When you look at your Facebook friends, or your LinkedIn network, or your Twitter follower list, do you see only people you know? Or, like me, do you have a mix of people you know well, some you don’t know that well (yet), and maybe even a few people who reached out to you, and you’ve never met or talked with them?
As easy as it ease to connect on the social networks (usually just a click and a quick message of Hello!), more and more people are wondering how open they should be with their social network acceptances. Some people are locking down, and only accepting people online that they know in real life. Others are accepting everyone who meets a certain standard of engagement or professionalism. And still others are accepting everyone who asks.
With the site-wide roll out of new privacy settings on Facebook, the questions of how open to be on your social networks is becoming more and more relevant.
While I certainly don’t have all the answers, let me give you a few areas to consider.
How open you should be on your social networks is based on what you’re using your social networks for.
For example, if you are using your Facebook account primarily to stay in touch with friends, family, and neighbors, you can set the most stringent privacy settings- the ones where only friends can see your details. This is also a smart move, perhaps, if you share a lot of details about your life, and want to retain some amount of control over how this information is distributed. Of course, remember that anything that goes online is never really private, or undiscoverable, so keep that in mind when you share.
If you are using Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn to build your professional network, I would suggest being a little more open about who you accept. My rule of thumb, generally, is to accept most people who approach me, after I’ve checked out their profiles, and recent updates, and satisfied myself that I’m comfortable with being associated with them. I call this approach the “giving people the benefit of the doubt” stance- I will connect on the social networks unless or until you give me a reason not to do so.
The third way to approach your social networks is to accept everyone indiscriminately- just to boost your follower ratio, or just because you’re lazy. I definitely do not recommend this, for several reasons. First, it can damage your reputation or standing. Let’s say, for example, that you accept a bunch of people who are porn spammers on Twitter- wouldn’t that negatively impact your brand? (Of course, right, unless you’re a porn spammer yourself, in which case you’re probably not reading this anyway…). The second reason not to accept just everyone is because now that the content of Twitter and Facebook updates are now searchable, you don’t want any ill considered tweets or updates to show up in your stream or on your Wall and be associated with you. Not saying this is exactly how it will work, but better safe than sorry, especially with new technology, right?
If you do any directed promotion online, such as a teleseminar or webinar, be sure you are careful about how you manage your social network additions in the days and weeks after. I have had people who were in my classes or trainings approach me to connect, and you want to encourage this as much as possible in order to build your positioning online. If I were too stringent and denied everyone who wanted to connect with me that I didn’t yet know, I would have pissed some people off, and kind of cut off new potential business relationships before they really began. This is why, for business, I recommend the “give people the benefit of the doubt” approach as a general rule.
Part of the value of social networks is that you can engage with and connect with more people than you might otherwise be able to reach. The value of this is diminished if you are too stringent in your networking, or, conversely, too open with it.
Like the fairy tale of Goldilocks, the goal with social networking is to not be too stringent, nor too open, but instead, just right.
Dr. Rachna Jain is Chief Social Marketer at The Mindshare Corporation. Rachna works with speakers, consultants, authors, and small business owners to develop and execute effective social media marketing strategies. Her proprietary persuasive social media process (sm) focuses on building influence, credibility and visibility online. This translates into greater recognition, increased website traffic, faster lead generation, a shorter sales cycle, and more opportunity for her expert clientele. She blogs regularly at The Mindshare Blog
Category: How-To Guides
When you were a kid, what did you dream of growing up to be?
This may sound obvious, but before you can find the career you really want, you have to know what you are seeking. Career planning is a delicate process. The work we do, as well as where we do it (our work environment), have a huge impact on our ability to experience life and career success.
Too often when asked to define an ideal career, people think immediately about salary and benefits. As a result, there are plenty of people who earn a great living with exceptional benefits, but hate their jobs and are very unhappy.
A job you really want can’t be based on financial criteria alone. And, with a few exceptions, the industry is often not as important as the actual day-to-day activities. If a “great” job does not allow you the opportunity to do what you love and nurture your natural talents, it is probably not the ideal job for you.
Understanding and discovering natural talents is an important key to a successful job search. Finding our talents helps us uncover those things that we love and enjoy, and nurturing those at which we excel. Discovering our talents also helps us figure out the areas where we do not excel – the things that make us unhappy and leave us feeling unfulfilled. When you waste your natural abilities you often end up stuck doing something you hate. It is important to weed out those skills you dislike and find out what it is you really love.
Effective career planning means figuring out the specific criteria and values you want the job to fulfill. By this we mean it is important to consider those daily activities that are going to make the best use of your natural skills and talents? Consider this:
* If you are an outgoing person and a job isolates you from interacting with other people all day, it is not for you.
