Find Yourself, By Taking Time For Yourself

  “The myth is, when you focus on yourself you are being selfish.  The reality is, if you don’t know your true self and cultivate an ongoing relationship with her, you can’t truly be with or give to anyone else.”  Jennifer Louden, Author of The Woman’s Comfort Book

  “No Boys Allowed!”  I recall being 9 or 10, and creating a girls-only club with my best girlfriends.  We created our exclusive clubhouse out of sheets and dining-room chairs, and we hung our sign, No Boys Allowed!  Did we always know, even back then, how important it would be for us women to retreat?  And, what exactly does it mean to retreat?

  According to Jennifer Louden, in “The Women’s Retreat Book,”    “A woman’s retreat springs from and is guided by a woman’s inner knowing.”  Perhaps we did have this internal knowing when we were 9 that it was important for us, at least for a period of time, to shut ourselves off from the noise and distractions of our outer world.  So, if this is true, what is this woman’s innate guidance trying to tell us?  Louden goes on to say, “A woman’s retreat is about stepping out of your ordinary existence to listen to and attune to your truest, most authentic self.  It is about being self-referenced to become self-restored.”  Somehow I know that I did always know that particular truth.  And that is the reason I have been doing mini-retreats with girlfriends and clients my entire life.  

  Recently, I have partnered with a brilliant life coach, Jeannie Anderson, author of the Women’s W.E.A.L.T.H. program.  Together, Jeannie and I have co-created our own women’s club; “Abundant Young Women Over 40.”  This club is for women who want more for themselves and are ready to step into their biggest game yet.  We will host a live experiential retreat in October, in the secluded mountainous area in the heart of Arizona , for a small group of women committed to going deeper into their own existence and reclaiming their dreams.  Jeannie and I will be releasing more information about “Abundant Young Woman Over 40” in the near future.  

  Last week, I hosted a free teleclass called “Discover the Energy of Success.”  I am so excited to say that we had an overwhelming positive response to this teleclass!  Thank you all for your kind and supportive comments and feedback, it is sincerely appreciated.  This 6-week teleseries, “Journey for the Best of Your Life,” begins on June 24^th and I am thrilled to have many of you joining me!  If you missed it, you can find out more here: “Journey for the Best of Your Life.”

  There is a definite power in self-discovery.  A power that comes from being in total integrity with who you were born to be.  A power that arises only from being deeply connected with your true passion and purpose.  And a power in being of service to yourself, your family, friends, community and the world, in the way that only you, through your own unique purpose and brilliance can serve. 

  Make sure you take the time to do your own mini-retreats to deeply connect with your true self.  When you are connected with your authentic nature, you become centered in your own personal power.  You are in total integrity with who you were born to be.

Here are 5 simple ways you can take yourself on instant mini-retreats: 

 Remember to be selfish at least once every day.  As Louden said, “ … if you don’t know your true self and cultivate an ongoing relationship with her, you can’t truly be with or give to anyone else.”

Being clear about who you are, what you do, and the benefits of working with you, will dramatically affect your ability to attract and connect with more of your ideal clients and manifesting the success you want. 

That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?  Why, then do so many entrepreneurs struggle to attract clients?  Most often it is not because there is anything wrong with what you do, or how you do it, but the problem lies in being able to clearly define and communicate your authentic message in a way that really connects with your ideal clients.

Here’s an important understanding:  You know you have a unique gift that no one else has, and you know that you can help others.  It is your mission to identify your gift, do it to the very best of your ability, and create your compelling branding and marketing message that is authentic to you and attracts clients who want what you offer.


Here are 3 things you must be very clear on that will help you instantly transform the way you feel and communicate about your business, and expand how your potential clients perceive and connect with you and your business.

1)  Know what your unique gift is.  What do you do, exceptionally well, that no one else does?  In other words, what sets you apart from others in your field?

2)  Know who you serve.  The more well-defined your niche market is, the easier it will be to create your messages.  You will also become known as the authority in that area.

