C Corp., S Corp, B Corp., LLC…. Wait, B Corp.?

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I am sitting outside a Starbucks and there are 3 cars that have been running for more than 5 minutes with no one in them. I find it annoying for several reasons- petrol is not a renewable resource (not really), pollutants are spewing into the atmosphere- the owners are…where?

Imagine how much fuel could be saved in one week if everyone just turned off their car.

Off of my soap box…..

Did you know there is a B corporation designation?

A B corporation uses the power of business to solve environmental and social problems. Basically, they are environmentally and socially conscious businesses that actively work to positively impact their environment (social and natural). A staffing service I work with just received their designation. It is not as easy as just choosing to be a C or S corporation.

Now there is a business designation that can reflect your personal conscience if you want it to. I would not be surprised if, as more folks learn about B corporations, they try to purchase exclusively from B corporations.

Something to consider as you set up a new corporation or look at re-designating an existing business.

Your Marketing Plan

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Do you have a marketing plan or do you randomly do ‘stuff’ when you think about it? I used to be a completely random marketer.

I’ve seen the value of continuous planned marketing. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on a professional marketing campaign with advertisements and pricey commercials.

There are many ways to market on a budget. Article placement, social media, press releases, and public speaking are all great inexpensive ways to market your company.

Consistency is key with marketing. The latest studies show it takes 9 contacts for someone to truly register your information. A person must see your information 9 times before they integrate who you are and what you do.  That means 1 or 2 ads in the newspaper or in a magazine won’t do the trick. You are better off buying a nice dinner for yourself with that money.

Create a marketing plan for the year. Include all of the methods you want to use- be realistic. If you can’t handle social media and placing articles and public speaking and…. Either eliminate something(s) from your plan or bring on an intern to help.

Follow through on your plan and be consistent. It is better to market well in only one way than it is to not market well and do it using 5 different methods.

How do you get started with your plan? I will presume you have your target market, niche and story worked out.

1. Start by identifying when you want to

  • release a product
  • hold a sale
  • offer a special
  • anything that requires additional marketing

2. What is the point of those activities?

  • Build your list
  • Bring in new customers
  • Sell out a product you want to end of life
  • Other reason

3. What is the best method to get the word out about each product (sale, etc.)? Identify if it is social media, articles, joint ventures….

4. What marketing do you need to do on a regular basis (day-to-day) to keep customers/prospects coming in the door? (article submission, social media, teleseminars…)

5. When are you going to release that day-to-day marketing?

6. Take all of those individual pieces and put them on a calendar, in an excel- whatever tool you will reference to follow through on your plan.

If all of this feels like too much, work with a professional. Anything you do well is better than nothing. Do it right and your business will flourish.

Build Rapport with Teenagers?

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I find myself asking how I relate to those who are not anything like me? Then I realize that really is not fair.

  • They live in the same country I do
  • They speak English
  • They are all in high school (I was too- 20 years ago)
  • They are teenagers (I was too- long ago)

Maybe we are not that different after all.

It is just perspective- the times are different yet many of their ‘struggles’ as teenagers are the same as mine were. They may not see it that way- I probably wouldn’t have when I was a teenager.

I spoke at a local career day to a group of senior high school students. Building rapport is just as important in that situation as it is for any other speech.  Rapport is an often forgotten piece of public speaking.

Know your audience.  Find ways in which you are similar. Use those similarities and common situations to help illustrate points.  For instance, I was speaking to an English class and had been asked to address how important language and grammar are in my business life. The students don’t necessarily relate to my business life. In addition to that information, I shared a story about a college football player and the impact his language had on the audience perception of him.  That they could relate too – they are off to college or technical school next year and very focused on the whole college experience.

It is easy to speak to your target market- it is the other groups that force you to stretch and push your boundaries. Step out of your comfort zone and build rapport with groups outside of your target market. Stretching those muscles will increase your ability to build rapport with any audience.

Language Impacts Your Credibility

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Do you really think about language? How you use language and grammar skills impact your business.

