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Bite-Size Chunks of Wisdom

January 2014

Recent Posts

With Facebook Pushing Paid Posts, What are Your Social Media Alternatives?

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

If you’ve noticed less interaction on your Facebook business page recently, you’re not imagining it. Last month Facebook tweaked its algorithm, drastically reducing visibility for businesses — unless you choose to pay for boosted posts, or ads.

Now, we don’t recommend abandoning Facebook altogether — it’s still important — but if you’re not ready to pay a social network directly for your marketing endeavors, here are some of the best alternatives:

Google+
Only two years after launch, Google+ closed out 2013 with over 540 million active users. Some still have it pegged it as a failed Facebook imitator, but Google+ isn’t trying to be Facebook; it’s trying to take the best parts of Facebook and Twitter, and wrap them into Google. We could go on at length about how valuable this network is, but at the moment we’ll leave you with one major takeaway: If you don’t have a Google+ account for your business, start one now.

Pinterest
This isn’t the ideal network for every type of business, but for highly visual, product-based companies, it’s ideal. A study of over 1,000 brands in October found that each time a user pinned a company’s product to one of their boards, that pin was worth — on average — 78 cents in sales conversions. In December, studies found that over the course of 2013 pins drove 25% more sales than they did the previous year. Expect those numbers to grow further this year.

LinkedIn
One of the greatest strengths of LinkedIn is the Business to Business (B2B) marketing aspect. For companies offering professional services which aren’t easy to advertise traditionally, LinkedIn is ideal. How? Join a group in your target market and get active there. The more you contribute (without just link spamming), the more your posts will be featured in that group — and the more you’ll build a relationship of trust. It’s through those connections you’ll be able to offer your services, and begin to build a reputation for yourself as “an influencer” on LinkedIn.

Twitter
When Twitter first came out, a lot of people didn’t know quite what to do with it (a theme for most social networks). Now, it’s built a reputation for having a pulse on current news, and can be a major player in driving traffic to your website for content marketing. Don’t confuse Twitter’s 140 character limit for a lack of depth, though — pushing your own content is only recommended maybe 20% of the time, while the rest is all about building relationships.

Finding the social media strategy that works for you

The key to success on any social media platform is genuine interaction. You can’t just waltz in and start announcing your sales pitch — you’ve got to build relationships on the platform first, engaging in discussion, and generally putting the “social” in social media. To do that, you first need to decide which platform is the most appropriate to your business, and focus your time and energy there.

Then, it’s time to decide: will you manage the social media for your company, or will you hire someone to do that for you?

Psst: if you choose the latter, we know just the company for the job…

See that? Sales pitch after you shake hands and make friends.

Zbra Studios is a full-service Digital Marketing Studio based in Los Angeles. When they’re not geeking out over social media stats and tactics, they’re helping businesses develop effective online marketing strategies for use in the ever-changing web. Visit them at www.zbrastudios.com.

10 Things Dad Taught Us About Running a Small Business

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

Recently, I wrote about the things I learned from my Mom that make me a better small business entrepreneur. Although I seldom post business information on my personal Facebook page, I felt this was appropriate to share. Hence, my sister, Denice, began thinking of all that Dad taught us through running his small business. Now, in her own words, is Denice’s contribution to our blog, Bite-Size Chunks of Wisdom:

Yesterday, Jackie wrote a Synnovatia blog about Mom teachings as they relate to small business. I have attached the link, in case you missed it. It made my mind whirl, or was it the snow and wind that was hitting my bedroom windows? It definitely made me very nostalgic. Thanks, Jackie.

I thought, “What are 10 things that Dad taught us that he also used in running his small business, Johnny’s Repair?” Here are my thoughts….

