3 Business Book Resources

This week’s podcast is a little unconventional in that I wanted to just share with you 3 of the business books that I have read and found great value in.

I will be doing this from time to time as these resources were recommended to me throughout my business journey and now I want to pass along the knowledge to you.

In the podcast I mentioned the following books and thought it would be helpful to write down the titles and authors just in case you want to find these books at your local library or bookstore.

Title: Work The Pond
Author: Darcy Rezac
Topic: Networking

Title: Who Moved My Cheese?
Author: Spencer Johnson M.D.
Topic: Dealing with Change/Self discovery

Title: The Starbucks Experience
Author: Joseph A. Michelli
Topic: 5 key principles behind Starbuck’s success

The podcast about these books can be found at http://www.otterideas.com/podcasts/

Enjoy!

How The Chamber Can Help Your Business

Tanya had the pleasure of interviewing the Lloyd Longfield, CAO of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce.  In this podcast we look at what chambers of commerce offer to small businesses as well as what is to come for the Guelph Chamber.

To listen, visit www.otterideas.com/podcasts

Business Development and Volunteering

One of the greatest ways to meet fascinating people is through volunteering.  Besides the great effect that volunteering has on the community that you live in, you can develop real and long lasting relationships with the people on committees and boards.

The fact of the matter is people to business with people.  If you can hang out with other individuals that you have a volunteer initiative in common with and are passionate about, a lot of fantastic things can happen.  You strengthen your community, building strong relationships and on the side you probably will find that  you will use the services of some of the people you have gotten to know and visa versa.

There is a podcast dedicated to this topic that has just been launched located at http://www.otterideas.com/podcasts.  So if you were thinking of ways to expand your reach and give back to your community, this podcast is for you.

Overview on Importing and Exporting

I wanted to let you know that we have posted another podcast to our subscription service. 

This one is an interview with David Connell from D L Connell Enterprises and he shares with us some of the basics that you need to keep in mind if you’re thinking of taking your business this route.

Topics include:

• How do I arrange shipping a product from an overseas provider?
• How do I negotiate pricing with a freight company or customs broker?
• How do I find out about things like tariff classifications and duty rates?
• How do I export goods into the USA?

If you are a member, check it out at www.otterideas.com/podcasts or if this topic is of interested to you sign up today!

Are you ready to celebrate?

It’s that time of year when people’s thoughts turn to spiced eggnog, holiday cheer and family. 

From a business stand point many entrepreneurs are wrapping up their fiscal year. 

This is a special time for business owners and I often find that it doesn’t get the kind of attention that it deserves. 

I suppose if you planned appropriately you would have done your 2009 goal review and goal setting for 2010 well before this, however if you have been run off your feet and just haven’t found the time, perhaps over the holiday season you can take a few moments to yourself to reflect on the past year and the year ahead.

This is the time of year that I like best as I get to assess my checks and balances and see how the year really did unfold.   Throughout the year I paid very close attention to my goals and put action plans into place to achieve them.  Now I can kick back and review the fruits of my labours.  Naturally there will be items that I will not have achieved 100%.  I’m ok with that.  I know that I’m not perfect and that there are only 24 hours in a day.

This is the time where I want to celebrate my successes – both small and large.  I want to show my appreciation for the people and organizations that made my successes easier and more fulfilling.  I think it is vitally important that no matter what you have achieved you need to pat yourself on the back and acknowledge your efforts to grow your business. 

This kind of celebration is overlooked as business owners will focus on what they haven’t managed to achieve.  It’s kind of the glass 1/2 full versus 1/2 empty syndrome. 

I was speaking with business associates of mine and they were sharing their thoughts with me about how their year went.   They had set a very high revenue goal for themselves and unfortunately didn’t achieve it.  They wanted to grow their revenue by 40% this year.  Sadly they only grew it by 30%.  Given the economy this year, I was astounded that their business grew even that much.  Inevitably I asked them “Ok so what have you done to celebrate your success?”

These individuals worked very hard this year.  Grew their revenue stream by a large amount and thought that they didn’t deserve to celebrate because they missed the mark. 

Celebrate all the things that you did well in your business. Reward yourself for the successes – big or small.  Give yourself permission to feel proud of your accomplishments and know that even if you miss the target on your ultimate goals that you set for yourself you still have accomplished something and need to celebrate your efforts.

Believe me this makes the business adventure that much more fun.  It’s positive reinforcement for you and will keep you motivated to strive and achieve more in the year to come.

Free Online Event Registration Tool

Are you a business that runs events from time to time?  I have just test driven a very nice web based events tool and online registration system.

Ok, so it doesn’t link directly into your site with your look and feel but it can fully function as a stand alone web site for a specific event that you are running. 

Something on (http://www.somethingon.com/) is the site that was recommended to me by Erica Brandl, a business associate of mine.

I found this tool very user friendly and easy to set up.  I wanted to have the ability to collect online registration and payment for my “Networking for Business” seminar and this tool was perfect for it.  I didn’t even use half of the functionality that it comes with.

