Now in my third year of running my freelance writing business, when I look back on all that I’ve learned along the way, one particular fundamental jumps out as the #1 piece of advice to give to new solopreneurs:

Take the initiative, time and effort to build face-to-face relationships with other solopreneurs and small business professionals.

Although you’re running a solo business, you can’t afford to be a loner. Businesses are built on starting – and developing – relationships. As a solopreneur, it can be tempting (and maybe comforting) to hide away in your home office and interact with prospects and peers solely via electronic means. Resist that temptation! Put a face to your name, and whenever possible, seize opportunities to meet potential clients and colleagues in person.

Why?

• Learn best practices from your peers. Believe it or not, you will probably find that even your competitors will be relatively open about sharing tips and brainstorming on how to overcome challenges.
• Extend your referral network. The more business professionals who know and trust you, the better your chances will be to have prospective clients directed your way.
• Discover new resources in your community. Through mixing and mingling, you might very well find other businesses that provide services to help you run your business more efficiently or that can add value to your offerings through partnering to provide complementary services to your clients.

How to get started

• This week, there are special networking opportunities all over the nation celebrating Small Business Week. Why not find one local to you and break the ice with other solopreneurs and small business owners.
• Reach out and invite a LinkedIn connection out for coffee.
• Join your local chamber of commerce and become a regular at their networking events. Most are likely included in the price of your membership.
• Volunteer your time and talents to a business-focused organization in your community. Main Street organizations, chambers of commerce, merchants’ associations, SCORE chapters and other local nonprofits provide connections with other business owners AND they offer opportunities for professional development as well.

During this Small Business Week, make an effort to meet face-to-face with other professionals in your locale. And, where geography doesn’t cooperate, take a few minutes to make a few phone calls to supportive connections whom you’ve had strong rapport with via email and social media. That little bit of time can generate a lot of good will – and you just might enjoy it more than you expect!

How do you build and strengthen connections with your peers and prospects? What Small Business Week networking events are you attending?

Consider joining the Dialing 8 Project! A forum for learning, sharing & getting the most out of your social media efforts for your small business.

Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Friday at last! And time for another Fortune Cookie Friday interpretation of a folded confection’s inner wisdom.

“Your principles mean more to you than any money or success.”

By definition, according to Merriam Webster, a principle is “a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine, or assumption.”

We all have principles, but I doubt that most of us give them the attention of our conscious thought. In fact, I don’t recall ever really sitting down to take inventory of the “comprehensive and fundamental laws, doctrines, and assumptions” that guide me in my personal and professional life. What about you?

Principles run in the background for the most part. They subconsciously keep us on track ethically and they drive our motivation. As solopreneurs and small business owners, most of us strive for some level of money and success. But obtaining either of those is far greater if you’ve got principles like these guiding your efforts:

• Work hard to achieve.
• Welcome new ideas and approaches.
• Treat others with respect.
• Accept responsibility for your mistakes.
• Aim to deliver excellence in all you do.
• Always look for ways to improve and grow.
• Be involved to make a difference in your community.

Your underlying principles might be similar; they might be different. Either way, you’ve got some whether you’ve pointedly thought about them or not. Why not take a few minutes to reflect on them and how they’re driving your efforts at work and at home?

I’d love to hear from you! Comment here to share your guiding principles. Do we have any in common?

Consider joining the Dialing 8 Project! A forum for learning, sharing & getting the most out of your social media efforts for your small business.

I’m passionate about volunteering.

I’m equally – if not more – passionate about letting you know that it’s OK to seek more than just the satisfaction of knowing you’ve helped a worthy cause. When you volunteer your time, talent and energy, there’s no shame in expecting something non-monetary in return.

Read more here to find out how you can make the time and effort that you spend volunteering give back to you!

“The grass is always greener where you water it.” – Unknown

When you’re self-employed and fully committed to work, family and community, you’ve got a lot of territory to cover – and to sustain. The watering can that is your time, attention and energy isn’t bottomless; you can only tend to so much before you risk drought conditions here or there.

