Productivity, visibility, and profits.

Can you say, “More, please!” ???

During the two-hour “Brainstorming for Your Biz” session I facilitated at MicroCredit-NH’s awesome Entrepreneurial Exchange Day 2007 (which took place on Saturday, May 12th), I had the opportunity to mix it up with 14 other big-thinking, creative, adventurous small business owners hungry for new business strategies, marketing ideas, and revenue-building solutions.

In our session, we went over the history of brainstorming, tools and techniques for successful brainstorming, and the FIVE unbreakable rules of brainstorming. Somehow, we also managed to squeeze in “hot seat” brainstorming sessions for a couple of the lucky attendees, so they could benefit from the group’s fertile thinking.

I promised the group I’d post the 3-5 minute, power-packed brainstorming blasts we did in the twilight of the session. So, without further ado, here they are!*

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY:

1. Task list
2. Designated email
3. Limited time on inter(???)
4. Receptionist
5. Delegate
6. Rules
7. Prioritize
8. Centrally located list of goals
9. Short term goals
10. Calendar
11. Set aside certain time for working on business
12. Notebook for ideas
13. Review progress quarterly
14. Treat employees well

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR VISIBILITY:

1. Website
2. Press release
3. Joint ventures
4. Email list
5. Trade shows
6. Coupons
7. Fairs/events
8. Direct mail
9. Flyers
10. Newsletters - hard copy/email
11. Pamphlets
12. CofC
13. Pro bono work
14. Giveaways @ organization
15. Vehicle signs
16. Banners
17. Window signs
18. Free speeches
19. Hillside planting in words
20. Business cards
21. Demonstrations
22. Business signs
23. Logo products
24. Sponsoring teams

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR PROFITS!

1. CO-marketing
2. Advertising
3. Billboards
4. Magnets
5. Car signs
6. Internet
7. Brochure (pro)
8. Trade shows
9. Income without work - passive
10. Franchising
11. Customer appreciation days
12. Complementary samples or sessions
13. Raise prices
14. Extend into new markets
15. Articles/Newspaper/Press
16. Seminars/Workshops/Classes
17. Be a speaker
18. Teleclasses/Webinars

 A fine, spectacular example of Group Think if there ever was one!!! Great job, everyone. Imagine if each group had a whole 10-15 minutes…20-25…or even a whopping 45…!!!

Almost makes you want to stop what you’re doing, get a success-focused group of biz folks together, and come up with ideas, strategies, and solutions for your own business, doesn’t it??? (It should!)

*I’m just transcribing what the groups jotted down. If some of them don’t make much sense out of their original scribbled context, that’s the way the cookie crumbles!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 11:02 pm and is filed under Microenterprises R Us. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Dear success-minded professional,

We understand you’ve been wondering how to get more prospects, customers, and clients to your business.

You’re definitely not alone.

However, because you’re reading this, it’s clear you’re thinking beyond your next one-shot marketing effort to The Big Picture, where all of your marketing pieces work together to drive people to one central, informative, evangelizing hub:

Your website.

Smart thinking, friend. Very smart, indeed.

Since a lot of the business you’re getting these days is coming from online sources, you’d be best served to consider marketing tools that are more content-driven. Press releases, articles, lists of valuable tips and advice, and a blog, to name a few.

The reason why we recommend these tactics is threefold:  

1. Using targeted content to reach your ideal audience allows you to leverage the content over and over, to make it COST EFFECTIVE. 
2. Content-driven marketing makes search engines very happy, and this makes it EASIER for people to find you online.
3. Instead of being assaulted by “generic” or “in-your-face” marketing efforts, your audience receives information they’re searching for, that’s valuable to them, and that offers a friendly, helpful voice and style. THIS BUILDS TRUST AND GOOD FEELINGS, which invites a relationship, which in turn becomes that coveted “warm ‘n fuzzy” emotion, driving prospects to your front door.
   (Knock knock! It’s your next opportunity!)

Now, some people have questions about what it means to leverage content successfully.

Let’s use one targeted article as an example, “5 Tips to Finding the Perfect Widget.” This one article could be used:

• To send to publications looking for content to fill space around their ads – which positions your business not as an advertiser, but as an expert with thoughtful information to share.
• To send to article directories online, creating links to your website that raise the site’s profile in the search engines.
• To send through a press release service, creating links to your website on online news services and providing additional print publication opportunities.
• To post on your website (and/or blog) as keyword-rich content, to get search engines to come back to your website more frequently and give the site greater credibility and traffic.
• To excerpt and use on a postcard or direct mail campaign, which would direct people to your website to read the rest of it.

Smart, cost-effective, guerrilla-like, and a work horse of a strategy, right?

