Hopefully your goal for going into business is one of longevity. It is important to establish yourself and to stay around so that your clients and new prospects can find you. How do you stay in the game until your efforts pay off? It really boils down to your promotion and marketing efforts which is not very easy to do when you have little money at the beginning.

What it takes is for you to be virtually a marketing machine. When business is good and when it is off, you have to promote yourself, and the services you offer in as many economical ways as you can. Writing articles, distributing flyers, cards, postcards, advertise with cheap ads, attending networking events, have a web presence, newsletter, joining forces with another business owner for mutual benefit of cross promotions, referrals, making phone calls sometimes including cold calling, faxing, and as much as you can think of doing.

It also comes from a place deep in your heart to keep on plugging until you push through. The statistics of new business failure is staggering. Most loan sources such as banks and independent loan companies insist that you have a track record of at least three years before they will take a chance on you and your business and give you a loan.

Three, five, ten, twenty years, and more are miles stones that are very important. You have to have tenacity like a pit bull. You have to learn how to adapt, quickly change when you need to and commit to your idea with every once of fiber in your being.

Many people think that they have to do new and exciting things but some of the best companies just keep doing what they have been doing every day for years. That is the tenacity that it takes to be successful and to stay in the game. Even when you may not see immediate results you have to keep plugging away and keep at promoting and marketing every day. Marketing doesn’t have to be in your face but more of hey I’m still here when you need me.

Here is an example of something that I do nearly every day. I write various articles and then at one time submit ten to thirty articles to various article databases on the internet to promote my website. I locate more places where I may offer my yoga services. I fax my information sheet around to my niche market which for me right now is locations that offer children’s yoga classes or may consider it. All my clients that I currently have I have gotten through cold faxing and follow up calls.

Another example of something that I am doing everyday is I continue to work on several aspects of establishing joint venture partnerships through which to promote my products. I’m calling, e-mailing, following up, writing the newsletter, getting the auto responders in place, organizing the website details, going back and forth with the copywriter and web designer and so on.

Another thing that I do on a weekly basis is I check my pay per click ads, and other on-line ads I have running. I replace or refresh the ads when they run out. I make sure that promote special occasions. That takes me some time, but when orders start coming in form these ads, I know it was worth it.

All these could be very mundane but they all have to be done on a daily basis if you want to build your business and reputation. You have to look at the long term picture and many times even though you are not bringing too much money in on a daily basis you have to have vision and faith that your efforts will pay off. It is a steady build up of income and business success that is a good barometer. You have to have patience that the mundane ordinary things are part of the greater picture. Promote and market every day. Consider writing articles one of the greatest and cheap sources of self promotion out there. Keep promoting and marketing and fight to stay in the game—that’s the only way to win.