I’ve dubbed Wednesdays “Gratitude Wednesday” on Facebook.

Every week, my first status of the day on Wednesday is something like “Hooray! It’s Gratitude Wednesday, again.  For what or whom are you grateful today?”

A little tardy one week posting this status, I knew people had come to expect and appreciate this question (and the answers others posted) when a friend messaged me with “Uh, Tshombe.  It’s Wednesday.”

My Facebook friends keep me on my toes!

Another friend of mine sent me an article explaining how gratitude makes us healthier.

Clearly, there are many reasons to make feeling grateful and expressing gratitude as regular and intentional as eating right, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep.

But, what if gratitude is eluding you?

What if it’s becoming too much work?

I think there are at least two reasons gratitude can be a challenge for us, one of which is largely unconscious because it goes against commonly-held (but erroneous, in my view) notions of why and how to be grateful.

I specifically wrote about this first reason 2 years ago in the article Why gratitude may not be working for you.

It’s the philosophy behind a statement like “You should be grateful for the abundance of food on your plate because there are starving people in Africa.”

This is inaccurate reasoning for at least 2 reasons.

1. If this were true, then the inverse would also be true:  “If there were not starving people in Africa, you shouldn’t (or wouldn’t have a need to) be grateful,” and
2. The definition of pure gratitude is acknowledging and feeling celebratory about/toward the good that has already come to you. It doesn’t come out of comparing what you have in relation to what another does not have.

If you’re finding being grateful challenging, inauthentic, or at best temporary, this may be at the root.  Gratitude and guilt cannot coexist.

The other reason gratitude may be challenging or feel like too much work to achieve is related to a misunderstanding of what it means to manage emotional states of being.

A colleague of mine is currently doing a series on Gratitude for the month of November and she received a comment from one of her followers on Facebook who expressed that, although he was well-versed in the “theory” of gratitude, ” ‘Faking it until you make it’ feels like deep lying when the gut is wrenched in anger!”

I can understand that.

Since all of us spontaneously generate thousands upon thousands of thoughts every day, the majority of which we are not even aware of, it’s not reasonable to believe that in every moment we can somehow raise ourselves out of depression by thinking ourselves happy.

So, what can we do to get into a place where we feel grateful when we’re not feeling grateful right now?

Try on this exercise:

When in your life DID you feel grateful?  What were the circumstances?  How were you standing?  breathing?

How did that feel?

As you really get into the emotional memory, realize that you are remembering it right now.  Whatever that gratitude felt like then, call those feelings forward in this moment.

This is just a brief example of a very powerful exercise where you can borrow a memory from the past, “chew on it” in the present, and then call up the associated emotions.

Doesn’t that feel great?

(In my view, this is what is meant by the NLP exhortation to “Act as if.”  For more information, read What “Act As If” really means and how to do it.)

You actually have practice with this already.  Unfortunately, human beings are quite adept at borrowing bad-feeling memories from their past so that they can recreate those events and associated feelings in their present.

Why not use this skill on purpose (rather than by default) to generate the feelings you desire?

Later in our exchange, the man offered that it was actually inappropriate to try to change the feeling we are currently experiencing to a “better” feeling, because in so doing, we fail to receive the wisdom ‘The Universe’ is trying to teach us.

Sometimes, we “spiritual folk” complicate things for ourselves!

Yes, he is correct.  Resistance to any emotion causes it to get “stuck,” even when we might think we’ve managed to think positively in “negative” experiences.

Thinking positively may make you more enjoyable to be around, but if you are resisting your “bad” feeling emotions, it is predictable that achieving lasting gratitude is/will be a challenge for you.

Contrary to what the gentleman who was having trouble feeling grateful thought, I am not suggesting that you try to change your feelings.  Instead, the suggestion is to allow your feelings, and only after allowing them, move on to another one (in this case, gratitude.)

Emotions are meant to be transitory.  We have a whole range of emotions available to us the remarkable human beings that we are.  The problem is that we not only observe, recognize, and experience our range of emotions, but to varying degrees, we label them as good or bad depending on their level of comfort.

We can’t think ourselves grateful, although “thinking” plays a significant role in gratitude.