Good luck with your growth, vision, and marketing efforts. We’re rooting for you!

Warmest regards,

Lani and Allen Voivod
aka the “Content Lovers”
Now playing at www.EpiphaniesInc.com
“A-Ha Yourself!”

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2007 at 4:06 pm and is filed under All About Content, Fun With Marketing, Inciter Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

My son, the obsessive.

He’s been asking to watch the movie “World Race” over…and over…and over…  I think he watched it three times in a row on a recent rainy day.

Lani and I have been asking him what he’s getting out of this movie, and until today, the answers have been along the lines of, “It’s cool!”

Well, over breakfast this morning, my darling four-and-a-half-year-old said, out of nowhere, “Daddy, do you know what the ancient inscription says?”

“Ummm..no. What’s it say?”

“Wisdom is a circle. What you receive, you must give back.”

Aha! I recognized this line from one of the many World Race showings over the past few months. So that’s what he’s getting out of the Hot Wheels racing movie. Which makes me feel a lot better about him watching it.

And, it made me think about the concept of “Dignity Marketing,” which Lani and I have been talking about more and more in recent months. The quote Joey tossed out is exactly the philosophy behind Dignity Marketing.

It’s marketing without selling yourself. It’s sharing your passion and knowledge in bite-sized chunks so that when your audience is ready to buy, you’re top of mind, and they just go for it.

So thanks to the little man for this morning’s “Aha!”

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2007 at 11:08 am and is filed under A-Has in the Ether. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

We’re gearing up for the big MicroCredit New Hampshire event of the season - a full day of workshops for the smallest of small businesses in the state. I had the pleasure of dropping in on the MicroCredit-NH offices last week to deliver our contribution to the swag bags, and told their fabulous Marketing & Communications Manager Tara Dolphin I’d pass the word about the event along to you.

If you’re going to be in the Concord, NH area on Saturday, May 12th, check this out - they just opened registrations to the general business public. Now’s your chance to get in on a great learning opportunity, detailed below:

Concord, NH, May 1, 2007 – Are you self-employed and seeking fresh marketing, business development and technology strategies to further develop your business?  MicroCredit-NH has organized a statewide event dedicated to business development and networking for New Hampshire’s small business owners. 

“Entrepreneurial Exchange 2007: Reach the Peak” will be held in Concord on Saturday, May 12th from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM.  The event will take place at the Grappone Conference Center at the Courtyard Marriott on 70 Constitution Avenue.  Entrepreneurial Exchange 2007 is sponsored by PSNH, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Laconia Savings Bank and First Colebrook Bank.

The Entrepreneurial Exchange will offer participants a choice of four morning workshops to attend. These include: Effective Sales Techniques, covering sales and listening strategies to build rapport with prospects and clients to increase business; Business Development, which will provide participants tools for brainstorming including 50 ways to boost business productivity, visibility and profits; Technology Panel, with three speakers discussing the latest opportunities technology provides to small business owners, including search engine optimization, blogging, and search engine marketing; and Marketing, which will focus on the power and significance of a strong branding strategy.

The event’s featured workshop presenters include: Judy Carlough, Sandler Sales Training; Steve Forkey, WebAction Group; Christine Halvorson, Halvorson New Media; Debby Hoffman, Positive Results Seminars; Susan O’Neil, @Web Site Publicity; Thom Pollard, Eyes Open Productions; Kevin Skarritt, Acorn Creative; and Lani Voivod, Epiphanies, Inc.

In addition to the morning workshop tracks, the event will include two hours of facilitated and open networking time and afternoon roundtable discussions facilitated by the workshop presenters.  These discussions will cover a variety of business issues and challenges facing the small business owner.
 
“The Entrepreneurial Exchange is MicroCredit-NH’s premier event of 2007,” explained Rob Riley, Director of MicroCredit-NH. “Our mission is to increase the income and economic stability of New Hampshire’s small businesses, and this event will offer strategies for participants to achieve increased profits through business skill development and networking opportunities.  We encourage the self-employed from all corners of the state to join us for this unique day of training and celebration of entrepreneurship.”

Pre-registration is required, as space is limited.  The registration fee is $40, which includes lunch.   To register and for more information, visit http://www.microcreditnh.org/ for a live online registration link, or call MicroCredit-NH at 1-800-769-3482. Information about the Entrepreneurial Exchange sponsors is available online at: http://www.psnh.com/; http://www.bos.frb.org/; http://www.laconiasavings.com/; and http://www.firstcolebrookbank.com/.

