Written on February 9, 2012 by admin
This is from my post on Small Business Trends.
For many of us who work as consultants, writers, contractors or other project-based entrepreneurs, having the ability to estimate what a project will cost is a necessary skill to have, but a difficult one to master. While some projects are cut and dry (i.e. “I’ll write 8 600-word articles for you”) others can be harder to bid on (i.e. “We’ll create an online presence for your brand using social media.”) What do you do when you inadvertently bid less than a project ends up costing you?
Why Underbidding Happens
First let’s look at how you could end up in this situation.
Scenario 1: You didn’t really understand the scope of the project.
We all know those clients. They say, “I want more sales” then give you no clear-cut plan on how to get there. Or they change what they want.
It’s extremely important to pin the client down on scope up front so that everyone’s on the same page about what you are expected to do. The more measurable the scope, the easier it will be for you and your client to assess whether you achieved your goals. Outline what the client expects and how much you will charge for these specific goals.
To read the entire post, click here.
Posted in Customer Service and Loyalty, Entrepreneurship | Comment Now!
Written on February 7, 2012 by admin
This is from my post on Lead411.
Many people daydream of breaking free of the 9 to 5 to “be their own bosses.” But is entrepreneurship as glamorous as all that? If you think running a small business means leisure time and big paychecks, think again. There are few things as difficult as getting a business off the ground, let alone running it long-term. Read my 10 reasons you don’t want to start a business, and if you don’t run off screaming, keep reading this post.
How Can I Be Sure?
My advice to you is to read and do as much research as possible before you dive in to a new business idea (and burn the bridge to your comfortable day job). A few books that will help you ask yourself the right questions are The Entrepreneur Equation and Making the Jump into Small Business Ownership. Rather than sugarcoating entrepreneurship, both books take a hard look at what is really required day to day.
To read the entire post, click here.
Photo credit: boetter.
Posted in Entrepreneurship | Comment Now!
Written on February 2, 2012 by admin
This is from my post on BizLaunch.
If you’re a business owner, you may realize that managing staff and running a business aren’t the same thing. While you may be great at balancing the books and bringing in new business, you may be lacking people skills that make you a good boss. If that’s the case, here are some tips to help you out.
1. Listen. If you tend towards an “in and out” managing strategy, you may not take the time to sit down and listen to what your employees have to say. Whether it’s a complaint about another worker or a suggestion about how you might be more efficient if you changed something in your operations, you can learn a lot when you actually listen. The added benefit is that your employees will begin to trust you better if you show that you really care what they have to say.
2. Communicate. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? But make it a point to be more and more transparent in your operations. Planning to acquire another company? Let your staff know before you do, and address any concerns they may have about the purchase. Work to meet with all of your staff at least once a month or quarter. Break it down into departmental meetings if your company is big enough to warrant it. Be a man or woman of your word, and always make sure that your employees know what your word stands for.
To read the entire post, click here.
Posted in Customer Service and Loyalty, Entrepreneurship | Comment Now!
Written on January 31, 2012 by admin
This is from my post on GrowthUniversity.
Think you’ve got your marketing channels covered? You might be missing a fairly obvious one: your email signature. While you might have the basics covered in your signature (phone number and website), it’s valuable real estate for your marketing.
First, Get the Basics Right
It may sound simple enough to include your contact info in your signature, but you’d be surprised how many people get it wrong. The key is to keep it short. Pick one phone number, not four. Don’t bother with your mailing address. Use hyperlinked words, rather than ugly URLs.
Avoid colored font. They’re too distracting. Look at email signatures that land in your inbox and take from the ones that you like.
What Links Do You Want to Promote?
Most people create their email signature and then never change it. But your marketing probably does change, right? If you’re promoting a new book or product on social media, update your signature to include a link to it.
To read the entire post click here.
Posted in Email Marketing | Comment Now!
Written on January 26, 2012 by admin
This is from my post on FutureSimple.
If you’re just starting your company in 2012, you may wonder how you possibly can get new customers and start to build relationships with them to grow your business. Unfortunately, there’s no secret to overnight sales. You’ll have to start at square one. However, these tips will help you move a little faster toward building trust with consumers.
Become a Resource
The sooner you start sharing advice and insight to potential customers, the quicker they’ll find you. Create a company blog and write about topics that your customers are concerned with. Share tips through social media. Provide valuable content in as many channels as you can manage, and people will begin to find you.
The beauty of this is that as they find you and like what you’re putting out there, they’ll share it. And the effect snowballs.