I opted for the free version which means that in about 5 days my event registration will have a few google ads around the event details and registration but it really don’t be that cluttered. 

What I loved best about this tool is that I could place images, text and such on the home page to brand my company and introduce the course and then have people go to the registration page.

Online payments are done with credit card through paypal so you need to have a paypal business account for this feature to work.  A paypal business account is easy to set up and is free which is another great small business tool to have.

The rest of the features including having speaker pages, giving details about the venue, posting announcements, the event menu if there is one.  You can run surveys from this tool as well. 

It took me about 1.5 hours to get signed up and load up all the seminar details that I wanted there.  The next time around will be much simpler and faster.

I really think this is a great tool for small business owners that are looking for ways to automate event registration without the massive programming cost. 

There comes a time when your business can afford to have custom events registrations and there are even more options when it comes to these tools but if you’re just starting out, this is a great option.

Social Media Fun

Over the last little while I have been asked to present on Social Media Marketing or Social Media Networking.   A business enterprise centre was kind enough to ask me if I would present the powerpoint presentation that the Government of Ontario had provided them.

I graciously accepted their invitation and continue to give this seminar as requested.

When I do my presentation I make a few extra comments about social media that I believe to be of value.

• To really get into social media for your business you really do need to have an interest in the mediums you’re using – Facebook, Twitter, blogging, etc.  I find that the people that do social media marketing the best are the ones that find this kind of activity fun and would do it for recreation as well as for business.
• It’s not about selling your product/service or yourself.  It’s about telling people about things you find interesting.  Your personality will come through the words that you write.   Cam Guthrie from HJM Insurance does a great job with social media in that he announces what businesses he’s working with that day or from time to time he mentions how much he has saved a family on insurance.  It’s never a sale.  It’s just exciting information that he is sharing.  Cam also posts on personal items as well such as politics, bands in town and other subjects he values.  It really gives everyone a glimpse at who Cam really is.
• How fast is it?  It’s fast!  As an example, a friend of mine posted in Facebook that she needed a realtor in the Brampton area and asked if any of her friends knew of anyone.  I got that message and within 5 minutes of her posting I  recommended someone that I had met 3 months back at a networking seminar. Two minutes after I answered someone else did too.  My friend contacted my realtor referral first and the deal was done! 
• This isn’t for everyone.  I highly doubt that social media is going to go away however this might not be the avenue that is best suited for you.  Social media takes time to do and only you are the best judge as to where your time is best spent.  If you’re not sure, talk to other people in and out of your industry and see if they are taking advantage of social media and what the results are.  You can always attend a seminar about this topic or read up more about it on the Internet.

As you would know, I blog, tweet and have a facebook page.  I love social media marketing but I like it for the social side of things.  I can’t firmly say that it will bring in lots of business but I do know that I gain more exposure as I participate and that can never be a bad thing.

Create a Media/Press Binder

I have a media binder that I use at tradeshows which has all the print media where my business is mentioned. 

I believe this is a great tool for any business and this podcast will tell you more about what does and does not go into your binder and the advantages of having one.

This is my second last free podcast until they become subscription based.  Enjoy!

http://www.otterideas.com/Home/Services/Podcasts/tabid/75/Default.aspx

Your First Tradeshow

Today I attended another tradeshow.  I like to consider myself a well seasoned tradeshow exhibitor by this time.

In this podcast I share with you some of the things that I did at my first show and how I improved over the years.

I will come back and do another podcast on tradeshows in the future but this one is good for people who are just getting started in this kind of marketing.

I hope you’re enjoying the podcasts we are offering at this time, more will be available through a subscription service soon.

http://www.otterideas.com/Home/Services/Podcasts/tabid/75/Default.aspx

Maximize your volunteering efforts

I started off volunteering with the Guelph Humane Society as a dog walker because I got to know a client of mine who was passionate about the emmense good that comes from people giving back to their community.  She empowered me to take the first step and that first step has lead to a long list of volunteering efforts that I now do on behalf of Platypi Designs and Otter Ideas.

I know that many people who have businesses volunteer.   When I first started my business I would separate my personal life from my business life and so volunteering was about me personally giving back to the community.

Eventually I started to find that more and more of my time was being taken up by the company and I couldn’t give as much personal time to volunteer.  So how could I continue to volunteer and still give my business the attention it needed to grow and prosper?

The answer was to volunteer as my company and not as an individual.  That way I could combine the two aspects of my life together and both the organization and my business could benefit.

My volunteering efforts did change in that I would be asked by different not-for-profit organizations to help out with their technical requirements.  This included being involved on technical review committees, donating web design solutions, and developing different web applications to help with office administration. 

In return for our volunteering we would be recognized in newsletters, newspaper articles and at events for the efforts that we put forth.  As well we gained further business because the NPOs would refer people to us based on what we had done for them.

This change in our approach improved our company as well as allowed us to continue to give back to our community in very significant ways. 

So if you’re not already letting people know what you do and how your business can help, I suggest giving that a try and volunteer from a corporate standpoint and not just as an individual.  After all there are only so many hours in a day and this is a perfect way to showcase your talents and build your business.