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الاثنين، 4 يناير 2016

Crushing Goals for 2016

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.

-Tony Robbins

The last five years I’ve encountered the biggest growth I’ve ever had in my personal and business life.

Having clearly defined goals and revisiting those goals on a routine basis is 100% of the catalyst behind that growth.

I initially shared my goals publicly here.  Then again here.  And last year, here.

I’ve enjoyed writing these articles and hope that you can take something out of these and apply to your own life and goals.

Most people set New Year’s resolutions but fail to identify their short-term goals that will keep them on track to accomplish their long-term goals.

Sadly, that’s why most people fail.

My goals for 2016

The other aspect is most people don’t take time to reflect all the good things they have achieved.

We get so caught up in achieving the next “big thing” we forget about all the small wins along the way.


Gratification is the first and most important step in achieving success.
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Let’s first take a look at what my goals were in 2015.  We’ll then identify my Positive Focus for last year.  Lastly, I’ll share my 1 year goals for 2016 plus my goals for the first quarter to get this year started right.

Let’s get started…

1. Grow my assets under management by $30 million

Technically, this wasn’t a full one year goal. I did this post at the beginning of the year, but didn’t hire my new advisor, Andrew, until March of 2015. The goal then was to grow $30 million by March of 2016, so I still have roughly 90 days to make that happen.

At this point, I doubt that I’ll get that unless a serious influx of new assets come in. I’ll probably be closer to the $15 million to $20 million mark, which is by far the most I’ve brought in in a long time, which is great. This has a lot to do with hiring Andrew and being much more intentional with our marketing and perfecting our back end processes.

We held a few local seminars and launched our first two webinars. The webinars are really taking off, so we’re putting more emphasis on those in 2016.

I’ll be honest – that goal was pretty outrageous based on my growth in previous years. When I first established the goal it was to hit $15 million.

For fun I doubled it.

Sometimes you have to dream big, right? :)

I’m probably not going to get it – but I’m fairly close about within 60% of my original goal.

I’m very happy with the progress even though I didn’t get my initial goal. But hey, I may never had made the additional $15-$20 million mark if I hadn’t raised the bar to $30 million.

2. Grow my online revenue by 150%

I’m still tallying the numbers, but it looks like I’m going to be roughly right around 145% on this one. I’m really happy about this one. It’s a little bit below where my initial goal was but a lot closer than my asset goal!

There are a few different ways that I make money online.  Primarily, it’s through my blogs, but what really proved to be the difference-maker was I pre-launched my first course.

I’m currently working on completing the material now (I’ll share more about that in my one year goals).

3. Take five vacations

For those who have been following me for a while, you probably know that two years ago my wife and I embarked on our first RV trip. It was a two-week RV trip and I had a blast. The kids had a blast, too. And the wife – maybe she had a blast too – even though RVs aren’t her thing.

The agreement was that if we did an RV trip that year that she would get her beach vacation the year after, which would have happened in 2015. At the beginning of 2015 Mandy and I went to Jamaica without the kids.

It was awesome!

kids becoming millionaires

We then went to Orlando for spring break, with the whole family. We also did a couples-only trip to Mexico, adding a another beach vacation. Mandy and I also went back to Jamaica, but to a different resort, and took our kids for yet another vacation.

Coming from where the most vacations that we typically took was one vacation, or maybe two if you count spring break – this was a fun goal to achieve and we can’t wait to do it again.

4. Get and keep a six pack

This is the one I’m most disappointed about. I’m good at working out and do so very consistently. We have an elliptical in our home downstairs.

I’ve also done the 21 Day Fix with my wife – a few different times. I have some bumper plates in my garage, if I ever want to do some deadlifts. I do CrossFit. I’ve got a kettle bell. I’ve got a box for box jumps, and jump rope for double unders. I have all this stuff. I even joined a gym recently (end of November), just so that I have a place to work out when my garage was too cold.

Despite this, I’m basically  in the exact same spot where I was a year ago. Not like I’m fat by any stretch, but right now I’m weighing about 208 pounds. I  got below 200 for a little bit this summer, but have hovering around 202 pounds. For a few months I started lifting heavier and increased my calorie intake.  I don’t know if that’s good or bad, or why I’ve gained a little bit of weight, but I definitely don’t have the six pack that I want.

I’ve been using MyFitness Pal and I just know that whenever I splurge, I splurge with the best of them. We’re planning another vacation – adults only, no kids – at the beginning of 2016, which is to say that right now I have about four weeks to slim down. I don’t know if I’ll get a six pack in that time frame, but I’m doing something about it.  More on that in my 90 day goals.

Positive Focus – 2015 a Year in Review

Alright, so that’s some of the one year goals I had, and how they’ve turned out. Now I want to reflect on my Positive Focus – what were all the good things that happened last year. I think what’s really important is to reflect back on the good things that occurred.

Here’s a recap of the good:

1. Hiring Andrew

hiring andrew

Andrew is the financial advisor who is currently working with me at Alliance Wealth Management. Bringing him on board was huge and a game-changer. I had another advisor who was with me for a little while, and it just didn’t quite work out. I thought I was in the process of grooming another intern, but it didn’t work out either.

Andrew kind of just fell in my lap. We had several lunch meetings, just to get to know each other, and it made me recognize that we are very similar. We both had really big ambitions, and both wanted to grow.

Bringing him on board has just been huge. It’s been huge for the business, and it’s been huge for me to be able to have somebody else who can help grow the practice. That is definitely one of the big plusses I had in 2015.

2. Refining our unique process

Prior to Andrew coming on board I had created the Financial Success Blueprint. This is a unique process for anyone who’s interested in becoming a client of myself and Alliance Wealth Management.

When we first created it, like anything new, we had to really tweak the process constantly. Not so much on the front end, but more on the back end.

For example, how do we handle the flow of getting our potential new clients from step one to step two of the process.  And and then from step three to step four? It’s a six step process, and we needed to create a seamless flow from one step to the next.

There are a lot of things that happen in those steps to make sure it gets done and gets done in an efficient manner. The first couple of times we went through we definitely had a few bumps in the road!

But through time and constantly reviewing our procedures we’ve almost got the process where it runs seamless.

When a new prospect or client comes on board, we know who is going what and when each step is going to get done by who. It’s a beautiful thing when it all comes together!

It probably will never be 100% perfect, but it has come so far that we’re probably at 80% to 90% where it needs to be. I’m a perfectionist so I just want it to be legit, which means we’re constantly reevaluating it.

I don’t actually have any hand in that process – everything gets done without me, which improves my efficiency and frees up my time to work on other parts of our business. That’s a huge win and a positive focus.

3. Cutting down to 17-hour workweeks at the office

I’ve recognized I am so much more productive when I am not in the office. I often get sucked into meaningless tasks or hallway chatter which cuts into productivity.

Meanwhile, I’ve got three boys and a wife to spend time with on top of working out.  I’m also the head coach of my oldest son’s third grade basketball team, and an assistant coach for my middle son’s basketball team, too. Added together, I just don’t have a lot of extra time in the day.

I drop off my youngest at pre-K at 8:15, so sometimes I don’t get to the office until almost 9:00. And having to be someplace either after work or during the day, I’m very protective and cautious of that time. What I recognize is that on the days I’m in the office, I get distracted, or I’ll get stuck in a conversation that really isn’t all that productive.

It’s okay to have those conversations here and there, but not everyday, and not when a five minute conversation turns into 20 minutes. It can prevent you from being productive and creative, and when I need to be in that place where I’m taking advantage of my unique abilities.

Recognizing that, I told my office manager, I don’t want to be in the office more than 16 hours per week. And when I am that time is going to be client meetings or strategy meetings with my team.

But if there is anything else as far as doing portfolio reviews or strategy sessions for clients or marketing for the firm or whatever that is, I’ve got to get away from the office. That’s means either me working at home, or at the local Barnes and Noble or a local coffee shop. To hold me accountable I’m having my office manager track my hours.

