CREATE YOUR BUSINESS AND MAKE YOUR DREAMS A REALITY

I understand that starting, or expanding, your own business can feel scary and sometimes even impossible, but I believe you can do it.  I have spent the last year moving my private practice from the limitations of my office walls to the internet and beyond.  These are are the resources that I have found to be helpful and useful.   When possible I list the pro's and con's.  I am always looking for more resources and information so if you know of great resources that I have not yet discovered please share your discovery.

If you feel fear or aren't sure you can do it then you need to use EFT.  I can't tell you what you are good at or what would be the perfect business but if you know what you need to do but are getting stuck then you need to Tap Tap Tap on those limiting beliefs. 

Whatever business you are thinking of you need some of these resources:

WEBSITE
1&1 Internet Inc.
http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=16549731*
This truly is an affordable build your own website.  Although it is a little time consuming, you do not need any technical knowledge or programming.  The FAQ aren't always the most useful but with a little commitment I was able to do my whole website myself in less than a month.   Especially if you don't want an eshop right away, it is a great way to begin as it was less then $10 per month for domain name, hosting, everything.   It gets more expensive once you want to add the shop but it still seems to be the best deal that I could find out there.  Also the helpline has real people and are actually quite helpful when I have needed them.

TELECONFERENCING/Telegroup Phone Lines
www.freeconferencing.com
I have had great luck with their free teleconferencing options.  Unfortunately if you want it recorded it gets much more expensive - you get an 800 number but then have to pay person per minute.

www.thebasementventures.com
Great services, easy to schedule and can even record for free.  Once you have recorded your group then it is in an MP3 format and you can do what you want with it (burn it to CD's, post it on your website, put it in your podcast, down load to your computer or IPod).

PODCAST
A podcast is similar to a radio station on the internet.  It is also the easiest way to store and allow people access to audio recordings. I began using the podcast as a way of recording hypnosis sessions and allowing clients access to them without having to burn them to a CD and send them.  You can store any audio recording (I store my sessions and telegroups) and then you paste the link on your website and people can get access to them.
www.podbean.com 
Another free service which is great.  Podbean has enough storage that I have not run out of space yet.  (I had tried a couple of others and had problems with space.)  Also, if you want to add their eshop to sell your recordings or anything else they do not charge a monthly rate you pay them a small percentage (3%) of what you sell. 

AUTORESPONDER
Aweber
http://www.aweber.com/?295908*
Is the program I have been using, they have fantastic customer service and they are easy to use. 
An Autoresponder is a program that allows you to easily send multiple newsletters on different subjects or on different time frames.  You still have to type the newsletters but it does all the work of sending them out.  Once someone signs up for your newsletter they can immediately begin receiving them without you having to do anything.  I love automation.  If you want to do classes, like a 6 week course where they get an email once a week for six weeks,  this would allow people to start when they are ready and be on their own schedule without you having to remember.  I thought I would just manage this through my website and then I realized that was way to much work.  This is 100 times easier and more effective.  It is not very much per month and to know that when people want the information they are getting it seems worth it to me.

INTERNET MARKETING
I have found some great mentors that will teach you  more then most people want to know about internet marketing, what your website should have, and how to get people to buy your products and services.  One of the things they all talk about it "moving the free line".  This means that you give away, for free, a lot of information in order to make yourself an expert and then when people want and expert in that field they will call on you and want to pay you money for that services or product.  I don't know if it works or not, I am a clinical social worker not a marketer, but what I do know is that means they all give away A LOT of information for free! These are my favorites.

Alex Mandossian
Great information on internet marketing and using one idea in different ways.  If you ever get a chance to do be part of or listen to his free teleseminars do it and he truly has a ton of information.

Lynn Grodzki
www.privatepracticesuccess.com
Lynn has a number of books and workbooks out that deal with creating your ideal private practice.  For anyone, like me, who doesn't know what a business plan is, why you need a business vision or how to transition your business from a hobby to a business her books are a necessary read.  Creating your Ideal Private Practice is like therapy for the therapist but also has a lot of information about business stuff that you need to know.  She has a monthly newsletter and does teleclasses that are priced pretty reasonably.  If you are stuck in how you thought a private practice was suppose to be run (i.e insurance companies, individual sessions, reduced fee scales, etc) I would highly recommend reading her book.

DO YOU KNOW OF A GREAT RESOURCE?
I would love to hear about it and share it on my website, please sign up for my Business Resource Group form below and let me know.

Business Resource Group Sign-up 
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* Although I personally use all of these, or would not recommend them.  If I receive compensation as part of an Affiliate Program I have marked it with an *.  All proceeds from Affliate Programs go to fund free or reduced-fee EFT groups or individual sessions.