Community Involvement

December 1, 2009

• Successful Entrepreneur – Recipe For Success

  

  Ten Ingredients To Your Success

  Success in business isn't a magic spell you can learn at Hogwarts nor a secret that's passed down among the world's elite.

  Success is a recipe that has a few proven ingredients. When you mix those ingredients with love, thought, and care, you'll create something that will nourish you and your family for years to come.

  Here Are Some Of The Ingredients I Find Important In The Recipe For Success

  1. Happy Customers and Clients. Yep, that's the number one ingredient that successful businesspeople have in their entrepreneurial cupboard.

  No matter what service you provide, it's all about the customer. If the customer isn't happy, she might not be back to buy another record, designer handbag, case of wine, your marketing service, or your web design service.

  Whatever you do in your business, you should always think about the customer. Each and every action you take should be geared toward providing the best customer service possible.

  Imagine yourself as your customer and visualize how you'd like to be treated. Use that as a beginning to establish your business's service guidelines.

  One other thing to consider: if you don't know who you're selling to, you can't market properly. And if you can't market to the right audience, the folks you do reach probably won't have much interest in your product or service. Know who you're selling to so you can reach the places where they hang out.

  2. Results. People expect things quickly these days.

  Our attention span isn't what it used to be (darn all those TV commercials with 27 edits for each 30 second commercial!), so when customers come to you with questions, you've got to be Johnny-on-the-Spot with answers.

  When they call with orders, you'd better have the product to them yesterday or they will go to someone who can get them what they want when they want it.

  If you always have answers and products/services for customers/clients, you'll become the go-to-person, something money just can't buy.

  3. Follow up. Part of keeping your customers happy is following up on an order, especially if there's some sort of snafu.

  (Let’s face it – no matter how hard you try, no matter how conscientious you are, SOMETHING will go wrong at times.)

  As a customer, it makes me smile when I get a call or email asking if I've received the order and if I'm happy with the product. This will only take a couple of minutes on your part, but will do wonders for your reputation.

  Now, when your business really gets cooking and you've got dozens or hundreds of orders to follow up on every day, you might need to consider getting some help. But isn't that a great “problem” to have?

  (And for those of us working online, drop-shipment houses and auto-responders help immensely!)

  4. Reputation. Your reputation is something that will grow when the first three ingredients are blended successfully.

  This might take a little time, but it’s well worth the effort. A good reputation is crucial to any successful business endeavor.

  (Hey, if anyone has ever talked to you about “branding” then THIS is branding – earn a stellar reputation and keep it!)
  Read more on Successful Entrepreneur – Recipe For Success…

November 5, 2009

• Marketing Ideas – 50 Simple Marketing Ideas You Can Use To Grow Your Business

  

  Grow Your Business Online And From Home

  Work-at-home entrepreneurs have many choices when it comes to marketing. Below you'll find 50 simple ideas that you can adapt to your own needs.

  Some ideas are geared toward online audiences while some target your neighborhood and involve getting to know local businesspeople.

  It's a good idea to choose a few methods from each category and make them work for your own business. Give each one a try to see which works best for you and your business.

  Online Marketing Ideas

  1. Start a Blog and write 2 – 3 times a week. Start simply at WordPress.com or Blogger.com.

  2. Post articles online that others can use with your byline and signature information – visit EzineArticles.com.

  3. Regularly comment on blogs that relate to your business – you can find some great examples at AllTop.com (which list the top blogs in the world and divides them into categories for easy searching). (In fact, look for my RaisingGreatFamilies.com blog there! We're proud to have it listed.)

  4. Visit Meetup.com and instigate a gathering relevant to your line of work OR join an existing group.

  5. Check out Podcamp.org or Barcamp.org to see if they work well for your business.

  6. Create your own Facebook profile.

  7. Join groups on Facebook that relate to your business and post regularly.

  8. Create your own Facebook PAGE and use it like a mini website to promote your business.

  9. Become a source on HelpAReporterOut.com.

  10. Suggest a story about work-at-home entrepreneurs to a blogger or offer a post for other people’s website by joining BloggerLinkUp.com.

