Gay Landeta, Create the Life you Want to Live » business development

Create Your Business – Facebook Timeline

Gay — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:44:36 +0000

Do you Facebook for your business?
Many people say you can’t have a business without it these day.

I think, if it fits into your marketing strategy and you know exactly why you are doing it, you can get good or even great results. However you do need to follow a few guidelines and many of the old ones are gone with the new Timeline.

I am absolutely no expert, my Facebook page, and social media in general, is still a big play space for me but I have read heaps and talked to some experts about these recent changes.

Here are a few gems to work with:

1. Your Facebook timeline fan page is now a story about you and your business. Make sure the story you are telling offers an accurate picture as well as doing the job you want it to. Do that by using the milestones feature and hiding the stories that are not relevant.

2. Make sure the picture at the top of the page demonstrates your work visually in some-way.

3. Review how your page looks to visitors often and make sure it is interesting.

4. Listen to how you sound in your posts. Are you portraying your business effectively? Be careful about complaining or writing too many posts that are the same. It gets boring for your likers.

5. Don’t put in too many stories at one time, you want your likers to be interested in what you say, not overwhelmed.

6. You can use social media sharing tools like Hoot Suite to post items at regular intervals, even to multiple SM accounts.

7. Back link to your services when relevant, no more than once every three or four posts though unless your page is only for the final stage of your marketing strategy, ie an invitation to buy.

8. You can still use apps to offer incentives to like even though you can’t have a landing page anymore. In fact there are heaps of apps for many purposes, think about which ones might be useful for your page.

9. Remember that Facebook is very much about building community so share and encourage sharing!

Love to hear your insights. You can join me on my facebook page Facebook Like Page : ))))

And if you find you are having trouble with your marketing strategy I do offer a free session where we can talk about what you are doing. I love seeing my clients get really clear about their business, their marketing strategy, know exactly what to do and build a reliable successful business.

Call me for more info on 0418 795 135. Or book in for a free strategy session by calling my assistant, Korryn on 07 3102 5831.

All the best!

Gay

DO YOU WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this text copy in its entirety:

Attention All Service-Based Businesses… Are you marketing your business with Heart?
Get your FREE Marketing with Heart Guide now. If your passion is your business, then you need this comprehensive guide. Our fail-safe marketing strategies will help you to grow your business AND attract more clients without compromising your integrity. Learn the secrets to marketing your business with heart. Get your FREE guide & complimentary coaching session now, click here.

Left brain right brain whole brain entrepreneurs

Gay — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 06:52:05 +0000

Many entrepreneurs by nature are solo flyers and can be reluctant to share their ideas with others.

They may feel people will not support them or even understand their big ideas, they may be protective of their self esteem and concerned that others may not think they are capable of it. They may fear someone may steal their idea or they might just have difficulty expressing the big idea they have.

This type of thinking can be considered to be hind brain survival tactics. The hind brain or brain stem is the oldest part of our brain and uses its ability to sense fear to survive.

On the other hand some entrepreneurs are big mouths, they shoot off their mouth about every great idea they have and gain a reputation for being gonna’s not doers. Have you heard of the right brain? The neo-cortex is divided up into the left and the right hemispheres and the right hemisphere is largely responsible for big picture ideas. Unfortunately it is not so good at making things happen.

Some entrepreneurs can be very bad delegators, feeling that if they don’t do it, it won’t be done right. Details and bean counting in general tend to be the left hemispheres job. For these folk there are often far too many jobs on the to do list that must be completed (perfectly) to leave time for anything meaningful.

Finally, many entrepreneurs in the service industry have enormous difficulty dealing with the feelings that arise through competition. The feeling of competition is the result of comparing our self to another, something we have been doing since time immemorial. Comparison, relationships, and connections with others are all part of the mammalian mid-brain’s job.

So what is happening with these entrepreneurs? What is missing in the picture? The part of the brain that will coordinate all these areas to make considered and often inspired decisions and take the action that is needed to make it happen. The frontal lobes. This higher functioning part of the brain relies on good foundations, a whole brain, to function.

What does a whole brain mean? It means the ability to use all the aforementioned processes without getting stuck in one or another process. To stay open and interested instead of closed, stressed and switched off.

