Questions, Questions, So Many Questions!

Nicola here……..I just wanted to let you know about two REALLY important things.  First of all………….

** Money Gym Boardroom – 30% Discount Deadline Extended For 3 More Days **

AND……….Secondly………….

** Money Gym Boardroom – 30% Discount Secured For You No Matter When You Plan To Start **

Our first Boardroom meeting is next Saturday, 6th November and Judith and I are really excited to meet the business people we will be working with.

But as the deadline for expressing your interest and securing your place approaches (originally midnight tonight) we have been inundated with more questions and there are a few in particular that are coming up time and time again.

Q. Am I – or my business – good enough to be in the Boardroom?

A.  This one really surprised us – some of you out there are not sure if you, or your business, are ready for The Boardroom.  But the answer to that question is….mostly……absolutely yes.   We have asked a few people who cannot afford  the investment yet to give themselves a year to work their way up. And several clients have de-selected the mselves now but nailed their colours to the mast and said “I WILL be with you – later”.  But only one who contacted us wasn’t ready and that’s one of our friends who hasn’t even yet joined Silver!   Bless.   We LOVE people with big ambitions.

Q.  So, what do I have to do to qualify then?

A.  It’s quite a simple formula.   You have to be someone who demonstrates ambition, stickability, determination and follow through.  But, more importantly you have to have three goals – one for your wealth creation plans, one for your business and one for you personally, any one of which has the ability to make you an extra £10,000 in the first 90 days of the Boardroom.

Q.  Why are we making that “£10k in 90 Days” our first challenge to Boardroom members?

A.  Because we are offering you a 100% guarantee that we will refund your f ees if you don’t make at least your £9750 fees (includes launch discount) back in 12 months.   But we won’t let you continue to come to our dinners, meetings and days out if you are unable to demonstrate the ability to take some fast-start action on your part.  Judith is going to be breathing down your neck every Monday, wanting to know what you are going to do this week and every Friday, wanting to know what you have done.  If those results don’t equal £10,000 in 90 days, then we are unlikely to invite you to be our guest at a second day out in February at our expense. Does that sound fair?   We think it does.

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£10k In 90 Days Challenge | Day 1 | Champagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:07 — 5.1MB)

The Money Gym has just launched The Boardroom, a way for your business to access a crack business team, 18 of your very own non-executive directors, plus Judith Morgan and Nicola Cairncross.  As well as making a very special launch offer of a third off your first year’s membership, Nicola & Judith are hosting a daily radio show, where they help each caller create an extra £10,000 in just 90 days from their existing business.

Today’s caller on The Money Gym “£10k In 90 Days” Challenge on our BlogTalkRadio show was Yvonne Halling with her champagne related business http://www.MadAboutBubbly.com

Quick bit of background: Yvonne’s husband Jiles is an expert on Champagne and among other parts of the business, like corporate champagne tastings, they own a beautiful house in the Champagne region of France which is available for holidays, sleeps 12 and rents for £1500 a week or £125 pp if you have 12, or £250 for the week if you only have 6 of you.  Very reasonable and it IS lovely, having been Yvonne & Jiles’ home previously.

Their website is currently being overhauled by Marion Ryan, Money Gym coach and blog/web expert so that’s coming along and looks great.  This will give them the flexibility to add / change the site whenever they like and will be very search engined friendly (search engines love blog sites!)

Jiles has written an ebook which is garnering rave reviews, and they are working on a follow up DVD right now.  They already have a number of videos on YouTube which I found by searching “mad about bubbly” although their channel is called http://www.youtube.com/user/jileshalling (see below for my comments on improving their branding).

We established on the 15 minute radio show that their fastest route to making “£10k In 90 Days” was to get let their house in Champagne for 7 weeks out of the 12 of the challenge period, and we came up with the idea of an virally marketed, online competition, using Social Networking via Twitter, a Facebook page and ideally joint venture mailings, where people can win a week in the house as a prize.

