What is About, about?
http://about.me/Robertabud
What is the about page on your website about?
About means many things – a story, an approximation or almost doing something
Your Website About Page
I was listening to David Risley describe the about page as a sales page. He said that your page should have 5 key areas:
- Your Elevator Pitch – or unique selling pitch
- The benefits of you and your blog or service
- An opt in for more info
- Your story written from the point of what is in it for your clients rather than you were born, went to school and worked with …”yadda, yadda”
- Your opt in again
BUT is It?
Your about page should be about you but from the clients point of view.
It is about WIIFM – what you can do for them.
It is about starting the relationship and giving them a reason to come back yet again to learn more.
What do you want to see when you look at an about page. I know that the last thing I want is a sales page. I want to know that the person has the attitude, the ability and the passion to help me. I want to know that the person has some experience that says that maybe they have the knowledge to help me. And if they are using energy or spiritual means, then I want to know that they are genuine people rather than con artists.
What are QUALIFICATIONS about?
Qualifications used to show that you studied the lore and wisdom of past people who studied and learned from their predecessors. You gained a qualification because you could demonstrate in an examination or practice that you had retained the information you were taught and could apply it in the exam environment.
Now we could discuss what has happened with qualifications or how many people just memorize massive information and regurgitate it without understanding but that is another topic for another blog. In this one I want you to consider that qualifications mean that the person went to some course somewhere, spent time learning the topic and then was assessed on that learning. How much they learned, how well they can apply it or how much they understand the subject is immaterial to the achievement of the qualification. They had a piece of paper given by some school or organization that says they know something about the topic. Some dues have been paid somehow.
What are Skills about?
A skill is the ability to do. The only proof that a skill exists is that there is evidence in terms of a tangible thing or an outcome. Skills have evidence of performance and can be verified by many different people rather than just the organization handing out a qualification.
What is experience?
Experience just proves that somewhere along the line, you convinced someone to employ you to do something and for a specific amount of time, you performed the tasks required by that job. Now sometimes that means doing the same job over and over again. Sometimes, the experience is constantly changing and the person could be seen as unfocused or unstable. But experience is about learning and applying what we learn. Experience shows that you got the qualification, applied the skills and someone else valued these and paid you money to do a job for them.
The value of the experience is always subjective but easily verified if the right questions are asked by others.
What’s It all about?
But your about page is about your experience, your skills and your qualifications but is also about reassuring your visitor that you are the person that they can deal with to help them. When a potential client reads your about page, they want to know WIIFM but more importantly they want some assurance that if they pay you money to help them they will get the help they want.
What are you about?
In the comment box, you have an opportunity to tell the readers what you are about and also to think about what you offer as evidence that you can help others.
And please share with others so that people think about the about page.
To your success
Roberta Budvietas
What do you want to earn?
What you want to earn and what you earn are often very different for many people.
To earn anything means that you need to do something, say something, produce something or talk to someone. There is always a 
correlation:-
effort = income
There will be times when the income may seem disproportional to the effort you put in though.
There will be many times when you work very hard and seem to achieve nothing. Oh and before you tell me that winning a lottery or another game of chance, think – you have to buy the ticket or enter the contest.
So let’s look at what you want to earn in your business.
You need to do some research and you also need to do some personal mindset work.
- Look at what other similar businesses earn. Keep in mind that the revenue in must also cover the cost of the goods you sold, some of your expenses and the related taxes.
- Look at how comfortable you are at charging that rate. If you feel that the norm in industry is comfortable for you to charge than see what happens if you increase that by 10%. Unless you believe that the rates are too high for your target niche, try never to charge less.
- Look at what you were earning as an employee and how that income supported your lifestyle. In your own business will this be adequate for you or do you need to earn more? If you need to earn more, what more will you deliver to your clients?
- And finally, look at what your clients can afford to pay. If the people you want to deal with can afford what you want to earn, then charge them that price but unless you can find clients who are able to pay you what you want to earn then you will never earn it.
- And finally, figure out if there are enough hours in the day to deliver what you want to earn. If you are the sole deliverer of your service and your service delivery model requires you to produce the goods, then you are limited by the time you have available to deliver. For example – If you get paid $20.00 per hour and can only work 5 hours per day 4 days per week, you can only earn 20*5*4= 400 per week out of which you will have to pay costs and tax.
Take some time to figure out what you want to earn and then create a sales forecast and a cashflow forecast to see if you are VIABLE. It always surprises people when they do the numbers how hard it is to earn what they want.
In the comments let me know if you are earning what you want and what you are doing about changing the situation.
To your well-being
Roberta Budvietas
Stop when you no longer can….
Stop doing business when you can no longer afford to make mistakes.
Stop being in business when you can no longer meet your buyer‘s needs.
Stop the insanity
Stop trying to get everyone to agree with you because difference helps you find new opportunities
Stop saying the same thing if by doing so, you are failing to get your message across.
Stop spending money on the next bright shiny object and use the tools you already have.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, so stop doing what you are doing if you want a different result. Oh and if you do something different then expect a different result. That is idiocity.
Think of some examples. What happened to Barnes and Noble? What happened at Enron? What happened to Leyman Brothers?
As business people we can get it wrong. As business people we can only ever do our best to meet our clients needs.
So stop trying to rip your clients off.
Stop trying to fool your potential buyers. Your buyers may be fooled once. You can even fool them twice but eventually they will either run out of money to buy or they will wise up and realise that you are taking advantage of them and offering no value.