What we can do is notice we are feeling angry, depressed, sad, disenchanted, or any other so-called “negative” emotion; feel it fully; and even perhaps send love to it, as we recognize it as legitimate as any other good-feeling emotion.

What we’re doing is allowing the emotion to flow through us, not get stuck in us.

All that any emotion wants (just like any human being) is to be acknowledged and validated, not ignored or suppressed.

I’ve used feelings and emotions interchangeably here, but to make a slight distinction, I offer that once emotions get (and continue to get) stuck because we keep suppressing them in favor of something that feels better to us, they become feelings.

This means we become attached or identified with the feelings, and now they become who we are.  So, instead of feeling angry, we become an angry person.

Clearly, holding onto any emotion is not healthy.

When we feel a feeling fully, it opens up a clear space to create something new.  Now, we are open to actually see and feel gratitude.

When a feeling/emotion is allowed to flow through us, there is little-to-no difficulty moving  to another emotion; no system or formula is needed because (when permitted) flow is the natural order of things when it comes to emotions.

However, sometimes exercises can be of help.  This is why I offered the exercise where you borrow the emotion you desire to cultivate in the moment by engaging your powerful brain’s capacity to conjure up the memories when you experienced the emotion in the past.

Does that make sense?

In sum, pure gratitude is not dependent on the lack someone else may be experiencing.  You may not have considered this before, but it can very well be the reason gratitude remains illusive or seems “fake.”

Secondly, it may appear to be a whole lot of work for you because you have been resisting “bad” feelings.  You’ve been struggling to think happy thoughts because that’s what you “should” be doing, not because you actually feel happy.  Ironically, by repressing what is bothering you, you are setting up resistance to true, lasting gratitude.

Being grateful and expressing gratitude doesn’t have to be work or feel incongruent, but it does take intentionality and effort (at least initially).

As you practice being grateful – and perhaps using the exercise here to help you in the process – let me know how it’s going for you in terms of ease and flow.

Do you already have a practice that facilitates feelings of gratitude?

Please share in the comments!

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flickr license: Some rights reserved by SnoShuu

For one thing, it’s my mom’s birthday, and that’s not very scary

(Happy Birthday, Mom!)

This year, I spent a large portion of Halloween Day at Kinko’s (now called FedEx Office) working on a project.

Having taken the light rail, walked downtown, spent time at Kinko’s, and finally going to the grocery store before heading home, I realized that the way costumers were dressed for Halloween is basically what I see every day in this crazy “Keep Portland Weird” town I live in.

So, no, Halloween isn’t very scary.

Or, even as creative as other get-ups I see walking down the streets every day.

But, there are situations in which entrepreneurs & sales professions find themselves that are definitely scarier than Halloween:

You’re working hard, putting in lots of hours in your business and reaching out to prospects, but no one’s biting

You keep having to explain what it is you do, and still people aren’t getting why they or anyone else need what you offer

Sometimes you ‘get lucky’ and hit a hot streak, but it’s the inconsistency, feast-or-famine cycle that’s getting to you

You go to networking events or leads groups, but you aren’t getting any referrals

You’re thinking you might have to go out and get a “real” job if things don’t pick up soon

You’re feeling desperate because you’re running out of ideas of what to do next to get the cash register to ring

You’re trying to keep your cool, but you feel powerless to (completely) hide your frustration

Not very fun.

It definitely doesn’t feel very good.

And, you’re definitely not alone.

Join me this afternoon (Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 3 pm PDT / 6 pm EDT) in an all-new teleclass I’ve createthat will help relieve the pressure you (or someone you know) have been experiencing.

My promise to you is to share the 5 Core reasons solopreneurs and sales professionals struggle or even fail in business, and how to finally break free from the madness to create more income and freedom.

Does that sound great?

Register at http://sellingwithspirit.com/?page_id=97 to join the call.

Next week, I promise to help you with even more valuable mindset shifts and actionable tools to help you get your leads, prospects, & clients to fall in love with you and buy what you’re selling.

When people start responding to your messaging, it will seem like magic.

Register for that telecall at http://sellingwithspirit.com/?page_id=94

Relief is in sight.  You CAN make a profit AND make a difference consistently in your life and in the lives of prospects and clients you are meant to serve.