If you notice the bullet point on this section was a 17-hour work week, but my goal was 16 hours; as of last tracking, I’m at about 16.97 hours per week that I’m in the office.

I’m almost an hour above what my initial goal was, but being the fact that for a time – especially this summer, whenever Andrew first came on board and I was training him and we were doing seminars – I was putting in a lot more. There were nights I was there until 6pm or 7 p.m., which I haven’t done in a long time.

When you’ve been in the business for over 13 years like I have, typically most advisors I would assume don’t work past a certain hour. That’s because you’ve built up your business, and you don’t have to work in the evenings. I found myself working late some nights, having to take care of both new and existing clients, plus training Andrew on where he needed to be to be able to manage things.

Now that I’ve put the time in I should be able to take a step back and reduce my time in the office. My goal is to cut down to less than 16 hours.

4. I’ve pre launched my first course

online advisor growth formula course landing page

Launching a course is something  I’ve been wanting to do for over five years, but I could never come up with the concept. The idea I finally decided on is based off one of the most common questionsI get asked, especially from other financial advisors, and that’s how I’ve used online marketing to grow my practice and my brand.

I’ve been asked that question over and over again, so I decided to create a course Before I created it I wanted to know if anyone was interested. That meant that I had to email a list of 140 or 150 advisors and and presell it to them.

Basically, I said here’s the course – here’s what I’m going to do. If you’re interested, and you want to buy it now, you’re going to get a very, very steep discount, because the course isn’t done yet.

I’ve got to give props to my buddy Grant Baldwin, a good friend of mine whose also a speaker and online entrepreneur, and to Bryan Harris from Videofruit.com, both of whom were very helpful in this. Grant helped me decide on the topic and Bryan has wrote this really amazing article on how to launch a course.

When I pre-sold it, 28 advisors signed up at $497.  Boo-yah!

Right now I’m in the process of creating the material, which was a very exciting thing for me. That’s something I’ve wanted to do and I finally did it.

5.  I took five vacations this year

That was a huge positive focus, and I’m thankful to be able to do that. Thankful that number one, we have the money to do that, but also thankful that I had the willingness – and not just the idea – to do that. I’m around people who are successful, and a lot of them just keep doing more work, work, work, and they don’t take time to appreciate what’s really important.

Your job or business isn’t it.  It’s the people around you that love you.

That’s why I make it a priority to spend time with family and my kids while I can before they get old enough and they don’t care about going on vacation with their family. I want to make sure I take advantage of that now.

6. Completed the GoRuck Challenge

goruck challenge

This was something that literally kicked my butt. Each year Tom – a good buddy of mine – and I do one adventure race per year. In years past we’ve done the Urbanathalon, and the Tough Mudder. We had planned on doing the Spartan Race this year but scheduling just didn’t work out; we wanted to do the Spartan Race Trifecta which is doing the three races in the calendar year.

So when we figured we couldn’t do that we decided to do the Go Ruck Challenge, and I don’t know what I thought about the Go Ruck Challenge. Part of me thought it would be like the Tough Mudder, which was pretty easy. But Go Ruck was challenging and within 30 minutes of realizing that I was nowhere close, it beat me down. It was one of the hardest physical challenges I’ve put myself through, maybe in my entire life. I have never been that exhausted.

It was 12 hours long. We started at 9 p.m. on a Friday evening, and we went until 10:30 the next morning with a 30 pound rock and just a lot of crazy other things. You can read more about Go Ruck Challenge, but it really kicked my butt.

7.  Seminar and first webinar in the books

It was the first seminar I’ve done in over eight years, and then we also had our first few webinars this year, which were a huge success. We plan to do a lot more of those in 2016. The webinar is something that I’ve been talking about doing for probably at least two years (my procrastination habit at work yet again!). But I finally got it done and it was good stuff.

Alright, that’s a look on the positive focus on some of the things that I’m excited about.

Some of the things that I often forget about, and this is something that we all need to do – we all should do – because we take all the good things and all the “little” things for granted. When is the last time that you reflected back on the last 90 days, or the last year, just to see what are some of the good things to have happened?.

If I’m ever stuck in a rut, this is just an easy exercise that we can all do to be grateful for all those things that we just forget about because once a good thing happens you’re kind of on to the next thing. It’s always good to reflect back and and reflect on those things and be grateful for them. It makes you appreciate it even a whole lot more.

Honorable mentions:  Nominated in the inaugural class for a Saluki Emerging Award by my alma mater, taking the #1 spot for our regions Reader’s Choice awards for Best Financial Advisor, paid $15k with travel to fly to New York to speak for John Hancock and meet the actor Chris O’Donnel.

Now let’s move on to my new goals for 2016, starting with…

90 Day Goals

Here’s a look at my first quarter goals that I’m already working on.

1. Hold two webinars.

We are in the process of creating an alternatives to long care insurance, and also another one on mutual funds. The goal is to have one in January and another one in March, so that gives us a little bit of time to do both.

2. Take Another spouse only vacation.

We are not going the beginning of January this year. Instead, we’re going to try to do it between Mandy’s and my birthday most likely in the middle of February.  We’re shooting for at least  a four or five night vacation to somewhere warm and, of course,  without kids.

So bring the sunscreen and umbrella drinks!

jamaica trip

3. Complete my course for the online marketing for financial advisors.

As of this writing, I’m almost halfway done. I’ve got to roll up my sleeves and make some big progress from now until then, but I’m pretty confident. I’ve got a pretty good system going now. It took me a little while to get it figured out, but it’s getting there.

I’m showing behind-the-scenes of how I’ve grown my blog and used that to grow new clients and new opportunities, the kind that come from having such a strong online presence. That’s something very easy for me because I’ve done it, and in fact I’ve been really good at doing that, so I need to get that done in the first quarter of 2016.

4. Email funnel for Good Financial Cents.

Right now I have over 22,000 email subscribers, and everyone on it gets the exact same information that is fed out over a 12 month periods.  I’ve setup an auto responder series which has worked great as trickle my content over time.

The problem is if you’re reading this you could be 20 years old, or you could be 55 years old. And depending on where you’re at in your financial life, you’re going to want to read different information that’s more applicable to where you are on your financial journey.

With my blog I have so much content that speaks to all different generations, all different points of life where people are at with their finances, I need to do a much better job of making sure that you get information that is more pertinent to you and so that’s what we want to focus on.

With my old email provider, segmenting was very difficult.  Last year I switched to ConvertKit and that is all going to change.

We’re in the process of segmenting our lists so that if you are in or just out of college, you’re going to get more information that’s geared towards someone just starting off.

If you’re someone that is raising a family, you’re going to get information that is more geared towards that. And if you’re closer to retirement, or in retirement, we want to make sure the information you get is around those types of situations that are most helpful for you.

This is a task I’ve needed to do for a while and  recognized that I need to hire somebody otherwise it was never going to get done. I’ve already hired Tony and we’ve mapped out our plan. We’ll be working on thus during the first couple of months of 2016 to get our list better segmented.

If you’re on the email list, be sure to look out for that. We’ll have to send you an email so you can select what’s going to be the best information for you, but once you do that, I think you’ll appreciate it because that way everything that you get is going to be more relevant to where you are at with your finances. I’m very excited about this!

5. Hire an executive assistant for my online business.

If you looked at my business structure right now, with my firm I have an advisor, Andrew; I have an office manager currently, Stephanie. But with my online business, I have at my last count 11 independent contractors that are all assisting with my a variety of tasks. This includes copy editors, social media managers, podcast editors, WordPress developers (coders), my email marketing, graphic designer and my affiliate managers.

This kind of blew me away, actually. I didn’t realize that my team had grown to that big. Since none of them are full time employees, it doesn’t feel as if I have a big team but numbers don’t lie.

