Month: October 2008

Solutions Stars Video Conference

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date October 22, 2008
1 Comment on Solutions Stars Video Conference

The “Solutions Stars Video Conference” will be held on October 29, 2008 from 1 p.m. until about 3:30 p.m. EST and will feature a series of videos and live discussions with 30 leading small business and marketing experts. Small business owners and entrepreneurs will be able to view streaming videos and chat online about how to use the Internet to benefit their businesses. Select video participants will also be in the chat.
Video participants include best-selling author Tim Ferriss, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, and All-Top -Co Founder and top blogger Guy Kawasaki. Marketing experts Steve Hall, Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan, Wendy Piersall, Lee Odden, Toby Bloomberg, Brian Solis, Liz Strauss and others will also share their stories and advice.
Visit http://www.solutionsstarsvideo.com/ for updates, including our full programming schedule with five main content areas:
– Start with Listening
– Building Web Presence
– You Need a Twitter Presence
– To Blog or Not to Blog
– Rising Above the Noise

Business Ideas

7 Tips to Kill Time And Earn Some Fast Cash

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date October 20, 2008
4 Comments on 7 Tips to Kill Time And Earn Some Fast Cash

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YoungEntrepreneur by Chris Simpson: “If you are in a situation where you need to come up with some cash in a hurry, what do you do? Here are some suggestions that can make money fast when you are in a crunch:
1. Hold a garage sale.
Make up a sign or place an ad in your local paper to let people know about your sale. Not only will you have a lot less clutter in your home once the sale is over, but you will have earned some money in the process.
2. Sell unwanted items on eBay.
Another place to dispose of unwanted items is by selling them on eBay. You will have a better chance of selling your things if you include an image on the site.
3. Put an ad on Craigslist.
Placing an ad on Craigslist is another way to sell your stuff for cash. Since Craigslist is divided by city, this is an easy way to target local buyers.
4. Deliver fast food.
Delivering pizzas or Chinese food may not be the most glamorous way to make money in a hurry, but you will get paid cash nightly. In addition, you have the opportunity to make money in tips.
4. Sign up at an employment agency.
If you are looking for work “right now,” consider doing some temporary work. You will get paid every week and it could be a stepping-stone for other, more lucrative work.
5. Sign up for online paid surveys.
Do a little digging to find online survey companies that pay in cash. Skip over the opportunities that only give you an entry in a sweepstakes.
6. Offer childcare services from your home.
If you are at home with your children anyway, you can bring in some money by offering to care for other people’s children as well.
7. Offer to do odd jobs.
If you are able to shovel snow, mow lawns, clean out garages or attics, you should be able to find someone in the neighborhood who needs these types of things done.
There are many ways you can make money fast when you need to. You might decide to sell something you own or use the skills you already have to reach this goal. “The important thing to remember when money gets tight is that you do have options, if you let yourself be creative.”
7 Ways To Make Money In A Hurry [YoungEntrepreneur]

People & Relationships

Be a Respected And Well-Loved Boss

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date October 19, 2008

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BusinessKnowHow by Paul Facella: If you’re a manager, supervisor, department head, senior executive, or business owner, it’s more important to be respected than to be loved. But here’s a secret: You can be both.
Being a well-loved boss isn’t about developing a cult of personality. In fact, you don’t have to have fantastic people skills to win over employees. What you do need is a commitment to make connection–real connection–with the people who work under you. That means getting to know their challenges, their work style, their stressors, and their role in the overall functioning of your company. It also means noticing them, acknowledging them, and listening to them.
Here are some tried-and-true ways to make that all-important connection with your staff and employees.

Be on the other end of the phone.
Start an ombudsman program.
Make friends–yes, friends–with coworkers.
Work alongside your front-line people.
Don’t get too big for your britches.
Stay conscious of your image.
Be in the thick of things.
Set an example.
Be consistent.
Being a Well-Loved Boss [BusinessKnowHow]

Sales & Marketing

Need to Improve Your Marketing? Throw a PASS!

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date October 18, 2008

Article Contributed by Ron Abbott
Every business has the ability to reap huge benefits by making small improvements in their marketing. By leveraging a few key areas you can create plentiful and consistent sales opportunities. One area that can produce significant improvement is the techniques you use to communicate your marketing message to your audience.
The most powerful force in marketing is the skill of persuasion. Your ability to communicate to your target market the benefits and solutions your product or service provides is the key to your business success.
One proven technique that will improve your persuasion skills is to throw them a PASS with your marketing message.
PASS stands for Problem – Agitation – Story – Solution. This communication technique utilizes a powerful psychological trigger: People are highly motivated to action on problems that cause them pain, stress and discomfort.
Your most qualified prospects are looking to solve a specific problem, dissatisfaction or challenge they are facing in their lives. Your job as a marketer is to focus their attention on this problem and show them that you have the best available solution. You must motivate them to take action by stimulating their emotional need to solve the problem and relieve the stress that is attached to it.
Here’s how to use the powerful PASS technique in your marketing materials.
1. Problem – Define the problem they are experiencing and address it clearly so it triggers an emotional response. Get them to take time to think about the pain or discomfort they are feeling.
2. Agitation – Make them feel the problem by pointing out the possible scenarios that could occur if they don’t take action. Feeling a sense of loss or missed opportunity often compels people to act immediately.
3. Story – Tell a relevant story of someone who shared the same problem and their method of solving it. Focus on the positive results they experienced and how they benefited by solving the problem with your product or service.
4. Solution – Offer them a solution to the problem with your product or service. Provide detailed benefits, examples and testimonials of satisfied clients and customers you’ve helped before.
Your goal is to whip them into a frenzy by using emotional triggers which point out the cause of the problem. Once sufficiently agitated, offer your solution and educate them on the benefits you provide to fix it. Paint them a picture of what their life will look like as a result of purchasing your product or service.
When you use the PASS technique, the prospect will sell themselves on the fact they need to make a purchase to remove the pain and problem. For excellent case studies of this formula in action, watch any of the hundreds of TV infomercials that are broadcast over every day. There’s a reason they utilize the PASS technique…it works!
About the Author
Find more marketing techniques from marketing coach Ron Abbott and to request your free marketing report, “Ten Critical, Must-Have Techniques To Improve Your Marketing Results” at htpp://www.td-marketing-system.com.