Author: Pamela Swift

Categories
Online Business

Five Tips to Starting an Ecommerce Store

Article Contributed by Marc McDermott

Starting a web store can be a very profitable venture. Every day millions of people across the world turn to the internet for their shopping needs. Your e-commerce store can be just what they’re looking for. Here are the top 5 things to know when starting an e-commerce store.

#5. It Pays to Drop Ship

Drop shipping is the process in which online stores send products to their customers from a centralized warehouse in a different location than the actual store. When a customer buys a product from your store, the drop shipping company sends the product to the customer. The e-tailer never has to carry inventory or worry about shipping. They simply pay a fee to the drop shipper, who handles all of the inventory management and shipping. They will even ship the product with your company’s logo on the package.

#4. You Can Build Your Store Without Breaking the Bank

Many new entrepreneurs think that they need a fancy website to attract customers. While a great design may be eye-catching, you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on expensive graphic design services or a dedicated web designer. There are many sites that offer low-cost templates that you can use to set up your store instantly. Simply replace the stock pictures with your own photos and you’re in business. A great place to start is ThemeForest for templates and Magento for a free store platform.

#3. A Merchant Account is a Must

When you set up your store, make it easy for customers to pay for their purchases. A merchant account will allow you to accept major credit cards on your site, and encourage your customers to spend more money. Studies have shown that customers spend more when they use credit cards, so make it simple for them. Merchant accounts are easy to set up and, in most cases, can be set up within a few hours. Sign up for a merchant account today and watch your sales skyrocket.

#2. Be the Master of Your Domain

A catchy and short domain name is one of the fastest ways to drive customers to your site. Although most one-word domain names have been purchased, you can add in a local word to attract attention. If you’re selling pet clothing, try www.dallaspetclothes.com for example. This will make it easier for search engines and customers to find your site.

#1. They Can’t Buy if They Don’t Know It’s There

Many e-commerce business owners spend thousands of dollars in fancy websites and new inventory but lack the customer base to make their business profitable. The most important part of starting an e-commerce store is to market your business. If nobody knows about it, they can’t find it. Brush up on your SEO (search engine optimization) skills and join a few social networking sites and watch your business flourish.

About the Author
This guest post is contributed by Marc McDermott, who writes on the topic of small business, ecommerce, and credit card processing. He welcomes your comments at his twitter id.

Categories
Entrepreneurs

A Small Business Entrepreneur’s Top 10 Playbook

Article Contributed by James Donaldson

As a small business entrepreneur for over 20 years and a former professional athlete with a career that spanned about the same amount of time, I’ve been able to utilize aspects of both those endeavors that have helped enable me to become a successful small business person.

Like a well played game, all businesses will go through their natural cycles of ebbs and flows. You, as a small business entrepreneur, need to know when to call a timeout, change out your players or when to run another play. Sports has taught me the value of team play, camaraderie, working towards common goals, learning from your temporary setbacks and the ability to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on going.

If I were to put together a top 10 list of “must haves” whether you’re a startup company or a well-established business, it would go something like this.

# 1: Have a Vision –

Where is that you see your business in 3 to 5 years? How do you want it to look? How do you want it to run? Do you have a business plan? Do you have a Mission Statement? Do you have a Vision Statement? What is your succession plan?

# 2: Believe in Your Talent –

Talent by itself is never enough. There are a lot of times that people who have tremendous talent come up way short of ever fulfilling their potential. You have to believe in your talent, be passionate about your talent, continue to invest in your talent and surround yourself with the best talent available.

# 3: Assemble Your Team –

A smart business entrepreneur makes sure that he or she is surrounded by talented professionals and not just a bunch of “yes” people. It’s essential that you have a professional corporate attorney, CPA, financial advisor, bookkeeper, insurance person and a front office manager as part of your team. An attorney and CPA are must from the start, and you can add additional pieces to your team as you grow.

Be sure that you take the advice of your professional advisors, after all that’s what you pay them for. You may not always like what they have to say, but it’s important to listen to them.

# 4: Empower Your Team –

Equip your team with the resources that they need in order to be successful. In addition to helping them be successful, you’ll be successful too. It’s tempting to take shortcuts in order to save money, but it’s important to keep your team up to speed in this day and age of high technology and development.

