5 Planning Steps To Guarantee Your Cash Flow

I see it all the time… a Divine Feminine Entrepreneur sets an intention at the beginning of the year to create a certain amount of 1ncome. In January, she’s excited for her money breakthrough; by March she’s stressed out, flying by the seat of her pants, looking for clients (instead of attracting them) and feeling slightly desperate. What’s going on?

Visioning, setting intentions and goals are all important to the creation process, but without a plan, your chances of success are slim. Problem is, many women get overwhelmed by the planning process and confused by all the seemingly endless detail that goes into creating a marketing calendar.

The solution? Let go of perfection, trust that you’ll be taken care of without having to know every detail (you can’t know them all anyway) and stick to my simple, streamlined process that helps you fill your programs and practically guarantees your cash flow.

Step 1: Choose your Bold Money Goal for the year

First things first: decide how much mo.ney you want to make! Seems obvious, right? Yet so many spiritual entrepreneurs skip this step. Don’t leave your 1ncome to chance, dear Goddess! Consciously choosing puts YOU in the driver’s seat.

Your Bold Money Goal should be a stretch and something you can believe in. To truly set yourself up for success in 2011 and the years to come, choose a goal that stretches you outside of your comfort zone and requires you to step into a new way of thinking and being in your business.

Bonus tip: Also decide on a Bold Circle-building (list building) goal. Remember that your list represents your future impact and 1ncome, so it’s important to give lots of attention to growing your list every year.

Step 2: Choose your time off

Most entrepreneurs “barrel through” the year, allowing for little or no time off. But a packed schedule will squelch your Divine Feminine Gift of Creativity and leave you feeling drained and exhausted. Remember, you’re designing your business to fit your life… so put your life first by scheduling the time off you need to relax and recharge.

Here’s another reason why putting your time off first will pull you forward: like a Bold Money Goal, making the commitment to honoring your time off will mean acting and being in your business from a whole different place – one that allows for business success and honors your needs as a Divine Feminine entrepreneur.

Step 3: Plan your high ticket offers

This is it – the secret to guaranteeing your cash flow and ending the cycle of chasing after the next client. Start by creating a high-end program and plan on filling a number of spots all at once. Using this strategy will boost your confidence and create some much-needed “breathing room” for other projects, so you’re not constantly worried about where your cash is coming from.

Step 4: Fill in the gaps to set yourself up for high-end success

Once you have your high-ticket offers set, you’ll have some gaps to fill. Here’s where you schedule lower price point programs such as information products and teleseminars. Choose offers that support your big paydays, such as a teleseminar series that would make a good “lead in” to your private coaching, or a listbuilding campaign.

Step 5: Include systematic listbuilding

Listbuilding may not be as exciting as filling a program with new clients, but systematically building your list throughout the year will ensure your future cash flow. Be sure to include 2-4 listbuilding activities every year, such as a free teleseminar, a new free gift giveaway, or speaking engagements where you can collect new leads.

10 New Year’s Success Habits For The Divine Entrepreneur

So the tree is taken down, the Yule log burned out, the eggnog all gone and the lights put away. The new year is here! It’s a time of reflection, looking forward, and making positive changes. Perhaps you’ve made a few New Year’s Resolutions for your life and business.

Personally, I’ve never had much luck with New Year’s Resolutions because the vibe feels punishing, not promising – like I’m going to have to work hard or struggle to create the positive change that I want.

That’s when I hit upon the idea of creating New Year’s habits. Habits are small, simple shifts that support you. They’re manageable, so you’re much more likely to succeed, especially if you take them one at a time. Best of all, habits create an environment that pull you forward and add up to BIG results over the long haul.

Below are 10 tried, true and simple Divine Feminine success habits for the new year. Turn even 2 or 3 of them into new habits and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you make positive shifts in your life and business – without effort, strain or struggle.

1. Honor your Divine Feminine Gift of Creativity daily. Your creativity, not your list, is your true source of income because it’s your creativity behind your programs, services, partnerships, relationships, marketing and all the other yumminess in your business.