I also worked out that, if they sold 5-10 ebooks a day, they would make an extra “£10k In 90 Days” especially if they pre-sold the DVD bundled with the ebook, and that I would be looking at a Google Adwords campaign to drive extra traffic to the ebook sales page…….more on this below.

As time was extremely limited on the radio show, we have decided to take the follow up onto the blog here, where I will outline our suggestions, and my proposed plan of action, Judith can contribute, Yvonnne can add her thoughts, and get coached over the next 90 days to make the challenge actually happen!

What fun!

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Business Success | Need A Dream Team Board Of Directors?

Is your business successful but you are working way too hard?  Is your business stuck right now and you don’t know how to take it to the next level?

Are you feeling a bit burnt out with your business and losing enthusiasm fast?  Is your business at a crisis point but you don’t have anyone to talk to?

Perhaps you have what seems like an insurmountable obstacle to success and you can’t see your way round it, under it, over it?

Well, we know just how you feel – because Judith and I have both been there!

Several times.

So get a cuppa, because I have a story to tell you…..time to read and digest, 5-10 minutes tops.

When I was at burnout with the Money Gym in 2006 and thinking of giving it up, what I really wanted was a business mentor or business advice that I could trust.  From a proven successful business person, not some time-for-money consultant from the government bodies.

Or – eureka!! a Board Of Directors to work with on an ongoing basis.  I didn’t need investment but I badly needed experienced advice on how to grow the business from something good that had sustained me (and the hotel!!) very well for three years but which I was trapped working “in” rather than “on”.

I loved the clients and the great results they got but I really couldn’t face going through the 10 Financial Intelligence Modules again with one more new client, lovely people or not.

Not good.

And worse, I felt ungrateful because most coaches would kill for a lovely niche business like The Money Gym with great demand, that captured people’s imagination and which almost sold itself .

I also wasn’t massively keen on giving up any shares which investment would have meant.

So I was researching and networking to find out how the whole non-executive Board of Directors thing worked.  Non-exec meaning that they didn’t do any of the work but advised me, coming to a board meeting once a quarter to hear about progress and make suggestions.

I was looking everywhere – both online and offline for them.

Then, bummer, I discovered that each Director (Sales & Marketing, Finance, Operations) would expect to be paid about £10,000 – £15,000 per annum plus expenses, unless they invested in the business and you gave away substantial amounts of shares.

I also had Steve to consider, as we were partners in our internet business by then, but he did loads of work in The Money Gym too and if I was giving away shares in the Money Gym then he should get some.

Remember the E-Myth way of looking at it?  I knew that, when designing a successful business, you need a director for each key area – and those are…..

The Five P’s

Promise – the marketing & sales
Product – operations / delivery / production
Pounds & Pence – the finance
Place – office, equipment, telecoms etc
People – customer service & partners / staff / freelancers

I wanted to do the Promise, was delivering the Product but didn’t want to anymore and didn’t have time to create other products, needed help urgently with the Pounds & Pence because while self taught, I didn’t know how to strategically plan our finances, Steve did the Place, and People, but wasnt’ massively keen on the latter LOL

I also knew it had to be someone I respected so that I would up my game.

So I outlined the qualities of the new business partner I wanted

1. Knew & believed in the Money Gym ethos (ex-client?)
2. Ideally had coaching skills so that they could do the coaching for me at least for a while
3. Good with people so we were forced to improve out customer service
4. Had PROVEN successful business background as most of the Business Link / Enterprise Centre advisors had no real business experience, and swapped time for money.

When I was driving along one day

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Neil Asher Gets Nicola’s Parts Out In Public

I was lying relaxing on the table at the local Shoreham beauty parlor (called Beachcomber which I always find quite funny for some reason) being tended to by the lovely Laura, when someone tweeted me to say I was being exposed in public in more ways than one!  That naughty Neil Asher (who organises the Financial Freedom Bootcamp that I spoke for recently) has analysed our marketing and taken apart our info page for the “Really Useful Internet Day” and he doesn’t pull his punches here!