And, you can leave the scariness of Halloween and your current business results back in the nightmares of yesteryear where they belong.

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image license credit:  Some rights reserved by Capture Queen ™

That evening, they had the NW Auctioneers competition, where the auctioneers competed against each other!

Have you ever been to an auction?

It was THRILLING (to say the least)!  Just thinking back on it gives me chills.

These professionals are amazing.  Each in their unique way create magical experiences with this fun, masterful method of selling.  This is where they shine.

My guess is that you also are masterful at your craft, whether that be as an auctioneer, a yoga instructor, a copywriter or whatever else is your skill set.

 This is why you do what you do:  you love doing it!

When we run into financial challenges, however, is when the lack of clients (or enough clients) prevents us from actively doing what we love (and are masterful at).

I shared with the auctioneers Sunday morning that one of the roadblocks to a thriving business is not the lack of skill in the craft, but rather not having a specialty (sometimes referred to as niche) and a target market or target audience.

Auctioneers usually have a head start on most business owners and sales professionals because they already know the wisdom of specialization.

For example, an auctioneer might choose to specialize in Real Estate Auctions or Car Auctions.  Maybe they prefer to develop expertise in Antiques and Collectibles or Heavy Equipment Auctions.  Still others concentrate on Storage Auctions or Benefit/Fundraising.

All of us can take a page from the auctioneer playbook on this one.

What is your specialty within your profession?

Can you answer this question solidly?

Sandy Schussel — a marketing coach who specializes in working with financial advisors and attorneys — wrote an article on why to Become an Expert.

In it, he shared that when he asked one of his clients (Her name is Carrie) whether she had thought about starting a college savings account for her daughter, she replied that she had just spoken to a specialist in college planning.

Sandy, who knew the firm where this “specialist” worked was surprised to hear this since “I knew there were no advisors in that company who were given any ‘special’ training.”

What prompted her to call this person a specialist?

Here’s the answer in Sandy’s own words:

Carrie told me that he had set up a college savings program for a friend of hers, who had then referred him along to her and Megan.  She boasted about how knowledgeable and well-read he seemed on a plethora of issues having to do with raising a child.

“We talked about an article in [the local] Parent’s Magazine and he offered to recommend a pediatric dentist for Megan’s teething problem,” she reported.

Carrie hired this advisor because he was a specialist.

The truth is, no one believes anyone is an expert in everything.

When your specialty is narrow, specific and focused, you can keep up with the latest trends, network and collaborate with others outside your industry who have the same or similar specialty (and cross-refer), and you become more valuable to your clients, leads, and prospects.

The other part of the equation is challenging for both auctioneers and other sales and business professionals, as well.  This is defining a target market.

Having a specialty in and of itself is certainly better than not having one.  In fact, many have built highly successful businesses highlighting their specialty all by itself.

For example, if you are the only pediatric physician in town, it’s likely — provided your town has babies! lol — you will not want for client-patients.

But, for the majority of service professionals, specialty alone is insufficient for business growth.

The fear that often comes up for people is that if they declare to the world who they specifically work with, it limits or excludes people they could otherwise serve.

On the surface, this appears logical.  However, a target market or markets opens up the best opportunities for you, rather than constricts them.

Rather than thinking you are limiting yourself, think of target marketing as focusing yourself.

With a specific market, it becomes crystal clear where to advertise or promote your messaging; what marketing media to use; what topics to blog, facebook, or tweet; and who to survey about their specific issues, wants and needs.

The shot-gun approach (where marketing efforts are scattered and haphazard) is hope-based marketing.  And, hope (in this context, at least) is not a strategy.

When your offer general solutions to people’s problems, they ignore you.  It’s what I call me-too marketing that is indistinguishable from the other service providers who do what you do.

There’s a saying “A confused mind always says no.”

In most cases, without a specialty and target market, the only solutions you can offer are mushy, general ones that — in the quest to speak to everyone — speak to no one.

The irony is, when you specialize and focus your marketing, people you are not targeting show up at your door or call you up, assuming that if you are an expert in one area, you must be an expert in others.

As Sandy Schussel observes, people would “rather have a specialist make an exception to work with them than have a mere commodity handle their case.”

