WICsters: I want to turn you on to a great FREE resource called HARO, an acronym for Help A Reporter Out. HARO’s tagline is “Everyone’s An Expert At Something.” This dynamic “get publicity without breaking a sweat” site reveals a nifty secret: all members of the media — from national TV producers and local radio show hosts to magazine editors and daily newspaper reporters — need help finding sources of expert commentary. And when they need it, they need it fast.
Enter HARO, a terrific resource enabling you to respond to journalists’ requests for commentary sources on behalf of your clients, your business, or both. If you haven’t heard of HARO, take a few moments to visit the newest version of the site, sign up and create a profile. Then sit back and watch your inbox fill with targeted opportunities. Jump on those that suit your business; forward posts perfect for fellow consultants.
Beyond getting your clients ink in a glossy lifestyle mag or a guest spot on a top morning TV show, you can use HARO for informal market research. Simply reverse engineer daily HARO media requests for an informal temperature check on macro trends like economic recovery time frames, projected consumer spending habits, or nascent technology innovations. Armed with information that may impact and influence your clients’ decision-making habits, you and your business will become better positioned to gain a strategic edge.
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Jan
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2010
 
How to Make 2010 Your Best Year Yet…Without Breaking Your NeckPosted by: Avery HorzewskiI had the pleasure of attending WIC’s general meeting last Thursday, where Kate Purmal shared insights into how we can make 2010 our best year yet…without breaking our necks! I particularly like that last part! As part of the networking exercise, everyone was asked to answer the following question: If you could choose between the following, which would you choose:
That was a tough one for me. I want to keep my revenue at the current level and work half the time (I have a young daughter)—but I also want the projects to be 2x more satisfying. An overwhelming amount of Thursday’s attendees voted to double their revenue but work the same amount of time. What would you choose? Digging a Little Deeper If you attended the meeting and would like a copy of Kate’s PowerPoint slides from Thursday’s meeting, email her at kpurmal@gmail.com, and she’ll send them to you. She’s also offering meeting attendees special deals on two of her upcoming workshops, geared to building sales and your thought leadership. Sales Boot Camp If the presentation whet your appetite and you’d like to take your sales to the next level, Kate has an upcoming Sales Boot Camp on February 18, 2010. The one-day workshop is $495 for WIC meeting attendees. In the workshop, Kate digs deeper on several topics from the WIC meeting: - Role-play to perfect the art of creating a “trial balloon” proposal in a single meeting For more information and to register visit http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=196613 Thought Leadership Workshop Kate and her personal guru Mark Levy, author of Accidental Genius, are hosting a one-day intensive workshop where you’ll use private writing and exercises to develop a compelling thought leadership platform. You’ll tap into your creative genius to brainstorm high-level ideas and review them with the group to pick the most compelling and captivating concepts. By developing a platform for thought leadership you gain access to a wider range of potential clients and can charge more for your services. The workshop is $495 for WIC meeting attendees. For more information and to register visit http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=196828 Tags: consultant learning, consultant learning and development, consultant learning resources, Consulting Training and Education, Growing a Consulting Business, proposals, Running a Consulting BusinessResearch from The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute, as outlined in “Women Business Owners to Lead the Nation in Job Creation ” by Rieva Lesonsky, shows that by 2018, women entrepreneurs will be responsible for creating between 5 million and 5.5 million new jobs nationwide,” more than half the new jobs expected. According to the article, Guardian’s research shows that when women become their own bosses, they’re more likely than male managers or entrepreneurs to:
