Virtual Foodie

Making Gossip Work for You

2008-08-18T23:05:00.000-05:00

from John Mehrmann

Are you harnessing the power of gossip, communities, and social networking to promote your brand? Whether your brand is a product, a service, or yourself, this is the era of connectivity and belonging. The Internet has become a powerful medium for connecting people with more than information access. It is creating communities and relationships by making it easier to find individuals with similar interests and preferences. Tapping into this communication is the new face of marketing, and it has a new set of rules to go along with it.

The benefits of word-of-mouth endorsements have always been difficult to calculate. However, a study by Koen Pauwels of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College quantified social networking as 20 times more effective than traditional marketing efforts like print and television. The study concluded that social networking and communities are at least 30 times more effective than media events.

LinkedIn, Face-book, and MySpace provide powerful opportunities for social media and groups of online communities to share opinions and meet users with similar interests. "You can track how many invitations are being sent out, how many users responded, and when," said Pauwels. "Quantifying word-of-mouth like this couldn't be done before."

Can word-of-mouth create a contagious appetite? In 2007, the estimated number of legal online music downloads exceeded 1,700,000,000. That is up 53% from the year before, 2006. The online music industry reached the $3 Billion mark. Artists are finding new ways to release songs, by marketing ringtones, video downloads that can be shared and forwarded to friends, or mobile tracks on the web. Of the 115 products that sold for 19 million units worldwide for Justin Timberlake, less than 20% was sold on CD.

Social Networking enables individuals to communicate and connect with one another. Community marketing engages audiences in non-intrusive conversations, activities, and benefits. Community marketing turns customers into advocates. Blogs, Wikis, Forums, and other online tools empower communication within the community of socially networked users.

One of the fundamental commandments of marketing in communities and social networking is to avoid marketing. Yes, that's right, you must avoid marketing slogans, ploys, or tricks to market effectively to your advocates. Customers trust and respect other customers of similar opinions and tastes. Therefore, to market effectively, you must provide your advocates with information, facts, and a forum to exchange useful tips with one another. Mavens and Gurus will rise from among the ranks to espouse your products, your services, or yourself, if the facts are accurate and worthy of the support. The target market is always better at communicating your message and benefits than you are, so empower them and enable them to do so, then get out of the way.

It is estimated that by 2010, more than 60% of Fortune 1000 companies will have some form of online community for relationship marketing. Unfortunately, many of these companies may miss the mark by merely building and monitoring a forum for remarks. Many companies are wary of blogs, and the connotations of uncontrolled ranting and raving that has become synonymous with disgruntled employees creating blogs on the Internet. As the awareness of relationship marketing in social media and communities continues to increase, so the tools for connecting users must also evolve.

In the meantime, while we wait for online communities to evolve, there are opportunities for businesses and individuals to leverage a combination of tools available today. Create and maintain a web site as a means to communicate and share information. Sharing meaningful information is a good way to give something to your audience. Quoting endorsements, testimonials, and comments on your web site is a great way to demonstrate your awareness, acceptance, and appreciation for the community feedback. Your web site does not enable social interaction, but you can contribute to it, and demonstrate your support of it, by the information and feedback that you post.

In addition, leverage existing tools that enable users to post comments and interact with one another. You can keep these utilities completely separate from your web site. Blogs are a forum for users to communicate with direct and exposed feedback. Rather than avoid such unencumbered communication, you should cultivate it, even if at a distance. Monitoring the feedback on blogs may help you to determine the effectiveness of the communication on your hosted web site. You can measure the positive or negative unsolicited feedback, and use this insight to modify your messaging and strategy accordingly. This is much more effective than paying for expensive print advertising, and finding the results long after the investment is spent. Blogs can create some risk by the very nature of the open forum, so keeping a relatively safe distance may be appropriate to avoid some inappropriate or controversial topics or conversations.

LinkedIn, Face-book, and MySpace offer opportunities for controlled messaging, groups, communities, and communications for businesses and individuals. These utilities offer independent controls to mitigate the risk of inappropriate or controversial communications interfering with the user community experience. The reduced risk also reduces some of the flexibility for open communications, but that may be a small sacrifice in exchange for the structured environment, ease of use, and wide spread acceptance.

