Successful Blog

3 Killer Collaboration Tools

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Great collaboration is about sharing, accessibility, and trust. As more and more people are telecommuting and working with remote teams, it can be tricky trying to coordinate tasks and stay connected.

Today’s tip includes three of my favorite remote collaboration tools that I use every single day.

Flow by MetaLabs

Flow app

You know how, when you’re doing something you love, time just slips away unnoticed? They call that the state of flow, and this app is appropriately named. It’s available as a web interface as well as an iPhone app, and it keeps the whole team together.

I get notifications when someone posts to a Flow task, it kills the whole chain-of-emails torture, and everything syncs up nicely. It’s so easy and fast, I have been able to provide input on an urgent Flow task while standing in line at Disneyland.

HipChat by Atlassian

HipChat

When you’re working in the same office, you can yell through the wall when you have quick questions (or if you want to talk about the latest Survivor episode). HipChat gives you the same immediacy, with public and private text chat rooms, notifications, and file sharing. It’s totally cross-platform on mobile, and available as a web client or desktop app.

Picture this scenario…you are on the phone with a client and they ask a question you can’t answer. You pop into HipChat, and get the answer from another member of your team, without skipping a beat. You look like a genius.

Google+ Hangouts

Google+ Hangout

Sometimes text just isn’t enough. If you really want to build strong team relationships, there’s no substitute for face-to-face. Google+ Hangouts are a wonderful solution for remote teams to share project information and — hangout. They are so simple to set up and use that there’s no excuse for not trying it yet. How else are you going to bust that colleague you suspect is working in their pajamas?

How do you collaborate with remote colleagues? Share your favorite tools in the comments.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Being a Leader, Acting Like a Boss

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This month’s #sobcon chat tackles something that trips up even the smartest leaders: acting like a boss.

In other words, the leader becomes a not-so-pleasant person that creates a not-so-enjoyable work environment, and brings progress to a screeching halt.

Plan now to join Terry (@starbucker) as he leads a discussion on leadership. Plus, he’s promised to share some recent news about SOBCon Chicago.

So if you’re serious about #leadership, plan to join us tomorrow (2/21) at 10 a.m. PST/Noon CST/1 p.m. EST.

What Are You Doing to Weather the Economic Storm Clouds?

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Depending on which financial analyst or politician you listen to, the U.S. has either averted going off the financial cliff for now or is poised to run into even tougher financial roadblocks ahead.

So, what should small business owners be doing to position their companies for what appears to be slower economic growth for the remainder of this year?

First and foremost, do not panic.

Small business owners need to remember that the economy always goes through its ups and downs, so doing a major layoff or cutting back dramatically on one’s advertising and marketing budgets, those kinds of moves typically do not make good financial sense.

As one who runs a small business, think about the following:

* Manpower – Whether in good financial times or not, having the right size staff in place is very important. If you find that finances are dictating you need to cut some people, look at a few options. First, how would your business be impacted if you lost some people? Would it impact the services you provide to customers? Secondly, would those remaining employees be asked to take on added responsibilities while still receiving the same salary they are now? If so, will that create some morale issues in the office? One option before cutting is talking to those you are thinking of letting go, seeing if they would stay on at a reduced salary and possibly decreased benefits or picking up more of the tab to continue receiving benefits;

* Promotions – One of the biggest gaffes small business owners make when the economy gets challenging is cutting back on their advertising, marketing, and public relations campaigns. The thinking is oftentimes that competitors are doing the same, so it is a safe time to trim this area of business. Actually, it is probably the worst time to do it, as some competitors are doing just the opposite. While there may be times you need to trim such budgets here and there, never go into a full-scale cut, because you will likely miss out on potential sales. Instead of trimming your main promotional budgets, look to do more with free promotion vehicles such as blog posts and social media;

* Future – Undoubtedly, tough economic times will pass for many who run small businesses, so it comes down to a matter of surviving the difficult stretches, allowing you to prosper when things improve. You should always be thinking growth and not contraction as you look at the big picture. What can you do to grow more with the resources you presently have? How can your company pull itself away from the pack and give customers something no one else can? Finally, how can you as a business owner safely guide your company through some stormy financial seas, knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel? Always be thinking about what the next step takes to grow your business;

* Past – Finally, never forget where you started from and where you are now. In order to be a successful business owner going forward, you need to learn from your past mistakes. Whether it was some bad hires or layoffs, some bad investments, or even spending too much money for products and services needed for you to run your company, never make the same mistake twice.

As a small business owner, what are you doing to make your company as economically sound as possible in 2013?

Photo credit: mozy.com

About the Author: With 23 years’ writing experience, Dave Thomas covers small business topics for a variety of websites, including Reputation.com.

3 Techniques To Help You Begin Delegating Responsibilities

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By David Tully

Learning to delegateBusiness owners and CEOs tend to err on the side of caution when considering the amount of work they delegate to colleagues and employees. A big part of the problem is there can be a lack of trust. You probably ask yourself: why should I delegate this responsibility if I can complete the job to a higher standard?

The three techniques in this article should stop that nagging question in your head from ever occurring.

1) See Delegation as Investing in People

By not delegating, you are restricting the ability of your employees to develop their own skills. The lack of trust can be derived from the fact that you believe they lack the experience to carry out the task properly. In some circumstances this may well be the case but how can they learn if they are not given a chance?