The biggest problem with my team is I’m basically the main point of contact for my entire team. That means I have to make all executive decisions and I’m responsible to answer all emails. I get interview requests or revenue opportunities (I get a lot of both) that I don’t even mess with anymore, but they’re all coming to my inbox and I just want to get rid of that.

That needs to change. 

I recognize it doesn’t have to be the one who answers all these questions; it could be for Andrew or it could be for someone else on my team.

I’m going to hire an executive assistant who will manage the email flow, getting certain tasks done, and be that “go-to person” I can count on.

As of right now, my social media manager is the one that I’m currently talking with who is going to assume this role. We still have the need to have a conversation, but that’s something that I’m really excited about.

What really inspired me to do this was going through the interview process for Michael Hyatt’s mastermind program The Inner Circle.

Michael Hyatt, if you don’t know, is a published author, a New York Times bestseller, a super online marketer, and online business guy. He also was the former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing before they were bought out by Harper Collins

He is also a Christian and just a good guy and I recently applied to be a part of his mastermind group. There were five spots open which 140 people applied to and I was one of the five selected.  #happydance

What really interested me about Michael was as I went through this interview process, before I even talked with him, I talked with his daughter who is chief operations officer. I also spoke with her executive assistant, but then before that even happened it was the assistant to his executive assistant that scheduled the meeting.

I was like, “Oh my goodness, to actually talk with Michael it was 1, 2, 3 people before I even got to him!”

When I looked at my own business – that’s how I have my firm set up, but with my online businesses I don’t.

It’s just me and I don’t have a good reason why it’s just me.

It’s been an eye opening experience realizing that I need to bring somebody on board that’s going to be that person for me.

One of the first things I did was complete an Impact Filter.  This a tool I got from Strategic Coach. It helps clearly identify what you are trying to accomplish on a particular project.

It also analyzes the importance of doing this, what is the success criteria, and what does this look like in the end? So if I bring on the executive assistant what do I hope that this person is going to do for me?

What are my expectations of this person and then the question of what’s the best case scenario if I do hire this person, as well as what is the worst case scenario if I don’t hire this person.

It took me about 30 to 45 minutes to complete this and then I shared it with her. My hope is that she can see exactly what I’m looking for and what my expectations are.

Impact Filter Strategic Coach

If you don’t take some time to really write that down and visually see it, you can be setting yourself up for disappointment. Because you haven’t clearly articulated yourself and exactly what it is you are trying to achieve.

This is important for new hires or for any big projects that I am doing.  I always take some time to fill out an Impact Filter and this time was no different.

6. Get that dang six pack

As mentioned above, my biggest disappointment from last year was not getting my six pack.  I came close near the beginning of the summer, but nowhere close to maintaining it.

I’m the type of person that needs motivation or a deadline to achieve something.  To make sure I have some skin in the game, I decided to message my buddies, Noah Kagan and Steve Chou.

Noah is a health nut and loves to hold people accountable.  Steve is busy entrepreneur with a family and achieved a six pack awhile ago.  I thought they would be the perfect two to keep me honest.

Here’s how it went down..

six pack noah

So yeah….I bet Noah $1,000 I can have a six pack my March 13th, 2016.  If you’re wondering why that date it’s the first date of our kids spring break and we’ll be heading to somewhere warm to show off my new abs.

In case you’re wondering, when/if I do get my six pack, I don’t win any money.  I just get abs.

And Steve just gets to heckle me along the way and make fun pictures like this:

my six pack with noah

This is what good friends are all about.  :)

That’s it for my 90 days goals. Next I’m going to go through my one year goals.

One Year Goals

1. To have a spouse-only vacation

We don’t know where we’re going yet, but I do know it’s going to have a beach and we’re going to have umbrella drinks and it’s just going to be Mandy and me! That’s going to happen in the first quarter this year.

2. Rose’s RV Trip Part 2

Yup. This is the 1 year goal I’m most excited about.

Unfortunately, I don’t have this lined up yet. It’s a bit more difficult to plan because our oldest son is on traveling baseball team and we didn’t have to deal with this when we went on our first RV trip two years ago. Mandy has already agreed to it….kinda.

I don’t have it in writing yet, but she told me that she’s going to do it. So far, so good.

I think we’re going to do it a little bit different this year. Last time we left from Illinois and drove out to the Grand Canyon which was fun, but unfortunately from here to Colorado there really isn’t anything to see – sorry Kansas, sorry North Texas. That’s not to say it was a waste of travel, but driving there and driving back was about three days of not seeing a lot so we’re going to do it a little bit different.

This time we are going to fly somewhere, don’t know where yet, and then pick up an RV so that we can travel. I’m thinking someplace like Yellowstone or  Northern California.

I really haven’t looked on the map yet, but that way we can spend more time seeing cool stuff, and not seeing more of Kansas, I wouldn’t lose any sleep.

Kansas, I still love you but once you’ve seen a green field you’ve kind of seen them all.

3. 16-hour workweeks in the office

I already mentioned this as being a positive focus of last year. I’m not quite at 16 hours so I want to make sure that I get that this year.

I absolutely don’t want to be above 16 hours a week in the office.

4. Complete the Spartan Race Trifecta this year

Every year my buddy Tom and I do a crazy adventure race.  Last year it was the GoRuck.  This year we’re doing the Spartan Race.  But not just one.  We’re going to conquer the Trifecta!

We’ve already signed up for a Super and a Sprint for June in Chicago. If you’re reading this and you have not registered yet, come join us!

I’m excited because I actually got Mandy to – actually I didn’t really get her, I signed her up! I signed up Mandy to do a Spartan Sprint, which will be on that Sunday.

After we complete these two races we still have have to find a Beast to finish and then the Trifecta will be complete.  AROO!

5. Start a weekly video podcast

I miss doing videos. Unfortunately, videos just take a lot of time, especially if you don’t have a good team on hand to do the editing and set up the extra production. Mandy used to help me with that back in the day, but she quit.  :)

I had to find somebody else, and I’ve struggled to find anyone local, though I do have a few things lined up.

This is more like a second quarter project but it will happen this year.

6. Launch another blog movement

I already have it in mind. I don’t want to share it here just yet, but for those not familiar, in the past I’ve done the Roth IRA movement, the Life Insurance Movement and then the Debt Movement.

The Debt Movement was the last movement I head up and that was about two or three years ago, so it’s been awhile.

I tried doing an Invest Now movement and it didn’t really quite work out the way I wanted it to. I understand now why, so I have another movement in mind. Stay tuned!

7. Have my course fully launched

Not only do I want to have it completed, but I want to have it launched to where it looks legit, and where I can charge a premium on it. We’ll be doing webinars to promote it as well as a big marketing campaign to get it out there. I think that’s going to be a big piece of my revenue for 2016, so I’m looking forward to this one too.

8. Hire a new executive assistant for my online businesses

The wheels are already in motion here, so I’m going to have this complete first quarter.

9. Build a school

This is something Mandy and I  have wanted to do for awhile. I don’t know if it’s going to be Pencils of Promise or a new charitable foundation that we just learned about (through Michael).

The biggest holdup as been our adoption.  We have been in the process of adopting for over three years now.

However, there’s still no indication as to when it’s going to happen. But when we get word of the adoption, it will cost a good chunk of money to get it taken care of.

We’ve been hesitant to do anything else big because of this.  Once we get our savings replenished from the mastermind group I just joined, Mandy and I have agreed that we’re going to build our first school.  Hopefully the first of many more!  :)

10.  Total revenue surpasses 7 figures

This goal is the weirdest one for me to write.  Coming a family that really didn’t have much and a first job out of college paying me a whopping $18,500, I never in a million would have expected to reach this goal.

Last year my income was flat from the year before but a very interesting happened.   My online revenue for the first time ever surpassed my financial planning revenue.

That’s awesome for a couple of reasons:

  1. This has been a goal of mine for a few years.
  2. I think it will grow even more this year.

For this to happen I’m shooting for a 50% growth in revenue for my financial planning practice, 25% growth in revenue for my blogs, plus a goal of $250k of revenue for my course.

