Hey – it’s Lisa and I decided to shove myself onto the RichCleanerBlog and tackle a timely topic for all “us” small business owners.

I’ve been getting A LOT of questions about creating a marketing plan for the new year. And I’ve seen a lot of complicated answers flying around on forums by “experts.”

The fact is – this does NOT have to be hard.

Actually, the more complex you make it…

…the less likely you are actually going to DO it. Right?

I mean, if you are trying to lose weight, and you use the 5 simple rules from Tim Ferriss in his new book The Four Hour Body, you will see results. (Heck, I’ve lost 4 pounds in the past week alone just following that one short chapter in the book.)

It’s no different with any part of your life – or your business. Simple works.

So let’s not over-think this.

Here’s what I do – because I just like simple.

I look back on the year that’s just ended (or the last quarter if I’m making a plan from quarter to quarter) and I ask these 4 questions:

1) What worked?

2) How can I do MORE of this? (Action steps.)

3) What did NOT work?

4) How can I correct or eliminate this? (Action steps.)

Here’s a worksheet to help you lay your answers out ==> Making Life Work worksheet

This process can work for any part of your business.

If you want a better working team – then lay out what worked this year, and what didn’t, and how you can have more of the first, and less of the second.

If you want to get more new business – go through the same process. More repeat business or more referrals? Same 4 questions.

You want a more organized front office – the same process will work.

Professional or personal – the same simple framework works.

And miraculously…

…if you ask the right questions, you actually get answers!

So, sit down with your numbers from the year, and define what steps you will take to make 2011 even better. List out the working campaigns you will do more of, the mediocre campaigns you want to make better – or stop doing, and the new strategies you want to tackle in this new year.

If you don’t have a system for tracking your marketing results, and want a simple format to track, this is what we use at Piranha to mark progress month-to-month, I did a video on our poster board awhile back.

If you want a copy of our poster, here you go ==> Marketing Campaign Tracking Poster

Trust me. If you keep things simple, you are much more likely to get things done.

And as our friend MaryEllen Tribby says:

“One thing done equals money. Five things half-done equals no money.”

Doesn’t get any simpler than that.

Enjoy the tools, and I hope you put them to good use!

- Lisa

P.S. If you want a timely kick in the business butt to get you rocketing off to a strong start with your cash creation this year, then take a look at our first big Piranha Marketing training event of the year next week. In person, or grabbing the recordings, it is guaranteed to help you create your BEST year ever.

Click play on this new video with Joe Polish and Better Your Best Contest Runner-Up, Carrie Roberts!

In this short presentation you’ll learn a ton about marketing, growing your cleaning & restoration business and more!

If you like that, and you want more details about this stuff, here’s more carpet cleaner marketing & business building info! <== BTW, if you DON’T check that out fully you’ll TOTALY be missing out!

BUT, if you DO check it out FULLY, and then you email me at gina@joepolish.com telling me the last thing on it, I will email YOU back a copy of Carrie Robert’s killer “Pssst! Look What Your Neighbor Did” radius mailer postcard.

As she says in the video, it was one of her most profitable marketing pieces for her Carpet Cleaning company… and she’s agreed to share it with YOU!

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Here’s what Paula and Joe have to say about the recent Genius Network Mastermind meeting:

Other BIG business minds networking at the event:

If you are looking for an environment of big minds with bigger futures sharing their elegant ideas with one another for the betterment of their companies and communities, then see if this is the right fit for you: www.GeniusNetworkMastermind.com