Author: Ethan Theo

Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.

Customer Service

Dr Joey – 3 Positive Reasons to Shop Small this Weekend

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date December 21, 2014

Shoppers will crowd the super centers and malls starting Thanksgiving evening in the U.S. In fact, over the next several weeks, retail stores will do 50% or more of their business for the year.

So where will you go? And who will you do business with?

Here are three positive reasons to shop local especially this Saturday, November 29, which is Small Business Saturday.

Personal Service

You receive personal service from the relationships you form with these retailers who really want to help you find that just-right gift for your special someone.

I can remember shopping as a kid with my parents. We went to see Mr. Alford at Clarks Department Store when I outgrew my dress clothes. He was a friend of ours and the store was locally owned. Mr. Alford always seemed to know what I looked best in.

We also bought our gas and had our cars serviced by J.B. Webb at the Esso station. J.B. was our neighbor, and took excellent care of our vehicles. We trusted him.

In today’s world where so much of everything is virtual, visit a local, small business retailer this weekend and enjoy the real-time, personal service.

Personal Support

Have you ever thought about where your money goes once your purchase is completed?

When you shop with a locally-owned, small business retailer, about $68 of every $100 you spend returns to your local community. The obvious ways it returns are sales, payroll, and property taxes. Those taxes pay teachers’ salaries who educate our children, municipal utility crews who go out in ice storms and restore our electricity, water treatment plant operators who keep our drinking water safe, and other services.

And what about the sales clerk who receives her paycheck and gives a donation to the local Salvation Army’s Angel Tree? Or, buys her groceries from the local, fresh produce market? Those local dollars turn over many, many times.

Yes, we live in a global village. Spending your holiday gift money at a locally-owned, small business retailer positively profits your own village.

Personal Satisfaction

Discover locally produced or themed products that carry with them an emotional attachment for the recipient. Such a unique gift carries with it a personal satisfaction that displays more intimacy and care than an “Oh yea” gift from a big box retailer.

For instance, my brother gave me two historic, framed postcards depicting scenes from the town I grew up in. His forethought, consideration, and knowledge of how much I miss that little town made that gift one I treasure to this day.

Find a local artist who paints regional scenes. Buy a painting and send it to a family member or friend who moved away.

Look around for other unique, locally-produced or themed gifts. They mean so much more than just another mass-made product.

So where will you shop this weekend? With a local small business retailer?

Since you’ll be out shopping anyway, visit your local small businesses and discover personal service, offer some personal support, and give some personal satisfaction. You’ll positively be glad you did!

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they get out of the office earlier. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org.

Work Life

3 Tips to Cure Holiday Overwhelm at Work

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date December 15, 2014

Is it just me, or did you also notice that the holiday decorations and advertising started earlier this year?

My first reaction was like one of those cartoon characters who gets surprised and his eyes bug out about three feet.

My first thought was to chase thoughts about everything I have yet to do this year.

My first feeling was overwhelm.

How about you?

Yes, it’s “the most wonderful time of the year”…and yet all of us are susceptible of missing the wonder of it all due to work overwhelm that accompanies the holidays.

Check out these 3 Tips to Cure Your Holiday Overwhelm at work that help me:

Focus on Positive Strengths

From Madison Avenue to Your Street, we are shoved toward an impending sense of lack during the holidays. This scarcity mentality afflicts us at work as well, shifting our focus to the negative.

I choose to focus on positive strengths. I make a list of what’s going well with my businesses right now. I jot some notes about the strengths of 2014 and include financials, significant product developments, additional team members, customer problems solved, and new referral relationships.

You can do the same in less than an hour. Then begin your work day by reading over this list. This single strategy pivots your mindset from negative—what I don’t have—to positive—what we’re doing well. Since you see what you’re looking for, you will add to your list daily as you discover more positive strengths.