Financial Success | Run Your Money Like A Business

Here’s a quick money / personal finance success tip I was asked to write for a journalist, then they pulled the feature so I though I would share it here!

If you want to be more financially secure, or even become financially free, you could learn a lot about running your money from the model that a successful business would use.  If your name is Gemma Jones, think of your financial world as Gemma Jones Inc.

A successful business plans out how much money they expect to have coming in for the next year (turnover), then they work out what it’s going to cost to earn that money (cost of sale) then what it costs to run the business (overheads) and what is left is profit.

They pay tax on the profit ** then put part of that profit aside to cushion their cashflow for the forthcoming year and re-invest in the business to grow it, then the owners/shareholders draw out what is left to spend as they wish.

You are the sole shareholder in Gemma Jones Inc, unless you are working as a couple then you are Mr & Mrs Jones Inc, with a 50% shareholding each and equal voting rights on what happens with your joint money.  (If not, why not?  This is a whole other article!)

The business constantly looks for new opportunities to make more money and they are careful about what they spend, looking for the “return on investment” and how long that will take.

You can probably already spot some significant differences between how a successful business runs its money and what you do with yours – and those differences are what is making the difference to your financial success!

Taking that model and applying it to your finances, you can work out what you expect to earn this coming year (I suggest you look at your net earnings or what goes into your bank), what the costs of earning that money are (travel, clothes, lunches, etc) and then what the overheads of running Gemma Jones Inc are (rent, food, bills etc).

What is left is the profit the place most people fall down financially – they are simply not making enough profit!

Once they have paid the costs of going to work, running the house, then paying for all the bits and pieces that they think they need to be happy, there is just no money left for the important stuff.  And this is where most people go wrong , because they are not taught to run their money like a business.

I know, because I ran my money like that for about 40 years of my life too.   Even now, I know many business people who don’t run their personal money in the same way they run their business money.  You know who you are, Money Gym Club Members!

If you ARE making a profit after paying for your day to day life, then ideally some should be put towards cushioning your cashflow against potential changes in the market next year (savings) and some should reinvested in growing the business (you!) and creating new income flows.   Learning new skills, investing in property, starting a part-time business on the side of your day job.

Before you take any personal drawings, to have fun with, as a shareholder in your business.  For example, refurbishing the office (your house), or taking the staff (you) on holiday.

Like any business, you should always be looking out for opportunities to increase cashflow and profits, because those extra earnings can be put towards buying, what we in The Money Gym call “income producing assets”.  Similarly, you should always be looking for ways to cut overhead, without affecting quality and almost as important, quality of life.

Because you are your business, and you are your main asset.  You need looking after.

The more of those income producing assets you can invest in and accumulate, the quicker you can become financially free, as the income from your assets outstrips what you need to live on.

And that’s the day you never have to work again, if you don’t want to.

Because you are financially free.

Business Profits & Success | You Need A Website!

I believe that the ability to create an effective online presence is absolutely crucial for any business.  If you are in business and not online, then you are leaving so much money on the table it’s unreal.

Every business needs a website, and not all websites are created equal sadly.

I’ll go further, there is NO real world business that can not benefit from having a coherent online presence.

I have one for The Money Gym (this one!), for my speaking/writing activities at NicolaCairncross.com, one for my Greek Property business, and made one for my friends Rona & Adrian, who lent me their gorgeous holiday home for rent, in Casares, Spain.  In fact, have a business idea, I make a website for it.  It helps me think through the offer and test the market, via quick free traffic.

Just think about it, for a second.

If you were out and about, and met two interesting people who both had a product or service that solved a problem you had, but only one of them had a website URL on their card, which one are you more likely to check out online and then use?  The one with the website of course!

Especially if that website was simple, colourful, professional looking, let you know about the people behind the business, and outlined the product or service, along with giving you some useful information on the topic of interest AND gave you the contact details.  Or a free gift of some kind, in return for your name and email, if you are not ready to call or email them yet.

