Tag Archives: Toronto

7 Traits of a Great Business Blog

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If I had a dollar for every client who was afraid to blog, I’d never need another client again. As a small biz marketing coach, I know that the most authentic way to help our clients is to give them down to earth, real advice that sounds just like they’re sitting across the table from us. Advice that’s timely, genuine, caring and darned valuable. Here are some really great tips about how to do it right once you bite the bullet and get on the blogging bandwagon:

A Great business blog should have these qualities:

1) Problem-Solving

If you solve people’s problems, your blog will pre-sell your products or services.

2) Openness

There are two things I’m trying to describe here, and I think that “openness” is the best word:

  • Desire to be authentic.
  • Ability to share freely.

3) Personality

This can come through via a relaxed writing style, the use of fun images and photos, telling fun and interesting stories, and — maybe most of all — not taking yourself too seriously.

4) A Plan

  • How often will you publish?
  • What types of articles will you publish?
  • Who all in your company will be charged with writing for the blog?
  • If you have multiple authors, who’s going to manage them?
  • What will your comment policy be?

5) Persistence

Google will start to reward your content with the kind of trust that leads to visibility in search results.

6) Passion

But your passion can’t come through in the form of sales pitches and self-promotion, it has to come through in the process of solving people’s problems and educating them.

7) Variety

Your blog posts shouldn’t all read like news releases. They shouldn’t all be designed to sell. They shouldn’t all be the same length. They shouldn’t stick to a company formula.

via 7 Traits of a Great Business Blog.

So if you’re afraid to blog, stop waffling and get down to it. It’s the cheapest and easiest way to get across not only your brand character but also your marketing message of how you help clients.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

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How to Maintain Your Post-Vacation Bliss

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This was taken on the beach outside our hotel ...

This was taken on the beach outside our hotel in Mexico. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I spent the holidays alternating between managing my own fever and nursing my family through theirs. It felt awful but at least we were together! In a few weeks, I’m going to take a sunny south vacation so this advice by Toronto-based business and life coach Joshua Zuchter about easing my way back really resounded. Here are his tips:

• Take two-minute mini-vacations.  Taking short breaks throughout the day to clear your head or go for a short walk can make the transition to your work routine less aggressive.

• Get a handle on e-mail backlog.  Scan for emails that can easily be deleted and tackle the rest one at a time, either responding or filing them in relevant folders.

• Assign catch up time into your schedule. Schedule your away notice to indicate your return date as one day later than it actually is.

• Stay hydrated.  Drinking optimal amounts of water makes a huge difference in people’s mental health and attitude.

• Spruce up your office. Bring vacation memories into the workplace to remind you of the calm you felt while away.

As a small business coach, I am a huge proponent of rest and relaxation for my clients and for myself. If you’re like me, you are worried that the world and your clients will go on without you and you’ll regret that vacation but take my advice and don’t burn yourself out. You are the heart of your business and you need to refuel. So go ahead, I give you permission. Take a few days off and do something that you can classify as a vacation…
Come on Mexico!
Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!
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5 Ways to Set a New Company Up for Success

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Success - P'tit Bazar 2007 (02)

Success – P’tit Bazar 2007 (02) (Photo credit: alter1fo)

It was only last August one year ago that I left my big corporate job to become an entrepreneur. I really could’ve used this advice back then and actually did implement some of these suggestions to success. If you’re a small business owner who wants to grow, see if any of the below can help you:

1. Set low expectations.  By starting with a conservative approach, a modest success will be noticed and you will be perceived as even smarter than you are.

2. Start local. By developing and testing your idea or product in a local environment, your most powerful network — that is, people you know — will be engaged, and you can do any polishing you need to do before spending big bucks on an untried process in a larger market.

3. Grab low-hanging fruit. Pretty much every product or service has at least one super-strong potential buying group. Focus your efforts on that group with everything you’ve got.

4. Start with a single, likely client. Research their customer base and determine which customers would be the most interested and why.

5. Partner with another successful firm. Suppose a complementary and not competing company has the visibility and attention you want for your company. It may be a wash for you in terms of revenue, but you’ve gotten your product in front of real customers.

via 5 Ways to Set a New Company Up for Success.

Collaboration, conservative optimism and using your networks is what it’s really all about when a business is starting up. Telling your loved ones about what you’re doing (here’s my warm letter from last year) and setting up wonderful ways of working with others who serve the same audience as you (see my Coach’s Buffet that I’m doing at the Toronto Women’s Expo free of charge!) are surefire ways to soar to success.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

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Shock yourself—make a decision

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Indecision

Indecision (Photo credit: Bichuas (E. Carton))

A liability

One of the biggest liabilities of a small business owner is his or her inability to make quick and effective decisions.  In large corporations, unless you’re top management, this is less of a problem because there’s always someone else who’s got more authority than you. So if there’s a decision it’s usually not yours to make alone.

However, small business is different. You need to make a million decisions every day about who to call, what to say, how to blog, what to accomplish first etc. It is an endless stream of decision that ultimately affects your bottom line.

Why so hard?

How come decision making is so hard for most people? Renowned leadership author and guru Napoleon Hill said that most successful leaders of all walks of life are capable of quick and effective decisions. They decide and move quickly. Why is it then that I look around me and see a sea of indecision when faced with either a buying decision or a change to a business? The root of every inability is simple—it’s fear. Fear that the decision will be regretted.

Shake the bad habit

If your small business could definitely stand to grow, I challenge you to take small steps to get yourself rid of the indecision demon.  Make simple decisions everyday that lead to bigger ones as time goes on.

For example, decide and act on three new things you’ll incorporate into your business practice. (Like trying a new cold calling script or visiting a new association that you’ve never heard of etc.) Then the next week, you can graduate up to the bigger decisions like hiring a VA or refreshing your website etc.

Incomplete means indecision

If you look at anything incomplete in your life and business you’ll see that it’s because of indecision.  Take stock and make some decisions today, then you’ll start to see true transformation everywhere you look.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

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7 Things Your Customers Want Most

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It’s hard to part a consumer from their dollar these days. In truth, it always was. The new consumer is savvy and has the power of the internet as a research tool to dig into your industry, your competitors and to get the skinny on you. At the end of it all though, once they’ve bitten the bullet and become a customer, there are few things they want from you that you may not have thought about. Read this article below for a good synopsis:

1. Independent Thinking

Customers want to know that you’ll represent their interests, even it’s not in your own financial interest–and particularly when the proverbial chips are down.

2. Courage

They expect you to tell them if buying what you’re selling is a mistake, or not truly in their interests. That takes real guts.

3. Pride

The best customers don’t want you to truckle and beg.

4. Creativity

Customers don’t have the time to sit and listen to cookie-cutter sales presentations.

5. Confidence

They both need and expect you to exude the kind of confidence that assures them you’ll do what it takes to make them happy.

6. Empathy

Customers want you to see the situation from their perspective.

7. Honesty

Above all, customers want you to be honest with them.  Without honesty, you have absolutely nothing to offer any customer.

via 7 Things Your Customers Want Most.

You know in your gut whether you’re pleasing a customer or not. Make sure that you embody the most important things that your customers would want from you as listed above and see your retention and referral rates soar.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

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