Small Biz Forward - May 2015

Learn about all the great way to use and take advantage of social media to build your Business in this months issue

How to Tell if Your Social Media is Actually Working

Think You’re Serious About your Business?

Think Again!

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April VOL, 22 NO.4 $4.95

BSU helps small business succeed through mentoring projects, networking groups, and entrepreneurial forums. From business knowhowto business networking, BSU has it all.

For more information about our one-on-one consulting, business retreats or networking forums contact me at: 701 Prairie Street, 2nd Floor, Sturgis, MI 49091 Phone: 269-651-3555 Email: nancy@success4biz.biz

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RESOURCES Social Media Examiner (http://socialmediaexaminer. com) according to its website is: The world’s largest online social media magazine, Social Media Examiner® helps millions of businesses discover how to best use social media, blogs and podcasts to connect with customers, drive traffic, generate awareness and increase sales. Whether you receive daily emails, listen to their podcasts, or search their site for tips and info on the most up-to-date social media, this is a site you will definitely want to bookmark and check out again, and again.

Believe it or not – I have recently found some wonderful groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. They’re not about just telling everybody what you do and what you sell. Instead, they are geared to sharing of thoughts, questions, ideas – each of these groups are set up to help you connect with those that you can help, those that can help you, and the creation of relationships. Some of these groups are open, some are closed and some are secret. But if you take the time to look around under the groups tab, see some of the ones that people you look up to are part of, check out the groups and become active in the relationship building process (by the way, this is what social media really is all about), I guarantee that eventually you will reap the wonderful benefits of such groups!

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Joe Girard’s How to Sell Anything to Anybody is a great, easy to read book, that lays it out in simple terms.

As a business owner, one of your top responsibilities is to sell your products or services. He tells you how to do this without a lot of hype or fancy words – just straightforward, down to earth reasoning.

Contents

6) Moment of Motivation 8) The Long Winding Road 10) Being Connective: Big Companies Can’t Compare 12) How to Tell if Your Social Media is Actually Working 14) Get Healthy, Get Social 16) Growing Your Business Using Social Media 18) Think You’re Serious About your Business? Think Again!

19) The “Next Big Thing” is Here 20) The Perils of Social Media 22) Value-ADD 26)Dream BIG Retreat 30) The Bank Said NO, What do I do Now? 32) Taking on the Big Guys: Writing s Book Ptoposa 33) The Obsolete Office 36) My Entrepreneurial Support System 38) Size Matters: The Impact of Business Scope on Your Quality of Life 40) The E-Myth Revisited 42) Getting To Know Your Social Media

Moment of Motivation I’m sitting here in my office working on the May issue of Small Biz Forward, and thinking about what has happened so far this year. Five months into 2015 already and, at least for me, a LOT has taken place, both in my personal and my business lives. My mom’s health – as many of you know – has been deteriorating, taking a great deal of time and energy out of me. As well, my own health has not improved a whole lot, which means that my energy has been depleted in a whole lot of ways. Looking back at issues past, we have talked about how keeping up our health and the health of our businesses often means whether our business is successful or not. If the owner/ employees aren’t healthy they can’t run the business the way it was meant to be run. If the business (financials, marketing, etc.) aren’t healthy then, again, the business is lacking in needed nutrients. Have you looked at your business health lately?

Yet, on the other side of the coin, the magazine is growing, we’re becoming more known, more read, and more people looking to interact with it.

I’m creating a new website soon and that will bring even more business to the magazine, the writers, and the advertisers. Very exciting.

Also, one of the topics we discussed in a past issue was always looking our best – our branding is ever so important. Even though you might not realize it, it has a great deal to do with

how you, as a business, are perceived.

With that, I’m excited to say that sometime in the first part of April, BSU and Small Biz Forward will be moving our offices into shiny new office space and I’m SOOOO excited. While our offices have been in a BIG building for the past three years, they were not so nice. I’m thankful that we had them, but I’m really looking forward to showing off our new building soon. I’ll keep you posted.

This month’s focus has a lot to do with these issues and others. I dare say that there are genuinely few ideas (or businesses) out there that are unique – with no one else doing something similar. Therefore, competition is abundant. I also dare say that if you’re reading this magazine, for the most part, you’re probably not King Of The Hill. So, how do you keep up with the big guys? Do you want to keep up with them? What makes you unique and different? These are all important aspects of how you run your company.

Take a minute to think about it and realistically look at where you are in the analysis. It will give you a much better idea of what to do to create your value proposition.

So, for now, take some time to really figure out what your values are and how they are incorporated into your business, to make that business the best, most successful, unique organization around!

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The Long and Winding Road

~Nancy Becher

Everywhere you look these days there’s more out there in the business world to help you grow your business – Small Biz Forward included. But oftentimes, what we read, or listen to, or are shown, just doesn’t seem to fit. It all sounds really good, and we believe that if we just can put this magic formula (there are those selling their programs that often call their ideas magic formulas even) to work we’ll be millionaires by the end of the year.

But for whatever reason, it doesn’t usually happen does it?!? Perhaps we’re lazy, our belief in the rightness of our cosmos, or whatever just isn’t aligned properly. And we go on thinking about the next biggest thing and what we further need to try. I hear you nodding your heads in agreement.

I know, I’ve been there too. I KNOW that just around the corner, someone is going to reach out, hand me the money to last me a year, five years, or until I retire. And then I will have made it. Come on now, even I (one of the most gullible people in the world) don’t truly believe that.

Yes, I’m gullible. My bookcases are overflowing, and my bank account thinks I should get stock at Barnes & Noble, because I buy so many books.

I sit through dozens of webinars (only to be horribly disappointed about halfway through), and still I go on, looking for the next best thing.

However, I think my ship just might be coming in soon. I FINALLY found a book that makes sense – it is is really, REALLY simple. Written by Joe Girard (I’m sure some of you have heard the name), and called How to

Sell Anything to Anybody, this book is right on. In the very beginning, he tells us about growing up dirt poor in Detroit, MI and all of his antics as a child until one day he is hit with the knowledge that there is no money to feed his wife and children unless he does something to start getting a real income coming in the door. And that (well, almost) is all she wrote.

He tells us that in order to truly be a salesman extraordinaire, you have to want something. Want it with all your being and with all your soul. And then, you can’t be stopped. The day of his realization, he went to a friend who was a car salesman and asked for a job. He was promptly turned down.

But that didn’t stop him, and he went to another. All he saw when he was talking to this second salesman was a bag of groceries to feed his family and he wouldn’t take NO for an answer. He found himself giving big concessions to the guy in order to gain the job, but in the end, he walked away a car salesman. One of the concessions he made was that he would not take a turn at working with people when they came in the door looking for a car. He would make his sales some other way.

Ripping sheets from the Yellow Pages, he started calling people, but had no luck, until someone at the end of the day, walked in the door. Even though he had promised not to work with people coming through the front door, there were no other salesmen around, and since he was all that was there, he took the call. And guess what, he kept seeing that bag of groceries, and … voila, he made a sale. His very first day. That night his wife and kids had a good meal.

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I haven’t finished the book yet, but so far it is making good sense. Something that I remark on frequently, and have heard others say too, is that it seems like people aren’t hungry. They don’t want that business so badly that they’ll do whatever is necessary to get it. All too often there are wonderful programs led by business experts (whether through online mediums, or in person events) that have few people in attendance. Reasons run the gambit from “I have a friend in town that I wanted to go to dinner with”, or “it’s later in the evening and I’m tired.” I get people telling me they don’t think they need help yet cry and complain because they’re only bringing in a couple hundred dollars a month in revenues.

The IRS tells us there’s a big difference between a REAL business and a hobby. And you can look up what their definitions are by going to http://irs. gov. But for many of you, you fit into the hobby mode even if you don’t think so. And the way to get around that is to really, truly want to have a viable business – one that not only earns you a bit of money, but is life sustaining. I know that’s what I want, what about you?

Okay, so this month’s magazine is about social media. What does all that have to do with social media? Well, if you really truly want your business to grow, one thing that you must do is embrace the various methods of online communication. I, by no means, advocate ONLY the use of social media in your marketing. It takes a mix of different methods – print being one of them. But in today’s world, you need

to understand the different social media aspects and what/how to use them or you’ll never achieve the end results that you could, and should, want for you and your business.

I came across a great graphic the other day that defines social media, and I’m listing it here for your better understanding as well.

Twitter is like “eating a #donut”; Facebook tells us “I like donuts”; Foursquare shows us “this is where I eat my donuts”; and Instagram provides us with “a vintage photo of a donut”. YouTube is a video of us eating a donut, and LinkedIn’s resume tells us “the skills you have include donut eating.” The last ones to make the list are Pinterest which “provides us with a donut recipe”, and Google+ telling us that “we are Google employees who eat donuts.” Boy does this list make sense to me – and that is exactly what the different mediums do for our own companies. So, if you have

an “arts and craft” business of some sort, you should be on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. For a more service based company, LinkedIn and YouTube are probably places you need to focus your marketing attempts. Yet, there’s more to this than just understanding what lists to use. You need to understand things like how often to post, what exactly should I say, and so forth.

LinkedIn lately has been recorded as the MOST spammed of all the different ones. I can’t tell you the number of times I get things in my LinkedIn Mailbox telling me “Hi, we both belong to such and such a group and I have the BEST offer for you.” Guess what? Those get deleted immediately without my ever reading one word past the headline.

Whether you use Facebook, Linkedin or one of the others, you need to get to know the others in the groups. Share with them (hint: we don’t care that you had oatmeal for breakfast unless you’re selling

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Quaker Oats). The more others get to know YOU the better your chance of making them a customer and then a loyal customer. Share your values, your thoughts, your ideas.

It’s not – all about you. It’s about how you all can help and share with one another. This whole building your business (yes, I know, we all have something that we want and need) takes time and you truly have to have a DESIRE to want it because if you go into something thinking that you’re going to immediately get a big ROI, you’re going to be very disappointed.

