Is your business feeling the crunch of a slow economy?

Last week a client of mine, Kim (name changed to protect the innocent) told me that her business had slowed almost 40% over the past 18 months. As we talked, she explained that she’s doing nothing different with her advertising and marketing – “what worked 18 months ago just isn’t working as well now,” she said.

The reason, Kim felt, is that people have less money to spend.

That certainly makes sense. All our living expenses are on the rise. Groceries cost more, utility bills have increased – in some places dramatically – and the price of a gallon of gas is through the roof. So it only makes sense that consumers have less to spend on what they may perceive as ‘non-essential’ services.

When I asked Kim what she was going to do about it she said, “Well, I’m going to have to cut back on my business expenses.”

“What’s the first place you’re considering cutting back,” I asked?

“My advertising and marketing is my biggest expense. I just don’t think I can continue to pay for print ads in local magazines. And I should probably look at how much I’m spending on Google Adwords. And maybe I need to look at sharing my office space with someone else.”

Interesting strategy I thought. Kim’s ideas were to cut the things that were costing her business the most money. Yet cutting her marketing budget would also affect her ability to reach new clients. She seemed stuck.

Trimming fat from your business is smart in lean times. But it can also send your business into a downward spiral which leads to going out of business. When revenues are low, you cut back on marketing – which brings less clients, which, in turn decreases revenue further leading to more cutbacks. You can see, a few cycles of this and you’ll be out of business.

What small business owners seldom think of in lean times is growth. But look at the example of big business and wealthy people. They’re often the most active when the economy is slow. Investors often buy in when times are lean. And they all make a killing in the long run.

The small business owner, if they want to stay in business, needs to take a similar approach. In lean times, sure, cut back on unnecessary expenses. Readjust your books so you can loosen up some cash. But even more importantly, get active. In other words – sell.

Seems like a simple solution, right? Times are tough…sell more. But seldom do small businesses in slight downturns think of this. Or if they think about it, they don’t actually follow through on it.

Yet the key to coming out of a difficult financial period -  be it your own business cycle or that of a slow economy – is to focus on growing your business. Utilize all the selling techniques you know about to stir your way out of stagnation.

Remember that marketing is most effective when you’re solving problems for your clients and customers. Refine your marketing to meet potential customers where they’re facing problems. It might be that you have a perfect solution for their needs.

So how is your business in this economy? Do you have a growth strategy for slow times – whether you face them now or not? What would it be?

Let’s talk about it.

(note: image from Pulpolux !!! on Flickr, some rights reserved)

I remember much from our conversations – though truthfully, he was often doing most of the talking as I’d just try to absorb what he was teaching me.

One of the things he said again and again is, “what you focus on expands.” He said it often, in many different ways. But the core message was always the same – whatever you think is – is.

Now I’ve seen this hold true in just about every instance in my life. If I thought something was a certain way, it would almost always show itself to be that way. Just think about how many times you’ve miscommunicated with someone because you were focused on one perspective while they were focused on another.

How you think about your business is no different. What you focus on in your business is what will expand. It’s what you believe that you’ll put effort into. Hence, where you put your focus is where you’ll put your energy which is where you’re business will evolve from. Think that you can’t get the clients you really want, and it’ll be pretty difficult too. Think that no one wants your service and you’ll become prophetic by putting your efforts into proving yourself right. That’s just human nature.

But moreover, it’s what your brain does. Your brain sees the world, sees your business, through the filters of your beliefs. How you think your business is, is what you’re business is – or what it will become. The interesting thing is seeing how easy it is to trick your brain. Just watch:

Pretty incredible, huh? See how easy it is to trick your brain?

Now consider how your your brain, your throughts, your beliefs are affecting your business. How is what you believe affecting your bottom line? Are you limiting the growth, the potential, of your business because of something you perceive about it?

Would you consider seeing it differently?

Let’s talk about it.

(note: both images from skippy13 on Flickr, some rights reserved)

Most methods for productivity include making various to-do lists of the things you want and need to get done. Whether it’s David Allen, Stephen Covey or Jerry Seinfeld, everyone suggests making lists.

But do you ever find that your lists keep growing? Or do you get discouraged looking at a never-ending list of stuff that needs to get done? Or worse, do you find yourself not getting things done because you’re overwhelmed by your to-do list? So, what happens when your to-do lists start doing you?

