Social networking is critical for forming business relationships and meeting new colleagues, prospects and customers, but don’t forget about taking the conversation offline, too. Join us for an episode of More than a Few Words as we talk to Randy Clark about the importance of face-to-face networking in a digital world.

Do you have any comments or questions? Call in during the show at (805) 285 -9865 or drop us a comment on Twitter.  Direct the comment to @roundpeg or use the hashtag #MTFW so we are sure to see your remarks.

The call will be live from 10:30 – 11:00 today, Wednesday,  February 8. You will be able to listen to the program from our station on BlogTalkRadio.com

About our Guest:

Randy Clark is the Director of Communications at TKO Graphix, where he blogs for TKO Graphix Brandwire. Prior to TKO, he spent 13 years with Unique Home Solutions as Marketing Director and VP of Operations. He is an avid flower gardener, beer geek, and he fronts the Under The Radar rock & roll band. Randy is husband to public speaker Cathi Clark, and father of Principal Dawna Bobersky and Educator Amanda Propst. Randy is a proud a grandfather of four.

In the startup community, funding is all the craze. But what if you could build a business from scratch? What if you didn’t sell equity in the early stages? Could the business grow? Have businesses been built like this? It can, and they have. There exists a rare breed of entrepreneur, one who has what it takes to create a self-funded company—bootstrapped—and build it into a blue chip company.

Join us for today’s episode of More than a Few Words as we talk to Nick Carter about his experiences growing his firm AddressTwo as an “unfunded” venture.

Do you have any comments or questions? Call in during the show at (805) 285 -9865 or drop us a comment on Twitter.  Direct the comment to @roundpeg or use the hashtag #MTFW so we are sure to see your remarks.

The call will be live from 10:30 – 11:00 today, Wednesday,  February 1. You will be able to listen to the program from our station on BlogTalkRadio.com.

About our Guest:

Nick Carter is the creator and president of AddressTwo, a software company that provides small businesses with tools and processes to manage their sales and marketing. Staring his first business at the age of 16, Nick is truly an entrepreneur at heart. As a true farm boy, Nick has a rich heritage in entrepreneurship and a firm understanding of hard work.

Nick is the author of “Unfunded,” which teaches entrepreneurs to start a business without seeking venture capital. He has recruited, trained, and managed large sales teams, ran a sought-after creative agency, and is now leading his once-small startup on a nation-wide expansion.

To do marketing well is always a challenge. To do it in a heavily regulated industry can seem impossible at times. But with a little creativity and a lot of hard work, you can overcome regulatory hurdles to create innovative marketing that gets results. We’ll be joined by Muhammad Yasin, social media strategist for HCCMIS, a travel health insurance company. Learn how you can make regulations work in your favor.

Do you have any comments or questions? Post them here or send it to us on Twitter, or call in during the show at (805) 285 -9865. Remember to use the hashtag #MTFW on Twitter, so we can find your comments during the broadcast.

The call will be live from 10:30 – 11:00 today, Wednesday,  January 18. You will be able to listen to the program from our station on BlogTalkRadio.com

Muhammad Yasin is the Social Media Strategist for an international travel medical insurance company.  His social media marketing campaigns reached over 2 million people in 2011. Muhammad’s innovative use of social media in the healthcare industry was nominated for a Mira Award in 2010 as well as being featured as a case study in the book Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day.

He was recently recognized as a Rising Star by the Indianapolis Star and by the Indianapolis social marketing community as the most influential Up and Comer of 2011.

As an evangelist for the use of social media, Muhammad Yasin regularly publishes tips at www.muhammadyasin.com as well as making appearances on the topic.

Delivering great customer service is about actions and words. While it is important to coach your employees on how to resolve customer complaints and what to say,  it is also important to focus on how to say it. The same is true as you try to communicate your vision as a business owner. Effective leaders know what to say and how to say it.

Join us for today’s episode of More than a Few Words as we talk about how to use  good communication skills as a sales person, leader or customer service rep. Our guest is my good friend Ellen Dunnigan, the owner of Accent on Business

Do you have any comments or questions? Post them here or send it to us on Twitter, or call in during the show at (805) 285 -9865. Remember to use the hashtag #MTFW on Twitter, so we can find your comments during the broadcast.

The call will be live from 10:30 – 11:00 today, Wednesday,  January 18. You will be able to listen to the program from our station on BlogTalkRadio.com

About our Guest:

Accent On Business founder and CEO Ellen Dunnigan is a nationally-recognized voice and speech coach for business professionals. She is specially trained in voice, speech, and English improvement.

I have a lot of fun visiting with Troy Hanna ( @the funsalesdude) on the new A2 University podcast today. This month they were talking about networking, so I had a chance to share a few of my favorite tips.