You may be promoting a brand, a product, a company, a service, or promoting yourself for another career. Whatever the purpose of your promotion, you will be more effective if you promote your advocates, and allow them to be the ones to promote you. Quote your advocates, build the credibility and awareness for your advocates, and support their success. It is by promoting, sustaining, and empowering your advocates as experts, that their opinions and support for you becomes even more credible and valuable. You will be 20 - 30 times more effective and successful by promoting your advocates, than you would be promoting yourself. Let your advocates do the communicating for you.

Remember to thank your advocates and let them know that they are appreciated. After all, they are the keepers of your reputation, your relationships, and your community.

Marcia Yudkin's Get-Clients-Next-Week Formula

2008-08-06T09:52:00.001-05:00

From Marcia Yudkin:

"During last week's Q&A session on getting media coverage,
several people wanted to know how to get clients in today's
slower economy. Since that wasn't my announced topic, I
put them off... until today. Here's the winning formula.

1. Select a problem urgently felt by people or companies
you know how to find. Sample problem: High gas prices
have tripled the no-show rate at high-profile restaurants.

2. Create a specific offer that solves the problem for a
low cost and that serves as a logical lead-in to your usual
product or service. For instance: "For $295, I'll suggest
five creative and publicity-worthy incentives not being used
in your marketplace."

3. Give the offer a name, such as "The No More Skittery
Customers Solution."

4. Add scarcity - you have space in your schedule for just
three new clients or the offer is valid only through Labor
Day.

5. Put the offer in front of potential customers by calling
them, sending a postcard or emailing them.

Because desperation repels, take these steps with confidence
and a positive attitude." more

Lemonade Stand Marketing

2008-06-17T06:46:00.002-05:00

Nowhere is it more clear about what EVERY business must do to compete than in the microcosm of a lemonade stand. Do you see your own business in these tips and ideas?

from Wikihow.com:

How to Compete with Other
Lemonade Stands

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Lemons, sugar, water, ice: lemonade is a pretty humble beverage, but when the dog days of summer hit, an ice-cold cup hits the spot like nothing else. It’s no wonder the lemonade stand is a favorite choice of young entrepreneurs. And since the experience of running a stand teaches kids about business and money management, parents can get excited about lemonade, too. Here's how to do your best in the sometimes highly-competitive lemonade market.