As a solopreneur, at times I’m very efficient at rationing my time and energy. At times, life balance escapes me. I suspect you’ve experienced the same as you juggle home, work, and volunteer responsibilities. So what can we do about that?

Analyze. Assess. Adjust.

1. Analyze

Exactly how far out of balance are you, and why do you find yourself tending more to one area of focus than another? It could be a specific project that’s demanding more time temporarily, a new initiative that needs to launch, or perhaps you have an ongoing operational inefficiency that’s consistently hijacking your efforts. Maybe you’re dealing with circumstances affecting family or friends that need your concentrated time and attention.

First and foremost, get a grip on the situation so you understand the cause and the magnitude.

2. Assess

In what ways is the lack of balance affecting you, your business, and your home life? Can the areas getting the short end of the stick sustain themselves while you get things in order? Are you feeling a sense of accomplishment or is the imbalance draining you of motivation? Are others suffering to an intolerable degree?

If you know the imbalance will be temporary, you might be able to let things run their course and essentially fix themselves. But if you’ve got what looks like an ongoing situation that will continually drag down other aspects of your life, you’ll need to consider the next step…

3. Adjust

Do something about it! When you’re in a small business/home/volunteerism balancing act, you need to nurture all aspects of your existence so none of them wither and die on the vine. Periodically you may need to tend to one commitment more than the others, but you can only do it for so long. Prioritize, purge insignificant and low-priority work from your plate, and communicate with all professional and personal stakeholders so everyone is clear on what you’ll be doing – and NOT doing.

I’m personally in an “adjust” mode at the moment and feel empowered by thinking through the process this way. My hope is that it works for you, too!

What about you? What do you do to maintain balance in your work/home/community obligations? When you’ve got competing priorities, what comes first?

Consider joining the Dialing 8 Project! A forum for learning, sharing & getting the most out of your social media efforts for your small business.

Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Another Friday…another interpretation of a fortune cookie’s inner wisdom. 

 “You always bring others happiness.”

As I think about it, I really, really do like making people happy. I think most people do. And if you’re a solopreneur or freelancer, pleasing clients is one solid way to increase the likelihood of your business thriving and surviving.

What are some of the ways you can make – and keep – your clients happy?

• Produce quality work – consistently!
• Be responsive. If at all possible, never let an email to a client go unanswered for more than 24 hours.
• Show gratitude. Let your clients know that you appreciate them.
• Support them on social media. Like, comment and share their posts on Facebook. Retweet or favorite their tweets. +1, comment and share their Google+ posts. Comment on their blog articles. The possibilities for generating good will are virtually endless!
• Recommend their products and services to others.
• Be accessible. Make sure that they know you’re open to answering questions and exploring new ways that you might serve their needs.

No rocket science involved here; just common sense and awareness of how the little things can make a big difference in nurturing business relationships.

Your turn! What can you add to the list? What ways do you delight clients and keep them coming back?

Consider joining the Dialing 8 Project! A forum for learning, sharing & getting the most out of your social media efforts for your small business.
Image: Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As I helped the girls gain an understanding of what exactly an “inner critic” is, it made me think a bunch about my own inner critic – that voice inside that judges and assigns value to all that I say and do as a solopreneur, volunteer, mom and wife. My guess is that you have one of those voices, too – one that can either pick you up or drag you down as you fulfill the many roles that you play every day.

Our inner critics are both a blessing and a curse. We need them to will us to strive and accomplish, but there are times when we’re better off not listening to them. They are the proverbial “double-edged sword.”

When to listen…

Heed the feedback from your inner critic when it motivates you to learn, grow and improve your skills. When that voice inside you tells you, “Hey, you can do better if…,” it’s being helpful and encouraging. By all means, listen!

