One of my favorite tools in the world is my friend Robert Silverstone’s GROW principle. (Go check it out at www.RobertSilverstone.com.) It begins with Gratitude–that’s the “G” in GROW.

In my long list of gratitude, which ALWAYS includes my new home (I LOVE my home, and I’m grateful to have a place to live in a world where so many don’t) and my cat (who’s cuddled up against me right now) and my friends and family, clients, coaches, business, body of work, impact in the world, my Money Honey, and all of the life experiences–fun and horrible–that make me who I am today…

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Here’s the biggest, most revolutionary business secret that’s so OBVIOUS it’s almost impossible to see: LEARN TO ASK.

1) ASK for input. You wanna know what your customers want? Don’t guess or try to be a mind reader. Just ask them! Obvious, huh? Before you build the widget, write the proposal, or design that seminar, ask your audience what they’re looking for. My best teleclasses came from “tell me what you want to know” emails. What could be easier than answering questions? And nothing makes people happier than giving them what they ask for. ALL the super successful people I know ask before they offer.

2) ASK the experts. Oooooh this has been a tough one for me! One of my earliest phrases as a toddler was “Gana do self.” That philosophy’s okay when you’re learning to tie your shoes, but it’s not so great when you’re building a business. If I hadn’t had coaches and mentors every step of the way, I’d be answering phones and fetching coffee today. If they didn’t fire me first. (I make an AWFUL secretary.) And believe me, I’ve wasted years and maybe a million dollars by not asking questions soon enough, by trying to figure it out all by myself.

3) ASK for help. You know all those gurus who say ‘Do the hard stuff first’– I say don’t do it at all! Give it to someone else. The stuff I do well I do very, very well. Instant money magic and quick life transformation? No sweat. But don’t let me near accounting, scheduling, or mailing. I conisistently make mistakes, no matter how careful I try to be. Hiring someone else is a NECESSITY! That weakest link is going to bring you down. If you’re the weakest link, replace yourself.

4) Work with the best. Getting good help is essential for your survival, whether it’s medical, personal, or professional, and it can be HARD to find! And frankly I’ve hired some scammy creeps who cost me tens of thousands of dollars on bad “help”, so I’m going to open up my rolodex and share my business faves.

I’ve seen people asking for Marketing Tips and Tricks on my social networks, and being the busy little do-gooder, I spent at least an hour composing a response. I thought I’d post it here. Cause frankly, my business is thriving while so many other coaching practices are suffering with the economy. I’m very lucky, and I thank my good fortune every day. And I work HARD to create that good fortune:

I spend a big chunk of my time marketing. This blog, my emails, facebook (it’s invisible marketing–I just make friends and make myself visible without actually “selling” anything), Joint Ventures (I’ve been approached a LOT for those), radio/magazine/teleclass interviews, taking classes and making friends.

Some of my marketing does itself through the re-use of my material: people re-publish my articles for their blogs and e-zines. If you’re reading this here, you probably know what I’m talking about. I just have to monitor them to make sure I get attribution. Along the same lines, free publicity comes to me when magazines or radio shows approach me. But it’s still a lot of labor.

And I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars this year on websites, copywriting (though one scoundrel took $6,000 and didn’t deliver. ouch), and placing myself as an “official expert” on selfgrowth.com ($3,000), new photos, business cards, product design, e-books to give away on my website.

In past years I paid $15,000 a year on a publicist. She was worth it.

Last year I travelled the globe teaching classes and signing books at bookstores.

I take classes in SEO. I’ve been checking keywords and trying to optimize my pages and blog posts. I discovered stumbleupon and Digg, and I spend time stumbling and digging friends and asking them to reciprocate.

Last week I took Ali Brown’s Online Success Blueprint Workshop. Boy did those new business cards pay off! I didn’t have to say a word, and people asked for them. They didn’t even care what I did; they just wanted a card with me on my back, in a red dress.) Next month I begin Alex Mandossian’s class on making money with teleclasses.

I’ve even marketed on behalf of my coaches, interviewing them for teleclasses, editing and publishing their articles and bios on my blog, sending out notices to my friends on facebook, tweeting everything…

Networking meetings don’t do that much for me–they’re inefficient. I just go to them for the comeraderie.

Marketing is a fulltime job. I don’t think people have a clue (until they read this post) how much I invest in marketing my business. Aside from learning to be a killer coach, marketing is the single most important element of being a professional coach.

Heck! Even my email signature has my photo, an invitation to my e-book, and a testimonial. Ali Brown taught me that. And my email address is shows my website url.

And this is the year it finally paid off. I have never, ever, made as much money as I have in the last three months. I’m selling the right thing at the right time; and after all those years investing in marketing, my visibility counts.

I don’t believe five hours a week on marketing is enough, not if you’re serious about your business’s survival. And this is true of any business these days. Marketing IS your primary business, so that you have the PRIVILEGE of coaching clients.

Copyright 2008 Morgana Rae… Obviously. If you want to use this in your blog or newsletter, contact me first.