So why don’t more businesses do it?

Because they think it’s complicated and expensive – but of course it’s not.

So, today I want to talk to you about how easy it is to do just that, and which elements you need to concentrate on first.

Nicola’s Quick 15 Point Step By Step Plan To Get Your Business Online & Making Your Money

1.  Visit https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and put in the key phrase you imagine your visitor would use to find your product or service

2.  It will show the results for the country you are in and the Global Search Results – click the column headers to sort by biggest numbers first on local or global.  Make a note of the top 10-20 relevent key phrases.

3.  Remember that these results are per month – this is the size of your potential market and customer base (even if you are usually very local, you can sell them SOMETHING surely!)

4.  Talking of local, while you are there, Add your business to Google Local www.google.com/local/add

5.  Buy a domain name which includes one of the most searched terms in your niche

6.  Get some decent, cheap hosting at someone like FunkyDomainNames.com or Hostgator.com

7.  Look for the link in your Control Panel to install a Wordpress blog on your hosting (it usually takes just one click – you will be amazed)

8.  Choose a theme you like and start adding information of interest to your ideal customer

9.  Find out how to enhance your blog website for customers and search engines alike with plugins

10.  Create a Facebook Page with the same name as your blog website and hook them up so that your Page shows on your blog/website and your site updates your Page

11.  Create a Twitter account in the same name as your blog website & Facebook page and hook them up with the TwitterTools plugin so they update each other

12.  Go create a profile and list your site at Technorati, StumbleUpon, Digg and any others you can be bothered with

13.  Create a YouTube channel in the name of your business and start “Favouriting” videos that would be of interest to your ideal customer and hook it up to your main site with a URL in the channel description.

14.  Hook up your blog/website to some sort of List Manager, we recommend Total Business Cart if you want to sell things or aWeber or GetResponse if you want to just recommend other people’s product or services

15.  Start selling stuff or recommending stuff and put yourself in REAL DANGER of making some money online!

Then just keep adding useful information to your blog website, which will update your Twitter and Facebook page, the search engines and blog directories.

As soon as you start making some money, invest a certain % of it into hiring the professionals to take your brilliant foundations you have built and take your business stratospheric.

How simple was that?

So why are you not doing it then?

If you did just those 15 Steps, you would be way ahead of MOST if not ALL of your competitors, I can guarantee you that!

HOWEVER!

If you STILL feel you need help and encouragement on getting going with making your business work online, then come along to our “Really Useful Internet Day” on Saturday 10th October 2009.

One day, just three experts, no bull, no hype, just down to earth practical stuff that you can put to work for you, making you more money from your business, or creating a second income for you, right now!

Seats are already flying out to our Silver, Silver Elite, Membership Club Magic and Gold clients, and the only way to make sure you get notified before the info page goes live at 12 noon on Friday, is to get on the VIP Priority Mailing list here

http://www.themoneygym.com/internetday

See you there!

Nicola

p.s. Tickets are only £25, it’s all going to the Big Issue and they are tax deductible if you have a business.  Don’t muck about, this is a day that could change your business life.

http://www.themoneygym.com/internetday

Marketing Machines On Steroids

Are you in business?  Perhaps you are self-employed or freelance?

If so, do you know about Marketing Machines? 

These are automated machines that run all the time, marketing your business day or night, while you are awake or asleep, in the UK or on holiday.

And if you DID know about Marketing Machines, do you have one?  Would you like one?

And more importantly, would you like your Marketing Machine to be

1.  Totally Automated
2.  Working 24/7
3.  Running on pennies (less than £50 a month overhead)
4.  Break Even or Profitable

Yep!  That’s right, would you like your marketing to break even or even be profitable? 

Heresy? 

No!

Here at The Money Gym we believe that your marketing activities should …..

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Wealth Coach Diaries: Nicola’s Week

The last two weeks have been SO hectic with my speaking gigs (two in one week) and two Money Gym workshops back to back, that we missed an ezine – quelle horror! My business partner, fellow blogger and now twitterer extraordinaire, Judith Morgan, sums it all up brilliantly here (makes me feel quite exhausted reading it) – she is so funny!