(Of course, the conscious, ethical professional will work only with the people they can really help regardless of whether they are a member of their defined target market or not.)

So, what is your specialty?  If you already have one, do you see opportunities for establishing a specialty or expertise within that specialty?

Who can you best serve?  In other words, who makes up your target market or markets?

(Hint: pick 1 . . . or at MOST 2).

What are YOUR thoughts on this topic?

Post your comments below

You have a service that can really help people to improve the quality of their lives.

You’re working hard.

Because you are not seeing fruit from your labors, you are naturally discouraged.  Maybe you start to wonder whether this selling thing is really your thing.

Maybe you just aren’t cut out to be an entrepreneur.

Yes, we get discouraged, depressed.

But, don’t lose heart!

We need you to keep on keepin’ on.  The people you are meant to serve are looking for you, even if right now it doesn’t feel like it.

“The darkest hour is just before the dawn.”

Several years ago, I was talking with my sister about the exercise program and healthy-eating plan she had just begun.

She was getting discouraged because she wasn’t seeing any real progress on the scale.

I told her to stop looking at the scale (I really was thinking she’d be better off throwing it into the ocean!) because it didn’t accurately tell her the true story.

In fact, it kept telling her she hadn’t lost a thing, and some days (God forbid!) it told her she’d gained a pound or two.

Have you ever had this experience?

The truth is that eating the right foods in the right amounts, along with cardiovascular exercise and strength training may actually maintain or even increase scale weight when improvement has in reality been made in both heart health and weight (fat) loss.

In other words, you’ve got to believe you’re becoming healthier when you are eating healthily and exercising even when there is no external evidence or confirmation of the fact.

And, EVEN if it appears contradictory in the moment.

What does that have to do with you and me in our spiritually-oriented businesses we are growing?

It may be that we might need to adjust our approach or get coaching or additional training, if what we are doing is not working.

(Investing in coaching and continuing education is essential, by the way, in any case.)

That said, it does not mean to give up and quit on your dreams!

A teacher friend of mine once said that when we give up on our own dreams we give permission for others to give up on theirs.

Who wants that on their hands?

Let me tell you another brief story.

When I was living in Bellingham, Washington, I planted some flower bulbs in a pot on the deck of my apartment.  I used quality soil, and I made sure the bulbs had full sun and adequate water.

The funny thing is that the next day when I went out to look at the pot, there still weren’t any flowers.

Same story the day after that.

AND the day after that.

Truth be told, it was a couple of weeks before I noticed the first green sprout.

Wouldn’t you think it a little ridiculous if I gave up after a couple of days and through the pot out, convinced that nothing was happening and pissed off that there were no flowers, yet?

We don’t have difficulty understanding that growth is actually occurring even though the present reality would have us think otherwise, as far as planting a seed or a bulb is concerned.

Why do we have such a hard time when we are working toward losing weight or growing our business or achieving any other measure of success or joy or happiness?

Know that 90% of everything in the world is created long before you or I see any physical evidence of it.

To turn a saying on its head “You’ve got to believe it in order to see it.”

It reminds me of a verse from the days when I was a student of the bible, Hebrews 11:1.

Maybe you know it?

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (New International Version)

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Revised Standard Version)

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.” (New World Translation)

For spiritual and heart-centered sales professionals and entrepreneurs, we have a change-the-world vision as the reason for what we are up to in the world.

Allow THAT to call you forth powerfully through the challenges, disappointments, discouragements rather than trusting in the illusory mirage our eyes would have us believe.

The world needs you.

I need you.

That’s why you’re here.

And, that’s why you must never, ever give up.

When YOU say it, in most instances it comes off as either self-serving and therefore unbelievable, or the messaging is ignored because it just isn’t perceived as relevant to your audience.

Which, by the way, is why advertising as it is typically employed rarely works for the solo sales professional or service-based business owner.

So, how can you influence your audience to do the bragging for you?

Here are 3 powerful ways the brand DRY Soda proactively ignites the Word of Mouth Engine to get their customers and prospective customers singing their praises for them.

What can you do similarly in your business?

1.  Differentiate Yourself

DRY Soda is flavored carbonated water.

Whatever you want to call it — club soda, seltzer, sparkling water, soda water – it’s still about as exciting and ubiquitous as toilet paper.

