Working more and more on my English website and using the success factors from Dutch website I find interesting things. Success in client attraction is directly connected to sales.

Quantity vs Quality

Quality is an important factor in attracting the ideal client. You need to create content and products of high quality. That is a fact.

However the quantity factor can not be left out.

1,000 true fans should be enough to have a good business and earn EUR 50,000 – EUR 100,000 when you are able to sell your true fans EUR 50.00 – EUR 100.00 per year.

But how do you get 1,000 true fans? Lots of people need to see you, find you, read about you.

4 keys for successful client attraction:

1. visitors,
2. subscribers,
3. fans and
4. clients.

In that order.

1. Visitors

It all starts with attracting visitors to your content. There are several ways to attract visitors to your hub (website and blog combination).

Ads – you can use advertising to draw fans to your content
Search Engines – when you have good content and you use a good technical platform like WordPress, the search engines will pickup on your content. People are looking for the content that you supply in the search engines.
Social Networking Sites – people on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube want to share their discoveries with their network. This is how people find you, new and people who have seen your content before.
Bookmarks – People bookmark great content for later to read, for inspiration. The bookmarks in the browser and bookmarking sites turn into visitors for your website.
Newsletter or RSS – when people want to stay updated to what you are doing they subscribe to your updates. You can supply these updates via newsletter and/or RSS. People will visit your Hub from your updates via email.

Subscribers

People that visit your website via any of the above ways come to your website, a visitor. When they are interested in your topic at this time they want to stay updated. They want you to keep them informed on this topic, for now.

A great way to do this is to let people subscribe to your newsletter. It is a great thing you can offer the visitors of your website.

They will stay updated and it will give you the opportunity to send time sensitive messages.

Fans

A small part of the people who follow you, read every thing that you publish. They spread your articles, share it with their fans. These fans love what you do, learn from you and pass the information on.

Clients

Clients, customers, true fans, these are the people who buy from you. They like what you do so much, they are willing to pay for even more information.

You need products when you want to make a living from your business. But it is also true that your true fans need products from you. They want the limited edition, the extended version, they want more.

Your are letting your true fans down when you are not offering this. They will be disappointed. I know now.

What you need to do

There are only 3 things you need to focus on:

• Create great content,
• listening and interacting with your audience, and
• create great products that your ideal client wants to buy.

Content

Great content will keep attracting new visitors. It makes new visitors, returning visitors. It makes visitors willing to share your content, bookmark it. It makes them want to subscribe to the updates. It will turn them into fans when you continue to deliver and surprise them.

Create great content and people will use it and add a link to your content in their articles. This will make you more visible in the search engines and rank you higher.

Great content gets shared in the social networking sites even by people who have never heard from you before.

Interact

The visitors of your website can only turn into fans when they get to know the real you. When they trust you. You do not have to meet in person to get to know each other.

People will learn a lot about you from your writing, videos, photos and audio. This is you sending. People will even learn more about you when they interact directly with you. You will build trust with them.

When you listen and reply to comments, replies, messages, people can turn from visitors and subscribers into fans and true fans.

Products

Create products. With products you are able to support your true fans. It will make you a living.

Creating products looks sometimes more complicated than it really is.
Listen to your true fans. What are they looking for. Ask.
Then, create it.
Ship it.
Done.

Shipping is the hardest part here. You are looking for perfection. You may think the product is still not good enough for your true fans. There are plenty of other things to do.

However a product doesn’t count if it hasn’t been shipped. When a product is not on your website, in your shop with a price attached to it so people can buy ut, it doesn’t count. You need to complete this step.

How about you?

How do you feel about this model?
Do you see it working for you? Do you miss something?

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

From visitors to clients and the 3 things you need to do

Just as we are enjoying the last hours of 2011, and celebrating the first hours of 2012 I want share this with you.
Friends that made me shine in 2011. Great company

Pieter van Osch

Pieter van Osch – now working on his Dutch bog customervibes.com and Refresh Interactive but has an international plan on mindful marketing for 2012 @pyotr

Drive your business growth with super enthusiastic customers.

Monique Bolung

Monique Bolung – a coach that is really good in team coaching especially management teams. She is launching a new program and starts in January 2012. So glad that I am her Greater Than Yourself project. She is helping me to face my fear for earning more money and making me look beyond myself. A warm hard and a sharp mind. @breinkorf

boardroom consultant, executive coach, team coach, conflictcoach

Brigitte van Tuijl

Brigitte van Tuijl – She is going to make a big difference in people’s life in 2012 with her new program Big Mission, Big Impact. We talked in September and concluded that 2012 is the year we will make the full switch to English. Or as she says on her blog “A Purpose & Breakthrough Expert for Heart-centered Entrepreneurs. @brigittevanT

Helping heart-centered entrepreneurs that struggle to reach more people with their message to get unstuck so they make a bigger difference and contribution while making more money.

Lianne Ebbinkhuijsen

Lianne Ebbinkhuijsen – of Being In The Room from she moved from fear of speaking to selling with your presentation. A great move. A skill that a lot of self-employed are missing. I see a great future for her new program Sell Your Excellence by Speaking from the Heart, launching in January. @lianneebbink

Moving your Audience

Becky McCray

Becky McCray – a Small town business specialist. What a wonderful business women. Building on several business at the same time. Running a liquor store in Alva, Oklahoma, starting Tourism Currents and taking care of the farm. Enjoyed our long talks during SOBCon and our monthly master mind sessions.

Specialist in small town and rural issues in small business, government and tourism.

