Month: October 2011

Categories
Networking

Don’t Have a Facebook Business Page? Why You Must Suck It Up & Create Your Facebook Business Page Today

Article Contributed By Suzen Pettit

If kids, soon-to-be-adults and millions of not-so-young adults are your future audience, then you need to have a Facebook Business Page as you need to be where your audience is. And, today, our children, teens, young adults and even older adults like my former room mates and my ex (who deny they are addicted to Facebook) can be found updating their profile, commenting and changing their status updates regularly.

The New York Times even wrote an article recently that showed kids are finding crafty ways to get around the increasing number of Facebook bans their schools are implementing. One eighth grader, who preferred not to be named, said he coached a school administrator on avoiding the ban last year. “She hated not being able to get on Facebook at work and asked for my help one day in the office,” the boy explained, more than a little sympathetic to her plight. “What could I do?”

It came as no surprise to me, and it’s speaking volumes of the need for small businesses, as much as they want to continue down that stream of FB Denial, to get on board and create a Facebook business page. It is time
for them to put themselves in front of this next generation of Facebook addicts.

Need more proof?

5 Reasons Why You Must Setup a Facebook Fan Page Fast!

1)  Kids, soon adults, and millions of young and not-so-young adults are your future audience and they are all there, “friending” Justin Bieber under their covers (like my daughter last night) when they should be asleep.

2)  With over 600 million users and almost 50% of them on Facebook daily…. stop…. think about it….., AND over 40% of existing businesses already up and running on it, you want your business to be where your customers and potential customers are going, right? If you knew that your customers were passing by one of the huge billboards in Times
Square every day and those billboards didn’t cost millions per month to be advertising there, you would want to be up there…wouldn’t you?

3)  Your Facebook business page is like the huge billboard in Times Square  except for the fact that it’s free. Your customers are there, their friends are there. And you can say a heck of a lot more on a FB page than you can on a billboard.

4)  The search engines love a Facebook Business Page. Because a business page is a public URL and not a private one, your site will have a much easier time making it to the top of a Google search than your website. That’s unless you’ve invested a lot of $ into SEO (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

5)  As mentioned earlier, your competition already has a Facebook business page, and not because they want to share about their favorite rice and beans recipe. The “like” button has become the new “link.” Many online marketers, myself included now believe that the Facebook “like” button is becoming just as significant as backlinks to a website. In other words, the more “likes” your page has, the greater the chance of it ranking high in the search engines for your specific field and keywords. So think of it as a link and encourage your customers to press it. Every time you update something on your page these customers will now see it as they have been “linked” to it.

There are so many good reasons to create one of these Facebook business pages I could blather on and on about them forever. For now, think about the math. The average Facebook page has 140 friends. When you post to Facebook, your “friends” and all their “friends” will view your post. Can you spell V-I-R-A-L? As insane as it might sound, there’s a reason why Shop Rite wants you to “like” them on Facebook.

About the Author:

Suzen Pettit specializes in designing, building, marketing and maintaining optimized websites and social media profiles for busy small business owners. By using her strategic internet marketing techniques you will ensure your business is being found and that clients are seeing what YOU want them to see on the internet about you. For even more free tips, tools, strategies and resources, read her free articles at: http://www.omaginarium.com/blog/

Categories
Planning & Management

What Do You Do When You Lose Your Mojo? 3 Tips

It happens. For many of us entrepreneurs, our business is built around us. So when we get tired, stressed, overwhelmed, burnt out or lose our mojo, our business suffers. And when that happens, it can impact us in all sorts of negative ways.

So when we do lose our mojo, what can we do to get it back? Here are 3 tips to help you out:

1. Take care of yourself so it doesn’t happen in the first place. Okay, I realize if you’re already suffering from burn  out and have lost your mojo this isn’t going to help you much, but for the rest of you (and once you’ve gotten your mojo back) this is where you need to start.

So, when I say take care of yourself, I mean more then eating well and getting enough sleep (although it can certainly mean that). What I mean is you have to do things that “fill the well.” That’s more of a creativity expression — if you don’t do things that feed your creativity and fill the well, the well of creativity will run dry and then you’ll be in a fix. But it’s the same concept for you as an entrepreneur.

