Blogs: An Online Asset your Brand Can’t Ignore

Blogging for your business provides your company with one of the mist effective and inexpensive marketing techniques to drive traffic to your website and social links. To ignore such an easy and open strategy would be like deliberating turning prospect clients and interested parties. Blogging allows your target audience to get a sneak peak about your company, its services and products. Why would you not blog for your business?

Lonely at the Top: Why Good Leaders Must Learn to Manage Loneliness

See on Scoop.it – Characteristics of Success

Leaders spend their days surrounded by people, so the l…

Intel Boutique‘s insight:

Loneliness, even with a successful venture is carrying the weight and responsibility of that success without the support or assurance from another sole. Everyone assumes that failures takes a toll, but success to requires sacrifice.

See on switchandshift.com

Life Sets Us Back

Some of the biggest obstacles we’ll face have nothing to do with our business.  They’ll be matters of personal affairs.  Think about the last time you were employed and suddenly a relative died and you had to go to the funeral.   You would tell your boss what happened, how long you would be out of the out office and business would continue as usual despite your absence.  Now, let’s fast forward to where you are now.  Self employed, perhaps staff of one and you were just in a car accident.  What happens now?  Well, for those of you who are familiar with what it’s like being in an accident, you the know first thing you do is exchange information with the other parties involved, get a police report and contact your insurance company.  Now, what about your business?

Regardless of whether you were injured or not, if you’re out of commission, your business is out of commission.  The business is YOU.  Whatever happens to you, know that it’s affecting your company.  And if you use you car for business; to see and meet with clients, to run errands, to pick up promotional materials, to pick up stock and inventory whatever it may be — all of that is now on hold.  But most of us can’t afford to be in limbo just waiting to see what happens.  Our business pay the bills and our financial life line.  So what do we do to stay afloat in the meantime?

Evaluate and regroup.  If it was an accident you were able to walk away from, be thankful.  But we aware of your current standing.  If it was a death in the family, a close loved one, grieve.  But don’t drown in defeat.  Sometimes we let our emotions get the best of us and we go into a state of self pity or depression which takes a mental toll on us and we’re unable to focus on energies elsewhere.  Understand you may not want to focus your energies elsewhere at the moment.  That’s fine.  But remember,  you need come back to the business as soon as you can with a clear mind and a plan so that your losses are still minimal.  Having you is still a whole lot better than not having you.

What do you need to do?  Cry, grieve, take a day off or two for you and just think about your next steps.  You probably didn’t have much when you started your business and you built it to where it is now.  An accident, a death or any other related life catastrophe isn’t a defeat.  It’s a setback.  And life will set us back from time to time.  You can consider it a test, you can consider it  random chaos, just don’t consider it the end.  Tap into your networks, friends and family and let them know what’s currently going on with you and your situation.  See if there’s anybody out there who can and is willing to be of assistance until you can get a firmer grip and pick and keep on going.  Life sets us back.  We just gotta keep going forward.

Related articles

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If We Had No Limits…

If we had no limits, how high would we reach?

How ambitiously could we soar?

What could stop us?  What could ground us?

Would we achieve every goal, live every dream?

Would we be our best and give our all?

If we had no limits, what would we envision?

What would we create?

Would we alter inspiration and redefine innovation?

Would we be another start-up, a Silicon Valley story?

Could we be a tech titan or an App ally?

Would the masses know our name , would the media our faces?

If we had no limits, would funding be an issue?

Would investors be needed?

Would we have to crowd-fund, would we dare to fund raise?

Would we know all the answers and have all the tools?

Would we be an overnight success or gradually build an empire?

Would we do it for the love of money or do it for love?

If we had no limits…

Are You Too Frugal?

Everyone’s talking about bootstrapping these days.  How to build and maintain a lean start-up the right way. Ensuring that our company has enough money to last through the rough patches.  But we’ve heard time and time again that in order to make money, we have to spend money.  And we do, frugally.  We’re careful and slow to hire, we seek out the best deals before we make big office purchases and we’ll go without certain luxuries and amenities as long as needed.  When we do spend, we stretch every dollar and we save, we’re pinching every penny.  But are we holding onto those dollars too tightly that it becomes impossible for us to part with?  Are we hurting our businesses by not spending when we need to?   When do we spend and we do we save?

In every stage in our business, we should be saving, setting some money to the side.  Even when we’re starting out.  Ironically, starting a business is when owners spend the most.  They’re paying the lease, getting utilities turned on, stocking inventory, paying accountants and CPAs, hiring their first rounds of employees, and setting up service accounts.  Money is just slipping through their fingers.  It’s no wonder that when invoices are being paid in full, they want to hold onto every dollar coming in.  But every dollar needs to have its place.   Whether we’re paying ourselves, our employees or investing back in the company, ever dollar needs to go somewhere.  Holding onto to every dollar because you can isn’t making it work for us or our businesses.  And yes, if we’re putting those hard-earned dollars in a business savings account, that too is considered working for us as well. But we have to be mindful about saving… and spending.