3)  Know what authentically connects you with your prospective clients.  People buy on emotion and then back their decisions up with logic.  What emotions do you and your services evoke in people that makes them want to work with you?

As I shared earlier, you must be clear about who you are, including your unique gifts and your core values.  You must be clear about what your services deliver, and what need or desire that fills within your clients.  And, you must know – very, very well, who your ideal clients are so that the connection you make with them is clear, true and authentic.


To your joyful and inspired success~

Namaste,

~Laurie

Spinning Gold Marketing

1. Refine and Narrow Your Niche

   Narrowing down your ideal clients and understanding what their specific needs and challenges are will allow you to consistently put out a focused and clear message.  If your attempt is to market to too wide of an audience, your message gets lost because it is vague and without focus and direction.  You want your ideal client to say “Yes that is me, I need that!” when they see or hear your message.

  Every successful business knows the answer to these questions:  Who are my customers?  How will they know I am here?  Why do they want to buy from me?  How can I reach more people like them?  Clearly and concisely answer these questions, and you have the first key ingredient for success.  

  The answer to these questions should influence every the design of each of your products and services.  The answer to these questions will influence your pricing, where you put your message out (distribution) and will be the catalyst to crafting the right communication that speaks directly to your perfect niche.

- “She who chases two rabbits catches none.” – Chinese proverb

2.  Construct a Clear Message

 Networking events are a great place to build relationships and attract new clients.  Do not make the mistake of investing your time and money without having a clear and powerful message to share.

Have you ever been to a networking event where someone asks you what you do, and you feel a slight sense of panic arise within you?  Suddenly you find yourself rambling on trying to explain what it is that you do and you realize that the other person’s eyes have glazed over and in your mind, you know they are now probably more confused than anything?

Here’s a tip to crafting your message; go back to Number 1 above.  Your message starts with your “niche.”  Chances are, if people are not fully getting your message, your ideal clients aren’t hearing you either.

3.  Get Out of Your Own Head

   Most entrepreneurs work on their own.  When you are trying to do everything and be everything for your business, frustration and overwhelm tend to build up.  Do you love your business, but sometimes feel the heartache every business owner feels from time to time?  Have you felt that sense of doubt and fear move through you?  

  When this happens, is it your tendency to just work harder?  That’s okay, it’s what most people do, work harder, put in longer hours which builds up more stress.  The problem is, that if that’s all you do is work harder doing the very same things, you probably won’t get any better results.  When you feel like you are always busy, but your business has hit a frustrating plateau – or worse, if your sales are sliding downhill, you don’t need to work harder, you need to work right!

  I know that you know that your best, most creative thinking do not come from being tired and frustrated.  It’s important to get out of your own head and learn the right steps to rev up your business and jumpstart your marketing program.

  When this frustration and exhaustion begin to overwhelm you, it can be disheartening.  But it doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with you, or that you can’t do this!  The truth is that you CAN do it, and you can do it really well when you know the right steps to take.  Taking the right steps will add the fuel to your business and quickly get you back on track attracting plenty of your ideal clients.

To your joyful and inspired success~

Namaste,

~Laurie

Spinning Gold Marketing

The Importance of Being Unique In Business

In last week’s article “What is the Marketing Hook in your Business?” I talked about the importance of having that attention-grabbing message in your website or sales copy that makes someone stop in their tracks and notice you.

Did you implement that concept in your business?  If so, then congratulations!  You a are obviously a person who takes action.

So what’s next?  You’ve got their attention, now what?

Once you have attracted the attention of your ideal client, you need to keep their interest.  What you don’t want them to say is “Oh, another coach or another web designer, nutrition expert, another……” 

What you do want them to say is, “This person is interesting, different from the others.  I’ll take a closer look!”

Let’s face it, you can look at most crowded fields of expertise and the basics for each business are the same.  So, what makes you and your business different?  In other words, what is unique about you and/or the process of your business that others don’t have?  This may be some past experience, some certifications, some prominent associations you may have that others cannot claim for themselves.

How Do I Find the Unique Business Angle?

