Heather Cameron

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3 Business Lessons from Leonardo Da Vinci

By Heather Cameron 4 Comments

There are many lessons that business owners can learn from artists, particularly an amazing artist like Leonardo Da Vinci. Here are three lessons from Leonardo Da Vinci that we should all be applying to our business.

1: Get Perspective

“Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

This is so true in business. We are focused on the day to day activities and rarely do we step back and look at our business. Only then can we really see what is working and what isn’t working. Perhaps you’ve been focused on a product/service or marketing strategy that isn’t generating the results you want. If you step back and look at it in a bigger context your might discover modifications you can make or you might determine that now is time to make a major change. Take a few steps back from the day to day and look at your business, what do you see?

2: Simplify

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

In today’s technology driven world is it very easy to complicate our business, to add layers that consume time and energy. Recently I was making a purchase in a store that has been in business for over 50 years. The sales woman had to calculate the price by hand, write the order by hand, then I assume someone is going to have to enter it into a computer to be sent to the manufacturer. There were stacks of paper everywhere. Changing their process and adding a computer based pricing and invoicing system would greatly simplify their business. How can you simplify your business? What would the results be?

3: Take Control

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

There are two types of people who go into business. Those who are truly driven by the passion of business, by making a success of something, of anything! They go out and make things happen. Then there are the rest of us who go into business because we have a passion for something that we love to do. For example many people step into coaching because they have a passion to help people see their own potential but get hung up on how to run a successful business.

We need to:

Learn from those driven by working on a business.
Get out and make things happen.
Take control of our businesses.

What will do you do this week to get perceptive, simplify and make something happen in your business?

Let’s Connect:

Join our Facebook Community: Ready For More! Women Business Owners Circle

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Free 5 Day Productivity Program: www.igniteyourmarket.com/takecontrol/

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Ignite Your Market Challenge: Finish

By Heather Cameron 3 Comments

THIS WEEK’S IGNITE YOUR MARKET CHALLENGE: FINISH!

We all know that to truly move our businesses forward or in a new direction we need to take action. We need to start.

However, once we start we need to finish!

We need to break down the goal/activity into smaller manageable tasks and we need to commit and finish them. Many entrepreneurs, myself included, are motivated by ideas and the excitement of creating and not by finishing. We get started on an idea, we research it, we start implementing it and then we either get distracted or we get stuck and we don’t follow through and finish it.

Does that happen to you? It does to me.

Another big obstacle to finishing that I see with clients is the need for something to be perfect. Here is the truth your potential client is looking for a solution now, they are not going to wait around for you get it perfect. They don’t care if it is “perfect”, they only care about whether what you are sharing/offering is going to help them.

“Yesterday you said tomorrow – JUST DO IT” – Nike’s

The challenge this week is to pick one task that is important to your business’s growth that you’re are close to finishing and finish it! Break it down to manageable sub-tasks, schedule them and commit to finishing it. Get excited about completing it and seeing the results.

What will you finish this week?

The Ignite Your Market Weekly Challenge’s goal is to create simple but powerful actions that you can do each week that will help you:

Identify your market and opportunities.
Connect with your client and prospects.
Ignite your markets and your businesses.

Let’s Connect:

Join our Facebook Community: Ready For More! Women Business Owners Circle

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Free 5 Day Productivity Program: www.igniteyourmarket.com/takecontrol/

Download Your Should Buster: www.igniteyourmarket.com/shouldbuster

You Can Change Your Story

By Heather Cameron Leave a Comment

I had a big “ah-ha” about a month ago. You can change your story, simply by changing how you’re using your imagination. It seems obvious and yet we just don’t think about it.

It started with “Why am I stuck?”, “Why am I not doing what I know I want to do and need to do to grow my business?”

Then, I realized something…

Fear and Imagination = Inaction

You know those tricky mindsets, the voices in our head that hold us back.

“I can’t go Live because someone’s going to think I’m a fraud.”

“ I’m going to stumble and lose my train of thought. It’s going to come across so unprofessional, no one is going to listen.”

“I can’t send 3 emails a week. No one is interested in what I have to say. If I do people are going to start unsubscribing or even worst mark it a SPAM!”

Guess what? None of that happened. None of it is true. It’s our tricky imagination going down the fear path.

What if we flip it to where possibility, curiosity, and imagination work together?

Where…

Possibility, Curiosity and Imagination = ACTION

Let’s rewrite those stories.

“If I go Live today, I could connect with someone new. I could show up just at the right time when they need to hear what I have to share. They aren’t going to care if I stumble a bit, after all, I’m only human. If I go Live today maybe I’ll be able to help one person. I’ll get better at it each time I do.”

“If I send emails this week, I’m not intruding, people can choose to read them or not. I wonder who will connect with my message/offer. It will be awesome when I hear back from people like I did last week. I wonder how many people will check out my new offer. I’m excited to see what happens!”

Which stories are more powerful? Which stories have you leaning in and ready to act?

Fear is a normal emotion!

Fear is a normal reaction, it’s one of our basic emotions. However, it’s what we do with it that will make the difference.

When fear is holding you back, challenge the story that your imagination is creating. Turn to curiosity and possibility and let that be the fuel that launches you into action and your awesomeness!

You can change your story today by leading with curiosity and possibility, instead of fear.

What stories do you need to change? How could these changes affect your business?