So, once again, when do we spend and we do we save?

SPEND – When we need help working in the business.  This could mean hiring employees or contracting work and services out to someone outside the company.  How do we know when we need employees or outside work?  When we’re threaten with losing customers — current and new — because we can’t keep up with orders and purchases on our own (which is a good thing, when you think about it)

SAVE – A portion of every payment that comes in.  Decide how much we want to be saved.  It could be 5%, it could be 10%.  But something needs to be save for the general rainy — no customer, no client producing– days.

SPEND – When the equipment we’re working with isn’t working.  It takes more than us to run a business, no matter how big and bad we think we are.  That could be our all-purpose copier/ printer/fax machine, it could be a laptop, it be a new accounting system.   Spending on the right equipment could save us having to spend much more later.  It’s an investment, not a waste.  Remember that.

SAVE – When customers and payments are abundant.  Sometimes this is when business owners begin to do another big round of spending because they have the money.  And that’s alright as long as they remember to save too.

SPEND – When you need important and legal advice or information.  The last thing any of us want is to be caught up in a lawsuit because we weren’t prepared or knowledgeable about the perils of our business.  If you’re seeking a business attorney, ask who offers free consultation.  And before committing or signing any agreement, understand the value you’re getting in return.

SAVE – When you can do it yourself.  There is a too much free information (whether it’s right or wrong, is debatable) out there for us to always spend on seeking someone’s paid help.  If you’re capable and have time (or can make time), do it yourself.  At least, in the beginning.  If you know way around building a website, build one yourself.  Then when you need an online face lift, seek out someone more professional.

I know, it’s nice to be in the black instead of the red, but as long we remember we’re making investments into our company, we don’t have to worry that we’re throwing our money away.   We’ll be spending and  saving the right way.

 

The Impact of Marketing: Back to school pt1

It’s not just knowing that a business’ market efforts matter — no matter how large or small that enterprise is — but, it also matters what you’re marketing. Is it something that people want or need and is there a niche for it? If so, marketing, marketing, marketing! Do not neglect the need for it.

Giving It Up

Ever wonder what you’d be throwing away or giving up on when you decide to let your business dreams and aspirations go?

Yes, you may go back to getting a paycheck regularly.

Benefits and insurance may be a guarantee.

And your days may go back to being stable and structured.

But what about the passion you had to do something greater than yourself?

What about the ideas you started playing with and talents you wanted to harness?

What about all the experience and knowledge you gained all long the way?

Could someone else sitting in their big office and expense account ever pay you aptly for your invested time?

If it’s not about the money, what about the joy?

You could be happy punching in the clock and counting down the hours?

Would you be okay with going back to the status quo and what’s expected?

Could you go back to having a job instead of establishing a business?

If you wanted to leave something for your kids or your grand-kids, would your job give them your title? Your salary and your bonus?

Could you be okay with never knowing all that you could have accomplished?

Could you give your all to building someone else’s dream?

The Good With The Bad

I’ve had the opportunity during my employment experience to work for half dozen small business owners or so– graphic designer, loan modification agents, caterer, writers/authors, financial adviser, real estate agents.  That’s partly how I created Intel Boutique, through my service with them, I started seeing the needs of business owners in a whole new light.   But not all my experiences were positive and rewarding.  Some of them were a warning of who not to do business with and how not to manage my business in the future.  And because my goal had been to go into business for myself, I kept my eyes peeled all the time, observing as much as I could and learning my lessons vicariously through them.  And boy, oh, boy — there are some lesson I’ll never forget.  But just as in life, you gotta take the good with the bad and even with the ugly.

Loan Modifications – I didn’t know how off centered this entire operation was until I was a month deep into it and those who had been there longer started revealing all the you-know-what that had hit the fan.  Needless to say, I was there for 3 months and was happy to say good-bye.  What I took with me:

• Never EVER make a client feel your absence.  I don’t care if it’s some kind of ploy or tactic, it’s just bad practice.  And it makes the client feel uneasy, especially when you’re handling their personal financial records.  And anytime a client feels that uneasy, they bring in a lawyer to make you feel that uneasy too.
• Don’t change the rules/policies with your employees every 2-3 weeks.  It’s ridiculous and it’s unprofessional.  If something needs to be changed give them ample warning and reasons as to why you’re shifting gears.  Bring them into the process rather than keep them from it.
• No micro-managing…EVER.  If you can’t trust your staff to do their job, then you shouldn’t have hired them.  Make the competent so you feel assured in their work.

Writer/Author– Such creative spirits to be around.  But creativity doesn’t substitute for business sense or time management.  What I learned:

• Always agree upon working schedule in advance — depending on works best for you and them .  If they always need reminders the day of — it becomes more of a burden and not worth your efforts.  Time is money, on both ends.
• Do not work outside the scope of which you were hired.  You’ll be doing multiple jobs and getting one check.  If they wanted you to handle more, then they need to compensate you adequately.
• Agree on a productive working environment condusive for success.  Yes, you’re there to do a job, but you’re also there to do the best damn job possible.  Keep your interest in mind too.