Stephanie Ward

Stephanie Ward – my first English webinars was earlier this year together with Stephanie. We did even a workshop together for the AABC members in Amsterdam April 18, 2011. A good start for my international aspirations.

I am passionate about helping Business Owners attract more clients and grow their businesses!

Liz Strauss and Terry St. Marie

Liz Strauss – we had a couple long chats via Skype about my direction earlier this year. She and Terry ‘Starbucker’ St. Marie are making it possible that there will be a SOBCon Europe in 2012. Looking forward to this energetic event. @lizstrauss and @starbucker

Liz is truly a community builder and develops a warm relationship with readers of her blog.

Laura Babeliowsky

Laura Babeliowsky – missed working with her this year. We stopped the Social Media Event that we have organised for 3 years together. She invested in coaching and training during 2011. Expect to see some great things from her in 2012. I feel she will move into the 7 figures revenues this year. @laurababel

Business Coach for the self-employed to get more clients

SMC Amsterdam team

The Social Media Club Amsterdam team – Olchert Vels, Remco Janssen, Leo Verdonck, Sandy de Roos, Pieter van Osch for 2 years of SMC Amsterdam already and the great plans we have for 2012. Meeting great and smart people who attend the monthly events and listen to great speakers. Personal highlight for SMC Amsterdam in 2011: presentation David Meerman Scott. @smcamsterdam @olchert @remcojanssen @leoverdonck @sandydr @pyotr

WordCamp NL team

After some hard thinking I decided to step down of the WordCamp Netherlands board. As initiator for this WordCamp it feels like letting your baby go after 3 years. Wishing the team lots of fun and a sold out event for WordCamp Netherlands 2012 @wordcampnl @chantalcoolsma @yoast @defries @illutic

Clients, freelancers and friends

Love working with clients like Selma Foeken, Brigitte van Tuijl, Lianne Ebbinkhuijsen, Chi-Yeun Gulick-Lee, Marianne Schutten, Marije van Duijne Strobosch, Olaf Rutten, Marietta Boland, Karla Mooij, Suzanne Meijles, Marina van Walsum, Minky Spijkerman, Josephine Bots, Marjon de Stefano, Marlene Langbroek. Thank you for sharing your business and experiences.

Impressed by the work of Chantal Coolsma @chantalcoolsma, Matthew Rockow @rochow, Sinian Nienhuis @Virtualsz, Sabine Schmidt @smdsocialmedia and my wife whom all helped me out in 2011. Looking forward to outsource even more work to you in 2012. Love to keep you busy.

Coaches

Learned a lot from these coaches and trainers in 2011 – they help me to make progress without meeting them in person:

Sandi Krakowski – A Real Change – a really smart business women and serial entrepreneur. From bankruptcy to multi millionaire. A hard-working mom that found the peace to take care of business AND her family.

Kendall Summerhawk – shows me new ways of looking at earning money. Have been following Kendall a few months now.

Fabienne Fredrickson of Client Attraction, great tips and insight on how to grow as an entrepreneur in business and life.

Brendon Burchard founder of Experts Academy. Respect of how is over US $ 10 million in just 2 years.

Derek Halpern of Social Triggers – learning about better website from Derek. Was following him from the beginning of 2011 and got to listen to him at SOBCon in Chicago. Love his way.

I did not hire these coaches, I followed them online. In 2012 I will hire a business coach.

Authors that made a difference for me

I have read a lot of books last year. It feels like the most books I have ever read in a year. About every 2 weeks I finish reading a book. The books and authors that really touched me were:

Tim Sanders @sandersays – Today We Are Rich: Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence

Steve Farber @stevefarber – The Radical Leap Re-Energized: Doing What You Love in the Service of People Who Love What You Do

Scott Belsky @scottbelsky – Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality

Arjan van Erkel @aartjan – Verleiden op Internet

Paulo Coelho @pauloCoelho – Aleph

Blogs

Blogs that I read the most in 2011 and shared a lot of stories from. Thank you for your high quality content.

Social Media Examiner – an online magazine on social media with Michael Stelzner, Cindy King and many more.

ChrisBrogan.com – don’t know how he does it, writing multiple post every day.

Conversation Agent by Valeria Maltoni

Jonathan Fields – great launch of his new book Uncertainty.

Dan Zarella – great statistics and insights

Duct Tape Marketing – John Jantsch – small business support

ProBlogger – with Darren Rowse and others. Great about making money with your blog and more.

Social Media Explorer – Jason Falls

Mack Collier – Helping companies understand the “social” part of social media.

Jeff Bullas

James Altucher – serial entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist

Mari Smith – the Facebook Queen.

Convince & Convert by Jason Bear

Brian Solis

HubSpot Blog

And you?

Whom are you proud of?
Share your inspiration below.

The inspiration for this post came from 20 Bloggers to Watch in 2012 by @jadecraven

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Which friends made you shine in 2011? Here are 50 of mine

One word to describe what your focus is going to be for the coming year. For me this really helped the last year. One word to remind yourself everyday what your focus is. One word you can use to say Yes or No to new projects.

Last year I found this blog post by Mari Smith on her One-Word Theme for 2011, Commitment. I saw the potential of this one word theme.

International
My one-word theme for 2011 was: International. I thought I wrote a blog post about it, but I can’t find it.

My goal is to speak internationally. I love working, investigating, being involved in various cultures. My goal is to speak at international events.

Although I haven’t spoken at an international event in 2011, I feel that this word made a significant change in my focus for the past year.