To accomplish its mission of increasing the income and economic stability of microbusinesses and the self-employed, MicroCredit-NH provides statewide business development programming, loan capital up to $15,000, and expanded marketing and networking opportunities.  MicroCredit-NH delivers its services through local Business Groups that are comprised of self-employed individuals and small business owners.  Since program inception, MicroCredit-NH has loaned more than $800,000 to New Hampshire’s entrepreneurs. 

MicroCredit-NH is a program of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, Inc., a statewide non-profit charitable organization headquartered in Concord.  MicroCredit-NH is generously supported by Citizens Bank, NH Community Development Finance Authority, the Community Development Block Grant Program, among others, and is endorsed by all New Hampshire County Commissions.

# # #

If you see this and decide to go, be sure to find us and say hi!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Microenterprises R Us, Press 'n Such. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Hmmm…why a picture of a ceiling fan? Well, apparently this has something to do with expanding my creativity.

Not the ceiling fan, per se, but the high ceiling in our new outside-the-home-office. According to this article I stumbled upon, someone actually did a study where they tested the problem solving skills of people in rooms with low ceilings versus high ceilings. Wild, huh?

And as I sit and finish this post, I’m back in the home office, with its seven-foot ceiling, and I’m beginning to think that the non-home office is going to be great for brainstorming, and the home office is going to be great for putting nose to grindstone.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you’ve got a laptop, go outside. Can’t get a much higher ceiling than that! If not? Knock out the acoustic ceiling tiles above your head. I bet you never liked them anyway. 

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 5:29 pm and is filed under Brainstorm Blitz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Al and I are lunching with Seth Godin and Michael Port right now.

Seth and Michael are both propped up on our kitchen table, chatting away amiably like the chums they are. Allen and I are just listening, taking a few notes, and having our own side conversations at whim.

I suppose it’s important to mention Seth and Michael are hosting a teleconference, and Al and I are among 170+ other listeners who’ve tuned into this call, which is promoting Seth’s newest book, “The Dip” target=”_blank”>The Dip.”

Here’s a blurb from Amazon.com about Seth’s new riff…

According to bestselling author Seth Godin, what really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts.

Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt-until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you can become number one in your niche, you’ll get more than your fair share of profits, glory, and long-term security.

Quips & quotes from the call that got us to chuckle, nod, or light up and say “Aha!”:

“Being well-rounded is totally overrated.”

“You need to live the story that matches the story you want happy clients to tell their peers about you.”

“We’re all here for more than a week. The long run is the only run we’ve got.”

“Things don’t become viral because you want them to become viral. Things become viral because the audience wants them to become viral.”

“My book isn’t really about quitting. My book is about mastery.”

Now, about those washboard abs…

In the call, Seth pointed out there’s no secret to how to get washboard abs. You go to the gym, you do your reps, you follow a regimen, you work through the pain, go that extra mile, and they’re yours to flaunt in your fave half shirt. (We’re paraphrasing.)

Problem is, most people do some of the reps, but stop when it starts to hurt. They’ll start a regimen, but stop before they begin seeing results. Those guys who featured on the covers of men’s mags and who get the big bucks? They got through the Dip, and they’re reaping the benefits.

Success with business and marketing follows the same pattern.

Biz owners often quit their endeavors too soon, or stick with unprofitable ones too long, or keep shifting and switching before their plans and processes have a chance to show results.

Okay. Lunch is over. Back to fighting through our own Dips (and wishing we had stuck it out at the gym for a matching set of those fab abs!)

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Dances With Gurus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Rob Shultz has done it again.

The creator of Audacious Audio and 5 figure Teleseminars has taken a saucy, perhaps even taboo topic - like our big fat BUTS - and turned it into a valuable lesson for life and business.

Want to see if YOUR big fat But featured on Rob’s blog? Investigate here:

How Big is Your But?

He’s right, too. Strugging solo professionals and closet entrepreneurs have some of he biggest Buts around.

Some sparkling excerpts from Rob about our Buts:

Admit it: you’re madly in love with your fat ugly but, regardless of how much pain you say its causing you. And until you become more attached to your dream than your excuses, your big but is only going to grow bigger…
If you want to be in pain, get a job. Its easier and you can’t beat the benefits. If you’re going to be in business for yourself, you might as well have fun doing it. And you can’t do that doing what you despise…

Because the happy truth is you created your big fat but. And you can get rid of it. Without dieting. Without exercise. Simply by getting over yourself and getting on with it. Honest.

This is the first time I’ve thought about my oversized But with humor and optimism, Rob. Thanks for showing me a new angle from which to view my But.

*** 

For FREE articles, tips, and strategies on how to shrink your biggest But (and maybe even put it to work for your business!), sign up for our ezine, “The Inciter,” at EpiphaniesInc.com!

***

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 at 2:45 pm and is filed under Call in the Coach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.