Offering PayPal is just one more option the client can use to pay for services. And, the faster your business gets paid the more profits are available to grow the business. 

    Am I right? Of course I am! 

    But now PayPal is doing something even better to help grow your business, okay well, grow everyone’s business. 

    It’s called PayPal Local. 

    And, it’s Free! 

    All you have to do is register your business! 

    By registering your business with PayPal Local you have the opportunity to promote your business directly to PayPal customers in your area. 

    Customers will be able to find your business if it’s near them, view your location on the map, and know when your business is open. Plus, they can see if you have any deals or specials going on. 

    One little caveat, since PayPal Local is more designed to be viewed through your smart phone, you first need to download the PayPal app. 

    One thing I’ve learned in my 16 years of being an entrepreneur is that being first usually gives you an advantage. Register with PayPal Local and your business may be the first and could possibly be the only one in your service sector to be listed.   

    Did I mention it’s FREE!             

  Until Next Time,                

This is part 2 of an article I wrote for Cleanfax Magazine…  

When trying to be a Top Gun in business, beating your competition, you must consider the social media rules of engagement – for entrepreneurs. 

There is a simple list for you to consider. Here it is:

1) Post about what is relevant to you.
2) Share your story, and how/why you started your business.
3) Tell about your pets, your kids, or the type of sports you like.
4) Post press releases and other accomplishments.
5) Inform your audience about your current specials or offerings.
6 ) Post testimonials, pictures and videos of your work.
7) Brag about how you solved a client’s problem… but don’t embellish.
Share a link, a joke or even what you watched on TV.
9) Post about a job opening (in your company or others).
10) Don’t talk negatively about competitors, clients or even your followers.
11) Keep it real. 

It seems like common sense, right? You’d be surprised. 

Social media has not only become mainstream, it has people posting stuff they would never say or do in the offline world. Airing dirty laundry, telling tales and posting pictures that are offensive will certainly have a negative impact and could cause your fans, followers and friends to unfriend and block you. 

Let’s take the first rule… “Post what is relevant to you” … seems a bit open for interpretation, right? Yes and no. You see, people gravitate towards those who share their common interests, philosophies and personalities. The more of yourself you share with others, the bigger your fans list will be, and the fatter your wallet will become.

Here’s the kicker… you have to be social. 

You can continue to do things the old way by placing ads and hoping people call you, or you can talk to people through social media outlets and instantly build credibility and respect. 

Back to our Top Gun analogies: “Talk to me, Goose”, Maverick pleaded.

Your friends, fans and followers want to hear from you, and that’s exactly why they “liked your page” or subscribed to your list… they are already interested in you. If you stop posting, they will think you ditched them and will move on, maybe even to your competitor’s page. 

Post often, at least three times a day, perhaps morning, noon and at night. Your morning post could be business related, whereas your noon post could be trivia, and your evening post could be something about you. Mix it up and have fun. 

Follow the rules of engagement when using social media and your friends, fans and followers will treat you like the “Top Gun” in your field.                  

  Until Next Time,   

Discover the guarded secrets of how using social media will have your business doing ‘fly-bys’ over your competition…  

This is part 1 of an article I wrote for Cleanfax Magazine…stay tuned next week as I reveal part 2. 

It’s been 25 years since the movie “Top Gun” hit theaters. Yet, it’s one of the most quoted movies of all time. 

  Until Next Time,                  

   Although the stories were different they shared a common theme. 

   Embracing your story! 

   “Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn’t make you who you are, it is the rest of your story, who you choose to be… So, who are you?” -Kung Fu Panda 2 

    What makes you…well, you? 

    You’re story may not be interesting to you, because you live it. It’s interesting to others because they didn’t. 

    Don’t like how the story is written, rewrite it. 

    Yep, you can change your story at anytime. 

    Yet… 

    “No man can walk out on his own story!”- Rango    

     The chapters of your life can get better or worse as you go on…it’s your choice. 

     If you made choices in the past that were sketchy, there is always time to write a new chapter. That’s life. That’s your story. 

     I’ve known people whose story is so sad, yet they aren’t afraid to share it with someone in hopes the other person can benefit in some small way. 

     Your stories help you be authentic to your clients. 

     They can connect with you and share your pains and joys. 

      Last year I interviewed David Kekich for my Passions to Profits Interview Series…a brilliant storyteller and CEO of Maximum Life Foundation. David’s story goes like this…a successful businessman who while weight lifting felt a pinch in his back, that pinch was his story being rewritten. The very next day he was paralyzed from the waist down. Over the next few months, his fiance left him, and he was forced to sell his house and sports cars to pay for his medical expenses. 

      David didn’t like this chapter in his life and vowed to make it better. In doing so, he changed his future and became successful again. 

