Successful Blog

Let Your Human Out: Build Connections With Your Small Business Marketing

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A Guest Post by
Stacey Acevero

Online marketing is really based on relationships, but living in a virtual world
where people can talk to one another, buy from one another and follow one another
without ever having to make a face-to-face connection can de-humanize the
marketing process.

If your marketing efforts aren’t generating the results you hoped for, try these 3
ways you can come out from behind your corporate cage and strengthen the bond
between you and your consumers.

1. Introduce the faces behind your brand.

Imbed video of conversational interviews with your management and staff
in online press releases, on your website and on your social channels. You
can also provide photos and profiles of the employees who will be the official
tweeters and bloggers for your company.

A study by The Next Web found that Facebook updates with photos receive
300 percent more engagement. Capture that increased engagement by
having your employees post on your Facebook page, tweet, like, comment

and communicate through LinkedIn using their corporate photos and
profiles.

2. Highlight corporate events on your Facebook page

Give followers an opportunity to see the best in your employees by uploading
videos of corporate philanthropic events. For example, members of your
staff might volunteer at a 5K run for the American Heart Association. Have
them all wear company shirts and showcase their presence at the event.

You can also invite employees to submit videos of their personal
philanthropic projects. Establish a monthly employee volunteer spotlight
column to introduce people in your company who are making a difference in
their community.

3. Respond to ALL comments

Businesses big and small are learning that the effect of a negative comment
can be hugely destructive. In fact, a recent study by InsideView found a
negative review on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter can cost a company 30
customers.

So it makes sense that companies respond quickly to negative comments.
This is where a human touch can ease ruffled feathers. Your reaction should
be personal and compassionate. Sometimes providing a sense of humor
can diffuse situations as well – invest time and training for the person who
will be the face of your brand in the midst of criticism on your social media
platforms.

However, it’s almost worse to receive a positive comment via your social
media channels and not respond. If someone has gone to the trouble to
say something good about your brand, thank them and then engage them
further. They may be open to letting you retweet, share and incorporate
their feedback into your press releases, website or email marketing.

Businesses and buyers are two intelligent species that can live in harmony together.
It takes a commitment to creating relationships and a willingness to continue
conversations.

Add a human touch to your online marketing strategies and your business will move up the evolutionary chain.

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Author’s Bio: Stacey Acevero is Social Media Manager for Vocus/PRWeb. Public Relations, SEO, marketing, small business and social media nerd. U.S. Air Force auxiliary 2nd Lieutenant and Mission Scanner. Organizer and sponsor of charity events. You can find Stacey on Twitter as @sacevero

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

What Works Best to Get Your Home Office Working for You?

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A Guest Post by
Rachel Carlson

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Successfully Working From a Home-based Office

It didn’t take long for me to make a mistake when I first started working from home. It wasn’t an obvious “You were wrong” kind of mistake, but the painfully subtle realization that I was going about this whole working from home thing with the wrong attitude. I took the opportunity to finally get a dog, set up a plain desk in the living room, and worked whenever I wanted. And who can blame me? Working from home ranks right up there with passive income – the Holy Grail and Ark of the Covenant in the Internet marketing world. It’s supposed to be easy right?

Internet workers (especially writers) tend to embrace the idea of working from home. Businesses increasingly favor it as a logical alternative to stuffing hundreds of workers in a cramped office space. In fact, the United States Small Business Administration estimates that around 50% (or about 16 million) of all businesses in the country are based at home.

Oddly enough, we also tend to forget the basic rules of success. Working from home is not a license to relax – there are still challenges to overcome; work that must get done. The discipline you must show when working from home is unmatched by the office environment. You only get paid for work – no wasting five minutes at the water cooler here, checking your Facebook page whenever the boss isn’t looking there.

So, what were the critical mistakes that I made when I first started working from home? You might be surprised at just how many of these strike a bit close to home in your own situation.

I Tried to Work Regular Eight Hour Days

The funny thing about doing creative work from home is that you can only really do so much before your brain completely fries. This is especially true with writers. Most writers get to a point in the day when, no matter how easy their next article is, quality takes a severe dive.

The cap for most writers is about 4,000 words of high quality content per day. After that, it can be tough to come up with new ideas or stay true to your style. It’s tremendously easy to put big projects off until the last minute when you work from home, even easier to think that writing 8,000 words on Monday will give you the day off on Tuesday to go to the beach.

When you choose to work from home, forget everything you know about the Western approach to working, and take the opportunity to find what works best for your personality. Ultimately, you might find that even 6 hours is too long of a day for your work, and you’d rather work in four hour long sessions with 20 minute breaks between. You might also find that you are the kind of person that can work two 20 hour days and enjoy the rest of the week off (lucky…).

No matter what, set a schedule that works best for you and stick with it until it gets boring. Then, try switching it up a little. There’s usually nobody to tell you when to work when you work from home, especially if you do freelance work.

