Successful Startup 101: March 2014

T h eK n o wHo wY o uNeedt oL eadY o uonY o u r P a t ht oB u s i n e s sS u c c e s s

I s s u e2

FEATUREDSPOTLI GHT: SALES&MARKETI NGTACTI CS

7THI NGSI ' DDODI FFERENTLYI F I STARTEDMYBUSI NESSTODAY 1 2MYTHSABOUTSTARTI NGABUSI NESS

12 Myths about Starting a Business 6 Stress-Free Ways to Deal with Business Stress How Envy Keeps You from Success Stuck On What To Do For Your Small Business?

When Technology Hurts the Entrepreneur: (Companies Cut Checks to People Not Computer Screens) PODCAST: Prospecting by Phone for Small Business The 6 Principles of Epic Content Marketing How to Take a Blog Break Without Losing Momentum

11 Rules for Sales and Marketing Success Implementing Innovation, Segment Your Non-Customers You Can Win Without Differentiation Get Your Marketing Message Out or You'll Fail When Hell Froze Over – in the Harvard Business Review Never Ever Give Up 3 Skills that Pay Bills 7 Things I'd Do Differently If I Started My Small Business Today Set Goals – Evaluate And Re-Evaluate Often!

5 Ways Belly-to-Belly Meetings Are Better for Business 6 Ideas for Starting a Business

SUBSCRIBE TO

SuccessfulStartup101 Magazine

TODAY

SUBSCRIBE

12 M YT H S

12 Myths about Starting a Business

BY MARK HEPTONSTALL I need to write a business plan before I start.

No, you don’t. Start-ups are so unpredictable that writing a business plan is a pointless exercise. You don’t exactly know who your customers are or what benefit/value they get from your product/service. If you think you need to prepare a plan to raise start-up funding see point 3 below.

2 3

I need lots of business experience.

No, you don’t. There is a little unknown princi ple called be, do, have. But for some reason our society believes it is the other way around – have, do, be. People think you need to have a certain amount of skills, knowledge, contacts before you can start a business (do) and be an entrepreneur/business owner. A better way to live is first of all just be an entrepreneur then you will do all the things that entrepreneurs do and eventually have the necessary things you thought you needed before you could start.

Essentially fake it till you make it.

I need to raise lots of funding before I can start.

No you don’t. This is a risky and unnecessary strategy. What you need is a minimal viable product to send to potential customers to

receive their valuable feedback. Then you can alter your product/service until it’s exactly what they want. Let them guide you as in the end its customers that will eventually be paying you for it. If there is no demand for this product/service idea you will find out without wasting much time, energy or money. An MVP is not just market research. If you were conducting market research you would ask someone if they would find your product useful and they may respond yes – but there is a massive difference between what someone says they will do (during market research) and what they will actually do in the real world.

If you were conducting market research you would ask someone if they would find your product useful and they may respond yes – but there is a massive difference between what someone says they will do (during market research) and what they will actually do in the real world

4

5 6

less risky way forward is to look at how current problems are solved (needs are satisfied) and question the obvious – is there a better way (quicker, cheaper, easier, simpler, different) to solve this problem or satisfy this need. A good place to start is to solve one of your own problems/needs.

I need a flashy website that will cost thousands.

No, you don’t. You just need and MVP (see point 3). Just use WordPress and build a basic website and buy a domain. Build the site yourself for peanuts. If your idea is a complex website that would perform a particular function online produce a concierge MVP which essentially means use manpower to carry out the function on a couple of customers to see if the idea has any potential and refine the idea before you spend thousands building a flashy website that would perform the function. An example is a comparison website. Instead of paying someone to build the functionality – gather the information manually from the relevant sources and produce the comparison by hand and email the customer the results.

I will need to spend lots of money on advertising.

9 10 11

I’ll need to hire lots of staff.

12

It doesn’t matter if I’m not passionate about the product/service/sector I just want to make loads of money.

No, you don’t. Open a Google Adwords account and teach yourself how to run it effectively.

Once I start my own business I’ll have the freedom to do what I want when I want.

When you start a business you need to remember 2 things 1 You will be doing the job that earns the money PLUS all the other roles you didn’t need to worry about whilst in your previous job e.g. sales, marketing, finance, accounting, quoting, invoicing, HR, ordering stationary, buying the coffee, customer service etc.

2 When you start a business your customers own your arse until you can afford to hire staff to deal with these people. Remember this – they will want to know where their work/product is and how quickly you can sort problems out when they happen.

No, you won’t. Hire only when it hurts and only when subcontracting freelancers doesn’t work for you anymore.

I haven’t got the time.

Yes, you have. Turn off the TV and learn about the pareto principle. Then follow it.

Its too risky to start your own business No, it isn’t. The concept of a job for life and job security doesn’t exist these days. We live in a fast paced, ever changing transient world and due to the state of the current economy redundancies are commonplace. I was made redundant 3 times before starting my first company. Now I have owned my own business longer than I worked for any other previous employer. So I put this to you. It’s too risky to stay in a job and assume that you will continue to receive your paycheck at the end of each month. When you set up on your own you are in control and can influence your own destiny better than when you work for a company.

Take it from me it does matter. The joy of making money soon fades. After making loads of money you will be searching for something that is fulfilling and this comes from following your passion/purpose/calling.

7

I need a nice office to impress customers/clients.

About the Author

No, you don’t. This is not a required expense in the age of email/skype/dropbox/cloud computing and virtual offices. Work from home and if you need to meet a client then meet them in a hotel bar or book a meeting room at a virtual office centre. They will automatically assume you’re based there.

Mark Heptonstall is a young entrepreneur, start-up mentor and personal development enthusiast from Leeds, England. He likes to constantly question the obvious and experiment with conventional wisdom to see if there is a better way to do things. Follow him on twitter @markheptonstall

8

I need to come up with a revolutionary idea.

These ideas carry more risk as they may not have a predefined market established. A much

* This article originally appeared Here

6 Stress-Free Ways to Deal with Business Stress

by DMITRI EROSHENKO here is a billion-dollar industry designed to help you and I escape from stress. From escapist vacations to spa treatments that promise to “melt away stress” it’s not unusual to feel the pressure when you’re trying to stay calm. Is it just me, or does that sound a little backwards?

Maybe it’s time to rethink the whole concept. Even Scientific American suggests, “The problem with stress for many of us is not its existence, but our inability to handle it. Luckily, we can train ourselves to make stress work for–rather than against–us.” This further asserts the notion that stress may not be the health boogeyman after all.

time you feel stress creeping up on you, say can always say to yourself, “Oh this is just that stupid worry about getting all my ducks in a row, nothing more.” This is the first step to self-control.

CROSS THAT BRIDGE WHEN YOU COME TO IT. Deal with your pressure items one at a time. If this isn’t the time and place for it, wait until it is. One of the great things about stress is that you can procrastinate. You put off other things all of the time, so why not delay something as tiresome as money worries? If you find yourself worried

But how can we handle stress in a way — especially when it comes to business — that doesn’t actually drive us to screaming at our staff or scarfing down a box of Twinkies on a random Thursday night?

HERE ARE SIX SMART OPTIONS: TURN PRESSURE INTO YOUR ALLY. Pressure is natural for humans. We are equipped to deal with it, with adrenaline surges and other responses. Specifically, pressure and stress are designed to help us detect and respond to danger. High pressure can also be a road to peak performance. When we are stressed, that may be the kick in the butt we need to climb faster, run harder, or get that business off the ground. Stress is designed to help us survive — and thrive. What we are not designed to deal with is low-grade, non-stop pressure, simply known as stress and anxiety. That sort of niggling worry is what will age us and hurt our cardiovascular system. The trick is to learn to recognize this type of anxiety and address it.

DEFINE YOUR STRESSORS. Write down a list of the things in your life that stress you out. Sort the list so that the most stressful items are on top.

Give each source of anxiety a nickname, preferably something a little silly. Every

about your business, tell yourself “I will worry about that tomorrow. Right now, I’m only going to think about my health concerns.” This is the same as “be in the here and now” or “be in the moment.”

