Women of Gwinnett Business Networking Group

Why Blog?

Three years ago, I did not know what a blog was. I heard of online journals. I even had one. But having a journal connected to a business sounded way too personal. Who would read your journal and purchase something from you?

Well times have changed. Journals have become less personal, and online business has become more personal. The result, of course was the birth of the blog. I defy you to name a large company that does not have a blog. Google has a blog. Yahoo has a blog. EBay has a blog, and within that they have bloggers who have their own blog.

But you run a small business selling hoo-haws (or whatever else you sell) why should you have a blog?

In this impersonal internet world, buyers are cautious about buying from small companies for several reasons. First it is hard to know if the business is reputable. Second, they feel no personal connection to the product of the sales person. Having a blog will bring your prospective customers closer to you emotionally which will bring them closer to you financially.

But blogging can be time consuming. Is it worth it? Yes indeed. The longer you can keep your your readers on your site, reading and searching for more information, the better the chance of them purchasing from you.

So get a blog. Attach it to your website. Write something... daily. The extra 10 minutes a day will be well worth it.

www.ahermitt.com

“Resolve To Never Give Up”

Robert Warlow

Small Business Success

One quality that most budding entrepreneurs find they need very early on in their business career is persistence – that stubborn streak and the resolve never to give up. But developing the habit of persistence is tough. After so many rejections, so many failed ideas, so many days when nothing seems to go right, the temptation to pack it all in and move onto something else can be overwhelming.

That prolific inventor Thomas Edison said, “All I can do is try everything to prove my idea is right and only give up when I am sure it won’t work.” This is the guy who tried 3,000 different ways to develop a light bulb. Now that’s what I call being persistent!

What can you do to make sure you don’t give up until you are 100% sure that it won’t work? Here are some ideas.

Have a Goal

I have talked before about having a clear goal or vision. Knowing what your end result is, why you are doing what you are doing, can be a powerful tool to cultivate persistence. Having a vivid picture in your mind of what you are setting out to achieve can keep you going during the dark days - remember the saying that it’s always darkest just before the dawn. Wouldn’t it be sad to think that you may have given up when success was just around the corner?

So, if you find yourself on the point of giving up, close our eyes, visualise your goal or the reason why you started, and dig deep for the persistence to carry on.

Develop a Road Map

It’s all very well knowing where you want to go, but if you are entering unknown territory you need a road map or a plan. For your first year, write down all the steps you will need to take. Lack of persistence kicks in when you don’t know which way to turn, it’s easier to turn around and go home. Having a plan mapped out before you start will give you the edge to carry on with your journey. A plan is a commitment you have made with yourself and can be a great tool to spur you on.

Going blindly into your new venture can seem a hugely daunting task but a plan ‘chunks’ down all the steps you need to take. A plan with smaller steps is harder to give up on than one plan which outlines the end goal. Each small step accomplished is a motivator to carry on to the next one.

Avoid Interruptions

Once you are into your plan, resolve with yourself to avoid all interruptions. Create habits for your working day – only take a break at a set time and duration; don’t stop what you are doing to start something else, focus on the task in hand; start the habit of limiting your phone conversations to purely business talk. If you find cold calling a problem, create the habit of making one call at 11 o’clock every day; you’ll soon you have it cracked.

Be Creative

One of the main reasons we give up is we think there is no other way to achieve our goal. But be creative! Before giving up, be like Edison, is there version 2,599 you can try first? If you have hit ‘the wall’, take time out of the business and go somewhere you can think in peace. Not only is this time-out likely to re-motivate you but you may get that much needed flash of inspiration. So before giving up, resolve to adjust your plan and find another way.

Don’t Listen to Them

One devastating destroyer of persistence are the ‘doubters’ in your life, the ones who are quick to say, “It will never work”, or “I don’t know why you bother”. These negative-thinking people can rob you of your persistence, so avoid them or block them out of your mind as soon as they come with 3 feet of you!

