Branding is the process of creating distinctive and durable perceptions in the minds of consumers. A brand is a persistent, unique business identity intertwined with associations of personality, quality, origin, liking, and more. Although most people associate brands with big companies, the smallest of companies can use branding techniques with great rewards just like I have.

A strong brand will project an image of a large and established business to your potential affluent customers. People usually associate branding with larger businesses that have the money to spend on advertising and promotion. If you can create effective branding, then it can make your business appear to be much bigger than it really is, which also creates a greater sense of trust with the affluent.

An image of size and establishment can be especially important when an affluent customer wants reassurance that you will still be around in a few years time.

According to David Neagle, Million Dollar Income Acceleration Coach and President of Life is Now, Inc. (www.davidneagle.com), a multimillion-dollar global corporation dedicated to teaching entrepreneurs how to use the power of their minds to rapidly create quantum leaps in both business and personal arenas, most people don’t realize that success is not about “getting” or “achieving” anything. True success is about who you must BE in order to attract everything you require to live the life you have always dreamed of living and the impact we’re creating (in terms of service to humanity) in the world.  Honestly, you can learn all the business strategies in the world, but you’ll get nowhere if you don’t have your mind and heart in the right place.

I’m so appreciative of David’s contribution to our Business Mastery Success System for Marketing to Millionaires™. It is a part of our amazing suite of virtual learning products for learning marketing to the affluent. To learn more about Marketing to Millionaires™ Mastery University, click here.

One of the greatest quotes I have ever seen is by Donald Trump.  He says:  “I like thinking big. I always have,” says Trump. “If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”

Trump considers his ability to think in larger than life terms one of his greatest strengths and a major reason for his significant success. “Most people think small because most people are afraid of success, afraid of making decisions, afraid of winning,” he says. “And that gives people like me a great advantage.” Trump is not afraid to go after what he wants, nor is he afraid of the consequences of his decisions.

He is not the only leader who believes this.  If you read any book on success or achievement, the leaders credit their ability to think big, make decisions quickly and take strategic action as the primary reason for their success.

Thinking That Big Takes Courage

The reason it is so scary to people is because it is about risking your ‘identity’ – your sense of who you are and who those around you think you are. Being prepared to change the received ‘definition’ of who you are and what you are capable of, overcoming the fear of “what if I fall on my face.” You need courage in a very real sense to take such a leap.

And where do you get courage to carry you through?

Well, it’s like everything else in life. You practice.

Successful People Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
Eleanor Roosevelt had this to say about it: We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face… we must do that which we think we cannot. (Emphasis added)

And that brave lady (she’s the one who also said: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent) stands in a long line which stretches all the way back to the Greek philosophers. Aristotle himself said: Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. (Emphasis added)

I have personally faced this challenge.  But this year, I had a good friend of mine say to me…”How much longer are you going to play small?”  And when she said that, my stomach landed in my throat.   Now for many of you out there who have followed my career, you might be thinking “Kelly doesn’t play small”.  Well, it is all relative.

And she reminded me of the famous quote by Marianne Williamson

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

I had a profound shift of consciousness in that moment because I realized something.  With the world in the state that it is in and our economy in the place that it is in…”Who am I to deny people my light?”

My playing small doesn’t just affect my life and my bank account, my playing small affects every entrepreneur out there and every one of their families.  Because I have a gift to share and if I don’t do everything in my power to share that gift, I am not being of service in the way it was intended.

It no longer mattered how afraid I was.  It no longer mattered what the little gremlins in my head said “Who do you think you are?  What if you fail?  What if you embarrass yourself?  What will your family think?’

I made a decision at that point that the only thing worse than stepping out in a big way and risking failing was not attempting to step out at all.

Do you have a gift to share?  Are you playing smaller that you could be?

Now is your time to shine your light on the world.

Thanks and let us know your thoughts. I encourage you to leave your comments or questions below.

Be Sure to sign up for the Marketing to Millionaires Retreat this October, to learn more on Marketing to the Affluent

Article by Kelly K. O’Neil, Million Dollar Marketing to the Affluent Coach and Creator of the Marketing to Millionaires™ Programs

Business Manager Ashley Hood, Shares some of Kelly’s secrets on Marketing to the Affluent

Thanks and let us know your thoughts. I encourage you to leave your comments or questions below.

To learn more about how to market your services to people who will pay premium prices and Marketing to the Affluent, be sure to sign up for the Retreat, this October 22-24, 2009, in LA.

Article by Kelly K. O’Neil, Million Dollar Marketing to the Affluent Coach and Creator of the Marketing to Millionaires™ Programs

Time Management is more than just managing our time; it is managing ourselves in relation to time. It is setting priorities that are in alignment with your desired results and taking charge of your situation and time utilization. It means changing those habits or activities that cause us to waste time. It is being willing to experiment with different methods and ideas to enable you to find the best way to make maximum use of time.

If you don’t have extreme clarity about the results you want in your business, you will not be able to effectively choose your highest payoff activities to focus on.

Learn how to recession proof your business at the Marketing to Millionaires Retreat October 22-24, 2009. Learn more and register at www.marketingtomillionairesretreat.com.

Have a question about the Marketing to Millionaires Retreat?…call us at 866.615.8150.