For my practice, Andrew and I have committed to conducting a webinar at least once every month.  We’re also going implement our first automated webinar so leads can trickle in without us recording a live one.

On the blog sides, I firmly believe that after we better segment our list that revenue should increase with affiliate offers and other opportunities.  This should also be a good lead source for the practice, too.

Finally, the course.   I don’t know the exact price point for my course, but since 28 people agreed to pre-buy the course for $497, I suspect that somewhere between $1297-$1,997 is doable.  I’ll also be hosting live webinars to promote this and having my new executive assistant help manage the new customers.

7 figures here I come!

2016 goals – Bring it on

Alright, so there’s a peak in what Jeff Rose has in store for 2016.

One other thing I do want to add is how I’ll be tracking them as the year progresses. This is a software program that Michael Hyatt introduced me to. It’s called Goals on Track and it’s an app but can also be accessed on your desktop.

You list what your goals are, if there are certain steps to complete those goals, and what those steps are.

After that, it shows your progress along the way. Here’s a screenshot from the desktop view:

goals on track

 

If we don’t constantly remind ourselves of what our goals are, it’s easy to forget them. Put them in a place where you can see them everyday, and this app is something I’m testing out to make that happen.

I always write them down anyway, but having something on my phone at all times allows me to see what those goals are, and to remind me why they’re important.

It’s also important to reflect back on the positive things that have happened as a result of your goals, because it’s easy to forget about those things, and start beating ourselves up when we don’t hit goals. For example, I looked back at my assets under management goal and while I didn’t get the 30 million, but I still grew more than I ever had before and it’s exciting to see that.

Even though I didn’t get the goal, I still grew, and that’s the most important thing.


Growing and becoming a better person is the sole purpose of goal setting.
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As long as you’re still growing and improving yourself then take time to appreciate that. Take note, and give yourself a pat on the back. Sometimes it’s really hard to do that for ourselves so that’s what doing the Positive Focus can do – provide that pat on the back that we sometimes desperately need.

Here’s to you crushing your goals for 2016!  I’d love to hear what you’re working on, so feel free to contact me via Twitter or shoot me an email.

When’s the last time you wrote down your goals?  More importantly, when’s the last time you’ve revisited them?

Free Download: Want the same worksheet I used to write down my goals each quarter? Grab my Goal Achiever Worksheet and put your goals into hyper drive. Download the free worksheet HERE.


Share your goals in the comments section below.


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Pocono skiers hope cold snap is no snow job

Winter resorts set snow guns to fun

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Today Only: Celebrate National Spaghetti Day With This Buy One Dinner, Get One Free Deal

Pasta was invented in China and became famous as an Italian dish. But no matter where you are on the map, it’s loved all over the world.

Today, Jan. 4, is National Spaghetti Day. Here’s how to celebrate with a free platter.

Get a Free Dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse

Spaghetti Warehouse restaurants are celebrating National Spaghetti Day with a coupon that offers a buy one, get one free deal.

Simply purchase one original recipe spaghetti entree and get the second at no charge. The meal comes with sourdough bread and your choice of salad or soup.

This deal is only valid today. Treat someone you care about to a free meal, or take the leftovers home and carbo-load on your own.

Your Turn: Did you get free spaghetti?

Jennifer DeMeo is an intern at The Penny Hoarder and a proud college graduate from the University of South Florida, a top-tier university in Tampa Bay.

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Stocks Take a Hard Hit Amid Worries over China, Mideast

The first trading day of 2016 ended in a slump. Investors worldwide dumped shares throughout the day based on new fears of a Chinese economic slowdown as well as over fresh turmoil in the Middle East.



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Not Using Your Holiday Gift Cards? This Site Will Pay You for Them

The holidays are over, and now you’re left with the aftermath.

You need to clean, pack up, re-organize, find storage for new stuff and decide what old stuff to throw away. It can be overwhelming, but here’s a smart way to make it feel a little more manageable.

Among the piles of used wrapping paper, Christmas cards, gift receipts and dirty dishes, there’s one familiar holiday item you can turn into cash.

Sift through those presents you weren’t too thrilled to open. What can you find?

Ill-fitting clothes can be tough to return without the proper receipt, and it’s challenging to sell weird little knick-knacks.

A gift card, on the other hand, is something you can sell for near face-value. And if it was a present, it’s free money to you!

Turn Your Unused Gift Cards Into Cash

It’s disappointing to receive something you don’t really want.

But if it’s a gift card, quietly thank the person who gave it to you for not trying too hard to buy something you might not have liked anyway.

It’s not cash, but a gift card is the next best thing — even if it’s for a store where you don’t usually shop.

“I have sold a wide range of gift cards,” says David Jebousek, who’s been using Raise to buy and sell gift cards for about a year.

“Some are not commonly known. But to the people who search them out, uncommon cards are very helpful.”

Why Use Raise to Sell Gift Cards?

We’ve mentioned other gift card exchange sites before. Each has different pros and cons, so it pays to shop around.

As you wind down from the holidays, we recommend Raise for a few reasons:

It’s Free to List Your Gift Card

You can list your card on Raise without paying any upfront fees. So there’s no risk if your card takes a while to sell.

You can sell any gift card or store credit — new or partially used. Most cards sell within 24 hours, and Raise only takes 15% of the selling price.

“I have had success selling all kinds of cards,” David says. “Some take a bit longer to sell, but everything will sell.”

You Choose Your Own Selling Price

Many gift card exchange sites buy your card outright and then set their own price.

Raise isn’t this kind of middleman — instead, it’s a marketplace. You list your card and choose what you’re willing to take for it.

As with any product, the more demand, the more you can ask for it. Gift cards for major retailers — like Walmart, Target and Best Buy — tend to go for within 5% of their value.

You Can Edit Your Listing Anytime

Like any marketplace, you maintain control over your listing on Raise. You can update it — or unlist it — anytime.

If your card doesn’t sell in the first couple of days, you can always adjust the price to attract more buyers.

Buyers Tend to Give Raise Good Reviews

Before David started selling gift cards, he used gift card exchange sites to stretch his money.

“When I first started using and comparing gift card apps, I would look for the uncommon cards as a way to see how comprehensive each app was,” he says.

“Now I use Raise only, since every other app proved to have a smaller selection.”

Buyers also trust shopping through Raise.

With it, they get Raise’s 100% money-back guarantee — and always free e-delivery or shipping.

The Mobile App Makes It Easy

Raise’s iPhone and Android apps allow you to list gift cards for sale and track your total earnings through the Raise Mobile Wallet.

“[Unlike competitors], Raise can store cards that were not purchased from the app,” David points out. “That’s a great feature, since it keeps the value and brand of the cards at my fingertips.”

The Mobile Wallet makes Raise easy to use anywhere. It allows you to carry all your gift cards without stuffing your (physical) wallet. You also can quickly buy a new card for a purchase while you’re on the go.

How to Sell a Gift Card

What’s the process like for selling a gift card on this site?

Start by going to Sell Gift Cards at Raise.com, or download the mobile app.

Enter the info for the card you want to sell. Raise will share current listings for the retailer, the value of each card and its sales percentage.

You can list any gift card as an e-gift card, which reduces your listing fee. In this case, instead of shipping a gift card, only the serial number and PIN are delivered to the buyer.

Enter the current balance of your card and choose your selling price.

For any price you enter, you’ll see your final payout estimate. You can adjust it before listing, depending on how much you want to make.

Once your card’s sold and delivered, you can withdraw available funds from your Raise profile via direct deposit, PayPal or check.

Find Your Unused Gift Cards

While you’re scouring through this year’s boxes and envelopes, don’t forget to look around the house a bit, too. There could be a payday waiting for you at the bottom of your sock drawer!

