Archive for the ‘Business Development’ Category

There was a point in time when the telephone was the big time waster. Now in many cases, it’s social media.

With the variety and different types of social media sites available to market your business along with the multitude of ads, dings, notifications, apps, discussions, new features to keep up to speed and adopt, the world of social media networking and marketing can be very overwhelming to say the least!

But it doesn’t have to be.

Here are three simple ways to avoid getting sucked in and wasting time on social media:

Create a plan – In other words, don’t just “show up;” be intentional.  Plan out how you will use social media to the letter — each day, each update, and what you’ll do with your time.  This way you can stay focused on the outcome and objective at hand.

Automate — Updating your social network about new posts, articles and information can be automated without any ill effects. This one act will save you hours each day (assuming you’re blogging and creating content like you should).  You can’t be on all sites all the time.   Smart automation is imperative to being able to get everything done that needs to be done.

Schedule — As a woman who launches while working you’ve got only a finite window of time to work on your business.   Staying highly optimized is key!   If social media marketing is an important aspect of getting clients and building your business, you must schedule and commit time doing it.

Use these tips to begin putting an end to overwhelm and wasting time on social media.  But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

If you are looking for more tactics and strategies to get better results using social media,  join me and my expert guest  Amber Lee Scott for Tuesday’s ( May 8 ) teleseminar:  Understanding Social Media: Customize Your Strategy, Stop Overwhelm, Get Better Results in Less Time.

Click register and receive program details and information.

This month’s teleclass is focused on social media marketing success!

- Do you spend countless hours posting on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn but never get a response?

- Are you confused which sites to use more readily & how to use them effectively?

- Do you feel like social media marketing is a complete waste of time?

Join me and my guest expert Ms. Amber Lee Scott, the Social Media Mentor & CEO of  TrueUvoice,  for our upcoming FREE teleseminar:  Understanding Social Media: How to Customize Your Marketing Strategy, Stop Overwhelm, Get Better Results in Less Time

You will discover:

- How to choose the social media sites that are exactly right for you and your business

- How to reach your target market on social media without fail

- Simple tools, strategies and techniques you can incorporate into your marketing game plan to grow your business faster

- The #1 thing you MUST ALWAYS do if you do nothing else

- The most important aspects of your social media strategy…even if you have very little time

- How to convert your social media tribe into list subscribers and paying clients and customers.

And More!

Click here to register and get more program details.

There’s a huge difference between doing something well and doing it perfectly.

Attempting to be perfect ushers in lots of lost time, frustration, feelings of inadequacy and can even interfere with completing important projects.

The problem with perfection is that it can never be truly attained. So, in pursuing perfection, you are bound to end up with less to show for your efforts.

Think about it: A poorly written but complete book can still be published (and can still be bought or sold).

But a perfectly composed book that’s only half finished is essentially worthless!

Of course, there’s a middle ground between poor and perfect…and that terrain includes excellence.

Excellence in this context means more than good enough. It means that a task whether completed by you or outsourced is completed at a high enough level that there’s no cause for concern. Pursuit of excellence begins with deciding what level you wish to attain before getting started  on a project.

Everything you do should have standards that you strive for. Once you have set the bar, you now have a target – a goal that’s been chosen with some thought and intelligence.  Thereafter, simply perform the task to that level and stop. Consider it done and move on to something else.

By choosing excellence over perfection, you can be more productive, feel more of a sense of accomplishment, and maintain your sanity much more easily as you work hard to meet critical benchmarks and deadlines.

The choice is clear…strive for the pursuit of excellence and thrive!

Chances are pursuit of perfection isn’t the only thing that slows you down from achieving what you want for your business. If you are ready to get out of your own way, stop self sabotage and uncover other hidden barriers and challenges, click here for a complimentary, limited time offer, I Want to Launch & Grow My Business Breakthrough Session.

April is focus on money month.  This month’s guest blogger is Antonina Geer, CEO of Simplistic Financials…  Here’s what she has to say about making next year’s tax season STRESS FREE!!

I know you’re glad tax season is DONE!!  So often, it’s can be overwhelming and stressful.

But it doesn’t have to be — the key is year round tax planning!

As an entrepreneur, almost everything  you do in business has some sort of tax implication. So, why should you wait until the tax crunch time to start planning and preparing?

That is not the best use of your time and it could be costing you thousands of dollars in the long run!   It’s better to implement a tax plan that you can work all year!   The ideal situation is a tax plan set up and ready to go by December 31st of the year before the new tax year starts.