Focus on Positive Situations

Next, I focus on positive situations. Overwhelm produces anxiety which shuts down our strategic ability to focus on positive situations. We see Mt. Everest in its entirety instead of the first step that leads to the second step which gets you to the summit. Rather than focusing on what you can do, we shut down because we can’t do it all at once.

I’m all about doing what I can do today and working off a list of those action items. You can make a list of what you can do. Think of them as positive situations from which you leverage the kind of forward motion your business wants to reach your goals. Focus on this list and prioritize it. Pick one activity and do something to check it off. Keep building on the positive momentum you gain from this activity and move forward some more.

As you achieve more, your focus on these positive situations sharpens like a laser. You discover more positive situations and your attitude shifts from overwhelm—“what I can’t do”—to achievement—“what I can do.”

Focus on Positive Signals

I realized some years ago that my feeling of overwhelm emerges during the holidays more as a reaction to the realization that the year is about to end than anything else. I reflected on what wasn’t done, how little time I had left to do it, and the impending sense that it’ll be undone as I begin the new year.

What I do now and what you can do too is to honestly evaluate what is accomplished toward 2014 goals now. Then strategically act on the positive situations you can now, using your positive strengths accrued through the year. Determine what barriers prevented further growth.

Then assess the positive signals emerging as 2014 nears completion that will serve as your springboard to positive growth in 2015. What are the positive strengths? What are the positive situations? How do these project positive signals in 2015?

Focusing on these positive signals gives you cures your holiday overwhelm gets you excited anticipation for the upcoming new year, and helps you truly enjoy this most wonderful time of the year!

About the Author

People & Relationships

Tap the Power of Thank You

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date December 3, 2014

There may be only one day a year devoted to giving thanks, but expressing thanks year round and doing it well is one of the most profitable business strategies you can have.

Numerous studies reveal that when you thank your customers, they spend more money and tell their friends about the exceptional service and products you deliver, increasing your profits. Volumes chronicle how employee productivity zooms when appreciation is expressed, raising your margins. Vendors go the extra mile to extend credit and deliver “just in time” when they hear gratitude regularly, and keep your cash flowing. Giving thanks works in business.

But you’re already doing more with less and the last thing you want is another item on your to-do list. What are the most effective and efficient ways to express gratitude to these important players in your positive business success?

Start today implementing these 4 tips to develop the profitable habit of saying “Thank you” to your customers, employees, and vendors year-round:

Be specific in your thanks. It’s one thing to say, “I appreciate you. Thanks a lot.” That’s a soap-bubble comment. Pretty while it lasts, but gone in seconds. When you thank them for something specific, that’s Velcro. That’s a thanks they remember because it sticks. You hook your gratitude to something the employee did. For instance, an employee just handled a difficult phone call with a customer really well. Thank them for that specific activity.

Appreciate the process. Target your appreciation at what the person did. Let’s go back to the worker who took the phone call. Avoid telling the employee, “Thanks for helping me keep that customer.” That’s just an outcome that benefits you. Say, “I like how you hung in there when that customer was being difficult. You were really patient and respectful.” The same type of strategy goes for vendors. Give thanks for their doing something that was an extra-mile effort. Recognize the above-and-beyond work.

It’s about them, not you. Showing that you know something about them is incredibly valuable. Connect your gift-giving with life beyond the business walls. If a vendor became a Grandpa, give him a copy of “Goodnight, Moon” to read to the little one. If an employee’s mother died of breast cancer this year, make an end-of -the-year donation to the American Cancer Society in her name. Such intimacy breaks the relationship ice in a transformational, not just transactional, direction which is the game-changing pathway to greater profits.

Go old school with your thanks. In this pixelated world of emails and texts, Facebook and Twitter, the simple and quick act of writing a handwritten expression of gratitude goes a long way. There’s something special today about a handwritten note. I keep a stack of cards and envelopes with me to write thank you notes in flight when returning from a workshop or coaching session. It takes about three minutes per card. You create return business when you take pen in hand and write, “Thank you,” to your customers. Just say, “I know you could do business with others, but you chose us. Thank you! We treasure our relationship.”