Also be sure to check your:

  • purse or wallet
  • junk and dresser drawers
  • couch cushions
  • under your bed
  • holiday wrapping, boxes and bags from last year

David’s best tip for anyone who wants to make money selling gift cards is to list anything and everything.

“The common gift card will have higher velocity,” he says. “But even cards to local stores will sell, since people will look and see what is available for their area.”

Your Turn: Have you made money selling gift cards? Will you try Raise?

Sponsorship Disclosure: A huge thanks to Raise for working with us to bring you this content. It’s rare that we have the opportunity to share something so awesome and get paid for it!

The post Not Using Your Holiday Gift Cards? This Site Will Pay You for Them appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.



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Cars We Remember: Long lost opportunities in the collector car market

Q: Hi Greg! I read your interesting article regarding the ‘Mexican Shelby Mustangs’ and decided to share my story with you. I own a 1963 1/2 Mercury Marauder with a 427 engine and a four speed transmission. I was in the Army in 1963 when the ‘63 1/2 was introduced, but I really wanted a 1963 ½ Galaxie 500 instead of a Mercury. On a salary of $106 a month and with a wife and many bills on the table each month, owning one was out of the question.Several years [...]

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Silvio Calabi: Honda Pilot Elite pushes into luxury territory

Recently I was praising the Honda Odyssey van with one hand while with the other pointing out that it needs updating. The brand-new Pilot is a fine example of what Honda can do as each of its vehicles comes up in the rotation to be refreshed. Or, in this case, re-engineered: This third-generation of the Pilot is not like any previous model. For starters, it’s big, almost immense, at least on the inside. Outside, it’s just 3.5 inches longer than before (and an inch less [...]

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Business Briefcase: Lehighton physician joins St. Luke’s Health Network team

McGinley focuses on preventive and routine care as primary care physician Lehighton physician Joseph McGinley, DO, has joined the primary care provider team at St. Luke's University Health Network as St. Luke's Lehighton Family Practice. McGinley specializes in care for the entire family and treats infants to seniors as part of his medical practice. He [...]

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Save Big on Everything Santa Forgot With This Post-Holiday Shopping Strategy

Did Santa forget something? A big-screen TV? Or maybe a new computer?

If you still want it, consider an “open-box” deal. Now is the perfect time to find them, since an estimated 15% of holiday gifts will be returned this year.

If a retailer can’t put the item back on the shelf, it’ll probably reduce the price and offer it as an open-box item.

So, if you’re willing to buy something that was under someone else’s tree, you might be able to do some shopping at a serious discount.

Want to see what’s available? Here are five places to find open-box deals online.

1. Amazon Warehouse

The Amazon Warehouse has hundreds of thousands of items in a variety of departments; all are “hand-checked” for quality, eligible for Prime shipping and have a 30-day return policy.

Though Amazon says it “thoroughly test[s] the functional and physical condition of each item,” it doesn’t offer a warranty on its open-box products.

2. Best Buy

The Best Buy Outlet can answer all of your electronics wishes, with deals on computers, tablets, TVs, phones, cameras and more.

Best Buy’s open-box items feature its “Return & Exchange Promise,” as well as a manufacturer’s warranty.

3. Overstock.com

As its name suggests, Overstock.com features overstock and open-box items in nearly every department, from clothing to furniture.

It offers free shipping on orders of $50 or more, as well as a 10% coupon when you sign up for its email list.

4. Newegg

Known for deals on electronics, Newegg’s open-box store mostly features significant markdowns on computers. While browsing the site, we saw several items discounted by 50% or more.

If you sign up for a free 30-day trial of its Premier membership, you’ll get free expedited shipping and returns.

5. Blinq

Though I’ve never heard of Blinq before, its rave reviews make it seem like a strong contender in the open-box game. It has great prices on overstock, open-box and refurbished products in a wide variety of categories.

Blinq offers free shipping on every order, as well as a 10% coupon when you sign up for its email newsletter.

How to Buy Open-Box Items

Before you run off to score your open-box deals, make sure you’re shopping smart.

Here are some tips for buying open-box items, thanks to a recent U.S. News and World Report article:

  • Only buy from companies you trust; if you haven’t heard of the company before, research it thoroughly.
  • Find out why it’s an open-box item, and make sure you’re okay with the reason.
  • Carefully check your item for imperfections or flaws; if you find any, ask for a further discount.
  • Double-check you’re protected with a money-back guarantee, generous return policy or other warranty.

Follow the precautions above, and you could find some great prices when exploring the world of open-box inventory!

Your Turn: Have you ever bought an open-box item?

Disclosure: You wouldn’t believe how much coffee The Penny Hoarder team goes through. This post contains affiliate links so we can keep the grinds stocked!

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

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Double-Header Dinner Ideas: Three Easy Recipes for Back-to-Back Nights

Food spending is a big but often malleable part of the average American budget, which means it can be an easy place to look for savings. And two of the simplest, most effective ways to spend less money on food are to a) cook at home and b) waste less food.

And that means actually eating your leftovers instead of letting them languish in the back of the fridge until trash day. We’ve touched on some ways to inject new life into leftovers in the past, but here are three simple dinner ideas that yield really useful leftovers. In fact, they can easily be turned into a whole different meal the very next night.

Chicken Noodle Soup > Chicken Pot Pie

Day 1: Chicken Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 6 carrots, sliced
  • 1-2 lbs. chicken breast, cubed or sliced
  • 4 celery stalks, diced
  • 1-2 quarts of chicken stock
  • 12 oz. egg noodles (or pasta of your choice)

In a large pot, heat oil, onions, and carrots over medium heat for about five minutes. Add chicken and stir fry until no longer pink, about 3-4 minutes. Add celery and chicken stock and bring to a boil; let simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil noodles as directed, drain, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil to keep from sticking. Set aside. (It’s tempting to just toss the noodles in with the soup, but they will suck up every drop of broth like squiggly sponges.) When ready to serve, ladle soup into a bowl and add noodles as desired.

Bonus recipe: To mimic a Vietnamese pho, substitute rice noodles or vermicelli for the egg noodles, add a dash each of fish sauce, garlic, ground ginger, Sriracha, and brown sugar to the broth, and serve with fresh chopped cilantro and scallions.

Day 2: Easy Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

dinner ideas - easy recipes for double-header meals

Photo: Shirley Fan/Target

Ingredients:

  • Leftover chicken soup
  • Approx. 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup or more frozen peas and/or corn
  • Store-bought pie crust (or crescent roll dough, puff pastry, biscuits, etc.)

Preheat oven to 400F. Reheat leftover chicken soup on stove top, and whisk in about a quarter cup (6 Tbsp) of flour. Add frozen peas or corn and return to boil. Simmer and stir occasionally until broth thickens to a gravy-like consistency, about 5 minutes.

Pour it all into an oven-safe casserole dish, and top with pie crust or pastry dough of your choice. Bake for about 20 minutes or until dough is golden brown and puffy. Let cool a few minutes, then dig in and tell winter to get lost.

Ham, Broccoli, and Rice > Fried Rice

Day 1: Ham, Broccoli, and Rice

Ingredients:

  • Boneless ham, sliced into portions
  • 2 broccoli crowns, chopped
  • 3 cups of jasmine rice
  • 5 cups chicken stock (or use water, with optional 1-2 bullion cubes)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil or butter

In a medium saucepan, bring chicken stock to a boil. Add rice and olive oil, stir well, then cover, lower heat, and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

In a separate, large frying pan, heat a thin layer of water over medium-high heat. Add ham slices and broccoli, cover and steam until ham is heated through and broccoli is bright green but still al dente, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan and serve with rice. If desired, serve ham with teriyaki sauce, spicy brown mustard, sweet and sour sauce, or whatever floats your boat.

