Here in 2011, that concept may not be so old after all. In fact, it may be big business.

The Beijing Moral Education Center now has a 10 hour program that will teach young women the life skills needed to win the hearts of wealthy men. They teach makeup, fashion, etiquette, and how to read a man’s personality through facial expressions. It’s being endorsed as the program necessary for those seeking to marry money.

Because China has more billionaires than any other country outside of the U.S., it may be just the thing for some young women.

While some women may put off marriage until later in life in order to be financially secure when they marry, this program may allow women to sidestep that process.

However, its probably also wise to remember the adage “money can’t buy you happiness”.

Being good at what you do isn’t enough. You also have to be great at selling.

1. Be confident.

The more comfortable you are with your products and services, the easier it is to sell. Set your packages up for your own goals and needs. Understand exactly why things are placed together, why timing is important, and why you’ve selected the materials you have. Then stick to your guns. Don’t allow changes and switches unless you know exactly how they impact your profit margin. Always have them go to your ala carte pricing – which should be more expensive than your packages – if they want to make changes.

2. Don’t react.

The most common way to react to a customers questions and comments at the end of your sales presentation is to give in to their doubts, and start making counteroffers. Yet this is the worst thing you can do. Let them talk it through, especially if there are two or more in your office. Repeat your sales points, and stick up for your pricing. Don’t make adjustments – adjustments before they book with you mean you’ll be willing to change things throughout the process.

3.Make a change.

It’s okay to make another offer if you can see they just aren’t getting the first one you make. Let me give you an example.

At one point, we had a potential customer come in who we knew really wanted to use our services. But they new they couldn’t afford us, and nothing was going to change that. Seeing their reservations, we made a few new offers. We set up a gift registry program for them to allow friends and family to contribute towards their final wedding album. And we offered a payment plan to help them create the wedding album of their dreams, yet gave them more time to make payments towards it even after the big day.

4. Know their no’s.

Every client comes in with a list of no’s. “It’s too expensive.” “I have to check with ____.” “I have to think about it.” These are out’s, or ways that they can leave your office without having to make a decision, and still feel good about it. Over time, you learn their no’s, and should watch for ways to disarm them before they even come in.

For example, one way to disarm the out of “I have to check with ____.”  is to always make sure all the decision makers are in on the initial meeting. If Mom will be writing the check for your wedding services, make sure she’s in the meeting.

5. Make it easy to say yes.

Make the entire process easy. The less they have to think about, the more willing your customers will be to say yes. And don’t give too many options.

If you’ve ever been around a two year old, you know the worst thing you can do is give them unlimited selection. “Would you like to wear this sweater or that one?” is the best approach to take. It’s the same way with your clients. “Would you prefer package A or package B?”

Helping them make tiny selections throughout your sales process allows them to reach a final yes at the end much easier.

One of the most difficult situations you can deal with is to start out in the entrepreneurial life, especially when no one around you has done it before.

“It’s too risky.”

“You’ll lose your benefits.”

“How will you survive without a paycheck?”

We heard them all when we made the break back in the 90’s.

Yet now, you have more support then ever behind you with the current economy. Does anyone truly believe a JOB is less risky at the moment? Will the JOB even be there one year from now? Even with all of that behind you, there are still things you can do to gain confidence, and to showcase your skills to those around you.

Set Up Your Plan

In many ways, the reason people throw negative questions at you is because they simply don’t understand what you are doing. They’ve always worked, relied on a JOB, and worried about salaries and benefits. Maybe they’ve shared their misery stories with you, and enjoy the same in return. What if they lose what they have in common?

With a little bit of planning, you can answer their questions.

“How are you going to make money?” they may say. You can respond by describing your plans to book four weddings each month, and how that will equal what you are currently making at your JOB.

“What about benefits?” they might ask. You can rely on things like COBRA for a while until your income is stable and you can take on a policy for your business.

It’s easy to anticipate what they might ask, because the questions become pretty standard and routine. By having an answer ready, it shows that you have thought it all out. It shows you are ready to take on the responsibility of a business, and do whatever it takes to make it work.

It also helps build your own confidence because you do know the answers. You can rely on yourself, no matter what.

Show Them What You Do

Chances are they know you love weddings – you are the one that loved planning your own event, loves to pick up the latest copy of Bride’s, and were glued to the TV at 4 am watching the Royal wedding. So show them along the way what you are doing and what you are planning. Share with them the new brochure you just received from the printer. Show them images from your latest even.

When we first started our business, I would hand my mom several copies of my brochure. She would mail them to my grandmothers to show what we were up to. She started getting excited by what we were accomplishing, and it didn’t take her very long to realize we had potential. And she loved sharing it with the rest of the family. She quickly became one of our biggest fans.

