How are those New Years’ Resolutions going for you?   Have you managed to exercise every day?  Cut out that mid-morning coffee-and-pastry break?

While most Americans make personal resolutions, as a consultant I believe it’s even more important to set tangible business goals each year. My favorite time to do just that is WIC’s annual Energize Your Business workshop.  We dedicate an entire morning to a holistic evaluation of our businesses, from the nitty-gritties of administration to developing sales objectives to evaluating our overall marketing strategy.

The good news is that it’s not too late to sign up to be part of this workshop!  But don’t wait—to ensure a positive experience for all we will need to limit attendance, so be sure to grab your spot.

The session will happen on Friday morning, January 27 2012 at the Biltmore in Santa Clara – right at the intersection of 101 & Montague Expressway.  While enjoying a sit-down breakfast, we’ll learn from experts in a handful of key fields:

• Jennifer Berkley Jackson, The Insight Advantage on Market Intelligence
• Michael Cannon, Silver Bullet Group on Sales
• Renee Daggett, Admin Books on Business Administration
• Laura Lowell, Impact Marketing Group on Marketing
• all moderated by Angel Rampy, Success Through Learning

After these presentations, we’ll have a chance to roll up our sleeves in smaller breakout groups to make plans and set business goals for the coming year – all while being mentored by the presenters.  With the knowledge I gain and the opportunity to bounce ideas and goals off of fellow business owners, I always come out with a clear vision of what I need to do to steer my business in a positive direction in the coming year.

Take that first step & sign up for this amazing workshop – your business will thank you!

By: Lisa Strand

It’s harvest season.

That’s true for people who make their living from the land.

And it’s harvest season for you, too, as a business owner and consultant.

These six weeks from mid-September through the end of October can be golden, and one of the highest productivity times of the year.

That’s because, among other things:

- The pressure’s on if you have annual goals that you still need to meet (and most of us do).

- There’s still time to adjust to the lessons you’ve learned this year, for better or for worse.

- It’s a perfect time to work ahead and prepare for a better year ahead.

- The clock is ticking to get things done before attention and energy are diverted by end-of-year holidays.

Here are just a few ways you use the golden days of September and October to bring this business year to a good close:

1. Do a business tune-up

Check the effectiveness and ease of use of your key business processes.

2. Problem-find

List the main sources of aggravation or frustration in your business. Prioritize them for improvement.

3. Cause-find

Identify the root causes of problems you already know you want to, or must solve.

4. Create an action plan

Create an actionable and realistic plan to make changes you haven’t been able to get traction on yet. This may be a clue, too, that the root cause of some problems isn’t what you thought it was.

5. Get rid of low-hanging problems

Take care of some of the relatively easy to solve problems at your company.

6. Do a vision check

Check and/or update the vision that guides your company or team. Start with these questions:
- Is it still accurate?
- Does it address the customers you serve now?
- Is it compelling?

7. Get customer feedback

Update your knowledge about your customers and what they want and need from you. Use surveys, interviews, onsite observations or meetings, or a combination of tools.

8. Innovate

Brainstorm new product and service ideas for your current customers and markets. Or brainstorm new markets you can serve with the products and services you already have.

9. Clean sweep

Simplify, streamline, or do a good fall “housecleaning” of your office, inbox or email stream. Simplify your social media processes.

10. Experiment

Experiment your way to a solution for a problem you haven’t been able to solve yet. Or start learning a new skill you know you will need in the future by creating, and then completing, a learning experiment.

These ten ideas are just a few ways you can create even greater yield…and enjoy it more…during the golden weeks of September and October.

Put harvest season to work…for you and your business.

By: Jan Richards

What stops you, or your team, from achieving your goals?

You might be surprised by the answer.

Sometimes the biggest reason you’re blocked from achieving success is…you.

Do you scoff at the mere possibility that this is true?

