Interview with International Success Coach Lorraine King Markum

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Interview CoachingI have just wrapped up my free teleseminar call with coach Lorraine King Markum of the King Leadership Group. This free call celebrated todays launch of the Pet Business Success Circle Coaching Club.

Lorraine shared some great information with me on the call. Some of the topics that we discussed included:

1. Benefits that small business owners can gain from participation in a coaching program

2. The ability of a coach to help clarify life goals and act as a guide and mentor

3. The reasons that the coaching industry has grown so rapidly in the past several years

4. The common reasons why people do not choose to invest in coaching

5. Why coaching is a great investment in your business

6 Why people are able achieve goals faster when they are working with a coach

You can listen to the recorded call online at :

http://www.petbusinesssuccesscircle.com/InterviewLorraine.mp3

or download from this site to listen on your Ipod or other mp3 music player.

I hope you will visit me at Pet Business Success Circle website to check out what this program can offer you as a small pet business owner.

Our first business expert call will be next Tuesday April 22nd with Sam Brown from Boarding as a Business. She will be sharing with us how she has taken her pet boarding business from rock bottom to a business where she is able to enjoy great financial benefits and time freedom.

I’d love to help you grow your pet business so please visit and see if this coaching program can help you grow!

Pet Business Success Circle Coaching Free Live Tele-Seminar April 15th

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Pet Business Success CoachingI have some more exciting news for you about the Pet Business Success Circle coaching launch next week.To celebrate the launch I will be hosting a free tele-seminar next Tuesday night 15th April with International success coach Lorraine King.  During the call Lorraine will share some of her coaching success stories, discuss the benefits of coaching, and how and why it can take your business to the next level.I will also be answering all your questions about the Pet Business Success Circle coaching and giving you the full details of your early bird package.The call is scheduled for 7pm US Central Time on April 15th. 

To get the call in number all you have to do is visit Pet Business Success Circle and register for the early bird discount.

PS.  I have scheduled the first expert interview for the first month of the program with Sam Brown of www.boardingasabusiness.com.  Sam will share with us her story of how she has used systems and the red day model to take her pet boarding business from rock bottom in 2005 to a thriving business where she works 24 hours a week and takes 170 days of vacation each year!!Sam charges over $4000 for her 3 day coaching boot camp but you can get her tips as part of the Pet Busines Success Circle Membership for only a $19.95 first month investment when you register for the early bird discount. I am very excited to speak with Sam and I know the information she has to share with you will help you to grow your business and achieve more freedom.

If you haven’t downloaded your free ebook - you can pick it up now at:
http://www.petbusinesssuccesscircle.com/10Steps.pdf

To Expand Your Pet Business You Must Outsource

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If your vision for your pet business includes expansion to service larger geographic areas, or providing a larger range of products you must begin to spend more time each day working on business development tasks such as marketing, process improvement, and creation of new services or products. To make time for these business-building activities you will need to be able to separate yourself from the day to day running of your business and gradually have other people take over these activities.

I am currently enjoying the benefits of using contract pet sitters to do the majority of my pet sitting appointments. At first I was very reluctant to give up control of my pet care business to others as I thought that they would not do as good a job of taking care of my customers as I could. To grow my business I had to overcome these fears and I worked with a coach to build my confidence and build systems that now allow me to find great contractors that provide great care for my customer’s pets.

Because I am outsourcing most of my routine pet sitting visits I am now able to expand my business and help other pet business owners by spending time writing my blog, keeping in touch with a weekly e-zine, creating new products and e-books, and learning new skills that will let me run my business more efficiently. Outsourcing also gives me more freedom by allowing you me to spend more time with family and friends instead of working my business 24/7.

Hiring staff and contractors are just one many of the options available today for outsourcing. In the last few years the popularity of using virtual assistants has grown in leaps and bounds. A virtual assistant is someone who works in their own home and takes on jobs for many customers that can be done via phone or the internet.

One great benefit of using a virtual assistant is that they only charge you for the hours that they spend on your projects or tasks. You don’t have to take on the responsibility and cost of hiring a full time assistant. Using virtual assistants you can start off by outsourcing small tasks that take only a few hours per week and gradually increase the work that you give your assistant until you are ready to utilize someone full time. Most VA’s are available for one off jobs at an hourly or quoted project rate.