  1. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When the shop where Dad worked was closing in the early 1970’s, he didn’t sit around with his Lucky Strikes and Walker’s bourbon collecting an unemployment check. He built his own small business including a building. Build it and they will come, and they did.
  2. Sometimes you can’t do everything yourself, you have to enlist help. Call Mom on the phone and have her come down to help you split that tractor.
  3. Keep things neat and orderly. Put your tools away after use. You can see where they are supposed to hang because there is an outline drawn in that location on the pegboard.
  4. There are times that you have to leave your comfort zone. You may have to leave the shop and travel out to the field to fix that baler.
  5. “If you don’t have time for me to do it right the first time, how much time do you have for me to do it over.” Positive words by customers are invaluable and you won’t have to run an ad in the Glen Ullin Times.
  6. Evaluate and follow your budget. Sponsoring a women’s bowling team with shirts displaying the Johnny’s Repair name is money well spent. It is inevitable that you will have to do that when your wife is bowling on that team.
  7. Conduct yourself in a respectful manner at all times. Especially if you are wearing your coveralls with “Johnny’s Repair” on the back and “Johnny” on the front pocket.
  8. Take care of yourself. Go home for lunch each day, put your feet up and take a 15-minute nap.
  9. Make sure you have some money reserved for the unforeseen expenses. Keep a Mason jar with cash in the freezer.
  10. Take time to smell the roses. Life is way too short!

The business was sold in 1982.

Note: I realize that I really didn’t know much about his thoughts on running his business…I was busy living MY life.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Denice!

What did your Dad teach you about running your small business?

Why Growing Your Small Business in a Silo is Bad for Business

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

Growing up on my Grandma’s farm, I was accustomed to silos. The towers were used to store grain through the harsh winters of North Dakota. In business, “silo” is a term used to describe “a system, process, department, etc. that operates in isolation from others”. For the small business owner, it’s working alone. As early as age 6, I understood the hazards of silos.

During fall harvest, grain was pumped into the top of the silo. Far below, within the dark interior of the silo, a farm hand distributed the grain uniformly. Grain acts like quicksand and a farm hand can rapidly suffocate under it’s weight. Although a small business owner working in a metaphorical silo certainly isn’t deadly, it does have hazards of its own.

Party of One

With little strategic interaction with like-minded entrepreneurs, small business growth begins to suffer in a multitude of ways.

Loss of creativity. With no one with whom to exchange ideas, concepts, and plans can suffer from a drought of imagination. New product and/or service launches designed to spark growth, may yield lackluster results without crucial input of others.

Time-consuming learning. The ability to apply the right knowledge at the right time is a cornerstone for small business growth and success. Given the pace at which new information is created, it can be difficult to stay current. Minus market relevance, and your small business growth can quickly stall.

Blind spots. Well-known strategist, Michael Porter, used “blind spots” to refer to wisdom that no longer holds true yet still guides business strategy. What one is oblivious to can, in fact, hurt your small business growth. This is what is referred to as “insanity” — doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Weakened self-confidence. Minus feedback from others, a self-assessment about one’s performance can quickly deteriorate beyond the truth. You can quickly feel like Alice when she fell down the rabbit hole. You can quickly spiral down too far and too fast. It crushes optimism, rattles confidence, and motivation begins to suffer.

All in all, growing your small business alone is not pretty and it’s much harder than it needs to be. It just might be time to expand your strategic network.

Forget Work-Life Balance! Productive Small Business Owners Aim for Work-Life Groove

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

You start each week with the best of intention. You promise your family — and yourself — to leave the office “at a reasonable hour” each day. You vow not to let work flood your weekend. It’s hard to cut back — even when you know its what you need to do. Finding work-life balance isn’t easy. What you really need to do is to find your work-life groove.

You know when you’re “in the groove.” Energy is high. Life moves smoothly. You’re doing something easily and well. You’re enjoying yourself. Everything — work, life, business, family — all works so much better when you’re in the groove.

Work-life groove doesn’t magically materialize.  With a bit of a reboot of your weekly plan, you can find your work-life groove:

1. Implement power hours. With so many distractions throughout the day, it’s tough to be as productive as one needs to avoid late night and weekend work. Plus, distractions drain your energy and sidetrack your concentration. When that occurs, everything in your day takes twice as long to complete.