So, buckle your seatbelt and get ready for a cross country journey. It is probably going to be many miles before the trip ends. But if you have the desire and really, really WANT to get from Point A to Point Z, then focus on the end results and go out and get ‘em!

BEING CONNECTIVE: Big Companies Can’t Compare This month we are examining how our businesses deal with the issue of competing with big companies.

When considering this issue, I find that there is no issue. My business specialties—sailing and sailboat racing and association management on a contract basis—are well defined and bring on tasks poorly accomplished by big corporations.

I have served as a volunteer to organizing the sport of sailboat racing since I was 11 years old. This volunteerism has taken me to local, regional, national and international levels through which I learned the importance of having a strong Constitution and By-Laws, updating them routinely so they reflect what the organization is doing and what its goals are, learning about the membership and what makes it tick, and how easy it is to have someone leave over what can be a very tiny issue. Those departures are really important to keep as few as possible.

While doing this work, I have served as a volunteer and compensated newsletter editor and publisher for both sailing and other

organizations. Again, making sure to be highly knowledgeable about the organization’s Constitution, ByLaws, and Guidelines is critical to being successful in this role. When communicating and corresponding, using the “speak” of the organization is critical so that your message is clear.

It is surprising how much power a paper newsletter, handbook, or brochure holds today. While there is a one-time cost to using this form of communications, I believe people overlook the cost of e-communications. In e-communications, setting up a web page costs $10,000 or more for a mature organization, and it must be maintained. Using e-newsletters also has cost, whether using a program like MailChimp, Constant Contact or Vertical Response, have fees based on number of subscribers and sometimes frequency of message or use of other tools in the platform. Plus, the recipient must have an email account to be able to be reached. Everyone has a mailing address and the touch, feel experience as well as the laying on the coffee table benefit of print publications can’t be overlooked.

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Due to the nature of association management, it’s important the contractor have an inherent interest in the work of the organization. The emotional attachment is part of what drives the work forward. There’s truth in the story of making sure the work you do is in a field that you love; if you have no interest in what the goal is of what your work is, being at the top of your game for it is an impossible goal.

Big corporations are not in a position to have the personal attachment and touch for organizational management.

A small business focused on the mission of a field of work and having the familiarity with the people and issues involved are perfectly suited to this type of work. They also have inherent connectivity to be in the right place at the right time to move forward as changes come along.

Gail M. Turluck is the President of Connective Marketing of Richland, Michigan. Connective Marketing offers communications services including writing, e-newsletters, newsletters, web site content writing and updating service, editing, proofreading; Send Out Cards; and more on a contract or consulting basis. She may be contacted at gail@connectivemarketingllc.com or by visiting www.connectivemarketingllc.com.

Have you tried using Social Media to connect with your clients? Well, if today’s fast-paced networking is a bit too much at times, why not take a step back, suggest to meet over a cup or coffee or other popular drink item, and enjoy hearing their voice, watching their facial expressions in person? It’s that SIMPLE! Here is one suggestion that could help you with your next client meeting, and I’d love to be in on it! Dress up your office with coasters such as these! I have them ready and waiting for your call.

Kathy Williamson Your Personal Home / Office Décor Designer (574) 850-4424 www.mysimplysaiddesigns.com/604 www.facebook.com/SimplySaidwithKathy-IndependentConsultant604

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How to Tell If Your Social Media Is Actually Working

Rivka Kawano

A lot of effort is spent picking which social media platforms to be on, creating content, and starting conversations online. It can feel like you are making big strides for your business - after all you are “on” social media now! But once the initial excitement wears off, someone is bound to ask, is it actually working?

Are all the photo uploads and spontaneous videos, and hours spent browsing Facebook actually making a difference in the bottom line of your business?

Some social media “experts” shy away from this question and say you can’t measure it. Or that you will just “know” if it is working. But the truth is that being able to figure out if social media is making a measurable impact will help you know what works - and what doesn’t. Knowing this can be the difference between a thriving online community that regularly drives new leads and business, and a waste of company resources.

Here are the steps that you can take today to answer this question for you and your business.

What Does “Working” Mean for You? There are a lot of different reasons to use social media. One is not more legitimate than another. Some of the clients I have worked with cared most about retention of existing clients.

Some were trying to build an e-mail list for a launch. Others wanted to build a platform to establish credibility to close an important partnership or get recognition. For still others it was all about getting a few high quality leads a year, as an additional customer service venue, or to gather data and understand their clients better (perhaps to create intelligence to determine what product they should launch next). In each of these scenarios

“success” will look very different.

For the person trying to build a wide platform, numbers of real fans and followers are most important. For the company wanting leads it only takes a handful of deep connections to make a huge difference in their business.

If you have been flying your social media blind, now is the time to stop and take stock of what you actually want at the end of the day. What are your goals? Without knowing this all the other measuring and guessing are pointless.

Is Your Social Media An Island?

As the song says, no man is an island, and social media that is effective isn’t either. It is critical that your social media accounts are connected to an effective and converting website. This is so important that I have told clients before that they are not ready to hire me - they need to get their website sorted out first.

Social media is like the coffee shops and networking meetings and dinner locations that you meet new clients at.

Your website is your own space, it is the place you own and have control of your online hub.

Along with that theme, you also need to make sure that your social media image is consistent with the other branding of your website, print media, etc. If someone comes to your Facebook page, your physical store, or your website, they should know instantly that it is your business they have found.

Measuring Results Once you know what your social media is supposed to be doing anyway, and have it connected to your online and offline properties effectively you can

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actually start measuring whether it is being effective. Exactly what you are looking for will be different depending on your business and goals, but here are some things to look for:

• Are people messaging and

responding on social media? Are they engaging in conversation?

When you take it to the next level of asking for an email address or phone number do they respond?

• Is your email list growing? Of

course, you have to make sure that your list has an effective lead magnet to begin with, but assuming that you are getting leads from other places, you should be getting them from social media as well. Google Analytics is usually be the best tool to determine whether social media is converting and at what rate compared to other traffic sources.

• How is your website traffic?

Speaking of Google Analytics, you should also be looking at which social media platforms are driving the most traffic and the quality of that traffic. Some key metrics here are unique visitors, time on site, and of course conversion tracking.

• Are your social media accounts

growing consistently. This is not about flash in the pan or inflated numbers. But you should see consistent grow month over month on a percentage basis of increased followers and engagement.

What are your built-in analytics telling you? Did you know that every platform has its own analytics tools that can give you deep insights about your audience, their behavior, and which of your content is working best? Be sure to understand and use these tools.

Putting It All Together Any of these metrics are a snapshot in time, and while useful, will be most useful when compared over time.

to help people achieve real results in their business. When she is not making waves in social media, she loves to run with her three boys ages 5, 6, and 7, drink tea, and reading.

One of the first things I do with my clients is always a social media audit or snapshot. This is a clear picture of where their social media is at right now. Then we create goals of where we want it to go, and what it needs to do to be successful. This is something that you should do with your business as well. But then don’t stop there. Commit to taking the pulse of your social media on at least a monthly basis. Create a report of all the major metrics that you are tracking and compare it to the month before. What can you uncover when you look at these two pictures side by side? What is working? What needs to be fixed? And most importantly - are you achieving the goals that you have created for your social media.

All these reports and metrics can feel like the opposite of social media.

Social media after all is all about relationships, which we usually associate with being stereotypically right brained and fluid. While reports and numbers feel left brained and rigid. The analogy I like to use is that these numbers are really the body language of the online world. When you post content and then ignore what happens next, it is like you are having a conversation with someone in front of you with your eyes closed while covering your ears. You have no idea how they are reacting to what you are saying - or even if they walked away altogether.

Rivka Kawano is an author, speaker, and social media consultant specializing in helping people learn how to build real relationships online that result in real business results. She has worked with businesses in a variety of industries. When not immersed in the world of social media she is loves yoga, a good cup of tea, and being with family.

What’s Next?

The next steps for your business, regardless of where you are at with social media right now, is to create a social media snapshot, set goals for where you want to go, and then commit as a team to making it happen.

Social media can be a powerful force in your business if you invest into making it work for you.

Rivka Kawano is a social media speaker, coach, and author who loves

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Get Healthy Get Social Cindy Cohen

Some things are good by themselves but better when they are together.

Take salty and sweet. Salty is good-say pretzels--but when dipped in chocolate you’ve got a melding of flavors that are addicting. The crunch, the salt, the sweet and savory all blasting your taste buds at the exact same time. Irresistible. Right?

Believe it or not a healthy lifestyle is pretty much the same. A healthy lifestyle goes together like the wheels on a bike. You can ride a bike with one wheel but it’s easier with two. To enjoy a healthier life it takes a combination of actions that all create a better you.

You are most likely good now only taking a few actions but you would be better if you’d do them all.

The actions to take to be healthy are no secret. You’ve heard the mantra many times. They are: eat 9 -13 servings of fruits and vegetables, drink 8 - 13 glasses of water, get 7- 8 hours of sleep, manage stress, exercise 30 – 60 minutes every day, don’t smoke and social support like friends, family and community.

Community plays a big part in our well-being. A community is a gathering of people who have similar interests. For example, religion brings together a community of like-minded people who pray together. A city is a community of people who work, play and live sharing an interest in the safety where they live.

We don’t hear much about how important it is be included in a community and surrounded by likeminded people when it comes to your health who are all seeking longevity and happiness.

In 2005 National Geographic Magazine published the article The Quest for Longevity and sited 3 cities where people lived to be more than 100 years old and enjoyed good health. The cities they found to have the highest number of centurions are Loma Linda, California, where they found the longest lived Americans to be among the Seventh Day Adventists, Sardinia and Okinawa, Japan.

In these three cities people live about seven good years longer than the average American. They have a five times greater chance of reaching age 100, and they have about a fifth the rate of cancers and heart disease that kill Americans. How do they do it?

What is strikingly apparent is the experiences the people had in common in these three cities. They all consumed a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, led an active lifestyle and were supported by a close-knit community. A community of people who sense they are all traveling the same path together. In other words a supportive social network.

