Archive for April, 2010
Learn New Techniques at Live Events
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They say that you can’t teach old dog new tricks, but you can teach them something new about business. Okay, so the last part is made up but there is truth to it. There are new things about business that are best learned in person at live events.
Live events have so many opportunities, that you almost have to be wearing track shoes to get around to taking advantage of them all. One plus in particular is learning new business techniques. There is not a single person (and that applies to gurus as well) who couldn’t stand to learn a thing or two. In fact, they will probably be the first ones in line.
The person who has stopped learning has also stopped growing. The only limits that are placed on your business are self-imposed. The Internet is a wealth of knowledge for the one who can access it, but did you ever stop to think where that knowledge was received?
At least some of it was gained at live business events. Here, you are exposed not only to people who can expand on marketing techniques that you currently utilize, but also individuals who have found new ways to harness business power.
Stop and think for a moment. Those who host these events are looking for the best and the brightest to entice you to come. These people prove time and time again that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to business.
In case you didn’t know or haven’t thought about it in a while, here are a few things you can take part in and learn from at live events:
1. Brainstorming sessions – Imagine the energy in the room when hundreds of entrepreneurs get together at tables to discuss new ways to improve each others businesses? Be sure to take copious notes to refer to later and get the names of everyone at the table.
2. Visit the vendor area – This is an opportunity for businesses to highlight their products and services. You can learn about new programs computer programs, business software and get to demo items right there on site.
3. Keep all materials given to you – Within the pages of those handouts are vital information. Speakers may lay out for you how they go about promoting new products, implement new programs and techniques and list online resources for you. You may want to bring a tote bag or a briefcase to hold everything you will get so it is easier to reference later.
Attend live events with an open mind. Be ready to expect the unexpected and get immersed into business techniques you haven’t tried before.
Time Management for the Solopreneur
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you go into business for yourself there are many challenges you prepare yourself for. You know that you need to be financially prepared. You know that you need to market your business and are ready to face those challenges. However, one challenge that is often overlooked is the simple but always present time management challenge. It’s so easy to become overwhelmed with the tasks and responsibilities of any given day that nothing gets accomplished.
Here are some time management tips for the solopreneur:
Multi-tasking isn’t an option. Multi-tasking is one of the most ineffective ways to accomplish anything. Rather than focusing on completing one task, your attention is divided and it actually takes you longer to complete anything. And quite often the results aren’t as stellar as they would have been if you’d simply focused on the single task.
Schedule everything. Schedule time to work, time to play, time to network, time to plan and time to check email or make phone calls. Sounds easy, right? Scheduling your time forces you to focus on the task at hand. It also helps to prevent distraction.
Make a to do list at the end of each day for the next day and prioritize it. Put the most important task at the top of the list. The reason to create the following day’s to do list at the end of each day is so that you are able to let the day go. It actually reduces your stress and you can go to bed knowing tomorrow is in order and you’ll be productive.
Schedule your tasks around your body clock. This may sound strange because we’re taught to tackle our task list from the top down. However, that doesn’t always work for our personalities and habits.
For example, if you’re a night owl and getting up in the morning is rough, the last thing you want to do is schedule an important business call for first thing in the morning. Save that slow wake-up time to check email, do a little social networking and so on. Schedule that important business call for after you’ve had lunch and your brain and body are in prime working order.
Make sure you’re firm with your friends and family. When people work from home, it’s easy for friends and family to get too comfortable. You can be buried in your office, your brow furrowed in concentration and your spouse will walk in and want to have a discussion about what to have for dinner next week when the Smiths come over. You have to set boundaries and stick to them. This focused working time, this uninterrupted working time, will help you be productive, leaving you time to spend with your family later.
Use your resources. There are more time management tools available than you’ll ever have time to explore. You don’t have to use all of them, but certainly some of them will make you more productive. Whether it’s Outlook, Google calendar, your PDA, or a paper calendar and your favorite pencil, develop a system of staying organized and use it.
Take time away. This may sound contradictory, however, in order to remain productive during your work time you have to play some too. If you don’t, burnout will certainly ensue and you’ll move at a slower pace than a two year old that’s been ordered to eat their vegetables. Take time to play and you’ll feel refreshed and energized, ready to go back to work!
Time management isn’t tricky but it does take a plan, some patience and certainly fortitude. You’re an entrepreneur so you definitely have what it takes to get it done. Create a plan, use your resources and make it happen.
Using Twitter to Launch Your New Product
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Getting ready to launch a new product? Congratulations! You’ve no doubt put a lot of hard work into your product. Did you know you can use
Twitter to help launch it? Here’s how to use twitter to launch a new product:
1. Create a build up to the launch event.
Post any sneak peeks, samples, and testimonials for the product a few days before the event. Part of a successful launch is the anticipation of the new product. Twitter is a great way to help create anticipation.
2. Offer special incentives.
You can also offer a limited viewing to the first 100 visitors and post the offer on Twitter. Some marketers request the first 100 DMs, others request retweets, RT, and others just post a link to their website. This is also a great way to gauge interest in your pending product and may provide valuable information about how to fine tune or tweak the product before the official launch.
