Would you like to make more money and double your income in the next year? If you’re like most solo entrepreneurs, the thought sounds very attractive. But, then things start getting fuzzy about how you are going to accomplish that goal. You might even talk yourself out of thinking it’s even possible!

Before you know it, time slips away, and you’ve seen no forward momentum toward increasing your income. Does this sound familiar to you?

I, too, at one time, had this problem. But, then I changed my mindset…

One day, when I was talking with a professor from the graduate school I was attending, he asked me what direction I was headed with my M.B.A. and women-owned business. I told him I wanted to grow my consulting firm, do some speaking, and earn a decent income ($150,000 sounded about right). Right then, he cautioned me not to think ‘too small’ and limit myself. He told me, “Think small, and you’ll get small. You might as well think big, because you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.”

That conversation was one of those “Aha” moments for me. Immediately, my mindset shifted, and from that day forward, I began to challenge myself at every opportunity to ‘think bigger’. Now, my income goals for my coaching and consulting business are to create a 7-figure business. Can I achieve it? You bet! And so can you, if you set your own Electrifying Money Goal.

The small business marketing and money growth system I’ve created is called your “Electrifying Money Goal”. The concept is simple, and has worked to help me double my income the last year, and be on track to double it again this year.

Here are four small business marketing and money growth strategies you can use today to leverage this powerful tool:

1. Choose a Short Time Frame

The shorter the time frame, the better. Short time frames give you clarity, help you focus, and create momentum because their deadline is a short time away…which helps to get you moving to accomplish the goal. I suggest working within a 30 – 90 day timeframe. This timeframe compels you to think of specific actions you’re going to take to ‘now’ to achieve your money goal. Give yourself too much time, and you may procrastinate because a sense of urgency in accomplishing the goal is lost.

2. Stretch Yourself

The Electrifying Money Goal gets you to stretch your thinking, and spark your creativity about how you’re going to reach the goal. Aim too low and it’s likely you won’t make any significant changes in your business, or progress. That’s why I recommend you create a ‘stretch goal’. Stretch goals are seemingly unobtainable with present resources. But, by specifying the unattainable, you are required to “think outside the box”. Doing so will help you improve your performance by a magnitude you had never thought possible.

Be willing to “stretch yourself” to achieve the money goal of doubling your income. I recommend that solo entrepreneurs choose an amount that is 50 percent more than they are currently earning, for the next 30 – 90 day period. Challenge yourself! What do you have to lose?

3. Pick Low-Hanging Fruit, First

To achieve the money goal you determined, look for the low-hanging fruit that’s just waiting for you to pluck it off the “Money Tree”. Low-hanging fruit are typically services and products you already have that can be re-launched, re-titled, or expanded. Dust these items off, because they represent unrealized income increasing opportunities.

4. Be Creative and Forge New Ideas

In addition to looking at existing products and services you can offer (the low-hanging fruit), be open to new ideas, services, and products you can create to achieve your goal. The whole idea of the Electrifying Money Goal is to take a big leap forward in expanding your solo entrepreneur business.

Big leaps forward require passion, courage, and a plan. By creating an Electrifying Money Goal every 30 – 90 days, this will help you create the energy and action steps to take to achieve your ideal income faster and easier than you ever thought was possible!

What is consistently rated as one of the most effective small business target marketing strategies? Without a doubt it is the Joint Venture (JV), also known as a strategic alliance. Target, or niche marketing means that you are marketing directly to the prospect most likely to buy your product or service. Your JV strategy can be the ultimate form of target marketing since you are using the targeted customer and prospect list of another business owner.

The JV and strategic alliance are so popular and profitable because they leverage the assets (customer list, goodwill, relationship, etc.) your partner has developed with their client and prospect base. Nearly all potential buyers (business and consumer) prefer to do business with a company, firm or practice for which they have a degree of trust.

Marketing legend Dan Kennedy likes to say that we are all walking around holding an umbilical cord saying “plug me in and tell me what to do.” Whether you are looking for a place to buy a hot dog,tobuy a yacht, or looking for a brain surgeon or a new church in your community, you are looking for someone to recommend where you should go to obtain the product, service or advice.

Don’t make the mistake of confusing the Joint Venture with referrals. Referrals are great for new business and are an effective small business target marketing strategy but generally are given only one or two at a time. Referrals may only come sporadically if you don’t have a referral program in place and may be hard to get if you haven’t kept in touch with your clients.

JV’s can be as simple as selecting a retail partner and issuing a joint coupon to one another’s client base. They can also be very complex, multi-million dollar deals between large companies. American Express is an example of a very large and sophisticated company that partners with several other large businesses to leverage the client lists of both firms. If you have an American Express card, you have undoubtedly received several mailings in which they recommend and endorse their JV partners. The partners get the implied endorsement of a blue chip company like Amex and Amex gets increased card purchases as you use the card to buy the recommended partners products.

