The IPad – I want one.
I change my mobile every 6 or 7 months for no other reason than I fancy a change.
I buy something then use it for a little while then, when the novelty wears off, I sell it on Ebay.
If you were to look at my Ebay profile you would see that I actually admit to being a gadget freak.
I have been hankering for an e-book reader and have been doing some extensive research on them but I am so glad that I haven’t succumbed as I have fallen in love with the idea of having the new Apple IPad.
I have got to say that it’s one of my failings, I fall in love with the idea of having something but once I have it in my sticky hands there is always an anti-climax. I think the fun is in the chase and the more difficult it is to get the more excitement for me.
The one thing I hate doing is waiting, if I want something I want it now! I want the IPad, the one with all the bells and whistles but shock horror, I will have to wait until at least April 2010 for it – oh the pain!
Well according to the Apple website, it is going to beat netbooks and e-readers hands down….oooh can’t wait!
So watch this space for my honest review when I get it in my mits!
Don’t wait for Business Opportunities to knock – you’ll wait forever!
If you’re sitting at home on the sofa watching Law and Order and you hear a rat-a-tat-tat on your door! Don’t get excited, it’s not a business opportunity knocking!
If you’re comfy in front of your computer chatting to someone on Facebook then your attention is in the wrong direction to notice a fleeting business opportunity flying by.
I know it’s a cliché, but you need to get out of your comfort zone and rattle some cages!
Here are my five tips for opportunity ambushing.
1. Join referral networking clubs – people buy from people so you need to get out there and talk about yourself and your business. Be prepared to refer members and they will in return refer you, that’s how these clubs work. There’s only one downfall to these type of clubs – they are usually at an ungodly hour of the morning so make sure you make the most of them – not my best time!
2. Join LinkedIn groups – for instance, if you’re a widget training business, it’s pointless joining a group of widget trainers, unless it’s to get a few pointers. You need to look for groups of people who are likely to want your service. Interact with the right people, listen to their story, answer their questions and comment on their articles. Get known and seen! An opportunity will come out of it, I promise.
3. Give something away for free. Something that will show your potential customer just how good you are. They may not buy from you straight away but they will remember you when they are in need of a service such as yours.
4. Send “snail mail” – a postcard to a business up your street is a very inexpensive way of marketing but it can be effective. I use Vistaprint for the cheapest postcards and business cards.
You see, regardless of the long arm of the World Wide Web, many of us still like to work with people from our own local area. Let’s say you are looking for some widget training. You’ve found two companies that can do it for £250 a day. One is located the other side of the country and the other is just around the corner, which would you choose?
Keep a record of your mailing list and what has gone to them because once is never enough, you need to get in front of them as many times as you can so they will think of you when the time comes. If you’re worried that you’re wasting your time and money then give them a call and politely ask them if they would like to continue to receive correspondence from you – you never know, it could spark up a relationship at least!
5. Join small online social networks – I’m not talking about drowning in the Facebook pool. I’m talking about small free networks like my women’s peer network where you can get to know people and join their groups and actually interact. You can make connections and even learn something new.
Just one health warning – An opportunity that may well come knocking is the sheep in wolf’s clothing with a, never to be missed, get rich quick scheme. If it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is!
Don’t sack the receptionist – give her more work!
Isn’t it frustrating when you arrive at an office reception only to find that there’s no receptionist! There you stand, waiting for someone to notice you.
And some how the staff manage to beaver away while at the same time giving you glances but, infuriatingly, not making any effort to come to your rescue?
You think to yourself, should I wait, should I talk, should I….
I have worked in many busy offices in my time and the one person who seems to have the most fun and the cushiest job always seems to be the receptionist.
The problem is that when a company has a belt tightening period, then the receptionist is usually the one that bites the dust leaving a void in the reception area and some poor employee out of work and me, the poor visitor, left to her own devises.
I can understand the reasoning for her demise – maybe she spent a lot of time filing her nails or chatting on her mobile – but who’s fault is that? She could have been kept busy with a crucial occupation that most small companies tend to ignore usually to their peril.
She could have been the companies “Social Media Whizz Kid”!
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you would encourage her to chat on Facebook all day, I am talking about structured marketing using Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, LinkedIn and all the other important social networks.
She would be given targets to meet and results to report on, in fact she would be kept extremely busy.
There’s four things you would need to have in place in order to ensure you really do benefit from her activities, in other words to make sure she is actually marketing your business not chatting and making dates with her new found friends.
1) Big Brother is watching!
What a lot of companies don’t know is that if an employee is using a company e-mail then you have every right, as their employer, to monitor their e-mails. This is the first thing you should make clear to your new “Online Marketing Manager”, (it is amazing how a good title can incentivize).
2) A weekly feedback report.
This would be to ascertain, (sorry for the posh word), things like, how many followers you have gained on Twitter and how many Facebook, LinkedIn, Ecademy, Plaxo friends you have on your business pages etc.
3) Somone to write good copy.
Find your cleverest writer, (you could hold a competition!), and get them to write a couple of blog posts a week. The posts should contain all the right key words for the search engines and, ideally, should come out of your website but if you don’t have a blog on your website then you can start a blog easily using blogger, or blog spot, there are many others! (A little bit of training for your blogger wouldn’t go amiss either!)
4) A good trainer.
It doesn’t matter how much she thinks she knows about Facebook etc. she will not know about the right way to leverage this new media to market the business.
The beauty of teaching a member of staff Internet Marketing is that you will be in complete control; your staff member will be gaining some great skills and you will save a lot of money down the line – money that you would have had to pay to a marketing company to do it for you.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day teach him to fish…………
Pat Sutton – Professional Blogger and Marketing Director at Niche Media Marketing
One to one training, workshops and seminars on Social Media Marketing.
Pat Sutton – Forbes Listed as the 30 women entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter!
A good way to beat writer’s block!
Filed under: Blogging, marketing, personal development, writing
One of my favourite bloggers at the moment is James Chartrand. Here is one of his wonderful tips for when we’re suffering from blogger’s block.
“Great quotations are the richest goldmine of blog post ideas you’ll ever have.”
So I popped over to Wikiquote and found this great quotation by Sarah Bernhardt - “Life engenders life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.”
This is what I have been prattling on about for months. Give, give, give and eventually you will receive. Take a look at my blog, “Selling to the taxi driver” and you’ll see what I mean.
Here’s another:
“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” Helen Keller
I love this one, how many of you have the courage to really take a chance – to give up that job you hate or walk away from an employer who infuriates you? How may of you would love to be your own boss but have no idea how to do it?
I did it, I gave up a full time job to become an internet entrepreneur and I have never looked back. My choice of businesses fitted my values and beliefs, I chose to build a Blog site, this one, and to join a company called LifePathUnlimited.
It is important that you choose the right one for you and also the right mentor to help you on your way. If you want help with your life decisions please do contact me.
If you see yourself as an author and are interested in a monetised blog site then don’t forget to check out the fabulous Darren Rowse’s Blogger’s Workbook, it is what set me off on the right track.
“Just remember that even a long life is not long enough and an opportunity missed is not something lost but something never achieved.”
And that’s one of mine!
Pat Sutton – Blog Author at http://www.patsutton.com
-
-
-
Our Sponsors
31 Days to build a better blog.
I have Darren Rowse to thank for motivating me to start a business Blogging.
This little course changed the way I did it and turned, what was just a hobby into a lucrative business.
We train!
-
-
-
