Here’s what I love to do: speak to groups – any size will do. Just show me the front of the room, hand me a microphone, and I’m ready to go. Here’s what else I like to do: teach business owners things they need to know to help their companies.  The last 18 months I have done a lot of speaking and teaching. Hundreds of people have heard me talk about how to market their businesses using Social Media. It’s a hot topic everywhere, and it’s been fun to share ideas. There are always new things popping up since Facebook changes about every week. (Which I can appreciate from a technology standpoint, but it makes it hard for the average bear to keep their arms around!)

Here’s what I love about speaking to groups: people are pretty much the same everywhere. They are hard working, they have families that they want to spend more time with, they wish the economy was better, and they know they should be doing more marketing but aren’t sure how to go about it. They want to laugh at a joke, talk about themselves, and enjoy the company of others. What keeps them up at night varies, but something always keeps them up at night. There is some pain in his or her business and it is up to each entrepreneur with a product or service to offer to find out what that problem(s) is and help them find a solution.

If you aren’t speaking to audiences now, you might consider adding this to your giant list of to-do’s. Here are a couple of reasons why.

• Instead of one-to-one marketing this is one-to-many. Time well spent!
• This is a great way to be seen as an expert
• The questions participants ask will keep you on your toes and make you dig in deeper on your subject matter
• While you aren’t always “allowed” to sell, you do have the opportunity to talk about how you have helped other clients in your various programs, which gets the point across.
• You can build your contact list with people who have attended your presentations. I have a sign up sheet or do a giveaway for those interested.
• You make wonderful new business contacts who know a lot of people who need what you have to offer. Can you say “referral marketing?”

Every town has weekly or monthly networking meetings with various groups. Ask your friends which ones they belong to and ask if they will bring you as a guest.  You will have a chance to introduce yourself and that in itself could spark the interest.   Check in with your local SBA or SBDC and get a list of groups. They all need speakers regularly. Some will be free and some could be paid. To get started you will likely do a lot of free talks, but then your name starts to get around and the phones will start ringing. Meet the people in charge of putting on conferences, or volunteer to teach continuing education courses through your local University.

I’d love to hear where you are speaking. Leave me a comment, okay?

Small business owners are drowning. They have too much to do and too little time to do it. They wear all the hats in their companies and often things just don’t get done. A typical work day is much longer than 8 hours, and more than 5 days per week is the norm. Until…they discover and implement the ideas I am sharing here.

1. Systems

Picture this: You want to send out a newsletter to everyone on your contact list. This should happen once a month, but because it takes so much focused time and you can’t remember all the steps, you end up spending more time than necessary, and are probably forgetting some things. Enter “the system.” If you write down all the steps you have to take to create the newsletter and file it in an easy to find spot, then next month, you pull the sheet and quickly go down through each step. No more worry about forgetting something. No time wasted thinking and rethinking. And the best part? Now you are ready for step 2.

2. Delegating

Once you have a documented system you can hire someone to go through each step for you. Any decisions that need to be made are documented with the way to make the decision. Once a month that person pulls the list of to-do’s for the newsletter and does this for you. Voila! Now, you can spend that time doing something at which you are brilliant and are making more money than what you are paying for the person now sending out your newsletter.

Next week I am thrilled to have my good friend Jessica Maes joining me as a guest for this month’s call. She knows all about delegating and will sharing lots of great information so that you can go from overwhelmed to in control of your time. Your business and your family will thank you! If you aren’t already receiving invites to my complimentary teleseminars, you can register here. Bonus: you will have access to all the MP3 recordings of each previous call in 2010.

Join us to learn how you can finally get it all done.

Deborah Hanchey over at My WP Works recently completed the Virtual Event Specialist program through the VA Classroom and offered to try out her new skills for me. I, of course, chose to talk about my favorite subject: social media.

We cover a lot of ground in 17 minutes, from statistics, to why you need social media, to how to plan your social media activity.

It’s all valuable information, so please take a look. I’d love your feedback!

While sorting through some emails I had saved, I found one I had sent to my son and daughter who, at the time, were a recent high school and a college graduate. The content  in the email came from a blog post written by Savvy Auntie. (Please click to read the original) The ideas are timeless, and always bear repeating, whether for your personal life or your business life.

Here are my favorite points.

1) Save for your dream. It’s coming

Do not spend money on things you really do not need. Save it for your legacy. It’s coming. Wait for it.

2) Be nice. To everyone.