What happens when the to-do lists you make begin getting in the way of actually getting things done?

Personally, I make lists all the time. I live by lists. While I’m not a fan of Getting Things Done, I do appreciate and use some of David Allen’s approaches. For instance, I do write my to-do lists in order of urgency. I also get the things done immediate that will only take a few moments so they never end up on a list in the first place. And one of the more helpful suggestions I’ve taken from GTD is getting everything out of my head and onto a list so that my mind isn’t tied up remembering things.

But to-do lists can take over your business – and your life. They can grow out of control, making it difficult, even overwhelming to getting things done. Just spend a few days writing down all the business ideas and tasks you face and you’ll quickly see what I mean. How could you possibly get all that done.

Well, in truth, you’re not supposed to get all that done. What you’re supposed to do is get all that stuff out of your head and onto to-do lists so that it’s not taking up mental space in your mind. But the second function of to-do lists is being able to sort what needs to be done, what should get done and what could get done:

• What needs to get done – These are the items on your to-do list that are essential. Either they are the next step in a project for a client or the development of a course or product. Or they are any item that must get done as soon as possible.
• What should get done – These are the items on your to-do list that do need attention, just not immediately. This list is sort of a master list that stores everything that I will eventually need to get done. I create a to-do list for each part of my life – work, home remodeling, personal projects, etc. It’s from this to-do list that items move to the ‘needs to be done’ to-do list. For instance, the next ‘must do’ steps in my client work.
  note: I’m realizing only as I write this that this to-do list is the master to-do list for my business (never thought about it this way before). It holds the full picture for all my client and project work. So, in essence, this is is rather large and segmented by project. It’s also the most dynamic to-do list since items are constantly coming and going.
• What could get done – The items on this to-do list are more larger, big vision-type items. It could be an idea for a new product or service or some brainstorm of a joint venture I want to look at. Basically, this is a list of the items that are not necessary in my day-to-day/week-to-week work load.

These three basic to-do lists make up the bulk of how I work. The ‘needs to get done’ to-do list is where my immediate action steps live. This is my ‘gotta get it done now’ list. I look at it multiple times daily and often only do the items that are on this list. I usually try to build this list out on Monday mornings to be done for the whole week.

As I mentioned, the ’should get done’ to-do list is my master list. As items are completed on my ‘need to get done’ list, new items from the ’should get done’ list move up to become ‘need to get done’ items. For example, the once one step in a project is completed, the next step on that project moves from ’should be done’ to ‘needs to be done.’ I go through this list on Monday mornings, again on Wednesday and then near the end of the day on Friday – making sure the right items are being promoted.

The ‘could get done’ to-do list, for me, is where I house all my ideas, brainstorms, brain dumps, and creative thoughts. Often it holds the overall vision of my business. Since I vision on my business a lot, a few times a week, actually, this to-do list tends to also become a development ground for ideas and new directions before it officially becomes a project. If you saw this list, it’s often mind maps, outlines and sketches.

The flow of all these to-do items is what keeps my to-do lists working for me. These days I seldom find myself in a situation where my to-do list is doing me. Instead, I get things done – in an orderly, efficient and effective way.

What do you do to get things done? Is there a method that you’ve found works best for you – if so, what? And where is the biggest gap in your to-do list system?

Let’s talk about it…

(note: image from alykat on Flickr)

That only makes sense, right? They’re paying you fees, sometimes large fees, to help them either change something or accomplish something that they just can’t manage on their own. It doesn’t matter whether you’re hired to give advice, as a consultant might do, or be more hands-on in helping with change as a coach might – the desired outcome is still the same.

This sometimes leads to pressure to help our clients get results. A little pressure on the client to change is good. After all, change is seldom easy and often requires a little push to get started (okay, and sometimes a big push).

Yet any good coach or consultant knows that we have to manage our clients and how they progress with a bit of skill. Sometimes we can put it all out there and people get it. Other times we have to pull back a bit and offer change in small steps. So we give each client what they can handle in the way they can implement it best. As I’ve seen it, this is the art to being an effective coach or consultant – and even to being an effective teacher, parent, spouse, or friend really.

In the years I’ve been a coach / consultant / advisor (I’m still uncertain what to call myself) one piece of advice has stood out from the rest. It came from the most interesting of sources.

