Lively Biz For Lifestyle Entrepreneurs With Alicia Forest

Creating supportive environments is imperative to your success as an entrepreneur. It goes without saying that if you have environments that will support you and your passion, it’s going to be much easier and more enjoyable for you to do your work. In Part 2 of this series, I’m going to touch upon a few more of the environments that I believe are most essential to your success and well being.

I’m writing this on my laptop in a Cosi café in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. The reason I am here has nothing to do with me or my business, but the reason I can continue to be successful in my work is because I have set myself up to do so. How? By creating supportive environments. In this case, the laptop, the appropriate software, and the ability to connect to the Internet, as well as the support of my husband, all contribute positively to my accomplishment of the task: writing and submitting this piece on deadline and without stress.

Do you do everything yourself when it comes to running your business? Or do you find it difficult to delegate to others, at least sometimes? Do you think you don't have the money to hire help? Well, I'm going to show you how hiring help can help increase your bottom line dramactically. Not delegating is one of the major hurdles my private clients seem to struggle with. They are doing everything themselves and are so busy with the little adminstrative things that they have little time to devote to their "genius" work - developing products and services for their niche and working directly with their clients.

Building a responsive, high-quality list of email subscribers is the key to leveraging your marketing time and increasing your income. Here's 6 specific ways to show you how.

Are you like many business owners who are confused or stuck when it comes to creating a unique, memorable, and authentic brand? If so, you're not alone. I've been there myself, so I understand the frustration of feeling stuck on this whole branding thing.

A question I get asked by entrepreneurs all the time is... "Where do I start? With an ezine, a website, a blog, or what?" The answer is - it depends. It depends on where you are at in your business building efforts. But after hearing this question asked often enough, I think there's something else going on ~ a request for a simple way to understand how all the pieces fit together. So, here goes:

One of the ways I see entrepreneurs staying small (and frustrated) is by not being serious enough about how they manage their receivables in their business. Receivables is simply money that is owed to you. For example, there isn't a business owner I know who hasn't had at least one client's payments become an issue, so if this hasn't happened to you yet, know it most likely will. However, if you have certain things in place, it will be a lot easier for you to handle these situations, gracefully and respectfully.

"Do I always have to come up with something new?" This is a question I'm often asked by my private clients, and the answer is a resounding YES, if you want to continue to grow your business. Besides boring your target market after awhile, you'd get bored, too, so yes, you want to breath some life into your business by consistently coming up with new offers. This helps keep your list interested, and it helps you stay cutting edge in your market.

Taking my struggling consulting business online and following the business model I now do turned everything around for me, financially and otherwise. So when I started hearing from my mentors that I might want to add some offline marketing tactics back into the mix, I was hesitant to say the least. But then I started studying and learning more about some specific direct mail strategies, and recognizing the power they have, I started wondering if maybe I wasn't missing an important piece of the puzzle to take my business up another notch.

While the message and the market of your business may be different, there are some stumbling blocks that seem to pop up for even the seasoned entrepreneur. Here are four of the ones that I've been coaching clients on during their private planning and strategy retreats lately:

Over the years, I've developed very strong boundaries in my business, which have contributed to its quick growth, and I coach a lot on setting and standing strong in boundaries with many of my clients. I wanted to share some of the ways I've created and strengthened the boundaries within the way I run my business so you can do the same.

Creating a profitable business online is a process, just like creating any other business. Regardless of what it is that you're offering, your cash flow is based on your sales. Once you know and implement the online business sales cycle (which anyone can follow), you'll be able to create consistent cash flow for your business, too.

"You either have excuses or you have results. Which one do you have today?" This was a tweet posted by a former Platinum client of mine, Liz Dennery Marks, owner of SheBrand.com and Dennery Marks Inc., a very successful brick-and-mortar branding and celebrity outreach firm in Beverly Hills.

Are you working too hard in your business? If you're an entrepreneur, you probably are, especially if you're in the early stages of your business building. And you're not alone.

Basically, there are two things that must be in place before any of your offerings can be successful (read: profitable). One is that it must be designed for a niche. So, there must be a group of people who you are targeting to offer your product/program/service toward. The other is that is must solve a problem that your niche wants solved. Sounds obvious, yes? But many times, we create what we think our niche NEEDS instead of what it WANTS. It's critical to know the difference and to use that knowledge to create your offerings.

I think if you've been a survivor of any sort, you can relate to Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind. Sure, she used her womanly wiles to get what she wanted, but hey... who hasn't? (And men, you've got 'wiles' of your own, so don't think you're off the hook.)

I've been spending a lot of time lately getting ready for 2011 - planning, organizing, strategizing, visioning, and more. Once again, there are many transitions and transformations on the horizon for me and my business, and much to do to prepare for them, so I'm making space and opening the flow.

I've been spending a lot of time lately getting ready for 2011 - planning, organizing, strategizing, visioning, and more. Once again, there are many transitions and transformations on the horizon for me and my business, and much to do to prepare for them, so I'm making space and opening the flow.

As we head into the season of giving, now is a great time to show appreciation to your clients and customers. Taking the time to give thanks to your clients will set you apart, increase loyalty, improve retention, inspire more sales, and deepen relationships that last long after the initial sale. Here are 10 easy ways you can say thank you to your clients!

Spending time in Vegas is not my favorite thing to do. However, Ali Brown's SHINE conference made it definitely worthwhile. And although I had many light bulb moments during those three days, I wanted to share with you 10 of my top take-aways.