Steps

Perform market research. Before big businesses start selling a new product or open a new store, they try to find out what customers want and when and where they want it. There is a chance you don’t have the time or money to do a lot of research, but even a little bit helps. If you’ve seen other lemonade stands around your town, talk to the kids who run them and find out how much they sell their lemonade for and what kind of lemonade seems to sell the best. You don’t have to run your stand just like other stands—in fact, you want to make your stand a little different than others to give customers a reason to come to yours—but you’ll have a better chance of success if you know a bit about the business.
Choose the best location. People don’t look up lemonade stands in the phone book, so you have to make sure they can see you. If your house is on a busy street or if you live in a neighborhood with a lot of people, you can set up your stand right at home. Similarly, if you live in an apartment, you may be able to set up right outside the main entrance to your building. Find a place with a lot of traffic, especially foot traffic. If your house isn’t in a good place, ask your parents if they’ll let you set up somewhere else, such as outside a shopping center, on a busy corner near your house, or outside one of your parents’ workplaces.
Set the right price. The price you set for a cup of lemonade should depend on three things: the cost of your supplies, the amount people are willing to pay, and the prices offered by competing lemonade stands. You can find out what people are willing to pay by experimenting with the price you charge for a cup of lemonade, but the easiest way to set your price is to see what other stands are charging, and then charge about the same or a little less (maybe even a little more if you offer something better than they do). If you can offer the same quality at a lower price, you’ll get more customers. That said, you want to make sure you’re making a profit. When your parents are buying the supplies, it’s easy to overlook the costs involved, but in the real world you won’t be in business for long if you don’t make a little money (over the cost of the lemonade, cups, ice, and other supplies) on each cup of lemonade you sell. If you can buy your supplies for less than your competition can, you can also sell your lemonade at a lower price. Look for sales and coupons in your local newspaper, and consider buying larger quantities of supplies to get the best deal.
Offer the customer a choice. You can entice more customers with different flavors of lemonade, such as pink lemonade or strawberry lemonade. Also consider offering a choice of sizes. If you’re making your own fresh-squeezed lemonade, you might even be able to sell large bottles of it to people. Encourage people to buy larger, more expensive sizes by pricing them so that they cost less per ounce than smaller sizes. You can also increase sales by diversifying your product offerings, either by offering foods, such as baked goods and other snacks, to complement your lemonade sales, or by offering alternatives to lemonade, such as soda or iced tea. If you offer several products, make sure your customers know about them, and if somebody buys a cup of lemonade ask them if they’d like a cookie as well.
Find your niche. So you’ve got the best lemonade in town, but what if other stands have lemonade that’s just as tasty? Set your stand apart from the crowd by providing something a little different. Do you have a special talent, like juggling or telling jokes? Use your talents to make a name for yourself, and customers will buy from you just to see "the kid who juggles the lemons" or "the girl who tells a joke with each cup of lemonade." You might also donate a portion of your profits to charity. Not only is this a nice thing to do, but customers may also be impressed with your generosity (or, as big businesses call it, "social responsibility").
Set up an attractive shop. Your stand will probably rely almost entirely on people who stop in while driving or walking by, so you want your stand to look as clean and attractive as possible or they won’t stop. You can buy pre-made stands now, but people may probably still like it better if you make your own, as long as it looks good. Use a new-looking table, or use a clean tablecloth on an older table. Letter your signs neatly and in large letters, and clearly and attractively display all the items you have for sale (if you’re selling more than just lemonade) and their prices. Add some color to your stand with helium balloons or other decorations, and be creative. Most importantly, keep your stand and the area around it neat and sparkling clean.
Advertise your stand. Write up signs to stick to trees or posts in your neighborhood, especially if your stand is just off a main road. You can also ask a friend to stick a couple brightly colored signs on himself or herself and have him or her ride a bicycle around the neighborhood, advertising your lemonade stand. Be sure to have a big, neatly written sign in front of your stand. Don’t spend a lot of time or money on signs away from your stand. Your best advertising will be your location and word-of-mouth from satisfied customers.
Provide exceptional customer service. Repeat customers (those who come back over and over again) will probably be your stands main source of income, especially if you set up shop in a residential neighborhood (at or near your house). You can get people to come back to your stand by treating them right:
- Be pleasant. Greet customers with a smile when they come to your stand, chat with them while they’re there (if they want to chat), and thank them for their business. Make it a point to remember repeat customers’ names, and greet them by name or title (Mr., Ms., Dr., etc.) when they show up, and offer them a free cup of lemonade or some other bonus every once in a while.
- Be professional. No matter how badly your day may be going, you always want to look like you love selling lemonade and that the lemonade business is booming. Customers don’t want to hear about your problems, they want lemonade. And your customers are busy people, too. They don’t want to have to wait for their refreshing beverage, so always have enough lemonade and other supplies ready, and make sure you can quickly and accurately make change for customers. If business is good, and you have a line of customers, apologize for the wait and show that you’re working hard to serve people. Finally, you don’t have to wear a suit, but keep your appearance neat and clean.
- Be accommodating. If a customer doesn’t like the lemonade for some reason, listen to them to find out why, apologize, fix the problem, and offer them a free cup or refund. Unsatisfied customers may become your best customers if you impress them with your desire to "make things right."
Pay attention to quality. If you make great lemonade, people will come back for it and choose your stand over others. If you want to make your own lemonade, you can ask your parents how, or you can find tons of recipes on the Internet. Whether you make your own or buy from the store, ask friends and family to try your lemonade before you start selling it, and listen to your customers’ comments or complaints once you start selling. Make sure you give people enough ice to keep the lemonade cold, and don’t serve lemonade that’s been sitting out for too long or that has dirt or—yuck!—bugs in it.
Keep track of your sales and experiment a bit. You can learn a lot from running a lemonade stand, and the more you learn the more money your stand will make. If you’re not selling much lemonade, figure out why. Some factors, such as the weather, you can’t change, but others, such as price and type of lemonade, you can. Use some trial-and-error to make your stand the best it can be, and learn from your mistakes—when life gives you lemons make lemonade. more

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Compete with Other Lemonade Stands. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

At Last a Post that Involves Foodies AND Marketing!

