Willie Jolley, courtesy of the author

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, President Obama declared keeping the “American Dream” alive to be “the defining issue of our time.” At a time when a large percentage of the working population finds itself questioning whether if it will ever recoup the lost income, property, earning potential and savings lost in the aftermath of the greatest recession of that last 75 years, I talked with one man who says we need to create our own opportunities and stop waiting for  our ships to come in.

Don’t just look for a job; make a job! Financial success is linked to thought, so get creative. – Willie Jolley

Willie Jolley, host of the Sirius XM talk show, The Willie Jolley Wealthy Ways Radio Show and author of Turn Setbacks into Greenbacks (Wiley, Hardcover, 2010) has been dubbed “America’s Comback King” by Success Magazine.  I asked Willie to share his formula for jumpstarting the American Dream.  Warning: His irrepressible positive outlook is infectious.

Cindy Ratzlaff: I’m noticing a lot of fear in the entrepreneurial world. Financing is tight, spending is weak and people are saying this isn’t a good time to start a new business. How can we keep the American Dream alive in that kind of climate?

Willie Jolley: People are still spending money on things that provide value and that make them feel good.  Movie tickets are at an all time high, but people are still going to the movies because they make them feel better. Apple just released their earnings statements for 2011 and they had a banner year. People are buying ipads and Macs because they provide value and they make them feel good. Warren Buffet said that tough times are the greatest times to start a new business and I agree.  There are two kinds of animals in the dessert; vultures and humming birds. Vultures focus on dead things and hummingbirds focus on life. Focus on it and you’ll find it.

Cindy Ratzlaff: The press has talked about the “uncounted underemployed,” those people who have simply given up looking because they can’t find a job that pays what they are used to earning and they just can’t let themselves take a job that’s beneath their previous positions for fear of stepping down the ladder permanently. If we stop progressing in our earning potential, how can we continue to uphold that American dream?

Willie Jolley: Don’t let your pride poison your prosperity. Stop trying to put up a façade of success and get real.  Any work that is moral and legal is honorable. I knew a man who built an IT firm from the ground up. He had 600 of the brightest IT employees and he was doing great. But hard times hit and he had a choice to make. So he took the money he paid himself as CEO and he paid his employees salaries to keep the company going with the talent it needed.  He worked a full day at his own business and at night he drove a trash truck.  And he kept those employees and because of that he kept that company afloat and later sold it for $600 million.  Here’s what you have to remember.  It’s not personal.  It’s not permanent.  Get over it and do what you need to do.  Don’t just think about today or tomorrow.  Think about the tomorrows down the road and get over it.  Do what has to be done.

Cindy Ratzlaff: Close friends and family might logically tell you that this is not a good time to start a new business. What do you say to people with a vision and a dream but no idea how to make it happen?

Willie Jolley: Stop commiserating!  People who sit around and commiserate are the people who would rather complain about problems than do anything to fix them.  Stay away from negative people.  Sometimes those people are right in your inner circle. Read and listen to something positive every day. The news will tell you the economy is down, gas is up, terrorism is here.  It’s all doom and gloom. Turn it off.  Surround yourself with people who believe in your dreams and turn the rest off.

Cindy Ratzlaff: If you could give one last piece of advice to a new business owner or entreprenueur what would that be?

Willie Jolley: Stop waiting for your ship to come in.  Financial success is a choice you must make happen, not a chance that you sit around and wait for.  There’s nothing stopping you. People have lots of excuses like “I only have a GED.” I say so what. Lots of people only have their GED’s. That can’t stop you from success. They say, “I have an idea but all my friends and family think it’s crazy.” I say “stop talking to them about your idea. Talk to people who share your vision and encourage you.” People have “possibility blindness.” If you spend all your time talking about your goals with them, all you’ll get is discouragement. Don’t just go through tough times. Grow through them. Take control of your ideas and dream.  Think like the CEO of Y.O.U.  Figure out how what you know can fill a need for others. And get yourself into the right frame of mind to believe you can succeed.

Have you started a new business during a down economy?  I’d love to hear your experiences, lessons learned and ideas for beating the odds as an entrepreneur in a down market.