That’s why you MUST protect your creativity (and creative time) like the valued asset it is. Remember, you simply can’t manifest when your energy is depleted!

2. Receive support daily. Consistent daily support is a necessity, not a luxury, for the Divine Feminine Entrepreneur. You simply cannot go it alone and expect to succeed. Coaches, mentors, assistants, web designers, and your emotional support system are all critical members of your team.

Receiving power tip: When you feel yourself pushing or struggling, that’s your cue to stop and check in: “Would a million dollar business owner be doing this task?” If not, delegate!

3. Pay yourself twice per month. Yes, you can do it! The secret is to focus on the action, not the amount, and take a no-excuses policy. Paying yourself first is a key practice in activating the Divine Feminine Gift of Receiving, which will allow you to receive even more.

4. Follow up with potential clients. Contrary to popular belief (and what your squishy mind is probably telling you), follow-up is a gift. When you get out of your ego (“they’re not really interested,” “I don’t want to pester,” etc) and check in from a place of caring and consideration, your clients will feel seen, acknowledged, and deeply appreciated. Check in at just the right time, and they’ll hire you.

5. Reconnect with current and past clients. Most spirit-driven entrepreneurs neglect past clients – a big mistake. A high percentage of satisfied clients will want more support from you, once the first program or contract is finished.

Make a habit of personally connecting and checking in with your peeps from time to time. They’ll feel the love, and you’ll both get the benefit of working together more often.

6. Track your income daily. This deceptively simple practice is one of THE most powerful, potent steps you can take to automatically start making more. (One of my clients reported 3 five figure months in a row shortly after starting this practice.)

Important tip: your motto when tracking is “it all counts.” Spouse’s income, gift money from Grandma, pennies on the street – it all counts. (Got a question about this? The answer is, “it all counts.”)

7. Commit to “just one thing” daily. To keep your marketing truly simple, stick to basic tried and true principles and adopt the magical practice that I like to call “just one thing”: every day, do just one thing to build your business, no matter how small.

“Just one thing” uses the Japanese principle of kaizen: big results come in continuous small increments over time. Commit to just one thing daily and you’ll never have to worry about where your clients are coming from ever again.

8. Let go of just one thing daily. Obligations, mundane tasks, and administrivia all chew up your precious Divine Feminine energy. So do damaging emotional habits like comparison, fear and doubt, and being too hard on yourself. Create the space for your Divine Feminine Gifts to flourish by asking yourself this question daily: “What can I let go of?” (Here, too, it all counts!)

9. Invest in your learning, growth and expansion. When you invest time, energy, attention and money in your own growth, you are essentially paying yourself… and the results can never be taken away. Find a coaching group or mastermind, schedule time to read or listen to the content, and implement.

10. Gratitude. You know it feels good. You know it works! Now all that’s left is to make it a habit. If you haven’t been giving thanks DAILY for all the money, business and success you DO have, now is the perfect time to start. Complete this sentence 5 times: “Today, I feel rich because…”

Best wishes for a rich and successful New Year!

A Simple Way to Boost Your Holiday Cash Flow: The VIP Day

Have you heard about this format for your streamlining your service that’s simple, fun and oh-so-gratifying to deliver?  I’m talking about the VIP Day, or VIP Intensive.

In a VIP day, you come together with your client in a very focused fashion to support them with a particular challenge or problem. Instead of spreading out your coaching or consulting time over a matter of weeks or months, you “go deep” over a period of a single day.

The VIP day is a tremendous opportunity to serve your clients at a higher level. They are also a great way to deliver a great deal of VALUE without a lot of your time. That means you can charge a healthy fee while staying firmly in your integrity.

Clients love VIP days. Because you’re focusing on a single problem in a single day, you can go really deep with your clients. And if you design your VIP day in the right way, your clients can get results very quickly, leaving them thrilled with you and likely to return for more of your help.

Best of all, VIP days are simple to enroll, making them the perfect offer during the holiday season when you want to take a little more time off.  (Bonus tip: design a VIP day that’s tied in with the end-of-the-year planning or beginning-of-the-year goals.)

