Susan Baroncini- | ICT magazine

Posts Tagged ‘Susan Baroncini-’

How to Grow Your Small Business in Any Economy, Part 2

August 4th, 2010 | No Comments

Worried about growing your business during the recession? You don’t have to be. Make a few smart tweaks and your business will do more than just survive.

The media attention placed on the recession could make almost anyone doubt a decision to enter the world of small-business ownership. But the fact is, if you focus your attention on the right things, your business can actually grow, even in challenging economic times.

In “How to Grow Your Small Business in Any Economy, Part 1,” I focused on the mindset piece — getting your head in the right place for success. This week, I turn to more “nuts and bolts” subject matter to show you how you can increase your business stability and get your business growing.

Smart Strategies for Small Business

Leverage all the profit centers in your business:

Your business — every business — has hidden profit centers. You’ve probably got former clients who can be reactivated, points of impact where you can improve, processes that can be optimized, advertising that can be improved, passive streams of income that are literally waiting to be discovered. Leverage those profit centers and you could see an increase in profit that’s virtually unlimited!

Protect Yourself:

A lot of small-business owners skip crucial elements to business success. I can’t tell you how many clients have come to me, a few years into their businesses, without having set up their companies with the Secretary of State, the IRS, or having met with an attorney to help them set up their operating agreements. These are things that could get you in a lot of trouble if you don’t do them the right way.

Don’t Miss Critical Elements:

There are other steps that won’t necessarily get you into legal trouble, but may cause headaches. Branding is an excellent example of one of the most missed steps in small business and can make or break your company. And, if you’re marketing to the wrong crowd, you’ll waste time and money. Get it right from the start, and you’ll achieve success faster.

Do Your Research:

Market research can save you a lot of time and heartache. Before you head into any business startup, you want to know your target market inside out. The questions you want to answer are:

Who is my target market?
What keeps them up at night?
What can I deliver that solves their problems?
If I deliver what they want, will they buy it?

Leverage Low-Cost, High-Impact Marketing Methods:

A lot of new entrepreneurs develop complicated, expensive marketing campaigns without knowing what will really bring the biggest bang for their buck. There are countless inexpensive, high-impact marketing methods, and with the power of the Internet literally at our fingertips, it’s easier now than ever to build awareness for your brand.

Plus, you really want to focus only on the strategies that will bring in the most business, and optimize them as much as possible to increase their effectiveness.

Grow the Right Way:

Adopt a “leap-frogging” approach to growing your business. Start your business using a low-risk business model and build from there, using the income to fund expansion and growth. This approach almost always allows my clients to start their own businesses without seeking any type of funding from lending institutions, venture capitalists or other investors.

Get the Right Help:

Whatever stage you’re in with your business, choose to work with professionals who bring value to your business. The ideal business consultant is someone who understands different business models and can help you figure out the model that suits you best, help you uncover all the potential profit centers in your business, and show you how to increase your overall profitability. Work one-on-one with them to develop a sound business model and a strong brand with a viable, long-term marketing strategy and ask them to connect you to other professionals you need.

Susan Baroncini-Moe is the CEO of Business in Blue Jeans and the person that small biz owners call when they’re ready for hands-on help creating a meaningful business that creates more freedom and flexibility in their lives. Learn more at BusinessInBlueJeans.com. Other links: The Experts Series and Susan’s No Suits Allowed! E-zine.

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How to Grow Your Small Business in Any Economy, Part 1

July 28th, 2010 | No Comments

Think your small business can’t grow in this economy? You’re wrong. Improving your mindset and minimizing your risk are possible in all economies.

If you pay attention to the media and get sucked into an “economic panic,” you might think that trying to grow a business in today’s economy is a crazy notion. But many of the companies you know and trust were started in economic conditions much like the ones we’re experiencing today. Disney, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft were all started during recessions. The economic conditions in which they were started didn’t doom them to failure.

But let’s face it: Small business is multi-faceted and as such, requires a multi-faceted approach. What you’re thinking and how you’re thinking have as much of an impact on the level of your success as anything else, especially for the small business owner.

That’s why this week I’m focusing on getting your head in the right place for small business success. Next week, I’ll move on to logistics and strategies for minimizing risk and growing your business.