By providing them with new tasks, you are aiding their long-term development. In the future their value to you and the company as an employee will be increased. Just like going on a training course, delegation provides a way of increasing the skill set of those working for you. As long as you are clear about the task in hand, aware of their abilities and are patient with providing help initially, you can begin to free up time for more pressing tasks.

2) Realise that by not Delegating you are Losing Time and Money

You may find yourself being bogged down in book keeping, arranging meetings, contacting clients and other administrative duties, and I think it is important to ask yourself whether any of these daily tasks are actually helping you to grow your business. If they are not; why are you committing so much time to them?

They maybe essential duties, but there is no reason why you cannot delegate these to an assistant (virtual or otherwise). Of course, this would cost you more money, but just think about the amount of time you are wasting by not focusing on ways to expand your business. In some ways it could be said you are losing money because you are not delegating, probably more than if you hired an extra member of staff to help with these basic administrative tasks.

3) Relinquish Control and Let Employees do What They are Paid to Do

This is easier said than done. If you decide to delegate responsibilities while still choosing to micro-manage and control every aspect of the business, you can do more harm than good. In some ways it can cause resentment among the employees who have been given responsibilities but aren’t allowed to work in their own way because of interference from you. Allow them to perform the roles they are paid to do, as otherwise, why did you hire them in the first place?

What is your delegating style?

Author’s Bio: David Tully is an SEO training and Digital Marketing Strategist for Fast Growth Club, an innovative new coaching program for small businesses.

Photo credit: “Nguyen Vu Hung (vuhung)” under the Creative Commons license.

Who Is Your Marketing Content Written For?

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By James Ellis

Content marketers love to talk about the power of content. It slices, it dices, it makes unsightly blemishes disappear. Mix some with water to make a paste and it will polish the silver. Content is the cheat code of marketing

But when they talk about content, they usually focus on content that increases lead generation. That’s not a bad thing. We all love new leads. But content can do a number of different things. Content that excites and interests isn’t the same as content that convinces and assures.

So if content works at every level of the sales funnel (and I’m convinced that it can), you need some intentionality.

What do you want this content to do?

Break your sales cycle into stages. Everyone’s funnel is different depending on what book they’re reading at the time, but list every stage. What kind of content will speak to people at each and every single stage?

You might be concerned that your targets won’t know how to find the content for their stage, consider that people in each stage will be looking for different content and will use different terms depending on if they don’t know who you are and if they are trying to validate that you are the correct solution provider. At the awareness stage, their search terms will be about “how to fix…” while their validation stage might be “product name reviews.”

Having killer content at each stage in the sales funnel isn’t an accident. You need to be intentional and build for each stage.

Author’s Bio: James Ellis is a digital strategist, mad scientist, lover, fighter, drummer and blogger living in Chicago. You can reach out to him or just argue with his premise at saltlab.com.

Four Case Study Tips That Will Have Clients Finding YOU

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By Jennifer Escalona Dunn

You’re trying to convince a client that you have what it takes to make their business sing with your work. However, they want to see what you’ve done in the past to warrant even a conversation in the first place. It’s time to take a walk down memory lane and write up a case study or two to prove you can do what you say you can do!

This is not a task to treat lightly. The first impression you make with your case study can literally make the difference between getting hired and going home with empty pockets. With the following tips you can make sure your case studies knock their socks off every time.

1. Make it Interesting

Take a look at what you have now for your case studies. Why do you think a potential client would be interested in your work? Why would they read it? Would YOU read it?

Making the case studies interesting cannot be understated. Nobody will care about your work if the way you present it is dull and lifeless. You could have the best ideas in the world but if they come off as yawn-worthy nobody will bite. You have to give them something to hold on to. Make it a story, or visually engaging, or controversial – just don’t make it boring!

2. Not Everyone Learns the Same

You probably remember this from school, but no two people learn the same way. Some are very visual people and love graphs and pictures. Others prefer to read text with lots of examples. Some just like watching a simple video that gets the point across quickly.

If you treat your audience as one mass who only learns one way, you’re going to miss out on others who would rather view your work another way. You can have great samples set up with nothing but pictures but a reader’s eyes might skim right over that nice infographic and think your case study lacks substance.

Try to vary it up for your visitors. This can also help with point #1 as it keeps your site interesting and different.

3. Aim it at Your Clients

If you know who’s interested in your work, you have a chance to make it as focused as possible towards their interests. You don’t want to load them up on a bunch of examples they simply don’t care about.

For example, if you’re courting a restaurant, you may not want to point them to all the office supply companies you once worked with unless you have something in there that pertains to them. Otherwise, they may not understand why they should hire you instead of someone with experience in the food industry.

4. Don’t Fudge

Nobody likes a braggart, yet you have to talk yourself up on your case studies. You have to convince clients why you’re the best around and the only one who can make their project fly. It’s basically why case studies exist.

However, fudging results isn’t the way to go about it. That’s where the “braggart” label comes in. Keep it in the real world.

If you improved sales for a certain company by 25%, say that. Don’t say you “literally changed this company’s life forever” or things like that. That’s just silly, and a potential client will roll her eyes. “A 25% increase in sales” is a real number she can sink her teeth into.

Do you have case studies on your website? Leave a link to your case study portfolio in the comments!

Author’s Bio: Jennifer Escalona Dunn is the owner of Social Street Media where she writes about small business, tech and finance for sites like WePay and Outright. You can find her on Twitter @jennescalona.