That is the same reaction, by the way, people have when you tell them at a networking event the title of what you do.

Not only do they have their own presuppositions of what it is lawyer, business coach, or aerobics instructor does, the title itself tells them nothing about how you are different from every other lawyer, business coach, or aerobics instructor in the room.

How does DRY Soda differentiate?

In all their communications, they share that it’s the “better for you diet, low sugar, all natural soda . . .in 7 unique flavors,” each containing just 4 ingredients.

DRYSoda bills itself as the “re-imagining of what soda can be.”

Without resorting to maligning the competition, DRY Soda offers a refreshing way to differentiate itself.

Less Sugar.  Healthier.

What’s not to like about that?

2.  Engage with Your Audience

DRY Soda really shines in the Engagement Department.

Though DRY Soda is already sold in some Portland, Oregon (Where I live) restaurants and grocery outlets, last Monday the company hosted the Portland Launch Party at Hotel Lucia in Downtown Portland.

Marketing Director, Kate Thompson, mentioned to me that most of the attendees (including me) hadn’t heard of DRY Soda before but learned of the event on Facebook or Twitter.

(Are your potential customers or clients on social media?  Are YOU?)

DRY Soda hosted the venue, food, and cocktails with DRY Soda flavors as mixers.  (Free food and alcohol is always a draw! LOL)

All of the staff actively come up to initiate conversations with the attendees, including the fabulous founder and CEO of DRY Soda Co., Sharelle Klaus.

The DRY Soda van was a highlight for me, as we were given tastes of all of the natural flavors (made from extracts, the recipes of which are “proprietary information”….which basically means they aren’t spilling the beans!) by Hunter, the fabulous DRY Soda Sommelier and an education on the product.

How might you create your own “Launch Party,” inviting your clients and potential clients?

As a solo business professional myself, throwing a DRY Soda-style gala is a little out of the budget, but a few years ago, I threw a Virtual Open House Party, complete with guest speakers, music, and prizes.

At DRY Soda bus/van. it was also nice touch to have the event photographer ask us to take a photo, and I celebrated with the discovery that ”Cucumber” is my flavor.

Speaking of “my flavor,” that (and the photographs) is another brilliant engagement tool in the DRY Soda toolbox.

When I returned home from the event, I found DRY Soda Co.’s Facebook Page and was greeted with a landing page that asked “What’s Your Flavor?  Click a DRY Soda bottle to vote!”

Talk about engagement!  What a brilliant idea.

And the very next day, photos from the Launch Party PDX were uploaded, so of course, I went in to tag myself, my partner, and others who were in attendance.

(You can see pics of me by clicking on the DRY Soda photo album entitled Hello Portland! Launch Party at Hotel Lucia, July 25, 2011)

The DRY Soda bus/truck/van is on tour in Portland for the next 6 weeks, so naturally DRY Soda is engaging folks both on their Facebook Page and on Twitter (#DRYTour) so that all of us groupies can get our fix.

Are your wheels turning?

How might you emulate DRYSoda in your own engagement campaigns?

3. Find an “In” with your customers

Building Rapport is the first step in the stages every entrepreneur must go through before anyone is going to even think about doing business with you.

It’s human nature to soften and begin to have an affinity toward someone when we discover they have something in common with us, especially if that something is a source of price.

How could a Seattle-based company really tap into the heart strings of native Portlandia, when her people are often skeptical of what comes out of Seattle?

Well, Hunter (the DRY Soda truck guy) skillfully new what to say.  He mentioned in between tastings that DRY Soda is bottled right here in Portland.

Woah.  Well, that’s interesting.

And what’s more, he told me, the water that is used to produce DRY Soda is from the Bull Run watershed, located about 90 minutes east of Portland in Mt. Hood National Forest.

Now, THAT’S huge.

I immediately mentioned this both to the CEO Sharelle Klaus and the Marketing Director Kate Thompson.  Not only is DRYSoda created with only 4 very pronounceable ingredients, it’s got Portland stock in it!

In fact, when I tweeted these facts, it got the attention of the Portland Water Bureau, who asked DRY Soda for permission to brag about their use of Bull Run water.

