FRESHviews
PAUL AND SARAH EDWARDS: LIFESTYLES FOR THE MILLENNIUM
1.
IMAGEZOO
Free events
for small biz
Paul and Sarah
Edwards are
pioneers in the
home-business
field. They can
be reached on
the Web at www.
middleclasslife
boat.com
A COUPLE OF noteworthy
free series for small-business
owners may well be worth
an investment of time.
OPEN from American
Express®, and SCORE,
the resource partner of
the U.S. Small Business
Administration, are sponsoring a series of speed
mentoring events to provide
education, resources and
inspiration to small businesses in an interactive
five-hour program that pairs
them with experienced business coaches.
Upcoming events:
■ March 6, 2008: Atlanta
■ March 26, 2008: Chicago
■ April 23, 2008: Dallas–
Fort Worth
Online resources and
local help are available for
those unable to travel to
event sites. For more information, visit
www.score.
org/open_Events.
Microsoft is also championing small businesses
in its third annual online
Small Business Summit,
offered from March 24 to
27 at
www.sbsummit.com.
Registration is free.
The four days of web-casts will feature information on sales and marketing,
productivity, mobility and
security, financial management and start-ups.
One lucky business
owner will win a $100,000
Microsoft Small Business
Technology Makeover. Find
out about the finalists and
vote for one online from
March 6 to 11. The winner
will be announced on the
first day of the summit.
Check the Small
Business Summit Web site
for a full list of speakers
and presentations. C
Be bold with
your Web site
MOST SMALL BUSINESSES have a Web site and
two-thirds are at least covering their costs or making money on their Web sites, according to the
Small Business Administration. But are you doing
as well as you might with your Web site? Are you
attracting new customers and increasing sales?
Or is your Web site just a billboard where you
send people to see what you offer?
Perhaps you worry that if you were more proactive you might annoy your customers and prospects, but Jim Sniechowski and Judith Sherven,
sponsors of a conference called “Bridging Heart
and Marketing: Soft-Sell Internet Marketing,”
believe that concern should be set aside. They’re
convinced that “if you have something that solves
a problem people want to have solved, then you
have an obligation to make that product available.”
And there’s no better way of doing it than using
the Internet.
“Companies can have a more intimate, conversational relationship on the Internet than with print
ads, radio or TV,” they explain, “in part because
there’s the potential for immediate exchange.”
Sarah and I are in the midst of creating new
Web sites ourselves, and because neither of us is a
wizard, we turn to resources written for people like
us. One such guide, which is packed with useful tidbits, is Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic
Marketing for Speakers, by Tom Antion (www.
Antion.com).
Practical ways to get people to your Web site
include discussion boards, streaming news, surveys and polls, contests and sweepstakes, classified
ads, social networking sites and RSS feeds. (RSS
stands for “Really Simple Syndication,” which is
how people are automatically alerted to new
blogs, podcasts, updates to Web sites and news.
It’s to a business’s advantage to have customers
choose to be so notified.)
Antion also advises business owners to take
an active role in managing the marketing efforts
on their Web site, interacting and following up personally with visitors. “You don’t need to know the
technicalities,” he explains. “But you do need to
know what needs to be done so you can make
sure it gets done.” C
Achieve greatness, be human
BUSINESS TYCOONS are often
shown to be heartless, greedy
cads who consider stepping on
others a necessity in their rise to
the top.
In his new book, The Compassionate Samurai: Being Extraordinary in an Ordinary World
(available at costco.com), international consultant, speaker and
author Brian Klemmer (www.
klemmer.com) states, “You can be
rich and spiritual, wealthy and
giving, a warrior in the marketplace, yet a strong-willed, compassionate friend to many.” Here
are a few of his tips on how a
business owner or CEO “can
improve the bottom line while
contributing to humanity.”
11. Honesty. Tell employees
what you are working on in yourself. This goes a long way toward
employees working harder, listening to you and being willing
to work on themselves, all of
which makes more profit for your
company.
2. Contribution. Set aside a
percentage of the company’s profits to give to humanitarian causes,
ones the employees help pick.
Employees want to associate with
PHOTO ALTO
a company they can be proud of,
and giving resonates with customers and builds brand loyalty.
3. Courage. If your employees get a percentage of the profit
as a bonus, tell them at the beginning of the year the minimum
profit you are committed to or
what embarrassing thing you will
do if you don’t achieve it, such as
having to wear a chicken costume
for a day. Commitment attracts
opportunities the rational conscious mind is unaware of.
4. Trust/honor. Ask employees their viewpoint or opinion on
something and take their advice—
especially if they are several levels
below you. It’s good to empower
people. The main reason employees leave is that they don’t feel
appreciated.
5. Abundance/honor. Use a
portion of the profits for gifts. I call
them trigger devices because they
trigger a sense of how much you
care every time the person sees it.
Physical things are better than cash
because they carry memories.
Keeping employees happy goes a
long way when you are demanding. It’s like a bank account with
deposits and withdrawals. C
