Your Business, Marketing, WordPress And More Questions Answered! 

By: Sandi Krakowski

Welcome to this issue of our regular online newsletter! Today we are doing something we only offer a few times per year and that is an open opportunity to answer your questions!

Thank you to all who posted their questions and comments on my Facebook page! The questions we have chosen are those that we believe will help the most amount of people. 

This is from Aesha Adams-Roberts, who is currently a mother of one little girl and expecting her second child in January 2012. She is also a Ruby Coaching Client:

"I'd like tips on being a mompreneur, specifically how did you continue in biz as your family grew? I am thinking ahead to the arrival of my baby boy in a few short weeks & anticipating the changes it will bring to my family & biz. I'd love to hear your experiences!"

Great question Aesha and I am so proud of you for not only being a great mother but also for working so hard to change your families life through a business that you have begun! I also want to note for all of my readers that you not only have a desire for a changed life and a growing business but as a young military mother, and one who is going to give birth very soon here,  you've also invested into your future which SHOWS you are very serious about your goals! 

When I was growing my businesses, there were always two things foremost in my mind. These two things were- how can I create memories for my family and how can I grow my business?

The memory making really grew through the years because what some people don't understand is we went from a family that was struggling from paycheck to paycheck with massive debt and challenges to where we are today. So there were many years when there wasn't a lot left over as we paid off our debt and we were very faithful even when we sometimes felt like we just wanted to go and spend all that we were making.

Vacations and big trips to Maui didn't happen all at once. In the beginning when my children were younger a paid in cash trip to an amusement park and a nice upgraded suite was a big trip! We also budgeted for one night out per month to the restaurant of our choice. This was a BIG treat as we were growing my business…. and paying off our debt.

A big factor in making memories and building my business was the fact that you can always make more money but you can't get back lost time. So every hour was always considered, every decision for my business was weighed on the scale of, "Will this benefit us as a family AND will this help to grow my business?" When I went on short weekend trips to get more training to increase my skill I always made sure a memory was happening with Dad and the boys back home. It wasn't just "Momma pursuing her goals in business" that made our lives change, but rather, it was our entire family changing the quality of our lives, one step at a time. 

Dad would do something special with the guys when I was gone, something he didn't do very often. They got to eat whatever they wanted without Momma giving nutritional rules.. * giggle*. Again, the foremost thought was always, "How will this help my family and how will this grow my business?"

When my children were little I worked a lot at night.

Many times when they would go to sleep at 8:30 pm at night I'd do my marketing until 3:00 am. Then I'd sleep until 7:00 am and kick off our day. I didn't do this every night but when I knew a big sales campaign demanded more of me, I always did it with the thought of 'working as a family'. My kids cheered me on ( and still do!) and they knew if Momma was working late into the night some nights, she wasn't doing so on other nights. As a matter of fact, I'd take some extra time off afterwards and we'd all celebrate my successes.

Aesha, you're going to need to ask yourself how you can increase and change your families life by working part time. Then work to get some good child care so that when you are working, you can work with your mind fully engaged. I see women who say they work their business with baby on lap and while I surely did do this sometimes, I think you'll earn a lot more money and keep your focus if you have some set apart time that is for just business. Then reward yourself with some set apart time that is just Mommy time. My dream was to be with my kids while they were growing up…. I have fulfilled that dream. We've home schooled, run my business and I've seen every phase of their wonderful lives. They are now 16, 18 and 23 years old. It was all worth it, but it took discipline, focus and always keeping my priorities. It didn't happen overnight. Neither did Alan becoming my business partner happen over night either. 

Don't expect to build a 6-figure business on 5 hours per week, that's a ridiculous pipe dream. But there's plenty of Mommies who build 6-figure businesses on 20 hours per week and live a life that is something many only would dream about. They also have help with child care, house cleaning, laundry and things that don't change the life their children live.

Keep your focus…. every year is different and be sure to reward yourself daily for all you're doing! Your children WILL rise up and call you blessed, and you'll have a heard of joy knowing it was so worth it all! When this new baby gets here Aesha, that time is irreplaceable, so take it all in, take some extra time resting and before you know it, you'll be back on your feet with no regrets. Much love to you and the new baby! 

Our second question came in through Facebook as well. Farrah Lynne Albertie writes:

" I would love to learn some useful tips on how WordPress web/graphic designers could attract more clients and better serve business owners who use WordPress."

This is a great question and one every web and graphic designer should be asking themselves!

We live in a culture that demands WordPress as a foundation, so your key role is to help people and make it an easy change for them. If someone wanted to attract more clients as a web designer and a graphics person the key focus is to find out what is most important to your clients.

In my book, "Read Their Mind: How To Hear What The Marketplace Wants & Build A Huge Business" (You can download it for free!) I teach how to listen to any respective client base. This means that as a web designer/ graphics person you are going to have to get out of the typical formed opinions on what people need with graphics and web work and LISTEN very carefully to what people are actually saying they need.