On the road to better health a social network increases health, happiness and longevity.

Healthy people are accountable.

Healthy people profess their choices.

They share what they are doing to get and stay healthy. They are not bragging, they are holding themselves

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accountable to their choices. Studies show when you share with someone what your personal health plan is you are more likely to stay the course.

Healthy people are happy. A network of like-minded people all following the path of a healthy life, supporting each other, sharing stories of well-being build towards happiness.

Healthy people live more fully.

Longevity is not just living longer its living better more fully. Longevity is living each day in the best health and with the most wellness.

What can you learn from the National Geographic Study to help you get healthier in your own life?

Build a social network of people who all want what you want, who support each other and cheer each other on to stay on the road to better health.

A group of people who all hold each other accountable, who are building towards longevity, are happy and fun to be with. Have fun sharing recipes with healthy pot luck dinners, gather the group to go for walks together, watch movies together about what is happening with our food, families and communities. In other words create your own community.

Join your healthy community movement.

As part of the fifth anniversary of Let’s

Move! the First Lady is encouraging Americans across the country to give out high-fives when they see someone making healthy choices. And she’s challenging everyone to #GimmeFive things they are doing to eat better, be more active, and lead a healthier life. (www.letsmove.gov). The Mayor of South Bend Pete Buttigieg took the challenge and South Bend, Indiana is a Let’s Move! City.

health and staying there is best traveled with others. Belonging to something bigger than yourself is not only motivating it’s meaningful. That’s what we all really want isn’t it? A life that means something important like being around long enough to share our wisdom with our great grand kids and be old enough for them to listen.

Your partner in health, Cindy Cohen

First Lady Michelle Obama also called on mayors and local leaders who are positioned to champion healthy communities, launching a Let’s Move!

Cities and Towns in June 2010. In response, hundreds of local elected officials took action and have taken steps to prevent childhood obesity and make their communities healthier for everyone.

Many companies have picked up the torch of good health to propel the get healthy movement such as C2 Your Health LLC who has launched a social media campaign on Facebook, Transform 365 Today Community #OneSimpleChange (www.facebook. com/Transform365TodayCommunity) to provide a forum for sharing healthy living strategies, recipes and ideas.

The Juice Plus+ Company (www.

YourJuicePlus.com) is another company inspiring people around the world to live a healthier lifestyle including sustainability and supporting the locavore movement in their message with hydroponic vertical tower gardens.

Join a community health challenge.

A community health challenge will add you into a healthy community who will increase your awareness of unhealthy behaviors and teach you the strategies to create a healthier life.

The Michiana (Michigan and Indiana) communities are currently running a Kenko Challenge #MichianaKenko (www.kenkochallenge.com) filled with 8 weeks of internet based friendly competition, utilizing social media, videos and prizes to motivate teams of 2 – 10 people to a healthier life.

Cindy Cohen is a registered nurse with 35 years experience from the bedside to CEO of a hospital. Cohen is recognized as an accomplished author, wellness expert, and corporate wellness leader. Asa health coach and wellness consultant, Cohen is the guiding force behind the C2 Your Health Team in helping others find their way to improved personal and business wellness.

Getting yourself on the road to better

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GROWING YOUR BUSINESS USING SOCIAL MEDIA Millions of people around the world are using Social Media 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Many of us have personal pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

How can you possibly use this dizzying array of marketing vehicles to grow your business? It is truly all in the details.

Real Relationships

Customers want to learn about your product or service BUT IN A WAY YOU ARE NOT SELLLING TO THEM ALL THE TIME!!! They want to get to know the REAL you.

They want to engage with you. Your goal should be to first create a REAL RELATIONSHIP with them. Experts recommend that 80% of your content should be informational, helpful, and entertaining. 20% targets your messages to what you offer, specials, or events.

Once they know how much you care and that you are passionate about your product or service – the next step for them will be to potentially become a real client. This does not happen in the reverse order and there is a lot of trial and error. It can take 6 to 12 months to build a consistent and effective Facebook business page or any other Social Media platform.

Be patient – it is truly worth the investment!

The Platforms

Facebook and Instagram are the top performers in the social media world and where businesses need to invest their time to promote their message.

Facebook has over 890 million daily active users and Instagram’s numbers are over 300 million. This translates into loads of potential customers!

Twitter is extremely fast paced and we think it is important to have a presence there and engage but it isn’t a primary focus. LinkedIn is great to help connect you to businesses and

business leaders. Depending on your business Pinterest might be for you.

This platform uses pictures as its main marketing tool.

Ways To Make An Impact

Everyone is bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands of images on a daily basis as we scroll through our social media feeds. What makes you stop and look?

Graphics that are “customized” give the client a platform that says “HERE WE ARE!” The Merriam Webster online dictionary has a great definition of customized: made or performed according to personal order. It’s just like having a wedding dress made…. the gown is tailored to the bride.

Graphics can be made with free services on the internet like PicMonkey and Canva. This form of promotion can feature your products/ services, specials, or even quotes that are special to you. You want that extra touch that showcases your brand.

Posting Pointers

The first thing to remember is that QUALITY is far more important and effective than QUANTITY any day of the week! It is far better to post once or twice a day and have content that is engaging than it is to post several times a day and leave potential clients bored, asking questions or even wanting to “unlike” your business page!

Posting at least four times a day on Facebook and Instagram is normal for a business. Remember the 80/20 rule we mentioned earlier. Platforms like Twitter move incredibly fast. Posting multiple times a day with even the same message helps you reach new audiences. By exploring frequency and the messages you are putting out you can find the right mix for your ideal client.

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An Ever Changing Landscaping

One of the most important things to understand is that Social Media is always changing. To stay on top of your game you should consider hiring a Social Media manager to help you handle this very important aspect of your business. Make sure that the person you are employing is professionally trained, follows the top Social Media professionals, and, most importantly, that you like their work!

Social Media managers can assist you with creating custom elements to make your pages tell your story.

Another benefit of hiring someone to help is that they can help you manage the content and engagement.

Time To Take The Leap

If you aren’t using Social Media to help showcase your business, take the first step and start with Facebook. Become proficient in one platform before moving to the next. Just like in your business, customers recognize quality.

Invest time in training and doing a great job engaging with your patrons.

These platforms are free to use so take advantage of these marketing tools that are at your fingertips.

Tracy Barse is co-founder of FindGreatCompanies.com and GrowGreatCompanies.com. Mary Lu Saylor is a former Emmy Award winning journalist. Both are professionally trained Social Media experts with years of experience helping businesses showcase their message to clients.

Inspiring Change

You can tell who the strong women are. They’re the ones you see building each other up instead of tearing each other down.

Women’s Business Bureau Open a chapter near you!

269-389-0556 www.womensbusinessbureau.com 17

It’s a snarky title because apparently such titles get more attention in social media. But I also wrote it with a bit of tongue-in-cheek because all too often women in business talk the talk – but don’t walk the walk!

Many women enter the business world full of excitement with the expectation of achieving financial success; considerable recognition and levels of achievement that rank them in the top percentile of their industry.

This is especially true for women who opt for independent business owner (IBO) with a direct sales or multi-level marketing company. Too often, women who do so are given the impression achieving the above is easy-peasy. In other words, just share what you do on social media, i.e. Facebook, and magic happens!

When magic fails to appear or quickly erupts and fades like Old Faithful; the energy, enthusiasm and eagerness to continue fades just as quickly. So do the hopes and aspirations with which business began. And such experiences are not limited to direct sales. The same occurs no matter the industry or organization!

1. EXCUSES – are you a woman who lets the least challenge keep you from daily pursuing your business goals?

I once worked with the leader of a women’s business networking group.

Every holiday season became a reason to delay meeting or an excuse for not marketing that season’s events. January was too cold; May and June were wedding and graduation season; June, July and August were vacation months.

September was back to school and November through year-end was the holiday season. Left little time to hold and market events. Yet she described her commitment to the group as a “10” on a 1-10 scale with 10 being total commitment.

We can use anything as an excuse if we are less than serious about what it is we say we desire. Women who are serious organize their time; don’t let headaches and queasy stomachs deter them from accomplishing at least one businessrelated task a day.

Check to see if you are a woman in business who makes more excuses to not achieve than steps of achievement no matter the season, weather or other life events.

One of the primary reasons women fail to achieve is a lack of seriousness about business in general; and the specific choices they made upon entry into the business world.

2. WRONG BUSINESS CHOICE – we hear a lot these days about “passion”.

What are we passionate about? What turns us on? What do we feel led to do with our lives? What is our life purpose?

Here’s some tips to determine how serious you are about building and maintaining your business and its growth:

Too often, women make the wrong choice of business for reasons other than a deep-seated passion they believe is directly related to their unique design, destiny and purpose. We react to the enthusiasm of others who want nothing more than to add us to their team for their benefit – less for ours.

3. KNOW THYSELF FIRST – Who am I? What are my skills, abilities and natural inclinations? What do I do well and what requires the assistance of others with skills, knowledge and wisdom I don’t have? Most importantly, WHY do I want to be in business and if so – what business best suits me?

Take time to determine the above. Engage in self-awareness exercises that will help you determine your “who, why, what and how”. Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses. Don’t deny yourself the expertise, experience and wisdom of those who can help you – and are more than willing to do so.

The above are just a tip of the iceberg in determining business seriousness.

If you’re using excuses to keep from achieving – then you may have made the wrong business choice. At least you may have failed to identify a specific market with which you connect and eagerly engage on a regular basis that brings continued excitement and joy! As well as new and recurring business.

If you’ve made the wrong business choice, then you may have failed to do selfexamination prior to signing on anyone’s bottom line.

It’s no disgrace to lose a sense of seriousness about the business you’ve chosen. It is foolhardy to continue on the same path that brought you to the realization this may not be right for me.