Once our brain is operating in whole-brain mode the neo-cortex can develop it’s big ideas and the processes to make it happen, the mammalian brain can develop connections and the instinctual hind brain can warn you of real danger, perhaps a ‘shark’ in the water.

Great ideas emerge and an appropriate Action Plan can be developed and executed. You can use that gut instinct to find the right contacts to develop, not hinder, your growth. Synchronicity and success flows.

Tip: this is when your self-care list is essential.

You must know what your non stressed base line feels like so you can identify when you are out of whack BEFORE it affects your decision making.

You also need to know what things enable you to find your open and relaxed perspective and how to do it quickly. Your list can include such things as going for a walk or a run, yoga, meditation, acupuncture, massage, etc. It can include creative pursuits such as drawing or cooking or things less worthy such as a hunk of chocolate, some TV, a gossip with a friend, time on facebook or surfing the net. Anything is fine as long as it helps the brain to shift gears and you end up feeling less stressed, and more relaxed and switched on.

Make your list and keep it handy!

Ensure you have some instant boosters on the list, for example PACE and Brain Gym movements were created to develop and reinforce whole-brained thinking.

If you are having trouble staying whole-brained in your business call me on 0418 795 135 to discuss your needs!

For more about this idea or you want to organize a free session to explore the effectiveness of what you are doing email me at create

Copyright © 2011 Create the Life. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be used without the prior written consent from the author. See below for more details…

DO YOU WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this text copy in its entirety:

Attention All Service-Based Businesses… Are you marketing your business with Heart?
Get your FREE Marketing with Heart Guide now. If your passion is your business, then you need this comprehensive guide. Our fail-safe marketing strategies will help you to grow your business AND attract more clients without compromising your integrity. Learn the secrets to marketing your business with heart. Get your FREE guide & complimentary coaching session now, click here.

Create Your Business – Tackling the to-do list

Gay — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:57:29 +0000

If your to-do list goes on for pages or is impossible to manage you may be coping with a ‘lifetrap’ of ‘unrelenting standards’. Lifetraps are ways we, as children, learn to cope with the interactions around us. They were necessary then but can become very limiting as we grow. There are 18 of them all together (see below for more info) but the that one might be a cause of that un-ending To Do list is ‘Unrelenting Standards’.

The trouble is with this life trap running we actually can’t see that what we expect is a little over the top. Or a lot!

Others may say to us that they don’t know how we do it but we keep on expecting more and more of ourselves. This can lead to trouble with time and efficiency. And relaxation. Obviously.

If you are recognising yourself here’s a way to start to undo this pattern and manage an unrelenting to-do list:

1. Go through your list and give each item a stress score out of 10 with 10 being major meltdown material. Now, looking at the jobs that are over 5/10 stress – can you break any of them down into smaller jobs to cut down the stress?

2. Try to keep all jobs in a day under 5/10. Make sure that when you look at the day – from a time perspective – it still stays under 5/10 stress for you.

3. Schedule in no more than one item over 5/10 stress in a day. If you suffer from anxiety this is really important – those items over 5/10 are often the source of anxiety and panic.

4. Check out your day and then cut your jobs by half. Like packing for a holiday – we all know how hard that is but it does leave room for new purchases. This will leave room for those unexpected happenings or maybe even stopping to eat lunch!

5. Keep this up for several weeks before upping the ante. None of the “yup, I can do that now, let’s do more” during the second week of this…. not only does it takes about 6 weeks to learn a new habit (the habit of reasonableness here!) but there can be other lifetraps fueling this need to keep on doing, for example fear of rejection or not pleasing others.

Give yourself time to relax into yourself and recognise that the little one within probably has a little bit of a wonky perspective on life and needs a little space to let it go.

And for more on these lifetraps have a look at the book “Reinventing Yourself” by Jeffrey Young and Janet Klosko.

Copyright © 2012 Gay Landeta. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be used without the prior written consent from the author. See below for more details…

DO YOU WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this text copy in its entirety:

Laser Mentoring

Gay — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:45:36 +0000

for the ongoing support, growth and development of you and your business.

Is Laser Mentoring for you?

This program is for you if you have participated in the Marketing with Heart or Business Mentoring Program and want ongoing external support to keep you and your buisness growing.