Let’s start off with a conversation about where most small business owners start getting into trouble. It all starts at home, right in the brain, especially in an economy like this.

Lack-Based Thinking

Lack-based thinking is when you think things like: “I can’t afford….” “I don’t know how I’m going to pay for….” It’s all about fear, uncertainty and self-doubt.

Lack-based thinking constantly hammers away at the mindset you need to succeed. You won’t have the drive to succeed or put your dollars in the right places if you have “I can’t afford it” floating around in your head. Focus on making a shift so you can start putting your mind and your money where they can bring you back the most return.

Strategies to Make the Shift

Develop and Use Affirmations:

The first thing that you can do to start making the shift out of lack-based thinking is to use affirmations. This is just good psychology: in essence, you’re re-training your brain. To get started, make a list of affirmations or declarations and say them aloud every day, at least three times a day, for 30 days. If you miss a day, start over at Day 1. It’s absolutely imperative that you do this continuously, without a break, for 30 days. Research shows that’s how long it takes your brain to retrain itself, so if you do something for two weeks, miss a day, and then start up again, even if you do it for another two weeks, your brain won’t be retrained. It has to be 30 consecutive days, without missing a day.

The best way to get into this habit is to decide on Day 1 that you are fully, 100 percent committed to taking this action. Don’t accept any excuses from yourself.

Focus on the Larger Purpose:

Maybe you started a business so you could travel the world or just so you could relax, knowing you have money invested for a long and enjoyable retirement. Create tangible reminders of the reason you started down this path: a vision board, a picture, or a bold statement posted in your workspace. Reaffirm what you’re working toward and you’ll find a continuously renewed will to keep going.

Track Your Successes:

Stay focused on the positive by keeping track of your successes, even the small ones. Make a list and review them every morning and evening. This focuses your attention on what you’re doing right and keeps you concentrated on moving in a positive direction.

Once you get your brain engaged for success, you’ll be in a much better position to take action and achieve your goals and dreams.

Stay tuned: In Part 2, I’ll cover some of the best strategies for growing your business in any economic climate.

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Are You Authentic In Your Small Business?

February 23rd, 2010 | No Comments

Being authentic can be surprisingly difficult, especially in business. I often work with people who have no problem being genuine in real life, but who really struggle with authenticity in business. I hear from clients that, in business, they have to appear to be mega-successful — not just sort of successful, and not “hey, I’m growing a business here,” but really successful, in order to be taken seriously. There’s so much posturing and pretending, because people believe that you can’t become successful unless you appear to already be successful. But that’s just not true! In fact, it’s just the opposite.

We’re all works in progress.

I’ve seen “behind the scenes” of a lot of the people who many of us think of as mega-successful, and things aren’t always how they seem. A well-known wealth coach I know spends most of his time talking about the power of mindset, but I know that he struggles with exactly the same issues everyone else does: doubt, uncertainty, insecurity. We’re all works in progress. Every single one of us. We all have questions and insecurities and fears. It’s how you deal with those internal struggles that matters.

The truth has a way of seeping out anyway.

We think we’re so good at hiding our secrets from the rest of the world. But whether it’s a financial crisis, marital problems, personal demons, or something else, even if you think you’re keeping your skeletons hidden, you’re probably not. Truth has a way of sneaking out there and betraying our lies. Truth may show up in an uncertain look in your eye or in the way you keep your secrets, but know this: it’s almost impossible to keep things totally hidden.

It’s not all about appearances. It’s about truth.

Far too many folks out there seem to think that if you appear to be super-successful, you’ll achieve legitimacy. But it’s not about how you seem, it’s about how you are. If who you really are matches up with who you say you are, then you’ll appear credible, because you are credible. On the other hand, pretend you’re something that you’re not and you’ll come off as shady.

The real secret to gaining legitimacy is authenticity.

We’re all after legitimacy, in the end. So take the time to build your expertise and knowledge, offer your services at a discounted rate while you gain experience, and build in the right systems to support your products and services so you can offer unparalleled good service. You’ll build credibility by doing things right, and with credibility and legitimacy comes real success.

