Month: October 2011

YES, You Can Be a Full-Time Mom and Successful Entrepreneur!

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date October 10, 2011

Article Contributed By Lisa Cherney

How do I balance being a full-time mother and a full-time entrepreneur? After five+ years of doing both, I can say it’s been crazy, fun, and worth every minute! I started by creating the life that I wanted, and then I worked my business into it. If you want to be a mother and entrepreneur without sacrificing either, start by asking yourself these questions:

1. What transitions do I need to make in light of being a mother? There’s nothing like a child to make you do a 180 with your business. For me, I was inspired to get smarter and work less. Being a mom forced me to get real about how I was spending my time. Not in a time management sense, but in the sense of how I wanted to be of service with my life’s work, which leads to the second question.

2. How do I design my business around my most profitable activities? Let go of what’s not working and get support for what is. At first I needed to just pare things down. I was working five plus days a week before I had my daughter. After Bella was born I was able to cut back to one or two days a week with no change in income. I was just working off of the momentum that I had created. When she turned two and started preschool, I still only wanted to work three days a week, max. It took a huge mind-set shift, and I took some big risks, but by focusing on my most profitable activities, I was able to triple my income again.

3. What are some of the action steps I can take to make a full-time business model work with part-time hours? First, I changed the way I was charging for my services. I had to get out of the whole “economy” conversation, because it gives people an out instead of really taking a hard look at the way they do business. Look at what you really want to do. Try charging by the project instead of by the hour, or experiment with value-based pricing where you create service packages. Maybe you need to leverage your programs instead of doing so much one-on-one work. For myself, I went straight to the leveraged model. I keep it very simple, with just a few highly impactful programs. I created programs that I believed in, I set an implementation date, I enrolled people in the program, and I went for it.

4. Where can you give yourself a raise? Here’s an exercise. Think about the last time you raised your rates. Make a list of the reasons why you did it. Now think about doubling your rates today. There is no difference between where you were when you last raised your rates and where you are now. So why can’t you do it again? Any reason you come up with to not justify your true value is just an excuse.

If being a full-time mother and a full-time entrepreneur is your goal, take action now. Find a mentor who shares your values and vision for your life and don’t leave their side until you make the change. Investing in a mentor when Bella turned 3 gave me the courage to take those steps. Even now that my daughter is in First Grade, I still work only three to four days a week, because I’m willing to do what I need to do to create the life I want. You can too!

About the Author:

Lisa Cherney, a.k.a. the Juicy Marketing Expert, founded Conscious Marketing 12 years ago to help small business owners find their authentic marketing voice, attract their ideal clients and increase their sales. Following her own Stand Out & Be Juicy program, which centers on owning your unique self and laser-focus marketing, Lisa has tripled her income while working part-time.

Prior to Conscious Marketing, Lisa worked with many Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Lipton, Nissan, Blue Cross and Equal. She is a highly sought after speaker and often shares the stage with experts such as Jack Assaraf (The Secret), Jack Canfield and Jill Lublin. Learn more about Lisa at www.consciousmarketing.com or call 887-771-0156.

People & Relationships

Becoming the Leader You Want/Need to Be

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date October 5, 2011

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

Sales & Marketing

Spiders or Peeps? Why Writing for SEO Can Hurt Your Website Rankings

Post author By
Post date October 4, 2011

In my copywriting trainings, this topic invariably comes up. And usually it’s because I’m questioning my students’ choice of words on their websites or other online promotional copy.

“I chose that word because it’s a good SEO keyword,” they say.

Ah. It may be a good SEO keyword but it’s certainly not a good people word.

But before I get too far down this path, let me give you all a little background info. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. What that means is you make your website and other online copy “search-engine friendly” so the search engines will rank you high for your chosen keywords. (Like on the first page when someone does a search for that keyword.)

One of the main tactics used to optimize your site is to scatter your chosen keywords throughout your copy (the frequency and positioning seem to change depending on how close the Moon is to Jupiter so I’m not going to even go down this path today.)

Why do you want that? Presumably so you get more online visitors to your site.

On the surface, it makes sense. Your website ranks high on the first page when people do a search for your keywords, they see your website and click on the link.

Easy, right?

