Do you ever get discouraged with your business or job?  Do you ever feel like you’re the only fighting an uphill battle?  Do you wonder what other businesses are doing to be successful?  How do other business owners overcome the challenges they face on a daily/weekly/monthly basis?

Well, these are all GREAT questions and I’m sure you’re not the only one that’s ever asked them.  In fact, I’d be willing to be there are a LOT of other business owners asking the very same questions.  I know I sure do!

So, where do you find the answers to these questions?  Where do you find the support you need to truly take your business to the next level and beyond?

I can tell you it sure isn’t staying right where you are or associating with the people you normally hang out with on the weekends.  Well, maybe it is, but chances are you’re not always around like-minded people that are thinkers, doers, and go-getters.

However, it’s EXTREMELY important that you surround yourself, even if it’s only on occassion, with people that are thinkers and doers.  People that you can bounce ideas off of, get support from through the challenging times, or just feel like you’re not alone in this scary world of ‘business’.

I raise these questions to you because I spent all of this morning  and most of this afternoon in what’s called a Mastermind meeting.

What’s a ‘Mastermind’ you ask?  Well, it can be many things really, but in this case it’s a group of local business owners here in the Charlotte area that get together at least once a month to talk business ideas and strategies.  We all come from different industries and businesses which makes for a VERY interesting time, especially when it comes to discussing the challenges and issues we face.

However, it’s a good interesting because I LOVE hearing suggestions or commentary from people outside my business.  It gives me a different perspective and way to look at the problems and challenges I face every day.

Another benefit is that I get to associate myself with other successful people that are trying to push and stretch their way to new growth, just like I am.  Napoleon Hill said,

“Men take on the nature and habits and power of thought of those with whom they associate most closely…”

Well, let me say this.  If I can take on the collective nature, habits, and power of though of the guys I get to mastermind with, I’m excited about the fantastic things I’ll be able to accomplish in my business.

So, let me ask you this?  Who are you associating with?  Who are you ‘masterminding’ with?  Are they the kind of people that can help you achieve your personal and professional objectives?  Will they provide you with a solid sounding board upon which to grow and stretch your capacities?

I challenge you to seek out your own mastermind group so that you too can benefit from the power of the collective wisdom!

While this little tidbit of advice holds true in any economic climate, it’s especially true in today’s topsey-turvey marketplace.  If you want to maximize your marketing dollars and grow your business as quickly and effectively as possible then you need to narrow your focus and market ONLY to those prospects that meet a certain criteria.

This goes back to a concept adopted from the real estate market and something I’ve talked about many, many times.  The process of creating a farm.

A ‘farm’ is basically a highly targeted list of prospects you create either through your own efforts or by purchasing a list from a reliable source.  The list should be big enough to make a significant impact on the growth of your business, but small enough that you can communicate with EVERY NAME on the list many times throughout the year.

You see, most lawn care or landscaping businesses make the mistake of sending postcards to a list of 5-15K name twice a year.  Once in the Spring and once in the Fall.  While these are great times to advertise, doing it only twice a year is almost a waste because while you will attract some business, it’s not as much as you could if you’d scaled back your list size to 1,500 names and mailed to them every month throughout the year.

So, as you’re looking to grow your business amidst all the news of bank failures, foreclosed homes, and tightening credit markets, focus on using your ‘bullets’ more efficiently.  Scale back your list, target your efforts very carefully, and sit back and watch your business grow while everyone else struggles.

As you’re looking to increase your knowledge and understanding of what GOOD marketing is, it’s important to look outside the green industry to other areas.  When you become myopic in your thinking and think the only place you’ll be able to find good marketing is within the lawn care or landscaping industry, it should set off an alarm in your head that you’re in SERIOUS trouble.

Here’s a clip from a keynote address by Michael Port.  He’s the author of ‘Book  Yourself Solid’.  It’s a fantastic resource on how you can become the dominant player in your marketplace and I highly encourage you do add it to your library.

As you’re watching this clip, think about how you can apply the principles to your individual lawn care or landscaping business.  Yes, it will require a bit of thinking, but step outside the box.  Think about how you can apply what he’s saying to make your business remarkable.

So, which one are you?  Actually, do you even know the difference between the two?  Is there a difference?

You might be surprised to learn that there is indeed a difference.  A big one in fact.

You see, a business owner is someone that has their head down, focused solely on building that little piece of the pie.  In your case, it might be a lawn care or landscaping business.  Your every waking moment is spent trying to build that business by getting new customers, providing exceptional customer service, and building the name and reputation of your business.