* If you are orderly and find yourself in a work environment that is chaotic, you will wear out over time.
* If you work well with only occasional supervision, a job where you’re micromanaged will be annoying.
Knowing who you are is key to finding the right job for you. Ask yourself some self-reflective questions. Define the criteria that make up your “perfect” job. What’s important to you in the work you do? What brings you satisfaction? What expectations do you have for work-life balance? What natural skills and talents do you have?
You’ll also want to consider the answers to questions like:
* Part-time or full-time?
* Flexibility or consistency (both in hours and tasks)?
* Amount of interaction with others?
* Specific skills you want to use?
* Travel?
* Do you like to make decisions or follow procedure?
Answering these questions is the first step in finding the path that will lead you to ultimate career satisfaction. When we are doing what we love, we are often performing at our best. This leads to a kind of fulfillment that allows us to live life passionately and happily.
About the Author:
Lynda-Ross Vega is an accomplished business executive and management consultant with more than 30 years of experience in human and technical systems. She’s the co-founder of Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd., a consulting firm that specializes in helping people discover their true skills and talents. To find out more about how to discover your Perceptual Style and uncover your natural skills visit their website at www.vrft.com.
One of the best ways you can grow your list practically overnight and interact with your audience is to host your own Teleclass. After all they are a low-cost, yet simple, marketing strategy that you can implement on a regular basis to reach your target market, and they have the advantage of you being able to interact with your audience – they’ll be able to hear your voice and you will become more ‘personable’ to them.
Just some of the reasons why teleclasses are so popular are:
* They show off your expertise
* Easy to set up
* Fun to host
* You get to interact with your target market
* Build your list a.k.a. your online community
But a couple of the downsides, and probably why many solopreneurs don’t take advantage of this simple marketing strategy, is that:
* You need to spend some time preparing the material and organizing event.
* It can seem a bit daunting if you’ve never hosted a Teleclass on your own before.
So what I’d like to do today is share with you my 7 simple steps for organizing your own teleclass so that it’s fun, brings you a TON of new subscribers, and gets you interacting with your audience.
Step 1 – Decide on a topic. Take one of your most popular articles, or if you have written several articles around the same theme use those, and turn the content into a teleclass.
Step 2 – Decide on a format – will it be a teleclass or a webinar? How long will the event last for? If this is your first time at hosting an event – keep it simple – 25 minute presentation (which includes your introduction) and 20 minute open Question & Answer session (which also includes your offer and closing statement). Make it as easy for yourself as possible.
Step 3 – Decide on a date and time. Pick a date and time that is most convenient for you to host the teleclass. Just because a lot of teleclasses seem to be hosted in the evening, doesn’t mean this is when you have to host yours! Mine are usually hosted late morning because this fits my schedule best. Also consider the different time zones too.
Step 4 – Book the line. Create an account with your teleconference company and schedule the call. Make sure that your teleconference company has conference recording capabilities.
Step 5 – Prepare your marketing materials. Create your sales page, autoresponder sequence, and promotional emails. Make sure on your sales page you let the participants know that by signing up they’ll also receive a copy of your newsletter. In your autoresponder sequence be sure to include all the call-in details (and on any subsequent broadcasts you send out).
Step 6 – Announce it. Announce your Teleclass to your subscribers and post to the various Teleclass announcement sites and your networking groups. Create a list of places where you want to post to and use this as a checklist to ensure you get everywhere covered.
Step 7 – Record your Teleclass (this is essential). Not only will it encourage sign-ups – even if they can’t make the live event they’ll get the recording – but it also gives you the opportunity of repurposing your material. You can turn your recording into your ‘free taste’ on your website, a bonus product, or add a workbook to it and sell it as a for-fee product.
And on the day of the event:
* Ensure you send out a reminder on the day of your call.
* Dial in to your teleclass at least five minutes before it’s due to start. People do dial in early, and you want to be there to greet your participants as they turn up.
* Have your class notes all written out and in front of you, along with teleclass timings.
And most importantly, remember: you are the expert. You know something that your participants don’t, and they have come along to learn from you. That thought alone will stop the nerves… I promise.
That’s it! In just seven simple steps you can be on your way to hosting your very first teleclass.
Small Business Trends by David Cotriss: One area many business owners struggle with is keeping track of their finances, but it is one of the most important areas given that cash flow is the lifeblood of the business. Small mistakes and a lack of knowledge and resources can be costly and problematic.
We’ve selected some of the most important things to consider and provide these tips and resources.