Hannah Whitall Smith was a Christian speaker, author and women’s rights activist in the late 19th century. She was an active speaker in the Holiness Movement of the 1800’s and was active in Women’s Suffrage and the Temperance Movement in the U.S.

Years ago I found a quote which she wrote and tucked it away with thousands of others I have. Then a few years back, I ran across it again. Now as a website designer who was also coaching and advising my clients on how to use their websites to grow their business, it made me stop and consider how I approached my coaching work.

The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right.

- Hannah Whitall Smith

Stop and think about it for a minute. How would your coaching practice or your consulting business change if you took this approach? How could it change the relationships you have with your clients? And moreover, how could it enhance the results your client’s are getting?

What changed in me was the understanding that it’s not my responsibility to create change. It’s only my responsibility to offer the opportunity. So rather than feeling like I had to create change in someone’s business, for instance, I could be more effective by meeting my clients where they are and giving them the space and time to come to change themselves.

Someone once told me that it’s not in our nature as human beings to want to share what we know and not see it utilized. It was suggested that it shakes us up inside a bit when people don’t do what we advise them. Whether that’s true or not is an interesting debate of its own.

Yet what I’d like to know is how this quote might change the way you do business? How might it affect your conversations, relationships and approaches with your clients – even if you’re not a consultant or coach?

And maybe the more interesting question of all, if you so choose to consider it, is how could Hannah’s advice change your relationships with your loved ones?

Let’s talk about it…

(note: image from ambergris on Flickr)

In the past ten years, I’ve seen everything: web designers who take the money and run, have ever-increasing project costs, outrageous pricing for simple projects, horrible design (and over design), and just plain rudeness.

With marketing coaches it’s a little better. At least they’re usually nice to their clients. But usually clients call me because they feel ‘boxed in’ by a marketing program. They don’t feel heard, they’re not really getting it, or their coach simply doesn’t get how to effectively translate a marketing message to the internet.

All-in-all, I end up bailing people out.

Now, I’m not complaining. I love the business. And I love helping people who really need my help in using their websites to grow their business. Yet, I’m not happy that they’ve gotten such poor service before they found me. And I’m definitely not pleased that sometimes they’ve been down right taken advantage of.

That’s why I think it’s important that you’re careful about who your hire to help you with your business. Remember, you’re entering into a relationship; one that should help you with your business needs. So to be sure the relationship has a foundation, here’s a few questions you can ask yourself in deciding whether a marketing coach or web designer is a good fit for you:

• Do I like the person?
  Sure, we’re not always a good judge of character. But most of the time you’ll have a sense as to whether you’ll get along with someone. Even the best marketing coaches have personality ticks (as we all do). And sometimes those ticks don’t jive with our own. So don’t work with someone who you’re not sure you can get along with – regardless of how successful they are or what your friends say.
• Can we communicate clearly with each other?
  Don’t overlook this one. Relationships are built on communication. If you and your web designer or marketing coach don’t communicate well, don’t even consider working together. The frustration and misunderstandings you’ll have will just cost you headache and time. You need to find someone who you understand…and who understands you.
• Do they care about my business?
  Okay, seems trite. But there’s a difference between the web designer who’s just designing another website and the one who takes a real interest in what you do. The former is just doing their job to make a buck – which isn’t wrong by any means. The latter is certainly interested in making a buck. Yet they also take a sincere interest in your success. And you want to work with someone who wants you to succeed.
• Do we share a common vision about how my business growth?
  You know your business. You may not have crystal clarity around it, but you do know what you do. Your coach needs to clearly understand your vision. They should listen and clearly understand what it is you do and then help you refine your branding, your approach, your message, etc. They need to add to your already developed vision, not take from it.
• Am I just a number?
  There’s a lot of programs out there – both for web design and for marketing and business development – that sort of cookie cut the process. Often, these materials or courses can be highly helpful. But some miss the point of really helping your individual needs. Know yourself and what you need. If you thrive by reading a book or working in a group environment, buy the book or take the course. But if you’re someone that benefits most from one-on-one help, spend your time and money getting one-on-one help from a coach, consultant or web designer
• Can I learn what they have to teach me?
  We all have things to teach each other. The question is whether we can learn from each other? Take the time to find out if you can learn what they have to teach. Your web designer may know code up the yin-yang. But do you really need to learn it? And your marketing coach may be an amazing copywriter. But can they teach what they know in a way you can learn? Whoever you work with, make sure you can learn what they have to teach in the way they teach it.
• Can I afford to work with them?
  The old adage is true – you need to spend money to make money. I’ve found that to be true. So the question you want to ask yourself isn’t whether to spend money – if you’re building a business you need to spend money. Just be sure you have a budget. And also try to get clear what sort of return you can get on your investment. Spending money that doesn’t return is one thing. But your budget might be a little different if you consider that what you spend is an investment that can be returned on. Don’t be afraid to spend, just be sure not to overextend yourself.
• Can they really help me?
  This is really the bottom-line question. You want to know inside yourself that the people you hire to help you with your business really can help you with your business. It doesn’t matter so much what they can do. What matters is can they do it for you? And can you mesh together to create a successful relationship that will help you solve your business needs.

