Entrepreneurship

Publicity, Almost Free and Gets You Viva Voce

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Sometimes the best things in life are free. Publicity and word of mouth advertising are two such things, and they don’t need to cost a lot of money.

Free publicity is attractive because third party comments will usually be taken as having more credibility than paid advertising, and of course, because it’s free. Although we refer to publicity as free, there is usually going to be an investment of time and thought in order to get the buzz going. Here are a few ideas for getting free publicity.

1. First, do a fabulous job of serving your customers so that they tell their friends about your goods and refer them to your business. Called “word of mouth” advertising, this is the most powerful of all.

2. You can approach individuals and ask them to provide you with testimonials. Choose people who have high credibility for your customers and be sensitive; if they decline, accept the “no” and move on. Testimonials can be in written, audio or video format. Videos are most powerful for website promotions.

3. Approach your local newspaper and ask if they will do an article on your business. In order to do this, you need to be newsworthy so it pays to put some time into figuring out what the ‘hook’ is. It’s helpful if your product or service solves a problem in some new or remarkable way.

4. Publish a blog. When you blog, and if you write interesting blogs, other bloggers can pick up your articles and link to them, creating widespread publicity.

5. Support or sponsor a person or local cause. As an example, one entrepreneur sat at the top of a pole in a highly visible location to create publicity and collect funds for a great social cause.

6. Do something outstanding or newsworthy. Climb a mountain, walk or run a remarkable distance, compete in a pie-eating contest, swim a long distance, go without food. If you’re newsworthy, media will write about what you’re doing.

7. Create and publish a top ten list about something to do with your business.

8. Prove a myth or stereotype in your industry wrong.

9. Do a customer survey and include controversial questions. Write about the results.

10. Develop an annual award that you give out to someone in the community or a business in your industry.

11. Offer surprising facts about your industry or business. For instance, if you’re a recruitment firm write an article titled, “The Average Starting Salary of An MBA Graduate is 40 percent Higher Than Their Pre-MBA Earnings.”

12. Create a story that piggybacks off an event, a national story, or something historical.

13. Tell your story, or the story of why you started your business.

14. Be the first, the best, the faster, the cheapest, the most innovative.

15. Build a story around holidays or special days.

Ideally, your publicity efforts will be interesting enough to inspire others (reporters) to write about your business, but don’t hesitate to write up the articles yourself and offer them for use. Most professionals are very busy and will appreciate all you do to make their job easier.

Business Planning, Entrepreneurship

What’s New At The RiskBuster Business Plan Oasis?

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Here are a few new developments at the Business Plan Oasis for your consideration.

  1. The blog has moved to the its new home The blog has lived at the home page while we jossle things into place at the Oasis. You may want to bookmark it or click on the RSS feed link in the upper right sidepanel to receive our updates.
  2. A dynamic new home page is under construction at RiskBuster.com. Very soon we plan to have some compelling flash and a warm welcoming video to greet visitors.
  3. We’re proud to announce the launch of the Business Plan Forum at the Oasis. One thread is for registered member Coaches only; all others are open to the world. We hope you’ll visit and ask your questions, collaborate with other business planners and contribute wherever you can to help others. We’ve started with a number of small and micro business categories, including Entrepreneurship, Owning a Business, Marketing and Advertising, eBusiness, Products and Pricing, Cash Flow and Financials, Self-Employment, Business Planning, Starting a Business, Funding and Financing, and Market Research. We look forward to your comments.
Business Planning, Entrepreneurship

The Sad Truth about the Illustrious Uncoachable Duckweed

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After 20 years in the business development arena, it’s fair to say that 98 percent of the men and women I coach are learners and a joy to deal with. They make my job easy. But there is one personality type that makes me sweat, one that I know causes stress to other professionals as well. The type I refer to possesses a few annoying traits; he usually has an inflated ego, is completely self-centered and aggressive, and spends far more time talking than listening. For this article let’s roll these traits into one character called the Uncoachable Duckweed (Spellchecker preferred this over my first choice).

Duckweed usually wants to get into business because he apparently “doesn’t want to work for anyone else.” There are several great reasons why anyone might prefer not to be employed by others: financial independence, lifestyle, or simply to have the freedom to design one’s own job. But anyone too ornery to work for others will be in for a harsh awakening as a business owner.