Now that you’ve decided to add the JV to your small business marketing tools, where do you start? You start by profiling the characteristics of your ideal client. What else do they buy and where do they buy it? For example, Paul Flood Marketing, which is my company, implements a unique and non-traditional marketing system in small businesses and I guarantee profit increases of 25% or more in as little as 90 days. As the old saying goes, “Fish where the fish are,” so I have partnered with other small business consultants, primarily CPA’s and small business attorneys, who have endorsed my services to their clients.

If I had tried to contact many of these business owners cold, I would have probably been turned away but the endorsement of my trusted partners established trust. This trust is what you will leverage with your alliance partners.

Armed with the list of potential partners, you formulate your contact strategy. You could try writing letters but I am a strong believer in just picking up the phone and saying to the owner, “Hi, I am a local business owner and I have an idea that could help us both dramatically increase our sales and profits and I’d like to talk with you about it. Do you have a minute so I can explain the concept?

Great, if makes sense for us to talk in more depth, we can arrange a time to get together.” The thing I like about the phone is that I can immediately get a feel about the business and the person in just a couple of minutes.

When you first meet, you will most likely need to explain how the Joint Venture small business target marketing strategy works and how it will benefit both of your businesses. Most small business owners are only familiar with traditional marketing or networking so it may take a bit of explaining to get the concept across.

The most common objection you will encounter is the trust factor so bring testimonials and samples of your product, service, practice or whatever you are selling to the meeting. You need to show why the other business owner person know they can trust you and your business? People are naturally wary (as they should be) about referring others to their clients because their reputation is on the line, as is yours.

Always conduct due diligence. Be sure you speak with some of their clients to confirm their claims about quality products and service. If you feel uncomfortable at the beginning, bow out of the relationship gracefully. Ther’s no sense in adding aggragvation to your life!

The other objection is the confidentiality of av client list, but that is easily overcome by offering to mail your endorsement of your partner to your list and they mail their endorsement of you to their list. What if you don’t have a list? You pay to mail your letter to their client list and you may also want to pay them commissions for sales you get as a result of the mailing. There are some professions that are prevented from paying or receiving finder’s fees so if this applies to you, you need to investigate alternatives.

What is the simplest JV strategy? Each partner mails an endorsement of the other’s business to their list with a description of the benefits of doing business with them and why they are recommending one another. It’s that simple. The key to success of the JV as your small business target marketing strategy is that you and your partners must be proactive in promoting one another and in managing the relationship. As the person who originated the partnership, take control and action to make it happen. If you have a partner who isn’t committed, drop them and find another.

When you are actively using the JV as a small business marketing tool, you will be amazed at the results you can achieve in a relatively short period of time. Of course, as with any other business strategy, there are experts like myself who can be delivering profits while you are attempting to find your first partner. The key is to make the decision to make it happen, to leverage your contacts and your list and get started!

Think back to the time you started your business. Chances are it was because you enjoyed being in a particular industry – you had a passion about your product or service, and wanted to share it with the world. But did you ever stop and say to yourself, “I can’t wait to market this business”? Probably not. That unfortunately is why many of today’s small businesses fail. The owners try everything they can think of to save their business, yet they miss out on the one opportunity that can turn their business into true success: hiring a small business marketing consultant.
A small business marketing consultant specializes in learning the top ways to market a business; creates strategies that will help businesses double, even triple their current profits; and teaches the most effective methods for increasing the bottom line of any business.

In today’s business world, there are two types of small business marketing consultants:

Traditional small business marketing consultants
Online small business marketing consultants
A traditional small business marketing consultant can help you create a marketing strategy using traditional tools. They understand how to advertise your business. They understand the importance of branding. They can help you write copy, and create dynamic promotional pieces. In short, they understand how to marketing your business well in the traditional environment.

But if someone has been in the marketing field for a number of years, and understands traditional marketing venues well, what they may not be good at is making the transition to the online world. And there is a world of difference between traditional and online marketing.

An online small business marketing consultant understands the same strategies used in traditional marketing. They understand advertising. They understand branding. They understand the importance for creating dynamic promotional pieces. But from there is where the differences begin.

An online small business marketing consultant realizes that you sell differently online than you do off. It takes different strategies, different copy, and different promotional materials to succeed online. Not only should a consultant provide you with traditional methods, but they should make sure these methods feed the online world as well.

For example, a postcard sent out direct mail has always been a successful tool. But if you send out that postcard asking for the reader to take one action step – heading to a website to sign up for a free report – you success rate for that postcard will improve dramatically.

While this technique may seem simple, there are many techniques just like this that can bridge the traditional and online world together, and make your business stronger and more profitable. It’s all in what you know – and whom you ask to help make it a possibility.