What I did do was write more on this blog, I paid more attention to English updates on Twitter and Facebook. Together with Stephanie Ward I organized two English webinars and converted these to products for sale on this website

• Use Social Media to Grow Your Business
• Facebook for your business

It always played a role in my monthly mastermind discussions. Especially the full day mastermind session in August 2011. In the preparation and during that day I have decided to switch to English in 2012.

Meaning that I will blog less on ernohannink.nl and my main focus will go to this website and blog ernohannink.com. Articles, pages, products and services in English. Twitter updates in English, Facebook focus more on my English page and so on.

To give this a good start I have developed a 30 day free course, with 30 short tips in videos of 2-3 minutes. We will start 2012 with a great program “Attracting Clients and Grow Your Business”

Maybe I was a bit optimistic for 2011 but the attention was there and the shift is happening now.

Grow

The last 2 months I have blocked most of my time for planning and preparing for 2012. I have worked out the details for the program that starts January. Boiling down this one sheet with my plan for 2012 I concluded it is all about growing.

I want to grow on many levels.
One of main goals is start a foundation to help the self-employed in developing countries.
One other goal on my list is to get this blog on the AdAge Power 150 list. I want to become visible internationally. Grow my audience, grow the traffic, grow the number of subscribers for my newsletter to 25.000, grow.

I want to grow as an entrepreneur
On my expenses list for 2012 this is visible, two trainings, one on copy writing.
Hire a business coach – she will help meon a weekly basis to grow.
Speak at 4 international events – yes, expenses to go to these events and speak, just to get the experience.

I want to grow my clients
Help as many as I can. Change the way I am working. Have programs and products so I help more people than just 1-on-1.
Substantially grow my clients and show them the fast track to, more visitors, more subscribers, more ideal clients, attracting clients.

I want to grow financially
Yes, I will talk money this year. I have been afraid about this word and feeling way to long. It has been a roadblock for me. That has changed since August 2011. Like I said here, I need the money to accomplish my big and bold goal.

What is your one-word theme?

So let’s share. What is your one-word theme for 2012?
It will help you to focus on your goals.

I just read that I am on a similar path as Mari Smith. Her one-word theme for 2012? Growth

Credit photo: Growth by Caleb Roenigk

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Grow is my theme for 2012

When you want to make progress and grow the coming year as a business owner, it is smart to have a plan. I must admit planning has never been my strongest point, especially setting financial goals for the coming year.

Often I worked without a real plan, and when there was a plan I tended not to look at it again during the year. From my mastermind group I learned a new way of looking at it.

“Why are you doing this? What do you want to accomplish?”, they asked me. I answered this with my biggest goal “Support the self employed in developing countries with my foundation.”

“And, do you need money to start this foundation?” Yes!
“You see, you need those revenues.” I agreed again and was ready to start my plan for the coming year.

1. Goals

The start of the planning proces is goal setting.
The major question that you want to answer is:

What do you want accomplish the coming year?

Set your goals for the coming year.
Select only a few (bold) goals.

These are my top goals:

• help as many independent professionals as I can to get a better balance in entrepreneurship and family. A healthy business is important for this balance and attracting you ideal client is ideal.
• Speaking internationally: at least in 4 different countries or states
• Start the foundation to support the self employed in developing countries
• Get on the AdAge Power150 list

To do this, I love to use the whiteboard. Of course you can also do it on a piece of paper or in Google Docs.

2. Outline

Cost
Write down the cost and investments that you are expecting and planning for the coming year that aline with your goals.

1. What is your management fee? What do you need to support your family? EUR
2. What do you want to learn and improve the coming year. Is it in line with your goals?
   What training or coaching do you need to accomplish this and what are the cost? EUR
3. What other investments or cost do you need to reach your goals? EUR
4. What are your other business expenses? EUR

Revenues
Now let’s look at the products and services that you have or are planning to introduce the coming year.
Add the numbers (€ or $ or your currency) that you can do for these points:

1. Products that you have that aline with your goals
2. Services that you have that aline with your goals
3. What products or services are you launching
4. Affiliate sales

In total you want enough revenues to cover your projected cost and investments.
Are you clear on this? You really need these revenues to accomplish your goals!

3. Detail

Now let’s break down the number of products you need to sell to get the above revenues.

1. How many products do you sell each month
2. What services do you sell in what month
3. When do you launch the new products and services, which month?

Are the numbers above doable? If not, what actions do you need to take to make these doable. Add promotion, launches or products where necessary.

Further detail
You want to break it down even further.
What do you need to do to get these revenues and when are you investing or expecting the costs.

In what week do you need to promote your launch?
In what week do you need to promote product x and product y?
In what week do you have an event scheduled?
When are your trips?
When is your holiday?

Blog posts
Since you are on a roll here it, let’s start making a rough blogging schedule.

Schedule topics for each week in relation to the tasks you planned above. Topics that relate to the launches you want to do.
Schedule a blogging series, 4 posts in a serie, 10 days or 30 days series.

This blogging schedule will help you to grow the number of visitors and traffic to your blog and website. Resulting in a growing number of subscribers to your newsletter.

Focus

An important reason you want to do this planning on this detailed level is that you are less distracted from all kind of ‘interesting’ activities that pop up every day. When you have a plan it is easier to say NO.

Looking at the big picture now, it is easy to exclude taks that do not contribute to your goals.

John Jantsch in his post Effective Planning Is About What to Leave Out

I recently hired my own business coach and one of the first things we’re focused on is getting me to stop doing things that don’t make sense and start spending more concentrated time on my highest payoff activities.

My coach would do the same, my guess is that when you have a coach he/she would do the same with you.