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So Someone Said Noâ€¦ How to Handle Rejection In Small Business

February 15th, 2010 | No Comments

So someone said no. You asked someone to participate in a joint venture, tried to close a sale, invited someone to be your social media friend, and they said no. And you felt that uncomfortable feeling of having put yourself “out there” on a limb, only to look over and see that someone’s sawing the limb out from under you. It’s a weird, stomach-turning feeling, isn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be.

Someone will always say no. Someone else will say yes.
Previous results are no indicator of future success. So if you’ve gotten a bunch of nos, so what? You might get a yes tomorrow. And if one person says no, that has no bearing on what the next person will say.
If you get a no, you’re no worse off than before you asked.
Before you ask, you definitely have a no. If you don’t ask, the result is the same as if you get a no. If you ask and get a no, you’re in exactly the same boat. If you ask and get a yes, though, you’re off and running. If you put your ego out there, though, that’s when you get a little damaged. That’s why you have to move to #3.
When you ask, don’t attach yourself to the answer.
When you ask for the sale or whatever else it is, you can’t be attached to the answer or you will get hurt. The “no” rarely has anything to do with you. If you’ve invited a big name to be a part of a joint venture or a conference, they might say no because they’re overwhelmed with time commitments. If you’ve asked someone to hire you, they might say no because they can’t afford you. Don’t attach yourself to the answer, and you’ll handle those nos with grace.
Handling a no with grace can mean future business.
If someone says no now, they may be willing to say yes later. Handling a no with grace means you’ll have no hesitation about going back to them next month or next year to bring something else to the table.

It’s not exactly rejection when someone says no. It’s more than likely that the no has nothing to do with you anyway. If you stay detached from the results and stay engaged in your business relationships regardless of the outcome, you’ll have no problem continuing to go out on that limb over and over.

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The 90 Best Lifehacks of 2009: The Year in Review

December 31st, 2009 | No Comments

Another year is winding down, and that means it’s time to take a look back at what we’ve done here at Lifehack over the last 12 months. 2009 was a scary year for a lot of people â€“ corporate layoffs, a shaky global economy, stunningly vicious politics, old wars grinding on and new ones flaring up. In the midst of all this, though, many saw opportunities; with the myth of life-long corporate employment shattered as some of the world’s biggest companies teetered on the brink of collapse, entrepreneurship enjoyed a major resurgence. This rise in self-reliance extends beyond our work life, too â€“ people are embracing a do-it-yourself, person-to-person lifestyle where status and the display of wealth matter much less than authenticity and social interaction.

All of this is reflected in the posts that went up on this site over the last year. What follows is a list of the 90 most popular, most commented on, and most talked-about posts from 2009, and as you can see, in addition to our usual mix of posts about personal productivity, organization, webware, and creativity, a large number of posts about personal finance and self-employment made the top of the list. It’s not surprising that Lifehack’s staff and contributors would write posts that reflect the tenor of the times, nor that such posts would resonate most with our audience.

What emerges from all this is a treasure trove of good advice, ranging from the lofty and idealistic to the immediately practical. We promise to continue to provide quality tips and advice about work, technology, money, and just plain living in the new year and beyond. If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to our feed and follow us on Twitter so you don’t miss any of the great posts we have in store for 2010!

Software and Technology

2009 was notable for the maturing of online applications, the explosion of applications for mobile phones, and the mainstreaming of social networking services like Twitter and Facebook. Popular stories at Lifehack covered tips for the use (and not abuse) of social networking services, tips on using your computer effectively and securely, and recommendations for applications online, on your PC, and on your Android phones.

Getting Productive with the Webware 100 (Dustin M. Wax)
Searching for a Shared Virtual Workspace? (Clemens Rettich)
Is Google Ready to Handle Your Business? (Part 1) and (Part 2) (Dustin M. Wax)
From Here to Tweeternity: A Practical Guide to Getting Started on Twitter (Dustin M. Wax)
Six Ways to Transform your Presentation (Paul Sloane)
Managing Your Social Network Addiction (Ibrahim Husain)
8 Keys to Internet Security (Dustin M. Wax)
The First 10 Free Apps to Install on a New Windows PC (Dustin M. Wax)
12 Free Android Apps to Help Get Things Done (Part 1) and (Part 2) (Dustin M. Wax)
Your Guide to Apps that Eliminate Distractions (Joel Falconer)

Lifestyle: Family, Fitness, and Finance

Money issues were on everyone’s minds this year, and our writers served up plenty of advice about managing both your money and your expectations. Advice about families and parenting was popular this year â€“ or sometimes controversial, like Craig Harper’s poorly understood advice to take ownership of your past and recognize that whoever wronged you in the past, only you can set things right for yourself. And, since today’s worker is all-too-often someone who spends most of her or his day sitting, our writers’ advice on getting some activity into your life was well appreciated.

