Category: time sensitive

Hello again my solopreneur friends and yay it’s Friday!  Friday probably doesn’t have the same meaning to you now that it did when you had a job, but maybe it should, at least to some degree.  It’s so easy to get caught up in working all the time – there’s always more you can do and there’s no locked office to keep you away.  But please, for the benefit of the people who need your services, make sure to get some time in to replenish your energy and fuel your reserves.  Just like changing your oil regularly saves big repairs later, a little care for yourself now saves big problems later.  I’m pretty tied up this weekend with some family commitments, but I’ve already book in some mid-week play time next week because I know I’ll need it.

Ok, but here’s what you came for – this week’s news for solopreneurs, filtered for you by yours truly!

I’ve been wondering how long the printed Yellow Pages can survive.  Here’s a story about how they’ve decided to adapt and modernize.  What a great lesson for business owners – take your core strength and re-tool for changing circumstances.

Yellow Pages Turns to Local Search

Denise Wakeman is hosting “Brag About Your Blog Day” over at The Blog Squad’s Facebook page.  Head on over and sing your own praises!  I did this and my blog got noticed by WE Magazine, where I was name a 2011 Woman Blogger to Watch.

Brag About Your Blog Day (like the page before you can brag)

I almost didn’t read this story because it isn’t solopreneur-specific, but I’m sure glad I did!  It’s about how a day spa uses their great relationships with customers to raise capital for expansion.  There’s so much great material about building relationships, creative financing and giving your customers a sense of ownership to the project.

Raising Cash from Customers

That’s it for the news this week.  Leave me a comment and tell me about how you will recharge this weekend!

PS – If you want these items via Facebook, head over to my page and like it.

Hello solopreneurs, and here is the news from this week.  I read dozens of newsletters and Google Alerts to pick just a few choice items that are worth your precious time.  If you’d like to see these items and a few select others in your Facebook feed, come over and like on my page.  Since it is Friday, I’d like to remind and nudge you to make sure to schedule some time off this weekend. Nobody can do what you do exactly how you do it, so it’s important that you refuel so you can keep going!

I’m having my in-laws up for the afternoon on Saturday so they can see our new flooring! We’ve been renovating for over 5 years, and they saw this place before we even purchased it so this is a big “reveal” event!

Tell me about your plans to refuel this weekend in the comments!

Here’s the news:

Success is often build by just plodding through with small steps day after day. Good habits are critical to success!

9 Bad Behaviors of Struggling Startup Founders

It’s tempting to justify expenses when they are for business, but don’t give in too much!  Staying lean in your spending will help you be successful.

4 Indulgences Your Business Can’t Afford

Here’s a great, short description of strategic planning in just 3 steps.

3 Steps to Better Management

If you’re not seeing results from your business efforts on Facebook, join me for this webinar.  Hubspot knocks it out of the park on their FREE webinars so it will be worth it to go.

Tools for Effective Facebook Marketing

Here’s an inspiring case which shows you can build a successful business doing what others are already doing by finding a better way to do it.  Don’t be discouraged by having competition – there’s only one you so nobody can do your work the way you do.

Changing retail $1 at a time

That’s the news…. See you Monday!

Hello fellow solopreneurs!  It’s almost the weekend and that means that one of your to-do items today is to check your calendar and make sure you have some time blocked off to recharge and have some fun.  Your work is important to the people you serve, and you can’t serve them if you’re fried to a crisp from working too much.  Put your own air mask on first, right?

Here’s the news from this week I thought you’d enjoy.  I post these items throughout the week on my Facebook page, so if you just can’t wait till Friday for important items hand-picked for you, come on over and join me on Facebook by clicking like.

Marketing Sherpa publishes such great charts!  Here’s one on which tactics are effective at growing your email list.

Most Effective Email List Growth Tactics

You already know working too much is bad for you, but do you know just how bad it really is?  Working too many hours is a big temptation for solopreneurs, but it harms our creativity and productivity as well as our personal lives.  Get the facts here:

Don’t Melt Down

When you first start your business, there’s so much to do it seems like a reasonable shortcut to run your business finances through your personal accounts.  This might be okay for the early phases of your business, but don’t make it a long-term way of doing things.

10 Tricks to Keeping Personal and Business Finances Separate

If you use and follow the use of social media for business, you’ve probably heard somebody tout the usefulness of Twitter for market research.  Here’s an interesting study that helps support that.  Twitter showed a high ability to predict box office success.

Twitter Can Help Predict Business Trends

Have a great weekend, and leave me a comment with your plans for recharging this weekend.