FIND WAYS TO ADDRESS WHAT WORRIES YOU. Once you have a list of your worries, they are no longer vague anxieties — they become concrete problems. And that means they can become actionable items. Beside each worry on your list, brainstorm things you can do to turn the situation around. Are you worried about your health? Maybe you can visit a new doctor or hire a trainer. Do you have financial woes? Maybe you need to sit down with a financial planner or your small business accountant. Anxiety

* This article originally appeared Here

usually happens because you feel out of control. When you realize that there are things you can do, the tight feeling clenching in your chest eases up a bit.

USE A PRODUCTIVITY SYSTEM. Get things out of your head and into a productivity app or on the desk of a personal assistant. This way you can focus on doing things instead of worrying about what you may have missed. This lets you free your mind from remembering where everything is and what to do next. Instead you can re-focus on getting things done. Most of us worry about tasks falling through the cracks. When you have a good system in place, that’s one worry to cross off your list.

REMEMBER: 1% THEORY AND 99% PRACTICE. There is no shortage of advice on dealing with stress and pressure, but “knowing and not doing is not knowing.” Make sure you spend 99% of your time in practical application instead of reading endless books and articles. Practice makes perfect. One practical thing you can do to address worry is to train your mind. An untrained mind can accomplish nothing.

You don’t need another day off to deal with stress — you need a better solution. Start owning your anxiety rather than letting it rule your life and your business.

About the Author Dmitri Eroshenko is the founder of Relenta, email-based CRM for people who get things done. Dmitri is a serial entrepreneur who’s been working online since 1995. Dmitri firmly believes in working smarter, not harder, and is passionate about small businesses productivity and killer ideas for startups.

How Envy keeps You from Success

By Molly Cantrell-Kraig

“A show of envy is an insult to oneself.”

- Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yevtushenko

Do you suffer from FOMO? Fear of missing out can be a common fear of entrepreneurs. Sometimes FOMO is manifested as Keeping up with The Joneses. For example, even though your business may be getting more profitable every year, you look at your old car in the driveway and the Jones’ new Lexus and feel that if only you’d stuck to being a corporate (fill in the blank) you’d have new toys,too.

New and improved. Four little syllables, but what a wallop they pack.

As someone who has been enthralled with advertising since she was a little girl, I notice the power of advertising. I notice how slogans and brands lull and hypnotize otherwise sane people into forking over their hard earned cash to have a bigger shinier do-mah-hickey in their driveway than their neighbor’s.

Ever since man has been able to drag a slab of meat home to the cave, he has been comparing his wealth to that of his fellow cave dwellers. Envy is such a pervasive and insidious force, it has achieved inclusion in The Big Seven, right up there with Sloth and Greed.

SUCCESSFUL STARTUP

Like most sins, Envy is rooted in fear. Fear that what you have is not enough. Fear that you’re missing out. How does this affect your independence?

When envy shows its green face, take a moment to really examine how you feel.

• Do you REALLY want what you perceive you are lacking?

• Why do you feel envious?

• What would you need to do in order to obtain that which you covet?

• Is it a fair trade?

Envy is a powerful chord binding you to your current state and keeping you from succeeding for a number of reasons.

1. FEAR OF NOT BEING OR HAVING ENOUGH Please make peace with the fact that there is ALWAYS going to be someone bigger, faster, more skilled, shinier and “better” than you. We are all on a continuum here. We are each on our own path, and the only thing within our control is our attitude and our choices (and for what it’s worth, “better” is subjective). You have NO concept of what some other Sword of Damocles someone else has hanging over their head, so stop trying.

When you spend all of your energy

focusing on what you do not have, you haven’t the presence of mind to notice what you DO have, which leads to my second point:

2. INABILITY TO RECOGNIZE WHAT YOU HAVE If you’ve ever seen the movie The Princess Bride, you’ll remember the scene where Wesley asks what tools they have in their arsenal when storming the castle near the end of the film. Almost as an afterthought, Fezzik mentions the fact that they have a holocaust cloak on hand: an essential element of their success.

Recognizing, understanding and utilizing your own gifts are the keys to your success and your independence. Establish a

face, would I give you a quarter?

No. Recognize and be grateful for the strengths you have and build upon them. That’s your ticket to independence.

3. OVER-EMPHASIS ON THE PHYSICAL Yes, Mr. Jones has just opened up his third location in Strip Mall Heaven. He’s successful. His wife is dripping with jewels and they are always seen at the Club every Saturday drinking the top shelf hooch.

Appearances may be deceiving: It’s quite possible that Mr. Jones is leveraged and mortgaged up to his eyeballs to the point where he is owned by his possessions.

These are tethers.

baseline: write out times in your life where you contributed to a team’s success. It’s important to note the times in your life where your point of view was unique and also times where you had FUN. This is a clue, revealing gifts that you have which you may not recognize.

Most of the time, these gifts go unrecognized because most people assume that everyone thinks as they do, or sees things as they do.

When you fail to honor that which makes you unique, you remain reliant upon others for your successes. They define your success, not you.

Also, it may sound trite, but IT IS TRUE: gratitude attracts. If I gave you a nickel and you threw it in my

Even if everything’s paid for, keep in mind the mental attachment to Things as Indicators of Success. The physical is the tip of the iceberg.

We only see 15% of what’s going on when we notice the shiny objects in our neighbor’s driveway.

In order to be fully independent, it is essential that you can divest yourself from the physical.

“You can’t take nothing with you but your soul,” or so it’s been said.

Molly Cantrell-Kraig is a woman with drive. Possessing an innate sense of purpose and a pragmatic, solution-based approach to empowering people, she fused these two traits in order to establish Women With Drive Foundation.

Based upon its founder’s personal history, Women With Drive Foundation is a means through which Cantrell-Kraig may effect change on both a micro and macro level. By providing women with something as essential as personal transportation in order to transition them from poverty to prosperity, she, through Women With Drive Foundation, seeks to empower women to help them help themselves. Through this action, the individual applicant benefits, as does society as a whole. Follow Molly on twitter as @mckra1g or @WWDr1ve (Women With Drive Foundation) or “Like” them on facebook.

“A show of envy is an insult to oneself.” —Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yevtushenko In order to be independent, you must value yourself and what you have to offer: your abilities, your thoughts, your approach to solving problems. These singular skills set you apart. Appreciation for your own ingenuity conveys an assurance which provides you with ballast when you are faced with perceived lack. This confidence in your own worth is the launching pad from which you can gain your independence.

SUCCESSFUL STARTUP

Stuck On What To Do For Your Small Business?

Posted by TEDD JOHNSON

t’s one thing to decide that you’ve had enough of working for someone else and want to break free on your own, and an entirely different matter when thinking about what kind of business you want to have. Some people are born to be entrepreneurs from the get-go, while others make the decision to build their own business later in life. For those who are making a transition from a career to becoming a business owner, the choices of what to do can be overwhelming. Unless you have a clear idea of what you want to do, then there are some things that can help you narrow your choices and get inspired.

The whole idea behind starting your own business is to be happy and financially secure, so you should think about things that you want to do that will give you both attributes. If you are trying to escape the daily and mundane grind of your current career, or you were laid off and don’t want to return to the same thing, then use this as an opportunity to build something that you will find rewarding and enjoyable. Attitude is everything when starting a small business, so you can do anything you want to do if you have the right mind-set. Don’t be afraid to think big and to pursue your dreams.

You should think about money, time, resources, your abilities and whether or not you will be working online or in the real world. All of these things will play a role with your decision making process, and it

is important that you choose a business that meets all of your requirements in these categories. Not every business requires a lot of start-up cash, and you can simply do a little bit of Internet marketing and word of mouth advertising to get your business off the ground. Whether you want to be a dog-groomer or an accountant that does house calls, you can make money quickly without needing to take out loans.

Some businesses are easy to set up and others require a lot of organization and planning. A cafe or restaurant will be more difficult to get started than an online or home-based business. A doctor’s office will have different requirements than opening a bookstore. So, decide if you want simple or complex, and this will help you to eliminate the options that you do not want to deal with. You also need to think about what your talents are and how you will use them. Your skills can be applied in many different ways, so you are not necessarily stuck with doing what you were doing in the past.

No one can make up your mind for you in terms of what you can do for your business, and narrowing your focus can be helpful, especially if you have no clue what you want to do. Look at some different options and weigh the advantages as well as the drawbacks and this will help you to hone in on some good ideas.

