As a young entrepreneur, I am constantly studying other entrepreneurs’ business tactics and strategies.  As the saying goes, the bricklayer never gets around to finishing his chimney and the seamstress rarely sews for herself.  Many people in business don’t take personal advantage of their own expertise. 

 Whether it’s managing, organizing, arranging, consulting or selling – customers or clients may glimpse the entrepreneur’s personal life and see a disconnect.  Most of us are aware of this and I believe it is a big source of stress.  That nagging feeling of “I’ll get around to it,” is an unnecessary burden to carry through the day. 

For the rest of the week, treat yourself like your own client, take the advice and wisdom that you give others - finish laying the bricks on your chimney or complete your unsewn dress.  

-Katrina

Too many times I hear women entrepreneurs give out excuses as to why their business is not doing well.  Case in point - I was chatting with one on Friday and asked her how business is going.  She is still in her first year.  Her reply was -  ”Not well.  I did a big project 2 months ago and they haven’t paid their invoice yet.  This really has discouraged me.”   And then she went on to say how she hasn’t been motivated to look for any new business.  Excuse me??

Building a successful busines is really tough.  Ask any profitable business owner and they will likely tell you they worked harder than they ever had before in their life to get that success.  Making excuses like the woman above only slows you down and gets in your own way.  Things don’t always go smoothly, clients don’t pay on time, you don’t land the contracts you want.  So what?  You can choose to wallow in disappointment or you can get right back at it and go after the next prospect on your list. 

So, if you find yourself on this sunny Monday, making excuses for things you are not happy with in your business - STOP!  Take some action to fix things.

My favourite blog post of this week has to be this article - Running on Fumes .

For all of you women out there who are driving yourself to exhaustion, pay special attention to points #2 and #5!

Life is about enjoyment, not about how much you can accomplish.

I was in LA recently and while there, decided to visit some businesses and see what the customer service experience was like. And here’s what I experienced:
- Ralph’s: Bought a sandwich there, sporting a large sticker saying “Made Fresh in Our Kitchen”. I unwrapped it and then checked the expiry date on the sandwich - 2 days away. The lettuce in that sandwich had transformed into a new, inedible life form. Impressions of Ralph’s: thumbs down - will never buy anything from them again.
- Bloomingdale’s: Beautiful store, great merchandise. However, when I went to make a purchase acted like they were doing me a big favour. Looked totally bored. Impressions of Bloomingdale’s: Not in a rush to go back.
- Target: Passed by the cosmetic section and the sales rep for Boots Cosmetics was there. What awesome customer experience! She was very passionate about her product, extremely knowledgeable, easy to talk to - a fun encounter. I walked away with several products that I had no intention of purchasing when I walked into the store. Impressions of Target: Loved it and will definitely go back.
- It’s a Grind Coffee Shop - was in one at Redondo Beach. Half the parking lot was under construction so business was way down. The owner was in great spirits anyway - great coffee and excellent customer service. He handled all the grumbling about lack of parking pleasantly and handed out freebies to the kids when they walked in with flustered parents. Impressions of It’s A Grind: Two thumbs up - loved the coffee and the service. It’s my favourite coffee hangout in LA now.
JetBlue: My first time flying them. The plane was clean, the seats were comfortable with lots of leg room and the crew had fun with passengers. It was a great experience. Impressions of JetBlue: Thumbs up. They deliver a great customer service experience - a rare thing in the aviation industry today.

As business owners, we often get bogged down in getting the ‘work done’. Make sure you take the time to check out your customer service - are you sure your customers are happy and impressed with your company? You need to check this out on a regular basis. Hire a mystery shopper, get a friend to pose as a customer or talk to your exisitng customers. Find out what they like, what they don’t and how you can improve. Then - take action.

I have a wonderful young woman in business working with me this summer, Katrina Thompson, and I have asked her to contribute to the blog from the perspective of a young woman in business. She will be appearing in this space every Wednesday.

As a summer student and new entrepreneur, I have learned that the business of the real world is very different from business in the classroom.

One of the most important factors that helps me keep focus is having a mentor and a tight support group. A mentor should be someone who has gone before you and been successful in their own ways. Ask your mentor as many questions as you can!