You never know how the dots in your life will connect. People come into your life when they do for a reason. Don’t be arrogant and think that people with whom you do not connect with right away are not the final connection in the future to securing what you need.

3) Be ready to help anyone at any time.

People often ask me for help. Sometimes it’s business related, sometimes, it’s not. Either way, I thank them for the opportunity to help. Selfishly, I know it’s coming right back to me, by just the right person, at just the right time, just when I need it. And that never fails.

4) You’re not entitled to feel entitled

You’ve got to earn your respect. Listen before your talk. Really. Listen. Listen good and hard. There is a lot to learn out there. The minute you think you know better, or know everything, is the minute you begin to fail. Learning is the key to success. Learning is the fuel that drives inspiration. When you listen, you learn.

5) Read

Read something that will teach you about how best to succeed in your field of choice, every day. Find blogs that guide you. Buy books that teach you. Read the news. Read. Read. Read. And bookmark the pages you want to read again. Read one business book every two weeks. Read one business blog post every day. Read one business magazine once a month. Just read. If you are blogging more than you are reading, you’re not listening. You’re talking. So read.

Thank you, Savvy Auntie, for sharing!

Each spring and summer I fill my back patio with pots filled with colorful annuals. Some summers there are two dozen pots filled with blooming things. This year I was less inspired due to the early onslaught of very hot weather. Which followed the very cold winter we had. Normally, my habit of bringing the pots into the garage for the winter works really well and quite a few flowers make a showing a second year. That didn’t happen this spring. In fact, I lost everything in every pot. When it came time to replant, I dutifully cleaned out all the stems and started fresh.

Time passes, and imagine my surprise when I walked by a window two days ago and was intrigued by a bright orange glint through the hot pink hydrangeas! When I went out to get a closer look I discovered that a little zinnia seedling had somehow not only survived the winter, but was thriving alone in a giant pot still sitting at the back of the patio. It was saying to the world, “I refuse to die.” What a clever and brave little fellow, proudly proclaiming itself with a very vibrant orange. No shy wallflower here. And being the clever little person that I am, I saw how this was a statement about business. (you were wondering how I was going to get to the business point…)

Last year was such an amazing year for my business. I saw growth in every direction, pulled up a lot of [weeds] that weren’t fitting for me, applied lots of [fertilizer] for new growth, [watered] well with inspiration and education, and was not willing to be stuck in a copy cat business that didn’t suit me. This spring found me a little dormant, but refusing to just sit and do nothing about it, I am figuring out new and better ways to share my passions and strengths with others. It’s a grand ride, and the results are so worth the effort.

Take a good look and weed out those things that just don’t fit you or your business anymore. Surround yourself with inspiration, motivation, and strong individuals that want to help you succeed. So, like that brilliant orange zinnia standing by itself in that big pot, you will move forward with happiness, confidence, and new found strength that others may not have known you possessed.

Wikipedia defines continuum as “anything that goes through a gradual transition from one condition, to a different condition, without any abrupt changes.”  Hmmmm. I don’t really do anything gradually. And I never thought of viewing things on a continuum.  To me everything is on or it’s off, it’s good or it’s bad, it’s at one end or the other.  Seriously? A good tweak of that position would serve me well. As a friend told me today, I need to find an internal dimmer switch!

Here’s what this is going to mean. (I think!)  I am very good at seeing problems people have in their businesses, and very good at quickly coming up with ideas for fixing them. By putting the idea of a continuum to a solution, I will probably come up with lots of good alternate scenarios and solutions.  Timelines will be more apparent and adjustments can be gradual, allowing easy shifts to plans. Yea!

That’s it. Just wanted to share this new thought process with you. Won’t you share something about what you might be tweaking in your OWN business?

My daughter is a blogger – a great blogger. And she writes just like she speaks, which is perfect for me because it’s just like talking to her on the phone. She still has that smart-alecky tone, and somehow manages to capture the interest of many people each day. So my blog post today is going to focus on what she is doing right that is capturing everyone’s attention.

1. She knows her target audience very well. Her blog is on Runner’s World.com, and since she is a runner, it talks a lot about running, training, and racing. She also talks about something else that runners like: food! What she talks about gets people commenting.

2. She is very personable and authentic. Her personality comes out loud and clear. She isn’t fake, and she let’s people see into her life just a little to let everyone know that she’s a real person. Your blog should reflect who you are. If you are inauthentic-that shows-and people will not be drawn to you.

3. She includes pictures whenever possible. Everyone loves to see photographs of what other people are seeing and doing. That makes the blog post much more compelling and entertaining.