  11. Write an ebook and offer it for free on your own website or Facebook Page.

  12. Send a press release about your business to PRWeb.com or PRLeap.com.

  13. Reply to questions on Wiki.Answers.com and similar sites.

  14. Open a Twitter account and send 2-3 tweets a day about what you are doing in your business.

  15. Distribute monthly eNewsletters to your clients (having captured their names on your website or Facebook Page).

  16. Put your business in both online and print directories.

  17. Use Google to search for forums that are in your niche (use your keyword followed by the work “forum” to find these) and become involved with the chatter on the forum (NEVER “sell” on these – participate and leave your name with your contact information below it).

  18. Write pieces for other companies' eNewsletters.

  19. Keep in touch with classmates through Facebook.

  20. Search Twitter for people who tweet about your type business and begin to tweet back and forth with them (find them using keywords at Search.Twitter.com).

  21. Optimize your blog by using keywords in the titles of your posts.

  22. Videotape short weekly talks and publish them online.

  23. See if Affiliate Marketing is right for you – search Clickbank.com.

  24. Trade blog ads with other work-at-home entrepreneurs.

  Neighborhood Marketing Ideas

  Read more on Marketing Ideas – 50 Simple Marketing Ideas You Can Use To Grow Your Business…

September 19, 2009

• Marketing The Arts – Young People's Theatre Workshop

  

  Theatre Fun For Young People From Grade School Through High School

  Young People's Theatre Workshop, located outside of Philadelphia, PA USA, is a place where kids can learn, have fun, and meet their new best friends. Theatre, games, fun, music, excitement: it's all here under the guiding experience of loving and talented faculty.

  YPTW is about learning about theatre while learning about ourselves. Children involved in theatre learn to use their imaginations, to celebrate differences, to reach out to an audience and to one another, and to gain self-confidence through taking risks. And the classes they take in the fall and spring and the fully-stage productions in the Winter (through 8th grade) and Spring (through 12 grade) prepare them for more theater activities AND (we feel confident) for life: many of the skills they learn (team work, self-expression, projection, speaking on their feet, etc) will serve them well throughout their lives.

  
  
  

  Many of the YPTW staff members are certified teachers who spend Monday to Friday with children yet they all recognize that their time spent with these students is somehow different.

  They get to watch these children grow over a period of years. Many students start with YPTW in grade school and stay through high school. Some even come back to teach or help backstage after graduation.

  But even if a student's visit to YPTW is short, they will leave with a greater knowledge and appreciation of the theatre arts and perhaps of themselves.
  Read more on Marketing The Arts – Young People's Theatre Workshop…

July 30, 2009

• Getting Away To See Ourselves Better – Mission Possible 4 In Nashville, TN USA

  

  Be involved with your community and then get away from work to see yourself better

  Why was it so inviting?

  * I'd be sleeping on a church floor for five days with nothing but the thin padding of my sleeping bag to comfort me.

  * I had so much work to do for my marketing consulting and blogs to write for my UltimateWorkAtHomeDads.com website and wouldn't be near a computer to do it.

  * I'd be surrounded with middle school kids, helping to guide them, lead them, drive them (and the more I drive the easier it is for me to fall asleep).

  * I'd be away from my home, my wife, my bed, my air conditioning while cleaning driveways, feeding hungry people, walking around a rainy downtown area looking for "good" and stopping to pray.

  Oh, sure… there were plenty of reasons to say NO, but still I was called to help, to lead, to grow, to be taught.

  And so I went.

  Now my 5-part video blog is ready. And it's on my website RaisingGreatFamilies.com and can be found here: See Charlie Seymour Jr's video blog about Mission Possible 4 in Nashville – Click Here!

  My THREE photo Albums are already on Facebook and all the images are provided for use by anyone who went on the trip. The first Album starts here (viewable to all Facebook members who friend me): http://www.facebook.com/CharlesSeymourJr#/album.php?aid=27033&id=1079948815

  SO…

  * What changed over the week?
  * What impact on others did we have?
  * How were everyone's eyes windows into their souls
  * To where does our journey continue?
  Read more on Getting Away To See Ourselves Better – Mission Possible 4 In Nashville, TN USA…