Being an entrepreneur forces you to create your own boundaries. Boundaries are so important in an entrepreneur’s world because your clients will take advantage of you if you do not clearly establish your terms at the beginning of the contract.

Business resources are everywhere. There are numerous websites that provide free information for starting a business. The Small Business BC website offers market research, helpful guides, and a research library. The Small Business Publications website provides information and statistics related to business in BC, including how to prepare a business plan. Knowing what you want to do in business, having a market and being able to access that market are three keys to success. Working with a mentor can smooth out the transitions and help you avoid the rabbit trails to success.

My latest column in Make It Business is out. I went “shopping” on the internet, looking for new products that would help business owners improve their profitability and turned up two interesting products - Billing Boss by Sage Software and SalesConx - a marketplace for business introductions and leads. Read the whole article here.

A lot of business owners hate chasing down customers for payment - rather than ask, a lot of them let it go. Big mistake. You don’t want to send out a message to the market that you work for free. But at the same time, very few of us have any training in effective collection techniques.

That’s why I really like this article in the Wall Street Journal - Eight Steps for Effective Collection Calls. Martin Sher, co-chief executive officer at AmSher Receivables Management, outlines 8 easy steps for collecting on those unpaid invoices. As he says, “The people who get paid are those who ask.”
Check out the article here.

Today’s posting is borrowed from The Pursuit Group - loved it so wanted to share it.

“Sure, you know that more and more business executives are turning to online sources as their primary information resource. But what type of online resources do they rely on most? The answers can help you identify important marketing and sales strategies.
A recent study by Bredin Business Information offers insight for companies that serve the small business marketplace. When asked to identify the online resources they use frequently or occasionally to manage or grow their business, here’s how execs at companies with fewer than 500 employees responded:
1. 51% — e-mail newsletters
2. 43% — interactive tools such as online calculators and surveys
3. 28% — community forums
4. 23% — webcasts or webinars
5. 21% — wikis
6. 20% — social networking sites
7. 16% — blogs
8. 14% — RSS feeds
9. 12% — podcasts
Further, when asked where they are most likely to start looking online, 48% said on a search engine, 33% said on “sites I know have good resources” and 19% said on the Web sites of their current vendors.”
CHeck out The Pursuit Group - they have some great articles.

SEO is a topic that I often get asked about so today’s posting comes courtesy of Lisa A. Riley, web & graphic designer, who lays out 6 tips for effective SEO.

1. Keywords: Fine tune the keywords you will be utilizing throughout your website. Places like Wordtracker.com will help to fine tune what keywords are the most searched and the amount of competition. Click on this link - it’s a good one for providing keyword ideas.
Make sure the keyword generator you use pulls data from the major search engines: Google, Yahoo & Windows Live.

2. Titles/Meta Description: Use keywords in the content of your pages and most important the Title of the web pages on your site. The search engines pull & display the Titles in the search results. Also make sure keywords are in the Meta Description of each page. When the search engines display the search results they also display the first few lines of your Meta Description.

3. Links On Your Site: When the search engines crawl the web, they not only evaluate your site, they also evaluate the links you may have on your site, determining how useful the site and links will be to viewers. Have links to other sites that might be heavily visited. It’s almost like the crawlers not only check to see how popular you are, but who you hang out with.

4. Popularity Contest: Search engines evaluate whether your site will be listed on the first few search results pages, based on how much traffic has been at your site. The more hits, the better chance of having your site bumped up to a higher ranking.

5. Fresh Content: Search engines love “fresh” content. They re-crawl the web every 30 days. That is why it is important to revise content on your site regularly. Upload articles or have a blog sitting on your website.

6. Get Your URL Out There: Having a link to your site in as many places as you can help to draw more traffic to your site. See if you can get your website link on other companies’ sites, articles, directories, listings, online communities (linkedin, facebook, etc), e-newsletters, press releases, and entries on other people’s blogs.

My column in this month’s edition of Make it Business talks about 6 ways to improve your sales machine so you keep attracting customers in good times or bad.

1. Set aside a few hours right now and create a strategic plan for the next 12 months.
2. Create effective sales and marketing messages.
3. Focus your efforts.
4. Build strong relationships with your customers.
5. Follow up on your leads.
6. Build strong sales skills.

Read the whole article here.