Well…

First off, SEO (like everything Internet-related) has changed. A few years ago, SEO made perfect sense. That WAS the main way people found things on the Internet.

However, with social networking taking the world by storm, and more people on Facebook and YouTube then Google, people using the search engines have dropped significantly.

Now, that’s not to say you don’t need to take the search engines into consideration. There’s no question people are still using the search engines. But their searching habits have changed. Now they’re more likely to search for you after hearing about you via offline methods (like newspapers, magazines, television, direct mail, speaking, meeting you at an event, etc.)

Of course, people will still do generic searches for keywords that relate to what you sell. But trying to get yourself on page 1 of those rankings can be really difficult. And with Google changing their algorithms every time the wind changes directions, you can be on Page 1 one day and knocked down to Page 20 the next. (Also known as the dreaded “Google Dance.”)

So what do you do?

Well, my thought is while optimizing is not a bad idea, I wouldn’t put too much energy into it. And I certainly wouldn’t put words that sounded weird or off to my ideal clients on my online materials even if they were strong keywords. (Look, if you’re going to do all this work to get your ideal clients to visit your site, do you really want to turn them off with bad writing and poor language choices?)

Google and all the other search engines are going to reward you if your website isn’t deceptive, offers great content, and the content changes regularly. If you do that, the search engines WILL like your site regardless of your SEO. (You might not end up on Page 1 but the search engines will regard you fondly and will probably not move you around too much during any dances.)

And the reality is, it makes far more sense to focus on other avenues for people to find you. Be active on social networking sites, post articles, upload video, blog more. All of these things will increase your visibility out in that wild world we call the Internet FAR more than simply focusing only on SEO.

And if you focus on those activities, then you can put your very best writing on your website — the kind of writing that will make your visitors eager to learn more about you and do business with you — instead of suffocating your copy with keywords that may make those very same visitors click away.

Tags internet marketing, online marketing strategies, seo, small business marketing strategy, strategic internet marketing

Sales & Marketing

Make Your Advertising Budget Excel in a Bad Economy

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date October 3, 2011
1 Comment on Make Your Advertising Budget Excel in a Bad Economy

Article Contributed by Dave Thomas

As a small business owner, you know the economy is reeling.

So, how can you still get your message out to current and potential customers without breaking the bank when it comes to your advertising budget?

For too many small business owners, a bad economy leads them to reel in the ad budget, therefore leaving them to miss out on a number of sales opportunities.

Given that your goal is a strong return on investment, you need to consider increasing your advertising efforts and not decreasing them when times are tough. Think about it – your competition is probably also considering cutting back on its advertising efforts – so now is the time to strike.

Approach to Success

For the small business owner, the best approach to success is working with your advertising/marketing team to zero in on the best messages to reach your target audience.

If you already have a strong audience in certain sectors of the market, take the opportunity when the economy is bad to go after new segments. Remember, consumers are looking to save money when times are tough, so you have the potential to open new doors where your products and/or services can save some people money. In turn, you have potentially lined up a new customer/s that will bring you a good ROI over time.

Another aspect to where increasing your advertising efforts in a bad economy can help your small business is focusing in on the different demographics that you serve.

Take for instance senior citizens. In many cases, seniors will cut back on buying during tough financial times, yet they still are in need of products and services. While your competition may have cut back on advertising to seniors, here is your chance to reach out to them and demonstrate how you can assist them with deals and coupons, saving them money in the process, along with building up a relationship with them.

Another factor to consider in ramping up your advertising efforts is when you unveil a money-saving product.
While the first inclination is cut back the spending on advertising when times are tough, how then will anyone know about your value laden offerings? By increasing the amount of money spent on advertising, you bring attention to the money-saving product and how it can save customers money. Again, this can prove a winning situation for your small business.

Lastly, while your small business is looking to save money through its advertising efforts, keep in mind that those charging for ads could have some deals available.

Whether you are doing traditional print newspaper or magazine ads, online banner ads, billboard advertising etc. companies specializing in advertising are also likely looking to cut deals in order to keep or get your business. The bottom line – negotiate as much as possible.

Remember, when times are tough, there are various chances to expose your small business to new customers that are not always there when the economy is rolling along.

Make it so your small business can excel and reap the benefits.

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About the Author
Dave Thomas writes extensively for www.business.com an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.