Producing A Healthy Business & A Healthy You.

Building a successful business takes a lot of time and effort, and can easily result in burn out. And that burn out then drastically decreases productivity. Often as aspiring entrepreneurs, we can run for days on adrenaline, like a 40mpg Toyota Prius. But also like the 4 cylinder hybrid, we can then have much more trouble pulling that big hill when we come to it, as opposed to if we ran our business and ourselves like a V12 Vanquish. We must prepare ourselves with the proper rest and fuel, in the form of sleep and healthy food, in order to set ourselves and our startup companies up for the major success story that we all want to become. Posted in the next issue of Fortune Magazine as the Next Big Thing. What most people don't understand, is that we can build our days around being extremely productive for just a few hours, and be in much better shape than if we procrastinated and are unproductive for mostly the entire day. Remember, we are better off preparing ourselves to drive really hard, and really fast from city to city while refueling on Premium 93, vs. Cruising at 45mph on Regular 87 across country with no stops. Both routes will get you from NYC to LA safely, but only the first choice will allow you to rest up, meet people, market your business and create buzz along the way. Which do you think is the most effective? Get your rest, eat healthy, go hard, and be productive. You will see results.
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Utilize the resources that are right in front of your face. Are you dedicated to your business or not?

I have been doing some consulting work with a company that shall remain nameless, on improving their online marketing strategy. The company is really interested in improving their online social media marketing, and thus I mentioned to the CEO that they should link their personal facebook and twitter accounts together, this way when they tweet about the company in an attempt to generate buzz, the same buzz will automatically be generated on facebook without any additional effort. Now the response that I then received was classic and not at all what I expected. She said to me "I don't really want to use my personal online accounts to talk about the business." Now, seriously, you want to generate buzz and market your company so that it can be successful, but you don't want to talk about it? Now what kind of sense does that make? That's the whole point of social networking and social media marketing. If Mark Zuckerberg didn't want to discuss Facebook at all, do you think his company would be as big as it is today? Come on people. You've got to use some common sense here. Without talking about your business, not only will you not be successful because no one will know you even exist, but I will seriously have to question if you are truly dedicated to your business. Or do you just like the way the words CEO and entrepreneur sound when you say them to people? If you're not ready to put in the work, and go all-in, leave the real business to us dedicated entrepreneurs. This is no game. We are not playing "business". This is our passion. And its nothing to toy with. Real business is not about creating Titles", but about igniting passion. Doing what you love and making money from it. According the master marketer Donny Deutsch, that's the "Big Idea"(www.bigideadonny.com). And your Big Idea will never take off from the meager idea of your mind if you are not dedicated to, and comfortable with talking about what you are trying to accomplish. I ask you again. ARE YOU DEDICATED? And, WHAT RESOURCES ARE STARING YOU IN THE FACE? Pay attention to your surroundings, and what's readily available to you.
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Time is of the ESSENCE

People often look at the importance of being on time as simply an opportunity to present a first good impression. A chance to show one's commitment to and respect for a particular job opening or planned event. But as entrepreneurs, being on time is so much more. Being on time represents sales opportunities. If you were to open your retail location an hour after its scheduled time, you have just missed out on an hour's worth of possible sales. As I write this blog entry as I am riding back to Virginia from New Orleans, and am thinking back on my vacation in the BIG Easy over the past week. Last night I attended the second show of the Essence Music Festival, which headlined the R&B singer Maxwell. Maxwell was scheduled to perform starting at 11:45pm, which is already late in my book. But after an already late showing earlier in the day to an autograph session by 45 minutes, he did not begin to perform on stage until 1 1/2 hours later at 1:15am. Consequently, fans after growing impatient and tired. They, including myself and my 4 person party, left the show early, and Maxwell's audience dwindled to half of its original capacity. This is simply BAD business. The man has just released a new album. And honestly, thought it is highly anticipated after a 7 year hiatus, after disappointing such a large crowd just 3 shorts prior to album release date, and successfully shrinking a crowd from 50,000 to 25,000. I don't think album sales will be as high as they are expected. As entrepreneurs creating, marketing and selling your own products and more importantly your image. Please realize that you are also selling your first impression. And the old adage that "You only get one chance to make a first impression", is true. Make it count. It is critical to your business' success, and creating residual income, repeat business, and building customer loyalty. Here are some steps to make your first impression the best it can be.

