UWL Cash In on Your Passion Group Project

FINAL PROJECT: SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION

Small group communication

“ Interpersonal attraction in Groups Similarity – same situation/enjoy the same activities Complementarity – opposites attract – attracted to qualities they admire Proximity, Contact and Interaction - You attract people near to you who you talk to often [work/school/church/neighborhood they each breed familiarity] Maslow’s theory of needs Physiological need, safety need, belongingness need, esteem need, self actualization need Schultz’s Theory Inclusion –

to fulfill their need for inclusion to be recognized as unique individuals and to feel understood

Control –

status and power

Affection –

the need drives people to give and receive emotional warmth and closeness.

Appropriate Small Group Disclosure It needs to be ongoing It is reciprocal Timed to what is happening in group Should deal with what is happening with the people present Moves in small increments – like an onion [cliché/fact/opinion/emotion]

Group Success depends on Communication Personality How Motivated to Contribute Amount of Info they have collaboration

Components of a Successful Small Group of People Common Purpose – the goal keeps people together until it is realized Feeling a Sense of Belonging – need a sense of identity/feel it is their group Influence – each member gives contributions and suggestions

Advantages of a Group/Team Groups have more information together Groups stimulate creativity You remember what you discuss You are more likely to be satisfied with a decision you help make You gain a better understanding of yourself [sensitive to feedback] Disadvantages of a Group/Team

Pressure to conform to the majority One may dominate the discussion It takes longer than working alone Some people rely too much on others [social loafing]

TUCKMAN MODEL OF group development Stage 1 – Forming Stage 2 - storming Stage 3 - norming Stage 4 - Performing Stage 5 - adjourning

Small group TASK ROLES INITIATING INFORMATION AND OPINION SEEKING INFORMATION AND OPINION GIVING EVALUATING IDEAS ENERGIZING COORDINATING AND ELABORATING CLARIFYING AND SUMMARIZING RECORDING AND MANAGING TASKS

SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION FINAL PROJECT notes…

“Meetings, Where Minutes are Taken and Hours are Lost”

“CASH IN” on your PASSION

If you always think like you’ve always thought and you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always get what you’ve always got!

"A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan.

A plan backed up by action becomes reality."

Are you hiding from success?

“ Clearly explain the product or service you plan to offer to customers: What will you name/call your business?

Keep in mind that people are drawn to things that occur in 3’s: for example, my first book is entitled Balance Your Conflict. Here are more examples to demonstrate how common sets of 3 are: 124, ABC, live laugh love, blood sweat tears, reduce reuse recycle, shoulda coulda woulda, stop drop roll, red white blue, life liberty pursuit of happiness, sun moon stars, if ands buts, earth wind fire, father son and holy spirit, ice vapor gas, tic tac toe, 3 branches of gov, id ego superego, deaths happen in 3’s, rock, paper, scissors, 3 colors in stop lights, breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning, afternoon, night, bippity, boppity, boo, 3 fairy godmothers, snap crackle pop, huey, duey, luey, 3 strikes, count to 3, s/m/large, eat pray love, me/myself/I, 3 kings, 3 musketeers, 3 stooges, 3 blind mice, 3 bears, 3 kittens lost their mittens, alvin simon theodore, denise the menace, dora the explorer, go diego go…

“

Share your slogan/brand message/jingle that will accompany your business name: [visit this website for catchy ideas http://www.sloganslingers.com/] Alliteration [use of the same letters over again = Java Jackets, Slogan Slingers, Perfect Proportion Plate, Barb’s Bakery] is a catchy trick in communication.

Examples of a business name followed by a slogan: Subway: “Eat fresh” Trout Wells: “We build your well from bottom to tap” Uptown Gynecologists: “We’re at your cervix” Downtown Dentists: “We cater to cowards”

“ Describe the visual message/image you envision accompanying your business name and slogan and explain how the verbal message and visual message complement one another to accomplish your overall brand? Visit this website to find potential images for your project: https://stock.adobe.com/

Here is a picture of my Balance Your Conflict book, see how the balanced rocks match the words? This is what I am asking you to do… if your slogan has the word “shine” in it, then you will explore using a lighthouse, spotlight, etc.

