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In this episode I discuss why I'm putting Excellence Expected on a hiatus. For more information, read “Why I Stopped Podcasting & 5 Lessons I Learned Along The Way“. Don't forget, the more you expect from yourself, the more you WILL excel! The post The End of The Road As We Know It appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

Most of us live our lives with a solo economic dependency, meaning that we have only one main source of income. If we aren’t putting in the hours at our jobs or businesses, then no income is being generated. This main source of income is an active income; we need to be there, producing and… The post The 3 Step Guide to Your First Passive Income Stream appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

Differentiating your business from a whole host of competitors can be tough and most of us fall back on what we think we should say when asked how our company differs from the rest. ‘We offer a professional service to the highest standards of quality.’ But your competitors say that too! ‘Our prices offer fantastic… The post How to Be Dramatically and Demonstrably Different! appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

Content marketing has become hugely important to small businesses but it can be difficult to create engaging content on a regular basis. Some find it difficult to write blog posts, others find it hard to create imagery and sometimes we don’t even know what to create content about. Not only that, but there are some… The post Content Gone Wild – Give and Ye Shall Receive appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

The development of social media has made it so easy for all of us to connect and to spread the word about ourselves, our projects and our businesses. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have changed the way we do business and it seems like there’s a new platform coming along almost every week! With all the… The post Make Your Story Irresistible to the Media with This 5 Step Plan appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

We all love a good story, don’t we? Whether you enjoy watching movies or the evening news, listening to podcasts or the latest office gossip, stories are everywhere around us, even in business. The very best brands in the world tell us stories through their marketing, design and branding. Lots of small business owners think… The post The Art of Story Telling & How to Craft the Perfect Pitch with John Livesay appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

How many of your ‘friends’ on Facebook do you speak to regularly? If you’re like most people, it’s probably not a great deal. If you’re a small business owner, how much of your business comes through social media? Again, if you’re being honest, it’s probably not that much. That’s not to say that social media… The post Create REAL Relationships with the King of Relationship Development appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

The decision to rebrand can arrive for a number of different reasons. Perhaps your business has merged with another and you want to project a new image to reflect that. It may be the case that your branding has become dated and an update is required. Or it may even be that you are pivoting… The post Kyle Wilkinson’s Secrets to a Successful Rebrand appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

Pivoting is something that we hear a lot about in business, especially in the startup space. Facebook began life as Facemash, Instagram grew out of Burbn and YouTube started out as a video dating site. All of these famous names started out moving in one direction and changed course for a variety of reasons. It’s… The post How Amy Schmittauer Successfully Pivoted SavvySexySocial and What You Can Learn appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

There are so many ways in which you can market your business these days but one of the most important, and most overlooked, is video marketing. One of the issues that most of us have with the idea of starting a video marketing campaign is that we don’t like to appear on camera. Another is… The post Bottle Your Brilliance: From Video Marketing to Media Coverage appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

Social media has changed the way many of us interact, do business and, to a degree, live our lives. Networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are fantastic for marketing yourself and your business and newer platforms like Periscope and Blab are opening up new channels to reach potential customers. It’s all well and good… The post Put the Social Back into Social Media appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

Getting customers to your website can be a difficult task. There are so many business out there vying for the attention of consumers and these days there are so many ways in which people can find solutions to their problems. But gaining traffic is only half the battle. Unless you can successfully convert those prospects,… The post The Secrets to a High Converting Website with Trajan King appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

The idea of creating a community around your business is something that a lot of us are hesitant about. It may be because we think that it doesn’t really apply to our business, or that it will take a lot of work. However, with the advent of social media, it doesn’t need to be such… The post How to Cultivate Loyal Fans Who Will Grow Your Network For You appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

Creating a successful business from something that you genuinely have a passion for is the goal of most small business oweners. We all want to make money through sharing our expertise of a particular area in which we’re experts. Not all of us get to live that life though, as plans, and passions, change over… The post How to Take Your Podcasting Passion from the Personal to the Professional appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

We all want to work with the best clients that we possibly can. It’s easy in business to peek over the garden fence and look at who your competitors are working with. If they’ve made deals with some big names in your industry and you haven’t, it can feel a little deflating and a number… The post How to Win Those Dream Contracts as a Small Business or Startup appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

Making first contact with a prospective new client can be a great feeling, especially if you feel that you’ve quickly built rapport and your product or service will be of real help to the client’s business. Realistically, though, how many times are we ever going to make a sale after speaking to a client just… The post Follow-up Success is Easier Than You Think with Amanda Holmes appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

Building a following or community online is a pretty tough ask these days as the competition for the attention of users is fierce. Everyone seems to be offering more and more in terms of content and value to try and keep people on their sites long enough for a community to develop. As a result,… The post How I Built My Business By Giving Away Free Money appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

Most small business owners know that they need to have an online presence in order to compete and stay relevant. Are we doing enough though? Are we getting the most out of the massive opportunities that come with doing business online? Are we engaging in digital commerce or ecommerce? And what’s the difference? We’re joined… The post Are You Digital Commerce Ready? appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

As small business owners, we all know that gaining a customer’s trust is very important. It’s common sense and it’s covered in all of the business books that we like to read. But, it can be easy to neglect when we’re chasing those sales and trying to grow our business. How can we not only… The post How to Build a Business Based on Earned Trust with Hani Mourra appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.

It seems that everywhere we look, there are people who are developing successful businesses and making money online. Blogging, podcasting, publishing – there seems to be so many different options, but there also seems to be a saturation. How can we create and grow a successful online business in a very crowded marketplace? Our guest… The post Tooling Up for Digital Dominance appeared first on Excellence Expected, by Mark Asquith.