First, think back on difficult times and experiences. Perhaps these were times when:

- You became overwhelmed

- Your work – or life – became excessively complex

- You fell short of your goals and expectations

Now, consider how, and why these things happened. These were probably some of the reasons:

      1. Your priorities weren’t clear.

      2. You didn’t make decisions based on your priorities.

      3. Others whose support you needed didn’t take your priorities seriously.

      4. Something changed, but you didn’t change your priorities.

      5. You hit a big setback, became discouraged and retreated.

If these sound familiar to you, you need to be able to address them the next time they occur.

Let’s look at each of these issues more carefully:

1 Your priorities weren’t clear.

If you don’t know what you’re driving toward, anything can move in to tap your money, time, energy and attention.

To solve this problem, take the time to clarify your vision of success.

Then create a vision statement or graphic representation of it.

Post it prominently, and check it regularly.

Once you know your main goals and priorities, competing demands can be easier to sort out.

2. You didn’t make decisions based on your priorities.

Maybe you knew what your priorities were, but you didn’t really follow them.

If this was – or is – the case, ask yourself: are your “priorities” really YOUR priorities?

If you’re not sure, take the time to figure out what you really want.

Goals you are really committed to make a huge difference in your motivation, plans and actions, and of course, your results.

3. Others whose support you needed didn’t take your priorities seriously.

Maybe other people didn’t believe you meant what you said. Maybe they were making assumptions based on times in the past when you said one thing and did another.

Or perhaps they were afraid that in changing your life, you were changing their lives too, and they hoped you’d change your mind.

Whatever the case, they’ll believe you mean what you say when they see that you actually do what you say you will, and continue to do so.

4. Something changed, but you didn’t change your priorities.

It’s easy for this to happen.

When big changes happen in your work or life, it’s easy to get busy with what’s new, without making adequate time and space to be successful.

What’s the way to solve this problem?

Take the time to get clear about what you really want NOW…not in the past.

Then figure out what you can, and will let go so that you can make your current goals happen.

You may have to free up time, money, energy and attention to be able to focus and get the results you want now.

5. You hit a big setback, became discouraged and retreated.

Things happen.

Even the best vision, strategy and action plan can’t foresee all possible barriers, burdens and surprises.

Be prepared that not everything will be known, or controllable, when you hit the road that leads to achieving a new goal.

Commit to yourself.

Be in your own corner.

If you don’t have your own back, really, who will?

So don’t pretend. Take the time to face the discouragement.

Feel it.

And then let it go.

Get back to your compelling vision (you do have one, don’t you?).

Adjust your action plan, based on what you know now.

And get going again.

There are great things ahead for you.

By: Jan Richards

It’s probably safe to say that most of us would like to boost our incomes. How do you do that without burning  yourself out? How do you break the income barrier, especially when the economy is poor, unemployment is high, there are many consultants competing for the same business, and clients are trimming budgets?

Perhaps you’ve wondered why some consultants maintain high incomes in good times and challenging ones.

Take this simple quiz developed by Linda Popky, a million-dollar consultant and president of Leverage2Market Associates, to find out if you’re working hard or working smart.

1. Do you feel the only way to increase revenue is to bill more hours? __ Yes __No
2. Do you feel the need to justify to clients the time you are putting into their projects? __ Yes __No
3. Do you feel you are frequently treated like a vendor or hired hand rather than a partner to your client? __ Yes __No
4. Do your clients tell you they love your proposal but need to get final sign-off from higher authorities before proceeding? __ Yes __No
5. Do you find yourself competing for business on the basis of price? __ Yes __No
6. Do you work directly with decision makers who have the ability to write a check or issue a purchase order for your work? __ Yes __No
7. Can you clearly articulate why the client should hire you in terms of their key business objectives? __ Yes __No
8. Are you clear on why the client should hire you vs. find other ways to solve their problem? __ Yes __No
9. Can you specifically state the metrics the client will use to measure the success of the project? __ Yes __No
10. Can your client state the impact of the project on their organization, including customers, suppliers, employees, and other stakeholders? __ Yes __No

For questions 1-5, give yourself 10 points for every No answer, 0 points for Yes answers.