When I read the list above, my first reaction was, “Duh, we’ve known that at WIC for years!” In fact, these very characteristics are what set WIC apart from so many other networking organizations. It’s these very characteristics that underscore WIC’s collaborative organizational structure and drive our members and affiliates to readily share their advice, experience, and insights with others in the WIC Community who solicit help with a particular business problem. (NOTE: Ms. Lesonsky was also not surprised by these findings.) I particularly liked the quote from John Krubski, futurist and research advisor to The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute: “This women-led management approach will have a profound impact on the employees and customers connected to these businesses. Women small-business owners will ultimately create more opportunities for employees to grow in their jobs and inspire others to start their own small business–all while providing customers with superior service.” So to all of my fellow WIC colleagues and associates, I say, “You go girls!” Read the full “Women Business Owners to Lead the Nation in Job Creation” article Tags: client-focused business approach, collaboration, Women in BusinessDoes your email inbox have 3,000 emails in it? Do you lose important emails because they are buried deep in your inbox? Don’t let email overwhelm you. Take control of your inbox with these easy steps: Clean Out Your Inbox Daily – The best way to avoid email overwhelm is to clean out your inbox daily. The only emails that should be in your inbox are those emails that are pending action. Delete, delete, delete – When you receive junk mail, advertisements or duplicate information… delete them. If you have emails that have nothing to do with you, are trash or not worth your time…delete them. Take Action – When you receive an email that will take 2 minutes or less to deal with, than take the necessary action immediately. Then delete or file the email. File It – If you need the email for reference in the future and this information is not available anywhere else, than file it in an email folder. Be sure that the folders you set up are easy to understand so you can find the email later when you need it. Clear Out Email Backlog – If you have 3,000 emails in your inbox, then start taking the steps to clear out the backlog. Start with the most recent emails first and work your way back. Each day spend 15 minutes working on this project until it is completed. Create a Junk Email – Use this email address to order things online or sign into random websites. Once this email address starts to get overloaded with spam, you can shut it down and create another junk email address. This will help contain the junk email so it won’t take over your real email. Tags: emails, inbox, junk, organize, overwhelm, spamI just finished reading an interesting post on Copyblogger by Sonia Simone. I love people who aren’t afraid to question the status quo or express an opposing viewpoint to acceptable practices. I love it even when I don’t agree with them, because it keeps the conversation going, ensures we don’t get complacent, and pushes us to explore all the avenues. The mantra in social media is to invite feedback, engage in conversation. Sonia isn’t advocating ignoring comments. Rather, she suggests we should:
It’s an article worth the read. “Are You Getting Dangerous Feedback from Your Readers and Prospects” Tags: Running a Consulting Business, social media, social media lessons, Starting a Consulting Business, Top Consulting TipsAs my term as president of Women in Consulting comes to an end this week, I find myself reflecting on all the incredible experiences I’ve had throughout the last two years. We celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2008 with not only a gala event, but a new look & feel for our website and a new blog. In 2009, we expanded our social media presence to include LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. We expanded the reach of our organization, with strong and vibrant satellite groups in San Francisco, the East Bay and North Bay/Marin, as well as the South Bay and Peninsula. We created a mentoring program and offered workshops to help consultants grow profitable businesses. We expanded our Leaders Network to provide a venue for seasoned consultants to meet and exchange thoughts and ideas with their peers. We expanded our profile in the community–partnering with a wide variety of organizations and associations, including the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association, the Association for Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP), FountainBlue, Astia, IMC NorCal, NorCAL BMA, and others. We provided benefits to our community from groups like People OntheGo, SD Forum, Cubes & Crayons, Vertical Response, MarketingProfs, Egnite, WeMeUs, Zoomerang, and PR Newswire. And we continued our partnership with Million Dollar Consultant Alan Weiss and the Society for the Advancement of Consulting. We held silent auctions to benefit Girls for a Change and collected donations for the Georgia Travis Center in San Jose. Not only did we offer a top-notch set of outstanding speakers for monthly programs, but we launched teleseminar and webinar programs as well. We continued to offer outstanding value to members and affiliates through our renowned mail list and other resources. In fact, through the worst recession in nearly a century, we grew our community to be nearly 500 strong–with our ranks of full members swelling by nearly 40% this year. And we did all this as an entirely volunteer run organization, with over 100 consultants taking on pro bono consulting roles for WIC. Why, in a time when many organizations are struggling or even closing their doors, is WIC thriving? Because in addition to everything I’ve already mentioned, one of the