We also held open houses in our studio once a year, and would invite the family. If you have customer appreciation parties, open houses, or other business events, invite them in. Show them your recent awards. Share with them your new presentation. Show them your sample albums.

You’ll quickly find their ideas and opinions change.
It’s Not Just The Family, Its My Spouse

“It’s not my family I’m concerned with, its my spouse. He just doesn’t understand how important this is to me. If I quit my job, we won’t be able to afford the car he wants, or take our annual summer vacation this year. He’s not willing to give all of that up so I can go down this new road.”

I understand. When you don’t have immediate support in your daily life, what are you supposed to do?

Realize everyone changes in different ways.

Are your JOBS really as secure as he thinks? Is there a chance one or both of you will be let go, or have a decrease in salary or benefits over the next year?

If he really stops to think about it, he should realize that nothing is safe any more. The only safety net you have is if you create it yourself. Show him with the numbers how you can quickly get back on track, and make what you currently are making in salary. Also show him how quickly you can go beyond today’s salary, and make a whole lot more.

Then take it slow. Don’t start out full time, start out part time. Share the successes along the way.

Also share with him stories of other people in the industry around you that are doing what you want to do, and are making a good living at it.

Bring him with you to a convention or two so he can see what other wedding professionals are up to. For instance, WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) is every February in Las Vegas, and its very reasonably priced. Chances are he won’t turn down a trip to Las Vegas. You can spend some quality time together AND learn amazing things that will help you grow your business. He may even get a little excited when he sees the potential – and its hard not to as you wonder through the trade show floor, and see some of the successes other photographers are having.

While WPPI is one example within the wedding industry, do a little research in your chosen niche, and you’ll quickly find a group to join. WPPI, ISES (International Special Events Society) and ABC (Association of Bridal Consultants are just a few of the many examples available to you.

Be Patient

It can be a big decision to go into business for yourself. While its something you’ve always dreamed of doing, those around you haven’t shared that dream. They “like” working for a living, and can’t see it any other way.

I once had a long conversation with an acquaintance who couldn’t understand why I liked owning my own business. She didn’t understand how to come up with ideas. She didn’t have a passion for trying something new, and expanding waaayyyyy beyond your comfort level. She just wanted security. She wanted a paycheck on Friday, no change in her life, and no added stress.

If they don’t “get it”, you can’t make them “get it” in one sitting. You can’t describe your passion and have them instantly get excited for you. They are uncomfortable because you are changing the way they’ve always thought, and they aren’t happy about it.

But that doesn’t mean you have to give up your dreams. Just realize that they won’t be your support system as you move forward. That doesn’t mean you have to ignore them, or quit visiting them on a regular basis. It simply means you don’t discuss your plans with them. If they ask questions, keep it short and sweet. Tell them a little about your successes, share a photograph or two from your latest event, and move on to a different subject.

They may open up about your choices, and they may not. But if you listen to them and argue your point with them, you’ll both leave feeling frustrated.

Instead, find someone you can share with, and that does support you. They will help you build towards the future, and be there to share your failures and successes, and help you build on what you learn.

When I contracted with an agent and began researching and writing my first book, I was shocked to learn that in the photography industry, the top 10 percent of all photographers earned in excess of $53,900 per year. That meant 90 percent of all photographers where earning less than this.

Soon after I started doing research on other niches within the wedding industry. And while some some niches are automatically six and seven figures by default (think hotels and reception sites), the great majority of small wedding businesses follow similar income patterns.

The problem isn’t within the industry itself; the average wedding right now is around $25,000. The problem is in the planning and growing of a profitable business model.

Inevitably when I teach or am around a group of small business owners, someone always asks about my lessons learned. “What do you wish you knew as a start up that would have helped you jump to the Six Figure faster?” So here are my top 3 lessons learned.

1. Getting To $50,000 is much harder than getting to $100,000

The most difficult thing about building a business from the ground up is figuring out what it takes to make it a full time success. If you are earning $10,000 or $20,000 per year now from your current business, you have to have a supplemental income from somewhere. But once you hit a full time income level, I’ll say $50,000 but that can be different depending on your lifestyle and location, you’re beginning to look at it more with a full time status. (Yes, there are still all of your expenses you have to subtract, but you’re still earning a pretty decent fee.)

Because of that, your mind looks at business in two different ways. Below the $50,000 level, you have a full time job that takes up a great deal of your mindset. Above the $50,000, you begin to think of ways to grow your business because your basic needs are met. So the goal is to get to the $50,000 level as fast as possible.

