Focused On Your Business Virtual Office Blog

What would the New Year be without an inspirational blog post, right?

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”

-Norman Vincent Peale

Confidence – something we all struggle with from time to time, I’m sure! Much has been said about this subject, but I’d like to add my own observations.  So, here it goes…..

I was fascinated by X-Factor this year.  The word admiration comes to mind as I watched the contestants get up on that stage and sing their hearts out in front of who knows how many millions of people; some with an “I’m the best” attitude, some with an “I’m very nervous, but I can do this” attitude and some with a very quiet, humble self confidence in their ability. I’m sure that all of them where equally nervous in their own way, but, of course, not all of them shared the same talent. What I find most interesting is that the ones with the most talent, usually are the most humble and don’t get the deserved attention. As a matter of fact, when choosing the final acts to go to the live shows, numerous judges mentioned that confidence was a big factor. It isn’t fair, but then again what is ever accomplished without confidence.

When you run a business, it is imperative to portray a humble but reasonable confidence in your own abilities and in your business to put your employees and customers at ease. If you, (the business owner) don’t feel that, how can you expect your customers or employees to put their trust in you? On the other hand, if you are overly confident but can’t back it up with your abilities, products or services, does that make you trustworthy or successful in the long run?

Consistency is key! We all experience ups and downs, but eventually your track record will stand for itself and there will be no more denying your abilities.  Accept that nothing will ever be completely perfect and go for it!  If you are still struggling with confidence, I suggest you choose a mentor, someone you can follow on line who shares your values and believes; watch closely and learn from the best.

I thank all the mentors and teachers I’ve followed this past year and who have helped me come to this conclusion: This year, I’m aiming for humble but reasonable confidence in my abilities and powers!

Are you taking care of yourself or are you burning out?

A few month ago I wrote a blog called “Time for Change”. At the time, I just wrote about an Arizona dust storm, but as so often it became a metaphor for my life at that time. I was working too many hours, undercharging and seriously doubting my abilities.

Riding out the storm (as I so eloquently wrote in my last blog entry), wasn’t as easy as I would have liked it to be. Many hours were spent, unsure of too many things.

“The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one’s life.” – The Dalai Lama.

In the end I came to the following realizations:

1. Nobody is perfect

2. We are all good at what we do

3. It is okay to take time off

Being an entrepreneur means many things to many people; freedom, flexibility, the ability to do what you love, working hard and many hours come to mind. That does not mean that work needs to become your life. Finding a work/life balance is a must.

Note to self: Don’t forget to have fun today!

Here is an informative page to like on how to transform your stress.

How do I achieve a good online presence? What do I need to do to include social media in the mix? Why exactly should I blog and how often? Where do I start? How does email marketing fit into all this? I don’t have time to do all this!

These are just some of the questions I answer on a daily basis. The good news is that once everything is set up it can easily be streamlined to take less of your time.

1. Start with your website! Your website needs to have a good logo, look and feel, and most of all excellent content. Investing in someone with strong SEO knowledge is worth it, if you do not have the knowledge!

2. Incorporate your blog page into your website or create your website in Wordpress around your blog page. A Wordpress website/blog is very inexpensive and is easily set up.

3. Decide on a good email marketing platform such as Mailchimp, ConstantContact, etc. My favorite right now is Mailchimp for its flexibility and ease of use. Make sure you incorporate the branding of your website into your email marketing template.

4. Set up your Linkedin profile as detailed as possible. Don’t forget to include your website URL, your blog URL, and your twitter account. You can also set up a company profile. Once your profile is complete, connect with your business connections. There are numerous strategies to grow your list of connections in the future.

5. Create a fan page for your business on Facebook. Your profile could get shut down if you are running it as a business; that’s what your fan page is for! When creating your fan page, take the time to do it right. Include a customized sidebar and welcome tab. This welcome tab can be set as the landing page and becomes a mini website, attracting further attention to your business. It should include your best content, some good images, a call to action to like the page and can even include your newsletter sign up or whatever call to action you would like. Announce the completion of your fan page on your profile, Linkedin, your blog, twitter and anywhere else you can think of. Your first goal is to reach 25 fans so you can set your customized URL for your facebook fan page.

