The following is from Fabienne Fredrickson of ClientAttraction.com

The Importance of Taking Time Off in Your Business

Today I want to talk to you about taking time off, for the sake of your business. When I first started ClientAttraction.com, I planned out my schedule the way I wanted to live my life. I made it a point to set up my business so that I’d take a full day off per week, a week off per month and at least one month off per year–approximately 18 weeks of vacation per year. (Everybody needs down time to succeed.)

And for a while, that was my life and it was wonderful. I was incredibly productive when I was working and the rejuvenating time off gave me more creativity, until I got busier and busier and started multiplying my business. That’s when I hired full-time employees who counted on me to be there and to drive this train. So I stopped taking as much time off, feeling like I had a job again and I became resentful about it. But not anymore.

You see, I’ve realized that everyone needs downtime, especially when you have your own business. Let’s be honest. When it’s your business, it’s hard to shut off, right? There is no such thing as a completed to-do list and entrepreneurs often blur the lines between business and personal time. But if you want to be client attractive and you want to multiply your income, whether you’ve been in business for many years or are just ramping up, you must have down time.

No one wants to hire someone who’s tired and resentful. It’s just not that attractive. Besides, people who take vacations for at least one week say they experience an 82% increase in job performance after time off.

Taking time off as an entrepreneur is an amazing opportunity to do some BIG planning, learning, thinking, and dreaming of the future of my business. What I’ve learned in my own journey is that the big breakthrough ideas always come when you SLOW DOWN and de-clutter the mind to let divine inspiration and guidance come in.

And so I’ve made a conscious decision over the last 3 years to put downtime back into my schedule–long vacations, quarterly mini-vacations with my husband, weekends off completely, vacations with our kids twice a year and the months of December and August off completely. This is my time to unwind from a super-busy year, re-charge my batteries, re-connect with loved ones and friends I don’t often see and to feed my soul with some playtime, reading, writing, and just “being.” And I want to invite you to do the same.

Watch this week’s video for my 5 strategies to ensure you take time off every year. They’ll help you set yourself up for success. When you give yourself this precious gift of time, you’ll watch your business–and your life–flourish.

©2013 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System®, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your FREE Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your income,visit www.attractclients.com.

I know that a picture is worth a thousand words, but Google would disagree. For that reason, I feel I should explain the following. I became a member of my local community business organization, called the Menahga Civic & Commerce Association. In an effort to get to know a few more people in town (hello out there!) I’m making the effort to become involved and attend the once monthly meetings. If you live or work in and near Menahga, you can join with your business or as a concerned citizen. The group is made up of volunteers mostly from the business community. The description of the group, from their website reads: THE MENAHGA CIVIC AND COMMERCE ASSOCIATION IS ESTABLISHED TO SERVE COMMUNITY BUSINESSES AND LOCAL INDIVIDUALS. OUR PURPOSE IS TO BRING OUR PEOPLE TOGETHER TO PROMOTE AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO MAKE OUR COMMUNITY A WELCOMING PLACE TO LIVE, WORK, SHOP, PLAY, ETC. THROUGH HAPPENINGS IN OUR AREA.

Andrea is shown at her workstation with the awesome welcome plaque that was presented at this month’s meeting.

Watch for a picture in the paper with me and the Menahga C&C welcoming committee. Come join us the first Monday of the month for a free meal and find out what the C&C is all about!

To find out if my design services would work for you, check out Who I Work With.

One of the biggest things that affects your business and your income is your level of self-confidence. You’d think it would be marketing and yes, marketing is massively important, but if you don’t have confidence in your abilities, if you don’t have confidence in your business or in what you’re doing you’re not going to get anywhere in your business.

Why is that? It’s because confidence affects your actions and your actions create your habits and your habits, which are the things that you do day in and day out, create your results in business. Confidence is responsible for how many clients you have, how much you make, etc. All of that is based on your actions. That’s why confidence affects every single aspect of your business.

Confidence affects how you close the sale and how often you market. It affects your willingness to do whatever it takes, how you follow up with prospects, how you reach out to potential strategic alliances, how you network, how you speak, all of which determine your number of clients and how much you make in your business. All of this confidence, affects the money that you make in your business.

It’s easy for your confidence to take a hit. I know you know this because you’re maybe experiencing it right now. Each time you don’t close the sale, there’s a little piece of your confidence that gets taken away. When you make a mistake in your business (we all do) who is the harshest critic? You know right? It’s you. I know because I’ve been there too.