To read more articles from Tedd, please visit http://income.com/author/teddj/.

When Technology Hurts the Entrepreneur: Companies Cut Checks to People Not Computer Screens)

By Ken Sundheim

On the surface, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn seem to be great resources. Email connects the world nearly real-time.

Skype allows us to video conference when we need to see each other. The web provides any information we desire at our finger tips.

With so much productivity, it’s almost hard to fathom that household incomes are struggling. With all the new business within our reach, why just a year ago was long-term unemployment the highest its been since WWII?

TECHNOLOGY AND INEFFICIENCY In order to cast doubt on the efficiency of today’s technology, it’s best to address the main sources of communication and information gathering one by one.

Once we are able to define the tools we use, we can then analyze why these may be less friend and more foe to the average generation Y or Z business professional.

1. Emails – For many of us, email is often used in business as an alternative to interpersonal interaction rather than a supplement. Email allows us to stay within our comfort zone.

From the view of the excessive emailer, they are able to return messages at their convenience, have the ability to think about what they SUCCESSFUL STARTUP

are going to write and can save the time and hassle of a phone call with an one line message.

From the view of the effective business professional, getting back to clients at your own time is poor customer service, email cannot convey emotions, thus intent is often misread and phone or face to face time establishes trust and strengthens client relationships.

I can close a $15,000 contract on a single phone call or office visit. I could never do the same strictly over email. Companies like to cut checks to people not computer screens.

2. Social Media Sites – To

connect with clients and potential networks, we have Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter as the major players in the social media space.

On these sites, we can read bios, reach individuals we don’t yet know and keep up to date with trending topics. Seems informative on the surface.

to contact headhunting agencies.

The web is only an asset for the disciplined, creative and hard working. It’s a liability to the average employee.

After closer analysis, we quickly realize that social media sites don’t make money informing us. Rather, they derive their revenue from keeping users on the site for as long as possible, thus seeing more advertisements.

Somehow, it just seems farfetched that we could be productive on the same sites that we socialize on. After all, it’s called social media.

3. Web – 15-20 years ago,

when employees had free time, they would often read.

Present day, we surf.

4. Contact Forms – The

majority of the time, when we use the web to its fullest extent, we find what we are looking for only to not be able to contact the provider of the services or products.

It’s ironic because we use the web to get information real-time, yet the process ends in the potential buyer filling out a seemingly barren contact form with little to no idea as to when or if the final piece of information they need will be delivered.

The former makes one more productive through education while the other creates a significant roadblock to the achievement of even basic goals. Very rarely do they utilize the resource to its fullest extent and are able to monetize our findings.

It’s also ironic that we have a phone with us at all times, yet don’t allow anyone to utilize it.

Irony aside, contact forms are indicative of our deteriorating social skills.

As an executive headhunter, I rarely see job seekers use over 20% of the resources available to them to find a job. They tend to use the web to go on Monster, apply for jobs on LinkedIn or

Companies cut checks to people, not pieces of technology. Human voices still make for better business than Google Voice.

In the End

To learn more about Ken, please visit http://www.kasplacement.com.

SUCCESSFUL STARTUP

PROSPECTING BY PHONE FOR SMALL BUSINESS

By DIANE HELBIG etween email and social media, many small business owners think they (or their sales staff) don’t need to pick up the phone and call people anymore. Wendy Weiss will be my guest and will be discussing why prospecting by phone is your most effective way to build new business.

Wendy Weiss, President of ColdCallingResults.com, is an author, speaker, sales trainer, and sales coach. She is recognized as one of the leading authorities on lead generation, cold calling and new business development and she helps clients speed up their sales cycle, reach more prospects directly and generate more sales revenue. Her clients include Avon Products, ADP, Sprint and thousands of entrepreneurs throughout the country. Wendy has been featured in the New York Times, BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine, Selling Power, Inc, Forbes and various other business and sales publications. She is the author of, Cold Calling for Women: Opening Doors & Closing Sales and The Sales Winner’s Handbook: Essential Scripts & Strategies to Skyrocket Sales Performance.

Today's show is sponsored by Empower Excellence. How can you improve the productivity of your company? Help your employees increase your company's productivity by reducing their financial stress! EMPOWER Excellence of Westlake, Ohio, helps your company improve the financial wellness of your employees AND your business. Visit www.empowerexcellencewithjan.com to learn more.

The 6 Principles of Epic Content Marketing

By JOE PULIZZI

My latest book, Epic Content Marketing, is launching this week. Naturally, the title has prompted many a marketer to ask me, “What, exactly, does epic content marketing entail?”

To start, you need to be honest about the content you have. Most likely, your organization has plenty of feature- and benefit-related content — truly, the majority of brands have become quite adept at talking about themselves. We clearly don’t need more of that kind of content, especially when that type of information is only useful for a very small part of a buyer’s journey. What brands lack are stories that engage their customers — and drive customers and prospects to take a desired action.

Below, I’ll review the six key principles of epic content marketing in more detail. But before I do, let me remind everyone that the ultimate goal of our content marketing efforts is to “move” the customer in some way. We need to positively affect them, engage them, and do whatever is necessary to play a useful role in their lives and their conversations.

1. EPIC CONTENT FILLS A NEED Your content should address some unmet need or answer a question your customers have. It needs to be useful to them in some way — above and beyond what you offer in the way of products and/or services. In some cases, it may fill an emotional need (like Coca-Cola’s content and Red Bull’s storytelling efforts aim to do).

2. It communicates consistently The primary hallmark of a successful publisher is consistency, both in terms of quality and delivery.

Epic content reliably delivers on the promises your brand makes. Whether you are asking your audience to subscribe to a monthly magazine or daily email newsletter, you must ensure that they receive what

they signed up for and that it always arrives on time and as expected. This is where so many companies fall down.

3. It requires you to find your unique, and human, voice The benefits of not being a journalistic entity is that you have nothing to hold you back from being… well… you. Find what your voice is and share it. If your company’s story is all about humor, share that.

If it’s a bit sarcastic, that’s okay too.

4. It expresses a point of view This is not encyclopedia content. You are not giving a history report. Don’t be afraid to take sides on matters that can position you and your company as

an expert. Chipotle’s runaway viral hit The Scarecrow clearly has a point of view — that locally sourced and responsibly produced food is, well, superior to how most food is processed today.

Don’t be afraid to take stances like this.

5. It is devoid of “sales speak” At Content Marketing Institute, when we create a piece of content that is about us vs. an educational post, it only garners 25 percent of the average page views and social shares our content normally drives. The more you talk about yourself, the less people will share and spread your story. It’s that simple.

6. It’s recognized as the best of its breed Though you might not be able to achieve this at the very beginning, the ultimate goal for your content is to be considered the best in its class. I know it may sound overly simplified, but if you expect your customers to spend time with your content, you must deliver amazing value to them, and nothing less.

Take some time to look at your content marketing strategy. How many of these six principles are you achieving in your content efforts?

Epic content marketing in action Think about the content sources that you rely on every day. What

makes them so special? Do they provide information that you can’t find anywhere else? Are they consistently delivered at the same day and time? Do they express a particular point of view that you subscribe to? Does the information you get from them help you live a better life or grow at your career?

There are a number of content sources that I have “subscribed” to that have become part of my life: Inc. Magazine (a media company) — I actually get excited when this print publication comes in the mail. Monthly frequency.

Seth Godin’s daily blog posts (an author). Daily frequency.

Quarterly reports from Fisher Investments (an investment firm). Quarterly frequency.

Copyblogger Media’s daily posts (a software company). Daily frequency.

As a business, your content marketing goal is to become part of the fabric of your customers’ lives. Once you can do that, selling to them becomes relatively easy.

What you might find interesting about the above examples is that I’ve purchased multiple products from all of the companies above, even though they give away so much value for free. That’s exactly what you need to do with your content marketing. The good news is that we can all be epic — if we follow these six principles.

Good luck!

Portions of this article were excerpted from Joe’s latest book, “Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break Through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less.”