Basically two things are going on as an entrepreneur — along with doing all those fun things that use up the well of creativity (or well of passion or whatever makes sense for you) you also end up doing things that aren’t your strengths. So, as an entrepreneur, you actually run the risk of burning out from two different sides — emptying the well and draining yourself from doing tasks you hate. (This is why so many entrepreneurs struggle with losing their mojo and burning out, because they don’t realize this is happening, they try and power through it and then it all blows up in their face.)

So what you need to do is take the time to do things that fill your well and feed your soul, plus try and eliminate the tasks you hate. (Honestly, there WILL come a time where you simply can’t do those tasks anymore and that’s a really bad place to be if you have no back up plan.) At the same time, you should do things that take care of your general health and well being — exercise, eat right, sleep more, go out with friends, read a good book, etc.

If you make a point of taking care of yourself and your needs, you should avoid this whole nasty business in the first place.

2. If you are stuck in burn out and have lost your mojo, be gentle with yourself. Look, you didn’t get here overnight and you’re not going to cure yourself overnight. So take a deep breath and know this is a process and you WILL recover, it just might take a little time. (Maybe more time than you want but it is what it is.) Beating yourself up and berating yourself is just going to make the healing process take that much longer.

3. Put together a plan. Start by taking some time off. Even if it’s a weekend. Or just one day. Try and get away from your office and your computer. If you can take a week off, better yet.

Now, if you only end up taking off a day or a weekend, you may still really not feel like being back when you open the door to your office, but remind yourself you’re being gentle and this is a process. I just want you to break the cycle you’re in and clear your head a bit. What you should do now is figure out what you need to be doing to feed your soul, fill the well AND take care of yourself. If you don’t know what those tasks would be, try a bunch of them out. (“The Artist Way” by Julia Cameron can really help fill the creative well if you want a place to start).

Also, take some time to start delegating those tasks you hate doing. Get them off your to-do list. The faster you can stop doing them, the faster you’re going to start feeling better.

And through it all, keep reminding yourself this is a process and it WILL get better, once you’re filled the well, feel better health-wise and get rid of the tasks that drain you.

Categories
People & Relationships

Don’t Be a Pushover Employee

Article Contributed By Mystique

The word ‘Pushover’ was in my mind from the day I watched an Episode of “Friends” (the most popular sitcom showed on ABC). In that episode the character ‘Rachel’ played by Jennifer Annistonwas bit of a pushover, which means a person that is easily defeated or taken advantage of. It’s not a born defect rather a fear of anything or insecure feeling which makes you act like a pushover. I’ve seen people acting like total pushovers on their jobs which most of the time put a bad affect on your social profile. So I’m writing about some disadvantages of being a pushover on the job.

Decisions made without your inclusion

Being a pushover makes you invisible on your job, while big or small decisions are made. As being a pushover you act neutral on all situations so they don’t think of needing your suggestions while deciding over something. It’s not only during big decisions, but also while deciding over small decisions like a trip to somewhere or some outdoor activity among the colleague circle. You may have the position or authority to decide, but the people around you don’t think you’re worthy with decisions.
You just follow orders

The main demerit of being a pushover that you only follow orders without objecting to anything. The people at your job ask to go, you go; they ask to sit, you sit; and they ask to work, you work. Most of the time you must be thinking that you’re doing work which is of worth to the company, but do you really think anybody knows you outside your work profile. You’re just a computer program who follows commands and executes tasks.
Your colleagues get interested on you

Being a pushover makes you get this one important thing while you’re on the job, “Interest”. But don’t get happy that someone is interested on you because of your personality, it’s because you work more and you’ll do their work too. Sometimes they do act before you like you’re their only hope. I suggest don’t get diverted as this “Interest” is a dangerous weapon which can kill your social life. At the end of the day you’ll be loaded with someone else’s work which you’ll never get credit for.
You being a fool, others act cool

Yeah, it’s true. Being a pushover you’re no more less than a fool before whom everyone else act cool. You’re a person who wants credit but never speak of it rather gives credit others for nothing. The most embarrassing thing happens when your colleague whose assignment was done by you gets credit for it. On that moment you’re just left with a Jack-Ass stamp on your face.
You’re feel Insecure at every step

