Small business summer-time blues
By · Commentsor How to stay motivated when you’d rather be outside
Working from home is sometimes a challenge in the summer. Yes, there’s the fact that I have no air conditioning and my office is on the 2nd floor. (Last week’s heat wave in eastern Canada and U.S. was brutal).
There’s also my teenage son who is home from school and around the house. Plus there’s the sun shining and I want to be outside.
As a result, there are some days where sitting at my desk staring at my computer seems unbearable.
But I still need to work. The mortgage still needs to be paid and we have this pesky little addition to food.
So, what’s a home-based entrepreneur to do?
I posed this question to my network and got some interesting answers. Read More→
What you should post to Twitter or Facebook
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If you’re a micro-business owner (where YOU are your business) it can be a challenge to figure out what to post to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
You don’t want to be sharing what you ate for lunch or when you went to the bathroom.
On the other hand, you don’t want to be too promotional either; that turns people off. You need to find a balance.
What’s your social media brand?
No, I don’t mean your logo or your photo – although that’s part of it.
It’s how do you want people to think of you. If you’re a micro business – providing a product or service where your expertise is what sets you apart – then you probably want to be seen as an expert. You want to be the “go-to” person in your field.
How do you do this?
Be a resource
Provide useful information that your customers – and potential customers – need and want. You don’t have to create all the content yourself. Provide links to articles and blog posts that provide useful information. Using Google Reader and RSS feeds can be a great way to quickly and easily find content to share.
Someone who does a great job of this Read More→
Can you learn to love marketing?
By · CommentsMany small business owners dread marketing. It’s something that often gets put to the bottom of the “to-do” list until situation gets dire and you really, REALLY need new
clients.
Others get it done, but they kind of have to grit their teeth to do it. They know it’s something that has to be done but they really hate it.
If that sounds like you, I’d like to suggest a paradigm shift, one that can make you love marketing. No, I’m not kidding. Nor am I crazy!
If you’re a regular reader of the Baby Boomer Entrepreneur blog then you’ve probably started your business later in life not just to earn a living but also to follow your passion. You wanted more out of your career then just a j-o-b.
And I’ll bet that whatever products or services you’re selling are special. You’re proud of what you do and you know that when someone buys from you, their life will be a little bit better because what you’re selling is awesome!
Did I hit the nail on the head?
So, when you go out and promote yourself Read More→
Achieve your goals in the last half of 2011
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Depending on whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist, the year is half over or there’s half left. Either way, there is still time to achieve great things in 2011.
Step 1. Know where you are now
You can’t achieve anything until you know where you are now so pull up some stats. Print out your financial statement for the first six months of the year.
What? You haven’t done your books for this year because you just finished last year’s taxes? Then you need to take a step back and do step 0 – get your bookkeeping up-to-date! The first rule of business is manage your money!
Next, look at your RSS subscribers, your email newsletter list, daily/monthly visitors to your website or blog, your Facebook friends and likes to your page, your Twitter followers, your LinkedIn connections and what other stats are important to you. Record them on your calendar so you have a measuring stick to go by.
Step 2 Review your goals
Pull out your 2011 goals from January and see how close you are to achieving them. Are there Read More→