      So maybe you’re struggling in your business right now, and you don’t seem to think there is a future. Just remember, the final chapter isn’t written yet…and there is still time to write it.           

      Until Next Time,                  

     People were crying foul! 

     How dare you mess with our way of life. 

     As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror!  

     Not to mention anger, frustration & sheer annoyance!      

     Well, according to sources, this is just the beginning! 

     Your precise Facebook is no more!

     Well, not like it was. 

     Facebook wants to make it better! 

     Seriously? Screwing with people’s minds and making them cringe everytime they sign on to your service is making things better?    

      Or as John McClane says, “Just a fly in the ointment, Hans. The monkey in the wrench. The pain in the ass.” 

       My 19 year old daughter was so annoyed at the rapid changes Facebook was making she was contemplating deleting her account and just using her Google + account. Which incidently, she says was more like Facebook a few years ago, but with easier to use, cool features.  

    “No need to fear…Underdog is here!” 

     Sorry, just always wanted to find a place to use that phrase and there it was! 

     Well, for now I have a quick fix that will help solve some issues.  

     If you want your Facebook feed to go back to normal…here’s what you do. 

     First, go to your account settings (which is in the top right corner, with the little arrow pointing down, the arrow next to home…click it) and go to notifications. At the top right is a box that says email frequency. Uncheck that box and your feed will show all the posts again.  

     Then go to your home page and anything in the “Top Stories” click on the down arrow in the upper right and “unmark as top story” – now your newsfeed will be setup by timestamp rather than randomly picking “top stories. 

      It’s a start and will help bring some semblance of normalcy back…at least for a few weeks until Facebook rolls out more nerve whacking stuff. And, believe me, what that have planned will make Wednesday’s fiasco a walk in the park.           

      Rapid changes to your service can and will upset people and is the fastest way to lose customers. Facebook may have the ability to offset those defections of people who go elsewhere, but the average entrepreneur doesn’t. So, if you plan on making changes, do so in a manner that won’t upset the majority of your customers.     

  Until Next Time,                   

       It’s not perfect…no way…far from it! 

       But, I have secret… 

       I used to be that person who would think if it was perfect all these projects that I am working on would have been done and making me goobs of money by now. 

       But instead, those projects would sit on my desk waiting for me to look at them, finish them or toss them aside. 

       How many times is it now? I would say to myself. 

       That question would echo in my mind as I start to develop yet another project that may never see the light of day. 

       Unfinished project after another. 

       Oh, I keep saying to myself, I will get to it! Then that “next big thing” becomes a dust collector sitting on my shelf. 

       The cycle of insanity starts to mess with your head.  

       Then all of a sudden you are afraid to do anything for fear that you won’t finish what you started. Entrepreneurs stop being risk-takers, inventors and even marketers.  

        Stop fearing the unknown.         

        Yes, doing too many projects at once is bad. But doing nothing is worse. 

        It’s good to get creative, but limit your choice of projects to a minimum until you are caught up.

        Here’s the secret! 

        Learn to say “No” to yourself! And sometimes to others as well. 

        What I’ve learned is that we entrepreneurs get so inundated with “stuff” that we forget what made us entrepreneurs to begin with. 

        Freedom! 

        It wasn’t the money or the fame or the great benefits…nope it was freedom! 

        Freedom to do what we want, when we want! 

        Somewhere we did a 360 flip flop and convinced ourselves busy is more important than freedom. Bullshit! 

        If you want to feel better, have more control and quite frankly less bullshit, then…

        You need to schedule a few personal days throughout the month to give yourself freedom to do what you want, how you want. 

        If you want to chill out at Starbucks, or watch Oprah in your pj’s, or take in a movie or simply spend sometime doing fun stuff…now you can! 

        It’s hard to do! 

        But once you schedule those days and you stick by those days, you will actually feel better when you take them. 

        When you get back to your office, you will feel refreshed and ready to rock and roll. Your days will be more productive and you will end up making more money then had you worked those personal days.                                       

  Until Next Time,                 

If you haven’t been there lately, I would like you to head over after reading this and click on the “like” button at the top of the page…okay, thanks.

It’s all about luring the big fish! You know, give a man a fish feed him for a day, teach him how to fish feed him for a lifetime stuff.

Yeah, it’s all true.

You my friend need to learn how to be a better fisherman, and when you do, you will become a better entrepreneur.

Yep, fishing will help you.

Actually fishing is the key!

 Learn the proper ways to fish, where to fish and how to attract the right fish and you will become a master at the trade.

 Not into the whole fishing thing? Neither was I at first, but I discovered that it’s something that is absolutely necessary for the survival of my business.

 Like I said, fishing is the key.

Now click here to see what the heck I’m talking about.

Talk soon!

Until Next Time,

 ”Live with Passion!”