I Took Shortcuts on Internet Service

When you work from home, nothing is more important than a stable, clear wireless Internet connection. I was flat broke when I started working from home – more of a choice of desperation after losing my “normal job.” So when I finally landed a writing job, I rushed to find a cheap Internet service.

If you work from home, buy the best Internet package that you can afford. If you only get paid for the tangible work you actually perform (instead of hourly or salary wages), any time lost waiting for pages to load is wasted. Even worse, losing your connection for even a single day can cost you hundreds of dollars in lost wages.

I remember one day when my Internet went out. The call to my ISP didn’t help (I think they’re trained to just say “we’re doing testing in your area” or “we have reported outages in your area” to get you off the phone). After yelling at the poor customer service rep for at least five minutes, I managed to secure a $1.72 refund on my next month’s bill. I spent the rest of the day drinking coffee at McDonalds, pillaging their Internet connection and ignoring the “why are you still hanging around” glares from the staff.

I Didn’t Keep My Home Office Separate

Granted, I lived in a one bedroom apartment with very few options for separate living space and a home office. But when it came down to it, I cleared out a walk in closet that I was lucky enough to have, found other storage for clothes and such, and used the closet as my office. Sure, it wasn’t as welcoming as a 30th floor office surrounded by windows, but there were great reasons that I ultimately decided to go this route.

As a work from home entrepreneur, you will constantly fight a battle between your work life and home life. Allowing the two to blend can spawn more distractions than you can handle. If you have a family, make it clear that your work time is private time – they should act as if you aren’t even there unless it’s an emergency.

There are also, of course, financial reasons for setting up a home office separate from your living space – taxes. According to Entrepreneur, you can write off a portion of your home or apartment that you use exclusively for business, even if you’re renting. This is the same as writing off utilities used for work, or even writing off your cell phone bill if the majority of calls are made as part of your job.

Although you’re supposed to have a contractor measure your home office space and provide a signed letter (useful if you get audited) verifying his or her measurements, I measured myself and prayed that no audit letter would come. So far, I’ve been lucky.

When you work from home, you will make mistakes. The temptation that comes with a flexible work schedule is like going on a diet – you become very good at convincing yourself that taking that extra donut (or taking yet another break) will be good for you in the end. Few people enjoy their job 100% of the time (does anyone, really?) and not having a direct supervisor to keep that television off can spell disaster for even the strongest of wills. In the end, the most important aspect of working from home is to bring the focus that you had in the office, and combine it with the freedom to spend more time with your family and work on your own schedule. Only with that balance can you get closer to finding that Holy Grail for which you’ve been looking.

What works best to get your home office working for youi?

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Author’s Bio:
Rachel Carlson is a writer and student that works from home. While she spends a lot of her time writing, she also helps different companies like Clear Wireless with gaining exposure through various blogs and websites. She has recently started a new Twitter account and is finally going to give it a real shot. She can be followed at @carlson_rachel.

Thanks, Rachel. Even the seasoned pros at home need reminders like these!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

10 Steps to Save You and Your Team from Structure Damage

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We All Have Expectations We’ve Not Even Thought About

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I’m not a person who likes to over plan. Still, when I get up in the morning I check in on my calendar and my obligations to have a certain idea of what needs to happen that day. After a little reflection — a few minutes of imagining, sorting, prioritizing, and ordering, I sketch together a loose picture of what, where, when, making sure to leave a couple of hours for the amazing fun surprise or the unexpected hitch in the giddy-up that might enter in.

And if other people weren’t involved this simple way of setting up a day would always win.

But alas, sometimes another person will shift the wind and the fine vision of a smooth sail will sink.
It doesn’t have to be an irritation, a devastation, or a break in a relationship.
It might be a good shift from one way to an even better way that is actually a win.
Still, I sometimes get difficult when the structure of my day caves in.

10 Steps to Save You and Your Team from Structure Damage

It’s a subtle effect, but I see it cause problems almost daily. One person sets up a situation that damages the structure of another person’s vision of how something was going to happen and that other person responds in a negative way. We call it drama, over-reaction, or being touchy, but really it’s a situation that can be avoid with just a little forward thinking.

This happens most often when we gather a new team. Everyone brings their old work ideas, interpersonal rules, and process structures to the new group and seldom do we all have the same clear vision of what we’re going to do. Here are some ways to manage expectations to save yourself (and others) from structure damage when planning your next meeting, event, or project:

  • Define the meeting, event, or project goal / outcome clearly.. Know why you’re doing what you’re doing.
  • Set meaningful priorities based on your values. Describe how you will recognize a great version of the meeting, event, or project.
  • Enlist the right participants. Identify, enlist, and invite the people who share the same values and priorities.
  • Determine roles and process that builds from the strengths of the participants. Explain the purpose and the value behind the activity. Take time to invite participants to suggest what their role should include more of and what it should include less of for optimal performance.
  • Review the objectives, the process, and the necessary resources with the participants. Ask them to help determine the time and materials needed to achieve the best version of success. While you work out the process also work out the vocabulary — agreeing from the beginning on what we call things will avoid semantic miscommunications that could explode!
  • Provide the resources and the time agreed upon to execute the meeting, event, or project.
  • Decide on a standard way of alerting the group to things that aren’t working.
  • Track and communicate progress.
  • Discuss outcomes and compare them to the original goal definitions.
  • Celebrate successes and change that exceeded expectations!

