As you all know, from time to time I come across a vendor or resource that I think is the bee's knees. I've seen a *lot* of marketers promise to help businesses get more attention and get more done, but I doubt few can deliver as much as Indie Biz Chicks does! From blogs and newsletters, to coaching, to informative resources like podcasts and articles, it's one of the coolest one-stop shops I've seen. Plus it's not a budget breaker!
I found the site through one of my favorite magazines, Venus Zine, which is also a great resource for us "crafty professionals". Check 'em both out!
And just so the fellas don't feel left out, here's something Just for Men.
Showing posts with label product recommendations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label product recommendations. Show all posts
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Monday, October 20, 2008
A Meatball Sundae is just what you need.
Marketing genius Seth Godin has once again hit it out of the marketing ballpark with Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?. Colorfully and succinctly, Godin lays out what you might not want to hear: that the "Old Marketing" of television interrupts and mass marketing average products, is losing ground to the "New Marketing" in the Web 2.0 world, and you've got to pick a team.With fourteen clearly defined considerations of New Marketing in his toolbox, along with enough case studies (from companies you not only already know of, but have probably worked with) to prove his points, Godin makes a great case for not only utilizing these new tools, but also for adapting your entire business structure to work with them.
What could be so compelling that a seasoned company would restructure into a fresh startup just to take advantage? The consumer. In today's online market, the customer is not only king, he's also the boss, the critic, and sounding board from which all new ideas come.
It's never been a better time to be a consumer, an entrepreneur, or a creative. With Meatball Sundae Seth Godin makes us all feel new again!
Check out this book as well as many other great business resources at the Serious Vanity Learning and Productivity Center.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Recession-Proof Your Mind, Recession-Proof Your Business
“Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves,’who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God; you playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. You were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
--Nelson Mandela
One of the biggest hurdles in the current Western economy is in conquering the doomsday machines. We're besieged with negative speak from the media and our peers every day about how we're all going to spiral downward.
It's hard to argue with: there have been huge drops in the stock market, here in the U.S. we now have a fat cat "rescue" plan in place that will cost us tax payers $700 billion, with little guarantee of effectiveness (Certainly, that money invested back into our education system would guarantee far more long term success! But that's another blog post...). People are losing their jobs, their homes, and their hope.
It all spells difficulty in keeping the end in mind (aka your Clear Vision) when pursuing your business and life goals. How can we say that we're certain of our year-end results, when we don't know what the market's going to do this afternoon? Even if we're not directly effected, if that fear is in the heart of our client, they'll be less likely to want to spend right now--causing the agony to 'trickle down' on us.
So what can we do? Luckily, lots of things!
Every challenge presents us with the opportunity to learn, grow, and dig deep to find those solutions that will not only move us forward individually, but as a collective, too! Just like Nelson Mandela said above, "...As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” So we MUST push onward!
Step One: Revisit that Clear Vision, hone it, and own it!
Without the end in mind, we lose our True North. That internal compass point is going to help us plot our path to what we want our businesses (and our lives) to be!
It may be that we need to approach our visions in a new way. There are many methods in laying one out, not limited to:
If you've laid your Clear Vision out as a story in the past, maybe developing a vision board for it will help you to refocus on what you want. A movie-like script, outlining the story of your dreams may be just the injection of excitement your current mind map needs to get you pumped up again, and take your mind off of all the gloom-and-doom you're hearing on the nightly news.
According to "Creating a Clear, Compelling Vision" by Marilyn Schwader, there are four components your vision should have:
I'll be visiting these all in more detail in the coming weeks. Until then, get on that vision, and start step one in Recession-Proofing Your Mind!
--Nelson Mandela
One of the biggest hurdles in the current Western economy is in conquering the doomsday machines. We're besieged with negative speak from the media and our peers every day about how we're all going to spiral downward.
It's hard to argue with: there have been huge drops in the stock market, here in the U.S. we now have a fat cat "rescue" plan in place that will cost us tax payers $700 billion, with little guarantee of effectiveness (Certainly, that money invested back into our education system would guarantee far more long term success! But that's another blog post...). People are losing their jobs, their homes, and their hope.