Go back to your detailed planning list and erase the tasks that do not contribute to your goals.

Interesting read:
Effective Planning Is About What to Leave Out by John Jantsch
Objectives, goals, strategies and tactics by Ben McConnell

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Grow your business, set your goals and start planning

Your wish

Are you a coach, author, speaker and/or trainer with a true passion for your work? You believe in the power of your services and products. So, You have a wish:

• earn more money
• let clients come to you
• become visible in the online world

You are an Independent Professional, a solopreneur, thus you are self employed and you have one major point of attention: more business with less effort.

More Clients

I have spoken with hundreds of coaches, authors, writers, speakers, and see one issue coming up again and again: they want more clients.

I love getting deeper into this issue. I love talking about getting more clients with my clients and followers. When people subscribe to my newsletter I ask this question: “What are you struggling with?”

This is a sampling of the answers I read the most:

I love what I do but I need more clients
How do I setup Facebook to get more clients
How do I use LinkedIn to get more business
I want a better price for my services.

So you see, you are not alone.

You are making plans for 2012 and this year everything will be different. Right?
You want to grow your business substantially in 2012. Maybe 2011 was not your best year ever, but in 2012 you want to change this. You want to make a leap in your income with all the experience and expertise that you have build up in the past years.

This new year everything will change for you.

What is happening now

You have been reading about blogs, newsletters, social network sites for the last months. Possibly you have followed one or two trainings on Twitter or LinkedIn. You learned all these great features and you are really thrilled of what it can bring. But there is still something missing.

You meet new people on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook, really nice people. But still something is missing.

You are missing new clients.

You hear all these great stories about people making money via these social media. They are setting up their business and finding clients just via social media. You keep thinking “What am I doing wrong here?”

What do you need

There are so many social network sites and blogs out there it is impossible to keep up with it all. And you don’t need to. There is no need to work hard, you need work smart.

You do not need a guide that will show you all the great and shiny new things that are out there. You need a guide that shows you what works when you want to attract clients using the internet.

You want someone that is your lens to the new world and can show you only what you need to see.

Pure Willpower is not enough

Willpower is like a muscle that easily overloads. The solution for showing great willpower is using it as little as possible and to create order and regularity.

Order and Regularity for your client attraction will be more successful than working on willpower.

That is why this program lasts for seven months. We want to create your system, your order and regularity to attract your ideal clients. Monthly, weekly and daily routines so it becomes part of your life without thinking about it.

What could happen

When you are clear what you offer to which people you could just attract your ideal client. You know the one.
You have some of those clients already and you would just love that you could work only with these kind of clients.

You can start working only for your ideal clients. Clients that enjoy you and talk about you. Clients that pay the bill on time. Clients that make you happy and are happy with you.

Your business will be even more fun

Why is this program different

In this program I will only show you the tools that make you visible for your target audience. No need to overload you with all the new stuff that has not worked yet for client attraction.

You can talk with like minded, ambitious entrepreneurs in the online network for this program. We can help each other with detailed steps, ask questions, answer questions, support each other.

As Adriaan Wagenaar once said after a Facebook workshop: “His expert-style was ‘What makes you successful on Facebook.’ instead of ‘Just do like me and everything will be OK.’”

When you follow the Gold or Silver program we will talk numbers. You will make yourself accountable to the group. In the Gold program I will be your mentor and will support you in your accountability on a monthly basis.

What is the program going to bring you

With my help you will learn what tools to use so you can attract your ideal client. Following the program you will become an Online Rock Star in your niche.

You will separate yourself from your competitors and become the Expert in your niche.

Ideal clients are calling you, sending you an email or a message to one of your profiles on the social network sites. They want to work with you.

Attracting your ideal client will result in a raise of your prices and earning more money.

Why am I doing this

Teach and support as many independent professionals as I can to attract clients. I want to touch as many self employed people and show them what happens when sales is no longer a struggle. When the clients just come knocking on your virtual door.

For more than 5 years I have been working on this topic with my clients and on the web. My book Attracting Clients, is in it’s second print, the first print sold out in less than 9 months. The digital version has been downloaded more than 5,500 times!

Attracting Clients is an import topic to me. I want to help as many independent professionals as I can to make their business successful. I want you to find a happy balance in entrepreneurship and family. A healthy business is the basis for this balance.

Attracting the right clients should be an important topic for you!

What do I want to accomplish

By the end of 2012 I want to have enough funds to start a new foundation. This foundation will support the self employed in developing countries to grow their business. The foundation will support these solopreneurs in their effort to make their business work locally.

I really want to support the local area by supporting local people to make their business successful so they are staying. I want to do this with training and mentoring, locally and via the web of course, and with micro loans.

What are you getting

After doing workshops, webinars and presentations I have created this special program to support you. The program is completely online so you don’t loose valuable time traveling. Balance in your entrepreneurship and family is important to me.

Via the link below you will find an overview of all the topics we will cover in those 7 steps starting January 2012.

During the 7 months we will develop a routine, so attracting your ideal client becomes a habit for you.

Attract Clients and Grow Your Business
Work with me for 7 months and become an Online Rock Star

My latest webinar sold out in 3 weeks. Make sure you reserve your seat now to start working on your business January 2012. When you register now you will get some bonus materials so you can start right away and can get in the spirit of the steps you and I are going to take in 2012. Register now.

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

You love what you do and you want more clients – 7 steps to do just that

Do your clients need some training to work with you? Are your clients always asking for something that you have not available. It is time to train you.

Yes, I just said “It is time to train YOU.”