How to Take a Blog Break Without Losing Momentum

By STACEY ROBERTS

s anyone who has ever started a blog knows, it can be hard work. The internet never sleeps, and it seems at times neither do you! In the 24-hour machine that is the blogosphere and accompanying social media, there is the potential for our blog/life balance to be so far off kilter it’s all but disappeared from view. And the best way to deal with blogger burnout is to stop it before it begins.

Working for yourself means you also have the luxury of choosing when you can shift gears. And while you might not have a colleague to step up and take over in your stead, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your site will suddenly plunge to the depths of the internet where blogs go to die if you’re not there to constantly push it back up to the surface. The fear of being forgotten is very real, as the blogosphere is awash with ten more blogs to take your place sh002ould you quiet down. But the trick is finding the minimum amount of effort you need to spend to keep your hard-earned traffic, and ring in some help along the way.

STEP ONE: GET ORGANISED First thing you need to do is define how long you are going to spend away. I was having a baby, so I planned for three months and had a tentative plan for the

fourth. Figure out how many posts would be the minimum to keep your readers interested, and set them into an editorial calendar.

There are plenty of ways to do this – use the WordPress Editorial Calendar plugin, use software, a downloadable template, your laptop calendar, a real calendar, or you can go old-school like I did and draw a colourful diagram with connector pens.

The next step is to fill those spots with content ideas. There are plenty of things you can write ahead and schedule – I did a mix of non-time-sensitive posts, recipes, tutorials and guest posts.

Once you have an idea, then set aside a chunk of time to tackle the posts and have them ready to go.

You already have inspiration because you’ve created a list of ideas ahead of time, all you need to do now is flesh them out. Or if you can’t find the time to write a bunch of posts in one go, then commit to writing two posts each time you sit down to write one.

Publish one, and schedule the other for a future date. You also might like to re-post earlier content – we all have that one brilliant piece we wrote when we were first starting out, which only two people read. Bring it back out and let it get the love it deserves!

Spend some time either creating your own images for the posts, or searching for stock images. You’ll be surprised how much easier it is to write a post once the title and image are sitting there, ready to go. Make a list of what you need and stockpile them, to save time searching for each one as you write your content.

Write a post explaining to your readers what to expect, and when you’ll be back. Most readers are happy to give you some breathing space and pop back when you return. You’re probably also doing them a favour – less posts in their

readers mean they get a break from keeping up with the blogosphere’s breakneck pace!

STEP TWO: GET SOME HELP If there’s too much to do and too little time, then call for reinforcements. Write a post asking for guest posters, outlining your contribution guidelines (it is much easier if they all come in the same format, because uploading 40 different blogging styles can be just as much work as writing the content yourself!), and setting your standards. You might like to include ideal post length, whether or not it needs an image (and be certain that the image they supply complies with copyright law!), and whether they need to write their own bio and supply a head shot. Guest posts are usually better received if you have written a small intro before they begin, and helps keep your voice on your site, which is why your readers read you in the first place. Submissions in HTML format are light-years more easy to deal with than document attachments and separate images, but not everyone is au fait with that.

Reach out to your networks and let them know you’re looking for

contributions. Are you a member of blogging groups or organisations? Put the call out on your blog’s Facebook page and other social media accounts. You might like to open it up to up-and-coming bloggers looking for a big break, or you might like to only invite established writers with their own readership. Or you could simply hire professionals.

Judge what mix is best for you and your readers – keep your own content a constant, if you can.

While your readers will appreciate you’re taking a break, and enjoy some fresh views, it’s your voice they want to read.

STEP THREE: GET AWAY Get right away. You’ve done all you can ahead of time. You’ve automated tweets and Facebook updates using the scheduled post’s permalink, and everything should run smoothly (you hope!) with little or no effort from you.

Stepping back and clearing your head does wonders for motivation and creativity – soon you will miss your blog, and have ideas coming out your ears for future content. But until that happens, break up with your blog just a little bit. Get outside and get a life (as Darren says!), so you’ve got

some depth to your writing. Don’t even open your laptop if you don’t have to. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say, and nobody likes forced writing. When you’ve reignited the passion for blogging, your words will flow better and you’ll create more of a connection with the reader.

If you absolutely can’t bear the idea of totally stepping away, or you don’t need to, then pop up every now and then with a fresh post. You never know when inspiration will strike, and it’s always best to bow down when it does. Keep up your networking and being part of the community with your social media accounts – maybe Instagram your break and the new things you now have time for, to keep your followers in the loop. If you’re troubled by dips in traffic on the days you’re not posting, then invite readers into your archives by tweeting a new old link for them to read.

Nobody likes a burnt-out blogger, and you and your readers both know when stuff’s getting stale.

Take a well-earned break and keep the home fires burning so it’s still warm when you get back.

Have you taken a break? I’d love to hear any tips you learned along the way.

Stacey Roberts is the blogger behind Veggie Mama, and when she’s not writing about good food and motherhood, she’s teaching media law at university. Or avoiding the laundry. She’s an Instagram ninja here, on Facebook here and tweets @veggie_mama. This article was originally published on ProBlogger.

Top Eleven A better approach is to make sure the person’s skills and attitude are a good fit for the tasks at hand.

11 Rules for Small Business and Sales Success

By Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Are you a sales manager or business owner? If you want to have sales success and keep your sales motivation moving along at a pretty good clip, you need to take these “rules” to heart:

1

HIRE THE PERSON - DON’T FILL THE JOB. Far too many people are hired just to fill a position. A better approach is to make sure the person’s skills and attitude are a good fit for the tasks at hand. Sure, it may take longer to find the right person, but in the short run and the long run, it is worth it.

2 3

FIRE QUICKLY - INCLUDING AT THE TOP. Owners and managers are quick to terminate lower-level employees, but are far too generous in overlooking terminations that need to occur at the top.

FORGET COMPETING ON PRICE. Nobody can sustain a low price image forever. Competing on price will only provide a short-term volume bump at the risk of destroying the value of your long-term potential.

Suc c es s f ul St ar t up101 TheKnowHowY ouNe e dt oL e a dY ouOnY ourPa t hT oBus i ne s sSuc c e s s

4

5

6

7

8

OPM - OTHER PEOPLE’S MINDS.

them back and you need to do so.

Customers who have bad experiences will talk to others, so it is in your best interest to do all you can to prove yourself once again with customers you have disappointed in the past.

Use them. Never allow yourself to think you’re the only one who understands your business. Wise sales managers and owners tap into the insights and knowledge of other people so that everyone can benefit.

YOU’RE THE PROBLEM – SCA (SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE).

The only advantage you will be able to create long-term is through your employees. It starts with you being a person with whom others want to associate. The more you genuinely develop your employees, the stronger your company becomes. This assumes, of course, that you have the right people matched with the right jobs, and that you are cognizant of their attitudes. Do they want to learn? Do they want to grow? Do they trust you?

9

10

24/7 MARKETING. In today’s market it’s impossible to personally be everywhere. You have to have the tools in place to bring you customers from places you never would expect them to come from.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER’S CUSTOMERS. Take the time to understand where and how your product or service is being used.

You’ll be amazed at what you learn. And you will uncover information that will better equip you to increase your sales.

NEVER THINK YOU’VE LOST A CUSTOMER. If they bought from you once, even if they had a bad experience, you can still get

11

FIRE YOUR WORST CUSTOMERS. Every company has at least a few customers who are more work than they are worth. I know this sounds like a crazy premise, but it is true. Some customers actually hurt your bottom line because they continually make unreasonable requests.

The quickest way to “fire” them is to raise their price. Either they will leave or they will stay — at a price that is more suited to what is required of you to service them.

CHALLENGE YOUR BANKER / ACCOUNTANT. You may think they have your best interest in mind, but with the wide range of customers they have, there is no reason to think they’re doing everything they can for you.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FATAL DECISION. Decisions become fatal only after a number of other bad decisions have been made. Companies rarely get off course because of a single move. They get off course by a serious of bad moves, with each one escalating the impact of the previous one. Don’t let one bad decision defeat you.

If you want to succeed in business and in sales, the above rules are a good place to start. Ingrain them into the fabric of your sales strategy and you won’t regret it.

Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter, is author of “High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.” He is a consultative selling expert committed to helping individuals and companies identify better prospects and close more profitable sales. To get a free weekly sales tip, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com.

Read the first chapter of his instant-classic “High-Profit Selling” here.