This is the ideal time for entrepreneurs to give themselves a few gifts to start the new fiscal year off right.

Change Your Passwords

Make a new end of year ritual.  Change your passwords.  As a small business or entrepreneur, you’ve no doubt shared your password with designers, virtual assistants, and others during 2011.  Changing your passwords sets up an automatic review of everyone who has access to your accounts.  This can momentarily disrupt the flow of work as you review and reassign passwords and access to trusted contacts, but this is an essential end of year security practice.  Adopt industry best practices for secure passwords by using a combination of capital and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.  Make sure your new password is at least 10 characters long.  Afraid you won’t remember your new passwords.  Store all your online passwords in a safe, secure site that only you can access, from wherever you are. Roboform is a terrific online resource for securing storing your passwords for easy access (by you only).  This is safer than writing them down and carrying them around with you or entering them into your mobile device.  Theft or loss could be a nightmare for your online security.

Training

Entrepreneurs and business owners need to honestly assess where the weaknesses in their knowledge base exist, seek training programs to resolve those weaknesses and then look for challenge or stretch goals for themselves and their teams.  Training in new technologies, general knowledge base upgrades and software training do not need to be expensive or time consuming.  Many trainings are served up via webinars you can view and absorb on your own schedule.  Some reasonably priced trainings that I can recommend include:

Publicity and promotional training from Ragan Communications online, on-demand courses are priced well and consistently deliver excellent resources and training.

Small Business Summit 2012 is a program run by Michael Stelzner, founder of the Social Media Examiner.  His strategy of bringing together multiple top industry resources to cover a wide range of topics and giving entrepreneurs the option of viewing the webinar material live or later on-demand is great.  This year they’ll be covering trends, copywriting, Facebook marketing, LinkedIn, Google+ and much more. I also the fact that Michael allows people to try before they buy and offers a free class to showcase the program.

BookExpo America Webinars are specifically targeted to authors, publishers, booksellers, agents and others in the book publishing industry, however, the information aimed at this audience is particularly valid for entrepreneurs, who are often solo business owners, much like an author.  At just $25 a class, these are a bargain.  NOTE: I am speaking at the next webinar on using Facebook for Business.  I do not receive any compensation for the webinar, nor for telling you about it.

Concept Inventory

Businesses and entrepreneurs need to be thinking about new products or services to add to their offerings, as well as deleting any products or services suffering from fatigue or obsolescence. Now is the time to take an inventory of your intellectual property offerings such as coaching programs, how-to books or trainings, speeches, proprietary software, apps and other products to make sure they’re up to date. For example, if you teach people how to use Facebook and haven’t including training about the new Facebook Timeline, pull that product off the shelf and update it so future customers aren’t disappointed.

What gifts will you be giving yourself and your business this year?  I’d love to hear from you.

Show clients you’re a great resource for new information with the gifts you give.

Here are a few gift suggestions that any client will appreciate.

The Gift of Time: A handwritten note, delivered through the mail, thanking the client for his or her business and offering an hour of your time in 2012 gratis is a great gift and one you already know your client wants and needs.

The Gift of Analytics: Give your client a year of deep, rich analytics for their Facebook Fan page from PageLever. For just $34, you can give them an app that will provide insights to guide their marketing efforts for the coming year and position yourself as a forward thinking, socially savvy gift giver.

The Gift of Apps: Be the source of business solutions for your client by recommending your favorite apps and giving them an app store gift card.  Turn them on to the file sharing app, DropBox or TurboScan with an Apple app store gift card. For Android users, the app store on Amazon offers gift cards and apps like Read it Later Pro, an app that lets you save webpages to read offline at your leisure.  Increase their productivity, encourage them to use their mobile device in new ways and share your favorite time saving or just plain fun apps.

Are you giving gifts to business clients this holiday season? I’d love to hear your ideas.

For free or low cost marketing tips, look to the BIG players.

The answer, of course, depends on your product, your business goals and the bandwidth of your human resources.  However, there are some no brainer’s in the small business toolkit I highly recommend adding in 2012.

