small business

The sinews of success

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I spent some time this past weekend with some successful people. Do you know how to spot success? I guess in some cases you might be able to look at the ‘trappings’ of success… nice cars, big house, lavish vacations… and assume that they are successful at whatever it is they do. But that isn’t […]

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Listen first

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At a conference this past week I was fortunate to speak to lots of great people about their social media outreach. There are many well-intentioned organization/business owners out there who really do want to connect with their customers/constituents using social media, but they don’t know where to start. To me, that’s the easy part and […]

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Don’t Be A Vacuum Cleaner Salesman

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I spoke at a conference this past weekend and talked to a ton of great people about their social media outreach and how they can use social media to grow their business. As usually happens, lots of people want me to look at their social media sites and give them my opinion. So I discovered […]

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Give them the puzzle box

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I don’t like puzzles so much anymore. You know, the ones that come in a box in a gazillion pieces and you have to put it together? Thank God for the box or the whole process would be unbearable to me. I guess I’m a big-picture guy come to think of it. I like to […]

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The 10 things you need to be doing on Foursquare right now.

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Ok, so you have come over to my way of thinking about Foursquare and you are ready to jump in with both feet. So now what do you do? Read on… 1. First of all, you need to be a Foursquare user. You don’t need to be trying to do anything with your business in […]

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When It All Falls Apart

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My heart sank. I mean, like, really sank. I was staring at the blank screen that was my website and wondering how it could all go so wrong, so fast. Like any consultant, my website is my lifeline. It’s where I communicate what’s going on with me, what I am thinking, provides ways for people […]

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Social Media Guidelines for Small Business

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Guidelines? For a small business? You’re kidding, right? No dude, I’m like totally serious. According to a report done in 2010 called “Employer Perspectives on Social Networking”, which compiled data from over 34,000 companies in 35 countries, 75% of employers say they have no formal policy or guidelines for their employees about appropriate use of […]

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Blessed With Hunger

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And I am ready like the young salmon To leave his river, blessed with hunger; For a great journey on the drawing tide. That is from a poem by David Whyte, a poet who lives on Whidbey Island, in Washington State. I had never heard of him until I sat in a session led by […]

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You Can’t Stop, Even If You Want To

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If you get over the hurdle of getting involved in social media, and for small business it is a huge hurdle, then you face the next big problem… not quitting. And that may not be very different than alot of things in life, right? Think about when you first got into Facebook. It was pretty […]

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If You’re Not Growing, You’re Dying

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Yeah, I’m not the first person to say that, and yeah, it’s still true. Next week I am going to a week-long leadership development institute with people from all over the state of Tennessee. It is gonna be a great week of meeting new friends and having some fun while we learn. But I’ll be […]

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When times get tough… the tough get on Facebook.

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Let’s face it, small businesses could use some help. I spoke to a relative of mine recently who has been doing pretty good in his business, even during the recent hard times. It took hard work and good planning to keep his head above water the past couple of years, but he did it. He […]

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The Internet Is Down… So Now What Am I Gonna Do?

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I am lucky enough to work for an employer that basically shuts down for 7-10 days over the Christmas/New Years holiday. So that gives me plenty of time at home during that time to get caught up on all the things that I need to get caught up on like reading, blog posts, writing new […]

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If you suck, social media ain’t gonna help

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We’ve all experienced it. After 30 min. of waiting for your meal the server admits they forgot to give it to the kitchen. You call your cable/phone/internet/credit card/whatever company and they not only don’t help you, they manage to offend you or tick you off in the process. You need help in a store and […]

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When A Mountain Becomes A Molehill

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The statistics speak volumes… half of small businesses don’t even have a website, much less have stepped into the social media waters.  And I have blogged previously about why small businesses don’t get into social media.  But I wanted to write today about the fact that the mountain isn’t as high as you would think. […]

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Why They Act And Think The Way They Do

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“I just don’t understand them.”  I hear that alot when it comes to today’s young people, often called ‘Generation Y’, sometimes ‘digital natives’, and sometimes ‘millennials’. Whatever you want to call them, numerous statistical studies out there state that there are so many of them now in the workforce that they have either surpassed the […]

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How “the Golden Rule” can transform your social media strategy

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“When you show interest in others, others will show interest in you.” My friend Michael Angelo Caruso says that alot. And in addition to having a cool name, Michael is right! When you think about it, it sounds alot like the golden rule… ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ I […]

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Why Social Media Is So Difficult For Small Business

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I talked to a friend of mine tonight who runs his own business. He does about 2 million dollars of internet business every year and he has done well for himself because he found his ‘niche’ in his business and works hard to do well at it. He was telling me how many orders he […]

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Social Media is a big, fat waste of time

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I hear that occasionally when I talk to people about using social media to do various things.  I also hear things like “I don’t have time to bother with it.”, “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”, and one of my favorites… “I don’t see how it would benefit me, I mean, my customers don’t really […]

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Social Networking Glue

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As I stated in my last post, blocking social media tools/sites from your employees just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense nowadays.  You have to manage the process, yes, but there are more benefits than drawbacks in my opinion.  Here are the various reasons why you need to not only stop blocking social networking […]

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Embracing Social Media By Blocking Facebook… say what?

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I had a pretty interesting conversation a few months ago with a business that had hired me to speak to them about using social media to promote their business to the younger generation.  You see, their customer base in general is getting older and they fear they aren’t doing all they can do to build […]

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