Motivational Monday - The secret of success - Equestrianism: Six Rules to Success video

Action must come first, and the motivation comes later on

I missed Motivational Monday this week so to make up for it a few words on motivation taken from Dr. David Burns book, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy:

“Your error is your belief that motivation comes first, and then leads to activation and success. But it usually is the other way around; action must come first, and the motivation comes later on.” 

Motivational Monday - The 3 C's: Choice, Chance, Change

The 3 C's in life:

Choice,

Chance,

Change.

You must make the Choice,

To rake the Chance

If you want anything to change.

Are you a clickaholique?

Index finger on mouse, click, clicking and searching all those favourite sites, everyday sometimes more than once a day. In fact everytime you sit in front of the computer screen are you telling yourself you'll just check ------- site / blog before you start on your budding internet business.

Are you telling yourself it's research, just checking what the competition is up to?

Whilst it's perfectly okay to take time out from your business and check into your favourite sites there is a time and a place for everything and if you're "clicking" instead of getting on with your work you are procrastinating, sabotaging your own business success.

Yes it's a good idea to check out the competition but obsessively? Everyday? Procrastination again.

 Do you find yourself sitting down to work for say an hour and instead end up wasting that time clicking through Pinterest/ blogs/ Facebook etc?

Maybe you're a clickaholique. 

How to overcome this (sometimes) destructive behaviour

Well first of all you need to recognize what you are doing and how it's effecting your productivity.

Ask yourself it there are any particular times that you are prone to the mindless clicking, is this work avoidance? (Ans: Yes!)

Recognizing what's going on is half the battle, now you know you have something to combat and the way to do that is to schedule time to work on your business. Time when you simply won't allow yourself to work on anything else but keep it short so you don't overwhelm yourself. Maybe 30 minutes at a time with 10 minute breaks in between. Consider setting a timer to make sure you do it. You'll be amazed at how your productivity increases.

How to create a Facebook fan page for your equestrian / equine business

So you personally are on Facebook but is your equestrian / equine business?

Here’s how to create a Facebook fan page for your equestrian / equine business:

• From your Facebook “Home” tab (the newsfeed page), click “Pages” in the left-hand column.

• At the top right-hand corner of the tab find “+ Create a Page” and click on that button.

• Choose which type of business you have, fill out the information, and there you go you have a Facebook fan page for your equestrian / equine business.

Motivational Monday ~ There is no failure except in no longer trying

   "There is no failure except in no longer trying" Elbert Hubbard

via  My Equestrian World

Google's Keyword Tool to help you find keywords to attract visitors to your equestrian / equine business website

Keywords help to pull traffic from search engines to your website, use them wisely. Currently there's a great Google tool which will help with your choice of keywords Google’s Keyword Tool.
All you have to do is type in a word or phrase and you'll get a page of suggested similar terms or phrases with the number of global monthly searches received for it. The higher the monthly searches, the more popular the word / phrase.

Get support from other equestrian entrepreneurs to help grow your equestrian business

A friend of mine recently allowed her field to be used for a charity horse show. Now this field is in a prominent position at the top of a country lane near a busy road ideal for attracting passing visitors, at the other end of the lane, in the middle of nowhere is a recently opened equestrian centre with a tack shop etc. Its' geographical position means it doesn't stand a hope in hells chance of attracting passing trade, you have to know it's there to find it.

Signs for the charity horse show went up (incidentally they were removed /stolen by persons unknown) and the equestrian centre owner approached the organizer of the show asking her to consider cancelling it as it was a "conflict of interest". She also visited the owner of the field complaining about "conflict of interest" and demanded that she withdraw the use of her field for the event.

Needless to say the horse show went ahead and local equestrians turned up, competed and had a great time.

The equestrian centre owner missed out on a wonderful opportunity to promote her own business:

She could have had a trade stand for the princely sum of £10 (proceeds to charity) to tell a target audience about her facilities.

She could have promoted the horse show to her liveries with their own horses who could easily have hacked down to the show and had a fun day out.

She could have given her pupils the opportunity to compete at the show on her riding school ponies.

She could have competed herself.

She could have worked  with the organizer offering a prize / money off lesson coupons to competitors etc

In fact she could have had loads of people at that show promoting her equestrian centre and tack shop for virtually no financial outlay and if she charged for the use of her ponies in classes she would have made a profit on the event herself.

But no, she had the "If they have, I'll have not" mental attitude and that's just what she ended up with, The moral to this tale

“Most importantly, you need support from other entrepreneurs who are at similar stages as you are, and from others with more experience. The more connected you become with other entrepreneurs, the more normal your quest becomes. You’ll no longer feel crazy or alone, and you’ll realize that we all face obstacles just like you’re facing.” Think Traffic

Image: Copyright My Equestrian World

Advice on advertising your equestrian business from 1885 and it's still true today

The following guide to advertising was written by Thomas Smith in 1885:

• The first time people look at any given ad, they don’t even see it.
• The second time, they don’t notice it.
• The third time, they are aware that it is there.
• The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they’ve seen it somewhere before.
• The fifth time, they actually read the ad.
• The sixth time, they thumb their nose at it.
• The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it.
• The eight time, they start to think ‘Here’s that confounded ad again.’
• The ninth time, they start to wonder if they’re missing out on something.
• The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they’ve tried it.
• The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.
• The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.
• The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value.
• The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.
• The fifteenth time, they start to yearn for it because they can’t afford to buy it.
• The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.
• The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product.
• The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.
• The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.
• The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offering.