Here’s DRY Soda’s response:

DRYSoda Jul 27, 11:48am via HootSuite

@tshombe @portlandwater Thanks for sharing the DRY love, Tshombe. We love that DRY is truly a PacNW business!

Wonderful example of being the best without actually screaming it from the mountaintops, don’t you think?

So, How might you creatively uncover what you have in common with your customers and prospects to create instant rapport and affinity?

For example, it isn’t unusual for one of the “gurus” to contact him to ask for his support to promote their new product launch just a day or two before the launch was to happen!

Or, they sit down to figure out what they are going to send to their newsletter list the day the newsletter is due to go out!

(Sound familiar?)

These Experts could take a lesson out of the Retail Industry Playbook, suggests Brendon.  They not only have mapped out what their seasonal promotions will be next season, but they’ve scheduled the season after that!

My partner, Chad Helder, who has worked in different independent bookstores confirmed that this is true in the book selling business, as well.

It brings to mind how the magazine industry is also like this.  If you get your hands on the media kit for most any magazine, and they’ve got the editorial calendar complete for the entire year.

This includes themes, focuses, articles topics, deadlines, and print dates.

Last fall, I attended Adam Urbanski’s Attract Clients Like Crazy event in Las Vegas, and he told us that he has the major live events and promotions in his calendar 18 months in advance, including when (and where!) he and his family are taking their vacations.

What if your business were set up to run like that?

Can you imagine?

What a sense of calm and peace you’d have because you know just what you are preparing for each week, month, quarter, and year.

You could approach potential marketing or joint venture partners well in advance to maximize everyone’s positive experience.

You could anticipate challenges and even deftly meet any unexpected events, because with advanced preparation comes flexibility rather than frantic freak-outs because you waited ’till the last minute.

You feel like your really running a fun and fulfilling business, rather than a by-the-seat-of-your-pants circus!

Perhaps you already have great systems in place, like the Brendons, the Adam Urbanskis, the Retail Stores, and the Booksellers.

But, if you don’t, what can you do to realize the peace and ease in your business that you deserve?

There are, of course, many different ways.  And, you may find that the best answer is to simply hire someone to come in to organize your office or help you create systems.

But, I want to share with you right now just of the very powerful things that is helping me right now that I began putting into place at the beginning of the year.

It’s Charlie Gilkey’s Productivity Planners.

You can get the free versions Charlie releases every month, but if you ask me, that completely defeats the purpose of PRE-planning.  No matter where you are in the year, honor yourself by getting the full-year Premium Version.

Heck, it’s only $12!

(Full Disclosure:  These links are affiliate links.  However, clearly, not even Charlie’s getting rich from $12/year purchases, let alone his affiliates LOL.  Even if he or I were, I’d never recommend something that wasn’t valuable.)

The planners take a bit of getting used to, but once you get the hang of the system, it’s great to be able to create major objectives for the entire year; then, break them down to quarterly projects; followed by more detailed monthly, weekly, and daily views.

*** Be forewarned:  Charlie’s Planners may seem a bit tedious and time-consuming, at first, and you may be tempted to conclude that it just doesn’t work for you.  I myself had several false starts.  But, stick with it and give it its full due before throwing in the towel, and you just might suddenly feel delighted to discover how beautifully your business fits together when you have both the big picture and the detailed views. ***

I know what it’s like to be overwhelmed in/by your business, where you realize there are a ton of things that just aren’t working for you in the Organization Department.

Where do you start?

My coach trainer, Terri Levine, says “One Goal, One Focus.”

Rather than be gripped by paralysis that Overwhelm can easily induce, start with one thing.

Don’t agonize over what to start first.  Just get started with something.

Systematize that one thing.

Then (and only then), move on to the next thing.

Before long, you won’t have to imagine a business that runs like a well-oiled machine.

You’ll have one!

That’s what magnetic marketing is all about:  keeping my mind open to the possibilities of reminding leads and prospects of the value and benefits of what I do in a way that catches their attention and matches my personality and my brand.

(Leveraging every marketing opportunity is also important, and how you are going to do that should be considered well before implementing any new marketing strategy.)

Back in the June 2008, Jim Cronin over at The Real Estate Tomato reported on the marketing genuis idea of one of their clients, realtor Michael Bergin of Alexandria, Virginia.