Day 2: Easy Fried Rice Recipe

dinner ideas - easy fried rice recipe

Photo: James Strange via YouTube

Ingredients:

  • Leftover ham, rice, and broccoli
  • 1/3 cup boiling water
  • Approx. 1/4 cup brown sugar (assuming enough leftovers for 4 servings)
  • Approx. 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce (ditto)
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 eggs, lightly scrambled
  • 1 cup frozen peas and/or corn

Get everything prepared first: Chop up the leftover ham into small pieces. In a small bowl, combine hot water with brown sugar to dissolve, then stir in soy sauce. (Note: Make sure to use low sodium soy sauce, since the rice will already have some salt in it if you used chicken stock.) Finally, dice up your veggies. Fried rice is innately flexible, so can also swap in or add a can of pineapple chunks, sliced carrots, scallions, or whatever else your heart desires.

Heat oil in large wok or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic (optional) and diced onion; saute until onions are soft, 3-4 minutes. Add eggs and scramble in the pan with a wooden spoon, stirring until cooked. Add leftover ham, rice, and broccoli, and stir fry for a minute. Add soy sauce mixture and frozen vegetables, and stir fry just a couple of minutes more. Serve immediately.

Homemade Mac & Cheese > Chili Mac

Day 1: Easy Homemade Stovetop Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. pasta (shells, elbows, or penne)
  • 4 cups milk
  • 4 Tbsp flour
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt and a dash of pepper (use more or less to taste)
  • 4 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

Prepare pasta as directed, and set aside. While pasta is boiling whisk milk, flour, sugar, and salt in medium saucepan. Bring just to a boil, stirring often, then add shredded cheese. Simmer until sauce thickens, then pour over pasta.

Day 2: Chili Mac Recipe

Ingredients:

  • Leftover mac & cheese
  • 1 lb. ground beef or turkey
  • 1 onion, diced (optional)
  • 1-2 bell peppers, diced (optional)
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 chili sauce packet
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 cup tomato sauce

Brown the beef in a large skillet or non-stick pot. Drain most of the fat, then add onion and saute for a few minutes until soft. Stir in 1/2 cup water and chili spice packet, then add peppers, beans, and tomato sauce. Let it all simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, reheat leftover mac and cheese. Serve chili over the top of it and gorge on the gooey goodness.

It’s chili, so you can feel free to experiment: Add garlic, bacon crumbles, or diced sausage; go vegetarian with a variety of beans and corn; use a malty beer instead of (or in addition to) water for more flavor… the variations are endless, and almost always delicious.

Related Articles:

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My Family Lives Off One Income After I Had to Leave My Job. Here’s How We Budget on a $25,000 Salary

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to be completely prepared.

My family of three had no debt. We were saving money and felt pretty good about our financial situation. Then I was hit with anxiety and depression.

After the worst of the anxiety attacks, my husband and I decided I needed to quit my part-time job to stay home with our son. In doing so, we would lose about $10,000 a year.

I started reading all the books we’d been given on money and researching money management online. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for four months now.

Here’s how we’re making it work.

We Save on Our Grocery Bill

Food was the one category I did not want to cut back on. Before I left my job, my family was working on eating healthier, and it was important to me that we continued to eat well.

So, instead of focusing on cutting spending, I chose to focus on cutting waste. Steve and Annette Economides suggest making a meal plan and only shopping once a month in their book “America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money.

We don’t have enough room for that much food storage in our apartment, so I cut our grocery shopping to every two weeks from once a week or more. I also started buying groceries in cash. This forced me to be more conscientious about what I purchased.

In one month, our grocery bill went from $300 to $150.

We Cut Back on Going Out to Eat

Our plan is to only eat out when we have money from donating plasma. In a good month we might get $200, but sometimes, like this last October, we got about $50.

I try to make sure we always have at least one meal’s worth of leftovers in the fridge for days when I just don’t have the energy to cook. However, with my depression, some days it’s too much to even warm up food in the microwave.

Now that my medication is starting to work, I’ve found a little push is sometimes all I need.

My “little push” is an index card I put on the fridge that says, “Today I decide to be wealthy.” I put it up after reading Richard Paul Evans’ “The 5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me.” He says to put the card somewhere you’ll see it every day.

I’ve found it most helpful to put it in a place where I’m most tempted to spend money. While we haven’t reached our goal yet, our restaurant bill went from $280 a month to about $150.

Each month we do a little better, and hopefully it will soon be $20 or less.

We Curbed Our Impulse Spending

We cut our impulse spending by accident. Months before I stopped working, I was telling my mom I couldn’t keep up with the cleaning and tidying of our home. She sent me “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.

After reading it, I decided to follow her instructions and go through the entire house in one sitting. I made my wonderful husband read parts of the book so he could participate, too.

After we donated 10 large boxes and threw out five huge garbage bags of trash, we suddenly lost the desire to buy more stuff. Now when we buy things, it’s because it’s something we would really like to own or something we need.

Our impulse spending went from around $70 a month to an average of $10.

We Created an Emergency Fund

One of my biggest worries about leaving work was how we would afford an emergency without my income.

After reading “The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, I decided we needed $1,000 in emergency money. And it needed to be a priority, just as Ramsey suggests.

When I made our budget in the past, I always went through all our expenses and put whatever was leftover in savings. Now we put 10% of every paycheck straight into savings and work with what we have left. When we spend less than what we budget, that extra money goes straight into savings.

As a young couple with a growing family, $1,000 seemed like a lot of money. Then I started putting all of our money in one place.

It’s hard to realize how much money you actually have until it’s all in one spot. Just by closing two bank accounts, we were able to put $300 in the emergency fund in one week. We were able to save $900 in three months.

A large chunk of our emergency fund is in cash. It’s out of sight, so it’s easy not to spend it.

How We Manage to Save Money With Only One Income

It wasn’t until I left my job that I realized just how much money we were spending because I was working.

On the days I worked, I often bought breakfast and lunch. And we no longer buy gas every week because we don’t use the car every day anymore.

We thought we would have to give so much up moving down to one income, but we didn’t: We were able to cut more than $300 from our budget within the first month.

And, we can still afford to do fun things as a family because we use our time and money more wisely.

Your Turn: Have you ever gone down to one income because of an illness? How did you save money?

Stephanie Stewart is a public relations specialist and emergency dispatcher turned stay-at-home mom. She has a son and another child on the way, whom she is excited to be with at home.

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Generate Leads from LinkedIn Through 6 Simple Steps

Everywhere you look, you see articles about social media tactics you can use to get more traffic or leads for your business.

And while tactics can be useful, you need to combine them in a cohesive strategy if you want them to be effective.

Some marketers have no problem doing that.

They’ve already been able to figure out how to generate a constant stream of leads from sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

But that’s a very small minority of marketers.

If you haven’t had great success with social media, I urge you not to give up. You just need to keep learning and testing until you find the right tactics for the right situation. 

I’d like to give you a complete strategy filled with effective tactics that complement each other.

But to do that, I need to focus on one particular social network: LinkedIn.

I’m going to give you a strategy that you can use to produce as many B2B leads as you need (provided you have the manpower to put behind it).

Why LinkedIn? If you sell products to other businesses, LinkedIn is the social network you need to focus on.

That’s where people who are trying to further their careers and improve their job performance go.

With more than 400 million members worldwide, LinkedIn has a huge pool of potential leads in just about every single niche out there.

Additionally, case study after case study revealed that LinkedIn, on average, drives the most customers to B2B companies.

image13

Yes, there are exceptions. But for the most part, LinkedIn is either the best or one of the best marketing channels a B2B business will find.

From that short introduction, you should know whether LinkedIn is a good option for your business.

And if it is, this step-by-step strategy will get you started from scratch. Even if you’ve never used LinkedIn seriously, it will still work.

Best of all, it’s simple. The main thing it requires is time and effort.

As long as you’re determined to succeed, it will work.

Ready? Let’s get started.

Step #1: Optimize your profile for connecting

Any LinkedIn strategy will involve growing your network on the site by “connecting” with other users.

You need to connect initially so that you can communicate with users in the future.

From there, you can apply whatever tactic you choose, and I’ll show you a few here.