How to Stop Yelling at Your Kids (Erin Kurt)
If Your Childhood Sucked â€“ Itâ€™s Time to Stop Blaming Your Parents! (Craig Harper)
How to Recognize Imminent Danger: 7 Essential Safety Rules (Mary Jaksch)
30 Money Sites to Check Out in 2009 (Thursday Bram)
3 Scary Misconceptions About Money (Joel Falconer)
Great Ways to Become Poor and Stay Poor (Paul Sloane)
Weight Loss Groundhog Day (Craig Harper)
Pain and Posture: The Basics (Jamie Nischan)
How to Start Running â€“ Without Feeling Like a Failure (Mary Jaksch)
A Workout for Geeks (Daryl Furuyama)

Personal Productivity and Creativity

Advice about getting productive makes up the core of Lifehack’s content, so naturally our most popular and most talked about posts this year were just that. From developing the right mindset to promoting creativity to finding inspiration and motivation, we offered tons of advice on getting things done.

12 Lists That Help You Get Things Done (Dustin M. Wax)
Procrastination – NOT a Problem! (Francis Wade)
10 Best Productivity Books of 2009 (Dustin M. Wax)
11 Ways to Think Outside the Box (Dustin M. Wax)
8 Ways to Kill Clutter in 5 Minutes (David Pierce)
Reaching Your Goals â€“ Dutch Style (Christine Buske)
New Year’s Resolutions Donâ€™t Work â€“ Hereâ€™s Why (Steve Errey)
How to Make Decisions Under Pressure (Joel Falconer)
Limits and Creativity (Dustin M. Wax)
The Daily Grind: A Matter of Momentum (Joel Falconer)
4 Pocket-Sized Tools to Help You Generate Killer Ideas Any Time, Anywhere (Chuck Frey)
How to Think What Nobody Else Thinks (Paul Sloane)
9 Lists To Keep Updated, and Keep Handy (David Pierce)
10 Reasons Paper is The Most Flexible Productivity Platform (Joel Falconer)
3 Tips to Improve Memory Quickly (Steve Martile)
How to Wake Up and Instantly Achieve Something Everyday (Paul Dickinson)
Stripped GTD: 3 Habits That Make You More Productive (David Pierce)
Ten Great Ways to Crush Creativity (Paul Sloane)
Scoring 100% in Time Management (Francis Wade)
7 Steps For Making a New Yearâ€™s Resolution and Keeping It (Annabel Candy)

My incomplete series on getting back on track with a productivity system, “GTD Refresh”, was quite popular but was never completed. The next step for me was supposed to be eliminating my email backlog and adopting an “Inbox Zero” approach, but frankly, email won. This year â€“ I’m going to try again in 2010 and so you may well see more “GTD Refresh posts in the not-too-distant future.

2009 was bookended by two publications with something to offer the would-be personal productivity expert. David Allen’s Making It All Work revisited the core concepts of GTD and expanded on elements that had been weakly developed in his earlier work. You can read my lengthy review here: (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

And our most popular series, my “Back to Basics” posts from 2008, were collected, revised, and expanded (with 2 new chapters) in the release of Back to Basics Productivity which will be joined in 2010 by several more ebook releases.

Work and Career

With the economy huddling in on itself this year, even non-entrepreneurs had to learn to be more entrepreneurial. Promotions, raises, or just holding onto your job and pay level, required a demonstration of unusual career intelligence, and our writers offered a heaping portion of it. And for those in our workforce who took the plunge â€“ voluntarily or not â€“ into self-employment, advice on personal branding, small-business promotion, and entrepreneurship were in no short supply.