IMPLEMENTING INNOVATION

IMPLEMENTING INNOVATION: SEGMENT YOUR NON-CUSTOMERS

by Alessandro Di Fiore ome of the most successful and disruptive innovations stem from a company’s ability to tap into demand from non-customers in its market category. The challenge, of course, is to identify why these people aren’t customers already. Once you know why potential customers aren’t buying your product, you can develop innovations to make your product more appealing to them.

Unfortunately, a focus on known customers and share of the existing market is ingrained in the processes and metrics of companies. As a result, they have less systematized data about their noncustomers. You can improve the odds on succeeding through innovation if you fix this data problem by treating

You can improve the odds on succeeding through innovation if you fix this data problem by treating non-customers as a segmentation problem

non-customers as a segmentation problem and apply some of the discipline of marketing research.

•

Access: People can’t buy the product because it is not readily available to them

The key is to segment according to reasons for not buying products in your category. In my experience, these typically fall into one of six categories:

•

Social: The product doesn’t conform to religious or social norms

•

Emotional: The product triggers negative emotions.

•

Economic: People lack access to cash or credit

•

Functional: The product does not help people achieve what they want to achieve

•

Educational: People don’t know how to use the product or even what it can do

The global swimwear company Arena used this categorization as a framework for segmenting non-customers. They first hypothesized a list of non-swimmers, then they analyzed the barriers inhibiting the potential demand of each segment, and finally they developed a set of new

products that could overcome some of these barriers.

One attractive segment they identified were beginners who went to the pool a few times and then gave up. The principal problem for this group was functional: they struggled to develop good breathing technique.

Breathing is perhaps the biggest challenge for novice swimmers.

Poor breathing creates problems with executing strokes, making it harder to move comfortably in the water. It is one of the most common reasons that novices give up learning to swim and turn to non-water gym activities.

This insight led Arena to develop a new device, called the Freestyle Breather, a pair of plastic “foils” or “fins” that can be attached to most marketed goggles. The Freestyle Breather has three main functions: it facilitates inhalation by enhancing the bow wave, making it easier to breathe into the air pocket; it secures inhalation by protecting the mouth and nose from splashes and water drops; and it reduces over-rotation of the head and body because swimmers feel less anxiety and risk of breathing water.

Swimming with a Freestyle Breather makes the pool experience so much easier for beginners that it has the potential to convert many novices into regulars at their local pool. Arena reckons that there’s potential to more than double the global population of regular swimmers.

Another segment Arena identified was Muslim females, who experience social barriers to swimming. They want to be able to move fluidly in the water but they can only swim when their body is fully covered.

Unfortunately, swimming in traditional cotton bodysuits is uncomfortable both during the swim and after (cotton

body suits take a long time to dry off). After studying groups of Muslim women using the traditional swimsuits, Arena applied its expertise in performance materials to design a line of swimwear that conformed to religious norms, was comfortable in the water, and dried quickly.

Of course, you won’t capture all your potential marketspace through this exercise. But if Arena’s experience is anything to go by, simply sorting non-customers into the categories described here and analyzing barriers blocking potential demand gets you a very long way.

Companies should be doing more of it.

ABOUT ALESSANDRO DI FIORE Alessandro Di Fiore is the CEO of the European Centre for Strategic Innovation, based in Milan. He can be reached at adifiore@ecsi-edu.eu. Follow him on twitter @alexdifiore.

*This article was originally published on the Harvard Business Review website. The original link can be found here: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/09/implementing-innovation-segment-your-non-customers

YOU CAN WIN WITHOUT DIFFERENTIATION

by Freek Vermeulen Yet, at the same time, we see many industries in which firms do more or less the same thing.

And among those firms offering more or less the same thing, we often see very different levels of success and profitability. How come? What explains the apparent discrepancy?

or decades, strategy gurus have been telling ďŹ rms to dierentiate. From Michael Porter to Costas Markides and through the Blue Oceans of Kim and Mauborgne, strategy scholars have been urging executives to distinguish their ďŹ rm’s oerings and carve out a unique market position. Because if you just do the same thing as your competitors, they claim, there will be nothing le for you than to engage in ďŹ erce price competition, which brings everyone’s margins to zero – if not below.

Yet, at the same time, we see many industries in which ďŹ rms do more or less the same thing. And among those ďŹ rms oering more or less the same thing, we o en see very dierent levels of success and proďŹ tability. How * This article originally appeared Here

come? What explains the apparent discrepancy?

To understand this, you have to realise that the ďŹ eld of Strategy arose from Economics.

The strategy thinkers who ďŹ rst entered the scene in the 1980s and 90s based their recommendations on economic theory, which would indeed suggest that, as a competitor, you have to somehow be dierent to make money. Over the last decade or two, however, we have been seeing more and more research in Strategy that builds on insights from Sociology, which complements the earlier economics-based theories, yet may be be er equipped to understand this particular issue.

Consider, for example, the case of McKinsey.

Clearly, McKinsey is a highly successful professional services ďŹ rm, making rather healthy margins. But is their oering really so dierent from others, like BCG, or Bain? They all oer more or less the same thing: a bunch of clever, reasonably well-trained analytical people wearing pin-striped suits and using a problem-solving approach to make recommendations about general management problems. McKinsey’s competitive advantage apparently does not come from how it dierentiates its oering.

The trick is that when there is uncertainty about the quality of a product or service, ďŹ rms do not have to rely on dierentiation in order to obtain a competitive advantage. Whether you’re a law ďŹ rm or a hairdresser, people will ďŹ nd it diicult – at least beforehand – to assess how good you really are. But customers, nonetheless, have to pick one.  McKinsey, of course, oers the most uncertain product of all: Strategy advice. When you hire them – or any other consulting ďŹ rm – you cannot foretell the quality of what they are going to do and deliver. In fact, even when you have the advice in your hands (in the form of a report or, more likely, a powerpoint “deckâ€?), you can still not quite assess its quality.

Worse, even years a er you might have implemented it, you cannot really say if it was

any good, because lots of factors inuence ďŹ rm performance, and whether the advice helped or hampered will forever remain opaque.

Research in Organizational Sociology shows that when there is such uncertainty, buyers rely on other signals to decide whether to purchase, such as the seller’s status, its social network ties, and prior relationships. And that is what McKinsey does so well. They carefully foster their status by claiming to always hire the brightest people and work for the best companies. They also actively nurture their immense network by making sure former employees become “alumni� who then not infrequently end up hiring McKinsey. And they make sure to carefully manage their existing client relationships, so that no less than 85 percent of their business now comes from existing customers.

Status, social networks, and prior relationships are the forgo en drivers of ďŹ rm performance. Underestimate them at your peril. How you manage them should be as much part of your strategizing as analyses of dierentiation, value propositions, and customer segments.

ABOUT FREEK VERMEULEN Freek Vermeulen is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School. He is the author of the book Business Exposed: The Naked Truth about What Really Goes on in the World of Business. Follow him on Twi er @Freek_Vermeulen.

* This article was originally published on the Harvard Business Review website.

The original link can be found here: h p://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/you-can-wi n-without-dierentiation/

GET YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE OUT OR YOU’LL FAIL

by Glenn Muske ou can have the greatest product or service, but if no one knows you’re there, your business will fail.

That’s a harsh statement to make, but it is

include local media at some level, as well as the media that specifically reaches the business owner’s target market.

It is important for small-business owners to make and develop a marketing plan. There are so many avenues of

true. The business world is littered with great ideas that did not succeed because the businesses had no buyers. A common reason for the lack of buying was that people did not know the product or service even existed.

Today’s consumer is touched by 5,000 advertising messages each day, or about 200 an hour. Of those, the average person can recall just one advertising message from the last hour. Why do we see major companies advertising over and over? Because the consumer may not have heard the message among the competition’s ads. Plus, as humans, we forget very quickly.

Thus, with that number of messages bombarding consumers day in and day out, being repetitive in getting your business in front of people as a reminder is crucial.

Marketing is key to business success. I don’t mean selling, but the broader aspect of marketing.

Marketing must be integrated into every facet of building and growing your business.

focused, remain consistent, and, most importantly, it must be repeated constantly.