For this strategy, you’ll mainly be connecting with people you don’t know. Because of this, you need to make sure your profile is optimized as much as possible, or else you could be marked as a spammer (on top of getting poor results).

What users see when you request to connect: To understand the most important parts of your profile, you need to look at what LinkedIn users see.

When you send an invitation to another user, they can view it in two ways.

In their notifications bar, they will see a mini preview with your name, title, and the start of any message you sent:

image04

Since these people don’t know you, you won’t get many invitations accepted just from this.

In the best case scenario, they’ll want to learn more about you.

First, they’ll click on the invitation to see the full message you sent:

image11

They can also view this directly if they use their LinkedIn inbox on a regular basis.

Take note of the elements in a full message:

  1. Name and picture
  2. Your tagline/title
  3. Your message

You have 3 different ways to make your first impression.

In this section, we’ll deal with the first two—the ones that are part of your profile. I’ll go into how to craft an effective message later.

Element #1 – Your name and picture: I’m guessing you’re pretty stuck on your name, so I’ll let you keep it as it is.

Now, with the picture, you have a little bit of leeway.

Let me be clear upfront: you need a profile picture. No one will take you seriously without one.

Ideally, get a professional headshot done. See my LinkedIn profile (and go connect with me while you’re at it) for an example:

image01

If you can’t do that, find a white wall somewhere, put on a professional outfit, and have someone take a picture with your smartphone. It won’t be the same quality as a professional picture, but it’ll be good enough—phone cameras are pretty good these days.

Element #2 – Your title: LinkedIn calls it your “professional headline.” When you’re logged in, you can click it and type in whatever you want to say:

image08

Typically, you’ll want your job title(s) in here as well as any other impressive titles you hold.

Take a second, and think about the type of people you’ll be connecting with.

If you’re going after smaller companies, you’ll likely be targeting CEOs.

I’ll go into more detail on why later, but for now, know that you want to have a similar position in your professional headline.

So, if you were in fact targeting CEOs, you’d want something like:

CEO of (your business)

If that’s not true, try to find a term that’s on a similar level that describes what you do:

  • CTO
  • CMO
  • Founder
  • President

This is a good start, but we’ll improve upon it further in a bit. Save it, and set it aside for now.

Rounding out your profile: Assuming you nail those three aspects of your invitation, the person you invited will likely check out your full profile (not many will connect just based on the invitation).

The main thing they’re looking for is to ascertain whether or not you’re legitimate.

There’s nothing fancy you need to do here other than making sure your profile is completely filled out.

List all your past jobs and the things you accomplished at each of those jobs.

In addition, I recommend adding a line that shows you’re open to connecting with new people. You can even copy mine:

image02

Once your profile looks complete, you can move on to the next step.

Step #2: Create your own group – there’s a huge reason why…

For this strategy to work, you’ll have to create a group.

Then, you’ll have to consistently add the right people to it (I’ll show you how in a bit) and manage it.

It’s a long-term commitment, but it only takes a few minutes a week after you get started.

Here’s what you need to know about the overall strategy at this point:

You’re going to invite potential leads to join the group you created. You’re going to leverage the group to get more connections and get more leads.

Your first step is creating the group, which is pretty simple, but I’ll still show you how to do it.

Before you do that, you need to decide what kind of group you should create. You want the group to benefit your potential customers.

So, if you sell products to marketers, create a group for marketers.

If you sell products to manufacturing companies, create a group for manufacturing leaders.

If you only sell to local businesses, it’s a good idea to add a location to the name of the group as well.

Here are a few sample titles for groups:

  • Marketing Leaders of America
  • Southeast Manufacturing Leaders
  • Texas Financial Marketing Elites

Make it sound prestigious so that your potential customers would actually want to join.

How to create a group on LinkedIn: It only takes a few minutes to create a group from scratch.

Start by hovering over “interests” on your top menu, and then pick groups. Then, from the “my groups” button at the top, pick “create group” from the dropdown menu.

Alternatively, just use this link.

That will bring you to this form:

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There are only about 10 fields, and most are self-explanatory.

The only crucial things are the group name (which we just went over) and the group logo.

I highly recommend at least getting a cheap logo for the group made on Fiverr

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You can change this later though, so you can use a placeholder for now. You won’t be getting members for the group quite yet.

Seeding a group with content: Although you’re not really getting the group fully going yet, it’s not a bad idea to post a few pieces of content (3-5) just to make the group look a little more alive.

The fastest way to do this is to type in your niche into BuzzSumo.

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This gives you a list of popular articles. You can make a post in the group for each of them (if they are relevant)—just write a quick intro to introduce each of the articles (e.g., “What do you think when you see manufacturing being relocated to cheaper countries?”).

Once you have your group fully functional, move on to the next step.

Step #3: Create your hit list of potential customers

Now we’re getting to the fun stuff, where you’ll actually start finding the people who will eventually become leads.

The goal here is to compile a list of 500-1,000 potential leads. It sounds like a lot, but remember, LinkedIn has over 400 million users.

In most situations, you’ll be able to find tens of thousands of users who match your buyer’s profile.

To find them, you’ll use LinkedIn’s built-in search function.

Click the “advanced” link to the side of the search bar at the top.

This allows you to get a lot more specific with your searching.

You’re welcome to narrow down the results however you like, but I’d recommend starting with:

  • Title
  • Location
  • Industry

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In B2B sales, you’re typically targeting the same level of employee/employer in each company, which is why you add a title filter (e.g., CEO, Founder, Marketing Manager).

The industry filter will make sure that the results are in the industry you sell to, and the location filter will make sure that these contacts can actually become your customers eventually.

Below are the results for an advanced search I did for CEOs in the health, wellness, and fitness industry:

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As you can see, the results might not be perfect, but they’re pretty much what I’d be looking for with that search.

From here, you can start a list in a spreadsheet. Just copy their full information or even the URL of their profiles.

Once you’ve done that, you can move on to Step #4 to start connecting with them.

Step #4: Make initial contact with each member

You’ve done all the groundwork so that you can finally start taking action now.

The first three steps shouldn’t take more than 4-5 hours to complete in most cases.

This step, however, will likely take longer.

The goal here is to connect with every person on your “hit list.”

Perfecting your first impression: Remember what the basic connection invitation looks like? If not, here it is again:

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I couldn’t show you how to create a completely optimized invitation before because there was still more groundwork to cover.

But now, you’re ready.

You have the picture already at this point, but you might be able to improve your professional headline.

Let’s say you sell marketing consulting to manufacturing companies.

Right now, your headline looks something like this:

Neil Patel

President, CEO of Quick Sprout.

That’s good, but think about it from the point of view of the people you’re trying to connect with (CEOs in manufacturing companies).

They see another CEO wanting to connect with them. That’s a plus. They will think of you as a peer, not someone who wants a job from them.

But with that headline, they know you’re the CEO of a marketing company. What does that have to do with manufacturing?

That tells the user that you might just be trying to get something from them, and you don’t want them to have that impression.

So, how else can you show some credibility in their industry?

Remember that group you created? That’s how you establish your credibility.

Now, my theoretical professional headline becomes:

Neil Patel

President, CEO of Quick Sprout. Founder of Southeast Manufacturing Leaders.

Do you see how that makes a big difference to the manufacturing CEOs I would be connecting with?

All of a sudden, it looks like I’m more than just a marketer. I have a professional interest in manufacturing as well, and I’m active in the community. It’s a great first impression to make.

Crafting a convincing opening message: The final part of that initial impression is your opening message.

You basically have two sentences or so to come across as a professional and explain why you want to connect with someone.

Here’s what a good basic template looks like:

Hi (name), I came across your profile on LinkedIn and thought we might both benefit from connecting with each other. If you’re open to it, I’d love to connect. Thanks, (your name).

When you combine that with the other two factors, you’ll get an acceptance rate between 40-60% (in most cases).