Implement these tips, and your business says “Thank you” back to you as you positively increase your profits year-round.

(This article originally appeared on Entrepreneur.com)

About the Author

Online Business

5 Tips for Starting an Online Business: from designing to protecting your website with affordable SSL certificate cost

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date November 17, 2014

Starting an online business is easy. Starting one that is successful and wildly profitable is difficult. Yes there are those inspiring rags to riches stories about entrepreneurs who seem to hit it big over night but they are the exception, not the rule. Making money online is one of the most highly searched topics on the internet today and has been for years.

Designing Your Website and Communication Platform

After you have spent the necessary time and energy putting together your business plan and securing the necessary funding for your start up, you are going to need to build a website. (or have someone build it for you) Design the website as if you are the customer. Make the site user friendly with a simple navigation process that is easy to use, fun and unintimidating. Provide a positive online experience backed with excellent customer service. This will convert customers into long term fans and evangelists for you.

Use your site to capture information about past, future and potential customers. Your contact list will become an important and lucrative intellectual asset. One way to do this is to offer an opt-in newsletter. After you get established and have generated a significant list you will use it to generate an obscene amount of revenue from repeat business through ongoing email promotions. It is also a good idea to use a SSL certificate from SSL cert providers such as Thawte whenever you are passing personal information between the website and web server or database.

Choosing a Web Hosting Company

Naturally you are going to need to engage a web hosting company to provide a server to store your web content. There are lots of multi-solution web hosting companies that provide storage space and even domain name registration, etc. The size and type of web hosting package you choose will be largely determined by the type of online business you are starting. Be sure to do your due diligence before choosing the vendor you will use. Find one that can provide you good customer support so that whenever a problem will be encountered, for example when you need to setup SSL security on your website.

You may want to consider engaging the services of a local webhost since they may be able to get your web pages loaded faster than being routed from an international server. Be sure to get references and make sure they are a reliable web host. Verify that they have been providing dependable service for similar types of online businesses as the one you are starting.

Offering Online Payment Methods

Accepting payments on your website is the lifeblood of an online business. Consider offering as many payment options as you possibly can. Your shopping cart needs to be easy to use, hassle free and secure. Again, do your due diligence before choosing your payment processing provider. They need to be dependable and experienced in the kind of business you will be involved in. To enable payments to be made directly on your site, you will need to apply for your own merchant account with a merchant account services provider or you may opt to use a 3rd party payment services provider such as Paypal. Also invest in SSL certificates to provide confidence to online customers for them to complete their purchase.

Preparing Your Backend System

If you are using a virtual store, it is crucial that you have a robust backend software system. It will be used to track all of the key information to aid you in making business decisions. These backend operations can include inventory management, reporting systems and credit card processing. There are numerous singular and all-in-one providers that have the ability to provide you with custom-made solutions depending on your needs. Be sure to acquire backend software that provides you with accurate and real-time information. A good solid and reliable backend system combined with utilizing SSL certificates from reputed trusted provider like Thawte enable you to make informed decisions from customers purchasing information that will help you guide the business as it grows.

While it sounds very technical and abstract, do not underestimate the importance of a trusted backend system secured by SSL certs. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is a form of security for online websites that handle sensitive information such as customer names, phone numbers, addresses and credit card numbers. It creates a secure connection between a customer’s web browser and the server of the company they’re interacting with.

In order to meet Payment Card Industry compliance, an online business needs an SSL certificate with the proper encryption of at least 128-bit from a trusted source, so in order to be able to offer credit card payments to customers, be sure to invest in the requisite SSL certificate cost for customers’ peace of mind when doing business with you.