1. E-mail management system: The big guys work hard to capture your e-mail during any online interaction with you. They’ll reward you, entice you, invite you and engage you, all in an effort to obtain your permission to send you future communications about their products and services via e-mail.  E-mail is cheaper than advertising, direct mail, live events and nearly every other consumer facing promotion, and your small business or brand should be following the example of industry leaders. Set up an opt in form on your website, your Facebook fan page and include the URL for that opt in page on all printed collateral customers see.  Even if you don’t yet know how you’ll use those names and e-mail addresses, start capturing them. Even if you don’t currently have a product or service to offer, start capturing them. Your “tribe” follows you because they’re interested in what you say, teach, offer or share. An e-mail database will help you deepen that relationship, share more, find out what your tribe needs and either create it for them or find a product from someone else to recommend to them. As that famous brand says, “Just Do it.”
2. Segment the List: You heard “the money is in the list?”  They’re not wrong. Your most valuable customer or client is one that has already purchased your product or service and is happy. Set up your e-mail database management system to allow you to see, at a glance, where any customer joined you.  With e-mail database management systems like AWeber, MailChimp and others, you can easily set up multiple lists to reflect their point of entry into your brand, be it Facebook, a live event, a newsletter or an advertisement.
3. Test the Opt in Offer: Experiment with different offers to see which one resonates with your customers.  Do they want discounts on your products? Are they motivated by free content? Do they take action when you make yourself available to them personally? Use your current customers as a marketing research test group?  Test your offers one at a time and see which one(s) motivate people to sign up for your list.
4. Internet Commercials: This is a fancy way to say add video to your marketing toolkit. You can create video without spending a dime. Demonstrate something and capture it in video form using the built in software on your computer. With Apple’s Keynote, you can capture your presentations and upload them to YouTube and embed the video to your website. For a relatively modest investment, you can install Camtasia or ScreenFlow and easily create video demonstrations of your activities online.  You can upload still photos and add text and create a professional looking 30 second spot using Animoto, all for free or you can purchase a pro account with much more flexibility for a just $249.  Money or lack of experience is no longer a stumbling block for using video in your marketing. Your video commerical is only limited by your imagination.
5. Google Analytics Account: You simply must know which of your marketing activities, launches and product offerings are driving interest. A Google Analytics account will tell you the number of hits your website is getting, how long people are staying on your site, which pages they are viewing, where they’re coming from (key information), where they are located and a variety of other information. This is a free tool and a must use for all small businesses and entrepreneurs.
6. Social Communications Platform: Use asocial media platforms to amplify your message. A very wide variety of free broadcasting and communications platforms are available and easy to use.  Try Tumblr, Facebook fan pages, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress, Blogger to name a few. Find the one(s) that fit your personal brand personality, ease of use and most importantly, make sure that the ones you choose are used by the audience you want to attract.
7. Facebook ads: There is no budget too small to use Facebook ads. I have clients who are budgeting as little as $20.00 a day and paying an average of $0.07 per click.  Some are paying about $0.75 per click and spending $50.00 to $100.00 per campaign. The price per click and the final costs depend on the keywords and competition for those words on Facebook during a given time period. You can set a daily or a lifetime budget and turn ads on or pause them. Facebook gives you the ability to micromanage your budget and to drill down to a very specific customer, when choosing who will see your ads. You can direct the end user to your Facebook fan page, to a specific tab with a specific offer or you can direct people who click to an outside website with a special offer.  Facebook ads are one of the most inexpensive advertising options available to small business owners.

Make 2012 the year that your small business or personal brand tries at least one of the success strategies used by big, successful businesses like Target special offers to Facebook fans, Lexus internet commercials, Amazon’s new product launches and Wal-Mart daily deals. If you’ve used one of these strategies and have a success story to tell, we’d love to hear about it. We also invite you to leave your company URL in the comment section below if you have an example you’d like to share.

Clearly seeing our mistakes is as important to business growth as celebrating our successes.