If you want to make it even better, look at their profile first, find something interesting that you can relate to, and mention that in your invitation.

Maybe you’ll see that they are located in a nearby city, so you could change your invite to something like this:

Hi (name), I came across your profile on LinkedIn and thought we might both benefit from connecting with each other. I see that you work in Austin, and I’m actually just down the road in Georgetown. If you’re open to it, I’d love to connect. Thanks, (your name).

That message is 258 characters long (maybe a bit longer or shorter, depending on names). The limit for a connection request is 300 characters, so you don’t want to write anything much longer than that.

Sending the invite (incredibly effective tip in here): Honestly, this is the easiest part, but it’s where a lot of people get stuck.

When you request to connect with someone, LinkedIn will show you a form that asks you how you know them:

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If you pick most of these options, LinkedIn will ask you for the user’s email address in order to let you send the request. You probably don’t know it, and even if you could find it, it’s a waste of your time.

Instead, pick the “friend” option. Then, you don’t need to enter their email address. You can add your message in the textbox and submit your connection request.

Don’t worry about looking weird to users because you picked the friend option—they will never see it. That information seems to be for LinkedIn only. Your recipient will only see the parts of the invite we’ve looked at so far.

I recommend sending out invites slowly at first until you know how people are reacting to them.

If your messages are a bit “off,” they might get reported as spam (although unlikely if you’ve done everything I’ve shown you). If too many spam reports are filed against your account in a short time period, it could be limited or suspended.

Instead, do it slowly at first, and see if you’re getting an approval rate of at least 40% (aim for higher). Keep tweaking your message, profile, and lead targeting until you start getting above 50% acceptance rate.

Step #5: Continue to engage with each member over the next several weeks

Let’s quickly recap.

At this point, you have an optimized profile and a list of potential leads, and you’ve started connecting with those leads.

Now is the time for some grinding work. It doesn’t take too much skill or knowledge, but it needs to be done.

There are two parts to this step.

Part #1 – Getting your group up and running: Remember that empty group you created? We’re finally going to give it a push and get it full of useful activity.

The main strategy here is to simply invite your new connections.

When you make a new connection, just send them a message like this:

Hi (name), I’m glad we could connect!

I just wanted to give you a quick heads-up about a LinkedIn group I’ve created and am trying to grow. It’s called (group name).

It’s a place where all the members can discuss anything related to (industry of leads). I hope you’ll join if you get a chance.

Cheers,

(Your name)

You won’t get a 100% join rate, especially at the start when there’s not much activity.

But…if you personally invite 100 targeted users, you will have a small, core member group that will be enough to get started.

You’ll have to be active in the group at first, or else no one else will start discussions.

Post content from tools such as BuzzSumo on a regular basis, and monitor the news for any big industry announcements. Just search for your industry in Google News once a day to see if there’s anything interesting going on.

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Once you start getting other people posting comments and participating in discussions, don’t stop!

Keep going until you have at least 5-10 regular members who post new content without any prompting on your part.

And while they do that, try to comment on, like, and share everything they post to encourage them to post more.

The more active your group is, the easier it’ll be to attract new members.

At some point, you’ll start getting members you didn’t invite, who will then want to connect with you. Lewis Howes says he gets 15-20 new invites every day from members of his group.

Not all of those will turn out to be leads, but it still helps you keep your group active and expand your personal network.

Tip: Keep track of who does and doesn’t join your group after you ask them to. They may not be interested at first because there’s not a lot of activity.

Invite them again a few months later when you have a good amount of discussion going on. You’ll get a much more favorable response this time around.

Other options to grow your group: If all that sounds good to you, you’re set. That tactic, by itself, will effectively grow any LinkedIn group.

However, there are a few options to accelerate your group’s growth if you’d really like to:

  1. Advertising - You can use LinkedIn Ads to promote your group. You can target similar to your hit list people to bring in new members who may end up being leads as well.
  2. Group partnerships - I’ve talked about using this tactic on Facebook, but it works on LinkedIn too. Find similar groups in your industry, and offer to do a cross-promotion. You’ll tell your members about their group, and they’ll do the same for you.
  3. Posting statuses - When you post a status on your LinkedIn account, it will be shown to people you’re connected with. It gives your new connections (from your hit list) another opportunity to join the group.

Again, none of these are required to grow your group, but it can make it grow faster if needed.

Part #2 – Making personal connections: At this point, I’ve shown you just about all of the overall strategy we’ll be using.

The main purpose of the group is to make connecting with potential leads easier and to establish yourself as an authority in their industry. It may also bring you some leads in the future, but that’s more of an additional bonus.

The main goal now is to turn all those new connections from your hit list into leads.

And by “leads,” I mean people who are willing to do a sales call, attend a webinar, or participate in some other event that could lead to a sale.

The first thing you need to do is forget about turning them into leads. If that’s all you focus on, you’ll never get much success.

Instead, take a long-term approach of building a relationship with each and every one of them.

How do you do this?

The best way by far is to send messages through LinkedIn. Now that you’re connected with these potential leads, you can send messages to them without many restrictions.

Let’s get more specific with this tactic:

You should send at least 5 or 6 messages to a connection before asking for a phone call or anything that could lead to a sale. These messages should be solely focused on showing your new prospects something interesting or adding value to their lives.

How often should you send these messages? That’s up to you. I’d suggest only sending them 2-3 times a month. You don’t want to come on too strong when you just met someone.

There are three types of messages you can send:

  1. The follow-up – Good to send right after you connect. Thank them for connecting, and invite them to join your group (or do this in a message later on).
  2. The resource suggestion - Send them an article or resource that would be useful for them in their professional life (job).
  3. The discussion suggestion - Let them know about a particularly interesting discussion in your group, and invite them to jump in.

Out of those 5-6 messages, 4-5 will be a combination of the second and third types of messages.

Your success will depend on how useful those suggestions are. If you send them a case study where they actually take action based on the results, it will solidify your relationship in a big way.

Step #6: Get off LinkedIn!

LinkedIn is an amazing site to make new connections and build relationships, but it has its limits.

You can’t effectively sell products or services on LinkedIn—it’s just not the right environment.

Instead, you need to schedule a call or invite your leads to a webinar. Once you do, you will get an incredible conversion rate (likely over 20% if you have a solid sales funnel).

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So, how do you do it?

Well, it’s going to take you 1-3 months to send those initial 5-6 messages.

I did warn you that this is a long-term investment, but it will pay off. Plus, you’ll have many potential leads to whom you’ll be sending several messages a day, so it’s not like you’ll be just sitting around waiting.

After you’ve sent those messages and established a relationship, send them another short message like this:

Hi (name), I’m glad we connected a few months ago. It’s been great getting to know you a little better. I’d love to jump on a quick call sometime soon to see what you’re up to. Does next (day) work for you?

It’s not a pushy sales request, and it reminds them that you didn’t just connect so that you could pitch them a product right away.

What to do when it fails: It’s going to happen. Not every single prospect will agree to a sales call (even though many will).

You could just stop focusing on them altogether, but I have a better solution.

Instead, just put them in a different category of connections. They may still become a lead some day, but it’s clear that they won’t at this very moment.

You should make a list of all these users and keep in touch with them. Send them monthly messages highlighting the best discussions in your group or the best resources you’ve come across.

Don’t put in as much effort as you do with your other prospects, but don’t give up either. There are still some very high quality leads in this group, so continue to nurture them.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is the best social media site for B2B sales.

I’ve just shown you a relatively simple 6-step strategy that you can use to get leads. When you’re done with your initial hit list, create a new one. Keep repeating it so that you have a consistent source of high quality leads.

There was nothing too complicated in the strategy, but it takes a lot of work and time.

Know this, plan for it, and execute the strategy. It will make a huge difference in the growth of your business.

If you have any questions about any of the steps in this strategy, let me know! Leave me a comment below, and I’ll try to clear things up.



Source Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/1MPfPhw