Today much is said about the rise of online marketing. However, online marketing should be just one element of a marketing plan.

marketing and within each one, so many ways to approach marketing. A business owner must consider what is best for his or her business, and that can vary by each product or service sold.

Other marketing tools include: newspapers, radio, fliers, word of mouth, networking and testimonials. The tools must

Three elements are crucial in whatever marketing plan and strategy the small-business owner develops. The message must be

Be cautious, though, in how you approach this.

You can’t have the same message on the same media over and over.

Think about how you can reframe it. Change the media you use. Do things to keep it fresh.

Marketing is a challenge. But like most business problems, it is a challenge that the savvy business owner can overcome.

Know your strengths, form your message, and keep it and your business in front of your target audience.

Glenn Muske is the Rural and Agribusiness Enterprise Development Specialist at the North Dakota State University Extension Service – Center for Community Vitality. To read more of Glenn’s articles, please visit smallbizsurvival.com and www.ag.ndsu.edu/smallbusiness. Follow Glenn on Twitter: @gmuske

When Hell Froze Over

In the Harvard

Business Review

By Steve Blank “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”

-Groucho Marx

n my 21 years as an entrepreneur, I would come up for air once a month to religiously read the Harvard Business Review. It was not only my secret weapon in thinking about new startup strategies, it also gave me a view of the management issues my customers were dealing with. Through HBR I discovered the work of Peter Drucker and first read about management by objective. I learned about Michael Porters’s five forces. But the eye opener for me was reading Clayton Christensen HBR article on disruption in the mid 1990’s and then reading the Innovators Dilemma. Each of these

authors (along with others too numerous to mention) profoundly changed my view of management and strategy. All of this in one magazine, with no hype, just a continual stream of great ideas.

For decades this revered business magazine described management techniques that were developed in and were for large corporations – offering more efficient and creative ways to execute existing business models. As much as I loved the magazine, there was little in it for startups (or new divisions in established companies) searching for

a business model. (The articles about innovation and entrepreneurship, while insightful felt like they were variants of the existing processes and techniques developed for running existing businesses.) There was nothing suggesting that startups and new ventures needed their own tools and techniques, different from those written about in HBR or taught in business schools.

To fill this gap I wrote The Four Steps to the Epiphany, a book about the Customer Development process and how it changes the way startups are built. The Four Steps drew the distinction that “startups are not smaller versions of large companies.” It defined a startup as a “temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.” Today its concepts of “minimum viable product,” “iterate and pivot”, “get out of the building,” and “no business plan survives first contact with customers,” have become part of the entrepreneurial lexicon. My new book, The Startup Owners Manual, outlined the steps of building a startup or new division inside a company in far greater detail.

In the last decade it’s become clear that companies are facing continuous disruption from globalization, technology shifts, rapidly changing consumer tastes, etc. Business-as-usual management techniques focused on efficiency and execution are no

longer a credible response. The techniques invented in what has become the Lean Startup movement are now more than ever applicable to reinventing the modern corporation. Large companies like GE, Intuit, Merck, Panasonic, and Qualcomm are leading the charge to adopt the lean approach to drive corporate innovation. And the National Science Foundation and ARPA-E adopted it to accelerate commercialization of new science.

Today, we’ve come full circle as Lean goes mainstream. 250,0000 copies of the May issue of Harvard Business Review go in the mail to corporate and startup executives and investors worldwide. In this month’s issue, I was honored to write the cover story article, “Why the Lean Startup Changes Everything.” The article describes Lean as the search for a repeatable and scalable business model – and business model design, customer development and agile engineering – as the way you implement it.

I’m proud to be called the “father” of the Lean Startup Movement. But I hope at least two—if not fifty—other catalysts of the movement are every bit as proud today. Eric Ries, who took my first Customer Development class at Berkeley, had the insight that Customer Development should be paired with Agile Development. He called the combination “The Lean Startup” and wrote a great book with that name.

*The piece was first published April 16, 2013, at www.steveblank.com and is reprinted here with Steve Blank's permission.

Alexander Osterwalder‘s inspired approach to defining the business model in his book Business Model Generation provide a framework for the Customer Development and the search for facts behind the hypotheses that make up a new venture. Osterwalder’s business model canvas is the starting point for Customer Development, and the “scorecard” that monitors startups’ progress as they turn their hypotheses about what customers want into actionable facts—all before a startup or new division has spent all or most of its capital.

The Harvard Business Review is providing free access to the cover story article, “Why the Lean Startup Changes Everything. Go read it.

Then go do it.

Steve Blank is a retired serial entrepreneur-turned-educator who changed how startups are built and how entrepreneurship is taught. He created the Customer Development methodology that launched the lean startup movement, and wrote about the process in his first book, The Four Steps to the Epiphany. His second book, The Startup Owner's Manual, is a step-by-step guide to building a successful company. Blank teaches the Customer Development methodology in his Lean LaunchPad classes at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, Columbia University and the National Science Foundation. He writes regularly about entrepreneurship at www.steveblank.com.

NEVER, EVER, EVER GIVE UP The tenacity you have in your business will help direct, focus and sustain you. But what happens when we lose our tenacity? How can we get it back?

By Lynda Bayada I keep seeing those images and quotes on feel-good social media sites about never, ever, ever giving up. You know the ones.

The words are either illustrated or paired with a picture of a woman running.

Some go on to say that the moment you feel you want to give up or quit is the moment just before the miracle occurs.

I actually love these little titbits and sayings, and I often live by these kinds of punchy, directional statements.

But we all know they alone are not enough to keep us motivated in the long run. As a recent experience showed me, we need a bigger reason to keep our tenacity fired up.

Last year I entered a running and surf-swimming race called the 3 Points Challenge. I am a runner but I am not a swimmer, and the training I’d done beforehand did not see me in the ocean more than it did the pool so I was feeling unprepared. Turns out, ocean swimming is vastly different to pool swimming!

The first leg was a 500m swim and half way in, I just didn’t think I could go on anymore. The next wave of people were overtaking me, the swell was ENORMOUS (or perhaps that was just my perception) and my freestyle had

turned into a combination of backstroke, breaststroke and even a bit of sidestroke. I was tired, so tired.

But then I remembered my aim.

This was an interim meet, preparing me for bigger and better challenges in terms of fitness. This was something I entered quite last minute to experience as a stepping-stone to further competitions. It was one rung on the ladder.

Something else that helped: I swam so far off the circle that I ended up near a volunteer official who encouraged me in a big way. I remember saying, “I just don’t seem to be moving.”

And she said, “You’re moving, trust me, you’re moving. And you don’t have much further to go.

Just change your course a little.”

So I dug in and kept going. And I got to the sand. And then I got to my shoes. And then I started running.

The experience taught me some techniques for staying motivated when it all feels too much. If you’re close to giving up: •

Remember the reason why you started. What’s your vision?

•

Remember to focus on taking just ‘one more step’ instead of picturing the

whole, possibly overwhelming challenge.

•

Ask for someone else’s perspective – they may just offer you a shining light or the encouragement you need.

•

Change your course just a little – it may just be that you need to adjust something so it’s not so hard.

Being reminded by a quote to “never give up” can help spark your motivation, but regaining that bigger-picture tenacity depends on your thoughts and actions in the moment – just before the miracle occurs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lynda Bayada , coach, consultant and facilitator, aims to increase profits and productivity through the development of our young and emerging leaders in our SMEs.

3

Skills That Pay The Bills

BY PAUL COOLEY

If you want to increase your paychecks, you must increase your value in the marketplace.

You do this by fine tuning your skill sets. You do this by investing in yourself with the proper training.

Y

ou might wonder why there are people in your industry that seem to be able to get away with charging much more than you do.

Isn’t that frustrating?! Maybe you have even lowered your prices in hopes of making the deal. But that didn’t help either.

I am a firm believer that people will buy from you or hire you when you create more value for them.

You add more value to others by adding value to yourself. If you have nothing to offer or only offer mediocre services, you are going to get a mediocre paycheck. But the higher value you can offer, the more money you can make.

This is why brain surgeons make a SUCCESSFUL STARTUP

ton more than regular family doctors. The brain surgeon has acquired a unique and fine tuned skill set. And because of that, he is able to charge a massive amount of money!

