The Self Employment Blog

Posted on : April 25, 2008

Craiglist, OLX and More!

When marketing your business part of your strategy has got to be getting the word out to the general public.

Online classified ads are a great way to market your products and services, including events. There are several to choose from, including Craig's List, OLX, and Bernardo's List to name a few. Yahoo has it's own version of classifed ads, and don't forget your local newspaper may run their classified ads online as well.

You can post products and services for sale, as well as events on most classified ad sites, and many times these ads are free.

Typically the ad will run in one category or town only, and it will run for a certain number of days. If you're posting for a "virtual" event like a teleclass or webinar, I recommend posting in the largest city categories like New York or Los Angeles.

I also suggest you compose your ad copy in your own word processor so that you can simply cut and paste the text into the ad when you're renewing it.

...»

Is Your Website Giving You the Results You Want?

Creating Small Business Websites That Grab Attention

begins July 17

Is your website giving you the results you want?

Your website can be a wonderful marketing and educational tool. But what makes a small business owner's website great?

Whether you design your own site -- or hire someone to do it for you -- this information-packed class is for all small business owners!

In this six-week teleclass, you will learn:

What makes a good web site design that's both appealing and usable, while accomplishing your marketing goals at the same time.
What visitors really want to find when they visit your website
How to choose effective page layouts and colors for your site.
The keys to powerful website text that sells your products and services.
How to critique websites (including your own!) in order to apply this knowledge to your own website.
How to effectively market your website to get more traffic to it.
Which website statistics are important to track for the success of your business.
What to look for in a website designer.

This six-week class begins July 17.

http://www.passionforbusinesslearning.com/websiteplan

What Students Say...

"This is the best class I have ever taken for helping you get started with your website! It really taught me the basics and essentials and was easy to understand and implement...A MUST if you have a website or are thinking about one. Karyn is a wonderful teacher....very personable, energetic, helpful and extremely knowledgeable...I can't recommend this class enough!"

--Roxanne Hunt
Intuitive Life Coach

"I found Karyn's website design course extremely helpful. I was in the process of re-designing my course and had actually settled on a homepage design. After the first session, I told my designer to hold everything until I finished the course, as we had already made some poor design choices! Since the course, I have re-thought my objectives and design choices and am much more confident that my website will truly work for me in the future."

--Susan Smith
Raising Canine, LLP

Schedule

This six-week teleclass begins July 17, 2008

July 17
July 24
July 31
Aug 7
Aug 14
Aug 21

All teleclasses are 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM eastern

Classes will be recorded, so if you miss a session, you will be able to download the audio recording of the live class and listen to it at your leisure.

Registration

Registration Fee: $179

Instructor: Karyn Greenstreet

Registration Information and Details:

http://www.passionforbusinesslearning.com/websiteplan

...»

I'm a Social Networking Newbie

Okay, I admit it. I'm a social networking newbie. LinkedIn, Facebook...totally new territory to me. I have a profile on LinkedIn and have lots of contacts there, but I didn't know what my options were for really using this service.

Enter my friend Julie. She has over 500 contacts on LinkedIn (amazing!). She says she gets a lot of business leads from LinkedIn, so naturally she's the perfect person for me to learn from.

I'm having lunch with her on Friday...I can't wait learn all about the mysteries of LinkedIn!

...»

Websites and Supermarkets: How We Hunt for What We Want

Imagine that you enter an unfamiliar supermarket or hardware store. Typically you're not going in these types of stores to browse around for fun: you know what you want before you walk in the door. How do you tackle the task of finding the specific item you want?

For most people, they'll do one of two things: they'll grab the first employee they see and ask, "Where do I find the hot dog rolls?" or they'll walk past the end of each aisle, glancing at the aisle signs that tell them the aisle contents looking for a fairly good match, then walk down that aisle to see if their item is in that aisle.

Visitors to your website have the same "hunting" mentality. They come to your website looking for a specific answer to a question they have in their head. They scan your home page, looking for a clue about what's in each section of your website, and grab the first "closest" link that seems to match their question. Or, they'll go right to your Site Map or Search Box to get some help. Only when they reach the page that really does answer their question will them begin to read in any great depth.

If you keep in mind that people are in hunting mode (not reading mode) when they arrive at your website, you'll save yourself and your visitors a lot of hassle. Here are some tips:

1. List all the questions that a typical visitor might have when they arrive at your site. What are they looking for when they come to your site? Create your home page to lead them to these answers.