For questions 6-10, give yourself 10 points for every Yes answer, 0 points for No answers.

Total up your score.

Less than 50 points: You may be working hard, but you’re not necessarily working smart. Look for opportunities to take your business to the next level.

50-60 points: You’re on the right track, but wouldn’t you like to increase your revenues in line with the value you’re creating for clients?

70-80 points: You’re doing a great job, but there’s opportunity to build your business by thinking more strategically about the value you provide.

90-100 points: You understand the importance of selling on value and you’re always looking for best practices to help you do even better.

Whatever your score, join Linda for the upcoming WIC workshop, “Earn What You’re Worth: Value-Based Pricing” on Tuesday September 20. She’ll discuss ways you can use value-based pricing to get the fees you deserve for the value you provide to clients. Linda will focus on the methodologies of million-dollar consultant Alan Weiss, author of more than 40 books on consulting, including Value-Based Fees: How to Charge — and Get — What You’re Worth — A Guide for Serious Consultants.

Register by September 6 to get the early-bird rate.

By: Michelle Gouldsberry

My husband and I are divers. We like to say, “Plan your dive, and dive your plan.”

That may sound familiar to you in the work context: “Plan your work, and work your plan.” This axiom could not be truer than in marketing. Whether you’re marketing your own services, or those of your clients, there are three important questions to ask yourself on a semi-annual or annual basis.

What am I doing to market my business?

Write down everything you are doing to generate new business. Include customer loyalty programs and every source of new leads for you. Include long term and short term lead generation tactics.

What would success for each initiative look like?

Next, determine what your success metrics are. What do you consider success for each tactic you are currently doing? For some tactics, depending on the cost in terms of dollars or your time, it might be a higher number of leads or inquiries than others.  In some cases, we are willing to pay a little bit more for some things because we get additional benefits over and above leads, such as credibility. Be sure to include these secondary success metrics in your plan.

Is it effective?

Finally, track your results. At the conclusion of a calendar quarter or whatever the period is, analyze traffic to your website – has it increased? How many leads have you gotten, and do you have any new hot prospects. Your ability to close the deal and sign the client may not have to do with the effectiveness of the marketing you’re doing. On the other hand, it may if you are attracting leads that aren’t the right fit for your offering.

You’ll want to give every initiative a period of time where you will consistently maintain active effort. Success in marketing takes consistency. It makes sense when you think about it. What are the odds that the right prospective client will see your advertising at precisely the time that they are looking for exactly what you do? It’s really only a fair test of effectiveness if you’ve tested the marketing tactic for a minimum of three to six months. During the test, you can optimize what you’re doing, but maintain consistency in branding and messaging.

These are basic steps, but sometimes we don’t stop to do the simple things that will help us drive our business forward. I hope you will, and I hope you’ll share similar best practices with all of us!

By: Melody Appleton

SEO has been around since the Search Engines were born.  Much has changed in that time and many business owners are more confused than ever.  So today I thought I would give a short review on the basic SEO concepts for today’s online marketing world.

Most people think about what their web site will look like. But if you want people to see your site, it needs to be listed at the top of the search results pages where people will find it. That means your web site has to be designed with plenty of “search friendly” clues embedded inside. Embedding the right clues helps search engines understand what your web site is about, and who would be interested in seeing it. The right keywords in the page content, page title and other fields ensure the search engines see and send traffic to your site.  This strategy is called On Page SEO.

Off Page SEO, another important and effective way to get more targeted traffic from search engines, drives traffic by putting more links pointing to your web site from other web sites and online directories . Each link into your site is a “vote” that tells the search engine that your site is important. You want more links — as long as they’re links from trustworthy web sites.

