How To Stop Being So Goddamn Scared All The Time

So, you’re scared. Let’s finally talk about that, shall we?

I know you’re worried. I know it feels impossible and daunting and terrifying. I know you wish someone would make it all better. We’re going to do our best to start getting you there, ok? Promise.

I’m going to talk you through this. I can’t make it all better, but I’m pretty sure I can make the fear you’re feeling a whole lot more bearable, so you can save that important part of your sanity. (The one that lets you do the things that keep food on the table.)

I’m going to take you through three steps to get the panic to go away, and I won’t make it complicated, because your head is likely already swimming.

Before we move on to the three steps, though, I have a question for you. Read More

How To Email Your List

Occasionally, I try to get off my elitist, conceptual high horse, swanning around talking about marketing theory all day (whilst wearing nothing but a boa, naturally) and talk tactics. Today is one of those times. You may as well pay attention. I’m not scheduled to be tactical again until 2013.

In this series, we’ve been addressing some of the more common roadblocks that stop potentially fabulous ittybiz owners from being, well, fabulous. Today we’re talking about a big one.

How to communicate with the people with the money in a way that does not turn you into:

a.) an irritating pest,
b.) a marketing skeezy pants, or
c.) someone they hear from so infrequently, they don’t remember your name.

I think we can both agree that those are bad things you do not want.

But! Problems! Danger! Read More

How To Get Your Shit Together

As part of this week’s ongoing series of “Help!  I need more people to buy my stuff!” articles, today’s focus is on making your ittybiz a whole lot more attractive to incoming prospects.  (Or, as referred to by the larger marketing community, “Getting your shit together.”)

If people aren’t buying from you at the level you need them to, you may feel like you’re simply not good enough. That’s pretty unlikely (as we talked about yesterday in the Confessional).

What’s probably really happening – and pay close attention to this because it matters – is that you’re not doing enough to get your prospects comfortable enough to buy from you.  They see your website, they look at your promotional materials, and they just don’t give them that “I’m ready to buy” feeling.

Fortunately for you, my lovely, that’s completely fixable.  And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.  Let’s start getting your shit together. Read More

IttyBiz Confessional: “What if I’m not awesome enough?”

First, go sign up for our new Pay What You Can course, the Emergency Turnaround Clinic. It’s Pay What You Can, for God’s sake. How bad can it be?

Every week, we get letters from readers about problems they can’t tell anyone else about.  We’re answering these in the IttyBiz Confessional column on Wednesdays.

Dear Naomi,

I’m scared.  I’ve been trying to build my freelancing business for about a year and a half now, and I’m intimidated by the competition.  They all seem to be larger than life and doing these amazing things, and when I look in my inbox, twitter and facebook all I see is products and events and such that are way bigger than anything I think I can ever do. Read More

Why Money Can Drive You Crazy (Or, How To Stop Saying No To Paying Customers)

So I’m on the phone yesterday with a client (let’s call him John) who runs a medium-sized business on the internet, and he’s telling me how desperately afraid he is about money. He’s up at night, wondering where it’s going to come from this month, and where it’s going to come from in the months after that.

John’s getting about as much sleep as he is new money – not much. The fear of where “new money” is going to come from is driving him crazy. His business isn’t in outright free-fall – it’s a good business, it’s bringing in decent money – it’s just not bringing in enough. And the stress is killing him.  He needs something to change, and change fast.

And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Read More

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