As the owner of four online companies, my job is to sit down every year and decide my SWOT for the next 12 months and then to consistently revisit my SWOT throughout each year and tweak as needed. I base my decisions on my experience and the emerging trends in the industries I serve.

I also network, engage in learning with mentors, and a lot of the time I simply go left when everyone else goes right. I am a rebel that way and it works simply because it helps my companies stand out in a crowded marketplace.

SWOT is my favorite tool to help me understand at the strategic level how to go left when others go right.
SWOT is a business acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

EVERY single company, no matter what size it is, has SWOT.

Success is achieved based on how you leverage this tool. Here is how I apply SWOT to my companies:

• I decide what my acceptable weaknesses will be
• I predict the threats to my business
• I capitalize my strengths
• and finally I seize opportunities!

I have been known to say “yes” quite a few times to risky opportunities even when I have no earthly idea how the pieces will ever fall into place. I know that if I don’t say “yes”, someone else will and that my simply saying “yes” allows me to move forward and signal the universe to send those “pieces” my way.

Your overall goal in business is to communicate your strengths to your current and potential customers via your website and all of the communication systems (newsletters, blogs, podcasts, etc.) you use.

- Create a Timeless and Focused Marketing Plan for Your Business

As you probably have heard by now—you aren’t in the business of (fill in the blank here). You are in the business of marketing. Your marketing must be automated and systemized. Period.

- Create Passive, Income Generating Information Products

Create your own advances and get paid to create information products. Many, many target markets are considered “information hungry”.

- Build Your Most Important Asset… Your List

Success on the Internet is about providing high-quality information, solving problems AND the list.

- Use Social Networking Sites Such As Facebook, Linked In, My Space, and Twitter

Used strategically, social networks extend your brand and funnel thousands of new leads into your business funnel each and every quarter.

- Create A Very Profitable Internet Launch for Your Information Product or Book
Set up correctly, these launches generate thousands and tens of thousands dollars of income, new leads for you, and all your partners.

- Create Your Own Certification Program

Certification programs aren’t just for large companies. Solo online entrepreneurs can also benefit from building and creating a certification program within their company.

- Build Your Own Virtual Team

Learn how to find, build, and manage a virtual team. The key to “leverage” is the team. We all have weaknesses. Don’t make the most common entrepreneurial mistake: thinking you can do it all.

- Approach, Create, and Solidify Long-Lasting Joint Ventures

All successful businesses are built on thriving relationships–on and off the Internet. And with all relationships, you should focus on who and how you attract partners.

- Know Which Publishing Options Are Right for YOU

Learn what your publishing options are and make a choice based on the path that is right for you based on your personality, strengths, and weaknesses.

- Double Your List Size With A Virtual Event

One of the best strategies for growing the list is an online virtual event with multiple partners or joint ventures. Give customers free access and structure the event correctly and it is a huge list builder.

- Develop Your Intuition

Most entrepreneurs spend so much time focusing on all the “outside” stuff that they forget to get help on learning how to “think” like a CEO. Your success and ability to run a profitable company depends on your leaning how to develop your CEO intuition.

- Use Visual Tools To Set Goals and Stay On Track

All successful entrepreneurs incorporate visual components into their strategy planning. They spend as much time planning as they do in the marketing, operations, finance parts of their business.

Mindset Number One: Give Authentically—You must be genuine in your marketing efforts. All products and services have a purpose. What is your product’s or service’s purpose? Most importantly, how does it authentically help others? Figure this out and then you can make your offers to your market authentically. Giving authentically means that when you are marketing, you: Talk less and listen more, ask provoking questions, and you share your own success tips in order to help them. Loyal customers are created from exchanges where you give authentically.

Mindset Number Two: Act Intuitively—Marketing intuitively means you know your ideal client so well that offering them the product/service they need becomes second nature. Build your marketing intuition by: Asking them questions, hanging out with them, having them as “real” friends. You will be “at one” with your customers and they will appreciate your attention to their details. You will know how to promote your product because you already know exactly what their needs are. Remember you are making friends, not sales.

Mindset Number Three: Think Slow And Steady—You know the story about the tortoise and the hare. When it comes to marketing, slow and steady creates long-term relationships with your customers. After a few years, you will have been through a lot together. This is why online newsletters, websites, blogs, etc. are such effective marketing tools. Slow and steady means you are available to help them make connections so that they can understand why they need your product or service. Slow and steady marketing means that you follow-up and address their concerns through e-zines, reports, books, teleseminars, e-mails, and so on.

Incorporating the Three Mindsets of Marketing into the way you do business takes patience and practice. Your audience—your customers—are waiting for you to build long, wonderful, reciprocal relationships with them.