1. If you are a brick and mortar company, always open your doors on time, and maybe even a bit early.

2. Only release your website after it has been completed 100% and tested fully.

3. Always spell check your web content and any other printed material that customers will review before posting it. Its a free word processing tool. Why not use it?

4. Keep all appointments with clients. And if its an emergency, be sure to contact the client to inform them and reschedule promptly.

5. Review how your competitors operate, and take the good and improve upon the bad.

6. Monitor your website for script errors and functionality regularly.

7. Make sure to have enough server space for your website hosting. You don't want to have an influx of new users and all your hard marketing work go down the drain because your site has crashed and turned away those valuable new customers for life.

8. Present yourself and your staff with a profession mannerism and style of dress, whether at your retail location, or in a simple online "about us" picture. Make sure that not only your customers, but also your competition takes your seriously and respects you and your business.

9. Make yourself and your business easy to contact for consumers as well as the competition and/or investors. Besides you never know when you may get that call for a high dollar buyout. Have a valid phone number and email address. But also utilize facebook, twitter, myspace and other social media sites to get feedback from customers that can make your business better.

10. Research your market, and competitors and understand what has been done that works, what does not work, and what your target audience is looking for, and what they just can't stand. You don't want to release your new company, and be speaking directly to what your audience does not like, unless you are rebutting these issues and offering a resolution.

Time is of the ESSENCE. But ESSENCE wasn't on time. Don't you do the same.

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Party Hardy-BIG isn't Easy money

As I've been vacationing here in New Orleans, I've noticed the enormous amount of business generated off of pure fun and excitement, with very little actual substance. You have the overrated Bourbon Street, Harrah's casino, fortune tellers, and of course the bars and strip clubs. All of what you can participate in anywhere on the planet. Why choose New Orleans specifically. Little excitement is created from all of the actual historical attractions that the city has to offer, in comparison to the so-called hot spots. Tourists often forget about the streetcars, authentic creole food, St Charles Ave, Tulane University, Xavier and Loyola, jazz music and unfortunately, the Hurricane Katrina wreckage, and more. This leads me to ask the question. Can this type of business model transfer successfully to you or I, and our substantive entrepreneurial ventures? Can we simply create buzz, excitement and fun with our marketing efforts, and not offer substance? Can we develop a less than stellar business plan that offers little to be desired and little to take away from, and make a lot of noise about it, throw in some flashing lights and naked women, and call it a business? In my opinion, its not possible to expect this type of business model to survive the long haul. As I've been here in the Big Easy for 3 days thus far, I have noticed that I continue to see the same patrons at these less and substantive establishments. Thus, this business model is not generating new business. And your entrepreneurial venture cannot survive without generating new customers and their additional business. For example, I am here mainly for the Essence Music fest being held this July 4th weekend at the Super dome. This event as others do, is bring a lot of tourism business to the city of New Orleans for the 3 days that the event is held. But, when the last curtain is called on the last show on Sunday July 5th, these thousands of tourists are going to drive, ride and fly back to their respective homes, take their valuable tourism money and profit for the city with them, and head back to work on Monday morning. And once again without that residual and continuous business generated from a substantive business model, the city of New Orleans' Party Hardy plan will be worthless. And until the next music festival, the city's economy will go from BIG, to EASY. Don't let this happen to your business. Build your business plan on a strong foundation. Think about various ways to generate revenue so that your income stays relevant even when one particular revenue stream is slow. Develop a product or service that offers the customer something that they can use and benefit from regularly, and that will change the way they do things. Beat the competition on price and quality, and in addition to marketing, allow your business to speak for itself and create its own viral buzz due to the ground work that you've laid. Don't make your business a pure commodity or "one time deal". Make it the deal of the century, that people can't function without, and that alters their everyday lives in a positive fashion. New Orleans is focused on the here-and-now, and in turn suffer the consequences tomorrow. You focus your business on the long-term. Slow and steady wins the race.