Every time you lose a client or you don’t make a deadline or you don’t fill that program it makes you question whether you’re really cut out to do this – being an entrepreneur. Didn’t they get everything they needed the first time around?” Well, yes they did get everything they needed, but now they feel great about signing on for year two, year three and so on. Today, I’d like to take you behind the scenes in our business and share with you just a few of the many, many things that you can shift within your own business so that your clients happily stay with you longer and continue to get great results with you, while recommending you to others.

Allow me to share two simple things with you that I did, especially in the beginning when things were tough, that allowed me to keep my confidence at a natural level. It kept me persistent. This is not about inflating your confidence to an abnormal level. It’s about bringing your confidence back to a natural level.

1. Read your testimonials on a daily basis. I know it sounds kind of silly, but one of the best ways to get back to a natural level of confidence is to feed your mind with positive validation that you are good at what you do. That inner gremlin, that drunk monkey inside, it’s so quick to tear you down and to make you feel bad and to make you question whether you can actually succeed in your business. Any time something bad happens, that inner gremlin is right there to tear you down.

To read more on how to keep your self-confidence in times of doubt, watch this week’s video strategy. Remember, you started your business to make a difference in people’s lives for the highest good of all. Confidence is key!

©2013 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System®, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your FREE Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your income,visit www.attractclients.com.

So, off the old stuff comes. Depending on the age and quality of the vinyl, there are different methods for taking the old vinyl lettering off. In this case, we were able to use a hair dryer to heat the vinyl and the door behind it, and most of it came off easily. Fingernails helped. Tougher, older stuff would require the use of adhesive remover to loosen the hold of the sticker.

We cleaned up the doors with adhesive remover to get the last of the gunk off, then washed, rinsed and wiped all the residue. Ammonia mixed with water is good for getting residue off – soap scum, salt, etc. I always have a spray bottle of it ready for a final clean-up before vinyl installation.

The new owner decided that the color scheme from before looked rather nice, so he asked for the same – black, chrome, maroon and white. The vinyl design (done previously for other trucks) was cut in the new colors, weeded and taped at the workstation (doubles as kitchen table during daylight hours). See the stars in the picture below? Those are for lining up different colors. They are not applied to the truck.

Each piece of lettering is installed individually, using the stars to line up the next piece. In the picture below, the stars are set on top of the blue tape. If you look really closely, you can see them. I worked in a shop with extra lights for better visibility. 60 degrees with no wind, direct sunlight or precipitation is ideal for vinyl installation. In the winter, a heated shop is almost required. In this case, we used a nipco (portable heater) directed at the door to keep everything warm.

The vinyl is carefully squeegeed to adhere tightly to the door. Air bubbles loosen the grip on the canvas and increase the risk that it will come off.

I’ll bet you noticed how shiny white the door is! There wasn’t time in the vinyl installation process to wash the entire truck. It was off the road for only the time it took to get the new lettering on the door. No time to waste for a busy truck driver! He saved time and money by helping with the vinyl removal and was able to get back on the road quickly.

If you see this trucker on the road today, wish him a happy 40th!

Three Strategies for Keeping Your Clients

Usually at ClientAttraction.com we talk to you about attracting and signing on new clients. That’s what everyone wants right–new, ideal, high-paying clients, continually filling your pipeline. For the bulk of my career that’s what I focused on, too. After awhile I realized that I was spending a huge amount of time and effort attracting brand new clients, but my current clients were leaving after their initial term was over.

I didn’t understand what was going on because they were getting great results. We were transforming their businesses. They were going from making not much to making six figures and beyond. I didn’t see why at the time the majority of them weren’t signing up for another year.

Here’s what I knew. I knew deep in my heart that I could help them further multiply what they had already created with me. I knew that I could take them to the next level, but somehow they didn’t see that and they ended up moving on to another mentor. If I’m being transparent with you this actually kind of affected my ego and my self-esteem. It was like, “Ouch. You’re moving on to someone else. Why?”

Have you ever thought about what it takes to retain clients past their initial term? In the last several years I have actually shifted the way that I do business. Miraculously we have witnessed clients staying with us for much, much longer–signing up again year after year even at our highest programs levels.

You may be thinking, “Why are they signing up again? Didn’t they get everything they needed the first time around?” Well, yes they did get everything they needed, but now they feel great about signing on for year two, year three and so on. Today, I’d like to take you behind the scenes in our business and share with you just a few of the many, many things that you can shift within your own business so that your clients happily stay with you longer and continue to get great results with you, while recommending you to others.

Today, I will share with you three simple things that we do in our business that perhaps you would like to apply to your own business.

1. Give more than clients expect to get. You may not know this about me yet, but in my work with clients I love to give huge value. I believe in under promising and over delivering when it comes to value.