What to Do if You Don’t Get Along with Your Boss (Paul Sloane)
Darth Vaderâ€™s â€œManagementâ€ Secrets (Art Carden)
21 Entrepreneurship Websites Worth Checking Out
3 Areas You Must Invest in During an Economic Recession (Dan Schawbel)
Personal Branding Basics (Dan Schawbel)
Seven Great Questions to Ask at a Job Interview (Paul Sloane)
Why A Good Web Site Matters To Your Business (Susan Baroncini-Moe)
How to do Good AND Make a Profit (Arvind Devalia)
12 Tips for Better Business Writing (Dustin M. Wax)
10 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Job (Paul Sloane)

Productivity Pr0n

It may seem distracting, even materialistic, to drool over office supplies, but let’s face it: I do it, you do it, and geeks around the world do it. And with good reason, actually: the right tool can (in David Pierce’s words) make all the difference. Moleskine’s were popular as always, but a list of alternative notebooks caught the eye of those put off by the style or cost of the famous pocket notebook. Pens also got a lot of attention â€“ it may seem silly to those who are (or pretend to be) perfectly comfortable with their 12-for-a-dollar stick pens, but there truly is no feeling quite like that of a quality writing instrument gliding over the page. And for funsies, there’s are review of the Prada Link, because gadgets are way cool.

13 Ways of Looking at an Index Card (Dustin M. Wax)
Stationery Pr0n: Japanese Pens and More from JetPens.com (Dustin M. Wax)
Why a Great Pen Makes All the Difference (David Pierce)
5 Reasons to Pay Good Money for a Moleskine (Dustin M. Wax)
13 Things to Do with a Moleskine Notebook (Dustin M. Wax)
10 Great Moleskine Hacks (Dustin M. Wax)
9 Places to Always Keep Pen and Paper Handy (David Pierce)
10 Affordable Pens Geeks Love (Dustin M. Wax)
10 Great Notebooks Productive People Love (Dustin M. Wax)
The Trend of Productivity Accessories is Here (Leon Ho)

Life Lessons

Finally, the catch-all for what’s left. There are some brilliant people writing on Lifehack â€“ small business experts, marketing gurus, life coaches, creativity specialists, and so on. It stands to reason that not all their advice could be slotted into easy categories. So below you’ll find advice on relating with others, mastering your own weaknesses and giving rein to your strengths, developing a charitable mindset, dealing with hardships, and more.

10 Small Ways to Make the World a Better Place (Dustin M. Wax)
Have You Started Planning for a Successful 2010? Here’s How! (Susan Baroncini-Moe)
Rethink the Season of Giving (Dustin M. Wax)
7 Ways to Deal with Annoying People and Still Get Things Done (Dustin M. Wax)
12 Personality Types to Avoid to Make 2009 Your Best Year (Craig Harper)
Life Lessons of the Dread Pirate Roberts (Dustin M. Wax)
Six Great Ways to Vent Your Frustrations (Danielle Marie Crume)
How to Stay Motivated and On-Track When Youâ€™re Struggling (Susan Baroncini-Moe)
Change The Way You See Fear And Change Your Life (Susan Baroncini-Moe)
The Five Reasons Why You Are Not Fulfilling Your Potential (Paul Sloane)
How to Be Offended (Dustin M. Wax)
Improve Your Charitable Giving: Let Not Your Left Hand Know What Your Right Is Doing (Art Carden)
10 Things in Life That Arenâ€™t Fair â€“ and What to Do About Them (Part 1) and (Part 2) (Dustin M. Wax)
7 Steps to Start Lucid Dreaming (Steven Aitchinson)
Changing Your Personal Reality (Part 1) and (Part 2) (Craig Harper)
Dating, Living, and Being Your Best Self (Dustin M. Wax)
Go on a Date with Life and More Ways to Go on a Date with Life (Dustin M. Wax)
Being a Man in the 21st Century (Part 1) and (Part 2) (Dustin M. Wax)
The Work of Worry (Dustin M. Wax)
Your Happiness Plan (Craig Harper)

Were there any other posts here in the last year that helped you or gave you a new perspective on your work, life, or the people around you? Let us know in the comments!

