Monthly Archives: July 2008

To Socialize or Not to Socialize, That is the Question

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I hope Shakespeare will forgive the play on his words, but I couldn’t think of a better title for this post. 

What if you have a small business and you’re starting to believe all the doom and gloom about the economy.  You want to believe the gurus that are telling you it’s all just imaginary, but your mortgage is coming up and you’re feeling that the doom and gloom are pretty real.

Your clients are taking a hiatus from your services (“for the short term,” they said apologetically) and you’re ready to admit to yourself that you’d not been marketing 50% of the time like you were taught.  Your pipeline looks – well you can see straight through the pipe to the other end of clear sky.

Now what?

You may be chasing guru after guru, who clearly don’t believe this economy talk at all, since they don’t have time to talk to you other than in 5 minute snippets, through their pitchy e-zines or through their “people” because they are crowded working with people who pay them $1,000.00 (USD) an hour.

You’re looking for help and you’re needing answers now.

Where do you go?

Well, in the old days when you had a problem (say back in kindergarten) you might ask your mom or dad for help.  Maybe you’d confide in your best friend or an older sister.  But today, that’s not going to cut it.  Those people (mom and dad, your best friend and your older sister) told you not to start your own business anyway!

What about socializing?

You think I’m out of my mind, don’t you?  You don’t have time to be socializing – -you need to be working.  You need to be racking up those billable hours.  You need to be busy acting as if you’re not worried about the mortgage payment or the insurance premium. 

Okay.  I’m just saying…

Socializing has absolutely added more to my bottom line than any other ONE thing I do in my business.

Why?

Because socializing is all about building relationships.  And people do business and, perhaps more importantly, refer business to people they have relationships with.  Catch my drift?

If you’re sitting at home all day worrying about bringing in clients – what exactly does that do to bring you more clients?  Truly.  Look, I have plenty of days when I want to crawl back into bed and let ideas ‘ferment’ (that’s my code for “life is too much right now and I don’t want to think about it, but if I just sleep maybe a million dollar idea will come to me”)

Instead, what one thing could you be doing to attract more clients?  Sure, there are plenty of systems out there.  You don’t need a guru.  You don’t need EFT or hypnosis or a past-life regression (they all have their place, but not IN PLACE of doing something to move your butt forward)

Here’s what you need to do to get those clients and referrals coming:

  • Get out of the house.  If you work at home the desire to stay there is overwhelming, but buck the feeling and take a walk, go get a cup of coffee, head to the gym.  Now while you’re out meet people.
  • Get involved in social media.  This is a gift in a bright red ribbon for those of you who won’t get out of the house.  You can virtually go out and meet hundreds of people using Facebook, Twitter, Plurk or any other form of social media.  Take baby steps, join one and then go onto the next.  I promise, it won’t hurt a bit.
  • Participate in your relationships.  Both online and offline.  No one is going to consider you a friend if you simply stick out your hand and say you want to do business with them, or that you have the answer to all their problems, or that you can fix what ails the.  Take time to figure out who these people are. 
  • Give because you genuinely care.  If more people would simply do what comes naturally (helping out a cyclist who was run off the road by an angry motorist), pitching in a few cents for the harried mom in front of you at CoffeeHeaven who doesn’t have enough to cover her latte) without expectation of reciprocity, we’d all be a lot happier.
  • Figure out how to be real and transparent in your interactions.  Build real relationships while you’re socializing and it’s going to return to you. 
  • Keep moving.  Money (and all forms of energy) love movement.  Keep moving.  Don’t stagnate.  Pull those covers off your head and head out to socialize!

If you want to see a step-by-step plan of how I made $1000 in 30 days using Social Media sign up for my ezine on http://www.intuitiveevolution.com (head to the bottom of the page) because that’s the topic of the August 5th newsletter.

Meanwhile – happy socializing!