I know this may sound a little scary!  Now, take a deep breath in and exhale!  LOL!

Here’s a secret:  Your tax plan doesn’t have to be a complicated one, but it should be a plan that makes sense, compliments your business structure and operations, one that you can commit to, and one that is developed to keep as much net profit in your business as legally possible.

What Does It Mean to Have a Tax Plan for Your Business?

Simply put, it means to implement tactics and strategies throughout the year in an effort to minimize potential tax liability (the amount of taxes you owe to the IRS as a result of having a profitable business) and to increase your tax savings.  A tax plan can also help you in taking advantage of tax breaks that you may be legally entitled to.

Here are some daily habits you can adopt now that will get you started with your effective tax plan for 2013!

1.) Always have organized financial records.  Also develop a filing system or process of keeping track of your expenditures and invoices.

2.) Create a regular schedule for accounting and financial management responsibilities such as bookkeeping, filing receipts, and other financial documents. Commit to how often you will tend to these responsibilities – Weekly? Monthly?  Quarterly?

3.) Monitor your net income/net profit on at least a monthly basis.  This way you can assess whether you are on track to meeting your financial and revenue goals.

4.) Don’t comingle transactions – keep your business and personal financials separate.  Not only is this bad bookkeeping practice, it’s just too hard to effectively monitor cash flow from each account.  It’s even harder to remember to “pay this or that account” back.

5.) Schedule time in the middle or end of the tax year in which you make wise spending on “necessary” equipment, computers, software, etc.; contributing to a retirement plan or benefits plan; paying wages to family members or implementing growth strategies.

6.) Always meet with your CPA or other trusted financial consultant to determine what is the best tax plan for your business.

About our guest blogger: Antonina D. Geer, MBA, owner of Simplistic Financials, LLC is passionate about serving and inspiring people to experience abundance in business and in life. She is a wife, a mother, works alongside her husband in ministry, and an entrepreneur. As a finance consultant and strategist, Antonina empowers women entrepreneurs to develop more profitable and sustainable businesses by taking control of the money matters in business. Through proven customized finance strategies, money relationship improvement solutions, and simple financial literacy, Antonina inspires women to make more money and keep more of the money they earn so that they can genuinely serve and live from their overflow! http://www.simplisticfinancials.com

It’s the beginning of a new quarter…a good time to assess where you are in meeting your most important goals and measuring your progress relative to the same time last year.

You may be wondering how to do this quickly and easily. It’s not as hard as you may think.

Use these three questions to get a handle on where things stand now and where to focus next:

1. What is working for your business? There is no need to fix what’s not broken. Keep doing what works and brainstorm how you can achieve even MORE with the strategies that get you good results.

2. What is not working for your business? If there are any tasks, activities, or strategies you have been using that do not serve your business, you must either stop doing it completely or do it differently in some shape, form, or fashion. Doing things the same way you’ve always done them and expecting change simply won’t happen. One small tweak can make a BIG difference in your business.

3. What can you improve upon to get better, faster results?

In business ownership there is always room for improvement. Reflect on mistakes, missteps, and what you need to do better in the future. Take some time today to create your list of if I: coulda, woulda, shoulda and gain new perspective on how to best move forward.

Also pinpoint where you’re stuck. The only way you can get past this place is to be honest with yourself, and admit where you’re falling short. What are you in need of: More training? More support (personally or for your business)? More information, resources, tools to get to the next level?

Last but not least, take action. It’s not enough to have awareness. You must also act to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Tired of trying to figure out what’s next all on your own? Struggling to overcome the obstacles that seem to keep showing up and getting in the way of making forward consistent progress in your business? There’s a better way…

Spring has sprung!! For a limited time, I am giving away complimentary I Want to Launch & Grow My Business breakthrough sessions. These sessions are designed to uncover the challenges that keep getting in the way, slowing you down or stopping you from reaching your most important goals, and more! Learn more & grab your session here.

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a sales letter, email message for your list, or even writing an article, a blog entry, or posting on a message board — this is all copywriting because everything you write for your business should have a marketing objective.

The Internet is a place where people go, first and foremost, for information. That means YOU as expert in your niche should be the one providing it for them. The more informative you are and effective in communicating that you have the solution for what they desire most, the more readily you will be able to convert interested readers and prospects into customers and clients on line.

But the trick is knowing how to do this successfully.

Which is why I’ve partnered with Lavada Thompson of Your Lucrative Launch.com to reveal several copywriting secrets that will empower you to significantly increase your monthly income & cash flowing into your business. Lavada’s background and expertise is in creating websites that sell and converting clients online.

