SuePainter

Making Sales - 3 Ways Entrepreneurs Lose Sales During Their Presentations

In the last few days I've been sitting in a room watching and listening to real estate developers make presentations to a group of investors. Each investor had paid good money to travel all the way to another country specifically to listen to these prese... Read >

Self-Employment Tip - How To Love Delegating Even If You're A Total Control Freak

People who go into business for themselves are, by and large, control freaks. We all have clear ideas about what we want to do and exactly how we want to do it. Most of us are high-energy people and like to move fast. Simply said, we mostly believe tha... Read >

Self-Employment Tips - How To Get Out Of Being Stuck If You're Self-Employed

One of the challenges of working for yourself is recognizing when you are stuck. Being stuck can happen many ways, but for self-employed people it often looks something like this: * Your income is level, or perhaps has taken a slight dip. * You a... Read >

Can You Succeed Like Charles Dickens?

This week, on February 7th, we celebrate the birthday of one of the world's most famous authors. Charles Dickens was born in 1812, growing up and writing during England's Victorian era. The characters he created remain some of the most familiar literary... Read >

How To Be A Predictably Successful Entrepreneur

One of the questions I get asked frequently when I speak to groups of entrepreneurs is "Sue, how can I make sure that my business succeeds?" It's a risk to open a business. We are putting our life's energy and our money on the table, saying "I can take ... Read >

3 Ways To Take Back Your Time

I've never worked with a client yet who didn't feel pressured by too much to do and not enough time. This week is National Take Back Your Time Week, an initiative that's being pushed in both the United States and Canada. Tuesday (January 25th) is Bett... Read >

Customer Loyalty - 4 Ways To Use A Bad Situation To Build Customer Loyalty

Entrepreneurs and small business owners build businesses based on providing value and personalized customer service. But if you have been in business very long, you know that sometimes a bad situation occurs with a customer despite your best intentions. ... Read >

Three Ways To Get Past Hard Times In Your Business

Last week I was in Atlanta working with Paul B Evans (Nicheology) and Carrier Wilkerson (The Barefoot Executive) for a few days. One evening when I finally made it to my room I happened to catch part of a documentary about the Secret Service agents who w... Read >

How To Use Both High Tech and High Touch to Build and Keep Your Customer Base

In the past five years or so most entrepreneurs embraced the Internet as the best way to find new prospects for the products and services they have to offer. Our websites changed from pretty but often-stale electronic brochures that sat, unchanging, out ... Read >

How To Build Your Visibility and Credibility on the Internet

For an entrepreneur or small business owner, finding ways to build credibility and visibility that are low-cost is critical. We just don't have the deep pockets to buy these. Instead, we need to know how to "work it" and gain visibility for ourselves, u... Read >

3 Ways To Easily Expand Your Business And Increase Your Profits

How do you see your business in terms of its reach? If you are an entrepreneur who thinks of your business as local only, you are probably thinking too small and leaving profit on the table. Think about it - if you own a small business and you've got a ... Read >

How To Disney-ize Your Small Business

I've been reading some of the business practices and values that Disney ascribes to. If you haven't delved in to how Disney operates, you might find it useful and inspiring for your business. This week I had the opportunity to hear a presentation by Pet... Read >

Where To See Fireflies "Firing" In Harmony

If you like to seek out rare sights when you travel, make plans to visit the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in mid-June. For there, each year, you can take a nighttime hike and watch as millions of fireflies put on a show you'll never forget. It isn... Read >

Your Customers Know When Yes Is Really No

As a small business coach and entrepreneur, I love to read customer service answers to questions that a business's customers actually ask. Here's one that came to my inbox this morning: Question: Do you take orders over the phone? Answer: We can ta... Read >

Can You Make It As A Part-Time Solopreneur?

One of the questions I get asked most frequently is about working for yourself part time. Solo professionals and entrepreneurs often are trying to bootleg their businesses, still working at a full time job elsewhere to pay the bills. This is often the s... Read >