How To Captivate Your Brilliance, Accelerate Your Business, Find Your Value, Charge What You’re Worth and Build a Dynamic Enterprise in a Spirit-Rich Way!

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@topabbott recommends aprilgregory:

“April is a great communicator and motivator, you should follow her if you’re thinking about getting into any type of business.”- U.S.M.C., Ret., Cary Abbott

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My name is April Gregory, creator of a Spirit-Rich Business Building System [<---click to learn more]. Christianpreneurs, engineers, creative folks and all kinds of professionals often struggle with monetizing their skills, gifts and talents.  I use my expertise as a marketing consultant, energy healing professional and coach to blend an inner-outer approach for accelerated results.

We Spiri-gize your work for grace and ease on a deeper more purposeful level  from a place of infinite possibilities.

The strong-willed, determined people I work with are committed to success on EVERY level [Yes!  -- we want it all]

Since February 2000 (after being downsized from a day trading firm), I’ve been working with companies and consultants helping them to generate over $10 million in revenues.  How much can I help you generate?

Blog Marketing – The Connection Factor

Whether business or personal, the purpose of your blog is to establish a connection with your clients and prospects. I often refer to my blog as my coaching room. It’s where I get to share my perspective, knowledge and key business insights. It’s where I make a connection with you.

You’ve got to make a connection too!

Sharing information and key insights that is relevant to your niche is a must in making a connection. You’ve got to let people know that you get them and that you can relate to their problems, pain and issues. Then you must take it a step further by letting them know that you can solve their problem–that’s where your services come in.

It’s all about the exchange.

You don’t have to be super salesy but you should let people know about your services.

Here are a few practical ways to beef up your connection factor:
1). Gift giving is good.  Giving something of value to your ideal client is a great way to connect with them on a deeper level.  It’s a way to invite them into your world.
2). Use your voice. Voice power is part of the human connection factor. Writing is essential but your voice makes the connection stronger and faster.  
3). Videos.  Video marketing is like being face-to-face with your audience.  Talk about the get to know you, like you trust you factor…this is it.  That’s why YouTube is such a phenomenon.

If you don’t connect with prospects and make a relevant offer –then you might be delaying your own success.

Self Branding: Understanding the Visibility Factor

The visibility factor is necessary to build your  brand on and off line.  You’ve got to find ways to keep yourself in front of your target market because marketing is about telling people what you do over and over again in a way that’s clear and engaging. 

Out of sight, out of mind. You’ve heard that before, right?  It’s true.  If you don’t see “it” or have some mechanism to help you remember “it” then you forget about “it”.  True?

It’s the same with your business, products, services, music or whatever you offer.  If people don’t see you, they tend to forget about you.  I mean, you might pop up in their minds every so often but that’s it!

As a business owner, coach or consultant, The Visibility Factor has to be a strong consideration in your marketing mix.  

Here are a few marketing strategies to beef up your visibility factor:

1.  Networking - that can be social networking or traditional networking.  Traditional networking really gives people a negative feeling because most people think about walking around a room with a bunch of business cards in hand.  However, any type of networking is more about building your personal network of clients, colleagues, referral sources and friends.  I call it cherry picking.

2.  Direct Contact & Follow – yep, I’m a big believer in making personal contact with a prospective customers.  There’s nothing better than human interaction.

3.  Public Speaking – Think of public speaking as the visibility factor on steroids.  People are more likely to connect with you and REMEMBER you (or even want more of YOU), if you are standing in front of them with a message that’s relevant to their success.

4.  Article Marketing- Talk about credibility and visibility–you get two for the price of one.  Article marketing has a lasting effect and can be re-purposed and used in many different ways.  You definitely want to write articles about your speciality.

Expand Your Capacity

Expanding your capacity to be more, do more and have more has everything to do with conditioning.  One of the many reasons some of us fail to take control has everything to do with conditioning.  Many of us have been conditioned to accept less than we can have and be less than we can be.

This point can be further illustrated in a recent story I read.  This guy took his daughter to a traveling circus.  He was surprised to find eight elephants each tethered only by a small rope attached to a ring on an iron leg shackle.  Each of the small ropes, in turn, was tied to a much larger rope that was stacked to the ground. 

At any time, any one of those elephants, as big and strong as each was, could have easily broke loose from those ropes and wreaked havoc in that place.  Like me, the guy wondered why these intelligent, curious, and huge  creatures would not want to be free and roam around.

Later, he did a little research to find out why those elephants stayed shackled together when they had the power to move about. 