Gone are the days when flash and lush graphics are what make a website look professional and appealing. The online world now demands connectivity with social media, ease of use, the ability to update one's website easily and on your own, consistent updates and not having to wait a long time for service, just to name a few. So the key role to attracting more clients in your niche, or in any niche for that matter, is to be offering and serving with what people want.

This can be excruciatingly painful for some web designers and graphics people. Why? Because in the past the way they showed off their skill set was to be far beyond and far above the average person in the work that they did. Increased profits were earned by being able to do things that no one else could do. While this can still be the case with specialized skill, in today's "Wordpress Word" it's important to be able to service people, give people the ability to update things on their own, take time to explain things that are important to your clients and here's a big key, be attentive.

In my 14 years online I can honestly tell you that sadly, far too many graphics and web design people tend to be available in 'spurts' at best. They seem to come up for air, answer questions, then go into hiding for weeks at a time, with no communication. This is NOT acceptable any longer, because one can easily be replaced. So in order to attract more clients and serve business owners that use WordPress, you're going to have to make yourself more available than you have probably ever been before.

You'll also need to offer "Packages of Service" so that people can work with you in given increments and then upgrade their commitment if they need to.

For example, create 10 Hrs Of Website Updates available for a flat rate, usable in 30 days rather than always billing things in hours every time someone needs something. Offer "Urgent Update And Repair" services that gives a prepaid client some extra time they can have access to you outside of normal hours. This would be a UNIQUE solution to an urgent pressing problem. I've discovered that many people need urgent care at hours when most web designers are not available, so this would be a huge solution to a big problem. 

Then, your goal is to give the best service possible so people come back to you again and again…. and so that they renew their commitment with you month after month. I hope this gives you some strategies to go after and even more so, I hope you go after them and become a highly sought after service provider online.

Our third question comes in from a brand new Ruby client who will be working with us in January 2012. Julie-Ann Muldoon writes:

"What are your top tips for building a responsive list in a brand new niche starting from zero?"

Hi Julie! Great question!

My #1 tip for building a responsive list is pay very close attention to the marketplace.

It's going to be critical that you listen more than anything…. rather than seek to announce what you are doing. This is where so many business owners miss it, big time. Far too many people are announcing and interrupting people with their messages. If they just listened and then gave what people were asking for they'd create a responsive list without much effort.

As you'll learn in my book, "Read Their Mind: How To Listen To The Marketplace & Build A Huge Business" (Which you can download for free!) you'll see that the key focus in building a responsive list is to listen. A responsive list is one that is active, responsive and connected. It's not a list that does what you want it to do and pays you a lot of money like so many marketers say. Surely, it will earn you a fortune if you build a big responsive list, but along with your fortune, if you do it right, will come good will and an honest satisfaction that can ONLY come from serving people in the most ethical way.

When we set out to help people with our company, "A Real Change International, LLC" I didn't announce to the world what I was going to do. Rather, many people were already asking and literally begging me to show them how I've done what I had in the last 14 years online. My responsibility became to serve them with the best of my ability and help as many people as I can create a result.

A responsive list is built around results.

Your focus HAS to be how you can help people get the results that they want to their urgent pressing problems. Your unique solution has to deliver assistance in a way that your customers have already been asking for! Then you'll hit a home run every single time.

You've most likely heard me say this before on my "List Building For Millionaires" course which every person reading this should own if they don't have a list of 5000+ people already…  but it really should be repeated over and over again. Massive traffic is not the goal online. A responsive and connected client base is. You don't want to constantly have to sift through a ton of people. Rather, you want your website built to serve a select group of people with a solution they have already been asking for.

A key factor to a responsive list is being able to speak your ideal clients language. Use words they are already using. Speak to them with the words that are already in their own heads, their own thoughts. When we do this, we'll have a better connection and organically get far greater results.

Start out with a free offer.

Give as many people as you can an opportunity to 'test and try out' this free offer. Get as much feedback as you can get. Study your market, find the bigger players in your niche and pay attention to what they are doing and how they are serving people. Then lead your clients to a 'first glass', i.e. your first product. Listen, test, repeat. It's really that simple.

Build your list to include new people every single day, every single week.

The key to a responsive list is to have something that people are already asking for and then deliver it, with relationship that they'd never want to leave.

There we have it! Our top three questions this month!

I hope these answers help all of you with some of the common issues that come up with new business owners! We are here to serve you and offer several courses, reports and videos to connect with us at no cost whatsoever.  The next step for you after that is our Inner Circle where you can have one on one access to me in a live group every single week.

Your goals mean the world to us and we've made it our mission to help you reach them!

With love,

Sandi Krakowski