No jokes here!  Every Friday, I publish a summary of some items I think are useful to solopreneurs.  If you’d like to see these right in your Facebook feed, click over to my page and like it.  I also use this post to remind you to take some time to recharge your batteries this weekend in whatever way works best for you.  As solopreneurs, we’re in big danger of working too much.  There’s so much to do, and we feel so personally connected to all of it that it’s easy to get sucked in.  As for me, I have NOTHING planned and that’s the way I like to spend a lot of weekends.  My weekdays are so heavily scheduled that I need a break from all that scheduling on the weekend.  Regardless of what I end up doing I’m usually happy if it doesn’t involve a schedule.

Missing keywords in your URL doesn’t ruin your SEO!  I was thrilled to read this article – one of the ideas in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is that your keyword (what people are searching for when you hope they find you) should be in your domain name url.  If you got a great name with no keywords, don’t despair as this can be overcome.

http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/search-marketing/seo-domain-keywords/

Shocking but true!  Half a percent of Twitter users generate half the tweets!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/28/twitter-study-statistics_n_841666.html

Free webinar on increasing your email effectiveness.  Marketing Sherpa gives great information, so I’ll be on this webinar!

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/406918825

One of my favorite teachers Michele PW is presenting this free call along with Shannon Cherry:  “3 Simple Secrets to Attracting All the Clients and Business you Deserve, No Matter What”

3 Simple Secrets Call

There you have it, my picks for the week!  I hope you have a great weekend and start the next week raring to go!

Every Friday I send a recap of the news I posted this week.  I read dozens of newsletters and other news sources and hand pick one article or event to share every day that I think has value to solopreneurs.  If you’d like to see these news items right in your Facebook feed, visit my page and click like.  Here’s this week’s picks:

26 ways to generate leads from social media

Social Media Examiner consistently delivers great content and this is no exception.  As solopreneurs, we often hate the sales part of the business but if your business is going to succeed you must become proficient in selling.  Generating leads is the first step in making sales.

Online Sales Productivity Summit

Hubspot also provides excellent content.  This summit is scheduled for 3/17 and 3/24, but you may be able to get the first recording if you sign up.

Develop a Strategy for Setting the Right Price

Pricing can be a perennial issue for solopreneurs.  We’re often torn between wanting to help people and hearing “I can’t afford it.”

The Science of Timing

Hubspot has done a whole series of “The Science of” webinars and they are always fascinating.  They collect and analyze a large body of data to see what the best practices are.  In this case, they’ll be revealing the best time to tweet, email, blog, etc.

Lame Sales Questions to Avoid

Laughed out loud at this one!  It’s filled with things you can’t believe any salesperson would say, but I’m sure they do.  Whether we like it or not, becoming good at or at least comfortable with selling is a pre-requisite for business success.

That’s the news for the week.  Are you making some time for fun this weekend?  Create some separation from you business for at least some of the weekend so you can come back recharged and ready to serve.

Here are the news highlights for solopreneurs from this week.  Enjoy and make sure to take some time off from your business this weekend!  Your clients will thank you for your renewed energy and creativity.

I post news links on my Facebook fan page, so if you’d like to see stories like these delivered right to your Facebook news feed, head over to my page and click like.

Businesses rate direct mail as effective – Marketing Sherpa

This blew me away – I put most of the mail I get right into the recycling bin or shredder.  But somebody must be reading their mail or businesses wouldn’t send it.

Business vs. personal use of social media – bplans.com

Great advice here – it’s fine to mix the two, but do so consciously and assume that everything you post is available to everyone.

Optimize your email marketing for social media – American Express Open Forum

Without question, the entire web is going more social so it only makes sense that your email marketing should too.

Free List Building telesummit – listbuildingsummit.com

16 experts in a free series to help you build or start your email newsletter list.  I’ll see you there!

Keeping your email inbox in check – featured article in this week’s issue of my newsletter

I take a somewhat controversial stance on how to maintain your email inbox.

4 Problems with our brains that can effect your business – Business Insider

We can be blind to the flaws in our thinking – don’t make these common errors in your business.

That’s the news this week!  It’s beautiful here in SoCal, and the tsunami missed us so I am thankful for that.  Chris and I are still putting our house back together after having flooring installed throughout so we’ll probably do some work around here and maybe take the dogs for a hike.  Have a great weekend!

This is a new feature I’m starting this week where I highlight a few newsworthy links I’ve seen this week.  If you’d like to see these links and more throughout the week right in your Facebook feed, you can like my page right here.

Google’s response to content farms – The New York Times

Google attempts to improve the relevance of search results by weeding out sites that are designed to rank high while providing little real value.

Thinking through the decision to start a business – New York Times blogs

A business writer and owner walks through some of the thought process with a would-be entrepreneur.

Tips for starting a business at home – USA Today

A quick read with some good tips for starting your business at home.

That’s the news this week, hope you had a good one!  I’ve got a busy weekend planned recovering from having laminate flooring installed throughout our entire house this week.  Time to move back into our house!