On Wednesday, March 14,  I will be interviewing Lavada for a 60-minute, high-value, content-packed call, that you truly don’t want to miss.

You will discover:
* The number one, most important thing you must do in your sales copy to motivate your ideal clients to pull out their credit cards.
* The easiest way to create the gap in their minds and convince them that your solution is the answer.
* How to address their objections right there on the sales page so they can move forward with the sale.
* 3 proven tips to create a sense of urgency so they say, “I better get this now!”

And much more!

Register here now.

Copywriting is a very important skill to have if you’re going to be successful doing business on the web. Knowing how to write in such a way that compels and motivates prospective clients to buy is critical.

And, no you don’t have to be an expert copywriter to write engaging and effective sales copy. We’re going to show you very simple, proven copywriting techniques that can have a huge impact on your online sales – immediately!

Join us this Wednesday, for this one-time-only FREE teleseminar: “5 Simple Ways to Get Ideal Prospects to Click ‘Buy Now.’” All the call in details will be provided immediately after registering.

Let’s partner to grow your business by selling more of your products and services online!

Hope to see you on the call!

Can’t make the call, no problem! You will have access to the replay right away… but you must be registered! Hope to “see” you on the call.

Marketing, it’s a lot like a science experiment: test, test, test. Study your data.  Take note of what works & doesn’t.  And always be tweaking.

Unfortunately with marketing, there’s no silver bullet to meeting your most important marketing goals.  A variety of approaches are needed and necessary to meet your bottom line.

As you know,  what may work for another,  may not work for you. Not all strategies are best for your business.

Fortunately hindsight is 20/20. Looking back on your business journey thus far what do you know now that you wish you knew then, that would have made all  the difference?

What is the worst marketing advice you’ve ever gotten? What happened when you followed it & what did you learn in the process?

Please post your comments here.  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

“OMG, Brandi Starr I have been wanting to meet you!”

That was the first thing I heard from a woman rushing towards me as I stepped into a room full if women business owners who were all buzzing about meeting, greeting, and networking. Although my last name is “Starr” I’m in no way a celebrity so why was this person so excited upon my arrival?

Despite the fact that this was our first meeting we already had a relationship. The conversation concluded with a meeting to talk through how we could work together and she later became a client.  This is just one example of the power of social media!

Social media marketing also allows people to connect with your business, your brand, and you. Almost every person who has studied marketing has heard the statistic that it takes at least 7 touches over a period of time before a person really connects with your message. In the past that meant lengthily marketing campaigns using a variety of mediums such as direct mail, email, and print advertising.

Although those tactics (and the many others available to you) are still useful marketing tactics we can now make that connection with people in a faster more cost effective way.

Through social media efforts such as Twitter, Facebook, and your blog  your prospective and current customers are repeatedly seeing your marketing message. And more important they are able to directly engage with you AND easily share that message.

By having that consistent and repeated interaction when a need arises for your product or service you are top of mind and that prospect quickly converts to a paying customer.

Here are my tips to build relationships through social media:

BE Consistent: Branding is all about consistency, so having a consistent voice in your social media activities is important. Overtime people should know what to expect from you. The types of content & information you share, the frequency in which you share it, the best ways to connect and relate to you.

BE Relevant: Keep your goals and your target audience in mind and share content and information that is relevant to them.

BE Human: Sounds simple right? Too often business owners get caught up in representing their business that they fail to include the ‘human factor’. Share your mistakes and failures as others can learn from them. Share something personal (but don’t air your dirty laundry or be a Debbie Downer).

BE  YOURSELF: You only have one you, and people need to experience who you are through your social media interactions. If you have a slightly quirky sense of humor let that shine through, if you have a knack for motivating others be a source of inspiration for your followers. Whoever you are, just be YOU.

BE Engaged: Social media isn’t one of those things you set up and sit back and watch t blossom. It takes work to build relationships and those relationships must be cultivated. So have an open dialog with your followers and fans. Just like your mom taught you when you were a child, when someone speaks to you, you speak back. Or do one better and speak first.

For more tips on using social media view my recorded webcast Social Media 101 for Start Ups & Small Businesses.

About the Author: Brandi Starr is the Owner and Marketing Maven of Cassius Blue Consulting. With over 10 years marketing experience Brandi energizes business owners small businesses who are in the first 0-5 years of their business to win more customers, grow sales and build reputation. Brandi is a bubbly, forthright, positive, woman of many dimensions who has a passion for helping small businesses to succeed.

