How many times have you heard the line – She or he was an overnight success?

How often is that really true?

Most successful people work very hard to achieve their results and without a written plan, it’s nearly impossible to succeed. We’ve heard the saying, “People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.” But the word “plan” conjures up work and time, right? That’s why I created the no-excuse Cocktail Napkin Marketing Plan™ e-Book and interactive template. This is for my fellow entrepreneurs and struggling business owners seeking marketing help and don’t know where to begin or fear it will take too much time.

I became an entrepreneur in 1989 when I purchased a bankrupt business and turned it into a profitable venture in 3 years, grossing over $1 million/year in annual revenue, however, it wasn’t without tremendous work including:

• planning
• forecasting
• creative thinking
• collaboration
• guts
• risk-taking
• determination
• passion

Someone once told me to follow your passion and the profits will follow. Fortunately, that person was right. Having been a former competitive figure skater, I took them literally and purchased a bankrupt business– an ice skating arena in Florida. Most people thought I was out of my mind, but I didn’t listen to them. I wrote a 40-page business plan after completing a feasibility study and then raised money, It was amazing how accurate the numbers were on my 5-year pro-forma. We were even ahead of schedule on the profits and paid off the debt early, despite the fact most private arenas fail.

The marketing strategy was the easy part, once you have a clear marketing message, know your target audience and have a budget. I relied on 2 very successful strategies– PR (see the slide show here) that got FREE feature stories in the media and forging strategic alliances. The rest of the story and recent client success stories are in the eBook that accompanies the Cocktail Napkin Marketing Plan™. You’ll also read how my strategies helped one client triple their assets to $3billion in a few years with a very limited marketing budget!

Having a degree in Marketing helps a little, but there’s no substitution for doing. My 20 years experience in marketing and PR helped me realize how few people know how to market their business effectively because they are either overwhelmed or don’t know where to begin. As a speaker and consultant, I would show people how easy it was to map out their business vision on a cocktail napkin. They would see a clear marketing strategy to grow their business. I started using this effective tool in seminars. Attendees are given an actual branded cocktail napkin and walked through 4 thought-provoking exercises. They watch their plan unfold as they answer guided questions and commit to action steps. I help my clients create their marketing vision using the Cocktail Napkin Marketing Plan™ and now you can use this effective tool too.

Did you know that several Fortune 500 companies launched their business from a sketch on a cocktail napkin? If they can do it, so can you. So now it’s time to get clear, get focused and take action.