The SmallBizLady Buzz - Issue 103
Best Business Advice I’ve Heard in a While
Last month, I moderated a panel of expert CEOs. One a franchise with 4 locations, another was a manufacturer in the pet market, another was a manufacturer of high-end automotive parts, and the last business owner was a 20 year veteran in the security and identify verification field. The audience was high school students, but the advice could help any entrepreneur. This is my summary of this master class.
- A business starts with a thought, and you must believe in your thought.
- Learn how to stay focused.
- Connect as people first.
- Know the room—research who you are going to talk with before you get there.
- Speak the language of your ideal customer.
- Be comfortable with being uncomfortable, you must grow yourself to grow your business.
- You can’t let failures get in your way.
- Learn to view yourself from an outside perspective-- what is it like to work for you?
- You don’t have to be an expert in everything. Find the right people to support you in areas where you are not strong.
- Invest in online advertising.
Any business can benefit from this advice.
Are you looking for how to sell on TikTok or Pinterest? Check out this week’s featured post: How to Use Social Media to Convert Sales Part 2
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How to Use Social Media to Convert Sales Part 2
In part one of this series on social media conversions, we focused on the three most prominent social media platforms: Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. In Part 2 of this post, we’ll focus on the more niche players in the world of social media marketing. While their reach is slightly smaller, these sites can drive sales and traffic effectively, especially if you have an engaged and active target audience. Let’s get started with LinkedIn. Continue reading....
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Accounting software to do your to-do
Xero is entirely cloud-based accounting software for small businesses. It performs bookkeeping functions like invoicing and payroll and allows you to connect the program to your bank feed. Xero allows for both cash-based and accrual accounting systems so it is perfect for solopreneurs and companies with 10 or so employees. One of the best features is the business snapshot, a dashboard-style report displaying performance measures to help you understand your business’s financial position. The metrics include your business profitability and the average time it takes for your customers to pay you.
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Podcast: Local Marketing Strategies with Brian Ostrovsky
Checkout my recent podcast: Local Marketing Strategies with Brian Ostrovsky
Brian Ostrovsky is the Founder and CEO of Locable, a web platform that helps community organizations, businesses, and nonprofits with local marketing, collaboration, and cross-promotion. As a marketing strategist and business technologist, Brian uses his passion for technology to help build communities and promote local businesses. Brian is the author of the book, Marketing 3-4-5, which helps people understand effective marketing techniques to transform their business. Today, Brian joins me to share how you can take advantage of the enormous amount of local searches made every day and common mistakes to avoid in local marketing. For more information: www.locable.com
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Join me for #SmallBizChat Live tonight at 8pm
Today is the day that we're live on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube at 8pm ET.
Tonight, we'll do #SmallBizChat LIVE with three guests. You can see it live on my SmallBizLady Facebook Page, Twitter, or Youtube at 8pm ET sharp. We'll discuss How Writing a Book Can Scale Your Brand with Stacy Ennis, @StacyEnnis on Twitter, How to Grow Your Business with Speaking with Tom Bailey, @succeedthroughspeaking on Facebook, and How to Support Black Women in Business with Nic Cober, Esq, @TheBowCollective in Instagram.
This month's guests:
Stacy Ennis is a best-selling author, coach, and speaker on a mission to help leaders clarify their ideas and harness their unique story to make an impact. Along with being the founder of Nonfiction Book School, an accelerated author program, her background includes ghostwriting for a Nobel Prize winner and leading as executive editor of Sam’s Club’s Healthy Living Made Simple, a publication that reached around 11 million readers. Her best-selling book, cowritten with Ron Price, is Growing Influence: A Story of How to Lead with Character, Expertise, and Impact. Learn more at www.stacyennis.com.
Tom Bailey is the founder of Succeed Through Speaking and host of the Succeed Through Speaking podcast and spent the first 25 years of his life becoming an expert at AVOIDING public speaking, presenting, and being in front of groups of people. However, since overcoming his life-limiting fear of speaking he has experienced first-hand how people can succeed through speaking. He now helps other entrepreneurs, experts, and coaches use speaking to amplify their authority so that they can raise their profile, showcase their genius and attract new clients. For more information, www.succeedthroughspeaking.com
Nic Cober, Esquire is a council member of the National Women’s Business Council, a bipartisan council that advises the White House, Congress, & the SBA on matters concerning women in business. She is also the Principal Managing Partner of Cober, Johnson & Romney, an award-winning legal & business consulting firm, and CJR Development, a real estate development firm. For nearly two decades, Nic has been an entrepreneur and advocate for the small business community. She is an executive coach and business strategist who specializes in developing management, legal, and branding strategies for leaders in the business world. In February 2022, Ms. Cober will launch The BOW Collective, an organization that will collaborate to scale their businesses through capital, communications, and contracts. For more information, www.thebowcollective.com
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Melinda F. Emerson, “SmallBizLady” is America’s #1 Small Business Expert. She is an internationally renowned keynote speaker on small business development, marketing and social selling. Melinda is also the president of the Quintessence Group, an award-winning marketing consulting firm based in Philadelphia, PA, serving Fortune 500 brands who target small business market. LinkedIn named her a Top Voice for 2019 in Small Business and Entrepreneurship. In addition to being a former NY Times columnist, she is frequently quoted by media organizations including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, MSNBC, CNBC and Fox News. She is the host of #Smallbizchat LIVE and The SmallBizChat Podcast. A prolific writer, Melinda has published more than 5000 articles on her blog www.succeedasyourownboss.com. Her small business advice is widely read reaching more than 3 million entrepreneurs each week online. She is the bestselling author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, Revised and Expanded and Fix Your Business, a 90 Day Plan to Get Back Your Life and Reduce Chaos in Your Business.
BS Accounting and Finance SNHU
2yI’ve always wanted to start my own business but my main problem is getting the start up money is there ways to get this when you don’t have the money yourself yet???