Talking about Social Media
This week, I will be in Seattle on Tuesday and Columbus, Ohio on Friday talking with business owners and recruiting professionals about social media. While the general themes will be the same, there will be some distinct differences in my presentations. In Seattle, I will be talking with HVAC contractors. For this group, I am going to focus on Facebook as a means of driving traffic to their primary website. Strategies for them include short videos of technicians introducing themselves, and interviews with customers. For the contractors who focus on remodeling, I am going to also encourage...
read moreKnow Thy Business
In order to be a success in life, you must know thyself. In order to be a success in business, you must know thy company. Does it all sound just a little too metaphysical and self help-y for you? Stick with me. In order to have a successful business, you must understand your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your staff. Even the best built team will have flaws: too many introverts, too little attention to detail, too big and unwieldy. By understanding these deficits, you can position your company in a way that can minimize their impact. You must also know your audience....
read moreStart the Year Right
I love New Year’s Day. On this day almost anything seems possible. Closing the books on 2011, it is time to plan for the year ahead. And just like every year for the last ten years, I am putting the finishing touches on my business plan. While not as formal as the plans I wrote in the early years of the business, I still spent time reviewing goals and tactics. I focused on mapping out some of the big changes we need to make in the months to come if we want to hit our year-end sales goals. As I reviewed my plan I spent some time researching what other business consultants were...
read moreMediocrity or Brilliance in the Execution
Years ago, my boss Rick DeMarco argued there were times when a mediocre strategy would out perform a brilliant one. At first I thought he was crazy, until he explained what he meant. Too often business owners have brilliant ideas but fail to think through all the steps necessary to turn their ideas into reality. The result… failure or mediocre performance, when there could have been extraordinary success if only they had paid attention to the details of execution. Whether you are trying to launch a new product or company, or simply run a successful promotion or special event, a...
read moreSchool of Life
Many of the real skills you need to run a successful small business can’t be learned in a classroom setting. You can however develop them in places other than your own business. Learning opportunties are everywhere, if you look for the connections. Mike Michalowicz Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur shared an interesting list of six things you could do to improve your skills. His list included: Plan a big event Become a Volunteer Make a Crowd Laugh Coach little league Become a blogger Learn a new language He suggested that each of these experiences will help you develop skills...
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