There are several ways of doing this and I will cover two of them here:

1)  Ask Your Clients and Customers

An easy way of doing this is by doing a survey.  You must be specific with your questions.  Remember, you want to elicit responses that set you apart, what do they perceive about you that is unique and special?

2)  Ask them directly after you have worked with them or served them.

Laurie Polinski

Spinning Gold Marketing




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 Get More Clients With An Effective “Marketing Hook”

  Everywhere you look today you are exposed to one form of marketing message or another. It might be on a billboard, in a magazine or on the internet and no matter what media you are engaged in at that moment, the message is basically the same; “buy our product or use our service.”

  Marketing experts understand that they have just a few seconds to capture their target or ideal audience or their message will be a failure. They have just a few seconds to grab your attention and arouse your curiosity to know more of what they are offering or you will move on to something or someone else. Have you ever surfed the web and gone through countless of web pages without any interest and then one page just popped out and grabbed you, causing you to read more? Have you ever zipped through the channels on your television and found yourself stopping on an infomercial even though it was not your intention? You had no plans on buying anything and you know that they are just trying to sell you something and yet something they said or something they showed you, made you stop and say,”Hey, wait a minute. What’s this?” 

 This is what business marketers refer to as the “hook.”

 Do You need A “Marketing Hook” In Your Business?

  If you are in business and if you want to attract clients then the answer is yes, you most definitely need a “marketing hook” in your business. There is far too much competition out there to just hope and pray your ideal clients will find you and invest in your product or service instead of your competitor. Today there are thousands upon thousands of websites and for you to be successful on the internet, it is a must to be able to grab your prospect’s attention.

 What Is Your “Marketing Hook?”

  Before you begin writing a single word for your web-page, sales page or ad, you will want to do some serious research. At this point what you are looking for is that unique piece of story that will arouse a burning curiosity in your ideal client to make them feel compelled to continue to find out more. It is the eye-popping piece of story that will jar even the most distracted reader into full attention. The best hooks are the ones that come early in your message. Remember, the objective here is to grab attention immediately, to get noticed.

  Every business is going to have a different hook. Every niche market is going to have a different hook. Your business might also have more than one hook, one for every kind of client you serve.

  Many times business owners and entrepreneurs are too close to their product or service to be able to see what is unique about them. What sets them apart from their competition? Mentoring programs, coaching programs and mastermind groups are great resources to turn to in order to get an outside perspective of you and your business’ uniqueness to discover your very own “marketing hook.”

Laurie Polinski

Spinning Gold Marketing

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  Let’s face it, without marketing, your business has little chance of succeeding. You may start getting clients to work with, but eventually, you will find yourself struggling to find clients who want to buy what you have, and burn yourself out.

  Actually, many entrepreneurs dip a toe in the water with their marketing by giving their business a name, coming up with a catchy tagline and getting an icon or clip art to put on their business card and website. Yes, done right, this is a piece of your marketing. So, what else is there, and how can you make marketing the piece that ensures your business success?

  Recently, I was at a local networking event and one of the people in the group was allowed 5 minutes to get up and speak about her business. As she was speaking, I realized that I was having a hard time understanding what it was that she wanted to get across, and why I might want what she had to offer. And, I was not at all compelled to want to find out more about her or her product. That’s not to say that there was anything wrong with her or what she said…… in fact it was more in what she didn’t say.

  I learned her name and her business name right away. That’s always a good thing ~ however, believe it or not, neither really told me what she does.

So, here’s tip #1: Having a business name or tagline that tells people what you want them to know and remember about you.

  This is the beginning of getting your branding across. Putting all of your pieces together in a concise, clearly understood message so people remember what you want them to remember about you. Yes, you want them to like, trust and respect you, but more than that, you want them to know and remember what you can do for them.

  If your name, business name or tag line doesn’t clearly tell people who you are, what you do, how you uniquely help, and why they should choose you to spend their time and money with, then this needs your attention now! Typically, we have only 30 seconds to capture someone’s attention. In those 30 seconds we want to be sure they walk away with what we want them to remember about us. Basically, what’s in it for them?