• Your brand new finished book to show the world
• A completely new website that excited you and showcased your best work
• A perfectly trained team of professionals ready to help you grow your ideas into physical form
• A list of eagar contacts ready to learn and connect with you and your friends
• The exact knowledge you needed to fulfill your dreams and nothing more

I admit, sometimes I too want a “fairy leverage mother”.  I know however that the most important part of our lives is the “in the trenches” work we do to get where we want to go.  I don’t want to miss for one minute the opportunity to learn while I do what I must do.

Having said that, I do believe (I know it because I did it!) that within each of us, we have the ability to go out into the world and use this thing called the Internet (a magic wand of sorts) and accomplish everything we desire.  There is plenty of information and resources right at our finger tips. 

So this week, I encourage YOU to become the “fairy leverage mother” you seek.

Movie: CARS

Lesson: Be Willing To Grow—I see lots of my clients get in their own way simply because they put their head in the sand and they don’t change and adapt as quickly as they need to. They also pursue goals they had in the past instead of stopping and exploring their “new selves”.

Movie: NEMO

Lesson: Just Keep Swimming—Got a big project to complete, a book to write, a website to launch… Remember resiliency is one of the keys to success. Sing to yourself if you have to, but “Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming”

Movie: ICE AGE

Lesson: You Need a Loyal Herd—Your team and your ability to embrace and be loyal to their many peculiar behaviors/strengths will take you a long way in business. You can’t do it alone. Many of my clients think they can do it alone and are unwilling to trust others because they think of them as “predators” even when they are on their own team. I see it all the time. Take risks and trust people. If it breaks, just fix it and move on.

And this has one is my favorite and a favorite of the girl’s when they were younger:

Movie: MULAN

Lesson: Don’t Be Afraid To Kick Butt—Don’t be afraid to dive right into adversity and do what you have to do to fight for what you believe in. There will be times in business that you feel very alone, but if you are passionate about “why” you are in business and you stay focused you will accomplish more than you could ever imagine.

Here are just a few of the dozens of answers we received…

• To offer hope and show others how to explore every opportunity
• To providing dignity and respect to seniors of all ages
• To empower women to live their life by design—not by accident
  

One of the 10 mindsets for success that we teach entrepreneurs at the AWE is to serve others. From the many e-mails I received last week regarding “your purpose”, it is evident that you get how important this mindset is.

The “thing” is—when you serve others, you naturally attract individuals who will help you solve problems and create positive change in the world. Here’s a simple success formula for you to remember:

Purpose + Passion To Serve + Leverage = Success

For this question, I want you to get outside of yourself and your immediate surroundings and think REALLY BIG. If you were to spend your days advocating for others, who would you advocate for?

Let the question fill you with energy. Don’t worry about the many obstacles in your way. Instead, let the question excite you. Let the question lead you to the path you were meant to go down at this point in time.

For me, my purpose is to:

· Raise children who contribute to the global community and who constantly question the validity of what they see and hear around them

· Empower women:

o to be strong

o to walk down their own path

o to become financially independent by learning new mindsets that allow them to leverage

o to be “awake” so they can do what must be done “to create change”

o to use their intuitive skills to connect people and solve problems

o to create each day— through writing or painting or planting or brainstorming or fixing or listening or …

Your Turn.

I know how busy you are. But today or sometime this week—stop and take the time to ask yourself What is your purpose?

You definitely should be.

Try this 15 minute exercise below to create clarity and focus around your planning for the approaching year.

The reason I love this elimination exercise is because when we eliminate what isn’t working, we naturally make mental and physical space for more opportunities in our lives.

What 5 tasks can I eliminate that aren’t producing a high-ROI for me?

And don’t just measure ROI for your business. Measure ROI on your time and money in your personal life too.

Since the creation of the Internet—our work and personal lives are now completely overlapped. This has been wonderful in many ways. Especially if you are a mom like me, it has allowed me to spend more time over the years with my children.

However, YOU do have to watch for burnout and periodically make sure you are balanced regarding your mind (getting enough quiet time), your body (getting enough exercise), and soul (getting and giving yourself enough love).

When we just focus, we are happier and more productive. AND we are even able to decide what we should do in the first place!

This week, I want you to:

1. Pick 3 main areas of your life that you want to focus on
2. Make a list of all the things you do each week that take up your time
3. Begin to eliminate those things not on your top three list

I know this sounds really simple—but I find most of my clients aren’t aware of how much is weighing them down that they don’t even want to do.

My example from a few years ago:

1. Three main areas of focus: Family Time, Exercise Time, and Time to Focus on Being An Entrepreneur/Writer
2. Family time, exercise, WORK, PTA, cleaning the house, running numerous errands, and trying to learn how to cook!
3. Resign from PTA, get dry cleaning picked up at door, hire housecleaner, order as much as possible online and have it shipped, purchase healthy frozen meals for family from Dream Dinners

Update: Yes, I did indeed complete number 3 above and a few more. I even “fired” my husband from lawn care too so he could spend more time with the kids on the weekend.

Until next week–keep creating the life you desire.

Sheri