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Social Media Levels The Playing Field For Small Business

Posted on: September 30th, 2010 by Beth Heilman

It used to be, and not that long ago, that to be successful in a home based business you got the word out by making a list, calling your list, getting rejected by most of those people on your list, and then once you’d burned through that list, the next step would be buying leads that more times than not would cost much and produce little. Today there’s a much better way.Social Media Marketing

Now with Web 2.0 where people all over the world can interact with each other in the blink of an eye, and the social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, even the beginning home business owner can create the same amount of exposure for their business as the big guys.

There are so many different ways to promote your business online and the really cool thing is that you can choose the methods that you like the best. Let’s talk about just a few of them.

Social Networking Sites– Unless someone has just flown in from a remote deserted island, nearly everyone has heard of sites like Facebook and MySpace. They aren’t just for teenagers sharing music anymore. The big thing to remember though is that there is an etiquette when talking to folks on these social sites.

Imagine being at a huge party, are you going to go up to everyone you meet for the first time and say “Hi, my name is Al. I represent the most awesome, super-duper advanced mega product and you just have to buy it.  As a matter of fact, it’s so good that if you don’t buy it, your life will go down the toilet.”

Obviously I’m exagerating, but I’ve been on Facebook and MySpace for nearly a year and let me tell ya, those people are out there. Don’t be one of them. I had one guy make a comment on my Facebook status (status is kind of an update on what you’re doing at the moment like, Beth is… getting ready to make another blog post) because I’d mentioned I was needing some coffee and he was pitching me on his no caffeine energy drink.  Not exactly a great first impression, besides, I love my caffeine.

Websites and blogs– It used to be that to put a website online, you had to be a techy in the computer department. Thank heaven that’s not the case anymore. Now it’s possible to build an entire online business presence without knowing any computer mumbo-jumbo geeky stuff. This blog is a great example of how easy it is to reach people online. You can literally be reaching new customers and business builders within minutes.

Online Advertising– I know what you’re thinking. Advertising, lots of money, no budget, can’t do it. Yes, you can. Did you know you can advertise for free on websites like Traffic Swarm (a traffic exchange site), CraigsList, Walmart (yes, Walmart) and many others? There are also low budget places like ezines (electronic magazines), paid website ads and when you’ve gotten a little experience, pay-per-click ads on Google and MSN. (I’ll be doing training on that in the near future)

Bottom line is, you can do it. The very cool thing is that marketing online virtually eliminates rejection because you’re talking to the people who want to talk to you, and who want what you have to offer.

What a great way to build your business. How do you use social media in your business? Do you use social media in your marketing? Please leave a comment and let me know what’s working for you 🙂

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How To Stay Focused Working From Home

Posted on: September 2nd, 2010 by Beth Heilman

Most of us Home-Based Business Owners and Network Marketers who have worked a “real job” have dreamed of the day when we could finally give our notice, tell the boss good-bye and never look back. Ahh, freedom. It’s a beautiful thing.

Freedom is a funny thing, though. On the one hand, when you have your own business you can do what you want when you want to. On the other hand, because you can do what you want when you want to, it’s really easy to not do anything.

Keep Your Focus

Keep Your Focus

It’s also really easy to get caught up in “busy work” and put the things that will make you money on the bottom of the “to do” list.

The other day I got a really cool video from Eban Pagan promoting his course “Wake Up Productive”. In that video he talks about all the time that gets wasted in non-productive things like checking email, surfing the net (in the name of research) and returning phone calls that could be put off until later, or even delegated to someone else.

Here are some suggestions.

Figure out when your most productive times are. Let’s face it. Some of us are morning people and some are night owls. While I might get my best work done in the mornings and early afternoon, you might do better to sleep late and work later in the day. The cool thing about most of our businesses is that they’re international, so sending an email from the west coast at two in the morning would get to a business associate in Australia at a normal time. Work with your own internal clock instead of against it.

Set aside blocks of uninterrupted time to focus on just one project. Schedule one to two hour blocks of time and don’t work on anything else but that one thing. There’s no such thing as multi-tasking folks, as much as we’ve heard all the hype about it. Try this little experiment. Think about a green dog now at the same time think about a purple elephant. You have to focus on one or the other (and you can alternate between the two of them pretty fast), but you can only concentrate on one thing at once.

So many of us home based business types will simultaneously be talking on the phone to a prospect, while checking our email, while writing ourselves a reminder about something at our kid’s school and what did we really accomplish? Our prospect (the most important person in this scenario) isn’t getting the full attention he or she deserves and they can feel it. We give up effectiveness in the name of efficiency and nothing important gets accomplished.

The bottom line is this. The freedom of a home based business is in being disciplined with your time.

When you’re writing an article or blog post for your marketing campaign, do only that. Give it your complete attention and don’t stop until it finished.

When you block out time for your follow-up calls, do only that. Then your prospects have your undivided attention and they’ll be able to feel that you’re really listening to them. That you really care about what’s important to them.

When you can master your time and focus all your energy on one project at a time, you’ll be amazed at how much more productive you’ll be and how much extra time you’ll have for all the fun things in life.

 

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The Secret To Having Raving Fans Begins With One Simple Thing

Posted on: August 10th, 2010 by Beth Heilman

Let me clue you in on a widely known, but little used secret to building
loyalty and trust both in you and in your business. It’s a skill that’s so
easy to learn that most new entrepreneurs who get caught up in all the hype
and excitement of their business opportunity completely overlook.

Relationship Listening Skills

Happiness Is Being Heard

That skill?

Listening.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m just as guilty as anyone else (well, I used to be) of
talking excitedly about my business to just about anyone who would listen. I
could talk at about 75 miles per hour (with gusts up to 120 🙂 ).

Where did all that verbal gushing get me? Not very far I’ll tell ya that.
(That’s why I’m now a reformed gusher, but I digress)

That point was painfully hammered home to me last week when I was invited to
look at a home based business. It’s a company that’s been around for about 15
years, but was “so much better that it used to be, you’ll hardly recognize
it”. yeah…right…uh huh.

Okay, curiosity got the best of me and I went to take a peak. I must admit,
the lady who called me (said someone gave her my business card. Hmmm…) was
nearly hyperventillating she was so excited.

How could I say no?

When I got to the company office and we exchanged pleasantries, I was
escorted into a conference room. It was comfortable enough. Soon the video
presentation started. It was a parade of happy associates, flashy cars and
beautiful homes that could be mine once I join.

There were the third party testimonials, magazine articles and a celebrity
endorsement by a man of questionable hairstyle (won’t mention any names).

These folks obviously loved their company and God bless ’em for it. I wish
them well. But, you know what (or who) they totally glossed over?

Me.

There were no questions about my family, my interests or what I was doing for
a living. No inquiries about my hopes, dreams, fears or reasons for having my
own business in the first place.

Nada, zip, zilch.

When I asked the female half of the team (her husband did most of the
presentation) who gave her my card, the story changed about three times.
In-teresting…

My point in telling you all this is that you can have all the enthusiasm in
the world. You can have the most super-stupendous, state-of-the-art products
and company on the planet, but if you don’t make an effort to really connect
with people you want to serve it doesn’t make a bit of difference.

No relationship, no sale.

Sure there will be some who will go for the flash and buy or join no matter
what. Those folks will stick around til the next new, shiny object catches
their eye…or until they find someone listens, someone who really takes
interest in them and their dreams.

Let that someone be you.

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