Sprinkle your week with “power hours”. Use uninterrupted, prescheduled 60-minute appointments with yourself to undertake important business growth projects.

Imagine what you will achieve in one ceaseless hour! Four ceaseless hours in a week and you’re having dinner with family and seeing the latest movies on weekends.

2. Front load your workweek. Most small business owners come to work on Monday reinvigorated and reenergize. Why not use your fresh energy and focus as a way to get ahead? Isn’t that a novel concept?

Address the business growth initiatives that require the greatest amount of effort, energy, and focus. When your week begins to catch you, and your ability to concentrate wanes, your most significant plans are complete.

3. Take frequent breaks throughout your day. Avoid becoming a victim of “decision fatigue“. Studies find that each decision made, large or small, drains your energy. You may not feel it physically, but it affects you mentally. With less mental energy to take you through your work-week, more hours are required to get the job done.

Fight against “decision fatigue” and be highly productive with small, frequent breaks throughout the day. In fact, former client, Dr. Lisa Berntsen’s recent study, Take Ten Outside, offers an excellent solution to sustainable performance throughout the day. Simply stated, those who take short 10-minute breaks outside “reap the benefits in well-being, productivity, creativity, and reduced stress.”

4. Manage your goals — not your time. Time management is really a tool of the industrial age. You put in X time to produce X. With the explosion of the information age, time management is a technology of the past.

The technology of performance and achievement for the 21st century is goal management. Your goals determine how you organize, plan, and achieve throughout the day. Shift from time to goal management to shed unnecessary tasks and get in the work-life groove.

5. Exercise. Does exercise seem like one more task to squeeze in your already demanding day? A new study reported on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network sheds new light on how exercise helps you find your work-life groove.

“They show that making a commitment to regular exercise can ease feelings of work-life conflict in a couple of ways:

First, and least surprisingly, exercise reduces stress, and lower stress makes the time spent in either realm more productive and enjoyable… A reduction in stress is tantamount to an expansion of time.

Second, we found exercise helping work-home integration via increased self-efficacy. The term refers to the sense that one is capable of taking things on and getting them done — and although self-efficacy is a matter of self-perception, it has real impact on reality.”

Go on, now. Get your work-life groove on!

Clean Your Plate! Things Your Mom Taught You About Small Business

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

“Clean your plate! There are starving children in Biafra!” my mother barked as my sister and I stared at our partially finished meal. Although I didn’t know where Biafra was located — or how clearing my plate would help their hungry children — I reluctantly obeyed. Little did I realize, my mom was my first small business coach.

Mom was a hard-working farm girl. Growing up in the fields of North Dakota wheat farms, her mother taught her the big value in small things. She, in turn, taught them to me.

Have you ever considered the pivotal role your mom played in shaping your approach to running your small business? Here are some of what I was taught that shaped my entrepreneurial experience.

  1. Clean your plate. Learning the importance of eating all you put on your plate, scores the significance of not taking on more than can be completed in a day. Realistically measure your daily expectations so your plate is spotless at the conclusion of each business day. Start each day fresh. It’s invigorating.
  2. Don’t chew with your mouth full. Like “clean your plate”, learning to gauge the size of one’s mouth accurately, hones project management skills. Truthfully assessing your small business capability and capacity promotes good customer service, ensures on-time delivery of commitments, and builds trust with your clients.
  3. Wear clean underwear. In case you’re in an accident, those who provide emergency treatment won’t think badly of you. Frankly, I thought this was a little over the top but I understand the meaning behind the message. We never have a second chance to make a first impression. Present yourself and your business in a way that makes others glad they met you.
  4. Say “please” and “thank you”. Such a simple thing yet it carries great value in forming two important business concepts essential for success: respect and appreciation. Express respect and appreciation for those who cross your business doorstep. It’s the right thing to do.
  5. Be polite on the phone. This included properly answering the phone, not hanging up first if the other party initiated the call and, in no uncertain terms, return all phone calls. Appropriate and timely communication can’t be over emphasized. Whether it’s by email, phone, or social networking, proper communication manners open doors to opportunities for your small business.