This is a characteristic of a pushover. You just fear or feel insecure while doing something different or attempting something new. This makes your work profile weak before your Boss and she/he ignores while reviewing performances. This is what stops you being a leader on your job and also slows your journey to higher positions.
Most of the time you do your Boss’s work

This is a common problem of every person who is a pushover or act like pushover. You’ve to do your Boss’s work as you’ve the quality of shaking your head to left. I mean to say you’ve a power of saying yes to everything unreasonable, objectionable and idiotic. Most of the paper work done by your Boss would be either the easiest or most difficult for work you, yet you’ve to do that as your Boss wants that.

So think what you want to be while you’re on a job, a Pushover or a Person who comes front and speaks for his rights.

About the Author:

Mystique is a new Job Blogger and wants to share his job experience with the job bloggers. Mystique likes to write about the factors that help you get a job, surviving on the job, the job environment and how to get kicked out of it too, on his new blog The Job Factor. He is an avid gamer, computer geek, web designer and a jobber too.

Categories
People & Relationships

Level 1 Leadership Communication – Becoming the Leader You Want/Need to Be

Article Contributed by Skip Weisman

You’ve probably heard the phrase “be careful what you wish for”, haven’t you? Let’s assume you have.
That was my exact thought at the age of 26 when I was thrust, unexpectedly, into the role of Vice President/General Manager of one of Minor League Baseball’s most successful franchises in the mid-80s in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Overnight I went from being comfortable in my role as assistant general manager into the top position of a $3 million business.

In looking back on that experience early in my career in baseball management, I realized I got into the game for selfish reasons and never envisioned myself as a leader. Well, to be fair, at that age many young men are self-seeking when it comes to their career aspirations. Wisdom comes with age and experience!

But at that age, I never really aspired to be a leader, I just wanted to work in baseball.

I’m making this point because it took me a long time, probably 10-12 years, before I felt comfortable in my leadership role. It took me that long to realize how important investing time and energy is in what I refer to as Level 1 Leadership Communication.

Let me explain. Knowing these basic level skills provides an important foundation on which you build the trust and respect you need to lead people most effectively. It also provides the foundation from which you are then be able to get great results from your more advanced techniques. I call these Level 2 & Level 3 Leadership Communication.

Level 1 Leadership Communication is about becoming self-aware and defining yourself as a leader, then committing to be the type of leader you want to be, and then acting congruently and consistently with that definition.

To help you get a better grasp on this, I have created two separate, but related, exercises. One is called the WHO-WHAT-HOW Exercise, described below. (Don’t just read about it; I encourage you to take out a piece of paper and work on this exercise):

WHO-WHAT-HOW Exercise:

WHO – Define who you want to be as a leader. Identify the traits, personality characteristics and the communication style you are committed to applying in your leadership role. If you know or have admired other leaders whom you would like to emulate, list them and their traits.

Example:

  • Detail oriented,
  • punctual,
  • early riser,
  • physically fit,
  • healthy diet,
  • communicates with directness but with compassion and empathy,
  • open minded,
  • curious,
  • true open door policy.

WHAT – What are the specific details behind each of the traits, personality characteristics and the communication style you want to use.

Example:

  • Ask a lot of questions,
  • listens actively and responds appropriately,
  • always uses appropriate eye contact,
  • is early for every meeting,
  • always prepares meeting agenda in advance and lets others review it for comments and adjustments before providing final copy in advance,
  • always has time for others when requested either in the moment or schedules a specific time as close as possible to the time the request is made,
  • always follows through with an answer to questions/requests in a timely fashion,
  • always maintains and projects appropriate emotional demeanor.

HOW – How are you committed to manifesting these traits and how are you committed to showing up as a leader. This is where the aspiring Champion Leader commits to applying those traits, characteristics and actions into specific daily behaviors in leading their organization.

Example:

  • I promise to be early and prepare in advance for all meetings.
  • I will maintain a positive attitude and apply the most appropriate emotional responses to situations so that I can be a role model for those I lead.
  • I promise to lead by example in terms of my personal health and physical fitness, and
  • will treat all those who come before me with respect, empathy, compassion and genuineness.