1. Unemployment: I didn’t file for unemployment right away. Shock over being downsized and my “fight or flight” instincts kicking in caused me to accept a series of freelance consulting jobs before I’d done my homework. My state was offering a job transition program for newly downsized executives who wanted to start their own businesses that would have allowed me to collect unemployment for a period of time while I set up my new company and even while I got on my feet with my first few clients. But because I didn’t consult with unemployment, I missed the window for this program and wasn’t able to avail myself of that financial cushion. The first year was very hard financially and if there are any programs in your state, they are worth checking out. Call your local unemployment office or check with the Small Business Association to see if there are programs that can help you with start up costs.
2. Legal Advice: Deciding whether to become an LLC, an S-Corp or simply to be a single person consultancy are all decisions that have tax implications. Consult both a lawyer and an accountant so you can make an informed decision. In the early days of starting my business, I asked everyone BUT those professionals for advice and ended up starting as an LLC, transferring two years later to an S-Corp, filing to change the name of my corporation and dissolving a smaller, second LLC I created. The chaos, extra money and tax challenges I created for myself all came from not being clear about my business end game and from not spending the money, upfront, on professional advice.
3. Accounting: Keeping the books for a business is different than balancing your checkbook. If you’re good with details and filing and your new business is straightforward, you can use accounting software. However, if tax law and deductions are not your area of expertise, I highly recommend forming a close business association with a good accountant. First, because you’re life and business will run more smoothly. Secondly, because you should be focusing on creating and promotion and selling your products or services and not on managing your finances. I did not do this in my early business years. Instead I filed for tax extensions, kept my receipts in a box and worried, every single day about when I’d find the time to get my financial house in order. In addition to the stress of bookkeeping, I wasn’t able to professionally forcast cash flow, expenses and business growth; all important metrics for taking a business from an expensive hobby to a fully functional corporation.
4. Board of Advisors: This is a trick I finally learned from a great mentor. Instead of asking every person you meet how they manage their business, gather together an elite group of highly successful business people you admire and who each have the experience and business gifts you need to succeed. Ask them to serve on your Board of Advisors. Hold monthly or quarterly meetings and present your state of the business address to them. Share your goals, challenges and needs. Ask for, and listen to, their sage advice. I finally started doing this and my business is growing exponentially based on my willingness to head the advice I sought from those who are further down the entrepreneurial road than I am.
5. Forecast: In any corporation, forecasting for the next 1-5 years is an annual exercise. It needs to be in your small business as well. Taking an honest, unvarnished look at where you are, where you want to be, what’s working, what’s not, evaluating your products and pricing and making tough decisions is the only way to take your business from here to there. I did not do this in year one because I felt I was “dancing as fast as I can.” Therefore, year two was slow and a struggle. I had not projected for or made a plan to acquire new business and when current client’s jobs were complete, I was in a very slow and very scary place. Do not do this. Spend a percentage of your time planning new products, prospecting for new clients, promoting your business brand and expanding your circle of influence and your business offerings.

So there’s my humiliating story of being downsized, panicking, making a lot of mistakes and learning valuable entrepreneurial lessons. Ultimately, I persevered and my business survived and is thriving. I suspect I’ll make more mistakes along the way and I promise I’ll share those with you here.

I’d love to hear about your entrepreneurial journey. When we share our stories, we support the entrepreneurial community at large and that’s good for all of us. Is there one piece of advice you’d give to new business owners? Please share it here or on my Facebook wall and let’s see how we can help one another celebrate more business anniversaries.

Time is our most valuable asset as business owners.

Karmen Reed of Kick Off Topic

My password manager: I use Roboform. This awesome tool is not just a security peace of mind, but also a time saving “must have” tool. Roboform manages all your digital, online passwords and you have to remember only one master code, that you set yourself, to access any site or tool on your computer requiring a password. It can be synced between your multiple computers, and Firefox as well as Chrome extensions allow for super easy access. Extra points — Roboform is available on your iPhone as an app too.

Lisa McKenzie* of Red Carpet Strategies

Once a month I religiously use ManageFlitter to ensure that I am connecting with my ideal community and audience on Twitter.  ManageFlitter allows me to quickly delete spam and inactive accounts leaving my Twitter steam filled with people I want to stay connected with and tweets I want to read. The “drag” feature across profile avatars is my favorite for quick deletes.