Your team will consist of professional advisors and everyday employment personnel. No matter what position they occupy in your business, it’s important that they have the tools that they need in order to help your business be the best it can be.

Another thing to keep in mind is to delegate responsibility and decision-making capabilities to various personnel throughout your company. An employee, who feels empowered by the owner, is a much more productive employee.

# 5: Peer Networking –

One of the most valuable activities that you can involve yourself with as a business owner is networking with your peers. There are numerous opportunities for you to get outside of your business and network with other business owners.

There are groups such as the Chambers of Commerce, Rotary, Business Associations, and several weekly or monthly membership-based networking groups. Make sure that you attend one or two networking activities a month in order to promote your business and find out about those businesses in your community.

# 6: Realize Early on That You Don’t Know Everything –

Most business owners find themselves at various stages of their businesses, having to wear a multitude of hats. That’s okay from time to time, but it’s also important to keep in mind, that there are probably other people out there who can do a much better job than you can simply because they can bring a different perspective. Every business owner will find themselves at the early stages of their business for fulfilling just about every role imaginable, be it answering phones, scheduling clients, marketing and/or keeping the books,…. and that’s fine from time to time (matter-of-fact it’s good to learn every position in your business) but you don’t want your business to rely on you having to fill every role.

As soon as you’re able, delegate responsibilities to others on your team so that they feel more valuable, and it eases the workload on you.

# 7: Realize Early on You Can’t Do Everything –

Similar to what’s above, realizing early on that you can’t do everything is a key to business success. There is a very high “burnout” factor for owners who have an “I – can – do – it – all – by – myself” attitude and refused to delegate responsibilities to other members of the team. You may feel like no one can do it better than you can (and that may be true), but if you want to keep your team engaged with a sense of ownership and empowerment, it’s important to delegate responsibilities to them because it shows a sense of trust and confidence in the rest of your team.

There will be plenty of opportunities for you as a business owner to “burn the midnight oil” so you might as well wait for those opportunities to roll around and be well rested and prepared.

# 8: Stay Current –

With technology advancing at warp speed, it’s important for every business owner to stay up-to-date with some of the latest and greatest resources to help your business. It’s true that there’s so much out there that one cannot possibly absorb it all, but that goes back to the matter of you needing to be an owner who can keep his/her “head up” to see the big picture and opportunities in front of you and not get wrapped up with a “nose to the grindstone” mentality and approach.

Be adventuresome and daring in trying new techniques and technology that can help enhance your business. It’s okay to take a “trial run” at various techniques just to see how they may fit into your business. One thing is certain, “nothing stays the same, and change the only constant”. You’ve got to keep up with the ever-changing world that we live in.

# 9: Don’t Be Afraid of Change –

Even if you feel that you aren’t changing, the world around you is. More importantly, if you aren’t changing, you can bet that your competitors are, and most likely trying to change for a competitive advantage over you.

It’s only natural for us to get complacent and doing the same old thing because that’s what we’ve always done.

I’ve got a great quote on the wall in my office that says “change is inevitable …. but growth is optional”. I don’t know about you, but I choose to grow.

One of the advantages of having a diverse team is the fact that they offer a broad range of perspectives and opinion. Older employees tend to stick to a tried-and-true method that may or may not be outdated, while younger employees have fresh brand-new ideas that you may want to consider implementing if the time seems right.

# 10: Find Your MVP –

In order for a small business to thrive, it’s important for it to operate as a team. In order for a team to thrive, it will have many movable and variable parts that need to stay coordinated together.

Every team has an MVP (Most Valuable Person) who the owner feels comfortable and confident enough in to have that person has his/her “Go – To – Guy”. For me that person is my operations manager, Rosemary Bennetts, who has been with me from day one over 20 years ago.

Your MVP may or may not be the most visible or well known person on the team. Your MVP may be someone who is tucked away in a back office, with their sleeves rolled up, and battling daily in the trenches in order to keep your business running. Your MVP may be your front desk person, or your hot shot salesperson that you have out in the community. Whatever the case, work closely with your MVP (they most likely know how the business works better than you do) and recognize them and appreciate them in an appropriate manner.

