by Marcia Hoeck on December 27, 2011
“Thank you, Marcia. You make me feel so brave!”
I’m Marcia Hoeck, and I take the scary out of running a small business, for values-based coaches, consultants, and creatives like you — I fill in with the stuff you didn’t learn in school. The quote above is from one of my clients. [Read the full article.…]
by Marcia Hoeck on January 12, 2012

.
Q.
“I don’t really know how to do marketing for my own business — I avoid it because it makes me feel uncomfortable. I’ve always gotten business by referral in the past, but I can’t count on that for regular business anymore. How can I start to effectively market myself without feeling like I’m being pushy, which then makes me apologetic and ultimately ineffective?”
A.
This is a really great question, and it has got to be one of the things I have to reinforce most in my clients — the real reason you owe it to yourself and your clients to market your business. Most small businesses have a problem with this . . . even marketing firms who create marketing campaigns for clients feel some degree of “ickiness” about promoting themselves.
Why you feel icky about marketing
First of all, why does the thought of marketing your company make you uncomfortable? It’s because marketing has gotten a bum rap. It’s all those years of dinner-time telemarketers and used car salesmen and people pushing products and services on you that you don’t want or need, and the strong desire you have to not be like those people and/or companies.
Well, you don’t have to be. [Read the full article.…]
by Marcia Hoeck on January 7, 2012
Do your clients truly value your work, allowing you to charge what you’re worth, and trusting you to do more for them?
You may think you’re describing your work’s true value in conversations with clients, when you’re really not. They may not be getting it.
If you don’t think they place enough significance on what you do, it may be because you’re not communicating well enough — and if that’s the case, you can’t blame them for not knowing.
It’s not your clients, it’s you.
This takes digging and thinking and putting some meat on the bones of how you talk to clients. It may be more you, ahem, than them.
Take a look at these five ways you may be talking about your work that [Read the full article.…]