2008-05-29T16:13:00.003-05:00

Got an email blast from Wine Marketer.com that features an article by Philip James, CEO - Snooth Inc. about the value of "branding" in the wine industry. This sage advice can carry over into ANY industry that utilizes the web for marketing (and who doesn't?). He has this to say about building links on the web (I could not have said it better myself!):

"What you want is a snowball. You go and seed your site with accurate, original and interesting data, make it easy for both search engines and people to access and leverage your data. Then, as the snowball picks up momentum, your supporters can be your brand ambassadors, spreading the word about what you do. Pretty soon, mentions of your wines will be popping up all over the web, on sites youd never heard of. That sounds scary, but every time this happens its like a tiny little beam of light pointing back to your solitary lighthouse, you get enough of those, and pretty soon the sky doesnt look so dark any more."

How to succeed in Forums

2008-04-10T06:44:00.001-05:00

I love sharing information from my favorite marketer, Stephen Pierce. This what he says about forums: "To succeed in today’s marketing environment you have to boost your interactions with your market, which can then boost your transactions and thus your profits.

To do that however, you must FIRST know WHO is talking about WHAT and WHERE are they talking about it.

So the issue is this: WHO is talking about WHAT and WHERE are they talking? Solution: An overlooked free forum marketing research tool uncovered and revealed to you right now.

In today’s Make More Money Monday DTAlpha TalkBack, I’m going to share with you a free tool that will allow you to point-and-click your way to targeting conversations to can jump in and start marketing and making money from.

Using this free tool, you can search over 58 MILLION forum threads in over 37,000 different forums in just seconds to accelerate your forum marketing efforts.

Are you ready for this 11 minutes and 52 seconds of pure actionable content?

It’s another amazing marketing tool that I’m sure will become part of your secret weapon marketing tool chest.

So let’s begin." Click here to hear Stephen's audio blog.

Learn to create, not compete

2008-03-24T09:17:00.001-05:00

A successful lumber dealer told the newspaper reporters what he did to stay ahead of the game. Every night he said he sat quietly in his darkened room and relaxed. Then, he tried to imagine how the lumber business would be conducted ten years from now. He would write down everything that came to him and tried to put them into effect in his business immediately. He didn't want to wait for the ten years to come around. He wanted to succeed now. While his contemporaries were competing with him, he was creating his future.
Learn to create, not compete. Every day, do some concentrated thinking, visualizing, about yourself, your work, your family. Anyone from ages ten to one hundred and ten can benefit from this way of Thinking.

Thanks to Jan Tincher.

Tag, you're IT!

2008-03-11T21:20:00.002-05:00

My vote for the best company mission statement I've seen in a loooong time? Enterprise Rent-A-Car's: "Enterprise is an extended family of more than 65,000; a world-class company
with homegrown roots. Through tremendous leadership and the entrepreneurial spirit of our employees, we've built the largest rental car company in North America — customer by customer, car by car from the ground up. But our goal has never been to be the biggest; we simply work hard to be the best."

Isnt' that absolutely inspiring? Have you sat down lately to define your message? Key words: family: 65,000, world-class: homegrown; leadership: entrepreneurial spirit / employees ... it paints a masterpiece of contrasts - I'd say they've got all their bases covered, wouldn't you?

The Punctual Plummer

2008-03-05T14:27:00.001-05:00

Just heard the greatest commercial on KLIF out of TX:

Benjamin Franklin Plumbers, "The Punctual Plummer" will take $5 off your bill for every minute they are late.