2. Create navigation and in-paragraph hyperlinks that include the text that visitors are looking for. Use text labels that are intuitive and the type of phrasing a typical visitor might use.

3. Keep paragraph text to a minimum until they reach a page that will convert them from "hunter" mode to "information gatherer" mode.

4. Make it easy for them to get back to the home page. If their initial "hunt" doesn't unearth the answers they seek, they may be willing to try again, but only if you make it easy for them.

Planning your website is one of the most important things you can do. If your site is difficult to use or doesn't reflect the real way that visitors use websites, your revenues will suffer. If you're not getting the results you need from your website, maybe now is the time to consider a website re-design.

...»

Prosperity Prayer Redux

I posted this on the blog back in 2006, but this seems a good time to re-post, with the economy in a bad way as it is. We can all use a little prosperity in our lives, financial or otherwise. It's Lynn Robinson's Prosperity Prayer:

Dear God "”

I surrender my financial affairs and concerns about money to your Divine care and love.

I ask that you remove my worries, anxieties and fears about money, and replace them with faith.

I know and trust that my debts will be paid and money will flow into my life.

I have only to look to nature to see proof of the abundance you provide.

I release all negative thoughts about money, and know that prosperity is my true state.

I commit to being grateful for all that I now have in my life.

I learn to manage my finances wisely, seeking help where needed.

And finally, I ask you to help me understand my purpose in life and to act on that purpose with courage and strength. I know that prosperity will come, in part, by doing work I love. Please help me use my skills and knowledge to be of service in the world.

Thank you, God.

Amen

===

You can read more of Lynn's comments about this Prosperity Prayer that she wrote here:

http://www.lynnrobinson.com/art_prosperityprayer.html

...»

Taking an Entire Month to Create Products

Like you, I struggle with finding time to write books, create new classes, and put together new information products. I have a burning desire to create these things; I think about them and plan for them constantly. I guess it must be the "teacher" in me -- I want to share what I've learned with other self-employed people.

Each year our mastermind group meets in person for a live Mastermind Retreat Weekend. In May, I came to the Retreat with just one burning question: how can I take a month off of work, to write an updated version of a book and create a new class?

It seems an insurmountable dream and challenge. I hadn't had a full month off work or school since I'd been in college (oh so many years ago!). A whole month off with only 2 projects to work on? Woohoo!

My mastermind group helped me to plan out a strategy for taking the month of August away from my business:

1. Figure out how much money you need to save so that you can cover your August business and personal expenses.

2. Figure out if you'd still work with existing coaching clients, or ask them to halt work with you in August. I decided that I would work with existing clients, but not take on any new ones for August.

3. Figure out how to schedule your month off for maximum enjoyment and relaxation, AND maximum production. After all, I was taking the month off to get 2 big projects finished. I decided to work with clients 3 mornings a week and work on projects the rest of the time. I'd take Friday's off work completely so that I'd have a month of 3-day weekends; plus a 4-day weekend for Labor Day. I'd schedule time with family and friends during August for outings and visits, as well as some "me time" to walk in the woods or go to the beach and be in solitude.

4. Ask for support. I told my husband and my mastermind group I was going to take the month of August off; they loved the idea! I've also told my clients that my hours would be limited in August, that I'd still be there to support them but that they might not get 24-hour turnaround to emails or phone calls. And now I'm telling the world!

5. Stay present. This will be the tough one for me, staying present and aware during the month of August, paying attention to how I'm using my time, and if I'm creating the balance between work and relaxation that I'm seeking.

I'll let you know how it goes! It's going to be a great adventure and I'm looking forward to my month off with much anticipation.

...»

The Problem with Niches

Mary called me and cried, "I need to find my niche!"

She had been told over and over again that she needed to find a narrow niche for her Life Coaching business so that she could be more noticeable among the pack of Life Coaches marketing to business professionals and managers.

But she had also been told that using words like "meaning" and "purpose" to describe what clients were looking for was over-used; all life coaches were using those terms and they had lost their power when it came to writing marketing text.

Here is my reply to Mary in regards to identifying her niche and writing her marketing text towards that niche:

===========

Remember, WITHIN the coaching industry, words like "soul," "meaning," and "fulfillment" are used constantly and we're used to them and don't think they're special.