If you haven’t been able to move away quick enough just picture them as the non-achievers they are, nod sagely at their comments and move on, laughing to yourself at how little they know!

A strange thing about persistence is that you can only develop the skill when times are tough. You can’t practice the art of persistence when everything is going well, so I hope it’s one skill you won’t have to get down to a fine art!

Small Business Success

http://www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz

Small Business Success is a resource dedicated to helping small business owners be more successful. If you are looking for a regular flow of ideas and tips then subscribe to Small Business Success a free newsletter, which provides you with quick tips, ideas and articles.

For more information visit http://www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz

10 Successful Tips for Business Networking

I recently came upon this article and thought it was very relevant.

Effective business networking is the linking together of individuals who,
through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements
for one another.

1. Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine and authentic,
building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others.
click here to read the entire article:

What Have You Done for Your Networking Group Lately?

Over the years I have noticed a trend in new people joining networking groups. (I have belonged to several, and am a founding member of this one.) People mistakenly assume that by joining the networking group, they are going to instantly increase their business sales, and when that does not happen, they leave, or become inactive. Unfortunately they are missing the whole point of networking.

While networking groups certainly can help grow a business, or give a new business the kick start it needs, this happens as a side effect and should not be the main purpose of joining a networking group. A business networking group consists of a group of people who join forces combining strengths to simultaneously strengthen networks, and learn from each other. The most successful person in any networking group (without a doubt) is the person who contributes the most.

If I believed in Karma, I could attribute such success to it. I do however, believe in doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. It works. It really works. At this point I am going to use our beloved Darla Dixon as an example. She joined this group when it was a floundering start up. Frankly, it was not going to make it. I was struggling with a serious illness, and meetings (which at the time were in person), were inconsistent at best. But Darla knew a good idea when she saw it, picked up the ball and ran with it. This is why we are 67 active members today with over 140 people in our Yahoo Group. Darla has moderated our group, organized get togethers, recruited new members, built our websites, which includes this new and wonderful blog, and has served us all in may ways.

It is no wonder that if any of us hears the words "looking for an artist", that Darla comes to mind. She has given to us all, and none of us would hesitate to give back to her. I am not saying that any member needs to do as much as Darla does for the group. I am saying however, that lending your special talents to the group would make both it and your own business much stronger. Here are some examples of activities you could do to help grow your networking group.

Organizing functions and meetings formal and informal
Sharing Business Knowledge
Charity Coordinator
Cross advertising and promotion
Giving public reviews when pleased with anothers service (using the email list and sites like Kudzu)
Lending Your Special Talents to the group: marketing, design, etc.

by Andrea Hermitt, www.ahermitt.com

Your Yahoo Profile as a Business Tool

When is the last time you updated your Yahoo Profile?

Was it around 1995? No way, where did the time go?!?
Chances are, your details have changed!
You may use Yahoo for email, or you may have a Yahoo username for Yahoo Groups.

Your Yahoo Profile can be a useful sales tool for your business. Did you know that you can have as many as four website links in your Yahoo Profile? Why not also use your Yahoo Profile to tell people a little bit about yourself and your business? Get your business link in there!

There is the concern about privacy, if you use your Yahoo ID to go to Yahoo Chat, then I would recommend a more detail-hidden Yahoo ID and Profile, but for business networking groups, I would definitely keep my Yahoo Profile filled out and up-to-date. If you don't want to post a photo of yourself, remember that you could instead post a photo of your product.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/ahermitt

A sketch for photo to show she’s artistic and creative. Profile tells what Andrea does – murals and writing.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/darligraphy

I used my Self portrait as photo, links to portrait art website if anyone wanted to see more art examples, an affiliate link to VistaPrint, and a link to Women Of Gwinnett group.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/themercedeslady

Lori McTaggart's Yahoo Profile shows she sells Arbonne and her email address is there in case someone came upon the page and wanted to place an Arbonne order.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/sjrboswell

Includes link to her Stampin’ Up! Website and a little bit of information about her.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/tonidore

Photo, profile information all filled out to promote her astrology business, the Astrology Source.