Here are 4 tips for designing your VIP days:

1. Select one topic, outcome and/or result. Remember, simplicity and focused attention will create a better experience for your clients and support them in getting the result that they want. You’re also not “giving away the farm” by overloading your packages with extras you should be charging for.
2. Select a topic that your clients can take action NOW. Call it stalling, procrastination, “sitting on the fence,” resistance – one of the biggest problems clients face is inaction.   As a coach, practitioner or healer, one of the things clients are investing in when they work with you is being held accountable to taking action.   Help them experience what it’s like to finally get moving and get some results – they will love you for it (and come back for more).
3. Don’t undercharge your VIP offering. Because you’re handling the problem in “only” one day, you may be tempted to discount your VIP package. Resist that urge!A deeper, richer experience (with more of your focused, personalized attention, and quicker results) is actually more valuable to your clients, not less. When you design your package correctly, your investment should be several times more than the monthly fee you’re probably charging your clients now (hence the title of this article).
4. Give your clients everything they need to repeat their results. Your VIP day offering will likely include some form of teaching and instruction as well as coaching and mentoring. Make sure to give your clients this system in a way that they can refer back to – and repeat! – again and again. You can do this by including materials such as an ebook, audios, worksheets, etc.

Want my proven template to design and lead your VIP days?  It’s my gift to you when you claim your “virtual seat” in my complimentary video training series.  Grab it now and get your first VIP day client BEFORE the year is out: http://www.6figuregoddessvideos.com

A Hidden Secret To Raising Your Fees With Confidence

Have you ever wanted to raise your fees – but felt totally scared to do it?

You’re not alone!  The first time I sold a high-end package, I was just out of coach training.  I barely had any coaching experience.  Even though I knew I knew my stuff (I’d been doing the marketing thing for a while), and I knew I was smart and really cared about my peeps… I had a serious case of the Fraud Factor.  Who the heck was I?  How did I really know I could help clients get results?

(The problem was that I’d given my mentor my word – in front of nearly 40 people! –  that I’d sell a program at a significantly higher fee than I’d ever charged.  I couldn’t back out even if I wanted to!)

When I finally got out of my own way and really thought about what was triggering me so much about raising my fees… I realized that my discomfort around charging those fees actually had less to do with deserving (“am I really good enough?”) and more to do with alignment.

I realized that some of the habits I had around money simply didn’t jibe with the high-end coach I was quickly becoming.

Truth is, if you’re engaging in money behaviors such as…

• Discounting (either offering or caving in when asked)
• Assuming people can’t pay or deciding in advance what they can pay
• Taking on “heartsink clients” (your heart sinks when you work with them)
• Not following up on declined payments and clients who owe you money
• Owing vendors money without a payoff plan
• Bartering your services

… and other disempowering money actions, it’s very difficult to ask for and receive higher fees.  It’s like your heart and spirit know that something is “off”… even if you don’t realize it consciously.

Cleaning up even just one or two “money leaks” is going to give you a feeling of personal power and confidence that simply wasn’t there before. Why?  Because when you’re in alignment, you feel better about yourself and what you’re doing.  It’s easier to ask others to invest with you because you are BEING a coach, healer or practitioner who takes her business and her money life seriously.

Try this…

The next time it’s time to raise your fees (like, say, right now ), instead of going to that icky place of “am I good enough / experienced enough / ready enough,” try a different question.  Ask yourself,

“Where am I giving up my power with money in my life or business?”

Remember, you don’t have to be perfect (nor do you have to wait to clean up every money leak) to raise your fees – just take the first step and then the next.  Your clients will feel it, you’ll hear more yeses… and next thing you know, asking for and receiving more will feel as natural as passing the salt!

Getting masterful results for your clients and masterful results in your business begins with mastering YOU: committing to a continuous journey of self-improvement, especially around your wealth consciousness and money actions. Cleaning up your “money leaks” is one of the first and most important steps in growing your Personal Money Mastery, one of the 4 key elements of creating a sustainable 6-figure business in record time.  You’ll get my rich content and step-by-step systems for each element in Goddess Business School starting in January 2012.  Are you on the priority notification list yet?  Simply email my team at teamgoddess@marketinggoddess.com with “GBS priority list” in the subject line.