About the Author
Donaldson is the author of Standing above the Crowd: Success Strategies in Athletics, Business, Community and Life. For more information go to www.StandingAboveTheCrowd.com and/or contact him at JamesD@StandingAboveTheCrowd.com

Categories
Human Resource

Do You Want to Train Your People or Do You Want to Fix the Problem?

Article by Skip Weisman

When approached and I ask Human Resource directors and corporate training directors, and even CEO’s about how they feel “training” is going to help their organizations, I usually learn that they have grossly over-estimated what “training” can be expected to do.

Personnel problems? Bit of training will fix it. Sales down? No problem, bit of training will fix it. Inter-office problems? Training will fix it. Productivity down? Training will fix it. Cooperation non existent? Training will fix it. Low morale? You guessed it… bit of training will fix it.

The problem is that often there are issues occurring in the work environment that training can not help and can, in fact, even make the problems worse. Training is not a panacea for all a company’s problems. Of course, training can be of immense value and benefit in addressing many problems, but if the cause of the problem comes from higher up or outside their area of influence, then it can be a waste of time. You need to address the root cause of the problem if you want to stop it and rebuild and retrain effectively with positive, long term results.

A classic example is communication. A lack of directness in communicating can be devastating to a work environment.

Throwing “training” at a work environment problem, which often means it is steeped in low trust and respect between team members, will exacerbate the problem. This plays out in almost every training I deliver where none of the managers or organizational leaders participate in the trainings. At the end of the trainings, at least 30% of the feedback forms I receive respond to the question “What could have been better about this training?” with “If all of our department team members, including our managers and other company leaders had this training.”

If the individuals most responsible for the team or organization’s culture and performance are not participating with their team members, the training to “fix” a problem is guaranteed to do more harm than good.

Another issue is that often the issues the training addresses offer solutions that require sensitive or challenging conversations between individual participants in the training. Since the open forum of the training environment is not the appropriate environment to address these issues head on, participants become frustrated and resentful of the training and it just reinforces the negative situation.

Here’s another example. In a meeting with the VP of Human Resources and VP of Operations for a large manufacturing firm, the first half of which we discussed management and leadership training for their middle managers and shop managers, I used the phrase “toxic” to describe some of the work environments I’ve helped transform.

The VP of Operations shot back in his next breath, “Toxic, hmm, that’s what we’ve got.” To which I informed him that training was not going to fix it.

They both nodded their heads in agreement and the conversation took a turn in a new direction.

We began focusing on inviting the President/CEO and other senior leadership team members to discuss addressing issues at the very top of the organization. And training will not be on the agenda, at least not initially. It is going to take some significant team development and trust building activities and consistent accountability to a new approach to leading and communicating in this company.

So, the next time you think you need “training” for your organization ask this question –

“Why and what ‘problem’ are we trying to solve?”

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@WeismanSuccessResources.com

Categories
Communication Skills

Indirect Communication and How It Undermines Trust in Organizations

Article by Skip Weisman

Many different reasons exist why certain actions taken within an organization can kill trust, quite apart from the regular dishonest activities that mislead staff, hidden agendas, office politics, career rivalry, illegal practices, ignorance, etc.

One of the biggest trust-killers is so basic it is easy to overlook. It is and has always been in the realm of communication. And one of the most destructive communication sins when it comes to trust is what I call ‘indirect communication.’

Most of us have both experienced ‘indirect communication’ and/or have practiced it at one time in our lives. In organization speak, indirect communication is known by other names, like ‘back stabbing,’ ‘throwing people under the bus’ (my all-time favorite), ‘going behind one’s back,’ or ‘going over someone’s head.’ That’s one form of ‘indirect communication’ most often engaged in by co-workers trying to gain a competitive advantage with a boss by dragging someone else down. Sometimes there is a valid reason behind it, for example, your immediate supervisor is a bully and you are the victim, but other times it comes about because of inexperienced and poor judgment, impatience, stupidity, vengeance, or just plain meanness. In these latter instances, the ‘indirect communicator’ can cause a lot of damage to others’ careers as well as to his or her own career, not to mention the reputation of the company; not something they tend to think a great deal about at the time.