Here’s what you need to know to craft an effective tagline.

  An effective tagline helps you clarify what makes you or your service special and enables you to sum up your “competitive advantage” in just a few words.

  Next, this speaker handed out her brochure which was professionally printed, on nice cardstock. That’s always a good thing ~ however, believe it or not, the picture on the cover was of a forest of fern plants. Is she a gardener? A botanist? A landscaper designer? No, she is a financial investment manager. I guess money is green and so are ferns and that’s where that connection comes in???

So, here’s tip #2: Your Brand Isn’t Just a Logo, or the Colors You Use, or Your Business Name

  …… it is all of these things, and more, together. Everything must consistently give the one singular message you want people to remember about you. Money management / ferns; I still don’t get the connection.

  A company’s logo, colors and the images it uses all serve to support and reinforce the brand identity. The more you reinforce the features of your brand identity, the more familiar people will become with it and the more likely they will be to do business with you repeatedly.

To strengthen your brand identity, be sure it is:

  Your brand identity can be extremely valuable if done and used effectively. Do everything in your power to build a strong, well-regarded brand image and just about every aspect of building your business – especially the marketing piece – will be much easier.

  Then, this speaker went on to tell the facts about her company and what she does. Actually at that point, I was disinterested because I already know someone who does what she does. In fact, there were 3 others in the room who do the same thing; one of them sitting right next to me! So, what would compel me to learn more about how she can help me, or to recommend her to someone else who may need her services? What does she do brilliantly well that the others don’t? What makes her unique? What differentiates her from the rest? Perhaps it is that she grows ferns in her yard? I don’t know, she never said that, but it’s a guess on my part based on her brochure.

So, here’s tip #3: Your Brand Identity is, or Should be, Unique to You.

  That’s why people choose you to work with over someone else in the same field. You must unearth your own brilliance and unique qualities so that you can make them part of your brand identity.

To create a strong brand identity, you must be clear on:

Make a list of the values you want your company to reflect and be associated with.

Develop the core message for your company:

  Your core message, including your set of values, is what defines your brand. It’s what you want customers to remember about you. When you have a strong, clear message, you’re much better able to develop a strong connection with your customer base.

  These are three key drivers which help to create a strong, memorable image and message for your business. You need to keep your core message in mind when you’re developing your advertising, website, packaging and marketing materials (such as brochures, business card, catalog, etc). It must permeate every aspect of what you do and be the foundation of all your marketing activities.

  The message that clients or potential clients get from you about your business is the key to success. It’s imperative that you create the core message you want to send for your business or service. Without articulating your core message and consistent brand identity, it’s impossible to develop an effective, meaningful marketing program.

  Remember, if you don’t create the message that you want people to “get” and remember about you, they will create their own.

Laurie Polinski
Spinning Gold Marketing

If your business feels more like the wallflower right now, and you’d like to have more of what the rock star has, ask yourself these 3 three key questions:

1) Have I articulated and written down my brand promise?

2) What do I want my clients to remember about me and/or my business?

Your core message should be based on:

It’s important that you understand and clearly articulate the core message you want to send for your business. You need to keep your core message in mind when developing all of your advertising materials such as your website, brochures, business card, etc. Your core message is what you want your clients to remember about you. This is how you create a deeply meaningful connection with your clients and prospective clients.

3) Does my company name and/or tagline explain the nature of my business or what I do?

My tagline tells 3 things:
  1) Who I work with – “Entrepreneurs”
 2) What I do – “Business Growth Coach”
  3) What I promise – “Focused, Fast Results.”

Laurie Polinski
Spinning Gold Marketing

  Your business starts with a foundation, and the strength to any foundation is it’s cornerstone. The cornerstone of a foundation provides stability and strength to support a structure and without it, the foundation will fail and the structure collapse. You are the cornerstone of your business structure and in being solid in your goals, vision and self awareness, you will allow for the support needed to build a strong successful business.

