Strategies and Tactics for Women by Dr. Shannon Reece

1. 90 Review

Shannon, I have to thank you for planting this idea in my head (and No, I’m not trying to butter you up!). During our coaching sessions, you challenged me to come up with a business plan for 2012. What I decided to do was use the 4th quarter as a testing/starting ground for 2012. I gave myself certain goals; then, I started keeping a DAILY log on my activities. I didn’t cheat; if I did not reach a goal for the week, I didn’t fudge the numbers. I stayed honest!

Understand this: I don’t like doing this type of activity. But, the value in doing it was there and I want a really successful 2012. What I will now be able to do after December is look and see what I did right/wrong. What I need to stop doing. What I need to do more of.

I have a feeling it will show some VALUE!!

Thanks to Randy Morrow of Keller Williams Realty–Divorce Specialist

2. Best Bucket List!

Teach My will be ringing in the New Year with a new and improved bucket list of potential retailers! Over the last few months, with lots of brainstorming, we have finely tuned a list of retailers that we will approach in 2012. With a combination of LinkedIn, emails and phone calls, we will introduce Teach My products to new retailers as well as remind old retailers of our new products. 2012 is all about selling and taking the business to the next level, in terms of volume and awareness!

Thanks to Christy Cook of Teach My

3. Becoming A Rich Wordsmith

In 2011, I spent a lot of time blending my blog goals with my voice; although writing about photography and blogging isn’t an original idea, my blogs are now unique to me. In 2012, I plan to continue growing my blogging business by incorporating Market Samurai in my keyword research, choosing a blog topic that will grow quickly and has boundless opportunities for monetization. It’s an exciting prospect, because I’ve gone from viewing my blogs as an online journal, to a business, and now I’m being proactive in the topics I discuss – doing the research first this holiday season will give me the head start that I need in 2012. Continuing this trend in 2012 will ensure that I continue to grow as a blogger and a business woman.

Thanks to Kimberly Gauthier of A Novice With Moxie

4. Make The Time For A Little Self-Love

Like a good marketer, I have always devoted a great deal of my energy to my clients. I have strived to make them more famous on and offline. And despite these successes, I’ve overlooked self-love in two ways. I do not market myself *enough* online, and I owe it to my business to do more of that. I also do not give myself self-love or “rewards” for working as hard as I do. I’ve often said to friends that I’m so lucky to be self-employed because I could jet off to the salon in the middle of the day for a mani-pedi. However, that’s something I haven’t done because I’m simply too busy. Bottom line? We all need to MAKE TIME for ourselves in 2012.

Thanks to Liz Theresa of Liz Theresa, Internet Marketing Strategist

5. 2012 Beach Launch

I’ve always embraced the immense impact that the beach (particularly in Montauk, New York and Borhaug, Norway) have on my ability to obtain clarity in goals, direction, and passion. The ocean tides change, keeping some of the old and creating a new path for the water on the beach. The single best way to orchestrate a Happy New Year will be for us to have a “2012 Beach Launch”– a time to ring in the new year with reflection, a willingness to keep some of the old, but the acceptance and clarity of the new path that 2012 will bring. This pruning act — very well-articulated in Dr. Henry Cloud’s book “Necessary Endings,” is something that we will now embrace on a yearly basis so that we never lose sight of how to evolve iMADdu to continually empower the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Thanks to Mona Anita Olsen of iMADdu (I make a difference, do you?)

6. A Year’s Worth Of Editorial Calendars

Marketing is all about getting the right messages out at the right time. I’ve built out my entire editorial calendar for my main projects (and a few client projects) for 2012 already. I’ll be able to work ahead on the content that goes with new products, as well as have a driving force to actually keep to my production schedule — if the content is already down and scheduled to go up on the blog, social media accounts and so on, I don’t want to disappoint readers with not having something ready for them to look at!

Thanks to Thursday Bram of Hyper Modern Consulting

7. Breathe! 20 Deep Breaths A Day!

My business plan has many exciting components – doing lots of individual and group coaching with busy moms, speaking engagements, interviews, book signings, etc. All of this is important and makes me want to jump for joy! But, the single most important part of my plan is to slow down and breathe every day. I know that when I have lots on my plate, I start moving from one thing to the next in an intense way that leaves little room for space, perspective and ease. This year, I plan to breathe at least 20 deep, delicious, and conscious breaths a day to help me slow down and live the vivid and extraordinary life I’m planning for 2012. Join me this year in taking 20 deep breaths a day. Let’s see what all those nourishing breaths help us create!