Someone once told me that a teacher isn’t just someone who knows some things. A teacher, to deserve that title, needs to be able to teach you in a way that you can gain from their knowledge. Otherwise, they’re not a teacher at all; they’re just someone who knows some stuff.

I feel the same way about the people who you work with on your business. Be sure that you can really gain from your web designer or marketing coach. Ask questions and get to know the person, even if it requires a few conversations. If they’re not willing to meet your needs before you hire them, what makes you think that’s going to change once you do?

I’d love to hear about your experiences with a web designer or your coach. And if you have a good one, feel free to link to them in the comment box.Â

What’s the the part of business, besides relationships, that you look forward to doing more of?

Okay, so here’s how I read your question…”what other part of business, besides building relationships.” I hope this is what you meant, because my entire business is about relationships. From how I market to how I work with my clients, what I see in my business IS relationships.

But I can look through building more and stronger relationships at aspects of my business. So that’s what I’m going to run with.

I’ve been building websites for more than a decade at this point. So it’s mostly what I’m known for. It’s also the easiest way people can describe what I do to their friends, clients and colleagues. So more often than not, I get calls about website design.

What ends up happening, however, is that the people soon find out that I do so much more than most web designers. They learn that I understand business development, marketing, product development, copy editing, etc. And often, they hire me to consult and coach them while we’re working on their website.

So really, I’m really a born teacher. I know that sounds like a vast, presumptuous statement. Yet at every point in my life this fact has been mirrored back to me. In elementary school I used to show my classmates how to do math problems when they didn’t get it. As a baseball player I could spot mistakes in a teammate’s swing and help them feel the correction. Even when I had a private healing practice I would somehow find a way to explain complex spiritual concepts in a way that people just understood.

Even as a web designer, I’ve been very successful at making the technical easy to understand – even a neophyte. This gives clients the power to make their own, informed decisions about their business.

So like you, Liz, I am a teacher. I’m a teacher and I love to solve problems. And this has led me to doing more consulting/coaching/educating-type work. I love it. And it’s opened up a whole new part of my business.

Now people don’t have to need a new website to work with me. They can hire me to help them with any number of projects or aspects of their business: from service and product development to marketing, increasing traffic and building relationships to branding, utilizing a newsletter to just plain problem solving.

And best of all, they can hire me to help them learn how to use social media – blogging, social networking, etc, – more effectively, to grow their business or to increase the visibility of their blog. That I’m doing already with a handful of clients.

So that’s what I want to do more of…coach people to a more rewarding and successful business, consult with people to solve their business problems and educate people on how to do anything they need without being dependent on me. Does that make me a coaching strategist? Maybe.

So Liz (and you, reading this, too), speaking of strategy:

What do you feel is necessary to create an effective strategy to promote a business?

If you got this far, I’d love to hear your answers to either question. Join our one2one conversation in the comment box below.

And if you need some help with your business, let’s talk about it.

Most marketing experts will tell you it’s clearly branding your business or creating your comprehensive marketing plan. Both those are certainly important.

But according to 19 year-old entrepreneur Ben Casnocha, founder of Comcate and author of My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley, the most important thing you can do when starting a business is “harbor a bias towards action.”

If you want a successful business, any successful business, you have to take action. Don’t just think or talk about your ideas; actually put them into action. Successful business owners actually implement their ideas. They let themselves make mistakes, learn from those mistakes and keep growing. Action is what makes a business successful.

