Blog - Teresa Capaldo

06
Jan
2017

Do you have what it takes?

categories: Blog, Marketing, Multi-passionate

My mission is to help women build their business on a solid foundation of confidence, clarity and empowerment. Through long range strategic growth not get rich quick schemes.

If you’re a woman in transition or starting your business over this year, consider whether your mentors and influencers really fit you. If they don’t, cut yourself free! The point of being your own boss is to design a business that aligns with who you are and reflects the lifestyle you desire. For every woman that picture will be slightly to dramatically different. Women often fail following someone else’s blueprint and expecting the same results. It just doesn’t work like that and if anyone tells you it does, they’re lying!

I work with moms and women transitioning from outside employment to self-employment Or moonlighting their dream biz part time. If you really want to create a business based on your passion and life purpose, consider the following:

1. Passion alone is not enough to create steady income or wealth. A strong work ethic and self discipline are required when you’re your own boss because, if you don’t make money it’s not a business and you won’t survive.

2. Before you answer the question, “who do you want to serve” it’s in your best interest to thoroughly investigate and research your business idea. See what comparative businesses exist. What their business looks like and who their clients are. If after doing deep research, your passion and enthusiasm are strong enough you know you’ll stick with it, then and only then should you take the next step.

Don’t start a business based on who do you want to serve! Many online marketing programs teach this and it infuriates me because, you cannot build a viable business pulling an ideal client description out of thin air. To really understand your ideal client you must put yourself out there and actually talk with real live human beings! If you start with the concept of ‘who you want to serve’ without taken the time to research, you’ll likely fail. I wish someone would have been this blunt when I first started. It would have saved me a lot of time and money. Researching your idea is fundamentally critical. It sets the foundation for your business strategy, finding your audience, building strong relationships AND creating products and services for people to buy!

I’ve seen more people fail because they didn’t research their idea, FIRST and pursued a business they really didn’t feel ecstatically committed to. That’s why so many entrepreneurs (myself included) end up starting over. If you don’t have the drive and self-discipline to stick with whatever you think you want to pursue, you will not make money! You have to LOVE what you do enough to push through the work you DON’T love. When you’re a one person operation there’s a lot at stake. It’s a lifestyle commitment that’s not for everyone!

3. Are you willing to provide value upfront to build relationships and earn trust – In other words; Work For Free, initially? One of the quickest ways to take your business idea for a test drive is to offering free coaching calls, small group webinars, email challenges and deep Q&A conversations in exchange for research and clarity about your idea. Most newbies want the quick solution to make fast money and fall prey to lofty marketing programs that completely skip over the fundamental principles of business. Don’t invest in marketing programs until you’ve done some research! Google is FREE. You have no excuse not to do the research first. All the information you need to determine if your idea is viable or not is at your finger tips. I promise you, if you invest the time into the deeper work initially, you’ll be thanking me in about a year!

If you made it this far and you want to learn more about what it REALLY takes to be in business for yourself, book a 15-minute consultation with me. I’m happy to answer your questions. Few coaches and marketing teachers are brutally honest.

What you read is what you get with me.

I tell it like it is and will do everything I can to help you get started with your success in mind. Foundational work is absolutely key and if you skip over it, you’ll find that out the hard way!

Still interested? Book your call with me at Bit.ly/clearintent Weekend times are available for busy moms!

10
Nov
2016

How To Build Trust

categories: Blog, Marketing, Social Media

If you want to build trust with your audience, plan on investing time on a daily basis. With intentional strategic efforts, building loyal lasting relationships will feel more positive, productive and glean results.

One of the quickest ways to gain trust is to be both interested in your audience and interesting to your audience!

Ask them open ended questions to show you genuinely care about helping them and invite conversation.

Aim for balance between listening to their challenges and helping them regain perspective.

When people buy it’s emotional.

Trust happens when you invest the time upfront and give something in advance of inviting to buy. IF your goal is to find your people and build their trust, you need to bring them into the conversation otherwise, trust won’t be possible!

I created this FABULOUS FREE Workbook to help you find and grow your audience. If you feel stuck and want more confidence in your social strategy, grab your copy and get started on your strategy today! I’ll see you on the other side!

07
Nov
2016

Get Unstuck!

categories: Artists, Blog, Clarity, Creative Entrepreneurs, Daily Life Rhythm, Heart and Soul Clarity

You’re in the driver’s seat, buckled up and ready to put the pedal to the metal but, you feel stuck! Feeling stuck can be emotionally debilitating. It also makes us feel like quitting, too.

However, quitting is NOT optional and you wouldn’t stand for it!

YOU have bigger plans for yourself, right? So, don’t go there. Crank up your favorite tunes, put the car in gear and DRIVE like your life depends on it.