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Friend Request & Follow your way to BIG BUSINESS

There's nothing like the value of free marketing. Why pay for what you can accomplish for free. There are numerous social networking sits out there for you to take advantage of and capitalize on by friend requesting those with like interests, are members of related groups, fans of related pages, and are your friends, family, colleagues and classmates. Connect with them and create a free interested base of supporting people to market your business too, by updating your statuses and tweeting about your business, and directing them to your company's website, blog, and facebook page. Refer to my previous blog post about "linkage". Tie all your social networking accounts to work together to help build your client base, your marketing campaign, and ultimately your revenue generation. Don't sleep on the importance of what you can accomplish for free. Wake up and take advantage of these opportunities. Entrepreneurs can build entire companies on the benefits of social networking. Scratch the typical high dollar plan of big budget tv advertising, high profile magazines and billboards. That's yesterday's news. Be innovative with your marketing efforts, and save money at the same time.



Here are some popular and effective sites for you to register with and begin to build your profile and online presence.



www.facebook.com

www.myspace.com

www.bebo.com

www.delicious.com

www.reddit.com

www.ning.com

www.twitter.com

www.digg.com

www.stumbleupon.com



Also please check out the links to your right in the "helpful links" section as well.

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Now that's what I call a chain reaction

1 social, 2 social, 3 social, 4. Why not be connected with all the social sites on the net and increase your web presence that much more? The key here is linkage. Don't just rely on your myspace page. Have profiles on facebook, twitter, bebo, linkedin and others. Write a blog, and link all your profiles together. Show your social network information on your blog via the site's free widgets, and link your social pages together with provided apps so that you can update them all at once. By continuing to blog, tweet, and update your social status, you can keep potential customers engaged, involved, interested, and continuing to come back for more. And the more they come back, the more potential times you have to direct them to your website and create a sale. Use the web and free social networking and blog sites to create that chain reaction, create buzz about your new business exponentially. Use the "Helpful Links" area on this blog to register, network and learn as much as you can. The more you put yourself out there and make people aware of your service, the more hits you will receive, and the more revenue you will generate. No one ever made it big by keeping quite. Make some considerable noise online for free, and be rewarded with a considerable return on investment. Social media marketing (SMM) is huge right now. Don't let the opportunity to cash in, in order to cash out, pass you by.

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Love what you do, Do what you love

We often focus our time on doing what typically is in our best interests, by going to college, majoring in something that can make us a lot of money, and then working hard to be promoted on the job. This a great formula for survival. But are these the right steps for your life, and living it to the fullest? My wish for you is to be able to be financially stable and independent in your new entrepreneurial venture. But for you to also enjoy what you do. There's no substitute for passion. And ultimately passion is what drives true success. It will last much longer than your precious education that you paid so dearly for, and that is still hurting your pocket. Passion comes free, you are born with it, and it grows, changes and adapts as you experience life. If being an entrepreneur is what you want to do, and it seems as if you can't step away from your cushy and secure job, that's understandable. But remember, as long as your are working for someone else who calls the shots and gets the BIG check, no job is stable except for the one that you create for yourself. To get where you want to be for yourself and your business, you are going to have to come to terms with your happiness, place a value on it, and decide whether or not you want surface happiness and stability, or that deep tissue happiness and stability and lasts a lifetime. Step out on that limb with me, and go for the gusto. Your entrepreneurial dream is waiting in the wind, and your ultimate success and happiness depends on it. Don't forget, you're bound to be successful. Because business ideas created from what the entrepreneur is truly interested in and passionate about, are always the most successful. Keep that great idea of yours alive, and feed it with your passion. It will feed you back with great success, happiness and stability.

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