small business tips

Overcoming a bad experience

Posted by renee on September 30th, 2011

In an instant, you can experience an incredible turn of events. Things can occur that will change a moment, an hour, a week or a life. It’s how you react when you are down and getting kicked that will determine how you will eventually succeed.

It doesn’t take much to shake off a bad situation, like getting fired, dumped or getting a flat tire (to say the least).  It really doesn’t.  Take a moment to do the following:
1. Analyze the situation
2. Get some answers
3. and figure out your next steps

Your ‘next steps’ is the action item.  It is what you do, when you do it that will get you to your feet again.  But you must act, and act fast. Make a clear decision and go with it. It will all work itself out, as long as you stick to your plan.  If that plan doesn’t work, go back to step one and start over again.  Ask yourself:

1. Why didn’t it work the first time?
2. What can I do to make it work?
3. How much time will this take me?

If the effort outweighs the benefit then you need to get more answers to some questions.  Don’t sweat over the small stuff. Think big picture. All the little things will fall into place as you work on the big picture items.

What have you done to quickly overcome a nasty situation?

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Experiencing the Entrepreneur Pendulum

Posted by renee on May 25th, 2011

It is tough being an entrepreneur. Some days are amazing. While others you just want to crawl under a rock and stay there – forever.  I, at the moment, am experiencing what Mark Suster calls the terror in starting something new (On the other end of the pendulum is euphoria).

As you may come to understand or have already experienced, there are a billion different emotions that overcome entrepreneurs at the best of times and at the worst of times. Anxiety, stress, euphoria, happiness, accomplishment, … all in a given week. It is not ever constant or consistent.  Today for example, I had one client terminate a contract, another client say “I don’t think we can pay your invoice’, and another client wanting more for FREE!  Oh, and the cherry on the top, our top designer is too busy doing her own thing to focus on our work at the moment.

Where to find comfort?  It’s knowing you’re not alone and talking to other entrepreneurs who have been there too. A good friend of mine today said to me “I know exactly how you are feeling today, as I went through that a few years ago. I forgot how hard it can be. Just know that now is NOT the time to give up. You can’t give up. Your business partner relies on you. People expect great things from you. You will get through this”.

Well, sure. Sounds possible.  But where is the light at the end of the tunnel?  These damn Ramen noodles are getting gross and I am sick of drinking the cheap beer.

These damn Ramen noodles are getting gross and I am sick of drinking the cheap beer.

Again, I chose this route. I chose this lifestyle. I chose freedom over having a boring job helping someone else get rich.


What I have learned is simple and easy to remember:

1. Your business partner can easily comfort you in chatting about how/why you feel the way you do.
2. Moms DONT always know best. Try to keep family out of the tricky conversations. Chat to them when you think there is something they can help you with. But avoid too many negative conversations [They'll get worried]
3. It will pass, as long as you keep on going. Don’t Stop!
4. Books, podcasts, audio books, webinars, and events can help you through the emotions. Think about how bad some entrepreneurs had it, and they overcame it. [FedEx is a great example. The founder had to gamble everything he had in order to win enough money to pay his employees wages]
5.  Start working out more. A little sweat releases those fancy endorphins that make you happy.
6. Find your source of inspiration [Mine happens when I'm in the shower and getting ready in the morning. Hence why I have an excessively long grooming schedule ... half the time I am emailing or jotting down my ideas]
7. It’s life. Suck it up!
8. It was never meant to be easy. If it is easy, you are doing something wrong.
9. Think about everything you have learned and have yet to learn.
10. Smile
11. Have a beer (The good stuff)

As this will pass, so will the good times. Just F****** deal with it and move on.
I did.

Posted in Blog, entrepreneur, small business tips | 9 Comments »

Bootstrap THIS! (Warning: SM For Beginners)

Posted by renee on January 26th, 2011

(If you’re an ‘expert’ skip to the last line and answer the question.)

No longer do you have to rely on word of mouth or pay exorbitant amounts to get your business’ brand known.  Now, you can get the word out internationally – for free!  Free’s still a word people use, right?
How do you make Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other social media work for you and for your business?  We ALL know that these tools are free and are a great marketing tool for you, as long as you have the willingness to be creative and persistent, and persistent, and persisten, and persistent …

Everyone knows of the “Old Spice Guy” or the many charity campaigns with an internet component.  While you may not be able to afford to hire actors, you can use pieces of these tried-and-true campaigns to help your low-budget “bootstrapping” strategy.  For example, you can ask customers to name your newest advertising campaign in exchange for product or services, or you can lead a “Tweet for charity” event and offer to donate while raising money and brand equity.  Lowe’s Home Improvement recently offered a weekend of coupons event in which emails were sent for a chance to win 90% off coupons or free merchandise.  This gave them the opportunity to create a database of customers while generating plenty of Facebook buzz.

