Small Business Success Strategies

Marketing Mythology: It's Like Putting Lipstick on a Pig

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo Entrepreneur Expert

When I first started my career as a solo entrepreneur, I hired a web designer to create my website for me. He was awesome, and I loved his work. When I received my first bill, it included a contact email address for his "support department" and "billing department." I was a little curious about who those other people were! Later I found out it was just him...he was ALL of those departments -- design, support, billing, the works! A true case of putting lipstick on the pig. Even though he attempted to "paint" his business with these additional departments, underneath it all, he was still simply a solo entrepreneur.

You Can't Contrive Credibility It was amusing to me at the time...but now I see it for what it was: someone trying to be or look like something they aren't in a misguided attempt to add credibility. This web designer was worried that clients wouldn't take him seriously as a professional if they knew it was just him. So he created the illusion of these additional departments, presumably staffed by other employees. It wasn't what I would call dishonest, more of a stretching of the truth. He delivered on his promises and had the needed expertise; none of his clients received anything less than was promised (and he was actually quite good at over-delivering).

The Risk of Dressing Up as Something You're Not I knew this designer well enough and trusted him so it didn't really bother me much, although it was somewhat of a revelation when I discovered he was a solo entrepreneur just like me! His other clients, however, expecting a bigger enterprise, might not have been as forgiving of the pretense. They may have felt deceived, suddenly unsure if they made the right choice. Future work and referrals were put in jeopardy simply because the vendor set an expectation that wasn't exactly true.

Read Terri's entire article Marketing Mythology: Putting Lipstick on a Pig

How To Make Your Competition Vanish

Nancy Marmolejo, our official PR and Media Expert

An age-old marketing tool is the SWOT analysis. You examine your STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, and THREATS to determine how you should direct your marketing efforts.

It's always a bit disconcerting when you reach the THREATS column.

A threat? Oh no, we better PROTECT! Circle the wagons, ward off the enemy, batten down the hatches, hide the virgins!

That's a lot of energy spent going on the defensive.

The "Threats" column is where folks start talking about the COMPETITION. Those nasty, beady eyed creeps who are out to steal business from under your nose . . . the cutthroat scalawags out to make a buck and throw you into the sewer . . . and we must annihilate them, right?

What if you could completely reframe your approach and see that yes, competition exists, but it doesn't have to scare the bejeezus out of you and make sounds that go bump in the night?

Your competition can vanish from under your nose if you follow these simple, non-violent, warfare-free tips. Put your weapons aside, drink some herb tea and get into the groove of Vanishing Competition.

Read Nancy's entire article Make Your Competition Vanish

Cleaning Out That Overflowing Inbox

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo Entrepreneur Expert

If you are like me, your inbox is full of emails you intend to read "someday". Newsletters are a particularly insidious culprit; full of info-packed articles, tips and resources, we often save them to read later, only to find ourselves accumulating more and more email, and never finding the time to sit down to that task. 

Why do we keep them? Because we believe that possibly, somewhere in there lies the magic answer to some problem we've been experiencing. And then we feel guilty every time we open our email, because we haven't gotten around to reading that vitally important information that might change our business or our life for the better.

And so our inbox is overflowing with:
*    articles with info that we think we need to learn
*    links to products or services we might need to buy
*    ebooks we think we need to read

I'm here to tell you that you don't need any of those emails. In fact, you need to delete them -- and you'll move your business ahead much faster as a result.

Read Terri's entire article Three Tips for Cleaning Out Your Overflowing Inbox

Solo Entrepreneur Skill: Successful Business Decision Making

Some self-employed business owners make decisions without any difficulty, while others struggle. Are you having trouble making a decision? Do you feel overwhelmed by all the choices you have and aren't sure how to pick just one? No matter how big or small those decisions might be, I can teach you how to strategically:

    * Define your decision and come up with alternatives.
    * Determine what criteria you'll need to help you make the decision.
    * Make the decision.

Read Terri's entire article Solo Entrepreneur Skill: Successful Business Decision Making

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Work at Home Moms: Let Go of the Guilt

Many people who work from home know what it's like to get lost in "the zone" creating new things for their businesses. They also know what it's like to come out of this flow state and discover their homes transformed into what my mother refers to as a "pig sty."

Many view the chaotic wake left behind a flow state and berate themselves for neglecting their family or other responsibilities. Especially work at home moms tend to feel incredible guilt that they're bad mothers and that their businesses are robbing their family time. 