Linda S. Fitzgerald describes herself as a “recovering professional therapist”. Her love is coaching and mentoring and is well prepared by educational background and life experience. She is a trained small group facilitator and process observer; has developed and managed programs in health care, fundraising development and early care and education. Currently she is CEO & visionary partner at A Women’s Place Network, Inc. dba Affiliated Women International which recently launched the “Go-To Place for Women in Small Business” at NEIGHBORHOOD BOUTIQUES. She states: “My passion is to see women become all they are designed to be – personally, professionally and most of all - spiritually. I write, teach, mentor and coach with that passion in mind. As an author and prolific blogger, I reach out to women in all walks of life, especially women of faith to empower and equip them for greatness.”

Looking for the “Next Big Thing” in Human Resources. Well here it is in 6 easy steps.

1. Recruiting Goals and Strategies: It will always be to hire the right people that will make the biggest impact on your organization. You want to be effective in your recruiting, so find what works best for you. Is it posting positions online or creating an internal referral program. Whatever it is – start it TODAY!

4. Create “Talent” Recruitment Teams: Talent is on the mind of all executives as they hire new team members. Create a recruitment team that is focused on finding what talents and strengths are most important in certain roles and start searching for it! Find someone who is passionate about your company and passionate about your mission – the rest can be taught.

2. Use Social Media In Recruitment: It’s not a surprise that social media isn’t going away any time soon – so join the masses! Be engaged by this “next big thing” of video interviewing, mobile recruiting and social media. It will only expand your applicant pool!

5. Create A “Wow” Experience: A candidate’s experience and what they think about your company impacts the bottom-line of your organization. What candidates think of your organization impacts who applies, who gets hired, who takes care of the customer, overall leading to how the company performs. Smart organizations will build a talent applicant pool to keep a constant pulse on what’s the “Next Big Thing” with talent.

3. Review Hiring Process: Do you have an applicant tracking system in place? If not, invest in this “next big thing” to streamline the hiring process in your organization.

6. Inspect What You Expect: Gather information from your recruiting process to establish the metrics to define your success and progress. With technology you cannot use the excuse “It’s impossible to get those numbers”.

Time for us to take the plunge! There is no better time to start then today. Get on board with the “Next Big Thing” and take your company to another level!

Susie Olivarez Owner & Senior HR Consultant Iron Sharpens Iron – Discovering Your X Factor www. your-x-factor.com

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Here are some safety tips both you and your family should follow when online: 1. Privacy and security settings exist

for a reason. You should learn about the privacy and security settings on each social media site you frequent.

They are designed to help you control who canand cannot see what you have posted.

2. Once posted, always posted. Once

you put something on the internet it is there to stay. Reports show that up to 70% of employment recruiters have rejected potential employees based on their social media content.

3. Your online reputation can be a

good thing. Use your social media to your advantage, show your strengths.

4. Keep personal info personal. Use

caution on how much personal information you post. The more that is posted makes it easier for someone to steal your identity, stalk you or access your data.

5. Know and manage your friends.

There is nothing wrong with having a ‘personal page’ and a ‘fan’ page.

One can be used for close friends and family while the other is more open to the public and contains much less personal information.

6. Be honest if you’re uncomfortable. If someone posts something or makes a comment on your social media that makes you feel uncomfortable, let them know. Remember this goes both ways as well.

Social media is a part of our lives today, no longer do we mail letters with pictures of our vacation to family, or pass on word of someone being ill or pregnant by calling each family member we want to share the news with. Facebook, Twitter or one of the others get the news out faster.

If we are single and looking for a new relationship, it’s not set up by Mom, or friends -- we go to an online dating site.

In need of an opinion on a new phone, the car you’re considering buying, or where the big party is Saturday night, ask online.

The top 5 social media sites are Facebook with over 900 million monthly users, Twitter, over 310 million, LinkedIn, 255 million, Pinterest, 250 million, Google Plus 120 million and Tumblr with 110 million monthly users. Sixty five (65) percent of adults use some form of social media. And each one of us is a part of those numbers, but how safe and secure are these sites? We have all either had our accounts hacked or know someone that has, had people try to friend us for immoral or illegal reasons, asked us for money or who knows what. How about our children, or our business. How much

7. Know what action to take. If you

become the victim of on-line harassment, delete that person, block them and report the activity to the site’s administrators or webmasters.

(Check out: https://www. staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/ protect-your-personal-information/ social-networks, for more detailed information.)

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information do we actually put out there? Is the amount and content that we put out online more than is necessary?

I know we have all seen Twitter and Facebook comments about what someone had for breakfast, how they slept last night, where they went to party on Friday night and how much they had to drink and a comment that they will be back again this Friday.

Out of those comments do we see a potential issue? Well we just told a potential attacker where we will be and to what level of inebriation we have the possibility to be in. If this feed just shows up on one person’s news feed who wants to do us harm, whether that be physical, emotional or even our reputation we have just given them the ammunition they need. As we stumble out of the bar at closing time and there is a news crew there to interview us about our fast growing business….oh wait we just stumbled out, can barely stand, how will this look on tomorrownight’s 6pm news about a well-known business owner.

Here are some things to keep in mind as you post on social media. These tips are not just for us in the business community but for our families as well.

1. Should I be sharing this? Will the

As has been said you never want to give out too much information. You only need to provide basic information about yourself to set up the page, such as name and email address, so you should not feel obligated to provide age, address, phone number, relationship status. Some of us use our personal page as also a way to stay in contact with other professionals in our career fields, if they desire more information permits them to contact you and obtain it. If we look at Facebook, they have three levels of privacy, “open to everyone”, “open to friends of friends” and “friends only”. I highly recommend that the “friends only” be set as your privacy setting; this permits only those on your friends list to see information about you.

information I am about to post put me, a co-worker, client or family member in danger.

2. Does everyone on my friends/

connections list need to know who I am with, let alone know where I am at.

3. Are the friends I have online

trustworthy? Remember it’s not just what you post on your social media but who else can see it.

Keep in mind your security and privacy settings

4. Does the post or picture you are

about to share provide too much personal information? Do your friends need to see that scar from gallbladder surgery?

When it comes to accepting friends, only accept those that you know or can be verified by others in your “friends” network. By limiting who has access will protect you and your personal information from those who wish to do you harm. These can be scammers, stalkers or a combination of many.

Keep in mind that social media can help us grow our businesses as well as hurt them if we are not careful. The tips that have been listed are just a small fraction of the ways we can keep ourselves, our clients, co-workers and most importantly our family safe from on-line predators.

Ed Becher, (Ret.) US Marine and Former Chief Instructor, US Dept. of State, Uniformed Branch, Diplomatic Security Service is the owner of Center for Protection, Security and Personal Safety (The Bodyguard Academy) which is a provider of training and resources to keep you, your staff and clients safe. He can be contacted at ed@thebodyguardacademy.com or by phone at (269)651-3355.

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Contributed by Jerry Sarno Written by Leah McGuire

When it comes to social media, getting caught up in the number of “Likes” or Retweets a post receives can happen all too easily. Sensational and attention-grabbing posts can become the go-to for businesses looking to create attention.

Concentrating on clicks rather than content, however, isn’t the best way to build a brand that customers trust.

In order to become a thought leader in your industry, creating and sharing valuable content over social media is of utmost importance. In today’s technologically focused culture, having a solid digital strategy in place is a necessity for any business. Focusing on producing quality content that serves current and potential customers will prove far more lucrative in the long-run than grabbing for attention.

Social media is an invaluable tool for supporting sales and marketing efforts, increasing demand for services and improving communications. In order to build web presence and brand recognition, it is extremely important to engage multiple social media platforms and keep them updated on a regular basis. That being said, the emphasis should be placed on delivering valuable posts rather than creating a large volume of content that is devoid of real meaning. Quality, not quantity, is paramount.

Before sharing new content you should ask always yourself, “Will this post educate, empower or connect with people?” If the answer is “no”, then

wait until you find something better. You strive for greatness in business, so don’t settle for anything less online.

The ultimate goal of creating an online presence is to build relationships that lead to sales. Don’t misuse this platform as a means of self-promotion. In order to avoid turning your timeline into a billboard, follow an 80/20 rule for content creation. No more than 20 percent of your posts should be used to promote or sell. As opposed to making claims about your service or product, putting out high-quality content at least 80 percent of the time will showcase the true value of your business. The best way to get information read is to share content your readers will value. If the content being shared helps people to improve their knowledge or skills, solve problems, or help them understand your business better, then it’s adding value. Giving back to your followers by delivering educational and enriching materials will be a refreshing change from the usual fluff that fills up their news feed.

Social media, and the Internet in general, is all too often a fury of communication without substance.

Achieve more than just fleeting attention by sharing content that will help improve the lives of your followers in some way. Stand out from others in your industry by gearing your digital strategy to concentrate on creating and adding value. By doing so, you will gain lasting trust and respect. That kind of brand loyalty can’t be bought through advertizing.

Jerry Sarno is experienced in Fortune 500 companies and small enterprises. He specializes in Project Management, ecommerce and Account Management. He managed high performance teams in applications development, CRM and ERP software deployments and has worked in international project teams

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Inspiration – Connections – New Ideas: What do you think of when you hear the word retreat? Do you think of a spa day out with the girls? Or, time to go fishing with your buds? When you hear the term business retreat, does that mean anything different to you? According to the dictionary, a retreat is a place of privacy or safety.

But when talking specifically about a business retreat, it’s important to know that these events are key to bringing together likeminded business owners in order to build camaraderie, learn from different processes and to give people time to, yes, relax and enjoy themselves. The whole point of a retreat is to take a break from the daily grind. To not feel like you’re juggling eight things while standing on one leg and trying to put out a fire across the room.

Business owners often find that retreats are prime opportunities to regroup and recharge. They may loathe leaving the office, but executives attending effective retreats end up feeling that their time is used wisely; what they lose in time, they should gain in contacts or knowledge. Many Fortune 500 CEOs plan at least one get away a month – so that they can clear their heads, get away from the day-to-day grind, and focus their thoughts on moving their businesses forward.

In the past, a company retreat was all about touting the standard line from the company’s mission statement, but today there are many non-corporate retreats which include businesses from all sectors, providing the attendees new contacts, and discussions on best practices and strategies for their organizations.