Each weekend is filled with wrestling matches and tournaments, as this is the winter sport for both my boys.  It’s one of the hardest sports around — just you and your opponent, one-on-one.  There’s no one to blame but yourself if things don’t go well.

It occurred to me the other day as I was watching them just how much the sport reminded me of business, which similarly isn’t easy to do.

The following are 5 instructions I typically hear my son’s coach yelling from the corner during a wrestling match that I couldn’t help to relate to success in business:

“Get to your feet.” In wresting one thing that is critically important is to stay on your feet because this is where you are strongest.

In a business sense, this is a lot like staying true to core:  your business vision, mission, what you do really well, and niche focused.

There is so much competition in the marketplace. When things don’t happen for your business as quickly as you would like, it’s tempting to change your course and become something else for whomever is willing to hear, listen, and respond to your message.

However this “make it up as you go along” approach leaves you scattered with no sense of purpose or direction.  And as a result you will struggle to establish your brand and jeopardize your position in the marketplace.

Although there are times when you feel “lost in the wilderness” with aimless pursuits, you can always find center and get back on track when you stay grounded and “get to your feet.”

“Pop your head out.” Sometimes when a wrestler gets tangled up, their head can get trapped in an awkward, downward position.  This keeps the wrestler from executing other moves because their eyes are focused in the wrong place – down at the mat.

In business it’s important to keep your head up and eyes open to new possibilities, and pay attention to new trends in your industry and/or niche. With this global perspective coupled with your own knowledge and expertise, will not only elevate your expert status, but also position you as a thought leader and the one to watch in your niche.

Rising to a level of prominence and influence sets you apart from all the rest, as well as attracts other potential JV partners and prospective clients too.  So stop looking down – pop your head out!

“Shoot.” This is when both wrestlers are standing in neutral and one reaches or drops low with the intent to grab the leg of their opponent for the take down. What’s critically important about shooting successfully is focus, speed, and precision; otherwise you end up in a vulnerable position for your opponent to score points.

It’s so important as a business owner to take risks and be decisive. Seeing an opportunity and going for it (even if you’re not 100% sure it will pan out) is an important success trait to adopt.

Sometimes you can self sabotage by over thinking and over analyzing a situation.  Meanwhile, as you sit and ponder, should I or shouldn’t I, the opportunity could pass you by.

Focus on what it is you want and make the decision to go after it.  Realize of course your aim should always be calculated; but once you’ve determined that it’s the right thing for you and your business, trust it, and go for it – full throttle, no hesitation.  Shoot now!

“Circle, circle.”  Whether on your feet or down on your knees, you’ve got to move constantly or risk getting called for staling.

Long term sustainable business success requires stamina, consistent devotion of time and attention to avoid stagnation. Remember small consistent steps can sometimes get you to where you want to be faster overtime than bigger, more sporadic activity.

The small wins you experience every step of the way are what affirm yes over and over again, and provide you with  the motivation to keep moving forward toward your goals and executing your action plan without fail.   It’s time to achieve more of what you really want for your business – circle, circle!

“Grab a wrist.” This is what allows a wrestler to get control of their opponent so that they can “set up” their next move.

The fatal mistake for so many new solopreneurs is spending so much time on preparation and planning of an upcoming teleseminar, webinar, launch of program, etc. (the set up), but failing to focus on the backend  (what comes next).

The objective should always be to keep the sales dialog going so that you retain subscribers, and foster loyal customers and clients over the life of your business.

Before you finish planning your next event or program, remember these three steps: begin with the end in mind, offer next steps that your target market wants, needs, desires; create calls to action that will lead them down your sales funnel.   So “grab a wrist” and lead them to YES over and over again over the life of your business.

Wondering what else you can do to improve your bottom line, stop sabotaging your success, attract more clients, earn the revenue you really want, and build a better business in 2012?  Join me for teleseminar, Ready to Launch 2012. http://www.launchwhileyouwork.com/readytolaunch2012

If you are less than satisfied with what you were able to accomplish last year, feeling lost and misdirected, struggling to develop a real plan of action to get better results for 2012 and still asking the question, “Now What?”  you are in the right place.

Discover How to Remove Barriers to Finding the Clients You Desire Most, Earning The Revenue You Really Want, And Building a Better Business in 2012… Without Tears

Please join me Wednesday for this FREE teleseminar, Ready to Launch 2012! Click here to learn more and to register: http://bit.ly/zLRUan