The “HOW” section is the leader’s personal promise and standard statement to themselves and to those they lead. It is something those that aspire to be great leaders are willing to hold themselves accountable to and are willing to have those they lead hold them accountable to.

The WHO-WHAT-HOW exercise is a very powerful process offering a solid strategy for Level 1 Leadership Communication.

Once your WHO-WHAT-HOW is complete it is meant to be a living, working document that should be evaluated, and adjusted regularly, if required. It is also a great model to launch a 360 feedback process from those you lead, which will allow you to make adjustments that will have the greatest impact and results in leading your team and organization.

About the Author
Skip Weisman is The Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert. He’s the author of the white paper report titled, “The 7 Deadliest Sins of Leadership & Workplace Communication: How Leaders and Their Employees Unknowingly Undermine Morale, Motivation and Trust in Work Environments.” The white paper is available as a free download for a limited time at www.HowToImproveLeadershipCommunication.com. If you’d like to learn how you can improve your work environment by improving communication contact him directly with any questions, or for a complimentary Strategy Session at 845-463-3838 or e-mail to Skip@WorkplaceCommunicationExpert.com

Categories
Branding

Ten Things Small Businesses Need to Consider When Branding

 

Brand management is a process that helps your business produce long-lasting connections with your customers. Your brand is an establishment of how you would like people to feel about your business. A good brand provides a solid identity, which endears itself to your customers. By taking the time to adequately brand your business and providing excellent customer service, you will be able to enhance the growth of your business and increase your bottom line. The following are ten things to consider as you brand your business.

1. Distinguish yourself from the competition:

A unique brand identity will help you stand out in a crowded global marketplace. When you think of majorly successful companies and their products, you will notice they all have iconic branding.This is not a coincidence. Add high-level customer service and high-quality products or services, and your business will outshine the competition.

2. Marketing becomes more effective:

Your brand conveys the message of who you are and what your company is about. By establishing your brand and identity in the minds of your customers, marketing your business becomes much easier and more effective. Truly successful brands need no introduction.

3. Make your business more recognisable:

A good brand will stand out in the minds of customers. Psychological theories and ideas, such as Cognitive Fluency, state that the easier something comes to mind, such as your business name or the visual representation of your logo, the more likely a person will choose it. It is therefore very important to make your business more recognizable than your competition.

4. Creates business credibility:

Credibility is more important than whether or not you’ve been in business for a long time. If your business lacks professional credibility, customers will go elsewhere. Provide excellent service and well-managed brand will come to represent that service to establish your business credibility.

5. Helps create a connection with your customer:

Good products and services establish a connection with your customers. In fact, customers enjoy the feelings they get when they purchase or use a particular item that they love. Imagine a favourite pair of shoes or car manufacturer. Establishing your brand with your customers in this manner will evoke that type of connection.

6. Helps ensure loyalty:

A well-managed brand takes the connection that is created between the product and customer and ensures loyalty to the brand. How many times have you heard a person rave about a great product and how they absolutely love the company that makes it? This type of loyalty is established through excellent branding.

7. Conveys establishment and stability:

By staying the course with your brand and providing top-level customer service, your brand will help your business convey stability and the idea that it has been established for a long period of time.

8. Helps your business look larger:

A professionally executed brand identity and logo system provides a look and feel for your business that could make it look larger than it really is. If you have a poorly executed logo and brand, it will create the feeling that the business is small and less established.

9. Attracts more customers:

Having a good brand will naturally attract more customers. More importantly, a good brand will attract customers through word-of-mouth, which is one of the best forms of advertising and brand equity that a company can receive.

10. Creating something more memorable:

A quality brand will evoke good feelings in customers. In return, these feelings will be more memorable in the minds of your customers. This will ensure that they return to your business when they need more of your products or services.

With new technologies and the Internet providing a global face for your business, brand management is incredibly important. If you focus on developing your brand for the long-term, and bolster it with superb customer service and quality products or services, you’ll ensure growth and longevity for your business.