The goal was to increase subscriptions to his new blog, GWSleptHere.com (The GW reference is to the first president of the United States, George Washington.).

To that end (and with the GW branding in mind), Michael created a mailing that included an announcement of the new blog, a business card, and a dollar bill replica (George Washington’s face is on the dollar bill).  The promotion on the back of the dollar bill offered a $5 Starbucks giftcard to the first 50 subscribers to GWSleptHere.com.

They sent the mailing to at least 300 people on all of their lists, including clients, church members, and the neighborhood association, to name a few.  As Michael elaborates in the comments of The Real Estate Tomato’s article, he and his partner also used every free opportunity to hand out their dollar bills and announcements during their day-to-day activities.

From my rough calculations, their total investment in this promotion was just under $700 for the cost of printing, postage, and Starbucks gift cards.  This did not include the design work, which was traded in exchange for dinner.

Perhaps if Michael had gone to a local printer rather than Kinko’s and offered some sort of trade with a local coffee shop instead of Starbucks, he may have even further reduced the cost of this promotion.

Does this give you any ideas for promoting your blog, real estate or otherwise?

The goal, of course, is to drive quality traffic to your blog.  Your job, thereafter, is to provide a consistent stream of interesting and valuable content that keeps your new readers coming back for more (and referring others to your very cool blog).

As for Michael, the next thing he should’ve been thinking about (besides creating quality content) is how to leverage this great idea, capitalizing on the buzz he’s generated.

It’s one thing to create a creative splash that draws curiosity and traffic, and quite another to plan ahead so that you do not become another one-hit wonder.

If you were in Michael’s shoes, how else would you continue to add value to your potential clients?

What could he have done for those subscribers who were not among the 50 to receive a Starbucks card?

What would you do?

What luck!  You make the best double chocolate chip brownies on the planet, so you proceed to whip up your famous recipe from scratch, carefully remembering to omit the nuts.  You also pick up some coffee from a local roaster.

As your guests arrives, they are greeted with the intoxicating aroma of freshly-baked brownies.

They sit down at the coffee table you’ve graciously prepared for them, and you serve them the freshly-brewed, local coffee.

They love it!

AND they love YOU.

The conversation is grand and inspiring, as you show genuine interest in what’s up in your guests’ world.

You tell them all about the fabulous brownies you baked just for them, all the fresh and organic ingredients you used, and the care you took to make sure they contained no nuts.

When they asked about if you’d made them for others in the past, you humbly answered yes, and how you had to keep all the windows and doors shut tight in the house with this batch, for fear the whole neighborhood who come ’round expecting to eat up all the brownies!

You pour them another cup of coffee.

And, suddenly, you start doubting yourself.

Are they just acting like the like double chocolate chip brownies and they really don’t?  What if they don’t like MY brownies I made just for them?

When they leave, will they tell their friends how I went on-and-on about my brownies and twisted their arm to get them to eat them?

Time’s up.  Your guests have to leave.

Knot in your stomach, you don’t even offer your guests the brownies you prepared specially for them.

Why?

You’re afraid of what they might think.

Sound ridiculous?

Yet, it’s a challenge faced by entrepreneurs and sales professionals all the time, and it occurs when we are focused on ourselves and the imaginary conversations in our heads, rather than on serving others, specifically our ideal prospects and clients.

Coach Molly Gordon of AuthenticPromotion.com described how this very thing happened to her in an article titled “Are your just-right clients wishing you’d ask them to the prom?”

She describes how she was having a blast giving tons of valuable content to a group of her “just-right” prospects gathered to listen and view her no-charge webinar.

Molly writes, “So long as I was in giving mode, it went fine,” but when it came time for her to invite them to take the next step with her for a fee, she admits “I was so preoccupied with what people would think that I lost touch with what would best serve them.”

Does this experience sound familiar to you?

For some reason, many (most?) of us operate from the assumption that once we ask for the sale we go from giving to taking.

If that was all there was to it, that might be OK.  But, notice that Molly recognized that when she was in “giving mode,” everything went well, but when it was time to transition to the selling conversation, “I fumbled the invitation.”

