written by john c ashworth

Repeat after me...

"I'm a marketer in the business of...(fill in the blank here with your type of business)"

You MUST embrace this.

If you can't, well, I've got bad news for you. You're going to continue to struggle.

Here's why...

Most small business problems in particular are lead-generation problems. Otherwise known as marketing and sales problems. Mostly marketing problems. When you can fix this one thing, you have solved many problems all at once. If you're reading this right now, I'll bet you understand this completely. If you don't understand it yet, and you instead feel a little repulsed by the idea, that's good too. You're growing. Stick with me for a few more minutes while I make this very very important point. Albeit it in a somewhat roundabout sort of way...

This fundamental idea goes way beyond social media.

Your blog.

Your Google Adwords program.

Your facebook business page.

Your website.

And a lot of other things you might be going right now what are just wasting time and money.

Your futile efforts to keep-up with the so-called 'experts' out there telling you that everything has changed and that none of the old ways of marketing will do anymore.

That you must engage online because that's where everyone is hanging out now. That's where everyone is spending their time. That you should abandon your yellow page ad or newspaper insert ad in favor of marketing dollars spent online in an effort to expand your reach.

This is all a lot of BS. The equivalent of changing your socks for a fresh pair after you've finished your lunch and are ready to head out for the afternoon and the rest of your day.

Sure, those socks are going to feel really good. Clean. Fresh. Maybe even a little silky beneath your feet. The catalyst for a new outlook on what's in store for you during the remainder of your day. A chance to cultivate a fresh outlook by choosing to change something simple. Something fundamental.

The problem is, of course, that you end up with twice as much sock laundry at the end of the week. Heck, you might even have to go out and buy more socks. If you do that, you might even have to work to make more room in your sock drawer too. One change leads to another, you see. And suddenly, you don't have any more room in your top drawer for the silk boxer shorts you've been wearing to bed at night in an effort to stay cool and comfortable during the warmer months of summer.

The truth is that very likely, if you just went out and invested in a brand new set of high quality socks that were made to breath, and support your feet and lower legs more effectively, you wouldn't feel the need to change them halfway through your day. Those new high quality socks would support you.

You don't need more. You need different. You need smarter. You need a better and more effective solution to the problem. You need a fundamentally sound foundation of support that you've invested in in order to help you get the job done.

So, before you go run out and buy more socks, or attempt to revamp your lackluster marketing efforts based on one so-called 'expert's' idea about how to reach your prospective customers more effectively somewhere online, I want you to consider something very, very important to your success.

Most small business owners fail to invest in the equivalent of a good, supportive set of socks when it comes to their marketing efforts. Mostly, because they fail to adopt the phrase I started with in this post.

Here it is again in case you forgot,

"I'm a marketer in the business of...(fill in the blank here with your type of business)"

Instead, small business owners often focus on their expertise and their service and products and never quite learn how to more effectively take their small successes with early customers and multiply those efforts over time.

This is plainly evident in the fact that most small business owners, especially in the beginning fail miserably at the one thing they need to do to grow their business and cultivate their success. Instead, they're constantly caught in a vicious and tempting cycle of constantly searching for new customers without first ensuring they are taking care of and leveraging the customers they already have.

One really important part of this fundamental aspect of your business is the constant work of cultivating your prospect and customer lists through careful and considerate communication that gets to them in a variety of ways, and especially through their mailboxes.

None of this can happen, however, if you do not have the infrastructure in place to build and communicate with this list. A list, that when managed effectively, can become one of your most precious business assets. Because when you can lock-in an audience by positioning yourself as an authority in your marketplace, and continue to build and cultivate this list over time, you have a real opportunity not just to make a lot of money, but to build the kind of business I know you set out to build. To truly serve your customers.

This is achievable within 1-5 years depending on a variety of factors.

The really good news is that the timeline for you is probably closer to that one year mark, especially if you're sitting there right now thinking to yourself,

"Geez, I think John is right. I've got an entire prospect and customer list I'm sitting on here and I don't communicate with them very often at all."

Or, you're communicating with them in all the wrong ways because you've been listening to all the wrong 'experts', especially the ones who seem to be constantly telling you that you need to be doing more stuff online.

Let's start with the basics.

Let us begin with your house list and in the beginning, we will work to really establish your authority with these folks and all the new folks that will begin to come along once we get going.

Because in that first 1-2 year time period, if you're willing to invest in yourself and your business in this way, you have the opportunity to accomplish more business growth in the next 12 months than you have in the last ten years. No joke. That's not just a lot of hype. It happens all the time once you're wearing the right socks.

That is the power of your house list and in getting back to the fundamentals. The elegant beauty of a brand new pair of awesome socks that provide the support you need.

Need help? I'm here for you. Keep reading and write me when you're ready.

-John