But, OUTSIDE the coaching industry, people are just awakening to these words. They love these words. And people ARE looking for meaning and fulfillment in their lives. (Just because you are used to seeing those words everyday doesn't automatically make them powerless or boring.)

If you want to know if people are interested in these words, go to the Google Keyword Tool or the WordTracker Keyword tool and type them in. You'll see for yourself how popular they really are.

As a life coach, saying you don't want to market yourself using the words "fulfillment" and "meaning," is like saying you're a dentist, but you don't want to have the niche of "filling cavities" because every dentist does that.

Sometimes your niche isn't just what topics you talk about with clients; sometimes your niche is the combination of what topics you talk about AND the people/groups you talk to.

The whole purpose of choosing a niche is so you can find a central place that potential clients congregate -- so that you can get in front of them to introduce your business via your marketing techniques. You can find "professionals" or "mid-level managers" or "upper level executives" in specific industry associations, magazines, websites, newspapers, peer groups, etc.

But say you want your niche to be "Hyper Ambitious Stress Coaching." There is no industry association for Hyper Ambitious people"¦how will you locate them?

Do you really want to be known as the "Hyper Ambitious Stress Coach?" (Do people really type in "hyper ambitious stress coach" into Google when they're looking for help?) It implies that you work with only people who are hyper-ambitious, and only stressed ones at that. There are plenty of "non-hyper-ambitious" professionals who are want to achieve great things and be successful (and are stressed), they just don't go overboard into "hyper" behaviors that create unbalance.

One caveat: being the "Hyper Ambitious Stress Coach" is great for PR. The news media loves a specialist. But clients may not be looking for a Hyper Ambitious Stress Coach; they're just looking for help with stress, over-scheduling, high demands, etc. So unless you're going to get all your prospective clients via news media interviews, you might want to re-think that narrow niche.

Choosing a niche is not an exercise in finding a place where you have no competition. It's okay if you have competition in your niche: it shows there's a thriving market there.

If you're simply looking to differentiate yourself from your competition, then that's not done by choosing a niche market. Differentiation and Niche are two separate marketing steps. You can differentiate yourself based on

your personality
your processes
your techniques
your background
your experience
your skill set
your availability
your fees
your style

Differentiation asks, "Why would they buy from ME versus my competition?"

Niche asks, "Where will I find THEM so I can introduce myself?"

This entry in Wikipedia may help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niche_market

I'm not saying, "Don't go in that niche direction." What I am saying is this: if you define your niche too narrowly, you'll have a hard time getting in front of them with your marketing techniques. And along the way, you might not be following your own soul purpose.

...»

Small Businesses Less Confident About Economy

According to the most recent "OPEN from American Express Small Business Monitor" survey, only 45% of small business owners feel that the economy will get better over the next six months. (This is the lowest showing of "confidence" by small business owners in the six years that OPEN has been doing the survey.)

The good news is that 71% of survey respondents say that they plan to grow their business over the next six months.

It's an interesting mix of reactions from the small business community. While the economy certain is rocky these days, and it does behoove us to pay careful attention, the economy is not the Sole Indicator of your business growth and success. There are many things you can do to turn the tide in your favor.

...»

Free MP3 - The Art of Networking & Referrals

Due to popular demand, I am making the MP3 recording and transcript of The Art of Networking and Referrals available for free.

Are you looking for more customers?

One of the most powerful ways to get your needs met and help others at the same time is through word-of-mouth referrals and networking with others.

In this teleclass recording, I share and techniques for effective networking, including ideas for a face-to-face and online referrals. Walk away with a plan and some great resources!

Get your free copy here:

www.PassionForBusiness.com

(Enjoy!)

...»

SEO Rap: Just When You Think You've Seen It All

Once in a while, a real Original comes into the world. Welcome to The SEO Rap!

...»

Book Review: Bounce!

Failure. No one likes to talk about it. And when we do talk about it, we like to feel there is some deeper meaning or learning in every business failure we have. I suppose it helps us to feel that we didn't go through a bad time in vain.

Barry Moltz's new book, Bounce!, talks about failure in a different way. Gone are the platitude, replaced by the practical notion that failure is part of every growing business, neither to be praised as a "learning experience" nor to be bashed as something to be ashamed of.