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Posted in Blog, Marketing, small business, small business tips, Social media for small business | No Comments »

Blog inspiration: Find it in your playlist

Posted by renee on January 11th, 2011

Trying to attract more people to your blog but facing writer’s block, or worse can’t think of what to write about? Consider turning to your iTunes play list for a little inspiration.

I was on a flight back from Canada and was racking my brain for ideas to blog about.  I felt the ‘social media’ topics were saturated, that Infographics were over done, and SEO was too advanced and boring to write about. I was stuck, so I opened up my iTunes to get some music pumping with hopes of being inspired.  And then it occurred to me. Here is a detailed list of over 600 song titles. I could easily play around with them to help me generate ideas for a post.  It turned out to be a little fun, but more so hilarious.

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Posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing, small business tips | 3 Comments »

Lets get Married! …I mean, go into business together

Posted by renee on December 27th, 2010

It starts in pretty much the same way every morning.  A groggy start to yet another work day.  You exchange coffee with your partner and his or her weary eyes show strains of worry about the incoming loads of work.  Preparations for the day ahead get under way and then its off to work.

Typical married couple?  Nope, that’s your average small business partnership we’re talking about.  It’s easy to get confused.  Some partners know more about each other than their real spouses and some, even see more of them.  You and your partner spend so much time together at the office that you might as well get married!  The similarities between a wedded couple and of a partnership are uncanny.  Firstly, you have a binding contract to be together also you share your assets with your ‘special someone’, whats more, your partnership agreement is the business worlds equivalent of your marriage agreement.  In addition communication is vital, just like it would be in any marital engagement and the company you both run together takes the role of your child.  You cherish it, feed it (with capital) and hope that it will grow and one day help you.

Just as with any relationship, disagreements on the company’s future are bound to occur and this, fueled by the fact that more often than not one partner will be more fond of his partner than the other would mean each day would be interesting.

The sad part about these arguments and is that there will come times where the partners do not get along.  This, or course, calls for the corporate worlds divorce.  The termination of the partnership contract.  A common occurrence in the corporate world just as divorce is common.  Let’s face it, not everybody has the knack for getting along.  That is, after, all the very reason there are escape clauses in just about every agreement out there.  Once the fighting comes to that point where you can’t take it anymore; getting out of the agreement is the workable option.  And who knows?  If you’re lucky, you might even get something out of the settlement.

Importantly, even as you two continue to blush and have butterflies during the ‘honeymoon’ stage, always sign that prenup. Always.  (Shareholders agreement equivalent) You never know who may wander off with that 23 year old secretary or delivery boy.

(Thumbnail image from How to Protect Yourself in a Business Divorce – Good read)

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Your brand: Does it speak for itself?

Posted by renee on May 5th, 2010

A successful brand is something that can stand the test of time.  It is an icon, an image, colors and lines, that speaks for itself.  It does not need an elevator pitch or a two minute shpeel to explain who it is, what it does, and why it dose it.  It is an image, an experience and a culture that is recognized even by those it’s not targeting.  It is constantly being challenged by competitors and imitators, but never duplicated. It represents something powerful, something that is or once was, and something that will last for many years. A successful brand is loved by many, hated my some but always recognizable.

Can your brand stand the test of time?

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Increase your site traffic (8 steps)

Posted by renee on April 9th, 2010

KISS – Keep it Simple Stupid.
Don’t frustrate visitors with a shmorgus board of unnecessary content.  keep things clean and simple, but most importantly keep things easy to find.

1. Be memorable/make an impact
Provide deep, rich, exciting content that will continuously intrigue visitors. Ask influencer’s to be a guest blogger or even write a guest post. Interview people, write from the heart, the soul, and show your expertise.

2.  Be up to date
There is nothing worse than coming across some ‘awesome’ blog to find out it hasn’t been updated for months.  Keeping an active blog is necessary in order to keep search engines coming back to index your site.

3. Categorize your Site
Just like adding tags, categorizing your site helps to better define what your site is about, ultimately improving the quality of your site traffic.

4. Provide Contact Information
Make it simple for visitors to find ways they can reach out to you. Provide an email address, a form for their questions or a place they can simply write in, such as guestbook. Remember not to give out too much personal information.