In order to grow from $0 to $50,000, you have to put your systems in place. You have to build your marketing materials. You have to build up a good clientele. You have to have your prices and your products well defined. And you have to devote enough time to everything in addition to your supplemental income source.

Once you move past the $50,000, things are in place – it’s just a matter of taking it to the next level. If you’re struggling now to break into the $50+ level, what do your plans look like? How are you going to achieve it? Make sure you’re thinking at a full time level to achieve full time success.

2. Clients that spend $10,000 are much easier than clients that spend $1,000

Let me tell you a tale of two clients.

The first bought our lowest package, yet wanted the world. She was Cinderella for a day, and wanted everyone to love her day as much as she did. Whenever we gave an inch, she took a mile. We spent more time and work on her wedding than we did for most of our larger clients. And she complained the entire time.

The second found us through her wedding consultant, and hired us based on our referral and looking around our website. She accepted us as the professional, and put her faith in what we did. She booked our top package, and made little changes to anything we suggested. She was busy with her own career, new we were the professionals, and relied on her skill at picking professionals to guide her into what was right for her.

Are $10,000 clients always easier than $1,000 ones? No. But the key is to understand that you have to define your client and stick to what you offer. Know where you’ll profit, and make sure you’re getting paid what you’re worth.

3. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency.

If something works, do it again. And then add to it.

I’ve sent out newsletters for well over 15 years now. They’ve changed along the way. But I’ve never stopped using them because they work.

I’ve gone from phone book advertising, to advertising in wedding magazines, to devoting my time to websites, blogs and social media sites. Where I put my advertising changes, but never my dedication to investing marketing in some avenues.

Now with the economy in the shape its in, you’ll hear frequently how people are laying off marketing professionals, and stopping different advertising methods. Yet that’s the worst thing they can do.

Build it. Find out what works. Stick with it no matter what. And always be on the look out for something that will work even better.

I’ve been blogging now for around 8 years. For the first few years, I blogged mainly as a way to add content to my sites. I didn’t see the true benefit of blogging – only that it was a great platform for sharing information.

That all changed when I started seeing results. Blogging isn’t just a platform for adding content; its the basic tool needed for creating an effective social media campaign. It’s what connects all of your favorite sites – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc – and gives them the power of connecting and building relationships.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve discovered there are “laws” to blogging. Things that I’ve done over and over again that work every time. So I thought I’d share those Laws with you.

So here are the 21 Laws Of Blogging Success:

Law 1 – Define your purpose before you start blogging. Are you trying to sell products? Services? Are you making money through affiliate links? Or do you simply want the traffic for future sales? Though your blog posts should never be sales messages, it helps to know ahead of time what your ultimate goal is. Your blog should always be centered around your main concepts, and direct traffic to the appropriate places so connections, sales or signups can occur.

Law 2 – Don’t blog for your entire business structure – niche it. I work with many types of small businesses. But a small business blog is too generic. So I niche to photographers, bloggers, social media writers, wedding coordinators, etc. The more you niche your blog, the more traction you can gain online and within the social communities.

Law 3 – Build one blog to success before starting in on another one. It’s easy to get completely overwhelmed when you have too much on your plate. Get one blog working before you dive into another.

Law 4 – See your successes. It’s important to see one success in your blog each day. Sometimes it takes awhile to build, so its important to congratulate yourself for each success. One comment, a retweet on Twitter, one person signing up for a free report, or moving down the Alexa rankings are all something to be celebrated.

Law 5 – Identify a problem. In almost every industry you can find a blog that reaches out to your target market. Your job is to reach out differently. Identify one problem your clients and prospects are having, and blog all about that.

Law 6 – Make sure your clients and prospects have a desire to fix the problem. I have one client who has a wonderful niche market dealing with a “habit”. Her business has been decreasing steadily over the past year because during this recession, people enjoy this “habit” and really don’t want to let it go. We found a way to change her focus just a little to start building up her business again.

Law 7 – Find something you can deliver that people can get excited about. You have to have excitement about what you offer before your clients will get equally excited. Love what you offer, and talk about it all the time. Tweak how you write about it, develop a passion within your readers, and you’ll soon be on your way to blogging success.

Law 8 – Gain confidence. So many people say they hate writing, or have nothing to say. If you’re truly passionate about what you do, you should have an endless supply of things to say. Start small. You don’t have to write a novel the first day out. Just write a paragraph or two. Answer questions. Write about what you are doing or events you are attending. Just do one thing every day, and quickly you’ll get the hang of it.

Law 9 – Become the expert. Being an expert doesn’t mean you know everything. It simply means you’re in tune with the industry, and know where to get the best information and the best resources.