Instead Motlz sees failure as a way to build strength and confidence. Failure isn't the opposite of success, it's a step along the path to success. So knowing and expecting some level of failure allows you to take more risks because you learn resiliency along the way...not from your successes, but from your failures. Once you develop resiliency, you have the confidence to take even more risks and try even more big ideas because you know you can bounce back from them if they don't go well.

And Moltz should know: he's had his fair share of failures before he rose to his current level of success, and he talks about them proudly and without shame. Bravo!

...»

Share Your Thoughts!

I'd love you to share your thoughts about the way you like to learn.

It's a short 3-question survey. Share your thoughts today, click here to take my "How Do You Like To Learn?" survey.

Thanks! I'll tally up the results and share them in the next newsletter.

...»

Self-Employment: The Hardest Way to Make Easy Money

I heard this comment at a National Speaker's Association meeting last month: "Being your own boss is the hardest way to make easy money." Boy, isn't that the truth!

So many people I speak with dream of becoming self employed and starting their own small business. Don't get me wrong: being self employed is the best lifestyle I know. It has a huge range of rewards, from flexibility to independence to self-responsibility. I'm completely in love with being self employed and wouldn't exchange it for a corporate job for a million dollars! (Okay, truthfully, if you want to offer me a million dollars a year in salary, I'm willing to entertain a discussion.)

But self employment is hard work, plain and simple. After carefully studying and working with people who start their own businesses, my best estimate is that it takes at least a year to make a serious profit, and often it's more like two years. I have yet to see a "quick fix" for small business marketing that will land a lot of cash in your pocket in 30 days.

If your business structure and administrative process are not firmly in place, you'll crash and burn eventually. If your business strategy and plan are not fine-tuned, you'll spend an extraordinary amount of time running in circles trying to find the right customer and the right product or service to sell them.

So why do people look for (and purchase) products and services that promise a quick fix to their ailing small business? In the question lays the answer: they want a quick fix to the pain. Don't we all?

Running your own small business is a marathon, not a sprint. Stop trying to sprint your way to your first million without a firm foundation under you. Remember, marathoners train all year long for just one marathon; they don't wait until the month before to begin preparing.

Things to consider:

Make sure you have the personality to be self employed.
Make sure you have enough money to finance your dreams, and a good financial plan that tells you when you'll actually start making a profit.
Invest money and time in sound, effective marketing strategies and do them every month, rain or shine.
Have a written business plan and a business strategy, even if it's only three pages long.
Test your marketing ideas, your product ideas and your service ideas to make sure you've got everything on target.
And finally, have a marathoner's attitude: the finish line does exist, just over the next hill. Believe that you will make it to the finish line, as long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other and maintain a positive attitude.

...»

Marketing To Women class

What's more important?

Learning about how women buy
The product or service you are selling

(Hint: the answer is #1.)

In order to grow your business, you must understand women's lifestyles and what are their specific wants, needs and desires.

You will learn:

What women buy -- and why
The number 1 thing you must do in your marketing to women
The 10 (HUGE) mistakes we make when marketing to women
The keys to creating a woman-friendly website
How to market to women without alienating men
What women want and need from a shopping experience
How to re-write your marketing copy so that it's inviting to women

Click here for more class details about Marketing to Women.

What Students Say...

The Marketing To Women class was very helpful in offering specific, valuable tips on what women really want and are looking for with information. I will be changing my website to reflect these ideas, and adding more coaching options to be more client-focused. The price for this class was easily justified!

--Barbara Brady

Intercultural & Transition Coach

Schedule

This three-week teleclass begins

May 15, 2008

May 15
May 22
June 5

NOTE: There will no class the week of Memorial Day (May 29)

All teleclasses are

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM eastern

Classes will be recorded, so if you miss a session, you will be able to download the audio recording of the live class and listen to it at your leisure.

The instructor for this class is Alicia Smith. Alicia has been self employed since 1978 and has started 6 businesses and sold 4 of them. If you like to know not only why you should do things, but how, you will enjoy Alicia's teaching style.

Registration

Registration Fee: $99

Instructor: Alicia Smith

Registration Information:

http://www.passionforbusinesslearning.com/mtw/

...»

US Postage Stamp Increase

US postage and stamp prices will increase as of May 12. Many self-employed people are feeling the pinch, especially those who use the mail for direct-marketing purposes or to send products to customers.