What did your mom teach you about running your small business?

3 Common Beliefs Others Have About Your Home-Based Business

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

You run a small business from your home. Your commute is short and simple — turn left at the coffee maker, bypass small children and big dogs, and veer to your right where your office kitty is warming your chair. Your dress code? Office pajamas.

The fact that you’ve made the courageous decision to run your small business from the comfort — and cost-effectiveness — of your home, doesn’t mean you’re not serious about your business, or the results you produce for your clients. Yet, from the reaction of others, one would think that a home-based business entrepreneur is the Rodney Dangerfield of SOHO (small office/home office).

Although Rodney Dangerfield’s signature line was “I get no respect”, his Grammy award-winning comedic career professed something very different — just like yours!

I’ve run a successful business from my home since 1978. Given my lengthy, fruitful career, interactions with our local chamber director were always quite memorable. As she dutifully asked about the state of my “home-based business”, she wrinkled her nose and pointed it ever-so-slightly upward. It was as if to say, “I’m sorry you work from home.” And, when the SOHO community gets to talkin’, I’m not the only recipient of such responses.

These are the most common irrational assumptions that others have about a home-based business. Can you relate?

  1. Home-based business owners are limited in their skills.
    As if the “corner office” location determines skill acuity, some would assume that those who work from home aren’t as qualified. Nothing is further from the truth! A home-office location is by choice, not limitation. The good news for those who hire a SOHO supplier, cost is less. Minus the massive overhead of an ocean-view office, a home-based business owner can carve out a nice financial living without having to gouge the client.
  2. Home-based business owners aren’t very productive.
    Apparently a concern exists that SOHO entrepreneurs are easily distracted by the latest episode of Judge Judy. This poor time-management concept leads to unfounded suppositions of unnecessary delays, cost overruns, and poor customer service. Are you ready for the truth? (Can you handle the truth?) The SOHO entrepreneur avoids the continual interruption of colleagues dropping by to discuss last night’s episode of NCIS. With no water-cooler conversations, those who work from their home office accomplish more in 6 hours than their counterparts accomplish in 10 hours.
  3. Home-based business owners can take time off whenever they want.
    After all, you don’t have a “real” job when you work from home — or so some think. This is the notion that gets under the skin of most home-based business owners. Why? It’s demeaning and disrespectful. Because one works from home, doesn’t mean they’re available during business hours to pick you up at the airport, spend “your” vacation chauffeuring you throughout the city, or prepare gourmet meals.

    Granted, there is flexibility when working from home but it does come at a price. The cost is time, treasure, and opportunity.

Running a business from home requires incredible courage and disciple. The next time you meet a SOHO business owner, grab their hand and give it a hardy shake. Congratulate them for undertaking something you may never have the audacity to do — run a business from home.

Collaboration: The Emerging Trend for Small Business Growth

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

A movement is budding in the small business sector. Driven by limited resources, such as time and money, small business entrepreneurs are discovering the power of collaboration on the growth of their businesses. In fact, collaboration is the new way to grow your business more quickly.

The prevalent method for business growth through the years is one ruled by domination, winning at all costs, and crushing the competition. Along with those “lovely” attributes, the business landscape is pockmarked with rivalry as businesses in the same industry struggle to gain control over what is perceived to be limited customers. Businesses routinely worked in silos to safeguard their piece of the market.

At long last, a new story is being written; one infused with communal wisdom and collective action. This fresh and innovative approach to business growth embraces mutual benefit, shared learning and knowledge, and cooperation toward a shared goal. It accelerates learning of necessary skills, promotes resource sharing, inspires action, challenges assumptions, and elevates the collective to achieve more.

The Collaboration Mindset

If you search for trends in collaboration, you’ll discover a plethora of collaboration “tools”. Sparked by technology, open source software is part of our everyday world. Think Wikipedia.

Formerly launched in January 2001, Wikipedia is collective work of information that includes 30.5 million articles in 287 languages that have been written by over 44 million users.