If you doubt that, just look at the backlash now to the cigarette companies, the soft drink manufacturers and the fast food outlets.
People learn. Are people really looking for the new or do they keep trying something new because nothing works as promised?
So stop.
Stop following when you no longer can suffer being lied to by politicians, by professionals, by the powers that be.
Stop accepting second best.
Stop listening to others when your heart and soul says that what you are hearing, seeing or being advised makes no sense.
You need to be in control and take responsibility for your thoughts and actions.
Today make a commitment to stop doing what is not working and just go do your best and be your best.
Stop looking for who will buy and look for who you can help.
Stop looking to get things perfect and find someone who needs your imperfection and for whom you can make a difference.
Stop today and remember why you started your business. Return to your why, your vision and then recommit to the delivery of that.
Enjoy today.
Roberta Budvietas
When No is a Positive Word
In business we are constantly bombarded with other people’s opinions. We have clients and prospective buyers tell us that they
Words have a power all their own (Photo credit: Lynne Hand)
would buy if only we did….. We have government, banks and other organizations tell us that we must do this or that to succeed in business. We are told that our opinion counts and then no one listens to us.
It’s tough out there!
So learning to say NO can sometimes be a positive thing. Let’s look at some obvious examples and then maybe something less obvious
We all know that taking heroin, coke and other recreational drugs damages our health and can get us hooked on a habit that destroys life, so saying no to the first offer is good. Right?
We all know that for most marriages, infidelity destroys the marriage. So saying no to temptation is good. Right?
We all know that cheating on your taxes, lying to your client or stealing from someone could all come back and cause us major problems even jail time. So saying no to this kind of temptation is good. Right?
But what about the doom sayers who tell you that business is bad and you are doing it wrong? Should you take their advice and say no or should you listen carefully, see if there is something you could learn and then say no to them?
What about the person who offers you the next great way to find clients if you will only pay them $XXXXXXX, money that will put serious strain on your financial well being and also your family and business. Should you say no, right now I would love to learn from you but to do so would put pressure on me. Yes there are guarantees these people give but the real question is are you willing to really follow them step by step. Unless you will follow step by step, you may need to say NO.
And what about the time when you need to balance keeping your word. You promised a client and your child something and suddenly the timing coincides and you can only do one of the things you gave your word on. Who do you say no to? And what will be the consequences of saying NO. Your child may only ever have one award winning banquet or concert or debut but if you explain to the client. they may give you another couple of hours or days. Who do you say no to? And what are the consequences of that no?
When you live in the now or in the moment, one of the biggest balancing acts you need to do is what feels good in the moment and what you committed to achieve. What do you say no to, instant pleasure or gratification or keeping the commitments you made so that people will know you are trustworthy?
Business is about trust and sometimes saying NO, at this time, we are unable to deliver, we are unable to… is better for the business than saying yes and failing to deliver.
Yes and No only work in conjunction with responsibility and keeping your word. And keeping your word is about trust and the relationship. When you value the relationship, you can use no to tell someone the truth.
And when an advisor, a salesperson or an authority tells you that you MUST do something, NO is an option to keep you in control.
So use NO wisely. Stay in control and enjoy keeping your word and having people trust you and your business. Consistency of good performance is what marks a good business. Funny though people accept consistency of bad performance if there is no other choice.
Today look at your yes and no situations and decide who is in control?
Can you suggest in the comments any other times when no was positive for you?
Roberta
Passionate about your success in business
3 ways to deal with “Unfairness”
In business and life we want things to be FAIR. Many contracts are based on the fairness of both parties but in actual
Make it Fair
fact they are anything but fair. One side seems to hold the “power”.
When we buy something and we want to be treated fairly. We deal with a service person and we want their service to match their promise. In many countries there are laws around the fair treatment, keeping promises on quality and quantity.
But think of it, when you are presenting yourself to a prospect or in writing are you going to tell that person your faults and your weaknesses?
Or are you going to represent yourself in the best possible light?
Advertising tells you only the positive aspects of a product or service. Why would anyone promote the negative aspects of their product except maybe a mortician who says “you only have to die” to experience the empathy of our service”.
You believe that people will be fair to you depending on how much you trust them.
We have to start off by understanding that fairness relates to dignity and rights. Fairness occurs when both sides are respected and their rights preserved.
And that is PERSONAL and also assumes that one party knows how the other person views their rights.
And that is where the challenge comes for each business owner.
There are 3 simple ways to deal with any sense of ”unfairness”
- Realize that nothing is fair, it is a subjective decision and feeling. Life is unfair to everyone because it is perception.
- Realize that fairness is personal and therefore only you know what is fair for you.
- Realize that unless you ask the other party specifically, you are only assuming that the other person thinks something is fair.
Over and over again, people judge others by their own values. They deliver the level of service they think they can get away with.
And often that level of service may be less than what they would accept for themselves in a similar situation.
If you want to be fair, then find out how others want to be treated and what they think is fair. A BIG challenge as it does vary from one person to the next.
Another alternative is to to your best and know that no matter how good you are, you will never please all of the people all of the time.
In business as in life, you can only ever do your best and keep your word. You can accept responsibility for your actions but how the other party feels about your treatment is beyond your control.
Is that fair? Is that good? Is that right? Please tell me what you think in the comment box below.
Roberta
Passionate, Purposeful Presenter
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Guest Blogging with Jon Morrow