Marketing Your Online Store

Frankly, marketing is in some respects the most important aspect of your new venture. It will largely determine whether your venture is a success or not. Without effective marketing you don’t get sales. Without sales, nothing else matters. Many first time online marketers assume that if they have a great product or service and a great website, that they are going to sit back and generate sales. That just isn’t how it works.

Optimize your website – Using your website to generate interest and to be a proactive part of your marketing campaign requires a high ranking on Google, Bing and other major search engines. That does not happen automatically. The ability to drive visitors to your site through organic search queries virtually always requires search engine optimization (SEO).

Don’t just rely on search engines to drive sales – The second hard fact of online marketing is that your website will seldom be the main marketing vehicle that generates viewers through organic search. Unless your site is ranked high on the first page of Google and other search engines, you cannot count on your website as a major proactive method of marketing your services.

Consider affiliate marketing – Affiliate programs can be extremely effective if they are a good fit for your business model and you have profit margins that can support them. An affiliate program pays other online marketers a commission for driving new customers to your website.

Hopefully this information has given you a little food for thought. An online business can be fun and exciting. It also takes some serious planning. Good luck in making your first online fortune.

How-To Guides

How To Build A Profitable Home-based Tutorial Business

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date November 7, 2014

If you love to learn new things and enjoy teaching others about your new discoveries, then opening your own home-based tutorial business may be a perfect entrepreneurial match for you.

Qualifications

If you have an undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate degree, or a teaching certificate, then you are fully qualified to start. If, however, you still need some academic credentials, you can always get an online education degree.

You will have little in the way of startup costs and once you decide where you will work from in your home – for instance, making a spare bedroom into a study — and then decide on a schedule that fits in with your family’s activities, you are ready to start your business.

Specialization

Your business will flourish if you can specialize in a niche. When it comes to specialization, there are three ways to market your service: by age, by subject, or by exam. You can also combine one or two of these specialties, like specializing by age and subject.

Let’s take a look at each one in turn:

Age. You can tutor little children, high school children, college-age student, or even adults. Each age group has its own set of challenges and rewards. Choose the group you feel most comfortable with.
Subject. The subject you choose will depend on your interests, knowledge, experience, and skills. The highest demand for tutors is in in reading, mathematics, and science.
Exams. There is also a huge market for helping students get ready for a standardized test.

Profitability

When it comes to deciding on profitability, you should teach something that is in high demand and people are willing to pay a high fee for. Because of the high stakes involved in passing a standardized exam, this is the most profitable niche.

In this niche, students need help with either exit exams or college prep exam.

Exit exams.

In states like California, Florida and others, students have to pass an exit exam to get a high school diploma. Anxious parents are eager to hire a tutor to help them pass these exams because they play a huge role in determining their child’s educational future.

College prep exams.

This is another lucrative niche.

While there are a number of college prep exams, the most lucrative ones to focus on are the following:

SAT
ACT
SAT Subject Tests
AP Program exams–Advanced Placement Program
IB exams–International Baccalaureate.

Competition

As a business model, the field of home-based tutoring is wide-open. This is a huge, overlooked opportunity for someone who wants to create their own profitable home-base business.

There are two reasons for this unique situation:

First, most academics prefer to teach in a school or university.

Two, most entrepreneurs are more interested in selling products or offering business-oriented services.

Three, most tutoring services offered by schools and many private college prep companies are too busy to offer one-on-one private tutoring.

Because of these three reason, private tutoring is very appealing to students who need one-on-one attention to do well academically.

Getting Started

Naturally, before you start this business, you need to be clear that you have the right qualifications and that this is a business that fits your passion. If you feel that you have no problem committing to this business model, then your next step is to go through the formal process of legally establishing your business and complying with local laws on starting a business in your home.

While you will need to take some initial steps to market your tutoring business, once the word gets out among parents, you will probably not have time to do much marketing.

If your business grows beyond your time available for each student, you can always scale up your business by hiring other tutors to work for you and even moving out of your office and starting your own tutoring clinic.