Recently I watched a few episodes of the “Dog Whisperer” and “Supernanny”. I know there are better things to do, but bare with me for a moment.

Who asks for these experts to come and help them out with their problem children or aggressively barking dog? The parents of the children or the dog owner.

They think the Dog Whisperer or SuperNanny will come and train the dog or the children. And they do. However, that is just a small part of what they do. Most of the time goes to the training of the parents or the dog owners.

So if you feel your Clients need a training in paying earlier, doing the things at the right time, doing the right thing…. start with You. How can we you train you to make these changes possible.

Are you a pact leader or are clients leading you?

5 tips to become the leader that your clients are looking for:

1. Investigate – always investigate the situation. Find out what your client is used to. First you look at the situation of your client and let them get used to you, even though your method is always the same. You create the ‘feeling’ that you are adapting your method to their situation.
    
2. Consistency – always use the same order and same process. The process of your company is very clear and consistent, you actually have it all written down in a Word document. Every time you start working with a new client you send them the personalized ‘Ideal Process for best results’ document.
    
   This document will make it clear for the clients what you expect how, when and why. For your client this document also explains exactly what they can expect from you, how, when and why.

   This ‘Ideal Process for best results’ is just ONE sheet. If it is longer, you need to simplify the process. No wonder your clients don’t understand your process.

3. Communicate all the time. Be clear about what you are doing or what you are waiting for. Include a call to action at the end. This way your client knows exactly what to do without feeling belittled. Use the 4 state of minds: be dominant, appreciative, emotional and waiting in your communication.
    
4. Timely reaction – As the “Dog Whisperer” says “Correct before things go wrong.” When you correct at the moment things are already progressed to the next level it is difficult to be heard.

   When you send a signal just before things tend to go wild you can get their attention easily. Sometimes this requires more than words, you may need to ‘touch’ them to get their attention.

   When you do this you will prevent that they will move to the next level and become less sensitive for your input. 

5. Reward – when the client is doing what the both of you agreed upon it is time to reward your client. This has nothing to do with big gifts. You can thank your client when they pay the invoice on time. When they supplied you with an answer so you can move forward in time, send them a short message and thank them.
    
   Let your client know that you appreciate what they did. Even though you think it went exactly how it should have, your client will feel good about your compliment. This will stimulate similar actions in the future.

Bonus:
Trust – now you have to let go and trust that you have given your clients all the materials and attention so they can do it on their own. After a few weeks or months you go back and do the last fine tuning. Explain what happened and show how this can go even better with your final tips.

New Client

Yes, you will need to train your client. They are used to doing things in a certain way. This may not be the way for the best results when working with you.

But it all starts with you. When you have a clear process and a consistent way of doing things, your clients will experience the best results when working with you.

This is a win-win situation. The client is happy because they get the best results and you are happy because the client was easy to work with.

Although your client does not experience it that way but you have made sure that the client was easy to work with from the beginning.

You can do this with existing clients, however it takes a lot longer than training dogs according to the Dog Whisperer.

Credit: Image Class dismissed

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Make your Life Easier, Train your Clients

A few months ago I was pre-selected to become an Insider for the Fujitsu Lifebook4life project. If you did a number of tasks and blog about it you could keep the Lifebook.

When something like this is offered it is hard to say no and I applied. Then the good news came that I was selected to be part of the insiders team of 40 insiders from all over Europe. And a few days later I received the Lifebook E751.

From then on I started using the E751 a lot. On my desk there is a PC, a workstation, where I work on clients’ sites. Then I have the MacBook Pro that I use to blog, prepare my presentations and edit video’s, and now I also have the E751 on my desk that I use on the road, to write.

Tasks

There are 10 tasks that you can perform and earn points. You need to complete at the least 6 tasks if you want to keep the Lifebook.
An overview of the 10 tasks.

Each country has a different task. The countries I selected to complete the tasks:

1. Russian Federation, Business trip by plane: Show us what’s in your suitcase – next to your LIFEBOOK.
2. Finland, Show us your most important business websites and programmes.
3. France, Revolutionary, Explain your favorite LIFEBOOK-feature and how it changed your daily business.
4. Germany, Create your personal to-do-list on your FUJITSU tablet PC.
5. Middle East, You are spoilt for choice: Decide between three features of the Modular Bay.
6. Netherlands, Locate a „stolen“ LIFEBOOK and catch the thieves!
7. Italy, An obligatory act on every journey: Postcards. Create your own special postcard.

Of course it all started with an unboxing video, Lifebook E751 uitpakken voor #lifebook4life project (Dutch)
BTW this article is No 3 in Google.nl when you search for Lifebook4life just after 2 Fujitsu domains. In Google.com I have 2 positions in the top 10, 1 for this article and 1 in Flickr with photo’s about the surprise package (see below).

First stop Russian Federation

I am on my way to Russia. My first trip to the Moscow Domodedowo airport. Before I go, a quick look at what is in my carry on bag.

The bag and the content can not weigh more than 8 kg. Luckely the Lifebook E751 weighs about 2.5 kg, so enough room for my other essential equipment for a road trip.

So this is in my bag and why: 

• Of course the Fujitsu Lifebook E751 – blogging and writing, work for clients, presentations
• The charger for the Lifebook
• The Kodak Zi6 so I can shoot some video on the road or do an interview
• The tripod for the camera
• The pointer to advance slides during my presentations
• The Philips LFH0882 memo recorder – to take notes – or ‘write’ blog posts when I can’t type
• My Samsung Nexus S – mobile phone, calendar, livelogger, camera, Wifi hotspot
• Charger for the Nexus S
• Charger for the AAA and AA batteries
• business cards
• small notepad
• paper calendar
• small umbrella
• drop (a Dutch candy)

Just in case something is going wrong with the suitecase I do carry some basic stuff like:

• dry t-shirt
• toothbrush and toothpaste
• 1 pair of clean underware

Btw this Skooba bag is really convenient for these kind of travel. 