What a GREAT idea! Honestly, the first time I heard the commercial I didn't catch the name of the plumber but I did catch the offer. How can you tailor your marketing message to surprise and attract clients? What are the known flaws of your competition and how can you do better?

Charity

2008-03-03T09:14:00.001-05:00

Not sure if anyone saw this video on 60 minutes last night about the charity that was founded to bring medical care to the poorest areas in the world that now does most of it's work in the US. http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3898008n

I found it shocking and heart-breaking.

But it is quite an eye opener. If corporations won't support them then maybe it is up to us small business owners?

Customer Service - Hell yeah it matters!

2008-02-26T16:22:00.000-05:00

If you have a minute, please watch the following video clip it is a
beautiful story of Johnny, the grocery store bagger. It is very short,
but it will remind you of why and how we make an impact in what we do.
You may even want to share it with others, and I hope you will. Make
Their Day, too! It's amazing how one young man made such a wonderful
impact on those customers lucky enough to have Johnny bag their
groceries!!!

You may have to copy and paste the link if it does not work for you.

http://www.stservicemovie.com/

Branding Idea: Removable Stickers

2008-02-18T12:41:00.001-05:00

from Shawn Collins, Affiliate Marketing Genius:

I came across a cool marketing idea, custom stickers from Sticker Giant that are removable. It’s a cheap and easy way to promote your brand, and I think people might be more likely to slap it on their laptop or phone if they know it can be removed down the road.

Many folks plaster stickers of their favorite brands and whatnot on the back of their laptops, like this example that Sam Harrelson shares on Flickr of his computer.
Note the handsome “AFF” sticker on there - that one is a previous purchase of mine for Affiliate Summit from Sticker Giant.

But that’s the old school type of sticker that doesn’t come off. Well, you can fight it a while with razor blades and WD40 if you really need to get it off, but you’ll still have some residue.
Anyhow, I got a bunch of these removable laptop stickers made up for Affiliate Summit that I’ll be handing out in Las Vegas.

Be sure to grab me to slap one on your computer, phone, iPod or whatever. No commitment, so if you just want to do it to patronize me, that’s cool, too. Just peel it off when I walk away.
Just go to Sticker Giant and click on custom stickers and then laptop stickers for more information.

The 10 Marketing Commandments

2008-02-07T12:07:00.000-05:00

The 10 Marketing Commandments

From Jay Lipe

These Ten Commandments didn’t come from the Mountain. And they’re not carved on clay tablets, but on a high-tensile polyfiber instead. Yet any marketer worth his or her salt must follow these commandments in order to find the Promised Land.

Thou Shalt Not See Marketing as a Department - When you get right down to it, everyone in your company is a marketer. From the receptionist whose voice is the first thing your buyers hear, to the delivery person whose rear-end may be the last thing they see, every one of your employees plays a pivotal role in the orchestration of your marketing efforts. Good companies imbue every employee with healthy reverence for the customer so that the company, from every point of contact it has with its market, knows how to market.

Thou Shalt Follow the Ninety Day Rule - Your customers, prospects and champions (those who refer business your way) should hear from you every 90 days.People are just too busy to remember you otherwise. If you don’t follow the 90-day rule, you risk getting shouted down by any competitor of yours who does.

Honor the Concept of Tinkering with All your Heart - If you’re a 70’s child like me, you remember the hugely successful rock group Fleetwood Mac. But I’ll bet you didn’t know that their seemingly overnight success came only after years of tinkering. That’s right, before the release of their monster album Rumours, they endured no less than 14 personnel changes across 10 years. In marketing, as in rock and roll, success seldom happens with your original line-up.

Thou Shalt Not Quit - Moses and the Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years without giving up. You owe it to yourself (and maybe Moses too) to try any new marketing initiative at least three times before throwing in the towel. Your prospect could have been out of the country the first time you ran it, and tending to his sick mother the second. Repetition is a marketer’s best friend.

Thou Shalt Feed Thy Prospecting Funnel - Suspects become prospects, who then become customers. And these customers then generate referrals who create more prospects and the cycle begins anew. For thousands of years, this marketing process (also known as the prospecting funnel) has governed marketing activities for all companies, and I feel safe saying that it will continue this way for another thousand years.