Here are some tips for dealing with the US postage and stamp increase:

1. Buy the "Forever" Stamp. As the USPS says, "The stamp will be good for mailing one-ounce First-Class letters anytime in the future "” regardless of price changes." So if you buy it before May 12, it will cost you $0.41, and you will be able to use it to mail letters forever. If you have a hard time getting them at your local post office, purchase them online at www.usps.com

2. Consider converting your books and audio programs to downloadable e-products (PDF files for ebooks, MP3 files for audio programs). With the US postage and stamp price increase, your shipping costs will increase also, and you'll have to decide whether you'll pass those shipping costs on to your customers. (If you use UPS or FedEx you'll see their rates increase as well, as gasoline prices soar in the USA.) With downloadable products, you save on shipping, you save on production costs, you save on fulfillment costs, and you give your customers instant gratification.

3. Ask the clerk at the post office counter for other options when shipping. Sometimes Media Mail will get to your destination in approximately the same time (depends on the destination) and for lots less money.

4. Use the Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes for shipping items. These all-you-can-fit-in-it boxes are a fixed cost, and may be less expensive than sending something weighed Priority Mail.

5. Pay your bills online instead of sending checks.

6. Send correspondence to customers, including agreements and contracts, via fax or email. For instance, I send coaching and consulting contracts to clients in PDF format via email, they sign it, and fax it back to me. No postage on either side of the equation.

While this US postage stamp increase won't affect everyone, for those who use the mails regularly, it will be a growing business expense. Best to think ahead, because the US Postal Service says that prices will probably increase each year from now on.

Click here for further information on all the US postage and stamp increases schedule for May 12.

...»

Email Marketing Tips

I thought you'd enjoy this great article, 13 Tips for Effective Email Marketing from MarketingVOX. You'll also appreciate some other, lesser known email marketing tips from them as well.

...»

It's Okay to Think Small

In nearly every business book I read and from the lips of nearly every business guru I listen to is the premise that you have to grow your business. Grow, grow, grow -- think big -- and you'll feel successful. More products, more services, more revenue -- and you'll be happy. Bigger is better, right?

Here's a secret that I'm going to start shouting from the rooftops: there's no shame in declaring that you want to keep your business small. This push for growing our business to the next level (whatever that means) might not be the right thing for many of us.

I'm not talking about people who remain small because they're scared, or because they don't have the skills or financing to grow big. I'm talking about the people who choose to keep their business small because, after careful analysis, it's what they really want. There's an unspoken taboo about saying, "I want my business to remain small," and I want to halt that taboo.

In his book The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber says that if you elect to stay small and work in your business (instead of working "on" your business by creating a system where someone can run your business for you), you have a job, not a business. I don't understand his logic and I can't see where there's something inherently wrong with wanting to stay small and do the work yourself. Most self-employed people start their own businesses because they love what they do.

Gerber's principle is that a business should be created to get more out of life. Certainly the work you do should allow you to have the lifestyle you want. But I didn't start a business just to make heaps of money; I could get a corporate executive job and do that. I started a business to provide the services and products I love, that gives me personal fulfillment and creative challenge.

If you love the work you do, there is nothing wrong with wanting to continue to be the technician, as well as take on the role of manager and entrepreneur. You've got to do all three, so don't try to avoid it. But if you're willing to take on all three roles, you can find much meaning and satisfaction in running your own business.

Staying Small

There is a new way of looking at small business that challenges the notion that all growth is desirable. In Bo Burlingham's book, Small Giants: Companies That Choose to be Great Instead of Big, he talks about small business owners who had a choice to grow their business to majestic proportions and chose instead to remain small, to perfect their business to great heights without selling their soul to the "you must grow" mantra.

There are those business owners to elect to stay small, and create a great business. I didn't create a business in order to create a franchise-able model of it where someone else did the work. I created a business to be great at what I do, offering the best service and products possible. For me, the only way to do this is to remain small, boutique, and connected intimately with my customers. This allows me to listen to their needs and create solutions quickly. It gives me a kind of independence and joy that I never found in corporate life.

Seth Godin says, "Small is the new big because small gives you the flexibility to change the business model. Small means you can tell the truth on your blog. Small means that you will outsource the boring, low-impact stuff like manufacturing and shipping and billing and packing to others, while you keep the power because you invent the remarkable."