Most of this is typical for my work, speaker and author. 
The umbrella is maybe not typical for the Netherlands but it is necessary when you use public transportation and you want to make it kind of dry to the location. The other very typical thing from Holland is a candy that is called drop. It has a typical taste and I like it lot. When I make longer trips it is always in my bag or suitecase.

Always on in Finland

For this trip to Finland and to show how I am always on, I am using this great tool Desktime. This tool shows me how efficient I am behind my computer. The advantage of this tool is that it is available for Windows, MAC, iPhone and Android, so no excuses. I have installed it on all my computers and my MacBook Pro. IT was one of the first tools I installed on my Lifebook.

What I use is recorded online so I can always look back and see how efficient I was during the day. You can select very easily which software, tools and sites are productive and which are time wasters.

To create and modify screenshots I use Snagit by Techsmith. It is a great tool and I need it for my presentations and my articles.

While I was preparing for a workshop that I am giving later this week I found a great article about Content Marketing. I have used this article to produce an article on ErnoHannink.nl – Content Marketing is becoming more important (Dutch)

Today I also worked on some clients’ sites. I help clients to use the internet to attract clients. It consists of several building blocks. One of these blocks is a site and blog in WordPress. For this I create, modify and translate WordPress themes for clients’ sites. For this I use Notepad ++, a convenient HTML, PHP and CSS editor. Again an open source tool, this time only for Windows.

When I edit files I also need to upload these to the servers on the web. For this use the FTP-tool, WinSCP Another great Open Source solution for windows.

As I mentioned before, a great part of this day was consumed by working on the slides for the workshop. For the slides I use Keynote on my MacBook Pro.

So this is what I do during the day. Of course I spent some time on Twitter (via Tweetdeck), on Facebook and LinkedIn. Networking and sharing. However I have not marked these sites as productive in Desktime. These sites could make me productive all day long if I want too

These are my favorite tools I always use. I can do all my work with these tools and a browser. The browser I use the most at the moment is Google Chrome. For my mail I use Gmail and as a backup I use Thunderbird. 

With the Lifebook E751, my Samsung Nexus S and these tools I am Always On. I can work where and when I want.

The lifebook revolution in France

For my work I am on the road and work sometimes in funny places. When I travel to give a presentation or a workshop about finding the best people I try to use public transportation as often as I can.

Using public transportation is pretty OK in the Netherlands we have a fairly good network of trains, trams and busses. Most of my traveling is to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht. This means about 90 to 120 minutes in the train for me.

The first part of the trip I try to catch on in Twitter and Facebook. Often I use my Samsung Nexus S for this. Since I have the Lifebook E751 I work a little bit different. The Nexus S has the option to use it as a Wifi Hotspot. This means I connect with the Lifebook’s wifi adapter to the Nexus S and the mobile phone connects with mobile internet.

With a light browser I see what is happening on Twitter and Facebook and join in some conversations, answer some questions. Then I use notepad or Windows Live Writer to write an article or something for my next book.

The one thing that really suprised me of the Lifebook is the battery life. Actually it was one of the reasons I purchased the MacBook Pro, batterylife and that it starts really fast when you open it. Two things I was really missing on my last notebook. Now the Lifebook E751 does also do both for me.

Personalised mouse

Last week I got a special package from Fujitsu, it was a small box with a polo shirt and a small laser mouse. Looking at it more closely I saw a name engraved, my name. Wow, that is also a ‘revolution’ for me, a personalised mouse.

The ‘Erno’ mouse

what TODO in Germany

As you may have noticed from my other posts here, I love to find great open source apps that help me to make my work easier. One of these solutions to manage my tasks is Wunderlist A tool I have installed on all my PCs and Macbook including the Lifebook E751. It is even installed on my Nexus S, always my tasks with me.

You can create projects and add tasks to a project. You can star projects to give it even more visiblity for a priority task. Checking tasks will move them to the completed list. A great tool, although I am a bit behind on my tasks. This is my todo list for today:

This is a rather dull to do list to watch, because all these tasks are on my computer at my desk. So I have some photos of another day where I had 2 appointments in Amsterdam.

Tasks completed

This is me on the first part of the train ride from Doetinchem to Arnhem. It is a bit tight on space but I can check and update Twitter and Facebook

This is me in the second part of the train ride. More room, time to get some work done. Here I was working on an article to be published on my blog at a later time.

My first appointment in Amsterdam at Microsoft head office in Schiphol. Discussing sponsorship possibilities for an event. Where I got a short demo of the new Windows, wow fast in booting.

Here is the lifebook E751 at the Amsterdam Arena, home to Ajax, the soccer team from Amsterdam. For the Social Media Club Amsterdam I am one of the organisers and this was our monthly event for September. It was about Aegon, Ajax’s sponsor, and social media. It was a great meeting, the attendees were happy with the content of the evening.

Then it was time to return home. Time to get some sleep for the next day. No photo’s of that action

Visit the Middle East using the Modular Bay of my Lifebook E751

During this trip I am traveling around between Quatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. A trip I have been looking forward to for a long time. The planning is right and I mix business with pleasure. The business part is that I am giving a few presentations and workshops in the Middle East. 