It all spells difficulty in keeping the end in mind (aka your Clear Vision) when pursuing your business and life goals. How can we say that we're certain of our year-end results, when we don't know what the market's going to do this afternoon? Even if we're not directly effected, if that fear is in the heart of our client, they'll be less likely to want to spend right now--causing the agony to 'trickle down' on us.
So what can we do? Luckily, lots of things!
Every challenge presents us with the opportunity to learn, grow, and dig deep to find those solutions that will not only move us forward individually, but as a collective, too! Just like Nelson Mandela said above, "...As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” So we MUST push onward!
Step One: Revisit that Clear Vision, hone it, and own it!
Without the end in mind, we lose our True North. That internal compass point is going to help us plot our path to what we want our businesses (and our lives) to be!
It may be that we need to approach our visions in a new way. There are many methods in laying one out, not limited to:
- lists
- storytelling
- scripts
- mind movies
- audio (recorded messages or even song mixes or playlists!)
- vision boards (My mentor, John Assaraf, is actually releasing his new The Complete Vision Board Kit
tomorrow!)
- questionaires or worksheets
If you've laid your Clear Vision out as a story in the past, maybe developing a vision board for it will help you to refocus on what you want. A movie-like script, outlining the story of your dreams may be just the injection of excitement your current mind map needs to get you pumped up again, and take your mind off of all the gloom-and-doom you're hearing on the nightly news.
According to "Creating a Clear, Compelling Vision" by Marilyn Schwader, there are four components your vision should have:
- 1. Your Values
- 2. Your Dream
- 3. Your Purpose
- 4. Your Mission Objectives
I'll be visiting these all in more detail in the coming weeks. Until then, get on that vision, and start step one in Recession-Proofing Your Mind!
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Are you qualifying your leads, or are they qualifying you?
When you generate leads for your business, the logical middle step before converting a sale for the product or service you provide is the 'qualification' stage, ie, finding out if you're a good match for each other! You got their attention, but do they want what you offer?
In the studio business, we each have an 'ideal client' that has the working style we want and need in order to perform to the highest goal-meeting ability. But so many times, especially in businesses that differentiate themselves on price, it's the CLIENT that does the qualifying, not the business.
Let me explain: you tell a prospect what you can provide for them in a proposal. They come back with a completely different idea of what you'll provide in a follow-up (usually based on the cost of your service).
At this point, do you renegotiate with their follow-up in mind, setting your goals aside and grasping on to whatever they want you to do as your guide? If so, you've let THEM qualify YOU.
If instead, you either go back to negotiations with your original goals in mind, but taking into account some of their needs in their follow-up, or you just say, "Thank you, but we're not right for each other", then YOU'VE qualified (or disqualified) THEM.
You have to be the captain of your own ship in business, and taking time with clients who aren't your ideal takes time away from generating, qualifying, and converting those that are. Make sure your marketing and communication language always maintains the integrity of your business goals, and you'll spend far less time courting the ones that aren't right for you.
Start learning how to do this (and so much more), by reading The Answer.
In the studio business, we each have an 'ideal client' that has the working style we want and need in order to perform to the highest goal-meeting ability. But so many times, especially in businesses that differentiate themselves on price, it's the CLIENT that does the qualifying, not the business.
Let me explain: you tell a prospect what you can provide for them in a proposal. They come back with a completely different idea of what you'll provide in a follow-up (usually based on the cost of your service).
At this point, do you renegotiate with their follow-up in mind, setting your goals aside and grasping on to whatever they want you to do as your guide? If so, you've let THEM qualify YOU.
If instead, you either go back to negotiations with your original goals in mind, but taking into account some of their needs in their follow-up, or you just say, "Thank you, but we're not right for each other", then YOU'VE qualified (or disqualified) THEM.
You have to be the captain of your own ship in business, and taking time with clients who aren't your ideal takes time away from generating, qualifying, and converting those that are. Make sure your marketing and communication language always maintains the integrity of your business goals, and you'll spend far less time courting the ones that aren't right for you.
Start learning how to do this (and so much more), by reading The Answer.
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