You’re Great: If you Choose to Accept It

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While I’m working on fleshing out the upcoming post, “Who Wants to be a Millionnaire?” I came across this wonderful post by Sonia Simone on her blog.

 

Not only did she bring back a specific memory (as I live in the DC area) but she did a spot-on job of making the situation resonate in a business/life sense. When was the last time you stepped out and accepted your greatness?

 

As Sonia states:

“We could try to be a little more aware as we move through our days–leave
a little room open for the possibility that something extraordinary could
happen. Let’s face it, when human beings are involved, there’s always room
for the extraordinary.

But beyond that, we could try to expect better out of our
lives. We could expect greatness from our work. We could expect passionate
fanaticism from our customers. We could expect personal lives and professional
lives that nourished and enriched one another, and brought us joy.

Hell, we could start by expecting to get paid what we’re worth. Baby
steps.”

All I ask is that you think about your greatness and start acting ‘as if.’

 

 

Make $1000 in 30 Days Using Social Media. (How I did it and you can too)

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First, the background.
And before we go too far into this – -I want you to remember that part of my Life Purpose (as embedded in my fingerprints) is to be an Innovator – this stuff is just right up my alley! Even if your life purpose doesn’t include that term — try innovating – it’s a kick!
In 2007 I had HEARD of Facebook and while I had a Myspace account, I wasn’t really clear or focused on what I wanted out of it. I thought it was a nice little way to connect with friends on line.

During the Spring of ’08, I became aware of Facebook in a big way. Several of my on-line mentors and coaches were indicating that they had a Facebook account in their regular email updates and I thought it was something worth investigating.

I immersed myself in Facebook and started searching for friends. Before long I had a hundred friends and thought I was pretty hot stuff. Within 4 months I have over 1100 friends. I’m not telling you that to brag but to show you how viral this medium is. What do 1100 friends do for me?

1100 friends add to my “reach” across the internet. In a way that my website or my blog alone never could. I spend roughly a half hour every day maintaining my presence on Facebook, checking in with contacts I made early on as well as introducing myself and asking relationship-building questions of new friends.. I don’t actually “touch” all 1100 friends each day, but with the system I’ve implemented I make a practice of checking in to build my relationships. By the way, once you’re on Facebook there are a number of amazing people and groups who are experts at using Facebook to build your business and I won’t rehash their thoughts here.

Facebook led me to investigate a place called Twitter that so many people on Facebook seemed to be using to update their status. Twitter is a great little place (and I’m not technical so I don’t know how they make it work) to send updates, check in and build conversations with a whole universe of amazing people from farmers to photographers to Presidential candidates.

Of course it’s a great place to learn as most of the tech & blog-celebrities are there and are happy to have you follow them. Following and emulating them is how I learn. Twitter allows you the opportunity to post links (to your website, your blog or articles or pictures you find interesting). It’s a forum to have short conversations (140 characters only) with many people at once. The real juicy part is how people respond. And the conversations grow. This is a mini-version of comments on your blog and can help you build a relationship in a way that email never allowed. The information comes in fast and furious (I use a service called Twhirl that I have on all day so I can pop in and out twitter-conversations as I see fit). And these are conversations – with multiple people joining in at times and that’s the cool part! I joined Twitter in early June and started posting tidbits about what was happening in my life and have created some amazing now-offline-friendships along the way.

Suddenly lots of my Twitter friends were talking about Plurking. (Sounds like a completely inane language I’m speaking here, eh?) I figured, why not? This social media experiment was turning out to be fun. I joined Plurk in the middle of June and it took me a little bit to get used to HOW it worked (still limited number of characters but the time line moves from left to right and you can see all replies related to a specific message/plurk in one place).

Luckily I met some amazing friends on Plurk who supported me, answered my questions and generally took me under their wing when I was confused and frustrated. It really is a community of people that I love to check in with each day. I think this is especially because I work at home most days and while I have a great time with my clients on the phone, this Plurk and Twitter universe brings back the good things that the old corporate ‘water-cooler’ had – friends and camaraderie and short snippets to get you through your day.