Remember Thine Marketing Time by Keeping it Holy - Successful marketing campaigns don’t take the summer off, nor are they created “when I have the time.” You must make the time. I’ve found it’s helpful to consistently carve out the same day and time each week to work on marketing tasks. For me, it’s Friday afternoons; for you it may be different. But whatever day and time you choose, honor it with all your heart.

Thou Shalt Jettison One Program Every Year - I can’t count the number of stressed out marketers I’ve seen over the last 15 years. As task after task is added to their plates , nothing is ever removed. Stop this madness at once, and identify one marketing task each year to eliminate. Too often, someone keeps doing a task (e.g. issuing a report), yet it’s not adding value. Eliminate one marketing task a year; your health depends upon it.

Thou Shalt Not Cut Marketing Spending During Slow Times - From 1980 to 1985, McGraw-Hill Research analyzed 600 companies and their marketing spending. After 1985, McGraw-Hill concluded that those firms which had maintained or increased their advertising during the recession in ’81-’82 boasted an average sales growth of 275% over the next five years. But those companies who cut their advertising saw paltry sales growth over the next five years of just 19%. When is the right time to market your business? All the time.

Thou Shalt Honor Exiting Employees - I once had a travel industry client run a report that showed where their new referrals came from. The second highest category was ex-employees. It turns out vacation shoppers were asking these ex-employees where they could book a Vegas package just like the neighbor’s they’d heard about, and the ex-employees were referring them back to their old employer. When you treat your departing employees with a dose of good will, they may just turn into your unpaid sales force and refer business your way.

Thou Shalt Thank Often - Sadly, we live in an age of boorishness. But a savvy marketer can do his part to bring civility into an otherwise uncivilized world. Among the countless ways to thank customers are thank you notes, gift certificates and appreciation lunches to name just a few. These thank you’s don’t have to be showy. Just make sure the thank you is classy and considerate, and the kindness will eventually be repaid.

Sure, we all break these commandments from time to time and end up seeking forgiveness. But if you consistently break these Ten Commandments of Marketing, you risk an exodus-a customer exodus.

Do you have a hammer?

2008-01-29T11:40:00.001-05:00

"There's an old business adage that says that if the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems look like nails."

For whatever reason, that hit a chord with me. I think it says a lot about potential clients in our industry & why a lot of them don't 'get' the difference between a virtual professional, a VA, and a staffing agency. In their minds, they are still thinking in employee/employer terms - they think their problem will be solved by 'hiring' someone to help them like they would hire an employee. With that kind of thinking (the 'hammer') then every solution looks similar (just different types of nails.)

The same is true for a lot of newer, less experienced VA's. They fill their 'toolbox' with inaccurate or less-than-realistic strategies and marketing tactics, then try to make everything fit to those tools. They get frustrated when the tools they're using don't work. Well, what if your market is full of 'screws' and you're only thinking of 'nails?' Since you're using a 'hammer' instead of a 'screwdriver,' you aren't giving your market what they need to solve their problem.

Am I making sense?

Anyway, just some lunchtime musings I thought I'd share. It was just a simple sentence I read that really seemed to sum up what's been going through my mind lately in a simple, easy to understand metaphor. - Thank you to Sandra Johnson

10 Laws for Better Email

2008-01-16T09:15:00.000-05:00

Matthew Stibbe of Bad Language has this to say about emails:

Most emails are badly written. No surprise, perhaps, since we write more emails than anything else. By 2010, the business world will have produced 27,000 billion gigabytes of email. So what goes wrong?

Not written with the reader in mind
Not written to be scanned or read quickly
Too many topics in one email
Important information or requests buried in verbiage
Reply in haste, repent at leisure
Poor grammar, spelling and punctuation
Using email when some other communication would have been better more ...

Is your bank account a financial ghost town?

2007-12-22T16:02:00.000-05:00

This is a very appropriate topic at this time of year! Check out this message from the VERY SMART Stephen Pierce - he's released a 9 minute and 9-second DTAlpha TalkBack called "Is Your Bank Account A Financial Ghost Town?".