In fact, Seth wrote a book called Small Is The New Big. Maybe I'm on to something here.

Loving What You Do

While your business can be a means to an end (a lifestyle you want, or maybe to send your kids to college), why can't your business also be enjoyable in and of itself?

If you love gardening, you don't just work "on" your garden plan, you work "in" the garden every chance you get. You don't try to figure out ways to delegate all the work just so you can sit back and get the rewards of a pretty garden. Instead you want to get your fingers in the dirt and do it yourself because the very act of working in the garden is enjoyable to you. And sometimes that means you have a smaller garden so that you can find joy and fulfillment in doing it all yourself.

Many self-employed people don't want to be an absentee owner. I don't want to lose touch with my customers or the reason I do this work. I don't want to manage employees; instead, I'd rather work with partners who love what they do. I don't want to create a big business model that any low-skilled employee can implement just for some extra cash.

If you want to be the CEO of a big company with lots of people working for you -- go for it. But for me, I want to get my hands dirty every day. I'd rather stay focused and build a business that's small and great.

...»

Studying Start-ups

Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS) follows nearly 5,000 businesses founded in 2004 and tracks them over their early years of operation. Here are some interesting results:

More than a third of businesses (37 percent) had no revenue in their first year of operation while about 17 percent of businesses had profits in excess of $100,000.
Just under 9 percent of firms closed in one year and the survival rates vary by owner demographics.
Nearly 60 percent of the businesses had no employees in their first year while very few businesses (less than 4 percent) had more than 10 employees.

To learn more about the results of this survey, visit: http://www.kauffman.org/item.cfm?item=1021

...»

10 Ways to Grow Your Mailing List

Wow, you are going to kill me, but I have to say it:

It doesn't matter how good your website is, if people don't come back often. Your website gets them interested; your ongoing relationship with them gets them to buy.

The real key to e-commerce is building a mailing list of people who are interested in the topics you write, speak and teach about. On a good day, you might get 10 percent of your website visitors to buy. But what about the other 90 percent? Are you just going to ignore them and their needs?

The internet is a distracting place and a visitor may only come to your website once. A mailing list member can be told about new articles, new offerings and new resources on your site each month, thereby increasing your traffic and your sales.

I'm not talking about creating huge lists of people who will remove themselves as soon as they get your freebie. What's the point in that? I'm talking about a sustainable list of people who like the products and services you offer, who have an ongoing relationship with you, and are likely to purchase from you again and again.

I can think of 20 or 30 different things you can do to grow your mailing list. Let's look at the 10 techniques I like to use:

From Your Website. It should come as a great surprise that you should ask people to sign up for your mailing list from your website. But these days, people are overwhelmed with emails and email newsletters, so you have to offer them something more. A good suggestion is offering a free e-book or e-course. These are easy to deliver and don't take any of your time because they're automated. You'll need to have a mailing list system or autoresponder system set up to accept email addresses and automatically deliver the e-book or e-course information. Ones to consider are www.1shoppingcart.com or www.aweber.com. Note that whichever service you use, it must have both an email list manager and an autoresponder feature.
Outgoing Emails. On every outgoing email, in your signature line, you should be inviting people to join your mailing list. Just make sure you tell them HOW to join your list via email or give them a link to the sign-up page. By the way, it's considered rude and bad etiquette to automatically sign people up for your mailing list. Just because they've emailed you, or met you at a meeting, doesn't give you the right to automatically add them. Instead, send them an invitation and let them decide if they want to be on your list.
At Speeches. Meetings and conferences are a great way to get recognized quickly and to gather names for your list. Have a sign-up sheet on a clipboard ready, and pass it around while you're giving your speech. Better yet, give away something for free and have them sign up for the freebie and your newsletter at the same time. Or, ask the participants to take out their business card and write "giveaway" on it, and pass it up to you. Note: if you ask people to give you their business card, there is a good chance that the business card has the wrong email address on it. Ask them to check it and correct it before passing it up to you.
In Your Newsletter Itself. Lots of people like to forward your newsletter to their friends and colleagues. But once someone else reads your newsletter, they don't know how to subscribe to it. Make sure you give instructions in each newsletter so that new people know what to do.
On Business Cards. Lots of people have business cards with blank backs. Instead, use the back of your business card as a mini-billboard, and offer your freebie and sign-up instructions right on the back of the card.
About The Author Text. When you write articles, you should be including an "about the author" paragraph at the end, especially if you are submitting those articles to other websites. In the About The Author paragraph, make your offer and give instructions for your newsletter.
Thank You Emails. When someone purchases from you, you should be sending them a Thank You For Your Order email. In that email, ask them if they'd like to get your newsletter. It might be a good idea to offer a coupon or discount to customers in the Thank You email, as an incentive to sign-up for your newsletter.
Online Classified Ad. Use a service like www.craigslist.org to place an online classified ad for your free giveaway and newsletter subscription offer.
On Your Voicemail. When recording your outgoing voicemail message, always offer your newsletter, and tell them the website where they can sign-up.
In Interviews. Whether you are interviewed on the radio or in print, always mention your email newsletter and your freebie.