How I made $1000 in 30 days using social networking.

While I was checking in with Facebook one day I came across a Facebook Group called Face Readings on Facebook by Lynn Scheurell and popped in for a look. What I found really inspired me. Lynn was using her craft and skill as a face reader to help entrepreneurs and business owners get clearer on how to step it up a notch in their business while highlighting their natural gifts as she translated them in the reading. I was inspired to do the same thing – take the woo-woo out of hand analysis and demystify it by performing readings on video and posting them to a Facebook Group.

I offered to provide no-cost mini readings to anyone who would send me a scan of their dominant hand and got started. Some of those mini-hand reading volunteers were so wowed about the information in their hands they signed up for private readings and some were just members of the group who viewed the videos and decided to jump in and purchase readings this translated into a little over $600.00 between the early July launch and today – July 30th.

Because I like to work fast and help people quickly (if I could stand the sight of blood I would be a good triage expert or paramedic) I wanted a way to help people who didn’t necessarily have $170 to invest in a private reading so I came up with the idea of a one-week only offer to Pay What You Can to have your hands read. The offer runs through the end of July only and is more in depth than a 5 minute mini-reading reading. Participants receive ink kits and instructions and when I receive them back at the office I conduct a reading, unveiling life purpose and life challenge along with all gifts and possible niches in a recorded Audio Acrobat reading.

I posted this information in my e-zine, on my blog and on Plurk and Twitter. (My blog and my Twitter updates are posted on my Facebook profile using another tool, called FriendFeed so this information reached all my friends (1100!) if they chose to read it.

One of my goals with pay-what-you-can was to see how far the reach of social media could expand and if I could really monetize what I do on Plurk, FriendFeed, Twitter, Facebook and more. The outcome? I piqued the interest of a number of people who were able to ask quick questions as they saw the posting and I could answer (within Twitter and Plurk). Several of them decided to take a leap and signed up. With one more day to go with this experiment I have earned $400.00.

I’m not an expert on Social media, but I love what it can do. I love the conversations; I love the friendships and really getting to know other people all over the world. I’m happy when an online friend has a big success – like launching a new product and I’m sad when I hear of an online friend dealing with illness or problems at home. As a friend, I do what I can to reach out and that’s the brilliance of these places. You can reach out and be a friend. And yes, it absolutely can contribute to your bottom line.

Awaken Your Soul migrates to WordPress

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I’m learning about blogging as fast as my eyes, fingers and butt can take me.  I feel a kinship with the medium and I love the ability to help others and share what I’m learning in a fast-release format that blogging allows.

I’ve been working on blogger for several years — in essence getting my feet wet.  Now that I’m taking my blogging more seriously as a way to reach and inform, I’m feeling a little hemmed in by the format and limitations at blogger.

So, I’m ready to move onto the training wheels here at wordpress.  Be patient as I learn the ins and outs of making wordpress reader friendly.  I’ll eventually move all my posts over and have a huge “grand opening” of sorts.  In the meantime, I hope you’ll be able to learn as I learn about the best ways to use wordpress to serve my readers and clients.

Service-Based Blogging

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Welcome! If you’ve headed over here from my ezine I’m so glad you saw merit in the Five Reasons to Start your blog today and you wanted to check out the tips I’ve prepared for getting you started with your blog.

Remember, this list is for true newbies here. I’ve talked with so many small business owners who have “heard of a blog” but really have no idea what it is, or how it can benefit their clients, their business or their brand. This starter guide is for you!

1. Set your goals before you start your blog. This means don’t get all charged up about bells and whistles and pictures. Get clear on your goals for your blog and then start the thing. Possible blog goals include: expanding or creating brand awareness; driving people to your website; specific subscriber numbers; # of unique visitors per month; fine-tuning your target demographic; educating your target audience; selling products; creating awareness among potential affiliate partners; honing your writing or design skills.

