|
LET'S TALK
BUSINESS
ARE YOU MARKETING TO YOUR POTENTIAL?
? By Charlie Cook
Many small business owners struggle to grow their businesses only to find themselves stuck in a morass of
marketing, management and delivery tasks. As your business becomes more complex and time consuming, the original
vision of the business usually changes or gets lost, and it can become increasingly difficult to define and
implement a marketing strategy that helps you achieve your business potential.
As a marketing coach I have many small business clients whose marketing is going nowhere because they haven't
clearly identified where they want to take their business/what they want their business to be/ and what
role they want to play in it.
Whether you want to take your business to the next level or are just starting out, to be more successful at
marketing you need to regularly clarify what you want your business to be and what your role in it is or
should be. In order to develop a marketing strategy and plan that works for you, you need to first clarify:
? - What are your business passions and strengths
? - How do you want to spend your time
? - What work tasks you enjoy
? - What type of business you want to create
DEFINE YOUR BUSINESS PASSIONS AND STRENGTHS
The energy, determination and persistence it takes to build a business only makes sense if you are doing
something you love - or that at least gives you great satisfaction. What do you enjoy doing the most? What are
you happy doing day in and day out?
What are your Strengths? Identify your business passion, and then examine your
strengths within that passion. How can you leverage your interest and knowledge to become a sought after expert
in your field?
Say you love skiing and want to make a living in that industry, which you know well. Are you going to run a
ski shop, be a ski instructor, or become a skiing guru, sought after by thousands, with your simple and
innovate teaching techniques?
Which aspects of your passion suit your expertise and experience? How can you build a business around them?
SET GOALS FOR HOW YOU WANT TO SPEND YOUR TIME
Personality and interests vary. Some small business owners have a passion for hands on delivery, others
enjoy focusing on growing their business and coordinating the delivery of products and services.
Some can't stand being stuck in an office all day; others would prefer never to talk to a client or
customer. What aspects of your business are you good at and which do you want to develop further?
Use the following questions to help you clarify how you want to spend your week.
- Do you like being in charge of marketing, operations
or service delivery?
- Are you an educator, do you love sharing what you
know or do you like inventing new products people can
use without your involvement? Or both?
- Do you prefer managing the business and delegating
daily tasks to others?
- Do you like to travel or prefer to work from an
office or at home?
- How important is flexibility in scheduling and work
location?
- Do you want to work less and earn the same?
- Do you want to work part time or do you love your
work so much that you could do it seven days a week?
- Do you want to structure your work so it is more
satisfying?
CLARIFY THE TASKS YOU ENJOY
We all like and dislike specific activities, excel at some and are better off delegating certain tasks to
others. Clarifying what you like and dislike is essential to then defining the strategies and
structures you need to create a more satisfying work environment.
- Do you enjoy coming up with new products?
- Do you enjoy selling your services and products?
- Do you like to write or prefer public speaking?
- Or both?
- Is the phone your communication tool of preference?
- Do you prefer to use email for most of your
communication?
- Do you enjoy public speaking and sharing your ideas?
- Do you enjoy following up with employees to make sure
they've done agreed on tasks?
SPECIFY THE TYPE OF BUSINESS YOU WANT TO CREATE
What have the answers to the questions above told you about your business and your role in it? Depending on
the services and products you provide, does your business need additional staff, facilities, technology,
geographic presence, or capital?
Would you prefer to be a successful one person business/sole proprietor? Would you like to grow your
business to include five to fifty employees? Will profit or passion be the driving force? Or both? Are
your markets local, regional, national or international?
Answer these questions to define your business goals and your role in your business' growth. Once you have
a clear and current idea of where you are going, you can define a marketing strategy to get there, to
achieve your business potential.
-
2004 ?© In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
? -
The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps independent professionals and small business owners
attract more clients and increase their earnings with the 5 Principles of Highly Effective Marketing.
Sign up to receive the Free Marketing Guide and the 'More Business' newsletter, full of practical tips
you can use at http://www.charliecook.net
RECIPES
GRAPE AND CRANBERRY TEA BREAD
Ingredients:
2-1/2
cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup lowfat dairy sour cream
1/4 cup lowfat milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
1-1/2 cups halved seedless grapes
Directions:
Combine
all ingredients except grapes; mix well. Gently mix in grapes. Oil
and flour the bottoms of four 5 X 2-1/2 X 2-1/4-inch loaf pans.
Pour one-fourth of batter into each pan. Bake at 350?° F for 40 to
45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out
clean. Cool 5 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack and cool completely
before slicing. Makes 4 loaves.
?
Notes:
Make ahead, wrap in aluminum foil, freeze and give as gifts during
the holidays.
Batter may be baked in two 8-1/2 X 4-1/2 X 2-1/2-inch loaf pans.
Bake at 350?° F for 50 to 55 minutes or until wooden pick inserted
near center comes out clean. Cool completely per directions above.
Each loaf will yield about 16 (1/2-inch) slices.
Bread may be tightly wrapped and refrigerated up to one week. For
longer storage, wrap in aluminum foil or in freezer-safe plastic
bags and freeze.
Nutritional
Analysis:
102
Cal., 2 g pro., 4 g fat (32% Cal. from fat), 15 g carb., 8 mg chol.,
.6 g fiber, 126 mg sodium.
FINANCE
How To Stick To Your Budget
By Terry Rigg
I've had a lot of people tell me that setting up their budget was simple but when it came to living by it
payday after payday they admitted losing interest in a very short time.
Let's face it. The day to day drudgery of trying to figure out how to best spend your money isn't the most
interesting aspect of our lives.
Let me see if I can make the budget process a little more appealing to you. I don't have any magic or secret
process to tell you about but I do have a method that will show you why a budget doesn't have to be boring.