Suppose if you are working at a cash register as long as you can be understood and your customer service skills are good language isn’t a great concern. For everyone running a business, particularly an information or service business, language become very important.

Your ability to use grammar and language will change the way people perceive you. Send an email with grammar errors everywhere and people will question your credibility and expertise. What you have said won’t matter if people have to wade through poorly constructed sentences and content with no logical order.

This is particularly true of leaders. A person in a leadership position must have excellent language and grammar skills. Don’t think it matters? Here’s just one example:

A networking group that had been growing by 2 or 3 people every month changed leadership. The new leader had very poor language skills- Her written and verbal sentence structure was incorrect, she used words incorrectly and used the wrong words in places  (there vs. their). The perception is that she is not a strong or credible leader- visitors have not joined the group because of they don’t trust the leadership and members are leaving the group for the same reason.

Do I need to say it? Spell check!

I work with people who need help writing their speeches because they have difficulty putting their ideas into logical order. Folks struggle with transitions.

Think about what you are writing and saying. If you need help, get it. It matters in more ways than you realize.

You have 2 months to reach Your 2011 goals

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Have you started your 2012 business plan yet? More importantly, have you accomplished what you wanted to in 2011?

Check your business plan or your calendar (whatever you use for planning) – what have you accomplished in 2011? Are there still things you want to do? Or that you have not done yet?

You still have 2 months to accomplish your goals. Don’t throw in the towel because the list seems too long. Pick 2 (two) or 3 (three) you think you can do and plan on completing them before December 31.

To get started make a list of what you need to do to achieve that first goal.

Get out your calendar and put those tasks on it. Create a realistic timeline to achieve the goal. Do that today.

Next start on the first task.

Finished that first task? Start the second. Keep moving through the list of tasks until you have reached your goal!

Procrastination getting in the way? Think about it like this- if you don’t start you will never finish and you know you deserve better than that. Don’t let yourself down; keep the business moving forward.

 

6 Tips to Keep High School and Middle School Students Interested in Your Presentation

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You have the opportunity to speak to a group of high school and middle school students! How are you going to keep their attention for 45 minutes?

You know they never seem to be still for a moment and even when they are they are listening to their MP3 player and on their PS3 at the same time. Here are 6 tips to keep your students interested.

  • Use multiple presentation mediums- use audio, video and engage them in discussion all in the same presentation, give them a worksheet to complete, lecture for only short amounts of time, actively engage their brains
  • Keep the content moving fast- that is what they are used to and it will keep them interested, don’t focus on a specific point for too long
  • Talk to them- not at them, not as the all-knowing adult
  • Make sure all of your content takes into account their age and experience level- don’t talk about Jimmy Carter, they have no context for who he was, use content they are comfortable with even if you aren’t completely; be specific about your ideas – the leaps of logic we make they may not only because of the difference in age and experience
  • Be willing to flex with them- they may move in a slightly different direction than you originally planned and that is OK, find the connections and you will get them going in the right direction
  • Ignore the fidgety, attention seekers- there is always one, and as long as they aren’t disrupting the entire group let them fidget and talk to themselves; remember it is not about you, focus on everyone else in the room

I presented to 16 high school and middle schoolers last week and kept their attention. Using all of these tips I listed, we had a productive, rewarding discussion- that worked for all of us. Even Mr. Fidget was paying attention.

Good luck!

Are you willing to hear criticism and make a change?

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How good are you at taking criticism? Whether it is constructive or not- how well do you hear opinions different from your own?

I presume if you are doing something a specific way it is your opinion that is the best way to do it; at least that is YOUR way of doing it.  How do you react when someone questions your way?

In my business I meet people that are coachable and some that are not. That means that some folks are willing to rethink their ideas, to look at new and different ways, to discover the outer boundaries of THEIR way all in the hope of finding the right way for them. Then you have folks that claim they want a different/better way, yet, when you start to talk to them you find that their core belief is that their way is the only ‘right’ way, even if it is not working for them.

The beauty of being an entrepreneur is that you get to make choice about exactly how you do anything. You have the choice to continue in a direction that is not working or to try something new.

