Recently, Dick, a person I have loved and respected, died. I knew this man on a personal level, as a father, friend, husband, and grandfather. He was a great man! At his memorial, many that worked with him also shared how great he was there. Here is what I realized. Dick chose to lead not just at work but in life. He chose to possess characteristics and traits of leadership. He was:
Visionary
Mentored and was a role model
Didn’t take himself too seriously
Chose to see the best in every person
Saw the potential in others
Practiced giving without ever expecting
Had high standards
Challenged you to be your best
Came from a place of adventure
Always came from love
Knew solutions were possible
Made family first.
So what’s the point? As small business owners these characteristics are critical for your success. People in his life wanted to follow him. And you need others to want to follow you: your family, your community, your customers. So:
Make a choice
Understand leadership is key
Pick one of these amazing characteristics above and incorporate it in your life 100% of the time and I guarantee you will:
I highly recommend Leadership 101 by John Maxwell to explore leadership and how important it is to you as an entrepreneur. What will you do to choose to lead?
Ann M. Evanston is a “Chief Breakthrough Officer” teaching other Business Warriors how to slow down, and find the most unique part of their business that makes them stand out among the crowd. She has been named one of the top marketing consultants by About.com, is a guest blogger for Showcasing Women and takes pride in moving you from “blah, blah, blah” to “BOOM, BOOM. BOOM!”
Ann M. Evanston is a “Chief Breakthrough Officer” teaching other Business Warriors how to slow down, and find the most unique part of their business that makes them stand out among the crowd. She has been named one of the top marketing consultants by About.com, is a guest blogger for Showcasing Women and takes pride in moving you from “blah, blah, blah” to “BOOM, BOOM. BOOM!”
I recently read an article that told entrepreneurs that they “must” have a pitch. A pitch to:
* Promote your business
* Market your blog
* Sell your product or service
I had such a negative reaction to the post because it’s just not true! Where did you FIRST learn the concept of pitching? If you’re like me it was baseball. The pitchers goal is to throw the ball in a way that “tricks” the batter to swing or to get it by the batter so fast they go for it and miss. Take that into your business. Do you really want to “get” a customer with that approach? I hope not!
An alternative approach? Try attraction techniques! What does that mean?
1. Share something interesting about yourself. Dale Carnegie says this is key to influencing people.
2. Ask for help with something. People love to help and will be engaged by you asking.
3. Share who your strategic partners are. Remember to be specific as to industry.
4. Tell them someone you’d really like to meet. A HR. Manager at a company, a certain business owner?
All of these techniques create an initial contact point and instant connection. By sharing these types of things people will ask “what do you do?” Now that’s powerful when they want to know!
One of my favorite quotes sums up how I feel about the traditional Elevator Speech: “Will the real you please stand up? Submit to pressure from peers and you stoop down to their level. When 40 million people believe in a dumb idea it’s still a dumb idea. If you believe in something that’s good, honest and right stand up for it! Maybe others will get smart and follow your lead.”
So be creative! Ignite people to WANT to know what you do, and see what happens!
Ann M. Evanston is a “Chief Breakthrough Officer” teaching other Business Warriors how to slow down, and find the most unique part of their business that makes them stand out among the crowd. She has been named one of the top marketing consultants by About.com, is a guest blogger for Showcasing Women and takes pride in moving you from “blah, blah, blah” to “BOOM, BOOM. BOOM!”
On August 18, 2009 I had Owen JJ Stone AKA @Ohdoctah speak on “Video Marketing”. Video online is here to stay (Ask Owen), and even I am motivated to do more video! Yes, I have done some, but not as much as Owen, and what it’s done for his business, wow!
Here are some amazing tips (some from Owen, yes even I learned a few things! Some are mine, tips as a networking and sales strategist for small business owners) 1. Get over it! Stop worrying about how perfect you look or if you stumble over a word. Owens reason- IT’S REAL. It shows you’re human. It builds likability. My reason: if you delete and record a 3 minute video 14 times and it takes you an hour to complete you won’t keep doing them! 2. Use key words on all your videos. Owens logic- use keywords that are logical, things that everyday people look up! Ann’s Logic: use keywords that fit finding you, your name, your Twitter name, your biz name, what you do. 3. Upload to more than YouTube! Owen says use Tube Mogul (I am working through some kinks with it, but overall it is increasing my exposure and decreasing my uploading time to several sites one at a time!) And load to YouTube, Viddler, Blip.TV, Daily Motion, Metacafe and Vimeo ( yes you will need to first create accounts on those sites.) Tube Mogul allows you to combine and track ALL Stats! Very cool! I say: take the time to create those accounts and complete your profiles as necessary. Use your name not your business for your account name.
4. Be creative! Owen does “Friend Up” videos (the link takes you to an interview with me!) that engage others! The possibilities are endless!
Thank you Owen for sharing with my group out here in the bay. You are truly a wizard at what you do.
Not all of us can be as dynamic as you are, but we can be authentic and share with a wider audience of potential customers!
Ann M. Evanston is a “Chief Breakthrough Officer” teaching other Business Warriors how to slow down, and find the most unique part of their business that makes them stand out among the crowd. She has been named one of the top marketing consultants by About.com, is a guest blogger for Showcasing Women and takes pride in moving you from “blah, blah, blah” to “BOOM, BOOM. BOOM!”
I truly believe that success is a process, not an event.
I recently had a conversation with a very successful Meetup Organizer for a entrepreneurial group. We were discussing business goals, his success and converting it to money. Interestingly, he admitted to me that in 3 years running the group the majority of his members are no further in their business than they were back then!
What makes the difference? What processes are important?
10. Know that to make money you must be willing to put some money out
Where are you with these success factors? Which do you need to work on to take your business to the next level?
Ann M. Evanston is a “Chief Breakthrough Officer” teaching other Business Warriors how to slow down, and find the most unique part of their business that makes them stand out among the crowd. She has been named one of the top marketing consultants by About.com, is a guest blogger for Showcasing Women and takes pride in moving you from “blah, blah, blah” to “BOOM, BOOM. BOOM!”
I have been using Hootsuite for sometime now, but it just keeps getting better and better! I made these videos for members of my Social Networking Coaching Club (where there is a TON of video like this), but I am so charged I wanted you to see! Time management is always a challenge when online, this tool will help!
Ultimately hootsuite allows me to market smarter so I can engage better! To see videos in full screen and all the additional training videos on Hootsuite and more join the Social Networking Coaching Club – lifetime membership and non-stop access to me, to help your specific goals!
Share with me; what do you think of hootsuite?!
Ann M. Evanston is a “Chief Breakthrough Officer” teaching other Business Warriors how to slow down, and find the most unique part of their business that makes them stand out among the crowd. She has been named one of the top marketing consultants by About.com, is a guest blogger for Showcasing Women and takes pride in moving you from “blah, blah, blah” to “BOOM, BOOM. BOOM!”