Another form of indirect communication is when a supervisor, leader, manager (call them what you will) attempts to address behavior issues with a blanket memo or staff meeting when the issue is only with one person, not everybody else. Instead of dealing one-on-one with that individual, the supervisor calls everyone together to go over the ‘policy and procedures’ manual thinking that reminding the whole team of the guidelines will solve the issue and save them the awkwardness of having to confront the individual.

What usually happens is that everyone in the room knows who the perpetrator is and becomes more resentful of that person for pulling everyone into it, wasting their time and often making them feel foolish, and they lose trust in their leader who has exposed his weakness because the issue is not being dealt with one-on-one as it should have been and he has taken the coward’s way out.

The real work environment killer is that the individual perpetrator doesn’t ‘get it.’ They sit in the meeting with everyone else, wondering who it is their leader is talking about, totally ignorant to the fact that it is about them! They don’t see themselves or their behavior as a problem and the directive goes right over their head, and so they keep doing it.

This happens more often than you may think and it is a trust and work environment killer. I know because I have experienced it first hand many times, and in the early days of my career was even guilty of it myself once.

How about your company? How is indirect communication negatively impacting your organization or don’t you believe you have that problem? You may be surprised.

Being informed is halfway to solving the problem, which is why I am giving all readers a copy of this special report “The 7 Deadliest Sins of Leadership & Workplace Communication” downloadable from: http://www.HowToImproveLeadershipCommunication.com.

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@WeismanSuccessResources.com

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Can You Only Market to People Like Yourself?

Article Contributed by Lynda-Ross Vega

As internet marketers, we draw people to our offerings by shining a spotlight on ourselves, our personality and our unique gifts and talents. The way we do this is by utilizing our “Spotlight Style.”

Much of what we sell is information – products and services based on what we know, and that we think will be of value to others. Our products and services carry a heavy stamp of our own distinctive personality and they ‘Spotlight’ who we are.

Each person’s Spotlight Style is unique to his skills, talents and life experience, but there are high level communalities that can be grouped together. The three Spotlight Styles we have researched are Brand Evangelist, Practical Engineer, and Trusted Advisor. These titles are a shorthand way to understanding the way that people of each style approach marketing and promoting themselves, the types of marketing tools they are comfortable using, and the manner in which they interact with both prospects and clients.

Recently a business owner with whom I was working expressed how excited she was to discover that her natural Spotlight Style supported a whole different approach to marketing than she had been pursuing. She was excited because she wasn’t really comfortable with the tools she was using, but had chosen them because that was what everyone else was using. She saw immediately that the tools highlighted for her style fit her to a tee! She did have one big concern. She was afraid that as she approached marketing in a new and different style, she would lose some of her current clients because they had bought the ‘old’ her. Her concern was based on the belief that she could only attract people who shared her Spotlight Style. She worried that many of her current clients would leave because their style would no longer match her own.

I have run into this concern before- that you can only attract and market to people like yourself. Most often, people initially confuse style with content. In the case of our program participant, she thought that as she chose marketing methods that more accurately reflected her Spotlight Style, what she was marketing would also have to shift and that this shift would cause her to lose clients who liked the ‘old’ products and services. Here’s the great news: content will have a tendency to reflect your style, but awareness of each of the styles will allow you to create copy, products, and services designed to appeal to people with any of the three styles.

Discovering and claiming your Spotlight Style will not limit your appeal to your current or prospective clients. Quite the opposite; as you become more and more comfortable with the natural marketing tools associated with your style, both current and prospective clients will experience and respond to the inner confidence your offerings and your marketing efforts reflect. Additionally, your comfort with yourself and your own talents will lead to a level of solid integrity that will appeal to those who can benefit from what you have to offer independent of your or their style.

So, don’t let anyone tell you that you can only market to people like yourself. Discover your own Spotlight Style and let its brilliance attract all who can benefit from what you have to offer!

About the Author

A partner at Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd., Lynda-Ross specializes in helping entrepreneurs and coaches build dynamite teams and systems that WORK. She is co-creator of Perceptual Style Theory, a revolutionary psychological assessment system that teaches people how to unleash their deepest potentials for success. For free information on how to succeed as an entrepreneur or coach, create a thriving business and build your bottom line doing more of what you love, visit www.ACIforCoaches.com and www.ACIforEntrepreneurs.com.