If something is not working for you ask yourself why you are not changing what you are doing. If people are trying to offer other ideas why are you staunchly sticking to you belief that your current way is the only way?

Many people want to be ‘right’.  Their belief is that if they change tactics or direction, or listen to someone that has a suggestion they are admitting they were ‘wrong’ and may be judged for being ‘wrong’.  Bottom line is that you are rarely, if ever, judged for changing direction, particularly if you took the time to think about the course correction in hopes of improving the results. People that are judging you are probably not worth the time it takes to address or worry about their judgment.

There is also a subset of folks out there that really are just being stubborn. That sometimes equates to fear of change. After all, you know the pain you are in, why trade that for a different, new and possibly scary pain? The answer is simple- because that new thing just might work and remove ALL of the pain!

The third set of people I run into are those that just want to stay in that victim mode. Deep down they don’t really want to change because they enjoy moaning about how awful things are. Why would you stay in that mindset? Again it could be fear- fear of being successful, fear that if you stop having issues people will stop paying attention, fear of taking ownership of the real problem.

Regardless of the reason you are not objectively listening to criticism you are not moving forward. It doesn’t matter how many business coaches/consultants you work with or how many seminars you attend, until you understand why you refuse to take direction/criticism and try something new you will stay in the rut you are in.

It’s up to you- stay still or choose to make a change and move forward.

The Power of Story

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We all have expertise to share. Story can enhance the power of that expertise. I find some speakers just don’t want to include story in their speeches/presentations or they don’t know how to incorporate story.

If you are on the fence about including story I encourage you to rethink your position. As humans we have shared story since we graced this planet. We used story to share myth, teach survival skills and parables, to share our history and cautionary tales.

Individuals will remember a good, emotional story before they remember facts. They will share that story before they share facts. It is just the way humans’ function.

Here is an example of the power of story. I gave a speech this morning, 5 Tips for a Successful Presentation. I started with a story about my first public speaking experience. The experience was horrible and started me on my path as a public speaking coach.

When we got to the questions many of them were about the story- how would I have done things differently, what were the details of what I did, how did people react.  The audience wanted to learn more and was relating their learning to the story. There were some questions related directly to the content but the questions were split about 50/50, content/story.

I did not expect the story to affect the audience so deeply. It illustrates the importance of story, the impact a story can have. If your audience can relate to the story and if it tugs on their emotions (fear, joy, frustration) story can add a level of intimacy and rapport it is difficult to duplicate.

If you don’t use story try it, if you don’t know how to use story work with a public speaking coach to learn.

What do You Think?

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I launched a survey today. I talk about knowing your audience and this is one of the ways you can do just that.

I want to learn what it is YOU want, what you need to be a more successful speaker or presenter.

This is your opportunity to let me know what kind of content will help you. Complete the survey and you could win a FREE hour of consultation with me. You choose the topic, come prepared with questions and I’ll share everything I know.

The last day to complete the survey is Oct. 25.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Instant Keynote

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You get a call on Monday. The caller is asking you to speak to their group on Wednesday, the money is right, the group fits nicely into your target market and you have the time available. Do you have a keynote ready?

No? Now what?? Take it with no time to prepare, or turn down a golden opportunity.

How about another idea? Before this happens have a keynote ready to go.  Then there is no panic and you can happily accept the invitation to speak.

To determine your topic think about what question people most often ask you or think about what you are very passionate about in your business.

I have speakers that go one of two directions on the length of their speech. Some craft a 60 minute speech they can then trim down to meet the timeframe. Others craft a speech that is 30 – 45 minutes in length. At this length it is fairly easy to trim it down to 20 minutes or pump it up to 60 depending on the need.

Don’t forget to build your collateral material at the same time. Put together the slides and handout for the speech. You don’t want to end up rushing around at the last minute. It is much less stressful to simply review something quickly and then press print.

You get a call on Monday, asking you to speak on Wednesday. Accept the engagement! Take some time to customize the keynote to the particular group you are speaking to and you are ready to go!