Knowing Yourself Allows You to Effectively Brand Yourself

   As an Entrepreneur, being very clear on who you are at your core, allows you to build a solid relationship with your ideal clients. Promoting and operating a business that is a reflection of who you are will attract clients through authenticity, promoting a sense of deep trust. Operating your business with a self-awareness will nurture self confidence, and exhibiting self-confidence will assure your clients on a deep subconscious level that they are in the best of care.

Self Awareness Business Tools for the Entrepreneur

Laurie Polinski
Spinning Gold Marketing

Help! I Don’t Know Where to Start

Have you spent 2009 and previous years gathering knowledge and information through books, seminars, ebooks, teleseminars, online courses and…did I miss anything?  Are you on so many email lists that you know there is no possible way you could read all of them and put them to use?  Is your head spinning because you have learned so much and yet you fear there might be something you are missing?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions you might want to sit down and brace yourself, for the news I am going to tell you might be a little frightening.   My friend I believe you have it and it looks bad…..I believe you have Information Overload Syndrome!

What is Information Overload Syndrome?

Many entrepreneurs, especially when new in the game spend much time on training and gathering information on the business they are pursuing.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with research and education, the challenge is, there is so much information available and it is so easily accessible in this electronic age that before you know it, you have so much material, you don’t know where to start because you are overwhelmed.  Usually what follows is not starting at all or paralysis.

3 Steps to Overcome Information Overload

Chances are you have plenty of training, knowledge and information already and more might not necessarily help you, in fact it might just make things worse.  What you need to do at this point is channel all the information and training you already have and move forward.  Here are three steps that will guide you from paralyzed to productive:

1. Time to focus or refocus - Once overwhelmed it is easy to lose track of what you set out to accomplish in the first place.  Take time to reevaluate your goals and determine if they need to be adjusted.   Be clear on your niche and your ideal client.  What can you offer them to serve their needs?
2. Develop a plan and strategy – Now is the time to go over the materials you have learned so far, all the knowledge you have amassed and pull it together into an organized system that will move you in the direction of your goals. Doing so will start you on your way to answering your ideal clients’ needs and making you money.
3. Get into action - One of the things I have learned through experience is, always move towards completion – not perfection, and make adjustments along the way.  It is important as entrepreneurs to always be learning, the key is to learn while the wheels of your business are in motion.

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So let’s summarize:  To overcome information overload:  1. Get yourself focused; 2. Develop your plan; and 3. Get into action and 2010 will be your best year yet!

Back To Business Basics

With the beginning of a new year only weeks away, now is the perfect time to start laying a solid foundation for a successful 2010 in your business. As this year is coming to a close, this is a perfect time to take a step back and take a close look at where you can make adjustments to make 2010 your most profitable year yet! Here are 3 ways to put your business on the right track for the coming year.

 Research Your Niche

 Take some time to examine your niche market and area of expertise. Observing how other professionals in your field do business may be an inspiration to try a new approach to your own business that may open some profitable doors for you. Also, research potential clients for ideas on how to win over new business opportunities and how you can continue to serve the needs of your current clients. 

Invest In  Business Education

When applied properly, the axiom “you have to invest money to make money” really pays off. For you, the entrepreneur, investing time and money to further your education in your business niche through college courses, training and certification and coaching will expand your knowledge and skills and strengthen your position as an authority in your field, helping you to better recognize and respond to the needs of your clients while pulling you ahead of the competition.

 Create a Clear Business Plan

 Having a comprehensible business plan is vital to the success of your business. Begin constructing your 2010 business plan now by determining and recording your goals and strategies for the year. In other words: where would you like your business to be by the end of 2010, and what is the best course for you to get it there? One of the biggest mistakes many entrepreneurs make is not mapping out a clear and precise plan. If you don’t have a clear vision of where you want to be, how do you expect to get there?  By creating a clear business plan now, you’ll be able to bring in the New Year hitting the ground running.  

Researching your niche, investing in continuing business education and creating a business plan are some key ways to ensure that 2010 will be the best for your business, and for you, so far. Here’s to a profitable New Year—here’s to your success.

Laurie Gracie Polinski

Spinning Gold

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