Perhaps you have found that going it alone is just not producing the results you know you could be. You find yourself procrastinating, having difficulty focusing or just don’t know where to start. You need someone to help you prioritise and stay on track.

Maybe you have some great ideas but you need to get clarity on how to make them happen. You want someone to bounce ideas off, help you clarify any pitfalls and identify your next steps and you want it to remain completely confidential. You need someone trustworthy who is 100% for your success.

Perhaps you are looking for new ideas and you are concerned your business may be stagnating. You just get more creative talking to someone else. You need someone who knows you and your business and who talks the same language.

Or maybe your business is already in success mode but you know you can take it higher. You want long term support to keep you on your toes, you need someone you can work with to develop strategies and to hold your feet to the fire.

Why would you need it?

Entrepreneurs are renowned for being self sufficient and working things out on their own. Trouble is, like in any facet of our life, we just don’t know what we don’t know. And like in the rest of our life, this not knowing can hold us back from amazing results. Having someone who can fill in the gaps or help you identify the missing links is fundamental to long term success and growth.

In addition, working on your own can be very isolating. Partners or friends can be great, but we don’t want to rely on them for our business success. Having an external mentor who is committed to your success means that you have access to a whole different perspetive on your work.

Once you have found something that works you may as well stick to it! The Marketing with Heart Fast Track Program is just a great way of operating. If enables you to ethically and authentically offer your services to the world. The challenge is staying on track with it. You need someone who can keep reminding you of the foundations, keep you congruent with your values and help you to keep getting it right.

This program will suit you if you want ongoing support to stay on track to where you want your business to go.

What will Laser Mentoring do for you?

You will have someone to keep you accountable for your actions and to challenge you to grow, personally and professionally.Growing is always easier with support along the way. In addition to business strategies you have the transformative support of kinesiology at your call.

You will know you have someone you can talk to who understand the issues your business is facing. You will have already completed a business mentoring program with me, that means I already understand where your business is and where you want it to go. In addition, I know your personal ‘holes in the road’ and can help you avoid or heal them.

You don’t have to learn another new way of thinking. There is already so much on a business owners head, adding in learning new ways of thinking and doing when the old ways aren’t broken is just a waste of energy. We already talk the same language.

Lastly, there is a reason that Olympic Athletes have a coach. Without someone to report to, challenge us and help us to find our blind spots we have no chance at the Gold.

In this program you will be supported as you continue to grow your business. Interested?

If you have worked with me call me! 0418 795 135.

or email me create@gaylandeta.com.au

If you haven’t then call me (or email me) anyway and get your free strategy session. We can have a chat and see if we are a match. If we are, I have several options that will give you the foundations you need to participate in this program and get the results you deserve.

I look forward to hearing from you!

another cool blog!

Gay — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:56:00 +0000

February 17th, 2011

I love this guy. I often get my clients to write out a list of their top fixer-uppers – especially including the chocolate! I know that while yoga and meditation and Brain Gym and kinesiology, etc, etc are all often amazing things to change my moment by moment existence sometimes I just want Reeces Peanut Butter Cups! If you get what I mean then have a look at Peter Shallard – the Shrink for Entrepreneurs – blog post :

What to do when Problem Solving and Positivity doesn’t work

His blog is worth subscribing to.

Enjoy!

Gay

Tackling the To Do list – if you aren’t getting to the bottom try pulling apart the emotional core first….

Gay — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:37:25 +0000

October 27th, 2010

The trouble is with this life trap running we actually can’t see that what we expect is a little over the top. Or a lot!

Others may say to us that they don’t know how we do it but we keep on expecting more and more of ourselves. This can lead totrouble with time and efficiency. And relaxation. Obviously.

If you are recognising yourself here’s a way to start to undo this pattern and manage an unrelenting to-do list:

1. Go through your list and give each item a stress score out of 10 with 10 being major meltdown material. Now, looking at the jobs that are over 5/10 stress – can you break any of them down into smaller jobs to cut down the stress?

2. Try to keep all jobs in a day under 5/10. Make sure that when you look at the day – from a time perspective – it still stays under 5/10 stress for you.

3. Schedule in no more than one item over 5/10 stress in a day. If you suffer from anxiety this is really important – those items over 5/10 are often the source of anxiety and panic.