“CASH IN” on your PASSION MAP OUT YOUR MARKETING

IDENTIFY YOUR BRAND What is a Brand?

Your brand is a perception or emotion maintained by somebody other than you that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you.

[Walmart feeling different than Target] A Brand Allows You: To become more of who you are To get credit for who you are To grow professionally To achieve your personal and professional goals Strong Personal Brands are: Distinctive - they stand for something; they have a point of view Relevant - they connect with what someone else considers to be important Consistent - consistency of behaviors that others experience or observe.

Brands Consist of the Following Dimensions 1] Competencies – the role you play with another person The fundamental reason you are in a particular relationship with another person [day care provider, boss, colleague, business partner, etc.]

2] Standards – the way you deliver your competency – how we do it = descriptive adverbs and adjectives that create a uniquely detailed picture of your personal brand. Allows you to stand out from the crowd [i.e. open minded, flexible, assertive, independent, nonjudgmental listener] 3] Style – the manner in which we communicate and interact with others – how we relate with others. The subjective counterpart to the more objective attributes of your standards. The part that makes you uniquely yourself in someone else’s mind. They tend to be subjective [i.e. enthusiastic, energetic, professional, engaging]

Branding - Branding - Branding - Branding Have you noticed that this Part Two assignment is branded? I am using a Treasure Map theme with words like explore, discover, map it out and I have visuals with pirates and maps, etc. This is exactly what I am asking you to do with your project. You might even want to look into fonts to match your brand. For example, a

CHILDLIKE FONT would look different than an

ARTISTIC FONT for example!

Prosper Persuasion Point “Flash Equal Cash” What kind of marketing materials could you add that are more unique, interesting and not expected so you can demonstrate your ”flash equals cash” concept?

Brainstorm some additional, out-of-the-box ideas [products], in which you could be a bit more flashy to market your message. Visit websites like Vistaprint.com, zazzle.com, artscows.com, moo.com, etc. and search through their many products, from which you might upload your logo or marketing message onto and really stand out. Ideastage.com has thumb rings for example…

Prosper Persuasion Point – “Flash Equal Cash” Have you ever noticed that at a carnival, you play the games that have the most “bling/flash/lights?” Flash = cash! Here are some ideas: Print your marketing on a pizza cutter for a new pizzeria, use a floatable keychain for marketing fishing or boating ideas, use a bottle opener or can kouzie to market a restaurant, or bar, use a water bottle or sweat bands for a gym, use an ice scraper with your marketing for car repairs, etc. If the marketing product is something they might actually use, then it won’t be thrown away, and they are more likely to keep it [real estate and insurance agents often give you a calendar with their info on it], and keep seeing your name/product/service. For example, when I train large groups, I hand out a beautiful notebook per person and the last page is basically my jumbo business card so they can find me again.

You will find customizable dice, shower curtains, sneakers, skateboards...

Map it Out Let’s map out where you advertise/display the fact that you exist – list the different types of mediums you might use]. On your Email Signature, where online, locally? [community newsletters, Product placement, Tradeshows, Craigs List, car door magnets, social media?

Prosper Point: Capitalize on Your Cross-Over Appeal

When you join two things that normally don’t go together, you will likely find your Cross-Over appeal. Examples: sell nuts at a doll show or gun show, sell jewelry at a horseshow, join your pilot friend and create your very own ariel photography service. Someone might not buy your quilt at a quilt show because there are too many, so sell your quilts at a stand at Sturgis and they will probably sell [especially if they have Prosper Point 7 incorporated into them with motorcycles!] What are some cross-overs you can think of pertaining to your item/service? Dance classes for seniors?