Gail Doby of Design Success U

Google Docs is our baseline tool for communicating with our global team.  We are able to maintain a central filing system in the cloud, which is extremely helpful with a team working on projects at different times of the day or night.

Mary Lengle of Madison and Company

I help clients tell their stories through video and I’m able to meet with people via SKYPE to go over our scripts, shot lists and overall video strategies.  I use it on my iphone, ipad, desktop and laptop. It’s a great communication tool and time saver.

Nancy Leyes Myrland of Myrland Marketing

I set up search columns in TweetDeck, (or whatever Twitter management tool you are using) for the exact title of my three most recent blog posts, then watch those columns periodically throughout the day to find and thank those who are sharing my blog posts. Your Twitter name isn’t always included when people share your post, so this helps you catch them so you don’t miss the opportunity to nurture a relationship by thanking someone for their kindness. This also saves times because you don’t have to check different sources to find these shares of your blog posts.

Keri Francek Jaehnig of Idea Girl Media

My time-saving tip and everyday lifesaver is Workflowy.  It’s up on my computer all day long.  I use it to organize note, tasks and collaborate with clients and colleagues through the select sharing feature.

Holly Kolman of Mobile Site Store

Dropbox is a tool you can use on your computer or internet-ready phone. I have sent enormous files like audio and video files, and when I give my clients password access, they can access them at any time. It’s very convenient and makes it a lot easier to keep track of files than email.

Doug McIsaac of CBS Television affiliate, KTVQ

Use a mind mapping tool like Mindomo when you are planning projects

If you have tools, techniques and tips to share with entrepreneurs and small business people, please share them here and we’ll take a look.

*Full disclosure.  I am also a partner in Red Carpet Strategies.

Shifting your thinking from how to rank to what to rank for can be a valuable exercise in creating a solid digital marketing strategy.

Five Simple Steps for Determining Video Content

1. Content Tools: Use the Google Keyword Search Tool to find out how clients and website visitors are currently landing on your site.  While this tool allows you to search keywords and find out how many people are searching for those terms, you can also enter your own professional website URL in the “Find Keywords” feature at the top of the page and Google will show you the keywords others have entered before your site was recommended to them.

2.  Research Technique: Using a spreadsheet or a word doc, keep track of the phrases or keywords that have local monthly searches of 2,000 or more and where the competition for those searches is medium or low.  The reason for staying away from high volume, high competition words is that an entrepreneur or small business will most likely not have the financial resources to rank highly in these areas during their building phase. But if you were to rank on the first page of Google for a relevant keyword with lower competition and convert some of those searches into clients or buyers, without advertising, activities that caused this would be worth the investment of your time, right?

3.  What to Search: I searched my own website URL and found that 18,100 monthly searches are being entered for the phrase “Tools for Twitter,” and Google tells me that the competition for this is “low.”  Now Twitter marketing and Twitter Tools are right in my business sweet spot.  I lecture on Twitter Tools and write about them often.  So I will put “Tools for Twitter” onto my list of videos I may want to create for my website and my YouTube Channel.

4.  How To Interpret the Results: Next, click on the link within the Google Keyword Tool and Google will show you a search page with the number of entries for that term in gray at the top of the page.  In this test case, “Tools for Twitter” has 1,560,000 results.  That’s a heck of a lot of competition for me to go up against in landing on the first page of searches for this term.  But I’m considering using video to demonstrate my expertise in this area, so now, I’ll go to the left hand side of the Google results page for this search and click videos.  Instantly, I see that the competition for this term in videos is significantly less, 180,000, but still steep.

5.  Claiming Your Spot on Top: Next, I’ll scroll down the page and see the dates when each of the ranking videos on the first two pages were created.  I can see that for this term, not all the ranking content is fresh.  This encourages me and I’ll place this “Tools for Twitter” title on my To Create list for videos.  I may create several and roll them out as a series.  Google values fresh or new content above other content and so I have a better chance of ranking for this phrase because not all of the content on page one or two of Google (for this phrase) is new.

That’s it.  I’ve used this strategy to rank on page one for many terms including a video I created for parents about “Facebook and Kids” where I rank in the #1 spot for this phrase.