Finally, I want to take a moment to recognize all the staff writers and guest contributors who worked hard to provide our readers with wisdom and insight in 2009. On the staff, there’s Leon Ho (site owner), myself (project manager), and our staff writers Joel Falconer and Thursday Bram, now departed. Our contributors and guests consist of:

Steven Aitchison
Susan Baroncini-Moe
Christine Buske
Annabel Candy
Art Carden
Kit Cooper
Danielle Marie Crume
Arvind Devalia
Paul Dickinson
Steve Errey

Chuck Frey
Daryl Furuyama
Danny Gamache
Lisa Gates
ElisabetaÂ Ghidiu
CraigÂ Harper
Liora Hess
Ibrahim Husain
Mary Jaksch
Erin Kurt

Angus Lau
Alexandra Levit
Steve Martile
Jamie Nischan
David Pierce
Clemens Rettich
Dan Schawbel
Paul Sloane
Mike St. Pierre
Francis Wade

Thanks to all of them, and to you, our readers, for making 2009 a great year!

Dustin M. Wax is a freelance writer and project manager at Stepcase Lifehack. He can be reached though his freelancing site at DustinWax.com</a., where his various projects can be viewed. When he's not writing, he teaches anthropology and gender studies in Las Vegas, NV. He is the author of Don’t Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at College.

Follow him on Twitter: @dwax.

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Have You Started Planning for a Successful 2010? Hereâ€™s How!

December 10th, 2009 | No Comments

2010-lh

The New Year is fast approaching. Do you have a plan for your business? Do you know what you’re going to do for 2010 to make your business grow and see your income dreams realized? If not, use these guidelines to plan ahead, so you can make 2010 your year of success!

1. Look back and analyze.
First, take some time to look back on 2009 and analyze your business activities. What worked? What didn’t work? Look back and only take the activities that generated the top 20% of your income into 2010 with you. That way you’ll put the bulk of your efforts in the next year into the most profitable activities and make the most of your time and energy.

Analyze how you spent your time. Did you use your time as efficiently as possible? If not, consider outsourcing and put plans in place now to get your outsourcing team in place.

Look at how you spent your money. Did you spend thousands on expensive products and workshops that didn’t give you a personally effective return on your investment or did you invest in things with a solid ROI, where you actually saw your business grow as a result? Did you find yourself choosing several inexpensive options or a few more expensive items that might have been higher in quality? Start looking at how and where you spent and look at the return you saw on everything you spent.

2. Do a “now” check.
Take some time to think about how you feel about your business now. Are you frustrated? Excited? Discouraged? Encouraged? Gauge how you feel and think about where those feelings are coming from. Has your enthusiasm waned? If so, why?

Sometimes when people start businesses, the initial stages are so exciting and they’re thrilled with any results. But when time passes and the business doesn’t grow the way they thought, or they realize how much effort a successful business takes, enthusiasm can decrease. If that’s happened to you, don’t despair! What you really need is a solid plan, the tools to implement that plan, and the support to help you get there. That brings me to….

3. Look ahead and get your plan in place.
Now that you know where you’ve been and where you are now, it’s time to get a plan in place for the future. You’ve analyzed how you spent your time and money in the previous year, and you have a clear picture of where you are now.

Before you can create a solid plan, you need to figure out where you want to be at the end of this coming year. This is a lot like travel: once you know where you’re going, you can figure out how to get there. Once you know what your goals are, you can determine the best strategies for getting there. If you’re struggling with your goals and your roadmap, find a pro who can help you get things clarified and cleared up so you can make your business a success in 2010, without hesitation!

Susan Baroncini-Moe started her entrepreneurial adventures with a lemonade stand. Now, Susan is the CEO of Business in Blue Jeans, dedicated to helping you design a business you’ll love or transform your business into optimized profitability. Learn more at BusinessInBlueJeans.com.Other links: Blue Jeans Web Sites and Susan’s No Suits Allowed! E-zine.

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Could You Raise Your Rates?

November 25th, 2009 | No Comments

money-lifehack

Let’s get real: when you work on an hourly basis, there are two ways to increase income: raise your rates or increase the number of working hours. I’m assuming you don’t really want to spend more time working, so let’s talk about something that a lot of people don’t like talking about: raising your rates. Raising your rates is a way to increase your business income that is often difficult for people to face, and there are many reasons why.