Thanks to Julie Zeff of Vivid Living

8. My “Live” EZine

I’m most excited to be rolling out my StreamZine in the new year! I’m going to be taking one of my two ezine issues per month into a live-video format, via Livestream. This is going to give me a chance to do more teaching for free, answer questions with my clients directly, and to experiment with some cool, cutting-edge technology. You can sign up on my website if you’d like to come join in!

Thanks to Erin Ferree of BrandStyle Design

9. Give Yourself The Tall Sell

A mentor of mine told me I had to start saying no. I had to say no to the clients that did not help move me closer to my goals. It is easy to want to meet the needs of right now, but that does not necessarily move you closer to your big picture. Always be working towards your big picture. You might not realize it but sometimes selling yourself short can be hindering your big picture growth. So this year will be about selling myself tall!

Thanks to Lauren MacEwen of SM Cubed Consulting

10. Consistent Marketing

I did well with my marketing plan in 2011, I established my brand, I built my company, and I managed to get media coverage for my business. I will continue to be consistent in my marketing strategies in 2012. After getting Derrick M. Guest, CEO in a major daily newspaper in 2012 for over a month, getting high visibility for the business and establishing him as a marketing expert for our business. I feel if I continue to follow the plan, stay consistent in my marketing efforts we will have continued success in 2012. As a blog contributor myself, I have established myself as the social media expert in 2011 and will continue to contribute to blogs in 2012. If it’s not broke, don’t reinvent the wheel.

Thanks to Eula M. Young, COO of Griot’s Roll Film Production & Services Inc.

11. Facebook Fabulous!

I’ve gotten a lot of mileage from Facebook for my husband’s and my travel planning service, but I wouldn’t describe it as phenomenal. So I wasn’t in a big hurry to jump onto Facebook with my “Getting over Overwhelm” mentoring business because I wanted to practice what I preach and not overwhelm myself with yet another social medium to manage. Then, one of the members of a mastermind group that I belong to achieved phenomenal growth in her business by using Facebook. All the members of the group have watched her message “go viral” and her fan base increase from zero to over 11,000 in just a few short months. I am ready to follow in her footsteps and use her blueprint to replicate her success! Long live social proof!

Thanks to Monique Y. Wells of Understanding Time Management

12. More Deals With A Little Help From You

Our plan for the New Year is going to change the way people find bargains on the web. Normally, we handpick and find our own deals and sales that are happening on the web that day. When it comes down to it, finding deals on our own can be a very tedious and time-consuming job. With this new plan, anyone from the public will be able to submit their own deals and people can vote on them to see which deals are best. This will ultimately give people hundreds of new sales to check out.

Thanks to Elik Aaron of SaleRacks

13. Love My List, Win-Win For All!

Creating content such as videos, eBooks, templates, and my eNewsletter to use as a part of my list-building strategy kept getting pushed down the task list in 2011. A small business marketing list is like gold and creates limitless opportunities, so I’m EXCITED to finally implement my list building strategy. The beauty of this marketing approach is that it isn’t one-sided. I’ve spent the last month planning for, and starting to develop, great tips and content for my subscribers. Some will only leverage me as a great resource, while others will seek out my consulting services. Win-win for all! Happy New Year!

Thanks to Brandi Starr of Cassius Blue Consulting

14. Partying Will Get You Everything You Want!

This concept has worked for me and has brought me key characters and players in my business. I go to a one woman show, I find my chemist. i spend an afternoon doing girly things and I find my partner.

The truth is that it is not necessarily a party to begin with. It’s just I bring the party to whatever I do as in relaxing, humor with intent. Playfulness will attract, playfulness will prosper and it will create love. Intent allows for a structure of possibility.

So I will now be conducting playfulness consulting and create a membership for women to join and spread the joy, confidence and beauty of leading a life of a contemporary queen of entrepreneurship!

Partying for a living in that Little Black Dress!

Thanks to Beverly Dombroski of BeverlyD Luxe Organic Hair

15. So Many More Giveaways!

Since inception, we’ve been planning this idea, but now things are finally coming together. We currently run one mega-prize giveaway at a time. For this year, we are going to have multiple giveaways going on simultaneously with many different sponsors/clients. This is a win-win situation for everyone. We get more people checking out our website. The companies that are going to become sponsors get great social media lift and buzz—and the public gets a ton of amazing items given away for free! We’ve experimented with two contests already once this year and it was awesome!

Thanks to I. Aronovich of Awardable

16. A Little Help From Some Reputable Brokers

In 2012, we are going to make a significant change to our website. Instead of us generating and listing all of the great foreclosures on our page, we are going to design a platform where brokers from all over the country can post foreclosures and links to their own pages through ForeclosureMagic. Now, the public will have thousands of new foreclosures, which will be in addition to the ones that we will be listing.

Thanks to Eli Israel of Foreclosure Magic