For the days between the presentations I will be doing some sight seeing. Also I will make some photo’s of the area to customize my slides. Enjoying the surroundings and culture I will sit at a cafe and do some catching op on my writing for my next book.

So no time to watch movies. My presentations are partly on my desktop but the older versions are in the cloud, no need to add extra harddisk space. Why would I? The E751 Intel Core i5 I am using has a 278 Gb harddrive.

As I already explained during my stay in France that I was surprised by the revolutionary battery life and the fast wake up time of the Lifebook E751. The important features that I used as a strong argument to purchase the MacBook Pro.

On the road you can never have enough battery life. So for me an extra battery is always welcome. The nice thing is of course that the E751 is completely prepared for this. You can just remove the DVD player and replace it with the extra battery (that I want to purchase).

Another option could be a solid state drive. Faster response, lighter. Mmm

Improvements

There are 2 other things I would like to improve, or maybe I just got spoiled with the MacBook experience. For one the loudspeakers are having difficulties when I listen to music or watch a video on Youtube and the volume is loud. The sound quality of the E751 could be better, especially at higher volumes.

Another thing that I really miss is scrolling with the keypad. Now I can use it to control the mouse, it is doing an OK job for that. But the scrolling with 2 fingers is something I really miss. Just for that I use the mouse wheel of the personalised laser mouse.

Oh, and one more thing. When the battery is low on power there is a message that you still have about 45 minutes. You better connect the power cord quickly because within the next 10 minutes the juice is gone and the E751 shuts down.

Extra Anti Theft protection for the Netherlands

Of course I am not happy that my home country, the Netherlands, requires extra anti theft protection. Then again a laptop is an easy product for thieves, small and high value. I was shocked that over 10.000 laptops are stolen every week, just in US airports. Unbelievable. Imagine that your valuable personal or company data is on the laptop and gets stolen from you.

We should train the thieves that it is useless to steal Fujitsu’s Lifebooks with the Advanced Theft Protection. As an owner I can setup all kinds protections to secure my Lifebook. For exmaple: I can use the finger print sensor to unlock my computer and the Lifebook has a Computrace-enabled BIOS.

Once stolen I can report it with one phone call and I can trace the computer and find it via GPS and Wifi. I can even delete sensitive data. Just to be sure I store no sensitive data on my laptop, it all stays in the cloud. 

If the ATP was not included in the Lifebook, I would use Prey, an open source tracking software for mobile devices. The Intel Anti-Theft Technology is really thorough, and it also requires some detailed instructions for the user to understand how all these solutions work.

One thing this ATP can not protect me from is our son. In the past few weeks I have tested the Lifebook a lot and worked on it as often as I could. My son is the ‘thief’ in my own home. Whenever he sees the laptop unused in my office or somewhere else in the house he ‘borrows’ it. He is really happy with it. I think he is already preparing himself for the time when he can get his own Lifebook.

Just to keep the Lifebook save from our son during this ‘Accept No Boundaries’ trip in Europe I had to buy this solution:

I did also locked the Lifebook to my desk just to be sure.

When I work on the road I carry a laptop sleeve that looks like a newspaper.

I would just prefer that thieves don’t notice my laptop because I am not sure this thieve is trained well enough to understand how well protected this laptop is. 

Lifebook postcard from Italy #lifebook4life

It’s time for some relaxing. I am taking a short break in Italy and sending you all a postcard.

Thank you Insiders for your great posts and tips and tricks. Loved the video’s and photos of the Insiders. 
Thank you moderation team for the support and small corrections you did on my posts.

It was a fun project to do and more importantly, I am impressed with the Fujitsu Lifebook E751 performance and qualitys. #lovinit

Just a small postcard I created myself showing you how I love this personalised gift.

This was my trip through 7 countries in Europe. Hope you enjoyed it too.

Fujitsu Lifebook information

Some interesting infographics with information about Fujitsu’s Lifebook innovations

Fujitsu Tablet innovations

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

My European road trip with the Fujitsu Lifebook E751 #lifebook4life

In my last post in 2010 I published a list of what I had shipped in 2010. Do you have such a list of 2010? Publishing that list was not easy, it shows what you have accomplished and therefor also what you have missed.

Producing a list what you want to ship is a lot easier. These are promises to yourself what you are going to do. Plans.

I know planning is good, because it will help you to accomplish the tasks on the list. On the other hand it is just a plan. A lot can happen, a lot of things can happen why you really can not make the plan. And the only thing that really counts is shipping. Doing.

What may help is publishing the plan in public, like on your blog or so. This way you have a commitment to your followers.
Did you make a plan for 2011? I know you did. Want to share it?

OK, I will go first.
Let me share the thing that I am already working on.
This is my blogging schedule:

• Monday: 1 post ernohannink.nl (Dutch)
• Tuesday: 1 post ernohannink.com (English), 1 post onlinesucces.nl
• Wednesday: 1 post ernohannink.nl (Dutch), 1 guest post English
• Thursday: 1 post ernohannink.com (English), 1 guest post English
• Friday: 1 post ernohannink.nl (Dutch), book writing
• Saturday: soccer time
• Sunday: 1 post ernohannink.nl (Dutch), 1 post ernohannink.com (English)

This is way more planned than last year. And by having this list here, for you to see, it will be more difficult for me to deviate.

Why is shipping so scary?
Plans in your head or on paper, are just that, plans. Actions that sound great. Results that look fantastic. You can already picture the success.
But what if?
What if, people don’t like the result? They liked the plan, but the result that can be different.
What if, people laugh?
What if… it fails?