First of all, let’s get over the biggest issue business owners face when raising their rates. I’m just going to lay it out there bluntly. The number one reason solo professionals don’t raise their rates is self-worth issues. In all my years of working with clients, I have yet to run across a single entrepreneur who hasn’t balked at raising his or her rates, saying some version of either “I don’t need that much!” or “My clients would never pay that much!”

But when we get down to it, eventually they have all realized that these aren’t the real reasons they aren’t raising their rates. More often than not, keeping your rates “low” or “reasonable” is a function of one thing: fear. And believe me, I get it. I really do. There was a time several years ago when I was scared to raise my rates. I was scared that I would lose clients and that I wouldn’t be able to get new ones. But my fears were unwarranted, and while at the time I firmly believed it wasn’t about self-worth, when I started to get really real and dig deep about what was holding me back, I realized that indeed that’s exactly what was at the heart of it.

So how can you get past that? Well, first of all, you need to do some soul-searching. Dig deep and find out why you think you’re not worth earning more. Hint: If you start saying, “I just love what I do and I’d do it for free if I could afford to,” dig deeper. There’s a lot more going on there than you may initially think.

Second, stop charging by the hour. Instead, create packages with a lot of value built in.Â Make sure you are really offering something great, something that will produce a high return on your clients’ investment in working with you.

Third, start talking more about that value that your bringing to the table, instead of what people will get from working with you. When I talk with prospective clients, I do cover the features (like how many sessions are in each package, for example), but I focus more on the benefit of working with me. I talk about the value I’m bringing to their business, and show them how working with me will help their businesses grow.

Once you figure out what’s at the heart of how you’ve set your rates and made these slight shifts, you’ll be amazed at how fast your income will grow.

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What You Need To Know To Make Sense of Business Bartering

August 4th, 2009 | No Comments

barter

Bartering, trading one good for another, is becoming increasingly popular as the value of the dollar continues to plummet. There are several bartering systems available online (some better than others) and activity on these web sites has increased as the economy has gotten more and more troubled. However, when you move into cashless economies, it’s easy to get sucked in. Here are a few things you need to know to make it work for you.

1. Use an established bartering system.

Bartering on your own is often fraught with difficulties. Establishing “what’s fair” is rarely easy, especially if you’re the guy who charges $100/hour and you’re negotiating with someone who charges substantially less. One hour isn’t always equal to one hour, and that’s not always an easy concept to explain.

Instead, use established systems that operate with their own version of “dollars” and have structures in place to ensure that everyone follows through on their end of the bargain. The way these systems work is that you join the system and let people know what you have to offer. People use dollars they already have in the system pay you for your products or services. Then you use your system dollars to pay for products and services that you need.

2. Use bartering systems as a marketing tool.

Bartering systems can act as a solid marketing tool for your business, when used the right way. People already in bartering systems have dollars that have to be spent in the system. So you’re entering a marketplace of willing investors.

Plus, people tend to look at these dollars slightly differently from “real dollars” and are more willing to spend them. Bring the right product or service into the system, and you could introduce your product or service to a large group of willing buyers very quickly.

3. Avoid getting too heavily invested.

One thing you want to avoid is getting too heavily invested in any bartering community. If there’s something in the system that you really need and would have invested in anyway, this can be a good way to obtain it. However, you can’t guarantee the quality of the professionals in the system. Just because they’re in the system doesn’t mean they’re the best ones for the job.

And let’s face it…your mortgage company and the utility companies probably don’t accept bartering dollars. You need real dollars for the real world, and bartering dollars just don’t transfer.

4. Spend your bartering dollars right away.

There’s another truth about bartering dollars, and that’s that all of these bartering systems are businesses that are owned by someone. In this uncertain economy, companies go out of business in the blink of an eye. So make sure you don’t leave your bartering dollars in these systems for long. Spend your dollars quickly, just in case, so you don’t have thousands invested in this system that could drop off the face of existence without any warning.

5. Transition bartering relationships to cash relationships.

When clients ask me about entering into bartering systems, I advise them to keep their offerings to introductory services only. Figure out which services frequently act as a “point of entry” to your business and offer those as barters, then convert your bartering clients into cash-paying clients as quickly as possible to avoid getting too heavily invested in the long-term.