Think of the current wine and painting classes craze that are currently popular and seem to be everywhere…

Prosper Point - Capitalize on Your Cross-Over Appeal Example Below is a photo of vintage toy/cartoon bezels my 11 yr old and I make from old toy auction catalogs [I sell antique toys online!] We sell them DIY for $6 each with your choice of a keychain or a necklace [a lot of guys buy wonder woman btw].

We made @$2100 this year at the Duluth Junk Hunt alone!

Prosper Point: Get Rich in a Niche Do you remember the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series? Jack Canfield did a great job of creating a series of niches = Chicken Soup for the mother, nurse, soldier, etc. This is something to consider for your project – what niche might you tap into? Could you take photos at dog shows, sell only cupcakes or cake pops, make t-shirt designs for skateboarders only, sell specifically to senior citizens or just children? What specific industries?

Prosper Point: Get Rich in a Niche Ideas Often, a niche is nothing more than you taking time to narrow down your key audience demographics.

Ask yourself if your key audience has a specific ability/disability, age, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, group membership [NRA, PETA, etc.], educational level, occupation/career, economic status/income, cultural/ethnic, group membership [politics, gangs, etc.], geographic uniqueness [north, south, suburban, urban, rural…]

Prosper Point - Get Rich in a Niche Example I have used this concept by creating 3 online classes for DailyOM – the most popular seller is the class where I took my Control Dramas information and slanted it towards the “new age niche” community using words like energy instead of power, etc.

Check it out:

https://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/courses/courseoverview.cgi?cid=299&aff=&co=

Prosper Point: Add-Ons Work

Have you ever noticed that people take their car to the carwash place with the free vacuums; that’s a great example of an Add-On. Let’s say you raise your own chickens and even sell them or their eggs, an add-on you might consider is to write a book [add on] on everything you need to know to raise chickens.

I am guessing each of us has a great workbook, book, or journal we could create around the topics in which we are most interested. I use 48hrbooks.com to publish all of my books [they give you 25 free when you order 100, which pays for the total printing cost once you sell them]. Did you know you can make your own customized deck of cards, posters, audio files, coasters. AddOns also include things like, “would you like fries with that to make it a meal,” and purchases like, “the bracelets are ½ off when you buy a necklace.”

Prosper Point : Bring it to the Money This prosper point is all about bringing your product/service to the money and not waiting for the money to find you. In other words, Make yourself Moblie! Can you bring your massage table to someone’s office? Be sure you have a way to deliver your goods, get a food truck, or a portable trailer, sell up at a flea market or craftshow/tradeshow [where everyone has cash in their pocket by the way]. I haul my books to all of the trainings I do and after I am done speaking, I often sell more $ in books than I have made for the actual speaking/training gig. Where is the money in your genre? Where could you go to put your product/service right in front of potential buyers? I bet if you walked down the main street after the 4th of July parade with glow stick necklaces, you’d make a fortune! I remember two college guys in St. Cloud, who owned Moon Dogs. It was literally a hotdog cart, that they got a permit for, to park outside of the bars to sell to people when the bar closed… guess what people had in their pockets? Money! Instead of walking to find food, Moon Dogs brought the food to them and offered them Instant Gratification [prosper point 6], they sold water and chips for Add-Ons [prosper point 4] and eventually sold can koozies and t-shirts with Moon Dogs tye died on them [prosper point 7]… I remember their pricing was $3 each, 2 for $5. See how well all of these points dovetail together?

How might you Bring it to the Money?

Prosper Point: Offer Instant Gratification Have you noticed that they try to sell you a photograph/keychain right when you get off of a ride at the Mall of America? That is called instant gratification. Can your product/service offer an instant need/solve a problem that is right there? Basically, can I buy it and have it now on site?

Examples: sell a rain poncho at an outdoor concert, have food available in a downtown skyway, offer honey straws along with your jars of honey so I can taste it right on the spot [offer food samples now for the jars on the shelve/table.] Can you plow my driveway, rake or clean my gutters one time and charge me for the one time fee, rather than making me sign up for a monthly service and can I get same day service? Do you have a machine that can print or stitch my name on the project right on the spot! Do you have products or do I have to order?