Once in business, Duckweed will soon find that the normally helpful folks are going to be invisible when it comes to getting help along the business development path. But there’s another part of the picture that really negates the uncoachable’s chances of success, and it’s this—nobody is obliged to tell him about his shortcomings. Instead of saying why they don’t want to deal with him, they just quietly deal somewhere else. There’s no benefit for anyone to tell Duckweed that he has the personality of a mutant gnat. Nobody likes confrontation.

So, the sad truth is that you might be a raving Duckweed and not even know it. If you think you might fit the profile, here are a few things to watch for.

1. If you’re continually spouting off about how smart you are compared to the other 6.9 billion people on the planet, share some of the oxygen and know that you might be a Duckweed.

2. If your business coach has repeated for the 23rd time that you need to validate your sales forecast, kiss your chances of getting a loan goodbye and entertain the possibility that you might be uncoachable.

3. If, in any given calendar year, you make more a dozen trips to your lawyer’s or MLA’s office for nefarious reasons, accept that you’re too busy fighting the world to have time to run a business, and know that you might be a Duckweed.

4. If you find that folks are screening your calls and texts and emails, including your therapist and your mother, say goodbye to network building and know that you might be uncoachable.

5. If you already own a business, you think all employees are bottom-dwellers, and you’re on a first name basis with the entire Employment Standards staff, say no to any thoughts of growing a business and know that you might be a Duckweed.

6. Finally, if more than 3 people suggest you read this blog, I rest my case.

Business is all about networking. An ability to be somewhat of an independent thinker is necessary to take the helm of your own business. But on digging deeper, we soon realize that entrepreneurs build true momentum by leveraging through other people. Duckweed’s ability to scale a business up will be severely restricted without a solid network to help.

Businesses succeed because their owners have an amazing ability to attract and motivate the right people to become part of their team. If you don’t have the ability to inspire followers, don’t go into business.

Entrepreneurship, General, Starting a Business

Dear Creative Entrepreneur

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Entrepreneurs have fueled economies with their energy since the beginning of time.

Humble tailors taking care of business in feudal times had similar challenges to the home-based website designers of today. Whether using a barter system or the currency of the day, tailors had to buy or create tools, get raw materials, and sell products and services. They had to pay bills, market goods, negotiate prices, fend off marauding rent seekers, clean the shop, and take out the garbage. And like the website designer, they somehow managed to outsmart competitors, and sell enough services to feed, cloth, and shelter themselves and their families.

As an entrepreneur, you are a worker bee with a vision. You are motivated to solve problems, to serve others, and to make a difference. You need to be productive and you love to win. You pull miracles out of nothingness in the quiet of night while others sleep. You are a conduit for the raw energy that binds all people together. You help to feed, cloth, shelter and nurture the people around you.

You may work with a team or by yourself; you might work full-time, part-time or double-time. You might be a carpenter, a doctor, a house cleaner, a teacher, an artist, a mechanic or an inventor. Whatever the nature of your business, your work makes the lives of others better in some way. You take pride in your work and in doing so, you set yourself apart from those without vision. You are responsible for your actions and accountable for the outcomes. You continually make improvements because you are passionate about your work and you care about yourself and those you serve. Your vision elevates you above the masses of workers who simply toil to survive. Your vision includes aspirations beyond survival, perhaps abundance, enriched life style and autonomy. Whatever you do, you will make a positive difference in the world around you.

If you’re working at something you love to do, you might do it even if nobody paid you for your efforts. As one of my favourite techies once said, “If the truth be known, you really wouldn’t have to pay us money to do your IT; we would actually work for free as long as you provide us with bandwidth…”

I want my carpenter to love building and be passionate about working with wood.

I want my doctor to love people and to be passionate about my well being.

I want my house cleaner to love cleaning and be passionate about eradicating dust.

I want my teacher to love me and be passionate about his topic and teaching.

I want my artist to love to write or paint or play and to be passionate about the message.

I want my mechanic to love the sound of a well tuned engine and be passionate about safety.

I want my inventor to love solving problems and be passionate about innovating.

Entrepreneurship is not about the money. It’s about exercising one’s right to be creative, to solve problems, to serve customers and to make the world a better place. Do what you love to do and the money will follow.

Do you realize how powerful you are? Can you see the impact you have on the world around you? Does your vision include making a difference to your community, to your family, to your world?

Your Business. Your Plan. Your Way.