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Articles Confirmed Opt-in (or Not) Posted: 2009-04-22 20:39:30.0 Summary: I just spent several hours last week researching the options with confirmed Opt-in (also known as verified opt-in, double opt-in and possibly more depending on the vendor). The reason that I was looking into the confirmed opt-in option was we are running a campaign currently and we had a few people leave their sign up but never complete the confirmation. So, I went on the hunt to find out if we could capture the names without forcing the confirmation opt-in process. The 3 systems that I was looking at were Aweber , IContact and 1ShoppingCart . Well, the short answer is yes. With all three of the systems that we were looking at we could do this. Yes, Aweber does allow you to turn off the Confirmed Opt-in. They allow this at a list level (you can turn it off for one list but leave it on for the rest). 1ShoppingCart does it for the entire account (group of lists that you ha... Full Article Here
Top Five Reasons To Network Posted: 2009-04-29 21:01:10.0 Summary: In this article I explore 5 reasons to network. Networking can occur at social gatherings, a local event, convention, or gathering of peers. With today’s online communities it also occurs on the Internet at the many Social Networking sites. These Social Networking sites are offering new and exciting opportunities but the reasons why we need to network remain the same. Reason # 1: Build Relationships with our Customers When we build relationships, we automatically will receive opportunities to sell our products or services. In most business networks that I have attended, it is usually bad form to blatantly sell at a networking event. People didn’t gather (online or in a physical event) to be sold to. If I go to a store, I expect to be sold to, in fact if I don’t receive sale assistance I probably will be on my way pretty quickly. At most networks we gather to learn about each other and build relationships with each other. I usually find that in building these relationships, the sales happen naturally. You get the request to contact them the ... Full Article Here
7 Helpful Tips to Better Online Networking Posted: 2009-05-14 08:49:32.0 Summary: Networking and connecting with people online is a little different than networking at a local community or business event. For one thing, online we don’t have all of the communication tools that we have when we are networking in person. When you are networking in person, you have many more of your senses that are involved in the discussion. First we have our ears (hopefully are using them more than our mouth, but that’s an entirely different topic). We also bring our sight, touch and possibly even smell. When networking in person we rely on all of these to form an opinion about the other person and decide if we like them and trust them to take the conversation any further. When networking in person we see the individual, so first impressions (and therefore your appearance) are vital. Often decisions are made before anyone even starts the conversation. Second we have touch in the form of a strong, firm handshake that communicates our level of confidence. And hopefully we don’t provide too much fragrance, either bad or strong perfume, which might offend someone. Online we are limited to what we read... Full Article Here
Profitable Business: Doing What Matters Posted: 2009-05-14 08:56:00.0 Summary: What is the secret to our success? Well, as you can imagine, there isn’t one thing that can be credited with the success that we have had. It’s the multitude of things that we do, how we do them and making sure that what we do matters. But probably the most single important part of that last sentence is the “what we do matters”. When I look back at when we have struggled in the past, it was because we were very busy but we weren’t focused on what mattered. What we were doing really didn’t impact our bottom line (or top line) the way we thought it should. Yes, we have struggled and I expect that we will struggle in the future as well. Some would think this a bad thing and would never want to admit it but I think any business that is growing and evolving has to struggle a little. We learn so much when we are struggling and fighting to propel our business (or lives) forward. The trick is to learn the lessons that the struggle ... Full Article Here
Director of First Impressions: Creating the Networking Edge Posted: 2009-05-26 19:53:01.0 Summary: In the last issue we discussed what you need to consider when networking online. In this article we are going to discuss the traditional Business Networking that we all know and love. There is a risk of becoming enthralled with the Internet and Internet Marketing and putting your entire focus on this method to market yourself. It’s new, sexy and allows you to reach potential billions of people that you could never reach with traditional business networking events but be careful that you don’t fall into this trap. You need to be doing both methods of networking. With offline Business Networking first impressions are critical. These are the typical face to face networking opportunities. First impressions rely on a lot of factors. You are your own Director of First Impressions... Full Article Here
Using the CFBE Network to Market Yourself Posted: 2009-05-26 20:58:58.0 Summary: There are many ways to market yourself using the CFBE Network but I would like to cover a few of them here. We will expand on them in future articles in the Members area. If you haven't checked out the Members area, please do. There is no cost to gain basic access and begin using our site to market yourself and your business. Well, enough about that. How can you use the CFBE Network to promote and market your business and yourself? The easiest method is to post articles on our site. Make sure you have completed your profile, including a web site address. The profile picture, name and web site address will be shown with the article. This quickly creates familiarity with you and... Full Article Here
Cash Flow Blues Posted: 2009-06-24 11:26:47.0 Summary: Do you have the cash flow blues? It sucks to be working like a dog (assuming you have a dog that actually works instead of lying around all day like our hound) and not having the cash to show for it. Well, there can be many causes for the problems that you are experiencing. Here are 3 that you might be experiencing. Reason # 1: Not Enough Sales Maybe your issue is that you just don’t have enough sales to sustain the level of expenses that you have. This happens from time to time. You ramp up your staff or outsourcing when things are good because you need to deliver what you’re selling but then you hit a period where sales are slower than expected and now you are carrying too much expense for the sales that you are generating. What do you do? Well, you basically have two choices. You either increase your sales immediately to offset the expenses that you have or you have to begin shedding expenses. Each has its risks. For instance if you decide to maintain your expenses and go after the increase you need in sales to support them and you don't get the level of sales you needed, the problem you had is likely larger now. If this happens the course of action you may have to take is going to be more drastic and if it gets too bad you will be out of business. If you decide that you should shed some of your expenses, you could find yourself shedding the very things that will help you... Full Article Here