I’d love to hear about your searches and the titles of videos that you’ll create.  Please share your findings and I’ll be glad to watch your videos and comment, which can also help ranking.  Remember to always give viewers a clear call to action, which may simply be “Please let me know what you thought of this video.”

If you don’t know your Klout score yet, you’d be wise to find out. As more agency heads, marketing VP’s, celebrity publicists and advertisers look for an edge in creating buzz about their clients and products, they’re increasingly seeking some metric to effectively measure an influencers, well, influence.

Your Klout Score is part of your personal brand.

For more than a year, the socially savvy have been aware of Klout-based invitations to special parties at big conferences such as BlogWorld, and advance previews for movies and new products.

This week both Will Ferrell’s FunnyOrDie video website and Mile 81 (Scribner, $2.99/eBook), Stephen King’s new eBook-only launch partnered with web influence researcher, Klout.com to identify and reach out to influential social media users as a key component in their marketing push.

Scribner, an imprint of the New York City based parent company Simon & Schuster, teamed up with Klout.com, a privately held San Francisco firm that measures social influence and assigns an index, to choose 1,000 highly influential users to preview New York Times bestselling author Stephen King’s new original short story, which is being released in e-book form only. The lucky 1,000 are being offered free access to the book one week before it goes on sale to the general public.

As agency executives, marketing V.P.’s and celebrity publicists look for an edge in reaching the social influential, Klout.com provides an aggregated measurement score that includes, among other things, a person’s reach, influence, audience and areas of influence.

Klout declined to provide an actual minimum score for the 1,000 socially savvy influencers chosen to preview Mile 81, saying they target a combination of score and topics on which a person is considered influential. A representative from Scribner was unavailable for comment at press time.  Rob Goodman, Director of Online Marketing for Simon & Schuster, Inc., was responsible for putting together the deal with Klout.com.

The successful entrepreneur will research, test, price and market according to the results of his or her testing or will go straight to market on a concept that has little or no developmental costs.  For example, a business coach who already has a program that he or she does one on one with clients could easily take the program to webinars without much testing by recording it using any number of programs such as Keynote for Mac, Camtasia or ScreenFlow to name a few.

If the entrepreneur has a product or service that delivers value, has identified the likely end user or client and is ready to test the waters, pricing strategies now come into play.

The number one question I get from entrepreneurs is “what should I charge?”

I can’t tell you what to charge for your product or service.  That depends on your niche market, the product or service itself, perceived value, quality of delivery, what your competitors charge and many other variables.  What I can share with you is that most marketing professionals see a significant drop off in opt-ins or purchases when a consumer is given too many choices.  In other words, make your offer simple and increase the chances of consumers taking immediate action and purchasing your product.

There’s a theory that offering more than three choices to people decreases the likelihood of purchase. They become overwhelmed, feel confused and in some cases, suspect that they’ll make the wrong choice and not get the best deal.  Here’s the pricing formula I see most often in researching internet marketing guru sites.  We’ll use consulting services for our example.

The A, B, and C Concept for Consultants

Package A:  This package offers people the chance to consult with you for your highest hourly rate and for the lowest commitment.  For example:  Two sixty-minute calls per month for $500 with a one month commitment required.   In the Package A scenario, people can commit to just one month and pay you $500 to “sample” your services and if your consulting proves valuable, you can convert them to a longer term package.  In this scenario, it’s essential that the consultant bring their A game to Package A, and deliver such value and solution based advice that the client can’t image themselves without your assistance going forward.  In our example, Package A works out to $250 per hour for a total client commitment of $500.

Package B:  This package offers the best value and is the one you really want people to choose because you know that you can make a bigger difference in your client’s business or life if you have more time to do so.  So you make it significantly more desirable financially to choose Package B, BUT you require the client to commit to a longer package and thus a larger financial investment.   For example:  Two sixty-minute calls each month for a three month period would be priced at a discounted $225 per call.  Clients save $25 per hour by committing to a three-month package.  Package B offers the client a total of 6 consultations at $225 each for contractual agreement of $1,350 and a savings of $150 over your standard hourly consulting fee.

