Great article, Nicole, and I think you pointed out something very important with your Lead Nurturing Program Example- that you should keep contact with a prospect for an extended period of time!

People give up way too soon. They're afraid of being a pest. But I always tell my clients when in doubt, err on the side of more contact than less. What the worst thing that can happen? The prospect will ask you to stop contacting them. But more often than not, your continued contact serves as a reminder of your services- and when the right time comes- there you are!

Stacy, I agree that pinning down a target market is a good way to start.

I'd like to add something about deciding which market to pursue. When my clients are just starting out, I always recommend they try to find a specific niche or industry within their market. For example, if you are getting started as a self employed graphic designer, then you have a huge potential market. So many companies need graphic design services! But trying to tackle this entire market would be overwhelming and impractical. So I recommend picking a specific niche within the market, such as the automotive industry. (I usually recommend choosing an industry you either have experience in or you are knowledgeable about.)

Once you've chosen a niche, it's easier to find your prospects. You can pick networking events and find groups to join because now you know where your prospects gather. Once you get a handle on that niche, you can branch out to others.

I have a worksheet from our new book, "The Designer's Guide to Marketing and Pricing" (available for pre-order on Amazon.com) that can help you decide which market to focus on.

The worksheet is called, "Define Your Market" and it's available to anyone who sends an email message to ilise@marketing-mentor.com with "define your market" in the subject line.

Great article, Andrew and I have to agree that a daily plan and checklist are important in making progress towards long term goals. Unless you're organized and keep those long term goals in mind, it's easy to get lost in the daily tasks. I've been hearing this dilemma for years from my Marketing Mentor clients. They are all self-employed, and most find they get off track unless they are extremely organized and proactive. Like you said, they find themselves reacting instead of acting. With all the emergencies and emails coming at them, they weren't giving marketing the attention it deserved. I absolutely agree with you when you said, "Even if you only spend 30 minutes today advancing your goals, you've ADVANCED them." It's all about making some time.

I hope it's not too self promotional, but I wanted to put in a plug for our response to the dilemma: The 2008 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan/Calendar. It was designed specifically with the needs of our the creatively self employed in mind. There are two versions, one for Veterans who already have an established business and want to develop their marketing, and one for Rookies who are just starting out. Both calendars are based around daily, weekly and monthly to-do checklists and incorporate a year-long marketing plan to help grow your business and keep qualified leads in your pipeline.

The daily, weekly and monthly checklists include the basics that should be done every day, week, and month. They also include specific marketing tasks, and a place to fill in additional tasks. It helps you stay organized, and it also helps you track what you've accomplished. The calendars have plenty of space to write in each day, and also room for notes and events, leads and prospects. We think it helps people focus on the big rocks while still making time for the pebbles, sand, and water which are also important to the success of their business. Having a plan and a checklist is a great way to stay focused, and we thought this might be a relevant comment for your article. Thanks! (You can find more info here: http://www.marketing-mentor-store.com.