Identifying the Leaders of Tomorrow in Your Organization Posted: 2009-07-14 15:42:45.0 Summary: Do you know the leaders of tomorrow in your organization? They aren't always who you think they are. Many people confuse managers or supervisors with leaders but the truth is the title doesn't make the leader. Leaders don't need a title to lead. They lead because others follow.So how do you make a leader? Well, that is where I think many go wrong. I don't know that you make a leader. Rather leaders are born and its up to us to recognize these future leaders and then nurture them. Not an easy task, but there are some things that you can look for.First, natural leaders are the people that their peers listen too. These are the people that the team turn to after a meeting and say "so what do you think". Others in the organization value their opinion and advice. Because of this, they have a lot of influence in the organization and if they like what management is proposing, they can get the team behind it. If they don't believe in it, management is going to have its hands full trying to get the team motivated. We have all been to meetings where there is little feedback or conversation that too... Full Article Here
Managing Your Cash Flow Posted: 2009-07-21 21:19:17.0 Summary: Previously I wrote about some of things that can create some challenges for your cash flow but this time I would like to give you something to manage your cash flow. I thought the best way to do this is to describe how we manage our cash flow. First, our method is easy and fast to do. Second, since we use it to manage our cash flow, I know it works. There are likely many methods out there but this will get you started. Now you can create elaborate spreadsheets or programs that will manage your cash flow. You could go out a purchase a program to do it but if you are a small business, you can likely do it very easily in a spreadsheet. If you don't have spreadsheet software on your computer, use Google Docs or Open Office Suite to get one for free. I suspect that you have Microsoft Excel though, since most of the English speaking world uses this program. Therefore, I'm giving you our MS Excel template that we use. Its provided as a link at the end of this article.Our spreadsheet is based on managing the next 3 months of our cash flow. We based this on the fact that we are usually selling and securing contracts about 3 or 4 months out. We can usually prospect and close a sale in about 2-4 weeks. So, if we start to see a real dip in the 3rd month, we have a little time to put some extra effort into correcting the situation. You may have to adjust the time period that you watch depending on how... Full Article Here
Leading By Example Posted: 2009-07-27 07:25:18.0 Summary: Leading by example; what does that mean? Well, for me that has meant that I have never asked my team to do something that I wasn't willing to do myself and to prove it, I do perform those tasks, either initially or occasionally to reinforce this. In addition to the types of task, I also work the same work ethic that I expect out of my team mates. The philosophy has been simple for me, how can I expect anyone else to work this way and perform those tasks unless I am also willing to do those. If I expect my team to work overtime to get a project completed on time, I better be the first one saying "I'm working tonight or this weekend to get the task done". I'm asking my team mates to give up their valuable free time for the sake of the project and/or company. They need to see the project leader is willing to do the same. With me out front, working extra hours they see that this project or task is important. It’s important to the project, the company but most importantly, the customer. They know that I am pa... Full Article Here
4 Tips to a Faster Micro Continuity Launch: Lessons Learned in the Trenches Posted: 2009-08-05 14:00:08.0 Summary: One thing that we preach in project management is to do a “lessons learned” session as part of the wrap up or closing of the project. This is an opportunity for the team to review the project and document what worked and what didn’t. As you might guess, the object is to keep doing those things that worked and to improve those things that didn’t. I would like to share with you some of the things we learned from a recent Micro Continuity product launch project. First and foremost, have realistic expectations. We read that a Micro Continuity product could be launched in 48 hours. Well, we had a team on the project and it took us 2 weeks. Now, we made some mistakes that I’m going to explore in this article but 48 hours is not realistic for most of us. If you have your research completed or some of the product outlined and created, you might be able to accomplish this. It also depends on what your product is going to be. For us, it took several days just to complete the research on keywords and wants of the prospective customers. The research is vital and you don’t want to skip it. The un... Full Article Here
3 Factors to Success – Focus, Perseverance, Knowledge Posted: 2009-09-30 13:00:23.0 Summary: Succeeding is hard. If it wasn't, everyone would have everything that we have ever wanted. Success is also a moving target, as we become more successful, our definition of success also changes. It usually expands. However, you define success there are 3 factors to success that all entrepreneurs must keep in front of us while we reach for our definition of success. There is no shortage of things demanding our attention but how many of those are factors that will impact our success. I think there are 3 key factors that we have to keep our eye on as entrepreneur. When we do, we will likely be accomplishing many of the smaller things as well but by only keeping our eye on a few, such as 3 we don't become overwhelmed and we can stay the course. The 3 factors that I'm talking about are: Focus, Perseverance and Knowledge. We must stay focused on what is important to our business. There are lots of distractions every day; people calling you, looking for a slice of your time to make a sales pitch. Or, it will be the late... Full Article Here
Time Management - A Key to a Strong Business Foundation Posted: 2009-10-14 20:59:35.0 Summary: A strong foundation to any small business includes the entrepreneur’s habits and behaviours. This is likely one of the most important cornerstones to the business’s foundation. If the entrepreneur doesn’t have the right behaviours or habits, it can destroy their business. One of the most important habits that an entrepreneur must hone is time management. It can be said that time is likely the scarcest resource or commodity to any business person. If the small business person doesn’t master their time, it could literally mean the end of their business. Time must be spent on those vital few things that propel the business forward. It is so easy to get caught up in the rat race of everyday business and life and miss getting those few things done that are truly cr... Full Article Here
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