Collaboration, however, is more than a set of tools or a process; it’s a mindset. It’s an approach of “what can I contribute (rather than take).” It fosters a willingness to share. Collaboration cultivates an attitude of abundance where there is plenty for everyone, which means you don’t have to protect your turf – or work in solos – or grow your business alone.

Collaboration plays a vital role in small business growth. It’s the ideal approach for small business to accelerate growth and scale their business within their current resources. After all, little grows in a vacuum!

3 Things You Need to do For Your Small Business to Grow

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

As entrepreneurs, we’re pulled in a million different directions every day. Although we start our days with the best of intention, it’s easy to get pulled off course with emergencies (caused by others) putting out fires (created by others) and shiny objects (marketed by others.) And, even a small course deviation, can change the course of your business over a period of time.

Learn how to grow strategically

As the business owner, your primary job is planning and change which requires a disciplined way to think, plan, act – and rethink and replan every day. This is strategic thinking.

According to Chief Executive Magazine, strategic thinking is the most valued skill for entrepreneurs today yet only 3 out of every 10 entrepreneurs actually think strategically.

Not every entrepreneur is endowed with the gift of strategic thinking however there are several steps you can take to ensure you put your business on a strategic path each and every day.

1. Begin with the end in mind – To understand where you’re headed, consider these questions:
Why are you in business?
What do you do?
What do you want to achieve?
How will you get there?
These questions, and many more, are answered with the creation of your mission, vision, strategies, objectives and goals – or your strategic plan.

2. Think – and act – strategically everyday.
Did you know that 85% of entrepreneurs spend an hour or less a month strategic thinking? Given your primary responsibility being that of planning and change, carving out time for strategic thinking, planning and acting is vitally important. Strategic thinking and planning is even more important knowing 80% of most activities that entrepreneurs are involved in each day contribute to only 20% of the business long-term values. The use of a daily goal planner gives you new insights and concrete steps for improvement.

3. Constantly question your own opinion.
We all develop blind spots that can prevent us from taking full advantage of new developments in our industry. By not questioning on our thoughts/opinions – or always believing we’re right – we can destroy  our business no matter how talented or brilliant we are.

Once you add these three actionable steps to your daily to-do list, strategic thinking becomes a daily habit and, along with it, business growth.

This is a Test! Are Assumptions Derailing Your Small Business Success?

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

Assumptions have a dramatic effect on our small business success. We behave, as we believe. Therefore, assumptions have far reaching implications. From who’s willing to pay for our products or services to what our business model “should” look like, assumptions sway business behaviors and, subsequently, how the business grows.

Have you noticed that if you think you don’t have time, you actually don’t have time! If you question the value of your services and, as a result, set your prices below market rate, you attract clients who can’t afford to pay, and struggle under the weight of underearning.

Although these may have been valid conclusions at one time, wisdom, learning and experience change who we are and our circumstances. Do we continue holding assumptions created weeks, months, or years ago?

How Assumptions Dampened My Business Success

It’s been almost 20 years now since my health took a beating. I was exhausted — all the time! I couldn’t get through a day without a 2-hour nap. Being a high-energy individual, I worried constantly that I wouldn’t have enough energy to get me through all I needed and wanted to achieve in a day.

I “titered” my energy to make sure it lasted all day. Before long, I was turning down invitations, avoiding events, and modifying commitments. It wasn’t pretty. My decision-making was measured…as was my business success.

I felt like a racehorse held in a stanchion. I wanted to run, and run fast, but I held myself back for years based on a conclusion that was made decades before. That is, until I tested the soundness of my assumption.

This is a Test!

As with any data-driven, strategic thinking business owner, testing an assumption is the only way to discern its legitimacy.

A philosophical question has been posed for years. Do we believe our way into a new behavior or behave our way into a new belief? Like the never-ending “which came first, the chicken or the egg”, it remains a point of discussion.

What assumptions have you made throughout the years? Put 60 seconds on the clock and make a list of your most common suppositions. Here are a few to get you started: I don’t have time. I don’t have energy. I can’t charge that rate. It’ll never work. They’ll never buy. They’ll never buy from me.