You do this by investing in yourself with the proper training. But this is where many fall into a big, fat online black hole…

If you want to increase your paychecks, you must increase your value in the marketplace. You do this by fine tuning your skill sets.

Let me take a guess, when you first got online full of dreams and goals of making big money by just spending a few hours a day on your computer, you were blown away by the amount of info that was available to you. Suddenly you found yourself learning how to use WordPress, because obviously you needed a blog! Then you had to get traffic so you started learning SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and maybe even PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising.

But wait! Then there is social media and that is a full time job by itself! Let’s not forget about learning those different programs you need to run your business.

Maybe you were even forced to learn HTML, java, css, Photoshop, and more!

The Trap

Now all of the sudden you are working in your business instead of on your business and your

paychecks have gone down to a minimum. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. I pretty much did the same thing when I first started online.

Before I turn this into a time management training session, let me dig into 3 skill sets I believe you need in order to Rule Your Realm in the marketplace and still enjoy what you are doing while the money rolls in.

1. THE BIG ONE First and foremost, I believe this is the most important skill there is…

People Skills. If you don’t know how to treat and talk to people, you are shooting yourself in the foot with a shotgun! I don’t care what kind of business you are in, you are really in the people business. So you need to know how to communicate with people in a way that builds report and trust. With these skills you will be able to close more deals, get more referrals, setup strategic partnerships and more. People skills opens many doors to opportunities.

This is a skill that will help you in every area of life.

2. TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS See I do get to talk more about time management! This really is a big one too. If you don’t know how to Rule Your Day, you will end up being Ruled by it. This is NOT how you will ever Rule Your Realm in the marketplace. In fact, you will end up hating what you do! And that sucks!

You must use wisdom in how you spend your time, because you will never get that time back. Instead of learning everything there is to know about WordPress, how much hiring someone else to do everything your web site needs?

You will save countless hours!

3. THE MILLION DOLLAR SKILL Obviously, marketing is important to your business. But you don’t need to be an expert in every area of marketing. Unless that is what

you do, being the “Online Marketing Guy or Girl”. If that’s not you, then don’t waste your time! If I had to pick just one area of marketing that I would invest in and learn, it would be copywriting. The art of writing good sales copy is an amazing skill to have. Not only can Copywriters make bank, the sales letters can literally make millions.

This is why copywriting has been called the “Million Dollar Skill“.

With this kind of skill under your belt, you can write amazing attention getting headlines for your blog posts, sales letters, emails, business cards, and so much more.

Not to mention the social media posts you can come up with that will leave people clicking on links wanting to find out more!

Everyone’s business model is different, but if you can nail down these skills, you will be leaps ahead of many of your competitors.

Are you unsure which skill sets you already have and which ones you should use for your business? Then check out Paul’s Realm Of Awesome Brand Clarity session here.

SUCCESSFUL STARTUP

“Don’t cry over spilled milk” … is my motto. But I didn’t write this post for myself, I wrote it for the aspiring small business owner, for you, who is just starting your adventure into entrepreneurship. I wrote the following list with the hope that it might help you avoid some of the mistakes I made, or shorten the time it takes to get your business off its feet!

Things I'd Do Differently If I Started My Small Business Today

By Sarah Santacroce

As an optimist I usually don’t spend too much time thinking about the past and avoid wasting time on the “what if” question regarding my small business. What if I had started blogging from the get-go? Would my site get more traffic today?

Would I have built more relationships with other bloggers and my blog posts would be shared way more often?

7 things I’d do differently if I were to start my small business today: I’d start blogging from the get-go.

It took me a while to realize the benefits of writing a regular business blog. I thought I had nothing to say, feared the time investment, and shied away from the exposure. And don’t think it was all easy when I finally did start. Not at all. I heard nothing but crickets and thought I was talking to myself. But if I start something I rarely give up (except for sports) and so I kept going. I advise you do the same. Maybe one day I’ll see your name on the list of AllBusiness Experts.

I’d start my e-mail list from day 1. Along

with blogging I’d also start building my e-mail list from day one. And I’d choose a tool with growth in mind. When I first started out I chose Mailchimp because it was recommended for small business owners. And I still recommend it to some clients, because it is a good tool. But for me it wasn’t enough anymore, because my list rapidly grew and became the centerpiece of my business. I changed from Mailchimp to Aweber (and lost a lot of subscribers in the process, which is inevitable). So my advice: start building your list from day one, but don’t choose the cheapest tool available. Consider the different options and then choose a tool with growth in mind.

3. I’d build my website with WordPress. I’m only partly to

be blamed for this one. Back when I started, WordPress wasn’t as popular, so I started building my website with another tool. But if I’d start today, I would definitely use WordPress and even though I learned a lot in building it myself, I would not do it again. I would outsource this task to someone who does not only understand design and code, but also has an idea about inbound marketing.

Your website should work for you and get you new clients on a regular basis.

I wouldn’t print 2,000 business cards. When you have

finalized your logo and brand identity you will feel very proud! And you should! But rather than passing a print order of 2,000

business cards, just give yourself a good tap on the back, or treat yourself to a glass of wine.

Businesses evolve and maybe already 6 months later you wished you had added another service to your business card. My advice: always print business cards in small batches.

I’d work hard on my elevator speech. I still

remember going totally unprepared to networking events and then stuttering when someone asked me, “What do you do?” You need to prepare your elevator speech! In 30 seconds you need to be able to communicate who you help and how you help them. Practice in front of a mirror.

video and it’s the best way to build trust with your community.

I’ve made more than 7 mistakes in the past 3 years of entrepreneurship. And as you probably know, making mistakes is part of the journey. But if we met over coffee and you asked me, “What would you do differently if you were to start your small business today?”, that’s what I would tell you.

It's unlikely that we'll meet for coffee, but I'd love to count you among my loyal subscribers and see you on a future webinar about small business topics. Sign Up today.

I’d immediately start building relationships with influencers. One of the best ways to

get noticed fast is by building relationships with influencers in your industry. In the times of social media this has become easier than ever. Follow them on Twitter, comment on their blogs, invest in some of their one-on-one programs, mention them in your blogs, etc. There are endless ways of getting to know influencers in your field.

I’d implement video into my marketing strategy from day one. Last but not least, I’d

push myself harder to get over the fear of appearing on video. As small business owners, one of the main advantages we have over corporates is our uniqueness. Your uniqueness shows the best on

About the Author Sarah Santacroce is the Small Business & Social Media Marketing Mentor at Simplicity - Simple Small Business Solutions

Set Goals - Evaluate and Re-Evaluate Often!

BY DEB BIXLER nyone who works from home probably knows how important it is to set goals. Many do not realize though that when working at home it is even more important than ever to have a written business marketing plan in place as opposed to some wishy-washy unwritten goals.

You may have heard of smart goals but not everyone knows how to set SMARTER goals.

SMARTER stands for Specificity, Measurability, Attainability, Relevancy, Timeliness, Evaluation, and Reevaluation.

The first part of SMARTER goal setting is the S- be specific in your goals. Don't set vague goals or else you'll be prone to saying you completed your goal when you didn't really accomplish anything. The more specific, the better.

The M means to make sure your goals are measurable. If you can't measure your goal

then how can you say whether or not you actually completed it? Instead of saying "Work on Project A" make it a goal to "Spend two hours on Project A." Time goals are extremely easy to measure.

Make sure your goal is attainable. If you can't actually attain your goal, then you're just going to bring yourself down when you fail. It's important that you set goals that you can actually accomplish so that you're not ruining your morale.

Your goals should also be relevant to the project you're working on. It's okay to have a few goals for another project, but the majority of your goals should be focused on the main project you need to accomplish. Making progress on another project is good, but not if it comes at the cost of not making progress on the more important project.

Make sure your goals are timely. Don't set goals for ages down the road. Instead, set smaller goals more frequently. If your goal is to finish Project A by the end of the month, then that gives you plenty of room to slack off. But if you have smaller goals throughout the month, you won't be able to slack off. So instead of setting one large goal, set smaller, more frequent goals.

Before you start working,

you should evaluate the goals you've set out. This is important for two reasons.

The first is to make sure you've followed the goal setting procedures we just described. The second is so that you have a game plan for that day or week. You'll know what you're getting into.