2. Investigate the blog hosting options, the three most common are Blogger, Typepad and WordPress. Most have free or low cost options for launching your blog. Each has a corporate blog and that’s a great place to get information and read what sets each company apart.

3. Read and participate in other blogs in your field. If you’re a professional copywriter, check out the blogs of others in your field. See what works and what’s missing. When you read something on their blog that resonates with you, comment. Commenting on other blogs in your and related fields is a wonderful way to get noticed. The owner of the original blog will likely check out your blog and offer comments and links when appropriate, and the readers of the other blog will likely visit your blog if what you said in the comment section was insightful.

4. Always add something useful. Picture your target audience as one particular person and write to them. If you’re blogging for your business, staying on target is important. Sure, your blog lets you be more “real” than your business website – but try to keep your key niche front and foremost of each of your posts. For instance, my blog is evolving but the overall audience is comprised of women who own service based businesses, are pursuing a spiritual path and love dogs. My target is to provide a combination of practical business information tied in with spiritual concepts to help them make more money, have more fun and participate in changing the world.

5. Set your schedule and stick to it. There are bloggers who write less often (maybe once a week) and add longer content and there are bloggers who write short 200-400 word posts every day or more than once a day. Figure out how you can best serve your audience and set a publishing schedule. There are some blog-hosting systems that will let you “pre-write” your posts and set them to publish on a specific date and time. This is particularly useful if you travel a lot and you don’t blog on specific news topics.

6. Read the blog gurus and learn. Each of these are blogs that I visit often for their great information on the skill of blogging. Do your own websurfing and you’ll find others that you love as well. Feel free to comment or question on their blogs and you’ll likely receive great advice. Go ahead and add them to your blogroll as well: Blogher; ProBlogger; CopyBlogger; Successful Blog; Daily Blog Tips.

7. Read books on blogging. The blogosphere changes rapidly and books in print can go out of relevancy quickly, some of the best books I’ve read on the topic include: Problogger: Secrets of Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse and Chris Garret of http://www.problogger.com/ ; No One Cares what You had For Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason; Blogging for Business: Everything You Need to Know and Why You Should Care by Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulus; Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging by Andy Wibbels. (

8. Read other blogs. Just search the blogosphere now and again to check out what’s happening. Pick up on styles and ideas that you like. Learn the art of blogging from those that are doing it. I’ve found that reading about 10 or so random blogs each week, I’m becoming a better blogger.

9. Be authentic. Blogging is the place to be you. Show off your opinions and your ideas. Be goofy or be opinionated. In essence, be yourself. I recommend being your best self – as you are going to be attracting customers through your blog, or potential clients are going to google you and find your blog somehow – it’s perfectly fine to have strong opinions, just remember that not everyone will share those opinions. I don’t recommend watering yourself down. I recommend being straightforward, therefore those who aren’t a good fit for you won’t hire you and turn into heart-sink clients. (You know, those clients who make your heart sink every time you have to deal with them!)

10. While not a strictly blogging skill, I recommend joining one or more social media outlets. It’s a wonderful place to find experts, share ideas and create friendships with some of the celebrities of the blogosphere and beyond. You’ll also have the opportunity to share when you’ve posted a new blog and other new information about your company. The key with all these places (Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Pounce, Identi.ca etc. ) is to be sure you’re actually socializing and not just shoving your stuff down the throats of your followers. It’s a very free society and your followers are likely to un-follow you, if they see you’re not interested in building relationships but only pushing your opinions.

11. Just do it. All the reading and studying is useless if you don’t simply make it happen. As with all wonderful things in life — wishing doesn’t make it so, but taking action does!

Liked this post? hated it? What else are important steps for small, service-based business owners when it comes to blogging?

This just in — I stumbled across this resource on using your blog to build your business! It’s by Wendy Piersall over at Sparkplugging.com. I learn much from what she has to say on a regular basis and was glad to see her post while I was sifting through her site.