11 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Business | Medium.com

August 14, 2014August 13, 2014 ~ lmehit ~ Leave a comment

A lot of people like to fool you and say that you’re not smart if you never went to college, but common sense rules over everything. That’s what I learned from selling crack. -Snoop Dogg

My name is Stephanie St.Claire, and I am an unfunded entrepreneur. I’ve been in business for 4 years, after engaging in my own personal and tenuous renaissance uh…divorce and rediscovering my Divine Core Purpose. In other words, I grew a pair of ladyballs and started living the life I always wanted to while making money doing it.

But there was a LOT to learn, and some of those things weren’t covered in Who Moved My Cheese. Throw these 4 rockstars into a blender, and you’ll have a composite sketch of me in the first three months of my business:

Glitter was literally shooting out of my eye sockets as I quit my PR firm job and started my own business. Full of optimism, living in New York City, and surrounded by a tribe of friends who were also launching businesses, art, and gigs, I felt it was the perfect time to make the bold move to entrepreneurship. I was now officially Living My Dream and Working For Myself which meant that I was In Charge of My Financial Destiny and Captain of My Promising Future.

10 Essential Tips for Email Marketing Campaigns|businessnewsdaily.com

August 14, 2014August 13, 2014 ~ lmehit ~ Leave a comment

Email has become one of the easiest ways for businesses to reach their customers. Cost-effectiveness, shareability and the speed of message delivery have made email campaigns a critical component of most businesses’ marketing strategies. However, with the increasing popularity of email marketing comes a greater risk that messages will be blocked from your customers’ inboxes. Info group, a provider of business data and marketing solutions, offered 10 tips to help small businesses create successful email marketing campaigns:

The Genius of Robin Williams in “Aladdin” | The New Yorker

August 13, 2014 ~ CBPS ~ 3 Comments

Williams could be a teacher even when he wasn’t playing one—and could instruct even in silly roles. For me, and for people my age, he was a guide into a more adult world in what was likely his very silliest performance: as the voice of the Genie in Disney’s 1992 animated movie “Aladdin.” It is no diminishment to say that I will always remember Williams as a bright-blue cartoon.

Read Article.

5 Reasons Your Business Needs Your Story | Getentrepreneurial.com

August 13, 2014August 12, 2014 ~ lmehit ~ Leave a comment

You may have heard it said ‘Stories Sell’. It’s true. We really connect to a good story and it’s a proven marketing and sales tactic. You know this instinctively, you only buy something when you really ‘believe’ it. And you can take any example from your own life. Think about the last purchase you made; what was the pitch? What did you believe when you bought it? I can guarantee you, it was a great story.

However, I’m not writing about new ‘tactics’ here. I want to write about something much more authentic and personal than the latest proven business building gimmick.

And what’s this got to do with your business? Well you can be the very best in the world at what you do but if you can’t sell your services, you simply don’t have a business.

Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing |ducttapemarketing.com

August 13, 2014August 12, 2014 ~ lmehit ~ Leave a comment

B2B lead generation seems to be a mystery to many marketers. Just do a search on the topic and you’ll find little that’s helpful.

In my opinion, there are two reasons for this. One – people are searching for that one killer lead tactic that will mask all ills or, Two – people fail to realize that successful B2B lead generation is made up of activities that are by nature very hard to quantify and pin down.

The latter then leads to plenty of articles spouting the virtues of practices such as inbound marketing and content marketing, but little hard advice on how to make any of it pay.

Here’s my take – the real problem lies in the fact that you don’t simply generate a lead today, you guide it.

You can no longer run an ad that say’s “hey, we’ve got what you’re looking for come and get it” and expect much. Once a prospect actually knows what they are looking for, they’re already looking for a price.

Top Ways To Market Your New Business Idea | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

August 13, 2014August 12, 2014 ~ lmehit ~ Leave a comment

Marketing a new business idea can be a difficult task and should be done with care and precision to target the correct audience in a way that is both effective and affordable. However, with a little planning and an array of effective techniques in your marketing arsenal, you’ll stand a good chance at advertising success – here are some great ways to market your new business idea to get you the exposure you need.

Presentation Packs

Whether you are trying to get some investors on board or are looking to help others gain awareness of your product or service, tailored presentation packs are a great way to do this. They contain all of the relevant information needed on the product or service and you can include a sample depending on what it is, as well as some merchandising goods used to entice clients and investors and establish your brand.

Booking a flight? Save by leaving on a Tuesday | MoneyCnn.com

August 12, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Planning to take a much-needed vacation this summer? Fly out on a Tuesday and you’ll save a chunk of cash. Passengers who schedule flights that depart on summer Tuesdays will pay an average of $77, or 17%, less for a ticket than they would if they fly out on a Sunday, the most expensive day of the week to fly, according to a survey by Cheapair.com.

The booking site compared fares for 900,000 round-trip flights scheduled between June and September and found that the average fare for a Tuesday was $367. That compares with $444 on Sundays, $412 on Fridays and $402 on Saturdays. Wednesdays were also cheap at an average of $368.

5 Things Never to Say On A Sales Call | Inc.com

August 12, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The words we use can make the difference between landing a sale or getting kicked to the curb. When observing salespeople selling, I’ve found many phrases used over and over again causing negative reactions from buyers. Salespeople can ask a question and not get a truthful answer from the buyer–simply because of the way they phrased the question. Here are five examples of what not to say on a sales call. Some of them may surprise you.

Are you the decision maker?

Great question, but it’s worded poorly. Surprisingly, this question actually persuades your prospect to lie to you. Here’s how. The question is closed-ended, meaning it requires either a “yes” or “no” answer. This makes a non-decision-maker feel threatened. They don’t want say “no” and appear unimportant, so they will often answer, “yes”. What they’re not telling you is that their “yes” is a “qualified yes”. What they are really saying is, “Yes, I’m the one who decides who gets to present to my boss–the ultimate decision-maker.” You’re now attempting to sell to the wrong person. This is why so many sales reps lose sales when they discover late in the process that someone else makes the decision.

Better: “Who else is participating with you in making this decision?”

Trying to Understand the Impact of Minimum Wage Hikes on Small Businesses | NYTimes.com

August 11, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Does the battle over the minimum wage pit employees against small-business owners? That was the notion put forth on the Real Clear Politics website recently. In an essay titled “Living the Wage? Try Living the Small Business,” Tom Bevan, a co-founder of the site, ridiculed Democratic politicians who had embarked on an effort to understand how people subsist on minimum wage.

Several officials, including Jan Schakowsky, a congresswoman from Illinois, signed up for a week-long challenge called Live the Wage. For that week, they attempted to spend just $77, which is the effective take-home pay for someone making minimum wage, according to the advocates who want to raise it. Mr. Bevan called this effort “a gimmick cooked up by the progressives at Americans United for Change.”