Life constantly throws choices at you everyday and whatever choices you make are seeds that will shape your future. Make no mistake, you are your choices. The law of gravity says, whatever goes up, must come down. This is also true, for every cause, there is an effect. To every action, there is a reaction. Whatever you sow, you will reap. If you sow negative thoughts everyday, and speak pessimistically over your situation, you will experience negative outcomes.

If you consistently choose to focus on lack of money and lack of time, you will continue to create more lack of money and lack of time. Your mind will not be open to all of the possibilities of opportunities coming your way because you are so focused on your lack of time and lack of money. It is a self fulfilling prophecy that will keep you sick, stuck and broke.

So…what do you choose to focus on? Your lack or your abundance?

Learn how to recession proof your business at the Marketing to Millionaires Retreat October 22-24, 2009. Learn more and register at www.marketingtomillionairesretreat.com.

Have a question about the Marketing to Millionaires Retreat?…call us at 866.615.8150.

Did you know the last time we had an economic transition of this kind was in the 1920s?  So I ask the question…How can all these ‘business gurus’ out there keep saying they have “THE SOLUTION”.

HERE IS THE TRUTH:  We are all in this together.  Strategic business and marketing gurus are finding out what is working and what is not by trial and fire.  And if they are telling you they have ALL the answers….pardon my French, but I am going to have to call BS (Baloney Sandwich) on that one.

One of the quotes I LOVE is “Worrying is like a rocking chair, you expend a WHOLE Bunch of energy and you just don’t get anywhere.” For the sake of all small businesses out there, I want to put some of the economy stuff into perspective.

No matter your situation, it’s up to you if your “Personal Economy” has a recession. If you don’t want to have a recession, you just have to find people to surround yourself with who aren’t having one either.  The next six to twelve months is going to be make it or break it for many small businesses.

Here is what you need to know: You have the opportunity today to come out of this recession THRIVING.  Especially if you are targeting people who are less effected by the conditions of the economy because they are spending money.

Watch as I share my candid opinion of what I think is really going on.

Learn how to recession proof your business at the Marketing to Millionaires Retreat October 22-24, 2009. Learn more and register at www.marketingtomillionairesretreat.com.

Have a question about the Marketing to Millionaires Retreat?…call us at 866.615.8150.

When the news media first started talking about the recession – honestly I pretty much dismissed it. 9 months later we can no longer dismiss the fact that that the condition of the economy has changed and it is dramatically affecting many small business owners and their families.  For many families out there this is a very scary time – especially families that have one or more breadwinner in a traditional JOB where they do not have control of their own income.

And here is the truth:  YOU CAN’T CONTROL THE ECONOMY.

But you can control how you CHOOSE to react to the economy and how to run your business in the economy.

I also think there is a lot of hype out there from leading marketers which I believe is a huge disservice to small business owners.  Want to hear my opinion?  Let me know your thoughts.

Watch as I share my perspective on the economy:

PS. More to come about the next several days…so stay tuned.

Learn how to recession proof your business at the Marketing to Millionaires Retreat October 22-24, 2009. Learn more and register at www.marketingtomillionairesretreat.com.

Have a question about the Marketing to Millionaires Retreat?…call us at 866.615.8150.

Article by Kelly K. O’Neil, Million Dollar Marketing to the Affluent Coach and Creator of the Marketing to Millionaires™ Programs

Profitability Point #3 – Loyal Customers = Highly Profitable Customers

We know that affluent customers are extraordinarily loyal which brings a bevy of benefits including the fact that most are a pleasure to work with, it will decrease in your marketing costs and ultimate create higher profitability.

As a result of their innate loyalty, affluent clients have a substantially higher customer lifetime value.  Customer Lifetime Value is defined as the total value, in monetary terms, of your average customers spanning the entire period that these customers are likely to do business with you.
It’s the potential contribution of your customers to your business over a period of time.

When acquired as customers, the affluent customer base could potentially lead to more profit for your business. In my many years in marketing, I’ve met many business owners who don’t understand what Customer Lifetime Value is, much less its importance and the impact it
has on their bottom-line. To most of them, what matters most is to increase revenue by continuously acquiring new one-shot customers.

This is one of the fatal mistakes that many business owners make, but it is totally avoidable.  Consider this staggering statistic – it’ll cost you 7-10 times more to attract a new customer
than it does to bring one of your past customers back to you.

Where do you want to invest your marketing dollars?

If you’re a smart business owner, you’ll understand that every penny you invest in marketing is most likely going towards acquiring new clients. You’ll also realize that once you’ve acquired the clients, you just can’t afford to let them go.

Isn’t it time we all took a lesson from Jesse James?

Profitability Point #1

Profitability Point #2

Listen to Profitability Point #3 here!

Thanks and let us know your thoughts. I encourage you to leave your comments or questions below.

Article by Kelly K. O’Neil, Million Dollar Marketing to the Affluent Coach and Creator of the Marketing to Millionaires™ Programs

Profitability Point #2 – Affluent Clients Shop on Value, Not Price

Affluent clients will pay the asking price even if it’s 100% more expensive than the competition IF they perceive there’s added value what you are offering whether that is one-of-kind exclusivity, proven results or VIP customer service.  Higher price points create more wiggle room for higher profitability margins.

If you missed the first Profitability point, check it out here!

Listen to Kelly’s Profitability Point #2 here!

Thanks and let us know your thoughts. I encourage you to leave your comments or questions below.

Article by Kelly K. O’Neil, Million Dollar Marketing to the Affluent Coach and Creator of the Marketing to Millionaires™ Programs