most important things WIC provides is a strong, collaborative community–a place where consultants can come to learn as well as to socialize, to build their businesses as well as to connect with colleagues, to share experiences and develop referrals, to grow as individuals as well as part of a bigger whole. For all of these reasons I feel extremely lucky to have had the privilege of guiding this organization over the last two years. And I feel extremely confident in turning over the reigns to the extremely capable and passionate Avery Horzewski to take WIC to the next level. Thank you to all of you who are a part of WIC. WIC is community and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with each and every one of you. Here’s to more wonderful WIC happenings in 2010 and beyond! Tags: collaboration, consulting, Growing a Consulting Business, linkedin, mentoring, networking, social media, twitter, WIC's 10th anniversary celebration, women in consultingI love finding nifty tools, those little gadgets, programs, and the like that make life easier. In fact, when I redid my aveconsulting.com site recently, I added a section in the Visitor’s Toolbox where I list some of my faves. I’ll definitely add this newest one to the list. If you use subcontractors — or you frequently (or infrequently, because it’s free) send documents that you need signed — you need to check out EchoSign. Beyond Simple to Use
I just experienced the process from the signer end (W9, Contractor Agreement, Direct Deposit Form), and it was absolutely the most painless on-boarding process that I ever experienced. No printing. No faxing. No scanning. In about 10 minutes I was done (and that was only because I needed to read the agreement). I will hands down use it when I have docs for people to sign, as I’ll get them faster and keep my contractors happy. Easy on the Bottom Line As for the cost, if you send five docs or less per month, the service is free. After that, there are tiers based on usage. There are other nifty tools, too, like Zoho Writer, which “enables you to collaborate with partners, employees, and customers on documents and then send them out for instant digital signatures.” You can also use it to store forms and templates that you use again and again. There’s currently no charge for Zoho Writer, and it may be used with any type of EchoSign account. If you’ve used EchoSign yourself, I’d love to hear about your experience. If you try it after reading this review, I’d like to know how you like it. NOTE: I have no association with EchoSign whatsoever and in no way benefit from this recommendation — other than to make other consultants happy, which will hopefully reflect positively on Women in Consulting (WIC). It seems that the recession is finally ending. But if you’re like me, my business took a beating and I have some major planning to do to be poised for opportunities in 2010. However, it seems so overwhelming to do it all by myself. Luckily, WIC has a workshop on December 1st that can help me – and you – be ready to take advantage of the business upswing. Seven experts are available to explore all aspects of our businesses, in a one-to-one setting, and help develop the best strategic approach. We’ll walk away with:
So carve out some time to concentrate on your success and join us at the WIC December “Jumpstart Your Business for 2010” Workshop: December 1, 2009, 8:00am – 12:00pm Network Meeting Center 5201 Great America Parkway, Suite 122, Santa Clara, CA 95054 (408) 562-6091 Learn more and register at www.womeninconsulting.org Tags: consultant learning, consulting business, consulting business strategy, Consulting Training and Education, Growing a Consulting Business, Jumpstart your business for 2010, Running a Consulting Business, secrets to a successful consulting business, WIC workshop, women in consultingI read a nice article on Raintoday.com that deals with a scenario that most consultants face at one time or another: What to Say When a Client Claims Your Price Is too High” by Charles H. Green, Contributing Editor, Raintoday.com. It’s a good read, so make sure to check out the full article. “If you’re like most professionals, you’re not comfortable with selling. It’s not easy fighting the feeling that hyping yourself is somehow inappropriate. And it’s worse when you have to deal with objections, doing presentations, and getting rejections—or waiting for the phone to ring. “But little can compete for sheer discombobulation with the plain old, ‘We think your prices are too high.’ What do you say to that?”
“Here’s the key point. If you try to guess which of those scenarios is operating behind the curtain of your client’s eyes, you have maybe one chance in four of getting it right. But if you choose to guess without confirming your guess with the client, you will lose—even if you guess correctly “Therefore, the worst thing to do is defend against the attack you are imagining in your own head. The best thing to do is exactly what you don’t want to do—ask the client simply, ‘Can you help me understand what you mean by that?’” (Blogger’s note: I love this point. It’s key to every client interaction. Don’t guess. Ask. Communicate.)