6. Set up your Twitter account. Again, make sure you customize your background to keep your branding in line. Announce this new Twitter account across your social media sites, blog about it and mention it in your e-newsletter.

7. Create a company video and post it on YouTube. Setting up your YouTube profile is just as simple as the others you already set up. To keep branding the same, create your customized background once again. Post this video on all your social media sites, your website, Google and anywhere else you have a presence.

8. Claim your profile in Google. Make sure you include some images, your logo and your company video.

9. Add your social media sites and newsletter sign up to your website giving your visitors many options to connect to you and search engines to find you.

10. Streamline your Marketing Process

To streamline your marketing process, you can write your blog posts all at once or as you think of them. Schedule them to go out in even intervals. Frequency depends on your allotted time; the more you write, the faster your site will be indexed on search engines due to new relevant content and links on your site.

You can also create your email campaigns ahead of time. To streamline and to save time, you can write short introductions and then link to your blog posts already written and scheduled to drive traffic back to your blog or website.

As you publish the blog posts and email campaigns, don’t forget to post them on your social media sites. There are many tools available to simply schedule them, but remember that social media is SOCIAL. Once you publish them, make sure you have time throughout the day to respond to comments.

Of course there is so much more you can do, but this is a very good start for achieving a strong online presence. Once you have everything streamlined, you can then add to your online marketing strategy.

There are many companies out there who will do this for you. If you choose to pay someone to do this for you, remember that this is your company and you have the final say in anything that will be done!

When using multiple social media sites (which I’m sure we all do), remember that your audience might be different but your voice and values should always stay the same. 

Facebook is very personal, whereas twitter can be, but due to limited characters, conversations are most likely not as deep.  Linkedin is very business oriented and that’s how it should be approached.  It might be tempting to change your tone a bit, which is acceptable, but if your persona and values change drastically from site to site, it will raise a flag for people and companies who are connected to you on multiple sites.

If you have not figured out your company’s vision, mission, culture and values, sit down and do that NOW.  Do that before you start tweeting and posting!  This is especially important if you have partners or employees who are also involved in your social media marketing strategies. Make sure that everyone who tweets or posts in the name of your company is on board and understands the values of your company.

See you in cyperspace…

I love my Toyota dealer!  Whenever I need service on my car, I actually look forward to it.  For a simple oil change I get a choice of a free massage or my nails done while I wait.  I can choose to sit outside in the sun in the winter (remember I live in Arizona) in the beautiful waiting area they created or on hot summer days, I can sit inside and enjoy complimentary coffee, water, fruit and pastries.  The waiting area is designed so nicely that I even had a business meeting there before when one of my very kind clients agreed to meet me there while my car was being worked on.  The free shuttle service they offer comes in handy when I need to run errands.  I am taken to wherever I need to go and picked up when my car is done.

This weekend my car needed a bit more work and I was immediately offered a rental car of my choice with no cost to me whatsoever.

Do I pay a little more for an oil change than at a standard Jiffy Lube –YES.  Does it bother me – NO.  Every time I walk out of there I feel like a “Queen for a Day”!

What do you do to make your customers feel like Queen/King for the day?

Yesterday, driving home we saw a van making a U-turn right in front of us.  The van didn’t quite make it on the first try and even though there was no traffic, it just stopped.  Since I had already driven by and couldn’t really see, I turned to my daughter and asked “What is this van driver doing?”  My daughter replied, “I think he was trying to make a U-turn and couldn’t get all the way around on the first try.” 

My response: “He was trying to make a U-turn and it didn’t work on the first try, so he is just going to stop?”  It really cracked me up (I have a weird sense of humor apparently since no one in my family thought that was funny!)

Anyway…. this incident got me thinking.  Just imagine how ridiculous it would be not to complete a U-turn simply because you weren’t successful on the first try.

Let’s apply this same thinking to… you guessed it… your business decisions and successes.  The next time, you attempt to do something new and it doesn’t quite work out as you expected, don’t just sit there and give up!  Instead, back up a little, fine tune your actions a bit more and try again!