By leaving the office behind, business owners find they are creating the right environment for themselves to take their business relationships to a new level.

A retreat helps them create more trust, enhance their relationships with other likeminded businesses, and helps them build

deeper loyalty to each other. It is a time to get inspired, generate ideas to grow your business and to find new resources to launch new levels of success. Do you have a team that you would like to have training, but don’t want to conduct your own retreat? Now’s the time. Take your BIG dream (and great business ideas) and turn them into something amazing.

The Dream BIG Retreat is Business Success Unlimited’s 6th annual retreat in the Michiana area, and will be bigger and better than ever before. The reason for holding these retreats, according to Nancy Becher (CEO and Founder of BSU) is that small businesses often find themselves as the “Chief Cook and Bottlewasher” doing everything for the business, spending all of their time working IN the business and not enough time planning, and thinking about how they are going to move ahead, why they should move ahead, or which direction they want to move. By getting away for a day or two, in an entirely different environment, filled with energy and ideas from others who find themselves in similar situations, thoughts begin to flow. The panic over “this needs to be done TODAY” starts to evaporate and excitement over what the future may look like starts to take hold. It is a magical time with people coming back year after year.

This year the event moves from a jampacked one day program to a day and onehalf with Saturday being the day to take everything learned on Friday and applying it to their own businesses. So, it someone feels like they want to start implementing a social media program, the social media experts will be there to answer questions and guide them in the creation of their plans. The same will be true for all the different topics planned.

Speaking of topics, there will be some great ones shared. The agenda is as follows:

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Friday, October 2, 2015 8:00-8:45 Full buffet breakfast and networking 8:45-9:00 Break 9:00-9:15 Welcome 9:15-10:00 Keynote 10:00-10:15 Break 10:15-11:45 Breakout Sessions 11:45-1:00 Lunch and panel discussion 1:00-1:15 Break 1:15-2:45 Breakout Sessions 2:45-3:00 Break 3:00-4:30 Lessons Learned 4:30-5:00 Day 1 Closing Remarks 5:00-6:30 Dinner (on your own) 6:30-9:00 Hospitality Suite for open networking and relaxation (bring the family)

Saturday, October 3, 2015 8:00-8:30 Full buffet breakfast and networking 8:30-8:45 Break 8:45-9:15 Motivational Speech 9:15-11:00 Working on YOUR business 11:00-11:45 Closing Motivational Speech 11:45-12:00 Ending Remarks Speakers’ bios: Karen Bachert – Karen is an accomplished conference host, motivational speaker and author who has been recognized for her passion, creativity, excellence in leadership, and for her contributions and strong commitment to the personal and professional development of other people.

With an extensive background and proven track record in the business world, Karen has developed and facilitated hundreds of personal and professional development programs for company owners, senior executives, sales and marketing professionals and trainers in the United States and in Europe.

Now, as the owner of K Enterprises and Your Business Needs Fans, Karen’s focus is on helping business owners and managers to be successful.

Providing Business Mentoring Programs, organizing business

seminars and networking groups, leading the “Voice of Your Business” Speakers Group and hosting the annual Michiana Shop & Greet in South Bend, Indiana are all part of her regular schedule.

A strong believer in the “Pay It Forward” concept, Karen is active in her community and encourages her clients to get involved in meaningful activities that respond to the needs of others. A Facebook enthusiast who often helps others with their Facebook business pages, Karen has provided Facebook training for the Women’s Entrepreneur Initiative Program at Saint Mary’s College and has been an Ambassador and served on the Advisory Board and Visioning Committee for the Four Flags Area Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Karen supports local charities and frequently incorporates fundraising into her networking and her annual expo. A skilled group facilitator, she enjoys speaking on a variety of subjects all aimed at enlightening,

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educating and empowering entrepreneurs, business owners and managers..

Karen and her husband Ray live in Whitestown, Indiana and have three daughters and ten grandchildren. Now semi-retired, Karen and Ray enjoy traveling and spending time with their family. Yet, continuing to find time to “tend to the business” - she keeps her client base small and allows time to host her own events and participate in various business initiatives. website: YourBusinessNeedsFans.com and www.shopandgreet.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ YourBusinessNeedsFans and www. facebook.com/shopandgreet You may contact Karen by email at Karen@ YourBusinessNeedsFans.com or phone at 574.344.8895.

Mary Lu Saylor is an Emmy-award winning journalist who spent 30 years in the television news business.

Her experience includes work as a videographer, newscast video editor, and ultimately as the newsroom Assignment Manager at WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, SC. Mary Lu is currently pursuing her passion of social media, which began during her years at WSPA-TV. She is a Social Media Specialist with FindGreatCompanies. com.

If you are looking for more info, check out my LinkedIn page: www.linkedin. com/in/marylusaylor Jason Rosado – stay tuned for updates Rivka Kawano is an author, speaker, and social media consultant specializing in helping people learn how to build real relationships online that result in real business results.

She has worked with businesses in a variety of industries. When not immersed in the world of social media she is loves yoga, a good cup of tea, and being with family.

Others to be announced soon – stay tuned.

Topics to be covered will be Jason Rosado, “5x Your Effectiveness: Get More Done in Less Time,

Multiply Your Business and Love Every Minute of It”; Karen Bachert, “Lessons Learned – Takeaways To Grow YOUR Business NOW”; Rivka Kawano, “Social Media Marketing”; Mary Lu Saylor, “Positioning Yourself as a Media Expert”. There will also be someone talking about how to use technology in your business, keeping your employees connected and energized, as well as Branding/ Marketing.

The target audience for this program is businesses that make less than $500k in revenues each year, but that are looking to grow to the next level or stage 2 businesses making $100k or more. By coming to this retreat, taking part in these workshops and then implementing them back home, your business is sure to get to that next level faster and easier than by trying to do it all alone.

We have not mentioned yet where the event will be held – but it’s going to be at the Essenhaus Conference Center in Middlebury, IN, on Route 20. This is right in the middle of Amish country and provides a unique experience for those who visit the area. While the businesses are working on Friday and Saturday, it’s a great place for the family to get away for a mini-vacation.

And since the retreat ends at noon on Saturday, that means there’s time for

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the whole family to spend having fun riding in an Amish buggy, watching how cheese is made, going through the museum and learning about Amish history, and much more.

Costs for the two day event are $179 (which include breakfast both days, lunch on Friday and the happy hour Friday night). You can register for the event at: http://success4biz.biz/ Retreat.php. The hotel (Hampton Inn) costs $75 plus tax per night and you can register for this at: http:// hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/ groups/personalized/E/EKIMYHXS4B-20150930/index.jhtml?WT. mc_id=POG Part of the excitement about the event is that it is made for a small, intimate group of people so that each person can get hands-on experiences with the experts and walk away knowing that they’ve got the ability to implement these ideas and skills immediately. No putting them on the shelf and never thinking about them again. Instead, they’ll have a great working plan to grow their companies as soon as they get back to the office. However, since there are only a limited number of tickets available, you need to register soon as the seats are already starting to fill up.

If you need any further information or have questions, you can always call Nancy at 269-651-3555. She’ll be more than happy to answer them and to sign you up!

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The Bank Said No What Do I Do Now? Nancy Becher

As small businesses, how often do we wish we had just a few dollars extra to do something to help our companies grow—whether that’s get new equipment, hire an employee, produce a marketing program—but you just don’t have the resources to make it happen. You’d go to the bank, but your credit’s not that perfect and you know they would tell you “are you nuts? No way.” You’ve already tapped out your family and friends, so you figure you’re just going to have to hold off and do the best you can with what’s available at the moment. I know I’ve been there before. Have you?

Here’s the problem - no matter what cause or business you have, you need customers, participants or donors. You may have the greatest idea or need in the world but if no one knows about it but you, your family and friends, you may not receive all the financial support you may need. What is the one thing that every one of these need?

More word-of-mouth advertising, customers, referrals, marketing, and more leads. I have watched hundreds of businesses and people get off to a good start with family and friends only to fail because they had no outreach

marketing plan. And no money to put forward their great dream.

Here’s the problem - no matter what cause or business you have, you need customers, participants or donors. You may have the greatest idea or need in the world but if no one knows about it but you, your family and friends, you may not receive all the financial support you may need. What is the one thing that every one of these need?

More word-of-mouth advertising, customers, referrals, marketing, and more leads. I have watched hundreds of businesses and people get off to a good start with family and friends only to fail because they had no outreach marketing plan. And no money to put forward their great dream.

How does it work? Crowdfunding isn’t new. Since 2009 the best-known funding platform, Kickstarter, has raised more than $450 million for projects ranging from amateur satellites to pop albums. But Kickstarter-style projects rely on a tin-cup donation model: Contributors receive perks such as a T-shirt or a mention in a funded film’s credits.

There are several types of crowdfunding: Consumer-use platforms like Indie Go-Go and Kickstarter help businesses raise smaller amounts such as above, with no expectation of being paid back. It’s really just a “do good” feeling when you give $5 or $25 to a worthy cause.

But when you’re looking for a larger number of dollars to land in your bank account, then you’re looking at equity crowdfunding sources, and that’s a whole different story. So, one of the first things you need to figure out is just what your focus should be on and how you want to accomplish it. Do some research on the different programs, as there are a lot of less than upstanding companies getting into the market.

Donation funding is probably for most of us reading Small Biz Forward the way we would want to focus our efforts. People invest simply because they believe in the cause. Rewards can be offered such as acknowledgements on an album cover, tickets to an event, regular news updates, free gifts and so on. And generally these donations are given through websites such as Kickstarter or Indie Go Go. Returns

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are considered intangible. Donors have a social or personal motivation for putting their money in and expect nothing back, except perhaps to feel good about helping the project.

If you are a business and are considering using such tactics to help you raise needed income to grow your company, keep in mind: That you must have a pitch – similar to an elevator pitch – which you share with potential contributors. It must be an in-depth explanation of why you need the money, what you’re going to do with it, and if it’s an investment program, how the investor will get repaid. Don’t talk in technical (or jargon) language, but in plain English so that everyone can easily understand what you are attempting to do.

think it’s a lost cause. They like to see others getting involved.