Read the full “What to Say When a Client Claims Your Price Is too High” article Tags: pricing, Running a Consulting Business, starting a consultant business, Top Consulting TipsI just finished reading a wonderful article on The Huffington Post by Morra Aarons-Mele, called “The Women We Know.” It’s a good read, so make sure to visit the site. Morra convenes an online group for the American Cancer Society, so she uses her experiences in, and mini stories from, that realm to illustrate her point: that there’s a new women’s movement about, one grounded in personal support and social change and that’s largely happening online in micro communities and large gatherings. The article sparked a number of thoughts (a sign of a good post!), but the first one that came to me is “I know. I experience the power of women almost daily through my involvement in Women in Consulting (WIC).” Now, I know some of you’ll think, “Of course she’d write that. She sits on the board. She’s the president-elect. She’s supposed to say how wonderful WIC is.” You’re right. It is part of my job to promote WIC. But — and this is a big but — WIC is an all-volunteer organization, save for our administrative support and a small stipend for PR. I don’t get paid for the work I do for WIC. It’s all pro bono — same for all of WIC’s board of directors, program chairs, and coordinators. If I didn’t believe everything I wrote or said about WIC, I wouldn’t be here. If I didn’t receive all the benefits that I tout, I wouldn’t donate so much of my time to help keep WIC going. So, yes, I drink the Kool-Aid, but only because I know first had that it’s mighty tasty. It’s Not About Perfection. It’s About Connection. Is WIC perfect? Heck no. Is it for everyone? Nope. No organization is — that’s what keeps life interesting. “Variety is the spice of life” didn’t become a cliché for nothing. Now you may say, “Morra’s post was about movements. WIC isn’t a movement.” And you’re right. WIC isn’t a movement or even necessarily about social change (although the organization and many or our members do get involved). However, Morra’s post is about community and women and their power to bring about change. And WIC is all about that. WIC is first and foremost an online community. It started as a small group of women meeting in person to support each other. And we still have regular monthly meetings (six total to accommodate the Bay Area geography), as well as special events and workshops. But WIC’s true value comes from the knowledge bank that is the WIC online Community, the partnerships we make with other organizations and businesses, and the relationships that one can build simply by getting involved. Make a note of that last point, as it’s one of WIC’s best kept benefit secrets and also the reason that movements grow. It’s only natural that the WIC people that I’m closest to are the ones that I’ve worked with in my various roles. I started small (helping with a silent auction, managing one of WIC’s newsletters) and slowly moved into larger roles. I’ve been on the board for almost four years now, serving in two different capacities. The people that I turn to first for business advice are the people with whom I’ve collaborated with at WIC. The people I refer first are the people I work with, as I’m familiar with their work ethic and deliverables. And, as I’ve mentioned in the past, at least 75% of my business can be directly tied to having volunteered at WIC. And it’s not like I see all of my coworkers all the time. Heck, one of them I didn’t meet face-to-face until we’d worked together for two years! Our communications were all through the Internet or the phone for quite a while. Not only do we refer each other for projects, but we’ve developed a friendship that will last beyond our work on WIC. It’s Not About Competition. It’s About Collaboration. The current women’s movement works because the women work together for a common cause. It’s simultaneously about each woman and all women. Everyone is important, but no one is more important than anyone else. This philosophy is the life blood of WIC and taps into the true power of women. Sure there are exceptions, but overall women tend to be about collaborating with others not working against them. I and so many other WIC members that I know are more than happy to help a fellow consultant brainstorm ideas on how to improve and promote their business. Our archives are full of members and affiliates openly sharing consulting best practices. And I know that I recommend other writers for projects and other writers recommend me. It feels good to help. And I firmly believe what goes around comes around — and I’d rather see the good karma coming and going vs. bad. It’s Not About Going Alone. It’s About Going Together. In her post, Morra wrote, “This week, in the midst of frenzied online organizing to promote gender equality in health care, I had a family crisis. And when I had to bow out of the action, Jodi Jacobson wrote, ‘Don’t apologize for anything…that’s what a movement is for….” Consulting can be a solitary business. Social media communities make it less so. But even before the advent of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…I didn’t feel alone, because I was part of WIC — a pre-social-media community. The people I’ve come to know at WIC are my colleagues. And that group continues to grow as I continue to meet more people from the WIC Community. I’m continually amazed at the organization’s ability to attract sharp, savvy individuals who are so open and willing to share. I don’t promote WIC and tout its benefits because I’m going to be president. Rather, I accepted the president role because I believe so strongly in WIC and want to help ensure its continued success. Tags: collaboration, online communities, online consulting communities, WIC, Women in Business, women in consulting |
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What WIC is though is a community…a place to connect, to learn, to get support, to be motivated.