4. Check out your day and then cut your jobs by half. Like packing for a holiday – we all know how hard that is but it does leave room for new purchases. This will leave room for those unexpected happenings or maybe even stopping to eat lunch!

5. Keep this up for several weeks before upping the ante. None of the “yup, I can do that now, let’s do more” during the second week of this…. not only does it takes about 6 weeks to learn a new habit (the habit of reasonableness here!) but there can be other lifetraps fueling this need to keep on doing, for example fear of rejection or not pleasing others. Give yourself time to relax into yourself and recognise that the little one within probably has a little bit of a wonky perspective on life and needs a little space to let it go.

I will be writing more on this in my ezine this month. If you aren’t subscribed you can subscribe at here.

And for more on these lifetraps have a look at the book “Reinventing Yourself” by Jeffrey Young and Janet Klosko.

Enjoy!

Gay

Copyright © 2010 Gay Landeta. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be used without the prior written consent from the author. See below for more details…

DO YOU WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this text copy in its entirety:

Learn How to Play the Marketing Game – Lesson Five from my new f.r.e.e.ebook

Gay — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 02:39:31 +0000

I am so pleased – my e-book is finally done! This month’s Resolve article is lesson five from it. I hope you enjoy it!

Learn How to Play the Marketing Game – Lesson Five
by Gay Landeta

The big problem many people find with getting their work out there is that there are so many ways to do it. What works? What doesn’t?

Do you know what results you are getting from each strategy you are doing, or even more importantly, why you are undertaking that particular strategy?

Yes, I know–to get more clients, but how will it get you more clients; what role does that actual strategy play in your big picture? And are you sure you are gaining every bit of effectiveness out of that strategy? And how much fun do you have while doing it? Is it just another job on the to-do list?

Robert Middleton, my marketing mentor and coaching trainer, talks of the similarity between playing baseball and marketing.

Hmmm, you might say, but think about it. A game of baseball consists of a bunch of people on a playing field throwing a ball, hitting that ball, catching that ball and running around. Now if you try to take all those people and get them to do that without understanding the game or knowing the rules, mayhem will result.

But if you tell them what the rules are and train them, you can develop a winning team. The game starts in the dugout where the players get ready to play. The field itself is shaped like a diamond (for those of you who don’t play baseball) that consists of four points called plates–home, first, second and third bases. The way to play is to step up to home plate with a bat and hit the ball. Once you do that you can run around the diamond until you get back to the home plate. You must be careful to touch each base or else you lose. A home-run (getting around all bases at one time) is unusual. Mostly you just move around one base at a time.

Robert reckons that you can play the marketing game by following very similar rules. He sees marketing as a game that you can play to win if you understand and master each step. And he reckons it should be fun!

So, let’s play some marketing ball…. start in the dugout and create your marketing message. Once you have a good one (and there is a technique to it – more on that in another ezine) you are ready to begin to play.

Your potential client approaches the home plate.You are strangers at this point. What most of us start to do now is to bombard them with our marketing message hoping to get a home run. But what usually happens is we make the client strike out (which, in our version of marketing ball, is not what we want!). That is because we haven’t taken the time to take this potential client around all the bases, which are all the steps a new contact needs to pass through to become a buyer.

So how do we take those steps? To get to first base a potential client has to move from being a stranger to gaining a connection and becoming aware of you. You must have his or her attention before proceeding. That is first base. Don’t try for a home run at this point. Play it safe and move him or her to second.

The way to get this person to second base is to become familiar, to build that relationship and give more information about what you do before he or she is ready for an experience of you. Think about any client you have, or indeed, your own process in purchasing any service. You waited until you knew enough and were comfortable with the service before you did anything. Sometimes that is a relatively quick process but more often it takes time, like any relationship-building process. And it requires a plan to make it happen. A brochure or a website is helpful here but generally not enough.

Once your potential client has enough familiarity and information about your service, he or she moves to second base and is ready to think about buying. You will still need to be able to meet this person’s needs and overcome any challenges to purchasing your service (third base) before finally bringing him or her to home plate. However, if you have done a good job this potential client will be a qualified candidate who is ready to buy.

One great strategy used in baseball to win is to load the bases.That means to have someone waiting on each base ready to move on to the next one as soon as the ball is hit. That is your funnel of potential clients. You need to have prospective clients positioned on each base, and you must have effective strategies in place to move them around the bases to win at marketing ball.