...»

Attend This Special Event as My Guest

You are invited to attend, as my special guest, an extraordinary online/teleconference event that has the potential to make this year the best ever for your business.

==> http://www.MarketingQi.com/karyn

Just by enrolling in the Marketing Qi (say "chee") Business Teleseminar 12-week Intensive, featuring LIVE in-depth interviews with 12 top marketing and business experts on the web today.

Our speakers will be teaching you cutting edge business information such as:

learn to use SEO to boost your website's visibility and get more traffic (this is my talk)

six simple steps to creating passive income streams

how to get great marketing results, even on a small budget

how to get yourself to actually take action toward your business goals

find out if you have the personality to be a successful solopreneur

how to use the entrepreneur's Secret Weapon

how to use a blog to gain expert status

how to easily conquer Telephone Terror when cold-calling

how to become the preferred solution to your clients' most pressing problems

how article marketing can get you more sales

how to charge what you are worth...and get it

...and much, much more!

==> http://www.MarketingQi.com/karyn

You will be learning from some of the most successful marketing and small business experts on the planet...including me! :)

Karyn Greenstreet

Alicia Forest

Rory Cohen

Janis Pettit

Terri Z

Melanie Benson Strick

The BlogSquad

Wendy Weiss

Kathleen Gage

Marnie Pehrson

Kendall Summerhawk

Larina Kase

The Marketing Qi Intensive begins Tuesday, April 1st at 8PM Eastern/NYso get this written into your calendar now!

Seats are limited so reserve your place early. And did I mention that -- for a limited time -- the Marketing Qi Intensive is totally FREE!

==> http://www.MarketingQi.com/karyn

P.S. If you can't make Tuesdays, register anyway -- all calls will be recorded (plus, you can also listen via the internet. NO long-distance telephone calls required!) for your later listening, but only if you register!

...»

My Favorite (Office) Things: Wireless Phone Headset

When I first started coaching, I bought a telephone headset so that I could speak with clients while still taking notes. Five years ago I graduated from a wired phone headset to a wireless phone headset... freedom at last!

Now when I speak with clients on the phone, or teach a teleclass, I can get up and move around. Not just around my office either: my cordless headset will reach all the way out to the mailbox, 165 feet from my telephone base!

My preferred model is the Jabra (GN Netcom) GN9350. I can talk for hours on one charge of the battery and the sound is crystal-clear. This is especially important for teleclasses, as the quality of the teleclass recording is directly related to the quality of the microphone on your headset. Plus, there is no static or interference from other computer or electrical equipment.

Shop around for these cordless phone headsets, as prices vary. Try a shopping comparison site, like Yahoo Shopping or Shopzilla, to compare prices and find well-rated vendors.

Also be aware that some phone headsets are for Internet-based (PC) phones only, so read the description carefully.

...»

Great Copywriting Tips

All small business owners need to learn good copywriting skills.

If you haven't visited CopyBlogger yet, I strongly encourage you to do so...today!

CopyBlogger offers tips and tutorials on good copywriting. Their recent blog posting, Just Say No to These Three Enemies of Clear and Direct Writing, is a perfect example of what you'll learn on this great blog. Sure, you may already know these writing tips, but the examples clarify good and bad writing habits.

(After reading CopyBlogger's post, I feel like it's time to re-write my entire site!)

...»

Website Usability

Website usability is all the rage these days. Why? Because if people can't use your website, if it's too cumbersome and confusing, they will leave (and go visit your competitor's website!).