The other thing to keep in mind is, while most of these online platforms do charge a percentage of the total gained, they also will not give you (goes back to the funders) the finances unless your goal has been met. So, don’t make your goal that high that it won’t happen. It’s better to do small amounts and do several than it is to aim high!

With all that being said, I think that this is a fantastic opportunity to try and reach out to your followers, your customers, and your friends and family. Take some time, look at the various websites and funding platforms out there, create your project and GO FOR IT!!!!!!

You also must be able to take the time necessary to answer questions, and to be positive and upbeat about what you’re saying. At the same time, you need to have some onboard before you go out to hit up the bigger investors.

People aren’t as willing to give if they

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Taking on the Big Guys: Writing a Book Proposal I don’t have a huge platform. Oh, you haven’t heard my name mentioned with John Maxwell and Keith Webb?

Nope, I’m not a big personality now, and I don’t have the personal charisma (or good looks-yes, men need those to make it big, too) to ever fill an arena with thousands of fans. I’m just not Jon Bon Jovi. Striving to be something I’m not designed to be is a bad idea!

That’s something I learned from Tony Stoltzfus, also a name you may not have heard, though he’s one of the best-selling authors in the niche field of Christian coaching, and one of the few people I know who makes most of their living by writing books. Tony told me one day something to this effect: “I’ll never be like Maxwell, speaking to thousands. I’m at my best in groups of 30 or fewer, and I’ll probably make a bigger long-term impact that way, for those people I work with.” Know your potential reach. There’s plenty of money to be made in smaller groups, as long as you’re bringing something unique, as you’ll see that I do also.

To date, I’ve been trained by Stoltzfus in several courses with small class sizes, and it’s very impacting (goofylooking though he may be). I haven’t even read one of Maxwell’s books all the way through. But all these guys are bigger. So how do I write a book proposal for a publisher (yes, I have an opportunity!) when I have to do a competitive analysis and I’m not even close?

First, I decided to call this section of the book proposal a “Competitive and Collaborative Analysis.”

Can I get Stoltzfus or someone else, someone with a platform at least somewhat larger than my own, to either contribute a chapter or a foreword? Probably. Can I collaborate on sales, and find others who want to sell my book through their website, as I sell their books? Probably. Does it make any sense for me to write a “how-to” book when it’s been done a million times, and very well?

No. Taking on the Big Guys means

bringing my unique flavor to the drawing table. For me, that means the artistic edge nobody else is using.

The best way to show you what I mean (and meet my deadline for this article quickly) is to share with you the Overview section for the book proposal I’ve been working on this morning. It’s still in draft form: The market is flooded with coaching books, both secular and Christian, and there is an extremely loyal readership available. Most books in the genre are how-to- or training-oriented, but few, if any, are in a contemplative essay format, drawing the reader in regardless of expertise level and focusing on the heart of Christ as a Listener and Storyteller at the core of his Leadership Development plan. The core idea is that we all need to become better listeners if we want to become better storytellers and leaders; so the target market is not only professional coaches, but also other careful observers of the human heart: pastors, mentors, leader developers, counselors, social workers, and spiritual directors as well as writers of creative fiction and other artists whose primary occupation is the observation and exposure of the truths contained (and illumination of truths which cannot be not contained) in the human heart. Anyone who draws something from the human heart in the course of their work has something to learn from Jesus.

Each essay is a concept unto itself.

Rather than a progression taking the reader to a specific conclusion, the essays are meant to be meditative. I envision the readers taking it a page or two at a time. This is not to say that the book is intended as a devotional in any traditional sense of the word, but it is not a typical non-fiction read in the sense that one might mine the third and fourth chapters for the core idea on a short airplane ride.

Instead, I hope the book is one that readers digest slowly, one piece at a time, over a period of months, the way my wife consumes that box of

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chocolate truffles I buy her every year at Christmas. I hope that The Art of Motivational Listening enriches the lives of everyone who is serious about listening, whether it is part of their professional development or not.

Why do people need such a book?

Once our training is complete, we find that our training is never complete.

Listening as a science is a well-covered topic, but listening as an art is a lifelong pursuit.

To expound upon the elusive art of listening requires an artful book The three tips are: Know your limits, then be yourself. Collaborate rather than compete whenever possible.

Find an ever-more-unique niche in a flooded marketplace and own it.

I’ll be running a Kickstarter for this project in the next month or two. If you’re interested in collaboratively supporting the writing of this book (and in helping me take on the Big Guys) email me or follow me on Twitter @adamgfleming and I’ll let you know when the Kickstarter is live!

Adam Fleming Adam G. Fleming is a husband and father of four, teaches active listening, powerful questions and SMART goals to non-profits and churches. CEO at Evergreen Leaders, Owner at Epic Life Studios, international traveler, multicultural thinker and author of the novel white Buffalo Gold.

The Obsolete Office

Noel Bagwell, Executive Legal Professionals

I was recently at a meeting of property management professionals, doing a bit of networking and learning about the great community that is starting to coalesce in the property management industry in my hometown. I sat at a table full of people and introduced myself. We started conversing, and the girl sitting next to me asked me, “So, do you have an office here in [my hometown]?”

“I used to,” I replied, “but having a physical office wasn’t making me any money. So, now I don’t. Now, my office is [in a different place], but I still work here and in Nashville and in other places where my clients are–I go to them, instead of making them come to me, if it’s necessary for us to meet.”

“So you work from home,” she pressed.

“I have a virtual office. I work from wherever I happen to be or wherever my clients need me to be.”

“That’s a nice way of putting it,” she condescendingly remarked.

“It’s more than that,” I said. “It saves me money, helping me offer competitive prices to my clients, and it helps me provide better service to my clients by saving them the time and stress that would attend having to come to my office to meet with their lawyer.”

She didn’t really have a response to that. What could she say, really?

She had already formed an opinion about me, and a rather incorrect one, at that. She presumed that I have a home office because I cannot afford to rent or buy office space. The truth is I have made a choice to live in the 21st century, and use technology to free

myself from being chained to an office.

We no longer live in a world in which one has to travel to a destination where there is infrastructure that enables you to do your job. Obviously, there are still such jobs, but, more and more, professionals are able to work from nearly anywhere, because they can be connected to their colleagues, co-workers, employees, employers, clients, and so on through the internet, cell phones, email, virtual meeting software, cloud computing, etc., etc. The world of work in the 21st century has made offices more-or-less obsolete.

What many if not most employers are concerned about is control. Employers worry that if employees do not have to come to an office where their work behavior can be monitored and controlled, if they are not in a tightly controlled, structured environment, they will cease to add value to the business. The problem with this is also closely tied to how employees are paid.

Rather than being paid for adding value, many employees are paid for punching a clock, 9 to 5 or 8 to 4 or whatever.

Before I formed Executive Legal Professionals, I was waking up, putting on a suit, driving 30–40 minutes to my office, working, eating lunch (either one I packed or one I purchased– usually the latter; so, more expensive), working a bit more, and then driving back to my house, another 30–40 minutes, where I would not be in an ideal environment for getting anything done, because all my files and my work computer and everything were at the office.

Now, my business model with Executive Legal Professionals is designed around being nimble, flexible, and using technology to free

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me from the need to waste an hour or two every day on the road, commuting to an office, not to mention the unnecessary expense of even having a physical office outside my home. I still get up, get dressed, and go to work, but instead of driving down the road, I walk down the hall. Instead of eating out, I make myself a meal at home, saving time and money.

By adopting a 21st-century approach to my work environment, I have improved my efficiency and effectiveness, lowered my costs of doing business, and gained quality of life I never would have if I still had a physical office. I still meet my clients, but instead of having them come to my office, I go to theirs, or I meet them in a coffee shop or a Regus office. My clients love this, because it saves them time and hassle, and it is a refreshing change from what they expect from an attorney.

There once might have been a time when working from home was something one only did if he could not afford an office. Now, building into your business plan the use of a home office as an alternative to high-overhead commercial real estate can be evidence of a commitment to doing things the best way–not just the way they have always been done, before. Right now, it would be foolish for me to have an office outside my home. There would be costs without commensurate benefits. Someday– perhaps, even, someday soon–that equation will be different, but for now, “I work from a virtual office,” is not just a “nice way of putting it,” it’s a luxury I enjoy, a luxury that Has benefits that make my business stronger, make my clients happier, and allow me to do what I do better.

Business Success Unlimited Just A Reminder… The BSU MastermindProgram has started back uponline the 2nd and 4thWednesday of the Month.

Every Monday Georgetown Plus Networking, Northeast Innovation Center, Forth Worth, IN Meets every Monday at 11:30am

• Join us for FREE LUNCH and A new way of networking

• $3 & 2 Business Cards gets you in!

• Bring promotional materials and be ready to share about your business!

• RSVP for a display table for $15 during the group Call Randi: (260)-312-7862

• Come Early & Stay late & NETWORK

Every Wednesday Exit 25 Networking, Agaves (Exit 25), Fort Worth, IN

• Meets every Wednesday at 11:30am • Join us for RELATIONAL Networking & Promote each other to Success!

• $3 & 2 Business Cards gets you in!

• Bring promotional materials and be ready to share about your business

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Premier Women’s NetworkMichiana • Premier Fort Wayne, 1st Tuesday • Premier Niles, 1st Thursday • Premier Angola/Auburn, 3rd Tuesday Premier Warsaw, 3rd Tuesday

• Premier Mishawaka, last Tuesday • Call Mary Jo Smith @ (574) 514-5193

Women’s Business Bureau • Kalamazoo Country Cub, MI 49006 • Contact Jan Murphy: (334)-560-6955

Success Roundtable • Fetzer Center, WMU Campus May 15 from 11:30a-1:00pm Call Nancy

• Becher for registration • (see ad in magazine for further details) • Northeast Indiana Innovation Center, April 30, 11:30-1:00pm

• Sturgis Office of Business Success Unlimited, 6:00-7:30pm

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My Entrepreneurial Support System Charrise McCrorey

I’ve been an entrepreneur since 2006.

