We’ve just added a brand new benefit for InBox Weary Members and I’m very excited to be including this extra benefit.

Every month members have access to a fun and creative idea for marketing their business and we just added the first one in the members only area of the site.

And we don’t just provide the idea, we provide everything needed to put the idea into action. All documents and graphics are included so that it’s easy to modify and personalize — or simply use as-is right out of the box.

This month features a St. Patrick’s Day themed gift certificate that will be especially nice to offer to existing clients or a way to entice new clients to into the fold.

Current Members: To start using this new benefit, simply log-in to your account using the username and password you set up when you joined, click to your DASHBOARD, then under Current Content you’ll see a tab labeled “Marketing That Works!” Click on that tab and you’ll find your marketing ideas each month.

Not yet a member? Join Now so you can take advantage of everything offered here.

American Red Cross Month. Every year, the presi¬dent proclaims March “American Red Cross Month” to encourage citizens to volunteer and participate in the important work this valuable organization performs in time of war and natural disaster.

Music in Our Schools Month. As education budgets get slashed because of the tough economy, school music programs are increasingly endangered. The purpose of Music in Our Schools Month is to raise awareness of the importance of music education for all children, and to remind citizens that school is a prime location for children to have access to music.

Small Press Month. A nationwide celebration of the books brought to you by independent publishers, Small Press Month raises awareness about the need for broader venues of literary expression.

Social Work Month. “Social Work Matters” is the theme of Social Work Month 2012, sponsored by the National Associations of Social Workers. A key message for this year’s celebration is that social workers are the safety net in a civil society, contributing to the community’s health, mental health, aging, schools, veterans services, community agencies, local politics and more.

National Procrastination Week, March 4-10. The Procrastinators’ Club of America (Bryn Athyn, Pa.) marks this as a week to promote the benefits of putting off until tomorrow everything that needn’t be done today.

Girl Scout Week, March 11-17. Celebrated every year during the week of March 12, when Juliette Gordon Low officially registered the organization’s first 18 girl members in 1912 in Savannah, Ga.

Brain Awareness Week, March 12-18. A global campaign to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research. Events may include open days at neuroscience labs; exhibitions about the brain; lectures on brain-related topics; displays at libraries and community centers; classroom workshops; and more.

Root Canal Awareness Week, March 25-31. A root canal may sound painful, but not getting one when needed could be worse. Root Canal Awareness Week seeks to raise awareness of the role of endodontists-root canal specialists who bring high-quality care, compassion, and comfort to their patients, and who deserve recognition for their service and commitment.

Peace Corps Day, March 1. On this date in 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps, a Cold War effort to enlist civilians to volunteer their time and skills in underdeveloped nations assisting them in any way they could.

National Agriculture Day, March 8. Celebrate the abundance provided by U.S. agriculture.

International Women’s Day, March 8. Thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements.

Pi Day, March 14. It’s 3-14. Get it? Pi is the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter, an irratio¬nal number whose decimal representation never ends, although it begins with 3.14159 . . .

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. Break out the green, read some James Joyce, and try to catch a leprechaun. For more on leprechauns, see page 15.

National Puppy Day, March 23. Adopt a puppy, donate toys or blankets to your local animal shelter, or buy your own puppy a new toy.

Presented by Shirley Norwood, ShirleyNorwood.com hosted by Marty Marsh

Click here to download the Class Worksheet

Listen soon. This was a great class.

Rhonda McNett, SOSbyRhonda.com, couldn’t attend live, but she did listen to the replay yesterday evening and she said:

“Great class – Shirley’s got great stuff, that’s for sure!”

And Linda Storey said, after the class was over, “Thanks for bringing LOA actively into my business life again. Perfect timing…again, and there are no mistakes are there!”

Click to register for the Perfect Client Attraction Workshop mentioned on the call.

One of Linda’s many duties was to handle the advertising for the newspaper. And because I was their graphics guy, they called on me to create the many ad designs and layouts for their advertisers. Because my client was paying the bill, I felt as though I had no say in who I had to work with.

Sending chills through my heart….

There was one client of theirs in particular who was an absolute nightmare to work with. He was a nice enough guy as a person, but to work with him would almost literally make me ill. Having to work with this guy would certainly ruin my day. Sometimes an entire week.

It got so bad that eventually I had to tell my client that, even though it would mean extra time on my part, and likely hers, too, that Linda had to be the go-between between me and their client. It got to be a joke between us because if Linda called me and said, “Marty, have I told you how much I love you lately?” it meant she was calling for me to work on this guy’s ad.

And every time I heard her say that, it would send chills right through my heart. My stomach would do a little flip flop and a dread would instantly fall over me.

Sometimes she’d call me up and, just for fun, say that just to get me going. (And it worked every time!)

Their client liked the work I did and so he wanted to hire me to do additional work for him beyond the needs of my client’s newspaper, and I could happily say “no” to those requests.