Now, while there’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with that, when you’re an entreprenuer you see so much more than just your ‘little’ business.  In addition to your lawn care or landscaping business you see the potential to add on pest control services, or tree care services.

You might begin hosting a radio program teaching people how to care for and maintain their landscape, thus allowing you to get advertising dollars, create sponsorships with other local businesses, and ultimately expand your reach beyond your current marketplace through syndication.

There’s also the possibility of creating a course that teaches other LCO’s how to start, build, and run their own profitably lawn care or landscaping company.  And on top of that, you could have on-going courses, training, or seminars that contiually work with and teach your students how to build a bigger better company.

You see, an entreprenuer is focused on a much bigger scale than the business owner.  As a result, the entreprenuer is able to diversify his income streams, accumulate wealthy must faster, and is isolated from the ups and downs of one particular segment of his income.

So, if you really want to do more than just be a business owner, open your mind and start looking for additional revenue producing opportunities.  There are plenty of them out there, you just need to be willing to step outside of your current mindset and look for them.

There’s an old saying that says, ‘A confused mind never buys.’  In other words, if you give your customers or prospects TOO MANY choices, they’ll end up not buying anything.

As a business owner, it’s important to give your customers as many opportunities to purchase your products and services as possible. But, you’ve got to be careful to not give them too many at once.

As it relates to your lawn care, landscaping, irrigation, design/installation, or fertilization business, one way to get around this is to create service packages and then when you’re selling your services, sell these packages.  I typically recommend offering 3 packages.  A basic package, a middle of the road package, and a deluxe ‘everything-but-the-kitchen-sink’ type package.  Don’t offer any else up front.

Of course once your prospects or customers have decided on a package and you’ve got their credit card in hand or they’re signing the contract, then you can introduce some of your upsell services.  Or perhaps you want to wait until immediately after you’ve delivered the first round of services.

Regardless, be sure you have plenty of products or services you can offer them, just be smart about when you introduce them to all of their choices.

If you’ve paid any attention to the news this past week then you know the government is trying to push through a $700B package meant to bail out Wall Street, so to speak.  It’s basically tax payers money that will be going to help the big banks that got caught funding a whole slew of bad mortgages.

As of yesterday afternoon, the deal wasn’t approved but I’m sure at some point some type of agreement will be reached.  So how exactly does this affect you and your business?

In a nutshell, this whole mess makes getting financing extremely difficult.  Sort of.

You see, we’ve been living in a time when it was incredibly easy to get credit and financing for just about anything, homes, cars, supplies, etc. Well, part of the problem is that the people getting all this financing couldn’t always afford it.  They didn’t have the resources to pay back the credit they were given.

As a result, once all the available credit was used up, there wasn’t anymore money to lend and there’s this big pinch.  Business can’t get money to invest in growth.  Heck, some business may not even be able to get money to pay their employees, that’s how bad it may get.

All of this will eventually trickle down to us as consumers, meaning we’ll have to begin making some hard decisions about where we spend our money.  This is where you come in.

You see, you aren’t just competing against other lawn care or landscaping companies.  You’re also now competing against a new car, putting kids through college, taking a vacation, home improvements, and renewing the country club membership.  You’re competing against other ‘things’ that also take money out of your customer’s pockets.

But all this doesn’t mean it’s time to close up shop or retreat back into your shell to simply ‘ride it out’.  No.  Now’s the time to refocus and really become the dominant player in your chosen marketplace because EVERYONE’S being affected by this and it’s the savvy businesses that will turn this challenge into an opportunity.

While there are many things you could do to ensure your business continues to grow, the BIGGEST thing you need to do is refocus your efforts on marketing your business.  Because people ignore most of the marketing and advertising that’s out there today, you need to learn how to market your business effectively so when you invest in marketing, it generates a good ROI.

You also need to focus on establishing a good relationship with your existing customers.  If you’ve chosen your market properly and they have the disposable income available regardless of what the big banks are doing, then you should be fine IF you invest some time in making sure they know how much you appreciate the relationship and opportunity.

Send them a hard copy newsletter each and every month.  Yes, it costs money, but $.75/mo to maintain a $100+/mo account is CHUMP CHANGE.  If you think you can’t afford to invest $.75 each month in order to continue making $100+ each month then you need to go find a J-O-B.

Anyway, yes, the news is a bit scary as of late.  But it’s only scary for those that don’t know how to turn this challenge into an opportunity.  Be one of those that turns it into an opportunity to grow and strengthen your business!