gmail or some other Google service, you should be able to sign in to Google Alerts using that account info.

3.  Create your alerts.  Sign in to your Google account and begin to create your alerts.  Here's how to create the most effective alerts:

• Use quotation marks to surround your term, like "marketing coach".  By doing so, Google will alert you to only those pages making reference to this particular term.
• Choose the once-a-day alert which you can then review at the start of each day.  Once a week is too seldom, and getting them as they happen will overwhelm you with email.
• Choose the most thorough search option, the Comprehensive option,  in which Google searches the news, websites, blogs, and groups.

4.  Add additional alerts later.  I like to see where the info that I write ends up.  Because I write a new article each week and submit it to article banks, I enter the article title as a Google alert to be notified when it's placed on someone's site or blog. I also add other keywords that I think searchers might use to find my site to see if my site is listed when it comes to those terms as well as to see what other sites come up by using those terms.

5. Scan the results. The amount of email that you receive will dramatically increase when you sign up for Google Alerts, so create a filter or rule in your email program to move all the alerts to a special folder for later viewing rather than clogging up your email inbox.  Briefly scan the results and more thoroughly read the listings that appear to be most relevant.  Because Google Alerts now searches blogs, many of the blog postings noted in your alert will look nonsensical because many bloggers have created blogs of keyword-crammed entries that are completely meaningless for you. Unfortunately, if do much marketing online, it's only a matter of time until your name, company name, or name of an article that you've written appears on someone's keyword-crammed blog.

Google Alerts are the most cost-effective market research you can use to help you grow your business.  If you don't have a Google Alerts account, what's stopping you?

OnlineBizU.com

2007 is certainly proving to be quite a busy year for me!  My new ebook, Get More Clients Online, should be ready for its first release in the next 2 weeks or so -- I just have to do some final edits on the copy.  It'll be such a relief when it's done -- the book has been almost 2 years in the making!

Secondly, I'm happy to announce that I just signed my agreement with Membergate for my new subscription membership website, OnlineBizU.com. Online Business University will serve as THE portal for the solo service business owner who wants the latest information on internet marketing and traffic generation strategies that work for independent service professionals. There will be a basic membership offered for general access to the site, and higher priced memberships for those who want to enroll in the Get More Clients Online coaching program and for those who want to enter the Online Business Manager training program.

I'm taking signups now for those who are interested in charter memberships at the basic membership level.  You can go to OnlineBizU.com and enter your contact info to receive more info when the site is closer to opening. When you sign up, you'll also receive my free report, The Internet Marketing Savvy Solo Entrepreneur:  7 Successful Strategies to Get More Clients Online.

An Amazing Retreat

The virtual business retreat that I created and participated in with members of my MasterMind Group went exceptionally well last Thursday and Friday.  Two of the participants had to pull out at the last minute, so that left two of us to play.  We both found it so inspiring and invigorating to be taking control of our future for the next 3 years.  I told my retreat buddy that I hadn't felt in this much control of my destiny in two years--the last time I did a full business retreat. 

The greatest feature about the retreat was the accountability.  We kicked it off via a teleconference bridge line and reviewed the proposed schedule.  The fact that we had to touch base with each other several times during the day kept us both on task and helped us accomplish our goals for the two days.  The experience was so powerful that we've already set the date for our 2007 retreat! 

In January I hope to release an ebook and workbook to help you create a memorable retreat for your business as well that will help you have your best year yet in 2007!  Keep your eyes open for the announcement soon..:)