Financial Adviser – Talking about multi-tasking, this guy did it all from financial services, to managing commercial retail property in another state and to being health agent broker.  I’m a firm believer in creating multiple income streams, so I don’t knock him there, but without help, he almost always seemed lost.  What I saw wrong:

• Don’t let your staff create the systems you run your business with.  When they go, so could those systems.
• You may not have the best memory, so take good notes. Keep track and follow up.
• Train all staff to do all tasks, or assigned specific tasks to specific staff members,  Giving unfamiliar duties to staff members will lead to errors.   Make it so that their jobs can run smoothly and that your business can run smoother.

You’ll find that in most of your work, whether it be for someone else or yourself, there are more lessons than there is actual work.  Look for the lesson and see if that improves you work at all.  You might just find a golden opportunity to be your own boss, too.

Related articles

• What are the Five Mistakes Small Businesses Make? (hiscoxusa.com)
• 7 Habits Of A Highly Successful Small Business Owners (blogpestcontrol.com)
• Risky Business: What You Need to Know to Cover Your You Know What (hiscoxusa.com)

Is Your Business A “Fixer-Upper”?

A lot of the time we blame our business failures on lack of time, money, resources and knowledge about the industry and market.   And it makes sense.  Maybe we started our business too early.  The customers were there yet, they didn’t see what we saw and weren’t ready to make shift.  Maybe we didn’t have enough money to get our business off the ground or sustain it in its first year.   Maybe we didn’t have the right suppliers or vendors to work with, or we were outsourcing too much of our tasks and not tackling what could be done in-house. We fail to understand, however,  that no matter how good the idea is, if we’re not flexible to make changes along the way, our businesses will never go anywhere.

Is Your Business in Need of Repair?

Companies will always need some fixing up.  In the early stage, when things aren’t so pinned down and concrete, making changes is easy.  After all, we’re still bouncing around ideas and getting a feel for what to expect.  But what happens when we’ve launched our business, or it’s been in business for a few years, but we’re still struggling to see a return of our investment?  Despite what we’ve been told or heard, the majority of changes a company will need to make in its lifetime will be after it’s up and running.  How will we know which changes to make and when?  We can rely on trial and error, but that takes time and often, a lot money.  A better way –ask for feedback from our customers and staff members.  That seems to work the best.  Customers know what they want and what they’re willing to pay for it.  And more often than not, they’re willing to tell us in one fashion or another — angry/poor reviews, 1 or 2 star ratings, or dissing comments on social media platforms.

Is it all about ratings and reviews?  Is it all about customer service with a smile?  What signs do we look for to know it’s time for some changes to be made?:

• Do we offer a way for customers/ clients to leave feedback with a call-to-action on our websites?
• Do we take time to personalize service to each customer?  If not each customer, how about repeat or loyal customers?
• Do we ever ask employees what they feel could improve their productivity?
• Have we not change a single thing about your business — website, logo, philosophy, design, products, reception of customers —  since we’ve opened your doors?
• Do we put off responding to any feedback till the following day only to forget?
• How often do we say or show thanks to our customers?
• How often do you reinvest money back into the company?
• How high is our retention rate among our staff?   If  we’ve had about 5-6 employees leave in a 3 month period…NOT GOOD!
• Do we ever do quarterly or monthly analysis on where our company is and where we’d like it to be by a deadline?

Stop and think about some of these questions.  If you answered ‘no’ or ‘I don’t know’ to 3 or more of these, then you are in need some fixing up, my friend.  It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but don’t go out of business because you refused to budge on what you think is right.   Turn off the TV and get out a note pad.  It’s time to see where the most work is needed in your company and begin brainstorming on how to get there.  Will you repair it or let it crumble to the ground?

{photo credit: Ladyheart via morguefile.com}

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Use The Science Of Persuasion As A Marketing Tool

 

 

I love videos like these.   Something about having a well informed animated video is much more interesting than listening to someone yak on and on.  I can admit, I still watch car-toons from time to time.  School House Rock was the best with it’s ‘I’m just an ordinary bill’ — although it no longer airs.  More importantly, the video shares wonderful knowledge about persuasion in relation to getting people to buy one’s product or services.  And I know many of us have seen, if not had,  one of these experiences  — such as receiving mints at the end of our meal at a restaurant — only to learn they’re a unique approach to marketing via persuasion.  Persuasion is marketing, essentially.  The goal is to get our target market to buy and prefer to buy whatever it is we are offering or selling over our competitors because we are either well-established, we’re a favorable company to do business with, we offer better deals and giveaways and/ or we have well-known positive reputationmar.

Which principle of persuasion would work best for your business?

{video credit: influenceatwork and  www.insideinfluence.com}

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