When I was at Mark Victor Hansen's Mega Marketing Magic seminar, he gave everyone in attendance a stack of "Mega Action Cards."

The stack was actually a tablet of 52 cards, one for each week of the year.

The challenge?

To dedicate yourself to implementing one idea a week for 52 weeks. The suggestion was to select ideas from those we were learning over the three-day event, and actually commit to implementing those ideas.

What a great idea!

After all, how many of us have attended seminars and come back home with new ideas only to end up shoving them in a drawer to never again to see the light of day.

We're certainly not going to grow our business that way.

The only way to grow your business is to take action every single day. There's always more to learn, but at some point you just have to go for it.

If you over analyze every single idea and you're always waiting until you learn a little bit more before you step out and try something, your business will grow slowly, if at all.

You can't be afraid to just do it.

If you'd like to read an article I wrote on this topic, visit http://www.10stepmarketing.com/fire.htm

It wasn't always this way.

But in the past two years I've found I'm able to accomplish so much more if I take action sooner rather than later.

Sure, you may take a few mis-steps when you do this, but you'll also learn and move your business forward a whole lot faster than if you sit back and wait until you've got everything mastered.

As a recovering perfectionist, this was a big shift for me, but it has paid off big-time.

I'd like to challenge you to adopt this "take action" mentality with your business.

Ask yourself every week, what's one action you can take to move your business forward. And don't be afraid to go out on a limb.

In addition to pulling ideas from your marketing plan, I encourage you to continue learning new ways to market and build your business. And start implementing those new ideas along with your planned activities.

Currently I'm on week 3 in my 52-card Marketing Action Plan, and I intend to continue implementing at least one idea every week. The first 3 weeks have been very productive so I know if I can keep it up I'll have an amazing year.

How about you?

What's one action you can take this week to move your business forward?

Debbie LaChusa

Debbie LaChusa is a marketing veteran with 20 years in the business. After 13 years in the advertising and marketing agency business, Debbie founded DLC Marketing, Inc., a marketing consulting and coaching business. Her goal? To give entrepreneurs and small business owners affordable access to the same high-level strategic marketing and advertising expertise that typically only large companies with big budgets can afford.

Debbie's commitment to making marketing expertise accessible to small business also led her to pursue speaking engagements and teaching. She has spoken at meetings and conventions across the United States and in Canada. She also is on the faculty of Wellcoaches Corporation, where she teaches wellness coach trainees around the world how to successfully market their new coaching practices.

Debbie has written and self-published two marketing workbooks, "A Step-by-Step Marketing Guide" and "A Step-by-Step Marketing Guide for Your Fitness Business" which have sold copies worldwide. Her advice is also featured in Entrepreneur Magazine's "How to Start a Personal Training Business," part of the magazine's Business Start-Up Series. And she is a contributor to the San Diego Business Journal.

Debbie created The 10stepmarketing? System to provide small business owners, coaches, consultants and other independent professionals with all the tools they need to market themselves.

This simple, step-by-step system, features an easy-to-use question-and-answer format that walks business owners through every step they need to take to develop and implement their own marketing plan designed to achieve the success they desire and deserve.

On a more personal note, Debbie LaChusa is a fraternal twin. In 2004 she launched Twin Connections, a web site that celebrates the unique and mysterious bond shared by twins. She collects twin stories and hopes to compile them into a book.