Blogging, the third SEO method, gets you more traffic three ways. First, it gives your site fresh content. (Search engines are always looking for what’s new.) Second, people link to interesting blog articles, so blogging can help you get more links.  Third, each blog article becomes its own web page, providing its own unique SEO opportunity.  You can really capture a lot of long tail (i.e., highly focused and narrow) traffic using a blog. As an added bonus, a blog allows you to talk with your customers directly. That’s the best kind of search-engine optimization: creating devoted fans!

Social media isn’t just for kids any more. Today, it is critical to make use of social media marketing. But just having a presence isn’t enough. You must think about who you’re talking to — and where you’re finding them. This means adopting a new set of web metrics beyond simple search result positions and number of visitors coming to your web site. Chat rooms, blogs, forums, social networks, social bookmarking sites and virtually any site that allows conversational interaction are prime venues for the rapidly growing field of social media marketing. Choose carefully!

To keep from wasting time and effort, you’ll want to analyze every step of the SEO process. Marketing is all about measuring, then optimizing your activities based on an analysis of those results. The Internet offers us a lot of great tools to measure marketing activities. Correctly setting the right tools in place is the only way meaningful measurements and plans can be initiated, implemented and then fine-tuned.

I hope this short explanation can help you in your quest to find the top of the search results on Google.

By: Lou Anne McKeefery

If you have a Facebook page for your business and want to increase Likes, here are some suggestions. Some are very basic (but work) and others will take a little more effort.  Here goes..

1.       Send an email to your friends and family asking them to Like your Facebook page. Maybe they are not your target, but they will get your Likes up to make your page look more legitimate and may be more likely to comment/Like which is helpful to get interaction going on the page, and helps for newsfeed optimization.

2.       Send an email to your email list (current clients, partners.. anyone that you think might benefit from your Facebook page). Again, let them know your page exists. Email really is the best way to increase your numbers quickly.

3.       Add your Facebook icon/url everywhere. Add icons to your website and blog, add an icon or url to your business cards and email signature, add a link from your LinkedIn profile, add an icon/link to any presentations you do and printed collateral, and put up signage if you have a physical presence.

4.       Add a Facebook Like box to your blog. This way people can see others that have Liked your page (including their friends if any have Liked your page) and Like the Facebook page without leaving the blog.

5.       Cross promote your Facebook page on your other social media properties.  Periodically simply mention your Facebook page on your personal Facebook page, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Or if there is anything exciting happening on your Facebook page, mention that.

6.       Take advantage of any opportunities to share your Facebook page.  Some Facebook pages periodically let others share their Facebook page on their wall for their audience to see.  Facebook guru, Mari Smith, does this periodically.  She has 44k Likes so a huge potential audience. The WIC Facebook page also does this periodically, so be on the lookout for this opportunity. Some LinkedIn groups also post Discussions allowing members to share their Facebook pages. And periodically email lists ask members to share.  Look for these opportunities.

7.       Link to other Facebook pages in your posts. To do this, first Like the other page, then link to the page in your post by typing @ and then the page name. Your post will show up on the other page’s wall and the page owner or others may notice the post and visit your page.

8.       Host a Q&A on your Facebook wall. Get an expert to answer questions on a relevant topic. If the expert has a large social media following, many may come to the event and Like your page.

9.       Promote your page at live events. Beyond mentioning your page you can get more creative. Let people know they can like your page from their phone by texting the name of the page (for example, womeninconsulting) to FBOOK.  Or, if you have a computer, ask them to Like the page on the spot in exchange for something (entering a contest, free product, etc.)

10.   Do a Facebook ad buy. If you have a marketing budget, consider a Facebook ad buy. Cost are going up, but advertising may still make sense (and if you want to advertise at some point you may want to do it now, while costs are still reasonable).

Do you have any other suggestions?