When you don't have someone looking over your shoulder every day, it's very easy to slack off. With these goal setting methods you'll be able to hold yourself accountable. Trust me, you'll be glad you started using this method of goal setting.

At the end of your goal period, whether it's the end of the day, week, or month, you also ABOUT THE AUTHOR

need to reevaluate the goals you set.

Did you accomplish all of them? If not, figure out why not.

Was it a problem with the goal itself or was it a problem with your work habits?

What can you do to ensure you hit all of your goals next time?

If you follow this path of SMARTER goal setting, then you'll see a huge increase in your productivity.

Deb Bixler is a direct sales trainer who used a party plan business to her corporate job position. She now teaches wanna-be direct sellers how to start a party plan business and work at home.

Ways Belly-to-Belly Meetings Are Better for Business

By Shawn Hessinger

ocial media and other types of online networking have revolutionized business. You can connect with customers, clients and partners half way around the world.

But are there times when face to face, or as they are sometimes called, belly to belly meetings are still beneficial?

You bet, say members of the small business community.

SUCCESSFUL STARTUP

FACE TO FACE MEETINGS ACCELERATE NETWORKING First, career transition consultant and brand strategist Deborah Shane insists meeting people face to face accelerates the networking process.

She explains: In 10 minutes I can learn more about someone, and they about me, in person than in six months online!

Plus Shane insists face to face meetings and online networking can work together. Each can drive the other strengthening the connection with someone you may have only known superficially.

If I meet you online and strike up an online relationship that has value and interest to me, then taking it offline is going to enhance that relationship and help it progress. If we meet in person, then staying connected online is

going to enhance our relationship and help it progress until we meet in person again.

But none of this is likely to happen as quickly as it will if you spend time just talking over lunch.

MEETING IN PERSON GIVES YOU A BROADER PERSPECTIVE

You can also put a plan in place to work together, finalize a course of action or decide on the next step in your business in only minutes in a face to face meeting, Shane said.

In addition, Shane says she can gain a broader perspective of a person when meeting face to face.

For example, a face to face conversation might more quickly help you and a person you are networking with find common ground as opposed to, say, liking their Facebook page.

Do you have common interests, hobbies, favorite books, shared peers, or even common life experiences? You could eventually find this out from having a look at favorite sites, shared connections or even a book review or personal anecdote posted on a blog.

FACE TO FACE MEETINGS COMMAND OUR FULL ATTENTION In the age of multitasking, social communication and even important business email is likely to be happening at the same time we’re proofreading the latest blog post, listening to a podcast, watching part of a video, etc.

FACE TO FACE MEETING BUILD TRUST But ultimately, the most important reason face to face meetings remain important is the trust factor.

According to the data, you can share information virtually, Lesonky explains. But building relationships requires closer interaction. Research shows relationships built face to face are stronger, Lesonky reports.

If this is the goal of your networking activities — and it certainly should be — then face to face meetings become even more important.

This is another reason face to face meetings are still important, writes Rieva Lesonsky, quoting from research on the subject.

Multitasking makes it unlikely we will have long term memory of the things we see and hear.

Face to face events on the other hand stimulate our cognitive functions resulting in greater open mindedness and creativity, Lesonsky writes.

MEETING IN PERSON ENGAGES THE EMOTIONS Apparently, the most important thing brands want from social engagement — a “positive emotional experience” — can only be achieved face to face. Lesonky explains: An event that involves interacting with other people in the flesh creates a positive emotional experience. Those positive emotions become attached to the companies involved in the event, as well as contributing to make attendees more open to new experiences.

If this is the reaction you want from those with whom you network, a “like” on Facebook may not be enough.

SUCCESSFUL STARTUP

About the Author Shawn is a journalist and social media networker with more than a decade of experience in the traditional newspaper business before moving to the digital world.

He was the former community manager of BizSugar and the former community editor at AllAnalytics, a site dedicated to professionals in the business intelligence and analytics community. * This article originally appeared on SmallBizTrends.com

6 Ideas For Starting A Business

By Mary Ellen Biery

unemployment rate that remains around 7.6 percent also means that many Americans have been unable to find a full-time job with an employer, so they may be looking for ways to earn a living on their own.

Indeed, nearly half of Americans dream of starting a business, according to a recent survey by The UPS Store. And while the number of “business births” and their associated employment remain below pre-recession levels, small businesses have been at the core of the economic expansion, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Small businesses, which the SBA defines as fewer than 50 employees, represent more than 99 percent of all businesses and about half of the private-sector economy.

Is there anything more American than starting your own business?

With huge success stories like Bill Gates, Sam Walton and Mark Cuban, Americans see what a good idea and working hard can accomplish, and many regularly hear that independent streak calling them. A U.S.

Sageworks, a financial information company, recently researched which service-based businesses could be good options for people looking to start their own companies. Through its cooperative data model, Sageworks collects the financial statements of private companies from accounting firms, banks and credit unions, aggregating the data at an approximate rate of 1,000 statements a day and generating benchmark performance statistics.

Service-based businesses are good to consider because they typically require little to no capital to start, and a person can walk out the door and start making money with hard work.

Among U.S. service industries with the highest sales growth in the 12 months ended May 31, Sageworks found several types of businesses that could be started by one person. Each of these industries has also generated solid profit margins relative to all other industries, based on Sageworks’ data.

“Private companies, on average, are growing at a healthy rate and have improved margins relative to last year,” said Sageworks analyst Libby Bierman. “But they continue to hold off on hiring. If a job seeker is frustrated, these services industries could be a good place to focus energy. They have lower entry costs than most sectors – need little-to-no inventory investment, can operate out of your house or a small rental location, and don’t require heavy equipment.”

One major industry posting healthy sales growth that lends itself to entrepreneurism is management, scientific or technical consulting services (NAICS code 5416). This includes an array of consultants, such as those focused on management,

marketing, energy efficiency, safety and human resources.

Building and landscape architects and computer systems design are also industries growing strongly, by about 15 percent over the last 12 months. And there are many business ideas within other categories such as personal services (NAICS 8129) and other professional, scientific or technical services (NAICS 5419). For example, startup businesses could focus

on photography, translation services, pet care, personal fitness training or something as simple as a balloon-o-gram service. There are many unusual jobs that pay surprisingly well.

For more information on the types of jobs listed in this chart and their markets, visit the Census Bureau’s industry classification system page, where you can type in the NAICS code to learn more about the industry. Or browse

the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Granted, many of the jobs in the industries with healthy growth rates and margins require certifications, schooling or experience in the field, Bierman said. “But if someone meets those qualifications, their strong growth rates indicate there might be room for more players in these industries,” she added.

6 INDUSTRIES FOR STARTUP-UP IDEAS Industry

Job Ideas

Sales Growth (last 12 months)

Consulting (NAICS 5416):

Marketing consulting, HR consulting, management consulting, energy consulting services, safety consulting services, environmental consulting

15.1

Architectural/engineering (NAICS 5413):

Building and landscape architects, traffic engineering, heating design

14.9

Computer services (NAICS 5415):

Writing/testing/supporting software, hardware/software/communications design, computer disaster recovery services, software installation services

14.9

Advertising, public relations (NAICS 5418):

Advertising, public relations consulting, lobbying, flyer distribution, merchandise-demonstration services

13.1

Other personal services (NAICS 8129):

Pet care, parking lots, balloon-o-gram services, house sitting services, personal fitness trainer, personal shopping services, wedding planning

12.9

Other professional/technical services (NAICS 5419):

Photography, translation services, appraisal services, credit repair services

10.2 Source:

Sageworks, a financial information company, collects and analyzes data on the performance of privately held companies and provides financial forecasting software.

L OVEwha tyou' rere adi ng?

I fso,f oral i mi t ed t i meONL Y,cl ai m yoursubscr i pt i on t oSuccessf ul St ar t up101. . .

F o rF R E E !

SUCCESSFUL STARTUP 101 Contact Editor: tabitha@successfulstartup101.com

Advertising Inquiries: advertising@successfulstartup101.com

Customer Service: support@successfulstartup101.com successfulstartup101.com/support

Want to contribute? Get all the details here: successfulstartup101.com/how-to-contribute

Have Suggestions?

We would LOVE to hear from you!

Contact us at: info@successfulstartup101.com