That means that our clients are surprised to see how much more they get than what they paid us. For example, people traditionally come to us for marketing and for client attraction and we deliver that like nobody else does because we’re experts at it, but what they don’t realize is that we also give them all the mindset work and all the spiritual marketing principles that really work to get clients. We give them list-building, internet marketing strategies, systems, all of that for free, which helps them create even more results. They’re very surprised to get all of this extra stuff.

For my next two strategies, watch this week’s video. When you implement all three, you’re going to see a huge shift in your level of client retention. Enjoy!

©2013 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System®, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your FREE Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your income,visit www.attractclients.com.

So, what is marketing, anyway? Why do we need it?

Marketing is putting your business in the best possible light. It is telling the truth. It is transparent. Is is also appealing and draws your potential customers toward you. Marketing is needed to tell your story to your customers. It makes you trustworthy. Marketing helps you to tell your story to your clients. You can tell whatever story you want to tell. Disney is the happiest place in the world. They tell us that in all of their marketing. That is the message they want to share with us. They also say that this is the place where dreams come true. They are marketing to those who dream of going to Disney.

My Facebook profile image is an actual picture of me. I do not have the resources to book a studio for professional shots, so I have hired the services of my 6-yr-old son and my cell phone camera. I’d have to say he did a nice job getting a solid background behind me. At AHGraf!x I like to be seen as concise, creating design for small business that is smart. Design gets used in the way it is intended, and every part of your project has a purpose. There was no purpose in having the rest of the clutter in the original picture as part of my profile. The only important part of the picture is my face. You need to see that I am a real person, and that I am not hiding behind my computer.

What message do you want to show to your ideal clients?

Share below in the comments section. Can I help you to get that message out? Do you know who your ideal client is? Who are you marketing to?

Have you ever thought about what it takes to attract ideal clients and customers who happily buy when you’re not in front of them? Today, I’d like to share some best practices with you that I use and that my clients now use to write marketing copy that sells.

Sales copy is infinitely important in your business. Why? Because it clones and replaces you in the sales process. It’s a way for you to multiply your reach without extra effort. And it touches EVERY single part of your business–your ezine, your website, your sales pages, your mailing campaigns, your social media, your video–EVERYTHING.

You want to be able to write AMAZING and COMPELLING copy. It is a tool you can use that allows you to sell with authenticity, integrity and love. Now you might be saying right now–did I hear her correctly? Did she say love? Yes, LOVE.

Here’s the deal. In your heart, you want to take what you do in your business and get it out there in a really BIG way. Awesome, authentic copy is one way you can take your message to the masses. Marketing copy is the vehicle. When done well–with love–copy is a divine tool that allows you to be of service to others.

One of the biggest compliments a prospect can give me is to say, “Fabienne, when I read your email I felt like you were talking directly to me. You articulated exactly what I am feeling, exactly what I wanted and you showed me exactly how you were going to give it to me. And you were so real and so authentic. I couldn’t wait to buy what you were offering.”

The best news is that it’s not that difficult to be able to write copy that gets your prospects to respond in this way. In today’s strategy video, I’d like to walk you through my first 4 strategies for writing authentic copy that sells. You’ll see that once you’re able to sink into your heart a little bit, the process is actually quite magical.

1. Set the Intention. Everything is energy–including marketing copy. So, I want you to get in a place of LOVING that person who you are writing to before you put pen to paper or even think about tapping away on your keyboard. Get into a good space first–in whatever way that works for you. For me, that means taking some time to reflect and light my favorite scented candle in a calm and peaceful setting so that I can tune in to my inner guidance and hear what it has to say.

You want to make sure you are aligned with the intention of serving, not taking. Come from a place of abundance rather than scarcity. Desperation (“I’ve just gotta make the sale”) repels abundance so focus instead on faith and service.

Watch this week’s video for my next three strategies. Once you implement these when writing sales copy, I just know you’re going to love the results! Click here to watch.

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System®, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your FREE Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your income, visit www.attractclients.com.

Learn the Importance of Building Your Brand!

Friday, February 15
at 12:30 pm
live webinar with Robin Dann of Studio-G

Branding is the foundation for publicizing your company’s reputation. It is how your current customers see you and how your potential customers perceive you. Your “Brand” is what sets you apart from your competitors. It can help you to establish
credibility, acknowledge expertise and build trust with current and potential customers.

This presentation will focus on the importance of building and strengthening your brand and the steps needed to do so; including visual identity & marketing, customer service, community involvement, public relations, competition & more.

FREE! Registration is required.