Package C:  This package is your high-end offer and requires the longest commitment but gives the highest value.  Here you are rewarding clients who are willing to invest in intensive committed work with you by giving them the steepest discount BUT making them commit to the highest out of pocket cost.  If clients choose this package, they’ll be saving $3,000 over your regularly hourly consulting rate.  This package would offer one 60-minute call per week for a total of three months or 12 calls at $200 for $2,400.

The thinking behind these package strategies is that the clients who choose Package A are exploring.  The clients who choose Package B want to invest in their business but are cautious and careful and want experiential proof that you can deliver what they need.  The clients who choose Package C are ready to move forward in their business, believe you are the one who can help them and want to take advantage of the maximum financial discount you’re offering.

Whatever package they choose, your job there is to over deliver to the point that they feel they truly desire to have more of your time and they’ll contract for more or if their needs have been met, they’ll give you a great reference you can use to attract other clients.

At the end of any Package contract, always ask the client if their needs were met.  If not, work to rectify that.  If so, ask if they will give you a testimonial quote that you can use on your website.  Most people will say yes.  Then you’ll be promoting your services with positive, real life case study quotes.

Nearly every guru or expert mentions consistent engagement as a routine or habit that contributes to online success.

Ever since the publication of  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, people been fascinated with the notion that there are some common traits, habits, rituals or routines that all successful people embrace.  They extrapolate that by adopting these same routines or habits they, too, might be able to tap into their own path to personal and professional success.

In speaking with leaders in a wide variety of fields, I’ve come to realize that this is not entirely true.  The habits or routines followed by leaders are as diverse as are their talents.

Still, a recent Twitter conversation about daily habits and successful business leaders, prompted  me to ask 14 top performers in a wide variety of fields to share one thing they do, every day, they feel has contributed significantly to their success.

Here’s are the lessons I gleaned from what they shared.  The headlines are my interpretation of their routine or habit.

1.  Associate with interesting people

Robert Scoble, Robert Scoble, Blogger, Tech Evangelist and Rackspace Executive

“For years now my main habit is to have a different conversation, every day, with someone who is DOING something interesting!  I’ve kept doing that for years, and recording almost all of them, and that has enriched my life immeasurably (and my career, too). I make sure I always keep my calendar full with at least one conversation with someone different.”

2.   Pay yourself first

Jeremiah Owyang, Industry Analyst, Altimeter Group

“Opening and responding to emails is often the act of paying someone else –instead I ‘pay myself first’ by researching, reading, and writing my thoughts on a blog each morning for about 2 hours before responding to email.”

3.  Make technology serve your needs

Ben Parr, Editor-At Large at Mashable

“I have a private wiki that I use to organize my entire life. It has a list of what I want to accomplish, my personal philosophies, important links and even my bucket list.”

4.  Clear your head and keep your energy high

Loic Le Meur, founder of Seesmic.com and LeWeb.net Conference.

“I run nearly every day. That makes me relax and take some distance about daily projects. While many think it’s tiring, when you get into it you actually feel an incredible energy kick for the entire day if you run in the morning. It makes me feel happy and nice to my coworkers and makes me forget about annoying things I would otherwise have a tendency to focus on.  Otherwise, I could not understand technology the way I do if TechMeme wasn’t there.”

5.  Eat your own dog food.

Laura Fitton, CEO/Founder Oneforty.com and co-author of Twitter for @Dummies

“I actually ‘eat my own dog food!’ Every day I use SocialBase (our social media productivity management software) to stay on top of my social media presence. It lets me easily track tasks and bookmark the tools and platforms that I need to keep updated every day. It reminds me of my daily, weekly & monthly recurring tasks, and gives me a jumping off point to execute them in one single spot.”

6.  Flex your spiritual muscle

Michael Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com and author of Launch

“I pray! I thank God for working through me, pray for inspiration and ask for encouragement during the difficult moments. The Lord has always taken care of me.  This is something I do in my car just before I walk on into the office.”

7.  Practice what you teach

Mari Smith, Facebook, Social Media & Relationship Marketing Specialist, Author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day

“Every day, I personally respond to as many messages as I can, whether by email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I do my best to make time to thank and acknowledge people. As Sir Richard Branson says, “lavish praise on people.” I agree wholeheartedly. People love to be heard and I pride myself on being inclusive and treating others as equals. At the end of each day, I can sleep peacefully knowing I’ve reached out and connected with as many people as possible and it ultimately all helps to build social equity.”