A Simple Formula To Set Your Fees (And Make Sure You Don’t Undercharge)

If so, you’re not alone. Your school or training program probably didn’t teach you how to set your fees, so what are you left to do? Look around at what everyone else is charging and follow suit.

Problem is, when everyone around you is stuck in dollars-for-hours mode (we’re all conditioned to think this way) and undercharging, it’s all too easy to form a belief that you can’t charge what you’re really worth or really want.

Remember, in your business, you’re the boss. You get to design your business to support the life you desire.  And it all starts with how you set your fees.

You might be thinking, “That’s great Elizabeth, but how can I charge what I really want?  Nobody would pay me!”  Goddess, that’s the wrong question!  Instead, ask yourself,

“Who would I have to BE in order to charge that amount, and attract the clients who will pay?”

Here’s a simple 7-step formula to set your fees from this new, empowered place:

Step 1.  Decide on your number.

How much do you need to make each month to live the life you want?  Be sure to include everything: all of your annual expenses, specific purchases you want to make, insurance payments, taxes – everything.

Big Hint: One of the big reasons why entrepreneurs fail when it comes to manifesting mo’ney is that they shoot too high, too soon.  If you’re barely paying your bills right now, focus on creating enough to cover your basic expenses.  Once you create that success, you can quickly move on to the next.

Step 2.  Decide what the money is FOR.

Money is neutral; it has no meaning in and of itself.  What gives it meaning is your emotion.  When your number actually means something to you, you’re much more motivated to put in the energy required to create it (including asking for what you want).

Step 3.  Decide how many hours you want to work.

All actions in your business have a cost, especially serving clients. You can’t create the income you want and the lifestyle you want without getting clear on exactly what you’re willing to pay in time.

Step 4.  Determine the number of clients you want to serve.

The number of private clients you take on is determined by the total number of hours you want to work divided by the time it takes to serve them.  Take care to NOT over-extend yourself – you need time to work ON your business, too!

Step 5.  Design your program or package.

Remember, clients invest in outcomes and results, not time.  What will your client get from working with you?  Your offer needs to have ONE clear core outcome that speaks to your clients’ immediate needs, plus you need to determine the value of that result to the client.

To save time (and in the future, leverage your time) and help your clients get even better results, organize your process into a series of steps, or unique system, that you can walk your clients through.  To further increase the value to your client, kick off your program or package with an intensive-style experience (like a VIP day) that helps them create a result quickly.

Step 6.  Determine the value.

Ask yourself, “When they have [X] result, what’s that worth to them?”  Be sure to look at the impact of the result on their finances, health, relationships and future potential.  Then look at the cost of them NOT having the result: how will NOT solving the problem cost them, in the areas of finances, health, relationships and future potential?

Don’t skip this step!  It’s this uncovering of the true value of the results to the client that ultimately determines what you can (and should) charge.

Step 7. Decide your price.

This is simple math.  To get your fee, take your desired number and divide it by the number of clients you must enroll into your new package.  If the number makes you gasp (!), do NOT lower your fee!  Instead, focus on creating value.  Ask yourself:

“What kind of value do I have to provide in this program in order to charge that amount?”

Who You’re BEING Determines How Much You’re Charging

Your fee reflects your confidence in your skill set. If you’re feeling a lack of confidence in yours, ask yourself: is that doubt really about your skills, or are you taking on the responsibility for your clients?  (“I don’t want to promise results…”)

Remember that your modality – be it coaching, massage, acupuncture, Reiki – has a lineage of transformation behind it, one you can draw on to boost your confidence when you doubt that your stuff really works.  Remember, you’re not the first person to create success doing what you do!

When you are BEING the Divine Feminine Leader you truly are (instead of doubting or taking on their stuff), your clients will feel it, giving them the confidence they need to get the transformation they truly want – at the rates you desire and deserve.

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