Stephen says, "In today’s DTAlpha TalkBack Session we discuss the missing ingredient that can turn your business from a ghost town to creating a parade of buyers."

DTAlpha TalkBack

A Gift from the IRS ... really!

2007-12-17T17:21:00.000-05:00

This just in from Sean Marten of Crest Capitol:

"The IRS has a holiday gift for you. Really, they do!! How would you like a new computer for your business this holiday season? Even better, how about ten computers, a few printers, and
some iPhones? Or maybe an SUV - how would that Hummer look under your tree (awkward comes to mind, but it's doubtful anyone would complain.)

The preceding will happen for millions of businesses this holiday season, with the IRS playing Santa Claus. All because of a provision to the US tax code called Section 179. What is Section 179, and how does it work? In simple terms, Section 179 is an attempt by the United States government to stimulate the economy by encouraging small to medium sized businesses to purchase equipment this year by making it very advantageous in a tax sense.

In a nutshell, it works like this: Normally, when a business purchases equipment, they do not
get to "write it off" right away. They instead must "depreciate" it over the course of several years. So a business could not realize the full tax advantages until years after the fact. Section 179 does away with this, and allows certain pieces of equipment (including most electronics and office machines, and even some vehicles) to be deducted in full the year they are purchased. more...

Goodbye Dan Fogelberg

2007-12-17T08:52:00.001-05:00

When I was a teenager I had gone through the hard rock period of the early '70's but then discovered, around 1975, a very special radio station in CT, where I grew up. WWYZ played all of the "singer songwriter" music. Harry Chapin, John Denver, Leonard Cohen, Rupert Holmes and, especially, Dan Fogelberg. It was a great alternative to disco and hard rock. The music was thoughtful, beautiful and timeless. I awoke this morning, happy about a 90 minute school delay and immediately saddened to hear that Dan Fogelberg had died. Wow.

Reliability for fun and profit

2007-12-13T14:33:00.000-05:00

As 2007 comes to a close I must say business has certainly picked up! I've added 3 new clients to my internet marketing support buiness this month. This makes me VERY BUSY. So, rather than going on and on with my own thoughts today, I'd like to recommend a fabulous book: Marketing the One-Person Business available thru OnlineOrganizing.com. If you are at all running/planning your own one-wo/man show remember: it is YOUR name on it. You are selling your integrity, trustworthiness, honesty - and all those other concepts that people seem to think are outdated nowadays - but really aren't. Want to gain a client? Show unwavering trustworthiness. Want to lose a client? Lie or don't show up once or twice. See the difference?

Annual Report on Your Life

2007-12-12T14:21:00.001-05:00

Steve Kaye, over at AbleLeader, has come up with some excellent ideas for progress in the new year - and even though I'm incredibly jealous at his talent - I thought I'd share them with you all:

"... If you prepare an annual report on your life, you may include a list of what you learned.Here are some of my best ideas from 2007... Here the ideas that will go into my annual report for 2007.

1) Every argument is destined to produce failure for both parties. The reason is that you can only win by proving the other person to be wrong. Winning is thus based on using superior logic, bigger consequences, or overwhelming emotion. To make matters worse, some people attempt to win arguments by hurting the other person until that person gives up. In any case, the winner gains a victory wrapped in resentment, which almost always causes a loss later.

Better: Differences are opportunities to become closer. Ask questions, let the other person talk, and agree with how the other person feels.

2) Your influence is limited by the consequences that you can apply. If you are unable to give something valuable or remove something important, then you will have no influence.

Better: Recognize that everyone has power. Generally, "big" people have power over things that happen quickly while "small" people have power over things that happen slowly. Know what your power is before entering a negotiation in terms that will influence the other person.

3) The best creativity occurs when you take your mind to a zero state. This requires complete detachment from expectations, evaluations, and judgment. To do this you must forget everything in your past and ignore any anticipation of the future. You must go to the childlike state of pure play where nothing matters except the joy of being in the moment of where you are.

To Do: Set aside time for pure thinking. Give yourself permission to be wrong. For more ideas on this, read the News below.