We are hosting the first fr*ee webinar to kick off the marketing for our next Money Gym workshop (all about the internet) this Friday at 2pm so if you want to find out more about using blogging to enhance your business check out the info here, you can listen later if you can’t make it live.

I have made time (while travelling and before nodding off) to read two AMAZING books this week – the first is called “The Money Making Magic of A Funfair Goldfish (& Other Get Rich Quick Secrets Of A Mattress Bound Millionaire)” by John Harrison, owner of Streetwise Publications. Awesome, practical and funny, you need to treat yourself to this one. His take on the people who hang out in kiddies ball parks nearly made me laugh out loud on the train to London.

The other has had a most profound effect on me, and it’s called “The Love Trap” by Annie Bennett. Recommended by my first ever coach, Rachel Turner, who also banged on about “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” for ages before I bought it…..duh!

It’s a true story of the author’s repeating patterns of falling in love too quickly and choosing the recipients unwisely, culminating in a certain situation that has to be read, to be believed!. She then goes onto explain how her childhood had influenced her choices and why, and as a trained psychotherapist and counsellor, she knows what she is talking about!

It’s all about how certain childhood traumas such as “abandonment” and “enmeshment” can have such a dramatic effect on your adult relationships – leading to your becoming either a “love addict” or “love avoider” – the two being remarkably similar in lots of ways, and often drawn to each other. These two personality types are quite liable to become addicts in other ways, and again, I found it very interesting as I’m on my diet again and doing really well except when I get into certain lonely/abandoned type situations – hotel rooms for example!

I found the book gripping, moving, fascinating and enlightening, having grown up with a mentally ill mum, who simultaneously used to disappear for periods of time with no warning or explanation, then come back, turn my world upside down and then lean on me totally for everything from looking after the babies, to supporting her through relationship turmoil.

I felt quite set free, by reading this book, because it’s great to know that the way you are and feel is not unusual, and I feel the benefits are only just starting.

What else is happening?

Oh, on a much lighter note LOL the sales of the cabins on our Money Gym Holidays cruise are going well – I think there are about 6-7 cabins left. So if you fancy coming away with us, and some top line internet marketers, bringing the family (kids are really well looked after on cruises) and having a great time in grey old January, visit http://www.themoneygym.com/holidays and secure your place. Loads of great Money Gym bonuses including the chance to learn how to play Texas Hold’em with me!

Off shopping in Brighton now, a 13 year old’s birthday is looming!

Have fun, we ALWAYS are!

Nicola

Nicola Cairncross Wealth Coach, Author Internet Strategist Professional Speaker Founder, The Money Gym Ltd Email us to have Nicola speaking at YOUR event >>>

Free Blogging Webinar

What do anoraks, leading entrepreneurs and wannabe writers have in common? They blog.  You probably know what a blog is – but do you know about its hidden talents?

Or how important it is for your business?  People buy from people they know, like and trust and a good blog goes a long way towards creating that trust.

Would you like to know just how easily you can combine 3 simple social media tools to maximise its impact?

Social Media Marketing specialist, Claire “Business Blog Angel” Raikes, does and she’s in the mood to share!

Join us on this fr*ee one-hour webinar at 2pm British Summer Time / 1pm GMT on Friday afternoon (or listen to the recording later) where Nicola (no mean blogger herself) will grill Claire about the best and latest ways to use blogging and social media to explode your profits!

Do feel free to put in your questions about blogging for business before the call and we will cover as many of them as possible.

http://www.TheMoneyGym.com/MGPresents/BlogAngel

See you there!

Cheers
The Money Gym Team

p.s. And on that page you can also secure your early bird place at our “Money Gym Presents….” workshop on 17th May where Claire and Tim “Viral Spiral” Brocklehurst will be sharing their secrets  to our lucky Money Gym delegates.