Planning a project, meeting, or event is a exercise in change. The act of forming a new team or adding a new event is an alteration of past events. Every person brings slightly different expectations to how and why we do things. Investing time to manage those expectations before we start can minimize the drama and the structure damage caused by those different visions of how the whole thing should work.

Depending on the size and scope of a meeting or project and the team gathering to make it happen, you may not need every step. But with an eye to the commonality of values, goals, vocabulary, process, and standards, you’ll know which need the most attention. Spend your time re-aligning places where people may have different expectations and the chances of structure damage will decrease exponentially despite a high rate of change.

The key to change is to manage expectations.

How do you minimize the stress of change when a new team gathers to work?

Be irresistible.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Don’t Chase Down Your Dream, Bring It to You

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Own Your Dreams

When I was young my dad used to say, “If you’re going to be a teacher, own the school.”

I’d explain that’s not how schools work — that schools provide a place to do what I want. I’d tell him about what I’d teach and how what kids would learn would change the world.

He said I had my dreams in the clouds.
He said that was no way to own my dreams.

Don’t Chase Down Your Dream, Bring It to You

My dad didn’t care if my dream was to run a corporation, a classroom, or a saloon. He cared that I understand how dreams work — how we bring them us rather than chasing them down.
My dad made three points about how to fill my dream with attraction.

  1. We can make any idea attractive by turning it into action.
  2. It’s the action not the idea that makes the difference, the difference we alone bring to the idea.
  3. People who bring action build their future by delivering value that would be missed if they weren’t there.

Whether we work in the most obscure company, or work for ourselves at contract jobs. People notice value added contributions. People look for folks who offer them unique value.

Value added is an irresistible contribution and it brings surprising opportunities as a reward.

Don’t wait for your dream to deliver …
deliver yourself to your dream everyday …
… in small amounts, in small steps, in small and big actions.
Get where your dream lives by always keeping it in view.
Show up with your dream in every breath and in heartbeat,
and every moment will bring you closer to that dream.

How do you bring your dream closer to you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Beach Notes: Discovering the Echidna Sculpture

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by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

Today, on our regular Sunday visit to the beautifully pristine Fingal Beach, we noticed for the first time in the beachside park area this striking wooden sculpture of an echidna. The carving is of one piece with the supporting block, but there is no plaque or other indicator of who the artist is.

The echidna, also known as a spiny anteater, is – with the platypus – one of only two egg-laying mammals. It is found only in Australia and New Guinea (Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, and the independent nation of Papua New Guinea). Despite its popular name and the fact that ants form part of its diet, the “spiny anteater” is apparently not particularly related to the true anteaters of the Americas.

Would we have discovered this echidna sculpture sooner if the story of the art and the artist were there for people to share?

Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

Top 3 Little Challenges of Working From Home

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A Guest Post by
Rachel Carlson

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Last week, we covered some of the big, client-end challenges of working from home, but what about those little challenges you’ll face on a daily basis? The top three little challenges of working from home are:

Trouble Staying Motivated –

Without a big bad boss checking your every keystroke, motivation can tank when you work from home. Remember that you’re working to survive, not to please a boss. Set an honest goal just above what you need to do each day and do everything you can to achieve it. It takes a while to switch your mindset over to working because you want to, not because you need to make someone else money. But you will get the hang of it.

Too Many Distractions –

This is a big one. You can literally do almost anything you want when you work from home. I often put a movie on when I’m working on something boring, but this doesn’t work for most people. Try different things when working from home and pay attention to how they impact your productivity. Sometimes having some music on while working can make you more productive, but again, this isn’t the case for everyone. This challenge will require some trial and error.

Taxes –

Most people can look forward to tax season with the possibility of a refund. Work-from-home people dread April. Keep track of everything you do in a spreadsheet, and have it ready for tax season. Try to save 20% of all the money you make in a separate account meant only for taxes. Better yet, pay the government 20% of your earnings every quarter. If you put off taxes until the last minute, you could find yourself in a terrible money pit with the government. I still owe taxes from my first year working from home because tax season caught me by surprise. Don’t make this same mistake – it can cost you thousands of dollars in fees and more than a few sleepless nights.

Every job has challenges. What are the little challenges that get in your way when you work at home?

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Author’s Bio:
Rachel Carlson is a writer and student that works from home. While she spends a lot of her time writing, she also helps different companies like Clear Wireless with gaining exposure through various blogs and websites. She has recently started a new Twitter account and is finally going to give it a real shot. She can be followed at @carlson_rachel.

Thanks, Rachel. Great follow up to last week’s post!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!