If you’re a coach or consultant, you’re paid to think, to talk, to be an expert. Yet to be successful in your business you’ll need to go beyond just thoughts and conversation. You’ll need to actually implement them.

How? Action steps

• Write it down
  When you have an idea around your business, write it down (take action). Writing it down makes it a bit more real. If your thought in your mind, it’s likely to get jumbled up with the thousands of other thoughts you have each day.
• Brainstorm
  After you take the action of writing down your idea, brainstorm it. You can do this in as little as 2-3 minutes. Take longer if you have But get your thoughts about the idea on paper while their fresh. You’ll be surprised what this can lead too.
• Action Steps
  At the end of your mini brainstorming session, write at least one thing you can do in the next 48 hours that will help in the development of your idea. AND DO IT!
• Do It
  I put this twice on purpose. It’s in the action of doing that you’ll find success. Creating action steps that you don’t take action on are useless. So honor yourself and your ideas by following through on your action steps.
• Get Help
  If you find you’re having trouble implementing your ideas, get help. There are plenty of coaches and consultants who can help you take action. Generally, consultants are great for ideas and training while coaches tend to be better at keeping you on task and helping with follow through.

Believe it or not, this is how almost every successful business gets launched. You have an idea and you put it into action. So today, how can you take a single step toward implementing your best idea? Think about it – then act. First with your comments below.

Thanks to Wendy Piersall for asking me to write for her Second ‘How To’ Group Research Project. There’s a number of great posts people have put up on various topics around blogging and business. Check some of them out:

• Mr Flexibility: finding work-life balance
• How to start a company and a family at the same time
• How to cross-market your blog and your business, promoting each to each other’s audience
• Increase your blog’s stickiness
• Google Sitemaps: get found faster
• Countermeasures to combat Google Page Rank leak
• Non-techie intro to SEO
• The how and why you should start leveraging video
• 3 huge steps on how to leap from the business security of a job to a home business
• Beyond Adsense, how to attract independent advertisers to your blog
• How to get your Google Adsense account banned
• How do you get your home business setup right?
• Moving to another domain, what I’ve learned so far, part 1
• Recognition, reaching out, & beyond
• The ultimate guide to where the moms are online
• Safely move your blog
• Protecting forms from spam
• What is Reddit and how can I use it to promote and market my blog posts?
• Web 101, the three-column CSS layout
• CSS for beginners – changing the fonts
• Quick guide to Google Analytics for bloggers
• Statcounter.com and how you can make it work for you
• How to start an online store

These are all good reads, so check them out. But not before you join the conversation below.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him… The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself… All progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
— George Bernard Shaw

Great quote, is it not?

It got me thinking…how does being unreasonable lead to greatness?

Think of greatness any way you like. I’m looking at greatness as being a forethinker; someone who looks at a problem and finds the solution that few – if no one – is considering.

History is full of people who have done unreasonable things that have had great affects on our world. Think of Jesus, Ghandi, or Einstein. How did their radical thought change the world? Even business owners like Henry Ford or doctors such as Joseph Murray have had dramatic impacts on our lives simply by thinking differently.

Each of these men were unreasonable. Meaning they didn’t settle for what was reasonable at the time. They pushed beyond. And from that, great things happened.

How are you unreasonable with your business? Your life? Your parenting? Your spirituality? Where do you not settle for the norm? And how does/can your unwillingness to be reasonable changing the world?

I have a number of processes that help me keep a stable and productive workflow. Yet I’m always looking for better and more efficient ways to run my business.

So is Ben Yoskovitz. But he wants to help all of us with our productivity. That’s why he’s instigated (sorry Ben, couldn’t resist) the Ultimate Guide to Productivity Group Writing Project Meme.

Ben kicked it off by tagging Alister Cameron, Adam Kayce, Chris Brogan, Guy Kawasaki, Andrew Wee, David Armano, Tony Clark, Mike Sansone and Chris Cree. As of tonight, Adam and Andrew have responded with some solid tips. I’d love to hear from everyone else Ben’s tagged.

You’re probably wondering how did I get here then? Well, Adam tagged me along with Dave Schoof, Char, Chris Garrett, and Karin H. H. Each should have some great feedback.