There have been times when I’ve felt so alone, and so desperate for connection, I actually missed being an employee.

Until I hired my first employee, it was all me. Nobody else was “in it”, pushing for a similar goal along side me.

Of course, I’m now unemployable.

Not that I couldn’t get a job, because of course I could. I can’t imagine a situation where I’d work for someone else’s dream, nor can I imagine that I’d be very good at it. Now that I’ve heard the sound of my own key unlocking my studio door, it would have to be a dire situation for me to go back to punching the proverbial clock.

How did I survive those days? Let me tell you about my entrepreneurial support system.

Back when I started my practice, I mistakenly believed that being alone in my business was just the way it had to be. It wasn’t until I was dangerously close to quitting, and ready to go get a job bagging groceries, that I hired my first coach. That’s when everything changed. I didn’t have to do it alone — in fact, few successful entrepreneurs make it without a significant support system.

Since then, I’ve built a tremendous team of people and resources who support me every day. I have outsourced the things I have no business doing — like bookkeeping and taxes. I get help with my marketing and social media strategy.

I outsource any administrative work I don’t want to do. I work with a network of coaches who are also friends — whom I can call at a moments notice to help me get re-centered.

A few of them fiercely and lovingly kick my ass when needed.

But there was still something missing.

Who do I brainstorm with? Where do I put all my ideas? I was craving people to co-create with. What was missing?

A community of entrepreneurs.

So, I created one. The Entrepreneur Cafe Series happens every 3rd Saturday in Studio C in Goshen. It’s been phenomenal. I’m in awe, each time we get together, at the open hearts of the community members. We feel safe to share our deepest fears. We feel heard.

Loved, even. Creativity is contagious, and we each leave feeling inspired.

Though I love being belly-to-belly, in person with entrepreneurs, I realize that this same sense of community can be created virtually as well. I’m developing a program to serve people, world-wide. Stay tuned for details soon.

We’re better together, for certain.

Charrise McCrorey is a leading business and leadership consultant, life coach, writer, speaker, and entrepreneur, who specializes in serving clients all over the world. Her superpowers include a finely tuned sense of intuition, mad courage to say what is true, and an unremitting ability to inspire and light people up.

She is an endless source of optimism, in an ever-cynical world.

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Size Matters: The Impact of Business Scope on Your Quality of Life Go Big or Go Home vs. Small Is Beautiful Your fledgling venture has been doing well. You pay yourself a living wage. You’ve even been able to hire a freelancer to help you with projects from time to time. You have an accountant. You have outside general counsel services from Executive Legal Professionals. Things are looking good. What now?

Do you decide to double down on your profitable venture, and try to see how far it will go? Do you keep doing what you’re doing and let your business grow organically or just focus on quality, instead of quantity? Despite what some might say, size matters!

The scope of your business often has a direct impact on your work / life balance, and, therefore, your quality of life. This is true for executives in larger companies just as it is for entrepreneurs in start-ups and smaller firms. So, how do you decide?

Five Questions to Help You Scale Your Business to Your Life Right now, today, am I doing what I love?

Do you love what you do? If the answer is, “No,” “Not Really,” “I think so,” or “Yes–for the most part,” maybe you should consider doing less of what you do, now, and more things about which you can truly be passionate. Maybe that means taking

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your business in a different direction.

Maybe it means you should start looking for an exit strategy. If the answer is, “HELL YEAH,” you know you’re doing something right, and maybe doing more of that would be a good thing. Unless you can honestly say, “Hell yes! I love what I do,” you probably should reconsider growing your business.

Is there more demand than supply for my goods / services?

How much of my company’s growth in my industry will the market bear (support)? If there is more supply than demand for the goods or services you produce, increasing your business will

require you to either lower your prices or capture some of your competitors’ market share. Even if you capture some of your competitors’ market share, you may still have to lower your prices, because your competitors may lower theirs in order to recapture the customers or clients you’ve taken. If demand outstrips supply, growth is indicated. Of course, you can always try to create more demand, but make sure you understand the costs and risks involved.

To understand this, consider an example. If Billy and Susie open two identical lemonade stands on the same street, facing each other, and there is an equal amount of traffic on both sides of the street, what happens to Billy if Susie decides to double her production from one pitcher to two pitchers of lemonade per day?

Well, if enough people come to the lemonade stands to sell a total of four pitchers, the answer is: probably nothing! Billy is still likely to be able to sell all his lemonade. If, however, there are only enough people to sell two pitchers, Susie is going to want to sell all her lemonade (to avoid waste), and is, therefore, likely to cut prices below Billy’s and take as many of his customers as she can.

Competition in the free market requires participants to at least attempt to gauge demand for their goods and services. Understanding demand can help you understand whether or not there is room for growth. Only when demand outstrips supply is growth indicated, because when supply outstrips demand, prices (and profits) tend to decline.

How Strong Are Your Leadership Skills?

Usually, deciding to increase the scope of your business means working with– and usually managing–more people.

If you lack either the will or the ability to effectively, efficiently lead a larger team, you may find yourself doing less of what you love and spending more time feeling like you’re herding cats. Even if you are a strong leader, putting together the right team to help your business establish and

maintain a healthy growth rate is a big challenge. For people who enjoy and find themselves attuned to the demands of leadership, this challenge will be one they enjoy overcoming; for everyone else, it is likely to seem like a distraction from doing what they truly love.

How Much Will Growth Cost Me? Growth is expensive–especially in the near term. Choosing to grow your business can be a wise long-term decision, but usually there are many up-front costs that have to be paid before you start to see the benefits your growth may bring. You need to be able to (1) plan your expenses and (2) draw a clear line between what costs you expect to incur and what benefits you expect those costs to produce.

If you can’t project a reasonable return on your investment, forego the expenditure!

factor in deciding whether or not to grow your business is this: the reason you are in business, in the first place.

Why do you do what you do? Are you doing it for the money or for glory, or for the sake of creativity, or to help others, or for some other reason?

Will growing your business serve the fundamental purpose for which you are in business, or is growth a consideration that you have embraced for some other reason? Remember why you do what you do, and let that always be your guiding light.

What Do My Advisors Think?

You should ask your attorney and your accountant (and anyone else whose business judgment you trust) what they think about your plans for growth. Use a non-disclosure / non-compete agreement to cover your trade secrets, if necessary. The important thing is: we all need advice from time to time–especially about big decisions. You don’t want to ask just anyone for their opinion, either. You should ask professionals, people with business or professional experience, people with life experience, and people who you consider to have deep pools of wisdom from which they regularly draw worthwhile insights. Ideally, your company will have an advisory board or at least a small group of informal advisors (which should include at least one lawyer) that you can go to when you need counsel. If everyone is telling you the same thing, you should probably listen.

A Final Thought Your passion, the demand of the market, your leadership capacity, the expected cost, and the counsel of your advisors are all important factors to consider, but the most important

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Nashville business attorney Noel Bagwell is licensed to practice law in Tennessee. The founder of Executive Legal Professionals, Mr. Bagwell leads the firm and serves clients that include start-up entrepreneurs and businesses of various sizes. A graduate of Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, Noel distinguished himself by earning the 2010 Scholar of Merit award for his academic performance in Economic Analysis of Law. Noel is also the Leader of the StartUp & Small Businesses Aspect of Practice for the National Center for Preventative Law.

The E-Myth Revisited:

Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It Yes, it’s true, I have a professional crush on Michael Gerber, author of “The E-Myth” series of books, and owner of multiple businesses. An entrepreneur, speaker, coach, writer, and small business advocate for nearly 40 years, Michael is a true renaissance man!

Entrepreneur. I highly encourage you to check out his entire series of materials.

Never stop learning, never stop growing your business!

E-Myth stands for Entrepreneurial Myth…the myth that you can run a business without any business knowledge or training, simply because you are a technical specialist at creating a great product or service.

Not true! Just look at the statistics for small businesses in the U.S. So many of them fail, even with great stuff to sell, because the owner doesn’t know how to build and manage a business!

Gerber says: “The real tragedy is that when the technician falls prey to the Fatal Assumption [the E-Myth], the business that was supposed to free him from the limitations of working for somebody else actually enslaves him”

Kristi Pavlik, Chief Visionary Officer at Adonai Business Solutions, helps entrepreneurs navigate their business journeys to success! For more than a decade, Kristi has been teaching entrepreneurs and small business owners how to transform big ideas into business models that support profit and growth!

I love Michael Gerber’s idea that you should be working on your business, not in your business.

Active in the business management field for over 20 years, Kristi is a skilled professional who helps entrepreneurs from beginners to business leaders “get out of their own way”. She shows them how to implement practical, real-world solutions to their business speed-bumps, resulting in improved efficiency, increased productivity and significant progress toward their goals. Clients who work with Kristi are amazed at how she can help their business move forward. She can help you launch a new business, grow an established business, or explore uncharted territory with industry leaders. Business owners are thrilled at the results on a business and personal level.

He talks about how every business has a an Entrepreneur, a Manager and a Technician. Unfortunately too many of us are doing Manager or Technician work when we should be focusing on the Entreprenuer side. He also goes on to explain the concept of putting systems and processes into place that ease and smooth the management side of business, but it’s the foundation of being in charge of your business, instead of having your business run you ragged!

Michael Gerber has what I believe to be one of the best business minds of our time when it comes to being an

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Internship Reporting to the Executive Director, the public relations intern will actively participate in a variety of special projects related to public communications as an educational experience.

Essential Job Function:

Skills

• Provide tactical media relations support

• Looking for a self motivator with high energy.

as necessary including arranging media interviews,

• responding to editor requests, preparing press releases and other publicly disseminated materials.

• Leverage content for online press room (Internet and Intranet) and assist in the management of posting materials and routine maintenance.

• Ability to multi-task and work under tight deadlines.

• Ability to write clear concise content.

• Strong proofreading skills.

• Attention to detail and organization skills a must.

• Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Outlook, MS Office Applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other software needed for job).

• Update and maintain PR Image library.

• Monitor traditional and non-traditional media (online and offline) for BSU news.

• Assist with external distribution of press releases and assist in the management of media contact lists.

• Assist in organizing and maintaining the PR

This position is a “for credit, non-paid” internship of 15 hours per week for the semester.

Shared drive.

• Work closely with PR team to support tradeshows and special projects

• Provide general support including creating press kits, ordering materials, answering phones, photo copying, filing securing conference rooms, arranging meetings, etc.

701 Prairie Street| Sturgis, MI |269-651-3555 | nancy@success4biz.biz

Getting To Know Your Social Media Nancy Becher

As businesses you can make the best widget in the world, but if no one knows — or more importantly — no one who wants your product or services knows — you exist, you won’t be in business long. So what do you do?

You market, you advertise, you sell.

Right?

There are several ways to accomplish this:

1. Networking 2. Advertising (magazines, radio, TV, newspapers, etc.)

3. Direct mail 4. Social media

All these are important and should be added into the mix of marketing, but — what we’re talking about here is social media.

Social media is one of the best ways to engage clients and potential clients, generating leads and acquiring referrals. This is done through conversations. People no longer want hard-hitting sales in their faces, but rather they want to know the person or company they are dealing with. The saying “people buy from those they know, like and trust” is true. The best way to accomplish this is through the creation of relationships on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter and many others.

Called content marketing, it’s the ability for a business to be where your consumers need you to be and to find you because you are providing relevant educational, helpful, engaging, and entertaining information. So how do you do this? First, you need to know your audience. You need to select topics, and tailor messages to those that you want to be on the receiving end. Are these your customers?

Your prospects? Colleagues? Pull information together that your client

base will want to know about. You need to also figure out how often you’re going to post something. You need to listen to what your customers are saying, and post items regarding that information. Once you know who your customers and potential customers are, you then target the information they want.

People don’t remember facts, figures or numbers. But they do recall and share stories. So, tell stories: perhaps tell the story about a customer you’ve recently helped. Give them a little bit of history about the business: why you started it. Keep in mind that you should be sharing your knowledge, your expertise, and how to do things.

Then, you should also engage them by asking questions, creating polls, and discussions. It is through these techniques that you create loyalty.

Marketing standards say that only one out of every five bits of information you put out on social media should be direct sales. The other four can be things like a picture, quote by someone well-known, a statement about what you’re doing in your business, a poll, or other information that gets people involved.

This holds true for the various media that you might use.

Although there are many social media platforms out there, we’re going to be talking about three of the most wellknown ones: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Each program has its own personality.

FACEBOOK: Facebook is all about conversations.

Started as a way to connect, reconnect and stay in touch with family and friends, now businesses use it for the same reason — connecting with their customers. Forty-three percent of B2B companies and 77% of B2C companies, according to Hubspot, have acquired a customer through Facebook.

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Originally called fan pages, they are now known better as business pages.

A business page can only be created by someone who has a personal page.

But it is done in the name of your business. I highly recommend that you go in and look around a bit at some of the business pages that are there.

You can do this through searching for different types of business or by name.

And then use industry keywords to find pages in your niche. Take notes on how often and at what times they put out posts. What are they posting?

What’s getting the most interaction?

These are the things that you need to use on your own page.

Remember we’ve already talked about engaging your fans, not preaching to them. Tell about special deals, give them inspiring quotes, send them to your website to look for things there.

Try to always have a call-to-action, post every day: studies have shown that between three and five times a day is a good number of times to post.

Make it fun.

The first thing you should add to your business page is a cover photo. You also need to have your profile picture there. I would then suggest that you create a content calendar where you decide what you will post, and when.

Always keep everything popular, relevant, and timely. The more often you and your customers comment, like and tag content, the more likely your information will show up on someone’s timeline. You can also use video, and polls as we said earlier. And for very little money, you can run a targeted ad or you can post a post.

What all of this does is allow your customers and potential customers to get to know you better. When was the last time you actually used a phone book to find a business you wanted to interact with? Most people don’t anymore…they go online and they look

on Facebook. If you are there and they can see the types of things you do and what you’re passionate about in your business as well as the fact that others like and appreciate your business too, then they are more apt to want to do business with you as well.

LINKEDIN: While the personality of Facebook is friendly conversations, the reason people use LinkedIn is to create a relationship and dialogue with those you want to influence, i.e., to hire you, to work with you, to invest in you, to mentor you, or to partner with you.

When working with LinkedIn, you want to show people what you know and help them decide they want to do business with you. This allows you to build your brand recognition as an expert.

If you don’t have an account, the first thing you want to do is to create one.

There are four levels of connections: first, second, third and all. In the first level, people are directly connected to you. At the second level are the first level connections of YOUR first level connections. The third is the first level connections of all of your second level connections. All is everyone who is left over.

The most important part of LinkedIn is in your profile and summary.

Remember, the reason for using LinkedIn is to show people what you know. People look for people based on expertise as well as their connections.

You need to have a fantastic profile.

Make sure that it is client and user focused: WIIFM – What’s In It For Me (me being the customer). In this day and age, people want to know how is using your business going to help them. So, in your profile you need to tell people:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Who you are Who you help How you can help And How to get in touch

Once you have your profile complete, you need to start being active: write recommendations for others that you know. Ask others to write recommendations for you.

Testimonials are very important. No matter whether you’re asking for a connection or for a recommendation, always write a personal note. Never let LinkedIn generic notes go out.

Finally, start adding contacts: You need to have at least 500 to show people you or someone they want to know. Invite people you know, then invite people you’re pretty sure will accept — when you see someone with the title LION or open networker, they generally accept all who ask to be connected. Invite contacts from your emails, past jobs, school, etc. Look for people that are in the fields you want to network with: service providers, experts, those in your industry. And more.

Once you start inviting people, do a search on groups. There are many groups that pertain to various industries that you might be interested in following. Join some of these groups (up to 50) and start adding to the discussions. (HINT: they key word here is discussions. These are not places to advertise your business generally). This, too, will begin to show others your expertise.

Again, you can post status updates, pictures and video, articles you’ve read and thought were interesting, and many other things. LinkedIn is DEFINITELY not the place to post that you had oatmeal for breakfast. Leave that for Facebook. While you can post status updates regarding sales, events you’re having, and other sales-ey items, your profile is truly the place to list what your business does. The rest of the time, you should spend building relationships with others.

PINTEREST: Pinterest is somewhat like a bulletin board where you pin pictures, videos, and articles. It started out somewhat like a scrapbooking site. The largest proportion of people using Pinterest are women between the ages of 25 and 40, and it started out as something fun to do. Now, however, businesses are also getting into the game of using Pinterest. Craft stores, restaurants, furniture stores, and anyone else who has something to show through

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pictures, should consider using Pinterest. EXAMPLE: I’m hungry. I don’t know this town, I’m looking for some place to eat. I go to Pinterest and see pictures of fantastic food. I’m going to go there, right? Or perhaps I’ve just bought a new house. I want to decorate it but I don’t want to decorate it with the usual type of things. I’m looking for the unusual. I see your store listed on Pinterest and I find exactly what I’m looking for in one of the pictures. I rush over to your store and buy the items before anyone else can.

While I’m not an expert in this medium, I do have a couple of boards and I do pin articles that I see or write. And I do have followers. Once you start using any of these methods, you will find your business starting to grow.

Whether you’re talking about Facebook, LinkedIn, or any of the other social media out there, you MUST understand, as with any other business venture, that it all takes time. There is work involved! You cannot expect overnight success. I spend approximately 15 hours a week working on my social media. There are programs out there such as Hootsuite, which allow you to create a series of updates across the majority of media sites. This saves you time because you write it once and it goes out to all. But there is a downside to this: it’s hard to create on-the-fly thoughts when it is scheduled a week out. I recommend doing each one separately. Pick a time, get out your marketing calendar we talked about earlier, and enter information. This will give you the best overall bang for your buck.

You can no longer ignore the effect of social media on your business. So why not embrace it? Jump in, get started, and see where it takes you.

We want to see how you play hard, email your photos to nancy@success4biz.biz

The Sivler Moon Crew 44

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Member Values and Benefits

Empowerment Circle

Listing on Web and in Small Biz Forward Most Events Free Member-to-Member Discounts One FREE Business Card Listing in Small Biz Forward Yearly Listing on BSU Facebook Page Private Facebook Chat Group Subscription to Small Biz Forward FREE Quarterly 1/4 Page Ad in Small Biz Forward FREE

Cost Cost 46

$49Per Per Month $75 Month

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Dream Big Retreat Sponsorship Levels and Application Diamond level, $1000 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

To be the title sponsors; only two positions available or one position @ $2000 Recognition in title of the event in all advertising- printed and on-line Recognition in all our internet marketing ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter Opportunity to speak during the opening ceremony Introduction at Hospitality Suite Three free tickets to the event A full-page ad in Small Biz Forward (value $400) Your logo on event banners

Gold level, $500 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Recognition in all printed materials Recognition in all our internet marketing ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter Publicly recognized with a “thank you” at the beginning and closing ceremonies Half-page ad in Small Biz Forward (value $75) Two free tickets to the event

Silver Level, $250 1. Recognition in all printed materials 2. Recognition in all our internet marketing ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter 3. One free ticket to the event ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------____ Yes, we’d like to be a sponsor of the “Dream BIG” event. Sign us up at the level noted.

____ Diamond @ $1000

____ Gold @ $500

____ Silver @ $250

Company name_____________________________ Phone number _____________________ Company address ________________________________________State____ Zip __________ Contact person _______________________________________________________________

Method of payment:

____ Credit card Name on Card ______________________________ Exp date ____/ ____ Card number ______ ______ ______ ______

Security code _______

____ Paypal (we’ll send an invoice; email address ___________@ ________. ______)

____ Check. Makes payable to Nancy Becher. Send to :

Business Success Unlimited, 105 S. Maple, Sturgis, MI 49091

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