UPDATE YOUR YAHOO PROFILE: LINK

Places to post a free ad online

Rochelle Noel of The PC Link emailed in two great places to post a free advertisement online.

www.backpage.com and www.kijiji.com . You can post in multiple cities and categories on Kajiji. Backpages also offers the opportunity to post in multiple cities at paid level fairly affordably - it just depends on which cities you select.

I added them to our link list. If you would like more sites that allow free ads, check our links in the sidebar, on the right of this blog - scroll down near the bottom to locate them.

Now you know where we have them all linked, you can come back to www.WomenofGwinnett.com anytime you want to post an ad, and get to many great places quickly. Remember to bookmark our page, or sign up to receive updates to our site automatically!

Thanks again, Rochelle, for sharing those two great links!

FEATURE: Crystal's Creations

Women of Gwinnett member, Crystal Brown, is so crafty! Check out this crafti-licious pincushion - it is totally hand-sewn and looks like a little cake. Adorable, would make a wonderful gift, and it's calorie free!

Check out her site: LINK
See more of her Pincushions: LINK

Crystal says, "I live in the Atlanta, Georgia, which is where my Home based business really took off. My passion to create things with my hands was the deciding factor in starting my own business 7 years ago. When I sold a crocheted bunny to a co-worker, the fire to create more items began to burn stronger. It was the first toy I had ever crocheted. Toys are joy to make. Currently, my toys are my best sellers. In addition to my website, I currently sell my items in boutiques, crafts shows and consignment shops nationwide.

I love all types of crafts and love to make several different things. I am always learning from others and my creativity keeps growing and growing. Soon, there will be several different lines of products on my site, so please check back often to see what I have been up to."

Using Direct Mail & Mailing Lists

Did you know you can purchase mailing lists? The price of your mailing list depends on how many options you select. You can be very specific, for example, you can request a mailing list by families with children and income levels. A mailing list is also a good option if you want to only mail to specific zip codes.

Many mailing list suppliers can allow you to obtain your mailing list on CD-ROM, if you want to use the list more than once, or you can opt for the mailing list to be sent to you on pre-printed mailing labels, which saves time. Most mailing list companies will require you to email or mail in a sample of the mailing material if you request a list that includes families with children. This is a good sign - it means the company cares about the safety of children.

There are many services that also offer a mailing list and they will handle all the mailing and affixing postage for you. If you use one of these services, be sure to also include some 'blinds' (names and addresses of family and friends, so you can be sure the mailings are actually happening, and are taking place by the schedule you selected. In other words, if you add a friend to the list and the friend says they never got the mailing, yet you paid for it - you will know you have an issue to discuss with the mailing company!

w3Data, a mailing list supplier, allows you to look up your previous or current customers (the information is secure) and they'll help you find more customers just like the ones you've had! This is a pretty sure-fire method of creating a successful direct mail campaign, if you don't know where to start.

Women of Gwinnett Group members have virtually everything you need for beauty and health!

Get your hair cut, styled or colored by Ann Halstead or Roxanne Yarbrough, get fit at Contours Express in Snellville, find serenity at A Reiki Experience in Snellville or Serenity Lakes wellness center in Lawrenceville, shop healthy products for your pet with Terri Edwards' Organic Connection website.

AVON from Allison Newton or Shelly Lorenzen, Beauti Control from Iram Mehal; Mary Kay available from Mary Kay director Lois Peterson, Tracy Hayes or Melissa Hendrix; handmade soaps (great gifts) from Patti Owens of Scrubbles Soap! Arbonne products are available from Beckie Smith, Antonina Boatman, and Lori McTaggart!

Tell them you found them on http://www.WomenOfGwinnett.com !