The truth is, no one can navigate your destiny but YOU, and you have everything you need, including clarity, within you! We’ll always vacillate between feeling stuck and clear. The good news is its temporary AND there’s always something to learn when we get stuck. It’s a portal for personal growth.

Clarity means; the quality of being clear. Clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding.

It’s not a feeling of eternal bliss Or a destination of knowing. Clarity is you being okay with where you are right now (perception), because your intent is to move forward (understanding). The feeling of being stuck, happens because we’re impatient. We don’t want to accept where we are. We’d rather be anywhere but, where we are.

Feeling stuck is actually a natural occurrence.

It’s that moment of intolerance before “our luck changes.” When we surrender to patience and things begin to shift!

Clarity, is acceptance of what is, and detachment to the belief you aren’t enough!

Clarity occurs when we don’t jump ahead and recognize, each step leads to the next.

Answering the right questions helps clarify where you are right now. With each client, I begin from exactly where they are now! This process helps download thoughts, feelings, frustrations, wants, and needs in order to determine what’s desired instead.

To get you started, I created a free simple and powerful guide, for new (multi-passionate) creative business founders. This guide is a base-line for those ready to move forward. This guide can help you begin to unlock hidden blocks, while learning trust in yourself to receive the clarity you desire.

04
Nov
2016

How to Create Compelling Content!

categories: Blog, Content, Social Media

In order to create compelling content it’s essential you understand your ideal (dream) client and target audience, first. Knowing your ideal and target audience means understanding what they want and need. It’s equally critical to clearly convey the results your audience can anticipate. Talking about features is easy but, benefits and results are what build trust and propel people to buy.

Your content should reflect your knowledge, experience and personal connection to your work. It should demonstrate your intention to help and show you care.

Create memorable content!

Create content with results in mind, for example:

-inspiration or motivation to take action

-simple steps to resolve a problem

-knowledge or experience to learn a new skill or plan something specific

-improved energy and perspective about their life, business or issue

-deeper clarity around their idea, problem, vision or challenge

Think of it this way — You know and have experienced more than the people who haven’t taken the steps you have…yet.

-We always LEARN from people who’ve learned something specific, before us.

-We always TEACH people who want to learn something specific, we already learned.

Make sense?

Ask Your Audience What They Want!

Being ‘expert’ is only necessary if what you want to teach requires expert advice or a degree as with teaching medicine or coding. You can position yourself as ‘expert enough’ based on having experience and/or knowledge your audience doesn’t. This is how you boost your know, like and trust factor and ultimately get conversions.

Content should strategically align with the goal of converting fans and followers into sales. We do this by offering value upfront to build the relationship with each step leading to our call to action to buy. It’s not a business if it’s not making money — so you must get comfortable inviting people to buy!

Using this post as an example:
-You learned why creating compelling content matters.
-5 examples of content results.
-The definition of being ‘expert enough.’
-Simple examples of HOW to create content.

If you struggle with content creation this straight-talk clarity session will take the guess work out of it!

Another important factor is creating content you can deliver in different forms and this is where repurposing content can be extremely powerful in saving you time, increasing your reach and doing split testing, which I’ll cover in another post.

Here’s a simple formula to work with:

1. Give value in bite sizes:
make sure it’s palpable enough to have impact
make sure that value is something they want right now!
make the content actions immediate and urgent
make the content actions simple and straight forward

2. Try creating different types of content and test your audience. For example; video, audio, blog, visual media, challenges, quizzes, surveys, webinars, free discovery calls, group calls, BETA tests (free and low fee), charts and hey use your imagination and creativity here. The sky’s the limit!! Remember to Ask Your Audience What They Want!!!

2. Cross pollinate your content on at least 3 social platforms. For example; Facebook Live, Pinterest or Instagram and Twitter OR Periscope, FB Live and other more visual platform of your choice. Study the data. Watch and learn.

3. Create content with a clear strategy from list building to social shares to trip wires and up-sells. What’s your plan? What is your free content warming people up to buy? What will you do to nurture and build the relationship leading to that call to action?

Creating content with real value takes effort. If you want Wins, put your heart soul and a bit of elbow grease into it and don’t give up if something doesn’t work the first time. Learn from your mistakes, grow and keep going. It’s a process! Create content with loyal happy clients in mind!

If this helped or inspired you to create compelling content. Please leave a comment below.

03
Aug
2016

Lessons Learned

categories: Business Development, Clarity, Entrepreneurs

10 Tips To Build With Purpose

Getting to the heart and soul is where real truth and empowerment lies, both in business and life! Lessons learned are teachable moments!

Here are my 10 tips to Build With Purpose:

– Focus on CLARITY about your business foundation.

Understand how your business helps others and what the over-riding results, shifts or changes are that they can anticipate. This is critical to your branding and marketing. (more…)