Law 10 – Always give great value. The more you give, the more people will want.

Law 11 – Be truthful. Don’t ignore rumors and bad comments. Meet them head on. If someone is vocal on your blog about something they don’t like, explain yourself and move on. Remember, you can’t ignore negativity in the social realm. People will post whatever they choose, if not on your site, definitely on one of the free ones. On your site, you can control the conversation, and you can explain and answer questions. This is also a great way of feeling out what your customers are thinking, and meeting problem areas head on.

Law 12 – Never ask for money in the beginning. People find you in a lot of ways. Always give first, ask for money second.

Law 13 – Have an opinion. Don’t just agree with everyone – make a stand. Give a few points on why you believe the way you do, and set the line.

Law 14 – Blogging isn’t about gaining a ton of traffic. It’s about gaining the right traffic. One million vegetarian visitors on an “eat beef” site is great traffic, but poor in potential.

Law 15 – It’s not all about you. Give links to other sites. Talk about other people in the industry. Give resources for other businesses that offer complementary items. People will find it on their own in this era of searching. Don’t ignore it, just be the expert.

Law 16 – Don’t be perfect – there is no such thing online. Just start it, do it every day, and modify all the time.

Law 17 – Look to new media. Everyone can benefit from showing photographs or videos. Don’t have any yourself? Try stock houses such as Fotolia or iStockPhoto, or YouTube for access to millions of videos – you’re sure to find something that can showcase what you do in a different light.

Law 18 – It’s all about the relationships. Make sure you stay on track to continue to build those relationships.

Law 19 – Test the waters. Blogging offers you instant feedback. If you want to try something new, ask for opinions. People will instantly tell you how they feel.

Law 20 – Watch other industry leaders. They may have great ideas you can piggy back off of. Don’t be afraid to combine forces with other leaders.

Law 21 – Reinvent yourself. Whatever you are doing today can be changed for tomorrow. Constantly grow and look for new ideas.

Weekdays. Weekends. Early morning. Late at night. If you are wondering what the difference is because you have every ounce of time filled up, maybe its time to stop and put more balance into work and personal life.

With cutbacks, layoffs, and general uncertainty in the economy, people are putting in extra time in a variety of areas. But even if you have a full time job and you can’t reduce your hours, there are ways to spend more time focusing in on what is truly important to you.

Here are 5 ways to help take back the control in your life.

1. Build more downtime into your schedule

Calendars are wonderful things. With a glance, you can easily tell all the things you have to do, and whether or not something new will fit in.

The problem is we tend to use calendars for scheduling other people’s events and routines. When your daughter’s school has a fundraiser on Thursday night, it goes on the calendar. Weekly soccer practices and games go on the calendar too.

But what about an hour for a daily run? Or a night out with your spouse for dinner and a movie? Or even a Sunday afternoon lying on the couch with a good book?

We tend not to put things like this on the calendar – we’ll do it when we have time. But the only real way to make sure you have personal time to do the things you truly want to do is to schedule it.

2. Drop your time wasters

Do you have any activities that you hate to do? Maybe you spend several hours one day a month at a club meeting, and you really don’t enjoy it anymore. Or you’re on a committee at work, and you no longer enjoy the meetings or the work produced from the committee.

Instead of doing it because you’ve always done it, make a change.

Reevaluate where your time is going every month, and how much you truly enjoy doing each item. If its no longer top of your priority list, find something that can be. Its easy to get sucked into things and have them become habits. Break the habits, and gain back several hours each month.

3. Rethink your errands

How many times a week do you run out for something quick? To the office supply store to pick up a few items. To the post office to mail customer orders and pick up stamps.

What may seem like small errands can quickly wind up into huge time wasters. What sounds like one hours worth of time can quickly grow to two or three when you hit long lines, construction problems on the roads, and unexpected delays.

One of the simplest ways to cut down on time away from the office is to schedule an errand day, and only head out once per week. Create a list of everything you need to do, then create a map that will get you from location to location in the quickest way possible.

You can also find ways to have more of your services come to you. Almost every business has some type of delivery service available. You can get stamps delivered to your door, and even office supplies can be shipped directly. Whatever businesses you frequent the most, ask about setting up a delivery schedule.

4. Quit procrastinating

A little planning can save hours worth of time over the course of a month.

Think back to the last time you had an “emergency”. You had to print out a contract to get it into the mail, only to find you have no more paper for the printer. So you stop everything to run to the office supply store. A quick task quickly adds up to more than an hour in time.

Instead of waiting until you have to have something, create a system that will keep you well supplied. For the paper example, buy two reams the next time you are out. When you open the last ream, put it on your list for the next time you are out. If you always keep a spare in place, you’ll never reach “emergency” status around an every day, routine task.