Some examples of tasks that can be outsourced to a virtual assistant include:

  1. Keeping financial records and book keeping
  2. Administrative duties
  3. Answering calls and emails
  4. Marketing activities such as writing press releases or articles, writing and preparing brochures, and setting up websites and online and offline advertising
  5. Customer follow-up including preparation and mailing of newsletters, mailing of postcards of special offer coupons

I recently used Angela Wills (a virtual assistant) to create the template for this e-zine. Angela has some great articles at her blog www.starva.com including an article which describes how to find the perfect VA - http://starva.com/wordpress/how-to-choose-the-perfect-virtual-assistant/.

Another option is to find contractors that can help you complete one-off jobs using services like Elance (www.elance.com). At Elance you can post a project and have providers bid against each other for the job. You will get a wide spread of quotes and can check out the reviews for each provider and their profile on the site. I have had website graphics and logos completed by Elance contractors and they have done excellent work. Most will provide you with several mock-ups and then you can choose the one you like best and also ask for several changes until you are completely satisfied with their design.

At the moment I am using Elance to find a contractor to complete transcription of 5 audio interviews that I conducted with pet business owners that I plan to turn into a saleable product. I posted my project on Wednesday night and today I have 20 contractors to choose from. When choosing a provider do make sure you check their past reviews, ask for a sample of their previous work, and make sure that you have the ability to ask for changes as part of the price if you are not happy with initial work.

Elance has a list of 100 projects that can be completed by contractors at their site. Browsing through the list is a good way to brainstorm ideas for ways to apply outsourcing in your pet business. Their list is at http://www.elance.com/p/100-project-ideas.html.

Outsourcing is a hot topic today in the business world because people are realizing the power that it has to help them achieve more in less time. Just today I was emailed a information about a free e-book by Jeff Mills called “The Outsourcing Compendium”. He is using this e-book as a give away to promote a larger product package and you can get it free by visiting his site here. His book is targeted at internet marketers but has some valuable tips for outsourcing website and article creation and working with virtual assistants and is worth reading.

If you want to grow your business one of the best steps you can take is to evaluate the tasks that you complete each day. Spend a day or two listing each activity that takes up your time. Once you have your list take a look and mark which tasks you can outsource right now. Make a plan and start delegating!

Use more of your time each day for tasks that build your business and you will see the business growth that you desire.

10 Steps to Supercharge Your Pet Business Success

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10 Steps to Pet Business SuccessToday I am launching my new free special report - 10 Steps to Supercharge Your Pet Business Success - download your copy here right now!

The report gives you a 10 step plan that when implemented will let you achieve the rapid growth you need to take your pet business to a six figure income.

Since I started my pet sitting business in 2003 I have studied the systems and strategies used by other successful pet business owners and gradually implemented these strategies in my own business. As I’ve learnt how others have been successful, my own success has multiplied.

Some pet care businesses can be very simple to start and manage. I started my pet sitting business by reading an instructional book, registering a name, buying ready-made forms, printing some business cards and flyers, and heading out into my community to find new customers. I picked up customers, learnt the business as I went along, and improved the way I ran my company as the business grew, but early on the growth was slow.

Over the past four years I have discovered that to start a pet business and achieve fast growth requires business networking, marketing, and business management skills. You can study textbooks to attain this knowledge, but I’ve found that the best way to get the skills you need is to learn from other pet business owners, finding a mentor, and working with a coach. Finding the methods that work and learning from the mistakes of others, without having to make them yourself, can save you many weeks or years of frustration. Having mentors and coaches to support though the tough patches, motivate you, and keep you accountable to your goals, can get you on the fast track to success.

The ten steps in my special report are strategies implemented by all successful business owners. Without them you can fall into the trap of working in your business rather than working on your business.

If you spend all your time working in your business on day-to-day tasks, making sure that the business keeps running, then you will not achieve business growth. To grow you need to make sure you focus on consistently working on your business by marketing, finding new ways to serve your customers needs, improving service and systems, and setting yourself apart from your competitors.

The ten steps work together to ensure that you are constantly moving forward and achieving business growth. Making time in your schedule to work on each one of these steps at least once every week will guarantee that your business grows stronger and that you achieve your dream of owning a successful pet business that provides you with the great lifestyle that you deserve.

Download a copy now and please feel free to forward the report to anyone that you feel can benefit from the 10 Step plan.

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