You can listen to the program here, and be sure to check out the entire series, every Tuesday afternoon from 4:00 – 4:30. Check it out. Troy definitely brings a level of fun to the broadcast.

It has been awhile since I have talked about or written anything about networking so it was fun to share some of my favorite tips, because I am a networking junkie!  I firmly believe this is an addiction every small business owner should develop.

If you enjoy the podcast and would like to learn more, you can order a copy of my booklet:  Confessions of a Networking Junkie.  Now available in hard copy, Kindle and eBook versions.

These days, everyone is talking about social media, and almost everyone is an expert.   Well today on More Than a Few Words we will talk with someone I really think is an expert.   Our guest is Erik Deckers  one of the authors of No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing (Pearson, 2011). We talked about social media users who are serious about using this tool as part of their business marketing strategy.

More about Erik.  He is the co-owner and VP of Creative Services for Professional Blog Service in Indianapolis. He has been blogging since 1997, and has been a published writer for more than 24 years. He has been a newspaper humor columnist for 17 years, and is published in 10 newspapers around Indiana. In addition No Bullshit Social Media, Erik has also  co-authored  and Branding Yourself: Using Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself (Pearson, 2010). He also helped write Twitter Marketing for Dummies (Wiley 2009). Erik frequently speaks about blogging and social media for personal branding and small business marketing.

Branding does not stop at the edge of the paper or the bottom of a website. True branding extends into all facets of your customer experience. How you answer your phone, greet guests as they visit and even furnish your office all combine to create a brand impression.

This week, we will be talking to interior designer James Kuster, specifically about how he works with clients to extend their brand into all facets of the customer experience.

Do you have any comments or questions? Post it here, send it to one of us on Twitter or Facebook, or call in during the show at (805) 285 -9865. Remember to use the hashtag #MTFW on Twitter, so we can find your comments during the broadcast.

The call will be live from 10:30 – 11:00 today, Wednesday, January 4. You will be able to listen to the program from our  station on BlogTalkRadio.com

To every parent, their baby is a beautiful and special angel. Many businesses feel the same way about their logos, websites and other graphic designs. How do you tactfully tell a client their design is ugly, and help guide them to a better aesthetic? Join Roundpeg designers Jenna Giles and Peter Wolfgram as they discuss the challenges and rewards of working with graphic design clients.

As the year draws to a close, it’s time to look back at some of our favorite More than a Few Words programs over the past year. Thanks to everyone who’s been a guest on our show, called in, tweeted with us and just made our show so much fun every Wednesday morning.  You can catch some of our favorite shows here: Listen to internet radio with Roundpeg on Blog Talk Radio

We were going to take the week off to do some last minute holiday shopping, but Troy Hanna, the new kid at AddressTwo  dropped by so we will be chatted about segmenting your data base, and creating targeted communication.

Whether you use AddressTwo, Sugar CRM, Salesforce.com, Act,  or some other method of tracking and segmenting your customer and prospect lists, I am sure you will enjoy the show.

We took a morning off this week. No, we weren’t sleeping in or getting in extra shopping time, we spent the morning in a strategic planning session for 2012.

Should be interesting to see how next year develops but in the meantime, we are BUSY! December is often the time when the work load slows and we spend time “housekeeping”.

How is your December stacking up? If you’ve been busy with business (or shopping) check out what you may have missed:

Saturday – Faces of Roundpeg: Joel Russell Took a Chance on Me
Business plans are no longer a big part of what we do at Roundpeg but 9 years ago writing one for Joel helped establish Roundpeg.

Sunday – Do Your Blog Headlines Suck?
Allison provides tips on creating blog headlines

Monday – New Business Cards for a New Year
The whys and hows or our business card redesign, fresh off the presses in time for 2012.

Tuesday – Pick a Winner with Twitter
Twitter is a great medium in which to hold contests, do follow the rules to insure that your followers aren’t violating these ground rules.

MTFW: Getting Started with SEO
It’s not too late to listen to our conversation with Jenn Lisak about the importance of search engine optimization.

Wednesday - How to Audit Your Social Media Marketing
Allison’s guide to an end of year social media audit in order to prepare for 2012.

Thursday – Press Refresh
If we designed your website, we’ve dreamed up something new for you in 2012. Once a month, join us as we push you to take control of your website and explore different means to that end.

2012 Winter Seminars

An there is more training ahead in 2012.  We have just released our Winter schedule.  Need help on web design, social media, email marketing or business planning?   Put one of these classes on your schedule now.

Friday – How to Audit Your Website
Another guide from Allison, this one guides you through an end of your website audit.