Still others become frustated when they can't always be "on." They'll have times when ideas and productivity are flowing, but then other times, they can't bring themselves to think of a single new idea or do what's necessary in their businesses. The following video outlines the stages of the creative process that every entrepreneur should know. Please know that the self-doubts and guilt-trips are rarely deserved! They are just part of the process – part of the natural ebb and flow.

In an upcoming course, I'll be teaching entrepreneurs how to minimize the chaotic wake and work with this cycle for a maximum business harvest. I'd love to hear your thoughts, comments and experiences about this cycle! Please leave your comments below.

If this video doesn't load for you, you may view it here.

The Secret to a Successful Online Business: It's All About Building Relationships

 People buy from those they know and trust. Nowhere is this more true than on the Internet, where you may never even meet anyone in person. Establishing a trust relationship with your potential online clients takes time, but it is well worth the effort!

Think about the last time you bought a product or service online, that had a substantial positive impact on your work or life in some way. If you were spending a good chunk of change (and perhaps investing a good bit of your time) on that purchase, chances are you did some research first: reading online forums and reviews to see what others had to say about them, contacting them directly with questions and observing how quick and helpful (and polite) their response was, and maybe even buying a smaller product or service from them first - all to determine if you could trust this online business to deliver what they promise.

Read Terri's entire article The Secret to a Successful Online Business: It's All About Building Relationships

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Part 2: Designing Virtual Classes Your Students Will Rave About!

 In Part 1 of this series, I offered various ideas for designing your live classes to offer maximum value to your students. Beyond just learning the concepts, students have a much better chance of actually applying your wisdom in their business. If you provide these three important elements in your classes:

    * a schedule to do the learning (structure);
    * a modest work assignment each week, and a place to post completed assignments (accountability); and
    * a rich network of fellow students to share with and learn from (community).

Applying these elements in self-paced classes (i.e., written, audio and video content available to the student on their own schedule) is quite different, and perhaps more challenging, than in a live, scheduled environment. A further challenge is that often, you've designed these courses to be hands-off for you -- truly passive. On the other hand, your self-paced classes could be a funnel to more intensive, live classes or coaching/consulting -- in which case a dose of you, live, could be the tipping point.

Read Terri's entire article Part 2: Designing Virtual Classes Your Students Will Rave About!

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Self-Employment: The Only 10 Questions Your Business Plan Needs to Answer

Writing a self-employment business plan doesn't have to be a daunting project. If you can answer 10 straightforward questions about your business, you can be ready to go.

The key to success is to answer all of the questions in enough depth that if a friend asked you to invest in this business, you'd say yes. Most importantly, make sure you record your business plan somehow...whether you write it by hand, type it into your computer, or put it on stickie notes on your wall. Keep it someplace handy where you can refer to it when you are making important business decisions. And, make sure you review it monthly--or, even better, weekly--and update it at least annually.

Read Terri's entire article Self-Employment: The Only 10 Questions Your Business Plan Needs to Answer

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Solo Entrepreneur Skill: Successful Business Decision Making

Some self-employed business owners make decisions without any difficulty, while others struggle. Are you having trouble making a decision? Do you feel overwhelmed by all the choices you have and aren't sure how to pick just one? No matter how big or small those decisions might be, I can teach you how to strategically:

    * Define your decision and come up with alternatives.
    * Determine what criteria you'll need to help you make the decision.
    * Make the decision.

      "If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin." -- Ivan Turgenev, famous 19th-century Russian novelist, poet and playwright

Read Terri's entire article Solo Entrepreneur Skill: Successful Business Decision Making

Terri Zwierzynski, our Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Self Employment Niche Marketing: Finding Your Ideal Client

Have you ever had a client/customer that was more trouble than they were worth? Maybe they were always late to pay, or didn't do what they said they'd do. Maybe you just had a personality clash, or they expected more than you were able to offer. Whatever the situation, chances are you had an inkling when you first met that client...a tiny voice that you didn't listen to, that was probably overshadowed by the bigger voice of self employment panic that said, "Hey, it's business; I'll take it!"

Learn to say no to those clients, before they start draining your energy! The key to being able to do this is understanding Your Ideal Client. Once you know how to recognize who is ideal and who is not, you can practice turning down business from the latter. If you have trouble saying no, you'll need to learn this critical business skill...and what to do to get rid of problem clients you already have; see the resources at the bottom of this article. If you have a self employment coach, ask them to help you complete the Ideal Client exercise, or to role-play those "saying no" conversations.

Read Terri's entire article Self Employment Niche Marketing: Finding Your Ideal Client

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur/Self-Employment Expert