Not so fast….

But it took me a while to get to that point. At first, I thought I had to say “yes” to those projects as well. After all, I didn’t want to upset my regular client in any way.

If I had known then what I know now (how many times have we said that one?), I’d have said “no” right from the get-go. What I finally learned was that, so long as I was self-employed, I got to call the shots, and that included who I would or would not work with.

Too often I see professional service providers struggling in their business because they are spending so much time working with the wrong clients. You may be working with some folks like this. It doesn’t really mean these clients are bad people. It just means they are not a right fit for you.

And it may be that you are working with some people who aren’t a right fit for you because you don’t really know — yet — who is a right fit.

Join me when I host Shirley Norwood, Certified Attraction Coach, for a complimentary teleclass to learn how having an Attraction Plan means you never have to work with a lousy, no-fun, demanding, miserable client again.

During this teleclass, you will hear real life examples of how an Attraction Plan works and leave the class with your own “actionable” items that you can begin to use immediately to attract more of your perfect clients. (You see, a perfect client is one that is perfect for YOU!)

Please register for the class — even though the class itself is free — so you’ll be sure to get the action notes that Shirley will be giving you to help you get the absolute most benefit from this class.

Here’s the coolest benefit of all when you are 100% certain about who your perfect clients are: They start to show up almost by magic as soon as you decide!

What: One-Hour Interactive Teleclass/Workshop
How Many Bad Clients Do You Have to Kiss Before Finding The Perfect One?

When: Valentine’s Day, Tues., February 14, 2012

Time: 11:00 AM Eastern (New York) Time Convert to your time zone.

REGISTER HERE (It’s FREE, but you do need to register to get call-in, webcast info, and the class notes.)

Knowing what his successful track record has been I was shocked when I saw his response in an interview to the question: Who are you targeting? when he answered, “We are going after all Americans. We would like to be the store for everyone.”

I was horrified when I heard this CEO say this.

How many times have you heard me say — and umpteen other marketing mentors — that the quickest way to go broke in your business is to try to be everything to everyone?

I have a feeling that if instead of trying to attract “everyone” — that if they set their sights on attracting only the kind of customers who are most likely to shop at J.C. Penney — that they would be far more successful in turning this store brand around. The reality is that NOT everyone is a likely customer for J.C. Penney. I know a few folks who wouldn’t be caught dead in the place.

Trying to attract “everyone” not only costs you a lot of extra money in scatter-shot marketing and advertising but also takes up an inordinate amount of your time. The biggest complaint I hear from the self-employed — especially solo-entrepreneurs — is there is never enough time to do all the marketing they think they need to do.

And too often, this lack of time comes from trying to reach a market that is too big and too broad. If, instead, you are focusing on just the clients who would be perfect for you, then it all becomes a great deal easier — and a whole lot less stressful — to manage.

That’s why you must be 100% clear about who your target audience is — or, the way I prefer to think of them, your perfect clients. I know, I know. You’ve heard this over and over again, but have you actually taken the time to commit the description of your perfect client to paper?

Do you really know who your perfect clients are so that when they show up you know they are right for you? And when those that show up that aren’t right for you, will you recognize that mismatch right away so you can refer them to someone else who might be a better fit?

Why in the world would you ever want to spend any time with clients who make you crazy, who you come to dread to talk to, and who will never be willing to pay you full value for what you do for them?

Why would you do that to yourself? And yet, business people STILL don’t know who their perfect clients are.

To rectify that, my friend and colleague, Shirley Norwood, will be presenting a one-hour teleclass that will walk you through the process of discovering exactly who your perfect clients are. You’ll come away knowing who you should be targeting so you’ll be able to make marketing plans that focus on attracting only those folks who will be the most perfect clients for you.

Here’s the reality: what you offer in your business is great and will help a lot of people, but only a certain kind of person. You’ll do them a lot more good if you home in on just them. Then, you’ll be able to spend a lot more time actually helping people solve their problems instead of spending so much marketing to everyone.

Join Shirley and me for this teleclass on Valentines Day at 11:00 am Eastern Time. That’s on Tues., February 14th. The class is free, but you do need to register for How Many Bad Clients Do You Have to Kiss Before You Find Your Perfect One?

At a recent live workshop about email marketing, the presenter asked the audience how many of them had checked Twitter that morning and about 10% raised their hands. Then she asked how many had checked Facebook, and about 50% of them raised their hands. Last, she asked how many had checked their email and nearly 100% of the audience raised their hands.

Social Media needs to work interactively with your email marketing because it is likely that most of your sales will come from your email efforts.

In addition, email service providers give you some great stats to review about every email message you send, so you can look for trends and learn when the best times are for you to mail your audience and to learn what they are most interested in.

More valuable Email and Social Media Marketing information inside for members-only. Join today!