4. She keeps the posts short. Most are only a few paragraphs. She says what needs to be said, throws in her “carrie-isms” and is done.

5. She gives comments on other blogs, and therefore, other bloggers comment on her posts. A normal day would have 15-20 comments on her post. That’s really great! You’ve gotta build that circle of blog support. Find blogs that have similar themes and/or audiences and become of part of their world. Comment (genuinely) and build relationships with other bloggers. They will reciprocate. That’s part of the cycle.

It makes me so proud to have a little blogger in the family!

Linqto is a wonderful new tool that business owners should investigate. This afternoon I am hosting my first “call” using linqto. It has all the bells and whistles of many webinar type products, with an added benefit of connecting to Facebook. For me, this is going to be great when teaching – either one-on-one or virtual classrooms. I can use it to have meetings with clients or potential clients. I could use it instead of driving to local businesses when explaining things. It would be great for just visiting with friends and family, too.

I love cool software. This has so much potential. It’s kind of like Facebook TV. In fact, some linqto subscribers are doing exactly that – weekly shows at a set time. I haven’t gotten to that point yet, but this is just an example of the power it has. Other uses are discussion groups, online meetings, mastermind sessions, and focus groups. Vicki Sarris, one of the developers and owners, calls it a “live interaction platform.” Benefits for class participants are the ability to chat during the call, ask questions privately to the presenter, and being able to use their own webcam and mic and be seen and heard live. Some may choose to cover up their camera and just use the mic, or maybe all they have is a mic attached to their computer.

One other nice feature is “raise hand.” I will be using this during the call when polling the participants. Everyone can see who has raised their hands. It’s going to be much more interactive and interesting to all involved.  You should check it out.

(I am not in any way affiliated with this company and get no money from them when talking about linqto or if anyone joins as a result of my information.)

This morning I was on what I call “The Escalator” at the gym. It’s one of those stair climber things that totally kicks your butt. Literally. In order to make the time pass I have to either read or listen to something on my mp3 player. Lately I’ve been reading Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles.” It’s filled with gems that would have been nice to know a couple of years ago. If you are scratching your head about how things are going or not going in your business, run to the nearest bookstore and buy a copy. It’s paperback and won’t break your weekly coffee budget.

The passage I want to share today is about deciding what you want. For a long time I have wondered why making decisions is not cut and dry for me. This jumped out at me: If you are going to reown your power and get what you really want out of life, you will have to stop saying, “I don’t know; I don’t care; it doesn’t matter to me” – or the current favorite of teenages, “Whatever.” It goes on to say that we need to practice making every decision as if it matters. We deserve to have everything in our lives exactly the way we want it. Now I know that if I can really listen to myself I really do have strong opinions on things and can make amazing decisions. Not just on where to go on vacation, or what color to paint the kitchen, but on every direction in my life and business.

Just wanted to share that in case you haven’t been listening to YOURself, either! What have you been putting off deciding?

Working from home is great. I’ve been doing it for 15 years. It gave me the wonderful opportunity to spend more time with my kids when they were growing up. My husband has worked from home for 20 years, so we have learned a very different life style than many couples. He’s the perfect work at home type. He gets up early and starts making calls and doing his paperwork, emails, etc. He does everything he needs to do in a very short time and then starts making calls if he is hitting the road. He makes great use of his time.

On the other hand, my day doesn’t go anything like that. I ease into my work day after breakfast, working out, Bible study and maybe some chores. I’m using a new Power Hour technique that seems to be going well. (As wife and mother it’s hard to not look around and be distracted by all the stuff that needs doing around the house.) So, I use my little timer set for 50 minutes and get to work fast on client work. As soon as the timer goes off I take a 10 minute break to walk in the yard and pull a weed or two, maybe knit a couple rows on my current project, or flip through a magazine. At the end of 10 minutes I go back to work again for another 50 minutes. I find that I am getting more done in a shorter time frame. Maybe it’s because I know I will get “me” time filled with activities that bring me joy. I do NOT use those 10 minutes to do chores, check email, or make phone calls. Only things that I consider fun. Now, if you consider chores fun, then by all means scrub a toilet or throw in some laundry!

One more thing that I started is my Gratitude Journal. Each night right before bed I take out a pretty journal book and nice pen and write a few sentences about what I am grateful for. It has really opened up my awareness and I am seeing the fruitage of this lovely new activity. During the day I find myself looking for good things and seeing how I can express gratitude for so much more happening, whether in my life, or the lives of others. You should try it!

What new things have you started lately that you want to share?