1) Find the best local credit union. Given their frequent willingness to provide loans, finding a credit union that understands the needs of your business can go a long way. There are many online tools to find credit unions based on specified criteria.
2) Find a trusted mentor. Access to free help is just a click away, with sites that help connect entrepreneurs with mentors fitting their needs. Having a mentor assist with setting up finances can be invaluable if the person is trustworthy.
3) Choose the correct accounting software. While software is a mainstay of small business finance, sorting through dozens of choices isn’t easy, since there may be better options for your specific needs than the popular QuickBooks program and related packages.
4) Consider hiring a bookkeeper. A good, trusted bookkeeper can handle all of the mundane tasks that go along with keeping finances on track. Be sure to understand the various types of bookkeepers and how to avoid fraud. A free bookkeeper hiring test (to be taken by prospective hires) can be requested.
5) Accelerate cash flow with mobile payment systems. Mobile payment systems can allow faster and easier acceptance of payments for products and services. A system called GoPayment from Intuit allows acceptance of payments through mobile phones and can directly download the data into QuickBooks. To monitor transactions, users can access Intuit’s online Merchant Service Center to search, view and create reports.
6) Look into factoring receivables. Accounts receivable financing allows immediate payment for invoices rather than waiting 30 days or longer and tying up working capital as a result. Factoring services advance the amount of the invoice minus a “discount”, or fee (advances of 80 to 90 percent are common), and provide a “rebate” when invoices are paid – the amount depends on how long it takes the customer to pay. FactorFind provides a directory of factors specializing in small businesses.
7) Understand and measure capital versus operational costs. The goal often is to drive down the totals on the capital costs side of the spreadsheet and move more over to the operational side of the equation. Operating costs don’t require complex depreciation calculations and are more easily adjusted from year to year. Outsourcing is one way to do this because it sits on the operating cost side and helps to free up cash by not tying it up in capital investments or tasks like head hunting and payroll management.
8) Measure bottom line impact by looking at the service budget year over year. Are the costs for delivering a service going up, staying the same or dropping? Figure out how much it costs to deliver specific services to the business such as recruitment, payroll or benefits management. Understanding cost-to-serve offers the business great insight into projects and tasks, how long it actually takes to do them, and as a result how much they cost.
About the Author: David Cotriss is a business/tech and new media writer, having published 500+ news and feature articles to date worldwide in magazines ranging from PC Magazine to The Industry Standard.
Categories
How to Fit 24.5 Hours Into A Day
Article Contributed by Patrick Jobin from Storagepipe Solutions
Sometimes, when you’re juggling many tasks at once, it can seem like there just aren’t enough hours in the day. If only there was some way that you could make a bit more time for yourself.
Imagine that you’re working on an important project, and the ideas are just flowing out effortlessly. Then suddenly, you stop to take a quick phone call. Well, although the call may have been short, it completely threw you off your train of thought and it will take a while to get your momentum back.
In a typical day, you may encounter dozens of such small interruptions. Although it may not seem like a big deal when you’re in the moment, these little “time vampires” quickly add up to hurt your productivity and (more importantly) suck the life from your valuable time.
In order to get more work done in less time, you need to eliminate all minor interruptions from your day.
High-powered executives are acutely aware of this. That’s why they have personal assistants, receptionists and other gatekeepers to prevent interruptions. This allows them to focus all of their energy on only the most critical business tasks.
In fact, many time management experts estimate that it can take up to 30 minutes to recover from a single interruption.
In other words, if you can eliminate just one interruption from your daily work, you can get an extra 30 minutes of personal time without negatively affecting your productivity.
And with this in mind, I’d like to propose a challenge:
Here’s Your Mission
Over the next week, I want you to keep a diary of all the workflow interruptions that happen in your work life. Then, pick just one common daily interruption and take measures to ensure that it will never happen again. Some easy ways of doing this include:
+ Putting a do-not-disturb sign on your cubicle or office door
+ Ignoring calls for 1 hour every day, then returning the voicemails
+ Blocking Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Digg from your web browser’s security settings
+ Bringing a large water bottle to your desk instead of heading off to the water cooler for a cup
+ Using a fully-automated online backup solution instead of switching backup tapes at the end of the day
If you can eliminate just one interruption per day, you will have more free time and be more productive.
Effective time management is especially important for entrepreneurs who need to maximize the profitability of every second spent on their business. Having more free time opens up more opportunities to expand the business.
Try this challenge out for a week, then post your comments below and let us know how this has affected your life, and what you’re doing with the extra 30 minutes that you’ve just added to your day.
About The Author:
Storagepipe Solutions is a leading provider of online backup and e-mail archiving solutions that helps businesses save time and money by automating their backup and business continuity process.