This is interesting.  He learned that when elephants are very young, they are chained by the leg to immovable stakes.  For several weeks they struggle to free themselves.  But, little by little, over a period of time, the elephants are conditioned to believe that they can’t move about freely when they are tied by the right rear leg. 

From the moment this conditioning takes hold, you can tie them with a string and they won’t move.  The elephants didn’t break free because they believed they couldn’t.  The strongholds in their minds were stronger than any chain or rope around their leg.

Okay, so we’re not elephants.  But in many ways we’ve been conditioned to believe certain things about ourselves and our environment.

My coaches request for the day:  Ask yourself these two questions

1. What do you really want? 

2.  Where do you need to break free and expand your capacity to receive? 

PS.   Stop complaining about things you can’t control (Sometimes we focus on too many things that we can’t control, while neglecting the things we can control).

Visualization Techniques: How To Visualize Effectively

“The mind cannot tell the difference between an actual, ‘real-life’ event and a vividly imagined one” – Dr. Denis Waitley

The problem is that we forget to remember the power of visualization.  There is an art and science to accomplishing more everyday — and that art and science can be found in establishing a blueprint first.

In the 1980s, Dr. Denis Waitley used a program called Visual Motor Rehearsal for Olympic athletes.  With this program, Olympic athletes were given the instructions to run the race but ONLY in their mind.  They had to fully visualize themselves in race.  This required what I call  INNER-OUTER participation. 

The athletes were then hooked up to a hi-tech biofeedback machine. 

The results were astounding.  What they found was that the same muscles fired in the same sequence as when they were actually running on the track!  The doctors were amazed. They wanted to know how could this be.  How could the same muscles fire in the same sequence as if they were really running the race.  The answer is found in the above quote, “The mind cannot tell the difference between an actual, ‘real-life’ event and a vividly imagined one”.

Needless to say, the value of VISUALIZATION and its results told the real story about the value of experiencing your desired result in the image of your mind first.

Here’s my coaches request for you today:

1.  Identify an experience that you’d like to have.  It can be anything from having a new car or experiencing a new level of success in your business.

2.  Get a vivid image of yourself having that experience.

3.  Focus on the end-results ONLY!  Do not let your mind go into overdrive trying to figure out how it’s going to happen (that’s not your job).

Let me know how this work out for you!

PS.  I’ve created a place called “The Visualization Lab”  — it’s the ultimate breeding ground for success. Check it out here:  http://budurl.com/thelab

Visualizations Quotes: 7 Awesome Visualization Quotes

“Make sure you visualize what you really want, not what someone else wants for you.” – Jerry Gillies

“I’ve discovered that numerous peak performers use the skill of mental rehearsal of visualization.  They mentally run through important events before they happen.” -Charles A. Garfield

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it.  Make your mental blueprint and begin to build it.” -Robert Collier

“When confronted with a situation that appears fragmented or impossible, step back, close your eyes, and envision perfection where you saw brokenness.  Go to the inner place where there is no problem, and abide in the consciousness of well-being.”  -Alan Cohen

“I would visualize things coming to me.  It would just make me feel better.  Visualization works if you work hard.  That’s the thing.  You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.” – Jim Carrey

“You are living simultaneously in two worlds, two realities: the inner reality of your thoughts, emotions and attitudes, and the outer reality of people, places, things and events.  Because we fail to separate these Inner and Outer worlds, we allow ourselves to become dominated by the Outer world of appearances, and we use the Inner world solely as a ‘mirror’ for whatever happens to us.  Our Inner world reacts constantly and because we spend all of our time simply reacting, we never experience our power.  Ironically, you begin changing your reality the day, the hour, the minute you cease constantly reacting to it.” – John Kehoe

I’ve created a place called “The Visualization Lab”  — it’s the ultimate breeding ground for success.  http://budurl.com/thelab

Time Management for Solo-Prenuers: Manage Interruptions Wisely

Times robbers are like a thief in the night.  Especially when you work from home.  If you’re not careful, before you know it, the day is gone.  In this post I want to share a few tips to help you get a handle on the events in your daily work life. 

1.  Identify your personal time robbers.  The most common ones are (1)interruptions, (2) procrastination, (3) waiting for information and materials from others, (4) unnecessary meetings <–my pet peeve and (5) Too much work scheduled

2.  Create a plan for dealing with them.  For instance, if you get a bunch of interrupting phone calls during the day, you could prepare a script to handle these interruptions.  It should go something like this…

[ring...ring]
Me:  Hello, this is April. 
Tammy:  Hi April this is Tammy. 
Me:  Hi Tammy, what’s up — How can I help you today? 
Tammy:  Girl, I was just calling to see what you’re up to today. 
Me:  Good to hear from you…but I am right in the middle of something.  I’d like to get back to you.  Are you around later? 
Tammy:  Yes, call me back.
Me:  Will do!