By: Rachel Melia

With the hundreds of social networking sites on the web just how can you easily locate them so you can enter into the conversation? This task itself could take you hours before you even begin to start talking. There is an easier way than searching the web thanks to KnowEm.com.  KnowEm has already done the research and built the data base that can help you find the most popular social network sites. At KnowEm.com you can search over 550 popular social networks, over 150 domain names, and the entire USPTO Trademark Database to instantly secure your brand on the Internet.

There are a couple of ways you can use KnowEm.  The listing of all the important sites is very helpful.  If all you do at KnowEm is find the different lists of networks valuable to your marketing conversations you have saved yourself quite a bit of time.

To help you set up your profiles, you can use KnowEm to see if your business handle is available for registration. In less than a minute, you can see if your profile name of choice is available or not.  If you’re busy, let KnowEm setup your profiles across the networks for you.

With KnowEm you can take the search out of finding the most popular social networks and get right down to the business of joining in the conversations and Be Found.

By: Lou Anne McKeefery

Connections can make you if you have them. They can make success take far longer to achieve, if you don’t. To connect for success and results, follow these four basic steps:

1. Strategize
2. Be creative
3. Be prepared to exchange
4. Plan ahead – things always take longer than you think they will

Let’s take a closer look at each step:

1. Strategize

You have a vision or goal (whether you realize it or not, you do).

Knowing that, what resources do you need for success? Of these resources that you need, which ones do you already have? What gap in resources is left that you must still fill?

Perhaps you need connections for these and other reasons:

- Build your market
- Find the right people to work with, or for, you
- Get the business or financial resources you need, in the right flow
- Find the right materials at the right price
- Get the right information easily
- Test and refine your product or service
- Figure out the easiest way to make your product or service

Once you know the reasons you need connections, you can start to plan where and how to get them.

2. Be creative

Remember a time in your life when you were especially resourceful, perhaps at a time when the odds seemed to be against you.

What connections did you need at that time to make success happen? How did you create or find these resources and connections?

You can be that creative and resourceful now.

3. Be prepared to exchange

There’s a big difference between reaching out and actually connecting with the people you need to know. And while you can attempt to make a connection, it’s not something you can control.

What’s in it for the person you’re trying to reach, to connect with, or help you?

To get their time and attention, consider what you have, or can offer, that can help them meet one of their goals.

Keep their needs as well, foremost in your mind as you try to create a connection that will serve both of you well.

4. Plan ahead – things always take longer than you think they will

Making connections, like many things in life, often takes longer than you expect.

For example:

- Someone you hope to meet and get advice from has a calendar that’s impossibly full.
- Another person turns out not to be the right resource at all, but knows someone else who may be able to help you.
- Still another person has a competing project, and can’t help you now.

You see how this goes.

Reaching, finding the time to try to connect, and then actually connecting in a meaningful way often takes far longer than you hope.

Start now to have the connections you need, when you need them.

Create the right conditions for connections to thrive. Your connections will grow when you’ve prepared and tended your grapevine well.

By: Jan Richards

Your Gravatar is a Globally Recognized Avatar or image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things like comment on post (blog) or on a forum. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums.  This Avatar is associated with your email address, name and website link.

To add your Avatar to your site is fairly simple.  Plugins are available for leading blog software and content management systems like WordPress, Joomla, Ruby on Rails and other software platforms.  The current WordPress version automatically will recognize your Gravatar. If you have a Gravatar from http://en.gravatar.com/ then many times this image will display in your WordPress site automatically.

Having a Gravatar for your Avatar is also great if you comment on blogs and videos. Some businesses will use their logo but most people prefer to be personal and use their photo or drawing.

To get started you create a login http://en.gravatar.com/site/signup.  From there you will upload your image and add your profile.

After you have created your Gravatar, you will see your image and profile information when you comment on posts and other social networking sites like Youtube and Vimeo just like the image on the left of this post.

If you need step-by-step instruction, visit Http://www.Be-Found.net/

Don’t wait, go get your own Gravatar and spread your smile across the Internet.

By: Lou Anne McKeefery