Let’s Connect:

Join our Facebook Community: Ready For More! Women Business Owners Circle

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Free 5 Day Productivity Program: www.igniteyourmarket.com/takecontrol/

Download Your Should Buster: www.igniteyourmarket.com/shouldbuster

Top 5 Email Marketing Mistakes Business Owners Make

By Heather Cameron 2 Comments

It doesn’t matter what niche you’re in or whether you sell products or services, everyone should be using email marketing in their business. Are you?

There is a big misconception that email marketing is dead. It’s the opposite, emails are still the number one way to building an engaging relationship with people who express interest in what your business offers.

I see so many businesses struggling with their email strategy, or don’t have a strategy at all, and many are making mistakes that can be easily fixed. Are you making any of them?

1. Not welcoming a new subscriber with a “warm hug”

Someone has just joined your list! Congratulations, they’re interested in your business offerings! Get excited and share it with them. Welcome emails have the highest open rates because people are engaged and interested. What can you include in your welcome emails to create curiosity and provide opportunities for new subscribers to buy?

2. Not emailing enough (or emailing too much)

It’s a delicate balance to find the right frequency to email your list. Truth be told, everyone has a different opinion on this topic and I’m still discovering what is right for my community. I know people who email their list every day and it works for them. Why? Because they trained their list to expect it.

Finding the frequency that works best for you and your list is important but I recommend that you email your list at least once a week, your baseline email.

On top of that, you need to plan out your emails for special offers, like free training, or a big sale. During those events, you’ll typically be emailing daily.

3. Not making offers

Your subscribers signed up to your list because they’re interested in your business, your products, services and/or expertise. It’s your responsibility to provide them with opportunities to invest in themselves or their business. If they’re ready to act and your offer isn’t top of mind they’re going to buy from someone else and you’ve missed out.

4. Not having an email marketing strategy

Your emails will work best for you and your subscribers when you have a strategy mapped out that mirrors your sales strategy. What’s the purpose of each email? What is the call to action? When will you be running a special event or sales?

Planning out your emails for 90 days to 6 months allows you to focus your email topics so they lead to your special events and sales. It allows you to bulk create and automate; so you’ll save time and make more sales.

5. Not focused on sign-ups

If done right your email list is gold, it’s full of people who are interested in what you do. It provides you with frequent opportunities to offer your products and/or services; when a subscriber is ready to invest, you’re top of mind. Part of a solid marketing strategy needs to include how you’re going to continually build your list of engaged subscribers.

How are you doing with your email marketing?

Are you making any of these mistakes?

I’ve made them all.

The good news is they’re fairly easy to fix when you prioritize your email list and treat it like the precious thing it is. A tool to reach your most interested and engaged audience and provide opportunities for them to transform through your products and/or services.

Where do you need to start? Comment below and let me know.

Let’s Connect:

Join our Facebook Community: Ready For More! Women Business Owners Circle

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/heathercameroncoach/

Free 5 Day Productivity Program: www.igniteyourmarket.com/takecontrol/

Download Your Should Buster: www.igniteyourmarket.com/shouldbuster

4 Questions to Consider Before Changing a Business Tool

By Heather Cameron Leave a Comment

It can be stressful to think about changing a business tool that is critical to your business, but I did it!

After waffling about it for far too long, I changed one of my critical business tools, my email marketing provider.

Have you been faced with trying to figure out if one of your critical business tools was no longer serving your needs? It can be a difficult decision to make because there can be many factors to consider.

Only after answering these 4 questions, did I decide to take the plunge and change my email marketing provider:

1) What is the driving reason for making the change?

Was I getting caught up in marketing hype? Was I listening to other people? Had I fallen for the Shiny Object Syndrome? Or was it something more important?

I boiled it down to 3 reasons that could justify the change:

Does the new platform provide additional functionality that I need in my business? YES!
Does it save me time? YES!
Are there any cost savings? MINOR

2) What is the impact of not changing?

This question took some honest reflection. Above all, I’m very loyal and I’d been with my existing email marketing provider for 10+ years. They have a great tool and amazing support; I still recommend them. However, I was having to implement workarounds to integrations with other applications and systems I wanted. In truth, my loyalty was costing me time, it was frustrating me and limiting what I could.

3) How will the change disrupt your business?

This question is an important one to ask, you need to anticipate and manage any disruptions. Things to consider:

Length of time it will take to implement the change.
Impact on your business and/or clients.
Learning curve.
Impact on staff.

4) When could you schedule the change for the least amount of impact on your business?

Truth be told I started to change my email provider 6 months earlier. At the recommendation of a trusted colleague, and the offer to help, I signed up for a free 14-day trial. I got 4 days into it and realized it was completely the wrong time to do it. I was 5 days away from running my first challenge and launching a new program.

Yes, the new tool would have made things more streamlined BUT the learning curve was too much and the possibility of making a mistake was too high.

I had gotten caught up in the “should”. I didn’t take my own advice to challenge the “You should be using ____” which is why I created the Ignite Your Market Should Buster in the first place.

So I stopped and waited; I planned it out for a time that made sense for my business.

Did it all go smoothly? Not completely, a few minor email issues but nothing serious.

Did it disrupt my business? No, it was planned and generally seamless, in fact, it helped my business.

What business tools do you use that you’re considering changing? Given how rapidly software tools change these days, I recommend that everyone audit their business tools at least twice a year.

Take the time to evaluate the need and plan it things out when you are thinking of changing a business tool that is critical for your business.

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