I can do this with one word. GOALS
When we think of goals most of us look far into the future to our retirement. That's the problem. It's hard to
imagine when your 20 what you will need when you are 65.
Accomplishing your goals doesn't have to take a lifetime. Even when they do you can set milestones along the way to
break it up and get a sense of accomplishment much earlier.
If you have problems staying on a budget try setting some short term goals. We can start with an easy one. Try to
save $100 without missing it.
Unless you have no income at all this is easy. Don't spend any coins for any reason. If you buy something for 25 cents
break a dollar. Then all you have to do is put the change out
of your pocket or purse in a jar every day.
This sounds simple enough and you've probably heard about saving change before. If you are a skeptic like I was you
probably think that this isn't going to lead to any real savings at all.
Let's get back to that $100 I was talking about. How long do you think it would take you to save enough change to
equal $100. 6 months? 1 year?
The fact is that the average person can save $100 in less than three months. In some cases even sooner. That's not
very long to accomplish a goal.
Now let's look at setting milestones using the same method. Roll your change once a month to see how close you are to
your goal. Write down how much you saved that month on a piece of paper and put that and your rolled change back in
the jar. Keep doing this until you've reached your $100
goal.
Now, what do you do with that $100? You could put it in a savings account and earn a little interest but it still
wouldn't be worth much more than $100 even after a year.
My suggestion would be to pay it on one of your credit cards. That way you could turn that $100 into much more with
the interest you would save.
It may sound like I strayed from the topic of this article by talking about saving your change. Actually a budget is just
a system of reaching goals. You do this by working backwards. You decide what it is you want to do and then make all of your
money decisions based on that end.
Setting up and maintaining a budget is going to take organization and discipline. This task will be much easier
if you are working toward something you really want.
To learn more about Budgets you can visit The Complete Budget and Bill Organizer
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/BBOonline.html
to find Budget Stretcher's free budget system complete with all of the forms and worksheets.
About the author:?
Terry Rigg is the author of Living Within Your Means - The Easy Way http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ebookadpage.html
and editor of The FREE Budget Stretcher Newsletter and Budget Stretcher
web site http://www.homemoneyhelp.com.
He has 25 years of
experience counseling individuals and families concerning their personal finances.
FITNESS
Winter Exercise Tips
With the temperatures plummeting this time of year, many of us
tend to hibernate inside our homes. But, hibernating is for bears.
As humans it's important to stay active through all four seasons.
Yet, a poll of 5,000 people found that 30 percent get no exercise
at all during the Winter months.
Just because it is cold outside doesn't make it open season for an
excuse not to exercise. There are multiple exercise options one
can choose to participate in regardless of what the outdoor
thermometer reads. Depending on your location and likes, you can
choose to workout inside or outside.
All that is required for Winter-time workouts is some planning and
employing all safety precautions. If you prefer to workout
outside, keep the following tips in mind.
?· Get warm first. A proper warm-up is critical. Cold temperatures
can make your muscles tight and therefore they are more prone to
injuries. So, it's important to get them warmed-up prior to
engaging in intense physical activity.
?· Insulate your body. The best approach to dressing for outdoor
exercise is with layers. Layering provides the most effective
heating method, plus it allows you to remove the top layer if you
get too hot. The layer closest to your skin should allow moisture
to be wicked away. The top layer should be both wind and water
resistant.
?· No sweat. Don't assume that you have to sweat in order to get a
good workout. You should avoid sweating that causes the clothing
layer closest to your skin to get wet and cause you to be chilled.
Instead monitor your intensity through a heart rate monitor or the
Rating of Perceived Exertion.
?· Don't strip when you get inside. While you may be tempted to
immediately remove your layers when returning inside, give your
body time to adjust. Post exercise hypothermia is possible. This
happens when your body rapidly loses its heating stores.
?· Drink up. It's just as important to stay hydrated when
exercising in Winter as it is in Summer, even though you might not
feel as thirsty.
?· Lighten up. If possible, it's best to exercise outdoors during
daylight areas. But, with shorten days that can be difficult to
do. If you exercise outdoors when it is dark, wear reflective
materials to ensure that you can be seen.
If the thought of getting outside to exercise makes you dive under
the covers, instead choose one of the many indoor workout options.
Below are just a few of the many choices.
?· Walk at an indoor location, like a mall. If you need extra
motivation to get yourself to the mall, join a walking group. This
will help you stay accountable to someone other than yourself.
?· Join a health club. This will allow you a large variety of
physical activities to choose from every week.
?· Create a home gym. This doesn't have to be expensive. You can
easily set-up a great workout routine with just a set of
dumbbells, an exercise ball and a jump rope. Get all of this for
around $50.
?· If you have stairs where you live or close by, spend as little
as 20 minutes at a time climbing up and down the stairs for a very
intense and efficient workout.
?· Get wet. Find a local indoor pool you can use. Try swimming,
water aerobics, or even just walking or running laps in the water.
?· Visit a library. Usually local libraries offer exercise videos
you can check-out for free. Pick-up a new one to try out every
time you return the previous video.
By staying fit during Winter you'll be able to avoid gaining
weight, have a head start on swimsuit season, and avoid losing
strength and stamina caused from inactivity. Just as tulips need
Winter nourishment from the Earth to strongly bloom in Spring,
humans need to continue to nourish their bodies during Winter so
they too can bloom come Spring.
About the author:?
Lynn Bode is a certified
personal trainer specializing in Internet-based fitness programs.
She founded Workouts For You, which provides affordable online
exercise programs that are custom designed for each individual.
Visit: http://www.workoutsforyou.com
for a free sample workout and to sign-up for their monthly fitness
newsletter. Fitness professionals improve your business, visit: http://www.trainerforce.com?
|
|