Prosper Point: Personalization Sells I am guessing that most of you have a shirt with FDLTCC printed on it, or at least a water bottle or folder. Simply put, if you can Personalize something, it’s more likely to Sell. Can you put the name of a local lake on a coaster or a door mat?

What about your favorite team or family name? Baby blankets and Christmas socks sell better when you are able to stitch or print the baby’s name on them [I remember even buying organizational bins with my girl’s names on them for their closets]. What about dog dishes and jewelry? The possibilities are endless. You can even personalize fabric at spoonflower.com. I have customized workbook covers to match a client’s business logo/theme. How can you personalize your project or service to make it more appealing to buyers? It might be as simple as printing a company’s logo on the stickers you use when customizing your homemade fudge for their employee appreciation days.

Prosper Point: High Turn-Over = More $ Can you offer a monthly online newsletter [the site I’m using for this project, issuu.com, is one such site to create an online magazine or newsletter and you can even sell it as a subscription], Have you noticed that dollar stores make a lot of money; its because you often buy way more items than you intended?

Can you offer a Dollar Dig at your sale [people will probably grab a lot].

Anything that needs to be restocked often is a High Turn Over/a good business: office supplies, printed goods, alcohol, food, dry cleaning, gas, skills classes [arts, cheerleading, scrapbooking, sports, etc.] Vending machines, in high traffic areas, count here, as well as in prosper point 11.

Prosper Point: Generate Your Leads In order to sell to people, you will want to capture their contact information. Can you do so with a raffle at your booth/business? Maybe have them sign in at the door or enter their email address to access your new newsletter online/at your website? Musicians might capture this info on a song request card for example. You could offer a free gift after filling out a contact card. Do you really think anyone wins that truck at the mall? I am guessing not, it is probably an attempt to capture your contact info/lead info b/c the law says that you can’t directly market to people unless they offer you their info. That is also true at expos when you “sign up to win a free college class” and then the college starts recruiting you… interesting hey? How might you generate your customer leads?

Prosper Point: Work Your Leads Once you have peoples’ contact information, how will you Work Your Leads and Market/Communicate with them? Do you send them a calendar of events/sales/upcoming performances? Do you blast out an email campaign with your upcoming coupons? Do you make flyers or advertise on craigslist locally? Here are some fun websites to check out to sell: fiverr.com, designcrowd.com, craigslist.com, ebay.com, etsy.com, artfire.com, supermarkethq.com, artsyshark.com, tagsellit.com, writersmarket.com, lulu.com. How will you communicate what you sell?

Prosper Point: Idle Income Potential Idle Income involves making money while you chill out and wait for the $ to come in. You work a bit and then collect a bit. You might purchase and set up a vending machine route or series of gumball machines, or invest in a storage lockers/buildings business. You might choose to own a coin-operated washer/dryer facility next to an apartment building or college campus, or a do it yourself pet wash/car wash. You might own a cabin that you rent out on Airbnb.com. Did you know there are vending machines for condoms, lipsmackers, etc. I’ve even seen a machine that was on the wall [a breathalizer] at a bar that you use your credit card on; it dispenses a straw in which you open and blow into the machine for a reading – there is a taxi cab service listed above it and I bet they own it = brilliant! The online class I told you about on DailyOM is something I wrote over a 6 week period one summer and 8 years later, I still make idle income on it each time someone buys it [it is self-paced, so all I do is collect the $]. What is something you could rent out or service once in awhile in between other things?

Prosper Point: Act Now! Buyers will act now when they feel a “fleeting opportunity” = think of home shopping club or eBay auctions, as you see them tick the time down. If you offer something for a “limited time” or on a holiday sale, you attract more interest.

Another persuasion tactic to get buyers to act now, is to make something “hard to come,” think of limited edition ornaments and coins, or selling a one of a kind art piece or a rare find at auction. Did you know that Coors Lite used to be hard to come by and everyone wanted it? Same for Krispy Creme donuts at one point! I know a number of artists who pay top dollar for deer [shed] antlers in the fall before they are all eaten.