So are you ready to hear one of the ways I stay highly productive?

Focus. No, not you – if you’re reading you’re focused enough. My productivity tip is focus. For every 60 minutes of the workday, I stay micro focused for 50 minutes. Then I get out of my chair, away from my computer and out of my office for 8 minutes (give or take). The remaining two minutes I settle back down in my chair, look over my next todos and look at what I can accomplish in the next 50 minutes. Then I’m off to the races again.

During my 50 minutes of focus, I do nothing except what is on my todo list. If I’m writing code, I code for 50 minutes. If I’m returning phone calls, I do that for 50 minutes. If I’m writing a blog post, I do that for only 50 minutes. I keep a timer running in the background with an alarm so I don’t have to watch the clock.

This sounds similar to what Ben suggested about working in bursts. I take a bit different approach then being single tasked for a length of time. For me it’s all about how much I can get done in 50 minutes. Like Ben, I stay focused to one task at a time. But if I complete that task in under 50 minutes, I move on to the next task that needs to be done. Sometimes I can get dozens of tasks done in 50 minutes. Sometimes, like with coding and styling a website, I may work an entire day at 50 minute intervals. They key, for me, is in working uninterrupted for 50 minutes.

Also, during the 50 minutes I don’t answer the phone, I shut down my email client and turn off my feed reader. I minimize all programs that don’t directly relate to my task at hand. Not answering the phone and shutting down my mail client are TWO MAJOR KEYS to making this work.

So when do I answer email or return phone calls? Well, that happens in its own 50 minute block. As does scheduling coaching and consulting sessions with clients. I just don’t do these things during a 50 minute block where they’re not included.

One other trick to this…you have to walk away for the 8 minutes. Regardless of how little or much you’ve gotten done, stop at 50 minutes. Walk away. And then come back. That short break every hour has helped me stay even more focused during my 50 minute blocks. And, I find that I’m more refreshed at the end of the day.

So that’s it. This process has probably increased my productivity two fold, minimum. Probably more.

To summarize…

1. Begin with a clear task list for the day based on all the projects you have going on (I’ll let someone else tackle creating task lists)
2. Work through your task list in 50 minute intervals. Remain highly focused on the one task you’re working on.
3. If you complete your task in less time, move on to the next one. If not, stop at 50 minutes anyhow and pick up where you left off in the next interval.
4. At the end of 50 minutes – stop what you’re working on. Get away from your work, leave your computer/office for 8 minutes. Get some water, do something completely unrelated to work. Breathe…
5. After 8 minutes (or so) return to your office and spend the remaining two minutes preparing for the next 50 minute interval.
6. Repeat.

So now it’s time for me to tag some folks I’d love to hear from. I’m tagging Dave Taylor, Liz Strauss, David Airey, Ted Demopolous, Andy Beard, Mike Sansone (again), Edward Mills, Drew McLellan, Valeria Maltoni, Sarah Lewis, Doug Karr, Easton Ellsworth, Aaron Potts, and David Armano.

I’d love to hear feedback on anyone else who’s using or trying this method of working. It’s worked great for me.

I’d also love to hear your ideas for improving on it or adding to it with other productivity tips. So please, share your thoughts, ideas and tips.

And remember to visit Ben, Wendy Piersall, Kathie Thomas, Harrison Loke, Ploop, Engtech, Lorraine Pirihi, Janet Barclay – who have already shared their gems for productivity.

When I wrote the post on Friday about my ‘Gotta Get Goals,’ I didn’t realize it would have such an effect. Not only on you, by your comments – which I thank you for, but on me as well. Over the weekend and into today I’m a little foggy on how I want to proceed.

I’ll certainly continue blogging about small business development, marketing, using the web, blogging, etc. And, it feels right to begin doing so with even more of my own, unique perspective.

When I work with clients, it’s never just about business building. It’s much more. Often I share with my clients how to bring themselves more forward in their business. Not just ‘own,’ but how to bring more of their own, authentic selves forward in caring for their clients and customers.

This doesn’t mean getting all touchy-feely with your clients, not at all. It does mean moving with your clients and customers from, as Liz Strauss talks about, your fully-expressed self.

Moving is the key word because as a good service providers I actively move with my clients through their process. Not in a co-dependent way. No. Rather in a way of coaching, consulting and educating in which I’m interested in my client’s success.