Resistance
That is the lizard brain inside your head talking to you. The lizard brain (the amygdala) that knows only some basic reactions because it is the oldest part in our brain. The part that was there first way back in time.

The lizard is a physical part of your brain, the pre-historic lump near the brain stem that is responsible for fear and rage and reproductive drive.

it is fear, sex, hunger, etc. Especially fear.
In Linchip, Seth calls it resistance. You have to mindfully push through the resistance. Pretend everything you are writing is a draft.
When you have reached the deadline, Ship even when it is not done. Because it will never be done.

You can find Seth’s book here: Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? How to Drive Your Career and Create a Remarkable Future (aff)

So, you will help me to get my shipping done. Let me now help you.
Publish the task that you want to accomplish in 2011 and include the deadline in the comments or your blog and add a trackback. This way the readers of this article and comments will help you to ship.

This post is not done, but I will publish it anyway, because it is in my schedule and I started writing about it. It is not done. Wait, it needs more…. Let me read it again…

Publish.

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Shipping is a lot of fun (and scary)

If you read Seth Godin’s blog or books than you understand the question ‘What did you ship?’ – it comes from Lichpin. He wrote a blogpost listing what he had shipped in 2010. Seth also mentions that it is difficult to publish this list.

Thinking, preparing, planning all great things to do for a new project, but in the end it doens’t help you if you don’t execute. You need to release the product, new service. You need to ship.

It is a great book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? How to Drive Your Career and Create a Remarkable Future (aff)

OK, so without further ado, here is my shipping list:

• Social Media Event 2010 – it was different this year but gave good inspiration for 2011
• Handing out Awards for Best Dutch Small Business Blog: Schrijvenvoorinternet.nl and the Dutch Social Media Star: Anna-Maria Giannattasio
• sold out WordCampNL
• my new company Hannink Online Media was born
• many articles published on Facebook
• Spoke in a panel at SOBCon 2010 in Chicago
• 9 events for Social Media Club’s in Amsterdam
• 17 video-interviews for RegioZzp
• released English version of the free 30 minutes of Attracting Clients
• produced and done Workshops Laat de klant naar jou komen and Geef jezelf een Gezicht op Facebook
• Giving (paid) presentations on getting clients via internet for independent professionals
• produced new websites for clients

In 2010 I have spend a fair amount of writing on 2 new books that did not ship yet, so it doesn’t count on this list. But it will be on next year’s list

Seth is correct it is pretty difficult to produce the list. Being bussy all the time and not ship doesn’t count. Only projects that shipped are important and that makes the list short and difficult.

It is the lizard brain that stops me from shiping on many things. Want to know what I mean with that? Read the book, Picking your niche next year or Linchpin

So, what did you ship in 2010. Share below or on your blog and leave a link here.

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Year in review – What did you ship in 2010?

With hurt I don’t mean hurt you financially, because a well picked niche will just boost your business. What I mean is selecting your niche and stick with it, is a proces that really hurts. Why is that?

Talking with (potential) clients about their online marketing strategy I see a lot of missed opportunities. Why do I recognize it so well? I have the same problems.

Your Clients and services

You started your own business. Clients were happy with what you did and recommended you to their network. New clients came from that network and you followed up and started working for them. Your clients also asked you to do another project that is close to your current expertise.

Over time you grew a clients list with a variety of markets and business sizes. The kind of services or products that you offer mirrors this variety in clients. Every time a project is done you will have to find new clients.

This is not what you want. You want, if you are just a little bit like me, that clients come to you. You want to attract clients. If you are not clear in your communication who that client is, they will not come to you. If you are not clear in what you do for your clients, they will find another company that does.

I talk with independent professionals about what they do. Often I get a short and sometimes a long story of what they do. The story is based on all the stuff they have done or are still doing for their clients. When I dig deeper we talk about target clients this often is also a list of various branches sometimes they even say “Everyone”.

When you really want to attract clients it is extremely important that you have a laser focus on what you do and for whom.

Loss Aversion

There are plenty of smart people online that will tell you to pick a niche. There are even books on that. What they don´t tell you is that when you already have a business, this is a really difficult process.

It is so difficult because you have to stop doing some or maybe even most of the stuff that you are doing today. You will have to say goodbye to some of your clients and to some of the markets that you are in now.

For my next book I am doing some research on why this is such a difficult process. And why I get tons of excuses why they don´t need to do this now. It is good to understand that there is a part of your brain that is giving you such a hard time. This is the Amygdala (Wikipedia)

This part of the brain is responsible for your Loss Aversion (Wikipedia).

Loss Aversion generates a feeling that you want to keep what is ‘yours’. When making your niche smaller, your aversion to loss wants you to keep all your current clients, services and markets. Even if they do not generate money.

Then you come up with all these great excuses “What if there are not enough clients in that one niche?” or “I am not good enough to be an expert in this area” or “I will get bored if I will focus on this niche.” Yes, I have heard them all. Yes, I even used some of these.

Pick your niche

Do you want to attract clients?
Then it is time to focus and pick your niche, choose your target audience, choose your services and choose your specialty.

Now you understand why it is so difficult and where this feeling is coming from. Accept the pain and continue.

Or like Ittybiz (Naomi) says:

If you pick a niche, you lose some customers. If you don’t pick a niche, you lose ALL customers.

Do you know that feeling of being afraid to really cut drastically in your markets and services? Share it with us. If you have picked your niche successfully I love to hear it in the comments.

photo credit: LadyDragonflyCC -August is Canning Month

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Choosing your niche hurts