3. Engage in conversation.
Social networking sites like Twitter can be a great place to receive feedback. You can DM, direct message, a few respected and trusted friends from Twitter and ask them to evaluate your product, sales copy or bonus products.
4. Blog about your new product and link to the new blog posts from Twitter.
5. Use Twitter to build your opt in list before your product launch.
This will add valuable contacts to your list for better sales once you launch because you will undoubtedly be promoting your new product to your opt in list. How to do this? Create a free piece of content and market it heavily on Twitter. Link to it with valuable tidbits of information having the link take them to an opt in page. Now you have a larger opt in list and more targeted people to market your new product to.
6. Publish content relating to your new product and link to the new content from Twitter.
For example, if you’re launching a new ebook, you can write an article on one of the topics covered in the ebook. Always keeping in mind that your goal is to help your customers and prospects, to solve their problems and improve their life.
7. Connect with others on Twitter who may become great partners.
They can help you market your new product and you can help them market their new product. Some partner possibilities include trading advertisements, promotions, links, trading special or unadvertised bonuses or even skills and services.
Twitter, and other social networking sites, can be a tremendous asset when launching a new product. Take a look at your audience, plan and create a strategy to incorporate Twitter into your marketing strategy.
Here’s to your success!
Use Meebo To Enhance Your Business
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Since the invention of instant messaging people have been looking for a solution like Meebo. It provides you with a number of advantages as a business owner and as an individual. Let’s take a look at eight advantages of using Meebo.
1. Meebo enables you to pool all of your instant messaging contacts into one location. Facebook, AIM, Yahoo and MSN can all be accessed from one central point. This provides tremendous accessibility advantages. You can also access MySpace, Gtalk, ICQ, and Jabber contacts for ultimate usability and functionality.
2. Meebo allows you to create a button for your website. When website visitors click on the customized button, they can instantly connect with you via social networking or chat. You can then save money on Live Chat and customer service support systems, and it enhances your visitor’s website experience.
3. Meebo also allows you to have several conversations at the same time. This gives you the ability to plan a family gathering, organize a meeting, or of course offer customer support to several customers at the same time.
4. It runs inside your web browser, which means you don’t have to download any additional software to use it.
5. Meebo also offers group chat options and the ability to share media. Now you can probably imagine how this would be useful with friends and family, but think about your business too. If you’re chatting with customers, you can send them images, videos and other tools to help motivate a purchasing decision. And this feature makes collaboration with associates easy and useful.
6. You can use Meebo on your mobile device. Meebo is available on the iPhone, android phones, Windows phones, Symbian and Blackberry. Meaning you can take your ability to connect with friends, family and business associates and customers with you wherever you go.
7. Using Meebo is easy. You simply need to register as a user of Meebo and define your data connection, including your username and password, to the instant messaging networks you utilize. Meebo works like a simple desktop program.
8. Finally, if you like to use Firefox as your browser, you can download the Firefox extension. It gives you a sidebar with a smart “buddylist” and visual notifications when you receive an instant message. You can also drag links and images directly to your “buddies”. Which means you can interact without having your web surfing and activities interrupted.
Meebo provides users with the ability to pull all of their instant messaging functions, connections and capabilities into one account. It provides tremendous functionality as a customer service option and it provides your users with one more way to connect with you as a business owner. If you use instant messaging, consider checking out Meebo.
How to Write Articles
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When content marketing is a large part – or even a small part – of your business marketing strategy, it pays to learn to write articles. With this five-step process you can write educational, value driven, and informative content quickly and easily.
Step 1 – Choose your article topic or keywords and form it into a question. So for example, let’s say your keywords are “inexpensive marketing ideas” and you want to write an article about inexpensive marketing ideas. These keywords formatted as a question might look like this: “What are the most useful inexpensive marketing ideas?” or “What are the top three inexpensive marketing ideas for coaches?”
This is an extremely writer-friendly technique because it’s much easier to answer a question quickly and succinctly. And when you perform your keywords search, you’ll often find the phrases are already formatted as questions.
Step #2 – From that question, add three additional questions that relate to your main topic. For example,
* What is the best way to use social media as an inexpensive marketing tool?
* Where can I find out the best inexpensive marketing ideas for my target market?
* How do I choose the right marketing idea?
Step #3 – Answer each question with a four or five sentence answer. This is where the true writing begins and you’ll find that writing a paragraph, or two, to answer your question is quite easy. The best online content is easy to understand and written conversationally. This question and answer technique facilitates conversational writing. The question and answer format also helps create articles that are easy to read online. Short paragraphs with subheadings are easy to scan and absorb the value quickly.
Step #4 – Write a quick introduction. Once you’ve answered the three main questions in your article, it’s time to go back and write the introduction. Again, this will be a four to five sentence paragraph, only this time you want to introduce the problem you’re addressing in your article and provide a benefit for reading the article. You want to motivate people to continue reading.
Step #5 – Write your conclusion. Your conclusion is merely a re-emphasis of the benefit in your article and a quick summary of your key points.
You’ll also want to include a call to action here, like “Visit my website for more information” and include a hyperlink.
By formulating your article as a series of questions, you’re able to write the answers quickly and provide valuable information to your prospects. It’s a useful technique for just about any article type or subject matter. Give it a try, chances are you can cut your article writing time in half with this simple five-step process.