Hence, I’m not just selling them a product or a service. Instead I’m taking a position the position of mutual benefit – they win, I win. Not, they pay – I win, they may win if they get it. I help them get it so they can win too.

So stick around. Looks like another set of changes coming. But that’s one thing I can say, I rarely stand still.

Do you have one blog post that you feel has made a difference to how you blog or do business? Please share it with all of us.

And remember, I’ve removed the nofollow in comments so all commenters now get link love.

The first…my website/blog has moved. It is no longer at healthywebdesign.com. You’ll see above that it’s now at dmiracle.com.

Second, I’m changing the name of my site from Healthy WebDesign to Dawud Miracle @ dmiracle.com. I’ll be updating the banner in the coming days.

This is a difficult, but for many reaons, a necessary move. The short of it is I’ve far outgrown just being known as a web designer. So while I’ll continue to build websites long into the future, I’m going to begin directly promoting my coaching, consulting and educational services as well. I’ll be sharing much more on these changes in the coming weeks.

For now, I just need to get the word out.

So can you help me? How, you ask?

1. MOST IMPORTANT: please change my feed link in your feed reader. In time I will phase out the feed attached to healthywebdesign.com.
2. If you’ve bookmarked my site, please update your bookmark to dmiracle.com
3. If I’m in your Technorati Favorites or favorites with any other service, please update your favorite to dmiracle.com
4. Update your blogroll to dmiracle.com
5. Tell anyone you know who’s been to my site that I’ve moved it to dmiracle.com

And if you feel so inclined, I would be deeply appreciative if you wrote a short post on your blog about my move. Even though I’m redirecting every URL from healthywebdesign.com, I have effectively lost all my inbound links.

Whatever steps you can take, I deeply thank you for in advance. And thank you for continuing to read and support my blog.

Look for more changes, including design tweaks, coming soon.

Dawud

Speakers include:

• Phil Gerbyshak, Make It Great!
• Liz Strauss, Successful Blog
• David Armano, Logic + Emotion
• Terry Starbucker, Ramblings from a Glass Half-Full
• Rodney Rumford, Podblaze
• BenYoskovitz, Instigator Blog
• Mike Sansone, Converstations
• Drew McLellan, Drew’s Marketing Minute
• Chris Cree, Success CREEations
• Scott Rafer, MyBlogLog
• Janice Myint, Technorati
• Wendy Piersall, emomsathome
• The conference will kick off with Christine Kane’s special brand of music.

What you’ll learn:

• LEARN how to write compelling posts that draw readers in
• SEE how great blog design can make a difference
• DISCOVER how analytics and other tools can help you maximize your blog’s potential
• HEAR innovative and useful blog marketing techniques that will expand your reach and viewership
• GAIN valuable insights on ways to use blogging as a coaching tool
• CONNECT with other bloggers through our pre-launch activities and interactive presentations

I’m trying to clear room in my calendar to go. If you’re nearby, please join us. Only catch, it’s Mother’s Day weekend so be sure you take care of the moms in you life.

There are only 250 seats available so I’d suggest you pre-register for the conference. Hope to see you there. And if you’re coming, drop me a line and let me know – I’ll look for you.

As of today, MyBlogLog community has only 12 members. Yet, I’m so pleased that they’ve joined my community that I’d like to acknowledge them right here:

• Micah Schaeffer from Blogging on Blogging (MyBlogLog link)
• Mike Sansone from Converstations (MyBlogLog link)
• Catherine (cat) Morley from Designers who Blog (MyBlogLog link)
• Gary Conn from Google SEO, Successful Blogging, Online Marketing (MyBlogLog link)
• Chris Brown from Branding & Marketing (MyBlogLog link)
• Internet Strategy Blog (MyBlogLog link)
• Daily Domainer News (MyBlogLog link)
• Debojit Chowdbury from Free Life Coaching (MyBlogLog link)
• PayPerPost (MyBlogLog link)
• Tim Kevan from The Barrister Blog (MyBlogLog link)
• Laura from My Journey to One Million Dollars (MyBlogLog link)
• The SEO Fox Blog (MyBlogLog link)

So check out these blogs and their communities on MyBlogLog. And while you there, stop by my community and tell me about yourself.