SMARTSTART helps small business owners get the results they want, but don't have and change the results they have, but don't want.

Generating leads for my small business has been challenging (as it is for many of my clients and perhaps you too). So, each summer, I run marketing experiments and this summer’s experiment has hit a…

Every summer I run 90-day marketing experiments using a process I learned from Noah Kagan. Here’s how it works: Even better — this 90-day approach provides 4 opportunities to improve marketing…

Building a new stan store for SMARTSTART makes selling our digital creations easy for competing in the stan store 30-day challenge.

Skipping steps or proceeding in the wrong order delay success. I understand your desire to focus on getting clients and making money as fast as possible when you start a business. But focusing on your strategies for learning and building…

Use balance sheet principles to map your business journey. The story of your business is told on the balance sheet. Reporting the assets, liabilities, and equity held at a given point in time (or at different time intervals) can help you better…

What it is, what it means, and how to achieve it. Last week, I came across someone who defined thought leadership as “sharing your thoughts” without apologizing so you can make more money. However, true thought leadership has much greater substance…

And yes, you’ll go further much faster if you hire one! Sometimes I’m a business coach. I say “sometimes” because it’s not the only way I spend my time for money. In the tens of thousands of hours I’ve occupied that particular role, I’ve noticed a…

How you spend your days is how you spend your life. Have you thought about how much busy work is really costing you? We all have things about our work we enjoy doing and do very well. Then there are those tasks we just can’t stand or simply suck at.…

It’s a well-known fact that stress can kill you. Not just your business. You. Owning your own business is a stressful undertaking on so many levels. Even more so when you’re dealing with revenue-related stress. A situation made far worse when you…

Everyone is born with latent or underutilized genius that they can learn to identify and use to accelerate business results with less effort and anxiety. Sadly, many business owners remain unaware of or disconnected from their own genius, but that…

Choosing where and how to compete. Linda M. Lopeke 4 hours ago·2 min read With many problems to be solved, the possibilities for your business in a connected world are endless. Complex markets, intense competition, expectant clients and customers,…

We’re all familiar with the traditional measure of business success being s/he who makes the most sales in a given time frame wins. But digital marketing means to sell to one person who needs or wants what you offer, you interrupt hundreds of others…

The phrase “boss babe,” and similar titles like “girl boss,” “boss bitch,” “lady boss”, “sexy boss,” “fempreneur,” “mompreneur” and “SheEO” devalue the idea of women being powerful in a business context. We don’t see men marketing themselves on…

For your business to have a bright long-term future, you need a series of survivable short-term futures. How often have you heard the secret to business success is to “create (more) value for your clients/customers?” Often, I’ll bet, but without an…

While sales pipeline, funnel and process all describe the flow from lead to sale, there are important differences among these often confused terms. A sales funnel measures what your target AUDIENCE does in response to a marketing conversation. It…

To improve your business results by creating more effective marketing, the first thing to look for is message-to-market fit. And the second is how clearly differentiators are presented. In most cases, when working with clients, I find the fit isn’t…

It’s easy to confuse digital marketing strategy with your marketing plan and campaigns, but they are three different things. Here’s the breakdown: A digital marketing STRATEGY describes WHY you are taking the actions you plan to invest in. EXAMPLE:…

Not thrilled with your content marketing results? Posting random content in multiple social media channels unconsciously does not drive sales and build profitable relationships with your target audience. Stop! This common bad behavior contradicts and…