The United States government has gotten into the act -- in a good way. Their usability website offers free advice on how to make a website usable.

The section entitled, "Research Based Guidelines" is arguably the best part of the site.

Check is out!

...»

Coping With a Recession

Whether we're in a recession or not, the economy surely seems shaky right now. If things take a down-turn, how will you handle it for your business?

Now is the time to think strategically. Hasty decisions often lead to poor decisions for the long term health of your business. According to Wikipedia, there have been only four recessions since 1980, lasting from 6 months to 16 months.

Here are some tips on dealing with a recession for your business:

Cut costs, but only if it won't harm you later. The first thing business owners think they must do it cut costs. But don't cut costs or decrease prices now, if it will hamper your business later. Ask yourself: once the economy picks up again, will the cost I'm cutting or the price I'm reducing put me in a worse situation than I'm in right now?

Think sub-contractors. If you have employees, consider turning them into sub-contractors. This will help you avoid paying additional employment taxes and benefits. However, the IRS is very strict about the definition of an employee versus a sub-contractor (they call them 'independent contractors'), so check their rules here.

Get out there and shine. This seems counter-intuitive, but now may be the time to increase your marketing; hard economic times may cause your competition to disappear, leaving the field wide open for you.

Take the long view. Remember, marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. You should have been doing (and keep doing) marketing every month, month in and month out, not stopping and starting on a whim.

Choose your marketing techniques wisely. You should have been tracking, historically, which techniques bring you the most business. Reduce or eliminate those marketing techniques that aren't paying off for you, or fix them so that they do increase leads and sales.

Renovate your marketing tools. For those marketing techniques that are working for you, this might be the time to revamp your marketing tools. Does your website need a facelift? Do you need to offer some new freebies to entice people to look more closely at your products or services? Do you need to change the way you phrase things when you are selling to your customers and closing the deal?

Automate wherever you can. Find ways to automate any tasks to reduce the workload on yourself and your staff. What have you been doing manually that a computer system can do for you? Take a look at all your daily tasks and see if there is a computer solution to these time-wasters.

Spend your time on what really matters. Consider hiring a virtual assistant or a technology consultant to help you with routine administrative, marketing and website tasks, so that you can use all your time to focus on marketing and delivering your product or service. Decide on the task that you are BEST at, ones that will directly increase your income, and delegate the rest. If you can earn more per hour than it costs you to hire help, then it's a good use of your time and money to delegate tasks.

Make do and mend. Because raw materials were in short supply during World War II, people were encouraged to "make do and mend" an item instead of simply replacing it. Consider your own expenditures: do you really need a new computer, or could you somehow upgrade your existing one for less money? Do you need a new telephone or can you get by with the old one for a while longer?

Reduce inventories. If you sell a product, and you believe your sales are going to decrease, this might be a good idea to reduce inventories and not restock to the same level. This is a risky strategy (what if the recession only lasts 6 months?), so be sure you know exactly how long it will take to replenish inventories once the economy picks back up.

Now is the time to begin thinking about what you'll do if the economy affects your business. It doesn't matter if we are in a recession now or not. Economies, by their very nature, are cyclical, and you will face lean times and booming times in the future. It's important that you have a plan for dealing with all types of economic realities.

...»

How To Create and Run a Mastermind Group

There is synergy of energy, commitment, and excitement that happens in a Mastermind Group.

Add Mastermind Groups to your business and watch it grow!

The beauty of Mastermind Groups is that participants raise the bar by challenging each other to create and implement goals, brainstorm ideas, and support each other with total honesty, respect and compassion.

In this three-week teleclass you will learn how to:

Choose which type of Mastermind Group to create
Determine if your Mastermind group will have free membership or paid membership (and what to charge for a Mastermind Group)
Market to attract members
Choose participants
Construct different types of meeting agendas
Create group policies and procedures
Deal with difficult members
Facilitate discussions at meetings

This three-week teleclass begins March 6, 2008

All class sessions are 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM eastern.

Classes will be recorded, so if you miss a session, you will be able to download the audio recording of the live class and listen to it at your leisure.

Registration Fee: $99

For more details and to register:

http://www.passionforbusinesslearning.com/mastermind/

...»

The Self Employment Blog | Cheri Alguire

The Self Employment Blog