Rob Anspach

P.S. Catching fish is easy once you know the secrets.

In that time, I traveled half way round the world to be a chaperone for the youth of my church. We visited some pretty amazing places. Some very humbling, some very choatic and others helped put my life in a new perspective.

We visited the Grotto at Lourdes France, The Basilica’s in Loyola & Burgos Spain and then participated in World Youth Day in Madrid.

While in Madrid we suffered from heat exhaustion and got the experience of being a human sandwich while riding the Metro. (eew!)

I had only been home for about 8 hours when the earthquake hit. Not a very welcoming sign.

Then the next day I was incapacitated with a sinus cold (most likely from the recycled airplane air) that sidelined me for a few days. Then the hurricane struck.

No power! No water! No cell service!

I thought okay…more signs.

Most of us take for granted all the great things we have until we can’t get them elsewhere. We are used to instant access to computers, cell service, fast food, heck you name it…if it makes our life easier in any way we do it, right?

It took me a while to see the signs before I had that “lightbulb” moment!

Doing things the easy way…isn’t always the best way!

Accepting who I am and what I stand for is and will always be what people judge me by. If I am true to myself, so will people be towards me. If I am false or misleading, people will see right through me.

Here’s the kicker, and why my life is taking on a new perspective.

You see, not that I found religion, I’ve always had it…it’s just that religion is now more important to me than used to be. Yeah, three weeks can make all the difference.

I’ve heard it before and most likely I will continue to hear it again…you can’t mix religion with business.

I’ve even taught this in my social media classes.

I was wrong!

You see, what I discovered was the complete opposite of what I taught and what I heard…and this just doesn’t apply to religion…it could even be politics.

Talk about it!

Share your thoughts, your views and your stories and watch in amazement as your sales grow!

Yeah, I did say grow! As in more sales, mega money, boat loads of dollars.

What the fudge, Rob!

Why you flip flopping?

Simple!

The more in common you have with your client, the more comfortable they will be hiring you the next time, or shelling out mucho dinero for what you to deliver.

So regardless of your religious beliefs or political agendas, if you find others that share your convictions, your commonalities will help solidify sales.

How to find people like you?

If you’re a church going person, well, that’s the first place I would look.

Or, maybe if you’re into the political scene, join the local party and get to know the group.

Look for people just like you!

And those people will introduce you to more people and soon you will have a list of people who share the same ideologies as you.

All because you stopped trying to avoid the controversial “hot button” and talked about the exact things people warned you not to.

I’ll leave you with this… a quote from Adam Hommey (a facebook friend), “Proclaim who you are in a positive way and allow it to resonate with those who resonate with you!”

Talk soon!

Until Next Time, 

     Niche? 

     What niche? 

     I thought that way too! 

     When I first started my cleaning business 16 years ago, I was after any customer that breathed. I just wanted someone to call me. I was gung-ho, ready and willing. 

     As the years progressed, I grew frustrated at certain segments of my customer base…I’ll call them the “no-money” group. 

     I would spend countless hours chasing after customers who I knew couldn’t afford me, yet I performed the service anyway and then complained when they didn’t pay up, pay on time, or even pay at all. 

     It was a vicious cycle.

      So after many losing battles, countless uncollectible invoices and vowing I would never do that crap again…I fired all the problem accounts. 

     Then I got serious! 

     I knew what I didn’t want in a customer. 

     I just wasn’t sure who my ideal customer was. 

     Like a ton of bricks, it hit me! 

     What type of customer would allow me to have evenings & weekends off? 

     What type of customer is worth “X” amount to me in a year? 

     How many of those customers do I need to make “X” in a year? 

     I had created this company to fund my personal life and have more freedoms, not be a slave to a job. 

     I knew what I wanted and what must be done. 

     But I also knew that I needed to “up the ante” on my fun days, holidays, time off with the kids and personal me days. 

     So I figured I only had about 185 productive work days a year. 

     Would $1000 a day in sales work? How about $2000 or $3000 a day? 

     How many niched clients would I need to make a Million in sales?   

     Well if I did $5500 in sales a day I could easily break the million mark. 

     Yeah, it’s a lofty goal! 

     You see, that’s the true power of focusing on a niche that I really never caught on to when I first started my service company. By focusing on a niche you can easily charge more, work less and focus on a select type of client. 

     A buddy of mine took over his dad’s furniture restoration business about the same time I was starting my cleaning biz…we struggled together.

     Then he did something that truly impressed me! 

      He went after just one type of client. Churches! 

      He figured that’s where the money was and where all his work could be. It turned out it was the biggest money bet of his life. Churches from far and wide called his company to restore their pews and chairs. He had more work than he could handle. 

      Learn to niche your product and service and watch your business grow and prosper.                               

  Until Next Time,