Important note: While you may be desperate for customers, remember that at this stage, it’s more about creating customer confidence. As they get to know your brand, the sales will come in.
Start Networking
The more people you meet, the better your brand will be known. Start locally at the Chamber of Commerce or business networking events, then branch out into industry trade shows and conferences nationwide.
Click here to read the entire post.
Posted in Customer Service and Loyalty | Comment Now!
Written on January 24, 2012 by admin
I was sent this infographic from SEO.com and thought it was worth sharing:
Posted in Marketing | Comment Now!
Written on January 19, 2012 by admin
Sometimes I think about what I’d do if I had unlimited funds and didn’t have to work. Would I be able to close down Egg and enjoy a life of leisure? I can’t see it, no matter how hard I try.
I love what I do. I love being a business owner, especially as my business has started doing better and better over the years. I love that each day brings possibility: a new client, a new partnership, new knowledge. I check my email incessantly simply because exciting things happen via email.
If I worked for someone else, naturally I’d want to quit if I were filthy rich. If I did something I didn’t enjoy, I would consider closing down shop. But the truth is, running my business is part of who I am. I identify with being an entrepreneur as much as I identify with being a mother and wife. So if I took that away…I would probably start another business.
What about you? Are you so passionate about what you do that you’d keep doing it even if you didn’t need money?
Photo credit: Thepinkpeppercorn on Flickr.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comment Now!
Written on January 17, 2012 by admin
This is a guest post from Scott Hersh of Business Cash Advance.
Clearly define the advantage of your business in a zesty way.
For a minute, I want you to just put aside all of your preconceived notions about business slogans. Not because your preconceived notions aren’t true, they probably are true for one niche or another, but because your preconceived notions are probably not always applicable and therefore seem contradictory.
First, please consider, what these two slogans have in common…
- Wikipedia- “The Free Encyclopedia”
- Nike- “Just Do It”
It would seem that the creators of each of these business slogans play by completely different marketing rules. “The Free Encyclopedia,” includes absolutely no hype, and is a concise explanation of what Wikipedia provides. “Just Do It,” on the other hand, is 100% hype, and not only doesn’t explain anything about what Nike provides, the slogan itself calls for some explanation. Yet both slogans are great, why?
The answer to how both slogans can be polar opposites, and yet be great, gets to the essence of the business slogan. Both Nike and Wikipedia’s slogans inspire a desired action from each of their respective ideal audiences. In other words, for a slogan to be great, it needs to inspire the desired action from your ideal audience or customer.
The ideal audience of Wikipedia is a person who is looking for free information on the internet. Wikipedia has established their brand as the premier source for free information by the use of the word, “The,” before, “Free Encyclopedia.” Such a slogan is enough to inspire trust in the brand and cause people to depend on Wikipedia as the world’s most accessible, and free, information authority.
Nike, on the other hand, has a completely different mission than Wikipedia. Nike is trying to remain the alpha of the athletic shoes market, and, likewise, sell a lot of shoes. Their ideal customers are those who are either athletic or want to feel athletic, and can be convinced to pay a premium for what they perceive they can accomplish by putting just the right product on their feet. By the way, my point is not to belittle Nike shoes in any way, but rather to define, from a marketing perspective, how their slogan is designed to sell products. The power of the marketing slogan, “Just Do It,” is not in the clarity, rather the open-endedness itself is designed to sell the shoes.
What does, “Just Do It,” mean anyway? It is an empowering message aimed to inspire the listener to believe that he or she can or should do that which he or she feels uncertain about doing, but probably, really wants to do. Nonetheless, as long as the phrase remains outside of some semblance of a context, it doesn’t actually mean anything. So the message in, “Just Do It,” is whatever you, the listener, wants it to be, and that’s why it’s so compelling.
As we see from the examples of Wikipedia and Nike, two slogans can do and say very different things, while still being very effective. But the secret commonality between all successful business slogans is the focus on prodding a desired audience to perform a certain action.
At the beginning of this article I requested that you put aside all of your preconceived notions about business slogans, and now, I want to explain what we should have gained by doing that. Now that we have clarified, that the aim of the slogan should be focused on a specific type of audience, and be aimed at eliciting a particular response from them, all of the rest of the business slogan advice, which you may have learned over the years, should fall neatly into place.
Scott Hersh is a business blogger for BCAblog.com the official blog of BCA: leaders in merchant cash advances.
Photo credit: Sarah G on Flickr.
Posted in Branding | Comment Now!