**********

This month – the beginning of the financial year – spend some time planning your strategies and your funnel will stay full. And if you want to read the rest of the ebook go to www.marketingwithheart.com.au to get it!

That’s all for now!

Gay

getting stuff done

Gay — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:23:00 +0000

April 20th, 2010

I am back from holidays and, as usual, there is so much admin catch-up to do while feeling just a tad lagged and distracted. I put into place a timed process that is a great way to stay focused and get stuff done for when a limited attention span is an issue. It helps to engage the thinking processes so paying attention happens naturally. I thought I would share it….

Start by listing the jobs to be done, eg today mine look like:

catch up pile
finalise BAS
sort out spare room stuff
clear emails
finalise client records
blog

then add 10 / 20 / 30 after each one. It will now look like:

catch up pile 10 / 20 / 30
finalise BAS 10 / 20 / 30
sort out spare room stuff 10 / 20 / 30
clear emails 10 / 20 / 30
finalise client records 10 / 20 / 30
blog 10 / 20 / 30

Now just do each item in order for 10 minutes, then back to the top of the list to do each item for 20 minutes, then back again to the top of the list to do each item for 30 minutes. Cross off each time code as you get to them ie my list looks like this right now:

catch up pile 10 / 20 / 30
finalise BAS 10 / 20 / 30
sort out spare room stuff 10 / 20 / 30
clear emails 10 / 20 / 30
finalise client records 10 / 20 / 30
blog 10 / 20 / 30

And, if you get an item done before the time is up then you can just cross off the whole item and move on!

This is a great way to work through an overwhelming list… I think this months ezine will be on this and other ways to handle overwhelm. If you are not yet signed up go to http://gaylandeta.com.au/sign-up/ to do so.

Here’s to getting stuff done!

Gay

confession….

Gay — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:23:14 +0000

February 6th, 2010

I have a confession to make, I haven’t been following what I know. It is so irritating when you get that – ‘yup, i shoulda…’ feeling!

The dreaded black hole of time sucked me in. You know the one, way to much to do, technology issues to deal with and just STUFF!

In the end with my unexpected but wonderful move to my own premises last year and all that entailed I have not been following my own marketing advice. Outcome? An unreliable number of people for my next Marketing with Heart workshop =(

Oh well, just another example to me of how powerful – and essential – the program is!

Last session I discussed this with my current group and committed to take myself through the program again. I do it most years and often double whatever area I focus on ….. so I am excited to start! Without it I could not do the work I love with my clients!

Don’t dja love those reminders from the Team?

See yah,

Gay

try this if you are having trouble prioritising…..

Gay — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:14:02 +0000

January 27th,

I was discussing prioritising her busy work today with a client and we came up with a simple visual for us more easily distracted folk…

She has tried the more usual managerial methods of ***’s, numbering and even the grid urgent/important, not urgent/ important, urgent/ not important and not urgent/not important to little effect.

We discussed the old story about rocks, pebbles, sand and water. For those who haven’t come across it here it is:

Imagine a container in front of you. Now fill it with rocks. Is it full? Maybe. It does seem so but try fitting in some pebbles.

Sure enough you can get quite a few in there as well. NOW is it full? Yes, it seems so. What about if you add some sand to the container?

Sure enough there is a bit more room. Must be full now. No! Still room for some water.

But what happens if you try to work in the reverse and fill up the container with water and sand first – you probably won’t get many pebbles or rocks in at all.

In this story the water and sand signify the little things that fill our time up while the rocks and pebbles signify the big important stuff of life. And the moral of the story is obviously if you always try to fit in the water and sand first, there will never be room for the pebbles and rocks.

What a great visual that is, I can almost feel that container and how much I could fill it with each of those substances.

How about instead of trying to determine if a task was important, urgent, not important, not urgent (all the nuances of that make my brain hurt…) or even trying to figure out if it is a 1, 2 or 3, or even a *, ** or ******* we just assigned a R, P, or S to it.

We thought it was brilliant. I immediately reassigned my to-do list as Rock things, Pebble things and Sand stuff. I left out the water. It happens anyway.

And it felt immediately easier.

Try it! Let me know what you think!

That’s it for now…

Cheers, Gay