At least in this moment, it was the judgment piece that got Molly into trouble.  She judged giving as good and taking as bad.

And, who wants to look bad in front of prospective clients?

So, the one shift that we all need to make is primarily the evaluative one, that giving and taking are at opposite poles of an arbitrary value system.  The fact of the matter is, giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin.

You might say, then, that the selling conversation — properly executed out of right intention (just like the brownies you made especially for those specific guests) — IS giving.  In other words, making an offer following sharing great free content is simply an extension of the giving you’ve been doing all along.

I invite you to read Molly’s beautifully-written article for yourself, but there’s another key component I’d like to highlight to offer a different, empowering perspective.

Referencing her self-described ‘fumbled invitation,’ Molly surmises:

Over 100 people who had said they were interested never really got to consider the offer I was making. I didn’t even give them a chance to think about it and say no.

I decided not to risk rejection, and that cost all of us.

You didn’t give them the chance to say no?  Why choose that thought?

By allowing herself to leave “giving mode,” what Molly (and maybe you?) really didn’t do was give those people waiting for her to ask them to the prom the opportunity to say YES.

And, since when does the possibility of someone saying “No” mean risking rejection, anyway?

If you made my favorite double chocolate chip brownies (This is hypothetical, by the way.  Double chocolate chip brownies are not my favorite!) and then offered me some (with locally-roasted coffee, of course), but I said “Oh, no thank you,” does that mean I rejected you?

No.  Absolutely not.

It just means (for the time being, at least) I don’t want any brownies.

You know your products and services are perfect for your “just-right clients.” don’t you?

You know they will help transform and support their lives, their businesses, their relationships, don’t you?

Then, stop standing on the sidelines of your life, imagining what people are thinking of you.

Get out there and sell your brownies!

Many entrepreneurs are expressing a bit of frustration with their progress over the last half year, and may find it outside the realm of reality when I assert that there are people out there who already want what you sell.

The reality may be that people aren’t buying.  That’s what you see, and that’s what you affirm.

Makes sense.

However, in this video segment on Vibrational Marketing, Abraham-Hicks offers that the problem with the obsession with affirming what is is that ‘If you keep affirming (it), you can’t budge from that spot.’  In other words, even when people DO express interest in buying from you, you simply cannot see it because your mind is still affirming “what is.”

I know I don’t do it justice with this introduction, which is why I invite you to invest a little more than 17 minutes to watch and listen to Abraham and Esther Hicks addressed this subject.

You’ll find it inspiring, I promise you:

What do you think of the video?

How might you include Vibrational Marketing in attracting ideal clients?

(Sidenote:  It’s serendipitous that the main theme for the month of June is Realignment.  From time-to-time, everything needs a tune-up, right?  Check out the Shamanic Forecast for the month of June 2011 for an thorough discussion of the meaning of Realignment and how we can embrace the theme as a focal point to support our personal and professional growth and expansion.)

At the very least, when you’re NOT feeling motivated, the accountability partner is a built-in incentive to do it anyway.

My good friend and Mastermind Partner Caelan Huntress and I have decided to start our first day of P90X tomorrow, the fitness program designed by Tony Horton of Beachbody.com.

(Shameless Plug:  By the way, if you’d like to purchase any of the Beachbody fitness programs or nutritional supplements – like Shakeology –, be sure to access them via my site , as I am a Coach for Beachbody.)

We committed to each other that we would hold each other accountable to completing our daily workouts.

Today was our get-ready day.

We took Before pics and video, took our measurements and calculated our body fat percentage (I can’t believe I’m at 16.11% or 18.6% – two different methods yield the different results — Are you SURE you didn’t make a mistake, Caelan? LOL), and successfully completed the P90X Fit Test.

We also plan to post regularly online our progress.

How’s that for accountability?

The same holds true in business, wouldn’t you agree?

There are probably some super-amazing folks out there who are perpetually self-motivated, who do not know the meaning of procrastination or falling off the wagon.

Most of us, however, need accountability structures to support us in keeping in integrity with what we say is important to us.

After all, nothing great is ever accomplished alone.

What are you up to in your life and in your business?

Who makes up your success network of support and accountability?

(Hey Tony?  Are you reading this?  So, when are you and I getting a picture together?  Hmm?)