As a business owner you face decisions every day.  Some are easy, some not so much.  Once your business becomes established and you have proven that your business is a worthwhile partner, many sources will want to work with you. That is the time when decisions become a bit more involved and sometimes downright difficult to make.

Of course, doing your research before you even start thinking about which direction to take is of utmost importance.  Once you have all the information that you think is necessary to make an informed decision, your intuition can be a top-notch tool when it comes to long-term decisions regarding the direction your business should take.

When I started my career, I worked for a medium size company.  The business was built by the owner from nothing and over the many years I worked there evolved and grew to a fairly large sized business.  The decision making skills of the owner always impressed me, because along with research and tangible information, in the end he relied on his gut feeling and for the most part, it worked out to the company’s benefit.

Today’s leaders are bombarded with information via resources, the Internet, the influence of the media, even social media, and some people prefer this analytical decision making process.  They rely on decision making tools such as data processing, algorithms, systems thinking and decision trees… computer artificial intelligence. This data does not allow for any fluctuation, such as throwing human beings and their behavior into the mix. It also hinders the creative thinking process, instead depending entirely on a rational approach.

I believe the most successful business owners heavily rely on intuitive decision making skills.  Making a decision or solving a problem without creative thinking is like a garden without seeds and not much can grow from it. Our subconscious mind acts like a huge memory bank, which we can rely on if we are willing to listen to our gut feeling.  Our intuition takes things into account that a computer can’t – feelings.  Will I get along with this new business partner?  Do I like him/her?  Do I trust him/her?  Is this the direction that I ultimately want my business to take?  We cannot deny the importance of these factors.  Leaders of all walks of life no longer scoff at intuitive thinking, problem solving and decision making.

So, find some solitude, let your mind wander, take a nap and let your creativity and intuition guide you!

The choices of images on sites like www.istockphoto.com are endless.  Upon entering a search term, you are confronted with thousands of pages of images “matching” the description you entered.  Personally I can spend endless hours choosing the correct image for marketing materials I create.

5 tips to choosing the correct image:

1. Really understand the concept of what the story should portray.
2. Consider colors in the materials you are creating.  With so many images to choose from, there will be one that fits your color scheme.
3. Avoid a cluttered image.  A good image concentrates on the story it tells.  A cluttered background takes away from the story.
4. Don’t leave anyone out of the story.  Make sure you choose an image that covers the whole of your target market, not just one part of your audience.
5. Last but not least, if you have the smallest inkling that you have to write a note, explaining the setting it’s not the right image. 

Including the correct image in your materials can be tricky.  It’s where the eye rests first and foremost when looking at your materials.  It sets the tone of whether your audience is drawn in to want to read your message.

Make sure they do!

For many business owners the word “marketing” sends chills down our spine.  We are reminded of telemarketers interrupting our dinner, pushy sales people running us down or even worse, having to make cold calls ourselves.  Well, it doesn’t have to be that way!

I’ve been following many marketing gurus over the course of the last few years.  One sentence that immediately spoke to me is:

 “Marketing is the act of what you have to offer and give it to others!”  Clay Collins

I would like to take it even one step further:

“Marketing is the art of communicating your strength to individuals or companies who either need your service or product or can refer you to someone who does.”

That is marketing – to share your strength, your talent, your product, your service with your community so that the people who need your talent, your strength, your service or your product can find you.  What does that mean? 

Not that much has changed.  Think of “Little House on the Prairie”!  Everybody knew each other and everybody went to the little store in town to buy their necessities or went to the blacksmith to use his expertise. Someone new came to town, everybody referred him/her to the little store or the blacksmith in town; a trusted source and an expert in his/her field. 

Yes, our communities have changed; we’ve taking them online. Whereas the blacksmith or the owner of the corner store a long time ago networked in person, we now network and advertise on line. Our website, our blog (where we share our expertise) and our social media sites have given us an extraordinary way to replace the small town network. 

Successful marketing today just like in the past is accomplished by establishing trust and communicating our strength (product or service) to our community through networking.  The only thing that has changed is that with technology we can decide if we want to share our strength locally, nationwide or globally!  First, we need to have a strong online presence so we can be found or referred…