5. Build your perfect schedule

Whether you are a part time or full time business owner, you have a routine to fit in all of your work. But that doesn’t mean you can’t change around your routine, and have it fit within the lifestyle you desire.

If clients need to meet you in evening hours, or on the weekends, decide what hours you will work. Wednesday evenings until 9pm, and Saturdays from 9am to 1pm. Make these your normal hours, and have your clients fit within them. When you adjust for one client, you’ll quickly adjust for all of them, so it’s important to establish rules early on and stick with them.

You can also build in personal time into your regular working hours. If you want to take a yoga class on Tuesday mornings from 9 until 10, schedule it. If it’s on the calendar, you’ll quickly learn to book clients around that time-frame.

When you have your own business, it’s easy to get sucked into the 24/7/365 mentality. It’s always there, and there will always be more to do. Its up to you to make sure you have the time to fit everything in, and enjoy life along the way.

Maybe sales isn’t the highlight of your day, and you would rather do anything but sell. Yet if you own your business, becoming the best you can be at sales is imperative. Join Lori Osterberg as she walks you through 3 ways to bring in sales, and teaches you the only way you can look at your business profits from this point forward.

VirtualWeddingProfessional.com – expert guidance from co-founder Lori Osterberg
The Premier site online for business and marketing advice for professionals specializing in the wedding industry.

More than any other event in history, this wedding was covered in a variety of sources:

• 2.7 million mentions throughout all social media sites within a 24 hour period
• An average of 30,000 tweets per day on the 30 days leading up to the event
• 65 percent of all social communication being generated from the U.S.

Have any doubts about the power of social? As millions watched as Kate pulled up to the church doors, and exited her car for her long walk down the aisle, designers were all creating the Kate imitation – long before Prince William even had a glance at his bride.

Sleeves Are In for 2012 Thanks to the Brits

Royal Wedding Gown Knock Off

Quick Copies of Kate’s Dress

Why did each of these businesses fail so quickly? Ultimately it came down to traffic. If there aren’t enough people coming through the doors to make ends meet, you can’t survive as a business.

In order to get new business through your doors, you have to generate the traffic. Whether its recommendations from friends, coupons mailed to nearby homes, or networking with local businesses, you have to do something to generate the traffic.

That same thought process carries through to the online world as well.

In order to make connections online, you have to be “talking” in the right places. Its great if you blog, but if you are the only one reading it, it won’t do you any good. Same goes for Twitter, Facebook and more.

Start with your stats

Right now, do you know how many people are on your site? Do you know what pages people view the most? Do you know what pages they enter on, and what pages they leave on?

Its important to know what people are doing on your site. But it’s equally important to know how they find you and keep in touch with you as well.

For me, I look at stats all the time. By using a WordPress blog, you can get a variety of stats plugins to monitor traffic and other aspects of your site. You can also use Google Analytics, one of the best free stats programs available – I’ve used them for years.

Every month I look at where my traffic is coming from. Last month it looked like this:

• 33% – Google/Search engine
• 18% – Direct
• 16% – Facebook
• 9% – Twitter
• 24% – Other

With a quick glance, I can tell exactly where my traffic is coming from, and where I need to spend my time.

Google/search engines. This is traffic directly from searches taking place in the search engines, and is bringing in traffic for a specific reason. They had a need, and my search results filled that need. So the connection was made.

The next highest for me is Direct and is the easiest – these people type in your URL and know your site by name. They may have it bookmarked, or in their RSS reader. They check back with you again and again, so it’s important to continue to give them what they want.

Facebook and Twitter are more about relationships. I build my followers, provide quality content, and they click over when they are attracted by a particular piece of information. These can be strong relationships I’ve developed over months, or can be a new relationship that was found through a retweet or a posting.

Draw conclusions

It’s easy to spend a ton of time every day on Facebook, or spend time creating a new brochure. But until you see the statistics, and see where people are coming from, it’s hard to draw conclusions about where you spend your time.

For me, seeing the statistics is the setup for my game plan. I know that over 3 times as much traffic comes from quality content appearing in the search engines as opposed to how much content I file into Twitter. With 3 times as much return in one area, I know where to spend 3 times as much of my time as I work through my day.

Ultimately it’s all about results. And if you don’t know where your results are coming from, you can’t plan for the future.

Just like the restaurants that open up and hope people come through the door, your web presence can be nothing more than a shot in the dark. You can build, write, Facebook, and Tweet all day long. But without a strong game plan that’s bringing in the traffic you need to grow, its nothing more than a waste of time.