Now, all calls won’t go like that because  interruptions vary.  However, you’ll need to take the initiative to create your own filtering process so that you’re not giving your best time to non-productive situations. 

3.  Use your appointment book to schedule routine items.  If you don’t have anything on your schedule, subconsciously you have nothing to do.  Take some time to plan your days.

Overall, you must get in the habit of creating boundaries that really work well for you.

Time Management: Create a Daily Ritual of Success

This simple truth might surprise you.  We all get the same amount of time every single day.  So, I always get a little tickled when someone says, “I don’t have the time.” 

Oh yes you do. 

You’ve been getting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for all of your life.  There is no disparity in time for anyone.   With that said,  it make sense for you to guard it as if your life depended on it.  Don’t let anything steal your most precious commodity — TIME!  

It’s so easy to let time robbers slip in and steal a minute here or an hour there.  As business owners and professionals, we must give an account to how we spend our time. 

Have you ever noticed that you do have a daily ritual?  Chances are that you get up every morning and follow a very specific pattern — with very little variation.  Think about it.  Is that true for you?

My time management tip for the day is to create a ritual in your day.  Yes, a success ritual.  

Rituals really do work. 

Re-frame your mornings.  Create it by design.  Set it up to work for you.  Then move to the afternoons and then evenings.  Once you’ve set your days, start working on your weeks. 

Create momentum in your mornings, afternoons, and evenings.  Don’t leave them to chance.

Let me know how it works…. [grace and peace to you!]

Self Branding and Paradigms

Branding becomes very intricate and interesting when YOU are the brand.  I love and am fascinated by people brands.  People brands are everywhere.  You see them.  Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, Donald Trump, Jay-Z, Michael Jackson and too many to name.  These are people that have turned themselves into enterprises, models, examples and patterns for others to follow.

For the individual on a journey to play a bigger game, you can’t fully expand your personal brand without understanding your personal paradigm. 

The word paradigm comes from the Greek root paradeigma, which means “model or pattern.” Paradigms are thougtht patterns and models. 

Paradigms are important because they have to do with sub-conscious conditioning.  Paradigms goes way beyond the surface. 

Paradigms control the results in your life, in your business and in your branding.  They have power over everything–your relationships, your income and your success.  Do you know that when you shift your paradigm–everything in your life and business improves?

So, if you’re wondering why you can’t breakthrough to the next level of achievement with YOUR PERSONAL BRAND it’s because you’re still operating in the same old paradigm.

Social Marketing For Entrepreneurs – Powerful Social Networking Insights For Any Product Or Service

Social marketing on the internet continues to open new realms of possibilities for serious business owners on and off the web. Without question, the internet has created a global marketplace. The quest becomes how you will bring this global market into your world.

The reason I say “bring the global market into your world” is because there is so much noise, traffic and honking on the internet that if you followed half of everything that’s happening-you’ll be confused, lost and possible broke. If you do nothing, you lose out on hundreds of opportunities. Rule of thumb #1–”Do not chase after traffic. Find out where the traffic is going and go stand in from of it” 

 My top 3 spots for where traffic is going:

1. Facebook-Facebook.com is a popular, free-access social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook while he was a student at Harvard University (Wikipedia)
2. Twitter- Twitter.com is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. (Wikipedia)
3. Ezine Articles-Ezinearticles.com is the #1 article marketing directory on the web. You get to write your articles, submit them and kick back and enjoy the traffic.

Consider these amazing facts and numbers:

1. Facebook. Don’t let the fact that Facebook was originally created for college grads fool you. Facebook has serious benefits and implications for business owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs.This highly successful online social networking platform boasts one hundred million registered members, and is growing at a rate of 225,000 per day. Analysts predict Facebook membership to be at 500 million by 2011. (Mari Smith)
2. Twitter. Twitter may seem like a whole lot of nothing but hang around for a few months. Twitter had by one measure over 3 million accounts and, by another, well over 5 million visitors in September 2008, a fivefold increase in a month. (Wikipedia)
3. EzineArticles.com. This user friendly article directory gets 15 million unique visitors a month. This popular directory allows authors in hundreds of niche fields to get massive levels of exposure in exchange for the submission of their quality content.

My personal testimony with EzineArticles–to date,  I have submitted 57 articles and have been published 52 times with over 10,000 article views and a request to be the marketing expert for a high traffic website. In addition, I receive a few inquiries a week regarding my services and I continue to meet new people everyday. So, you see it’s not a matter of whether you should get involved-it’s a matter of when and how.