8.  Keep an inquisitive mind

Rieva Lesonsky, CEO GrowBiz Media

“One of the keys to my success, is I “explore” every day. I check Twitter, read the newsletters I subscribe to, go to my favorite websites. There’s so much information out there which can inspire or inform something I’m working on.  As busy as I may be, I make sure to do this every day.”

9. Replenish your resources

Gretchen Rubin, author of New York Times bestseller, The Happiness Project

“My habit: Getting enough sleep. Research makes it clear that sleep has an enormous influence on our mood, health, energy, athletic performance — lack of sleep may even contribute to weight gain! The top two reasons for people to be in bad moods at work? Tight work deadlines and lack of sleep. As a writer, my mental acuity and energy are critically important. I see a huge difference in my analytical capacity, my creativity, and my productivity based on how wide-awake I feel. It’s hard to turn out the light before I finish that chapter or answer one last email, but now I’m zealous about getting enough sleep.”

10.  Plan for success

David Zinczenko, Editor in Chief, Men’s Health

“I get in before the rest of my staff almost every day. It’s the only time that I can concentrate on writing, editing, and other close work. Once the team is here, it’s all about meeting and managing. I’m a nutrition guy, so I stock my office with healthy snacks and drinks like almonds, trail mix, dried fruit and coconut water. It keeps my energy up, and I don’t need to waste time running out to look for something to eat. And, I go to the gym almost every day at lunchtime, and read through emails on a stationary bike. It makes the second half of my day much more energetic, and I take less time—and get more done—during a workout than during most business lunches.”

11.  Trust your intuition

Maria Andros, The Video Marketing Queen, creator of The Social Media Traffic Blueprint and The Video Conversion Formula.

“I think that the biggest key to my success has always been strengthening my intuition on a daily basis. I download ideas and get inspiration for the content of all my programs much like an artist does. Often it’s very easy to let our analytical minds take over and keep us stuck. I feel that the more we are in tune with our inner guidance, the more we can make the right decisions to move our businesses forward. For example before I partner with anyone, or create a new product, I listen, for if it’s a hell YES or not. If not, I do not proceed, as that will only have a impact down the road. I have learned the hard way in the past.  I practice listening to my inner voice and my gut and it’s almost always accurate. I highly recommend building this muscle as it can make a great difference in your results.  I think that some of the most successful people in business are very in tune with their intuition and this helps them to stay on track and moving forward.”

12.  Banish the naysayers

Kathy Kinney, Actress and Author and literacy advocate

“I get out of my own way. ”

13.  Find your creative zone

Wally Lamb, #1 New York Times bestselling author of She’s Come Undone, and I know this Much is True

“Since I began writing fiction 30 years ago, I have always found the shower to be a place where my creativity is unleashed. I hit the ‘rain room’ each morning before I hit the button on the computer. The earlier the better–5:00 a.m., if possible.”

14.  Create space to think

Peggy Rajski, Academy Award Winning Director Of Trevor and co-founder of The Trevor Project

The daily habit that contributes to my success is morning meditation.  I’ve done it for over 20 years.  I usually sit for 20 minutes or more, but honestly, even 5 minutes does the trick.  I feel more resilient, ready to take on the challenges of the day, and less likely to experience ‘I think I’m going to kill you if you don’t do what I want’ versus ‘I think this is kind of funny that I can’t get what I want.’ But more often than not, I do get what I want–or understand that what I’m getting is what I need regardless of what I think I want.

15.  Cindy Ratzlaff, Author, Speaker, Consultant

It’s only fair that I share mine as well.  I set a success goal every morning, for that day.  I write it on a white board in my office and when I find myself being pulled off track, I ask myself “will this action serve today’s goal?”  If not, I set it aside until I’ve accomplished the daily goal.

Are there habits or routines you can incorporate in your own life to achieve a higher level of business success?  Please share and let’s see if we can enrich one another’s daily practices toward higher levels of achievement.