What’s Your Target Heart Rate for Your Business?

We all understand the premise of building our cardiovascular health by keeping our heart pumping at a certain level over a certain period of time frequently enough to strengthen it. Have you ever thought about your business from this perspective?

You’ve perhaps spent a lot of time dreaming about your vision, wondering how to create a business that’s filled with passion and ideally focused on service that you are committed to. Many of us start businesses exactly for this reason – because we want a sense of meaning as well as a means to be financially rewarded for the work we feel called to do.

There are many ways to make money in business. If you’re reading this, I suspect you’re interested in more than a money-making enterprise. You’re looking for a blend of contribution, service, doing work you love and developing relationships with clients that you adore.

When you achieve this, it’s wonderful! When you don’t, and you desire it, it’s painful. You may be making money, but it feels like it’s costing you. It can feel like a job. If you’re not making enough money, it’s even worse. You might be thinking about going back to a job! And that makes you feel sick.

I’ve had clients on both sides of this spectrum, and I can tell you that marketing and business strategy are critical foundations that you need. But what matters as much as that, when you are in a solo or small service-based business, is making sure you are taking care of you and your business. Your business is a living, breathing extension of you. It needs proper care and maintenance to keep on pumping, and it requires a lot of heart as well. So spend time regularly getting your business heart rate up into the target zone.

What does this mean? You know you’re in your zone when:

• You attract the right kind of clients – the ones that you don’t really need to “sell” because they come to you looking for something specific and know before they speak with you, that you have it. They come to you looking to validate their decision will be the right one.
• You’re excited and full of energy and optimism for the future of your business, even when it slows down at times. You’re able to keep the faith because you are so aligned and in tune with your ideal clients, and you offer them what they are looking for, that it’s relatively simple to create the services they desire. You are so confident in this, you’re Teflon.
• You love working with your ideal clients so much that you may have to remind yourself that they are paying you, and not the other way around! When you hit this sweet spot, it’s the ultimate I-can’t-believe-I-get-paid-for-this moment.
• You usually don’t have to think about your message, what to say or do, because it is such a natural extension of you, that it is automatic. Once you are aimed in the right direction, and you’ve got the basics down of market, pricing and offer, you enjoy the act of talking to people about what you do (You might still need help with writing, promotional ideas, and how to get the most out of what you are already doing, but you are not feeling like you’re having to act a certain way that feels unnatural).

Now, I’m not saying that your business plan should be based on wishing and imagining, although I do believe that is vitally important as a starting point. There are fundamentals you need to put in place that are required for any business. If you are a believer of the Law of Attraction, you know that what must accompany it is the Law of Action. What I’m suggesting is that if you want a heart-centered, service-based business that fulfills you and makes money, you need to spend time in your target zone.

If you’re not there yet, approach it as you would any exercise program. Aim to spend a little bit of time on it every day, and build from there. Don’t expect to get there overnight! Enjoy your commitment to yourself, your clients, and your business and honor it. Those short but intense glimpses of “the zone” will be enough to keep you coming back for more.

Want to use this article? You can as long as you include this footer: Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success SystemTM for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and live outside of the ordinary. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful and extraordinary business. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for information and step-by-step resources to take you from overwhelmed employee to extraordinary entrepreneur.

The Client Attraction Song – Fifty Ways to Get New Clients

Attracting clients and getting new clients is one of the biggest challenges small business owners face. Especially if you are new to business, or just dreaming about your corporate escape, wondering how you are going to find people to pay you can feel overwhelming. There is certainly a lot of groundwork you should do upfront – like defining your ideal client, packaging your services appropriately, and designing your business model around your life, so that you build the business that you truly want instead of a job for yourself (there are many articles within this site on those topics too). But … you still need to spend time actively getting out there, and getting in front of the real, live people who need your services and are willing to pay for them! Have some fun with this.

Set to the tune of Paul Simon’s Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover, from the album Still Crazy After All These Years. Adaptation by Chief Corporate Fugitive, Sherri Garrity:

“The problem is all inside your head”, she said to me
The answer is easy if you don’t take it personally
I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free
There must be fifty ways to get new clients

She said it’s really not my habit to intrude
Furthermore, I hope my meaning won’t be lost or misconstrued
But I’ll repeat myself, at the risk of being crude
There must be fifty ways to get new clients
Fifty ways to get new clients

You just pick up the phone, Joan
Make a new plan, Fran
You don’t need to be coy, Joy
Just be yourself, be free
Hop off the guru bus, Gus
You don’t need to spend too much
Listening is the key, Lee
And get yourself free

Jump in the chat, Kat
Make a new plan, Fran
You don’t need to be coy, Joy
Just listen to me
Get off the bus, Gus
Don’t need to think too much
One day at a time, Lee
Get yourself free

She said it grieves me so to see you in such pain
I wish there was something I could do to make you smile again
I said I appreciate that and would you please explain
About the fifty ways…

She said why don’t we sleep on it tonight
And I believe in the morning you’ll begin to see the light
And then she reminded me and I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways to get new clients
Fifty ways to get new clients!