4) If you let fear and anger play in your mind, you will make mistakes. These two villains will either distract you from being your best or they will cause you to make bad decisions. This is especially important today because mind manipulators are more prevalent than ever, driving the public into either a numb state of reduced performance or acceptance of their agenda.

Better: Management of what occurs in your mind is your highest priority. Take the time to understand the purpose behind every message. For example, sensational news broadcasts are not designed to inform; they are designed to trap you into watching commercials.

5) Successful people (achievers) talk themselves into doing those things that lead to success. They find positive reasons to take risks, endure discomfort, and do the work. And then they proceed because they are moving toward something that they want. In contrast, other people talk themselves into staying the same. Then they invent excuses to hide what they wanted to avoid.

Better: Pay attention to the dialogue that occurs in your mind. Are you talking your way into striving for your dreams or are you inventing excuses? Are you moving toward something that you want or away from something that you don't want?

6) A relationship is really a conversation. When the conversation ends, so does the relationship.To Do: Invest in conversation. Spend time talking to the people who matter. And this means that you will use at least half of the conversation for listening.7) Setting a goal for collecting ideas is the key to finding them. (Like anything else, you will find what you think about.) Since ideas are the key to effective leadership, leaders need to make wisdom a daily priority. In fact, great leaders are known for their thinking more than their doing.

To Do: Set a personal goal of finding and documenting at least one business (or life) lesson by the end of each day. - Much success, Steve Kaye 714-528-1300"

Stop procrastinating!

2007-12-11T09:22:00.000-05:00

Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman a.k.a. The Blog Squad, offer teleseminars on a regular basis that are packed with immediately usable tips, tactics and strategies for growing your business online. Their primary mission is to help you Attract, Sell, and Profit using simple, low-cost tools on the Internet. Their next FREE one, on January 17th, at 6pm EST is called Discover the 5 Traps of Internet Marketing that can Derail Your Business. Find out more.

Great Customer Service - an urban legend?

2007-12-09T15:00:00.000-05:00

Heard one of those great Ira Glass stories on This American Life on WNPR today. Although the story is a few years old it was about one of Glass' coworkers who was having a billing dispute with the now defunct MCI telephone. It took her many weeks and many tears to get a resolution to her problem. Take a listen to hear how no matter how frustrated or angry she became, the RIGHT words at the right time were enough to save the customer relationship. Too bad they didn't do more, sooner ....

Thesaurus - now you say it

2007-12-09T01:17:00.001-05:00

OK today's hot find it the Visual Thesaurus found online at Thinkmap. While searching for new and exciting ways to say the same old thing I stumbled upon this fabulous resource online. It has an amazing ability to show all of the possibilities for every nuance of a word and then, with a click of the mouse, realigns the words to match the direction you intend your word to mean. It's like a little planetarium show. You've got to try it to see what I mean, but for those of us who use words to make a living - it's indispensible / vital / essential ...

How do those tiny reindeer fly?

2007-12-06T23:19:00.000-05:00

Continuing our holiday theme ... check out How Stuff Works' new HOW CHRISTMAS WORKS site! This is brilliant! They have taken their usual, exciting at first, boring after the first 10 reads, site and thought up a new way to package it. I love this! Does your message need updating? Still have the same webpage you've had since you opened your business? Time for a change, my friends, out with the old and ...

Solid, solid as a rock ...

2007-12-04T20:06:00.000-05:00

Alice Cooper .... Charity .... help kids ... PLEASE give!

That's all!

Kate

Mining for Gold

2007-12-04T18:30:00.001-05:00

Back when it seemed inconceivable to me that there would ever be a world without Jimmy Stewart in it I used to pledge to take to my bed and never get out when that day finally did come. Who would want to be in a world without Jimmy Stewart? Not I. Well, unfortunately, that day came and went and I'm still going about my daily business. Luckily for me there is still plenty of celluloid Jimmy to be had - and, according to Cody Moya - there is a lot of demand for the old films with all of the stars. Looking for a new side business? Affiliate sales that are original? Check out Classic Movies Gold, Cody Moya's plan for keeping the classic movies alive.