How do they influence your behavior in a way that is counterproductive to your goals? Put another 60 on the clock to acknowledge their power.

Is it time to test their validity to see if they are still true for you today? You may be surprised, as I was, that assumptions you’ve been holding to for years are no longer true.

Now, that is real success!

How to Attract Your Ideal Client to Your Small Business

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

When you first launched your small business, you likely were willing to sell anything to anyone at any price, right? You quickly learned you were working for peanuts doing projects you didn’t like for people you liked even less. You then moved into phase two.

During phase two, you became a bit more selective as you built your business turning down an occasional client or project that wasn’t a good fit but let’s face it, you weren’t going deep enough.

Now, with all the marketing messages and information overload, you’re frustrated at not being able to reach your target audience. You’re overwhelmed with the volume of information you need to sort through in a day. You imagine your potential clients are feeling the same way. Is anyone listening!?#!@%

Does this have a familiar ring to it? If so, you’re not alone. Unless you have a marketing budget of $250,000 annually, what your business needs to cut through the market clutter to be heard is a marketing persona!

small business clientSeveral years ago a colleague and former client, Luis Maimoni from Fresh!, brought the subject of marketing personas to my attention. At the time, I actually thought it was one of those nice ideas that large corporations implement. As a small business entrepreneur, I didn’t feel I could “risk” it. The idea of creating a marketing persona felt like a gamble. I thought I would be limiting my company’s client options and I just wasn’t ready to make that leap. Wow! What I wouldn’t give to turn back the clock to listen to the wise counsel of Luis. He was a marketing genius, after all!

The notion of marketing personas was first introduced into the marketplace in 2008 by David Scott in his best-selling book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR. Marketing personas take defining your target audience one step further by adding greater detail to your ideal client profile. It’s almost as if you know your potential client – and their needs – as good as, if not better, than they. What better way for your potential client to feel heard – and make sure your business IS heard among the throng.

Why It Matters to Your Small Business

Although marketing personas are a fictional depiction of your ideal client, marketing personas convey further detail to what otherwise seems like a nameless, faceless entity. It actually reminds me of the Build A Bear concept where shoppers go through an interactive process in which the stuffed animal of their choice is assembled and customized.

By “building” your marketing persona, you’ll discover a deeper understanding of your ideal clients wants, needs, shopping habits, desires, dreams, and challenges. And, as a result, you’ll:

  • Garner greater interest in your service by creating articles, newsletters, blog topics, and social media posts that are of primary interest to your audience.
  • Get better results by being at the right place at the right time with the right message by identifying the “watering holes” where your ideal client hangs out
  • Improve sales by developing products and services that better meet your client needs rather than guessing and hoping that someone will buy what you launch.
  • Boost referral generation by clarifying who you’re looking for to your referral partners rather than make them guess who would be a good fit.

Where to Start

It’s possible your marketing person already exists within your current client base! Consider your most favorite and profitable clients while you respond to these questions:

  1. What is their approximate age?
  2. Are they male or female?
  3. What is their educational level?
  4. What is their income level?
  5. What industry are they in?
  6. What challenges do they experience?
  7. What are their goals?
  8. What is their most pressing concern at work?
  9. What magazines or blogs do they read?
  10. What associations and/or social networks do they participate in?

Don’t know the answers to these questions? Reach out to your favorite clients for a chat about what’s most important to them.

The Big Finish

Once you’ve completed your marketing persona, be sure to give him/her a name and launch your relationship. Your marketing persona makes it easy to find your ideal client and for your ideal client to find you! And, it helps you to create content and resources that your ideal client find most appealing. Your marketing persona makes sure you’re at the right place, at the right time, with the right message.

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Brooke Billingsley

Vice President
Perception Strategies

Synnovatia is a strategic coaching firm that is detailed and knowledgeable about business. i have a small business that grew from $150K to $750K because of the goal setting and resources that Synnovatia provided. It saves me years of learning on my own.

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