5. Submit to Directories
Adding your site to Google and other search engines helps index it faster. Submitting this information will allow your site to be considered for future searches.

6. Describe that File
Use keywords when naming your image files that are being used by your site. Doing so will help you gain visitors when people search using Google Images. {Note: Photos are often an overlooked SEO opportunity.  Remember to tag ALL photos with appropriate words, thus leading people who are image browsing back to your site]

7. Create Links
Linking to your site from other websites will help generate more traffic and improve your placement in search engines.

8. Tag your Site
Adding site tags can increase the number of times your site shows up in search results. To pick the right keywords, try putting yourself in the shoes of your visitors.

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Posted in Blog, entrepreneur, small business, small business tips | No Comments »

My comments regarding Neil Patel's post Harsh Realities of Starting a Business:

Posted by renee on December 2nd, 2009

Neil Patel suggests these top 7 harsh realities in starting a business.  I agree with some, but there are more important harsh realities that, although small, can eat you up inside and make you fear that the there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
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Posted in entrepreneur, small business, small business tips, Social media for small business | 4 Comments »

Why Small Businesses Fail?

Posted by renee on November 10th, 2009

I asked this question this morning on Twitter and the replies were fantastic.  Here they are:

1. @TanyaGeisler: I think Gerber (E-myth) explains it best…most business owners are working IN their business not ON their business.

2. @jeffparks: Doing the work to understand if the community values their ideas / products / services as much as they do.

3. @Cg6Inc:  You need to fail to succeed

4.  @skanwar:  They take their core competency for granted.

5.  @nav_een:  They don’t have a solid business plan/model (but that applies to any business type)

6.  @davegray: Lack of customers

7.  @markeelliott: The biggest reason start-ups fail is lack of revenue from poor sales planning and execution.

8.  @ethnicomm: They don’t have any idea on how to take it from an idea to something that generates cash flow.

9.  @AlexIkonn: Lack of support and not feeling connected to a community.

10. @AKthe5th: of knowledge in the sales process. just because you do something well, doesnt mean you know how to sell that to clients!

11.  @TraderZed:  Super Mario Bros. fail? Because they don’t give the Princess any attention, therefore, she’s constantly snatched by Bowser.

12.  @tukutela:   too high expectations from the founders

13.@THE_REFINERY:  Owners go into business thinking things will be different for them, and realize how much work it really is.  Also, entrepreneurs need to have a lot of faith in themselves when others are skeptical – takes a lot of confidence.

14. @todd_herman:  poor positioning in the marketplace and marketing

15. @jamiekalynuik:  people focus more on creativity than strategy.

Here are some other great articles about why Small Businesses fail:
- According to the Small Business Administration, two-thirds of new businesses survive for at least two years, and only 44 percent survive at least four years

- Avoiding Business Failure

- Get a Mentor to help You Build a Successful Small Business

Posted in entrepreneur, small business, small business tips | No Comments »

Overnight Sensation: Not with Social Media

Posted by renee on November 2nd, 2009

social-media-logo

Social media can make you a star. You can get millions of views on YouTube, hundreds of fans on Facebook, or thousands of followers on Twitter. But it will not likely happen over night. Just like you need to go to the gym every day to get fit, you also need to invest time and research into developing your social media marketing campaign(s).

To better understand what you want out of using any social media platform, you need to develop a strategic plan first. Creating and implementing a strategic plan will help you focus on specific goals and tasks to get you ahead.

The pitfalls in using social media:
1. The BIG one to understand is that Social Media (SM) takes time! Research shows that it can take over 1 year before smb’s even gain traction. It is much like traditional forms of marketing. Repetition is key.

2. DAILY maintenance is required. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn all require daily babysitting. You must feed and nurture all your relationships in order to get anywhere.

3. Social Media will not make you success over night. Much like point #1, you need to invest time into prospecting people (LinkedIn), creating discussions and events (Facebook and Meetup) and generating buzz (Twitter).

Now, to think that was a mouthful, but it shouldn’t discourage you. Social Media/Social media marketing is also very good for promoting your small business. But you need to take some time to really hone in on your needs and start to work backwards to get started.  Do this by digging deep into your needs for Social media. Is it to increase membership by 10% this quarter, is it to sell 20% more of your product or service, or is it to be understood as an expert in your field.  Decide what it is EXACTLY that you are trying to achieve and work backwards from there.

Posted in small business, small business tips, Social media for small business | 2 Comments »