Aaron Hoos

I’m glad January is nearly over. I’m usually a pretty positive guy but January was rough. I wasn’t in good health, I struggled to reach some personal and business goals I had set, and I’m sure winter had an effect, too. This past weekend, though, marked a new change for me: I’m feeling better and I started to hit my goals again. So I’m calling January a “mulligan” and I’m starting the new year right now. Happy New Year! :)

Here are a few things I’m working on this week…

• Biggest priority: Catching up on several client projects that were delayed last month
• Writing several reports about some publicly traded companies in the junior resource space
• Working on a couple of joint ventures that I’m starting up with some business partners
• I’m also doing a slight business reorganization to help me focus on the most important things

What is the biggest challenge or problem you face in your business?

What do you feel is keeping you from reaching the next level?

What is the one thing that, if you could eliminate it, would break the chain and truly unleash you?

Hopefully you can think of one thing that you feel is really dogging you. (If you can’t decide between several potential problems, just pick one, follow the steps in this blog post, and come back again in the future to handle another one).

Maybe it’s cold-calling, maybe it’s asking for the order, maybe it’s asking for referrals, maybe it’s organizing your time, maybe it’s getting motivated. Those are the big ones I’ve found either in my own business or working with others.

We tend to identify this one thing (whatever it is) as a huge anchor… but we really don’t do a lot to break that chain and unleash ourselves to reach our true potential.

When was the last time you did something to break that chain? Now’s your chance!

BREAK THE ONE THING THAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK

1. Articulate it. Write it down. Describe it in detail. Break the topic down into granular points and figure out what parts you can do, what parts you can’t do, what parts you like, what parts you don’t. (You might discover that by describing it, you realize that only part of it is a problem rather than the whole thing. For example, maybe you don’t hate cold-calling but only the rejection).
2. Write down your vision of what life would be like once you have mastered it. Take time daily to imagine yourself living out your vision.
3. Write down a measurable goal (with steps) to achieve your vision. If you don’t know all the steps to reach your goal, do as much as you can but leave the rest blank… you’ll fill them in as you go.
4. Mindmap what you know about the topic. As you learn, fill in what you don’t know.
5. Find the top blogs on the topic, bookmark them, and schedule time to read them daily.
6. Schedule time each day to do whatever it this thing is… and plan to do it consistently (more than usual) for at least a month. You might hate it at first but the mandatory routine will help. Also, if it is something that is truly holding you back, you should see some reward for your effort after a month.
7. Find books about the topic and read them.
8. Find a mentor who is an expert in the area and ask them to help you.
9. Start your own blog (on Blogger.com or Posterous.com) to chart your progress. If you want, keep it anonymous so that other people don’t know that it’s you going through the same thing (although people will probably appreciate that you’re so open to sharing your journey).
10. Learn everything you can about the topic with the goal of teaching someone else to become successful at it.
11. Become an expert on the topic. Yes, an expert. Not just a mediocre “I-know-some-of-it” wannabe but an honest-to-goodness world-class expert who other people call because they’re desperate for the same solution.
12. See if you can automate or outsource some of it.
13. Create a checklist (or some other tool) and sit down and do that checklist every single day
14. This one may sound crazy but it’s really not: Find joy in the challenge. Figure out how to thrive and get energized by doing whatever it is that you once feared or struggled at. For me, I used to hate cold-calling… until I discovered that I loved to cross things off of a list with a big stinky Sharpie marker. (Yeah, I’m weird that way). Since then, whenever I needed to make cold calls, I would list 1 through 25 on a piece of paper and then pick up the phone and start calling, looking forward to crossing things off with my Sharpie!

Running a business means managing a sales funnel. Sometimes you need to roll up your sleeves and do some serious work in your sales funnel to fix things that are broken or to optimize it for more profit. But other times, you just need to make minor tweaks to get a quick “pop” in you business.

Here are six quick ideas to get more money out of your sales funnel today

1. Draw out your sales funnel

You’ll gain such a clear understanding of how essential your sales funnel is to your business, plus I usually find that just drawing it out reveals some great opportunities.

2. Create just one clear call to action in your site

It’s easy and tempting to put in all kinds of calls to action — “Contact us” or “download this” or “subscribe here” — but if you have one offering, make it the front-and-center action that website visitors should take.

(Disclaimer: I’m not saying that you should take the other stuff off of your site. Just make one of those things the primary action).

3. Offer a dramatic one-day bonus

Create some short-term urgency by releasing a huge bonus product or service with the purchase of a a popular product or service you already have. Keep it short-term (a 24 hour period is good). See what kind of response you get. Find out if more people are being because they want the free bonus or because it’s a great deal.

4. Announce that you are about to raise your prices

Hey, we all need to raise our prices at some point and most business owners silently raise their prices and hope that there isn’t a lot of backlash. Work this to your advantage by announcing — via press releases and social media — that prices are going to rise on a specific date. (If you sell services, make sure you let people know that they can buy now at the lower rate but receive the service after the price increase).

5. Get back in touch with old buyers

Confession: I find it pretty easy and fun to go after new business so it’s really easy for me to finish a project and then not get back in touch with previous clients. I know I’m not alone here. Lots of entrepreneurs let old customers dry up. Spend some time today combing through your past few years of business and getting in touch with your top ten customers from there. Let them know that you have some availability or extra products and would love the chance to serve them again.

6. Double your lead-generation efforts today

The more leads we generate, the more prospects we end up with and the more customers we can convert those prospects into. But sometimes, lead generation becomes a big strategic endeavor when really just a few extra minutes or hours of effort can have a dramatic, positive impact. Don’t think long-term, just go out and try to double the amount of leads TODAY.