And, make sure you don’t get behind the eight-ball on any transaction — don’t offer to barter for something you yourself have to pay real dollars for.

6. Prepare for taxes.

Finally, don’t forget that the IRS views bartering dollars as exactly the same as real dollars. Earn a dollar in a bartering system, and you’ll still have to pay taxes on that money in real dollars later. Plan accordingly!

Bartering can be a great way to market your business and gain new clients and trade for services you need for your business. However, there are pitfalls. Plan ahead, avoid being too heavily invested, and transition barter clients into cash-paying ones, and you can benefit greatly from these systems.

Other links: Blue Jeans Web Sites and Susan’s No Suits Allowed! E-zine.

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How to Be A Good Web Firm Consumer

July 16th, 2009 | No Comments

So you’ve hired a web firm to design your new web site. Now what? Today I’m completing my Business Web Series and talking about what you can do to be a good consumer of web site developers and designers.

Just like most business owners have tales of woe from having their web sites designed, most web developers and designers have stories of their own. Educate yourself, hire the right experts to help you through this process, and hold up your end of the bargain and you may sail through without being the star of one of the web firm’s horror stories (or your own!).

1. Negotiate knowledgeably.

When you get a quote from a web firm, it just makes good sense to shop around. But when you shop around, compare apples to apples. Comparing a quote from an American firm, where you’ll most likely have an English-speaking team to work with, with a quote from a firm in a Third World country, where living expenses are a fraction of U.S. costs, just isn’t fair. You don’t want to approach your web firm with, “Why does it cost this much, when I can have a site built in India for $300?”

Also, if you’re working with that rare breed of web firm where you’ll get both web strategy advice and search engine optimization, you simply cannot compare the pricing with your standard web design firm. So make sure you’re comparing like quotes before you consider asking for a price match.

2. Hold up your end of the bargain.

One of the most frustrating things for a web developer is when the client doesn’t provide timely feedback. In many cases, when you hire a web firm, you pay for part of your web site upfront, then you have to pay the rest just before launch. If you’re not providing timely feedback, not only are you holding up the launch and jeopardizing your timeline, but you’re also keeping your team from getting paid. In this economy, that’s not good for anyone. So make sure you pay your bills on time and provide responsive, useful feedback quickly to keep things moving along.

In addition, if you haven’t hired the web firm to provide you with content or copywriting, make sure you provide them with your content in a timely manner. The last thing you want is for your web site to be held up because you haven’t delivered the materials, or worse, launch without content. Make sure you

3. Be smart and educate yourself.

I recently talked with a potential client who’d been spending hundreds of dollars each month for a firm to “do search engine optimization” on her web site. She had no idea what that meant, but kept paying them anyway. In the meantime, this firm hadn’t touched her code or her copy, two of the hallmarks of a pretty substantial scam in my book.

I’m not suggesting that every small business owner should know everything about what constitutes good or bad SEO. If you don’t have the time or the technical know-how to educate yourself in what your web site needs or to learn enough to know when you’re being scammed, then you need a trusted adviser who does know these things and can watch over your project and protect your interests.

4. Don’t be swayed by “pretty.”

This one isn’t so much about being a good web consumer for your developer’s benefit as being a good consumer for your business. Too many business owners today are persuaded that “pretty” is the most important part of their web design. It’s not.

An attractive web site certainly is important, but it’s not the most important thing. There are specific business elements and “screen real estate” issues
like what goes “above the fold” that you need to pay attention to as well. And these things may be even more important than “pretty.” Stay too focused on the appearance of your site and you’ll likely end up with a site that doesn’t meet your business needs and has poor usability. Instead, try to strike a balance between the appearance of the site and meeting your business goals. Again, if you don’t know how to do this, hire someone who does.

Having a web site designed can seem like a harrowing experience for many business owners. The investment in a strong web site can seem substantial for the micro-entrepreneur, especially considering the many potential pitfalls. That said, if you don’t have the time, inclination, or tech-savvy spirit to learn what you need to know to avoid those pitfalls and be a good consumer (for your own good, as well as the good of your design firm), hire an expert who can navigate the process for you and help you meet your business goals.

Other links: Blue Jeans Web Sites and Susan’s No Suits Allowed! E-zine.

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