Prosper Point: Act Now! Buyers will also act now when they feel there is some sort of a “reciprocate power” occurring. Have you ever noticed that you get free return address labels from charities when they ask you to donate, that is a give to get [reciprocate power] tactic. Some real estate agents offer to buy you a new dining room set if you use them as your agent [of course they use your $ from their commission to buy it for you but it is a win/win]. What can you give to get? Can you give a free newsletter subscription if you buy the book today, or maybe a free wood working bird feeder kit if they enroll in your carpentry class? Be create and give to get!

Prosper Point: Create an Event I mentioned that I’ve sold at the Duluth Junk Hunt… the people who run the show can sell their items there, charge people to enter the show and charge each seller for their booths. Think about organizing an event – there are Mudruns, Halloween mazes, superhero dance parties woodworking classes, cooking and makeup demos. Any one of you could put together something like this with any local ISD Community Ed department and they will even advertise it for free throughout the community [no degree required and if you hold one for kids, I will pay for mine to be there]. Remember the Pokeman card game night? Some people even charge others to attend a weekend scrapbooking event, where they make $ scrapping with strangers, while sharing their crafting supplies and potluck food = brilliant way to make $ doing what you love!

We have established that “word choice is significant” – I once had a student who was a breaker [a break dancer] and he wore a t-shirt that said, “break on the break.” In other words, there are words that your audience/niche/demographic will find appealing. Consider what these words are when you build your marketing campaign. I have noticed that the popular culture currently enjoys the word “SMART” – look around, we have smart carts, smart shopping, smart cars, smart pens, smart boards, smart mats, smart start, smart pages, smart apps, smart cards, smart choice, smart bombs, smart choppers, smart pages, smart water, smart wool, smart mats, smart snacking, smart balance, smart goals, smart milk, smart brushing, etc… Funny hey? Put together a list of words that you could use throughout your marketing campaign, that fit with your genre, product or service. You can literally create a list of key words that best fit a target audience. A plumber might choose, flush, lift the lid, etc.

For any of you who decide to pursue your project in real life, I just wanted to note, that once you find your perfect image on adobe.com, you can buy the extended licensure. When you do this, it gives you the right to immediately download the image and upload it onto your products, website, business cards, etc. With the extended licensure, you have the right to upload it to your book cover, t-shirt, keychain, etc. and sell it. In other words, don’t spend money trying to have someone create/take a perfect image for you, rather find one online for sale with an extended licensure, and it gives you the right to make money from it immediately.

Easy Peasy!

requirements for the small group final project 1. Your group will speak for a total time of 5 to 7 minutes per person [divided up any way you choose]

2. Your Group will turn in one typed outline [one combined, not one per person, following the outline we learned in class] 3. one of the main points of your presentation must specifically cover How you will “communicate the business brand” messages, which include both the visual & verbal messages you’ll use to market to potential customers about yOUR business and the pRODUCTs, EVENTs OR SERVICEs you’ll offer?

GRADING 70pts total = 10pts feedback forms, 20 pts your work, 20 pts Group work, 20 points group feedback

Discussion questions for the small group final project

who are the GROUP MEMBers and how will we communicate, meet, and get ahold of one another?

What is our small group’s business idea – Is it a Product, an event or a service?

What are some Potential creative business names for this product/event/service?

What is our group’s verbal “business BRAND, slogan or jingle?”

What is our Group’s visual “business BRAND/image/ad, that matches the verbal brand?

What does our group’s overall business idea look like – Let’s talk through it step by step How will we market [communicate visual and verbal messages] to others about OUR business and our pRODUCTs, EVENTs OR SERVICEs? As we think about the group outline, How will our group organize the layout of our overall business idea? [don’t forget to do the group feedback form per person] How will we divide the group work, including the one [typed] group outline?

What you resists, persists.

Remember we live in a world of attraction, not resistance.

What you think about, you bring about. Choose wisely!

Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think!