Also, learn to listen to your inner critic when it says, “Great work!” If you’re proud of how you handled a project or have experienced success in something, then feel at ease with your pride. And don’t be afraid to share your accomplishments with others – we all love a great success story!

Feel uncomfortable when others recognize or a compliment you? Don’t suppress your inner critic’s desire to bask in the glow. Acknowledge the shout out and don’t feel bad about feeling important. It’s OK to be in the spotlight – enjoy it! You done good!

When NOT to listen…

If your inner critic picks you apart for every little insignificant foible, it’s time to distance yourself from it. Indeed, that’s easier said than done, but it CAN be done. Surely, there are some things that you’re doing well. Write them down. Read them aloud. And remind yourself that you’ve got skills and talents. Certainly take inventory of what you need to improve, too. But rather than dwell in self-depreciation, take stock of how much of an impact those deficits really make in your business and formulate a plan to overcome those that are mission critical.

Another time to ignore your inner critic is when it constantly compares you to other people. You are you; they are them. Build on your own strengths rather than attempt to emulate someone else by fixing all that your inner critic thinks is broken.

You see, your inner critic has a bit of a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde persona rooted in it. There will be times when you’ll have more control over it than others depending on the situation and your frame of mind. The key to making it an asset rather than a liability is to be consciously aware of what it’s saying and recognizing when you should listen – and when you should tell it to shut its pie hole.

Your turn! How much influence does your inner critic have on you? Has it ever prevented you from doing something you wanted to do in your business – or prompted you to do something you really didn’t want to do?

Consider joining the Dialing 8 Project! A forum for learning, sharing & getting the most out of your social media efforts for your small business.

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Just recently, I started experimenting, as time allows, with some of the features that Evernote offers to see how I – and perhaps you, too – can make better use of the powerful FREE tool (a Premium version is also available for just $45 per year that provides enhanced features and more capacity). Again, the rate of my discovery process is dependent on when I can make time to try, test and evaluate, so my plan is to share one or more Evernote epiphanies whenever I’ve made some notable progress.

But first, here are a few bits of advice to those who have just started using Evernote:

• Create notebooks with meaningful titles rather than using just your default notebook for storing everything. Like you would on your computer and in email, organize content so you can retrieve it much more easily. And add tags to further distinguish and find relevant information. Do all this from the beginning, because catching up is a tedious task.
• Add the Evernote web clipper extension to your browser so you can clip info from page or post and add it directly to your Evernote notebook of choice without ever leaving the page. So easy and convenient!
• Download the Evernote app on your smartphone. You can access your notes from anywhere, anytime AND you can create and organize new notes on the fly.

Now on to an epiphany as promised…

Task Lists in Evernote

I’m finding Evernote to be a marvelous place to keep all my “to do” lists in one central place. My recommendation: create a “To Do” notebook in which you can stack other notebooks that are named according to the type of to do list within them (i.e. Home, Business, Volunteer, or something even more specific). When you add your tasks, Evernote gives you the option to add a check box next to them. When you’ve completed a task, simply check it off your list.

In Evernote, you can create various To Do lists and easily manage them all in one central place – even from your mobile devices.

Best of all, if you’ve got the Evernote mobile app on your smartphone, you can check off your tasks while you’re on the go. Buy cartridge for the printer…check! Mail tax return…check! Pick up milk at the grocery store…check! Simplify your life…check!

More Evernote epiphanies to come! If you’re using Evernote, please share how it’s making a difference for you! I know there are many savvy users out there, and I can’t wait to dig in and try your best practices. 

Consider joining the Dialing 8 Project! A forum for learning, sharing & getting the most out of your social media efforts for your small business.

Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

But should I really? Should you be?

As good as any marketing idea may be, it’s only as good as your ability to launch and maintain it. And that requires three fundamental resources…

Time – With many free online opportunities to raise awareness of your brand, generate interest from prospective clients, and build relationships, time may arguably be the most important consideration. Do you have time to start and maintain a business presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Quora, LinkedIn, or whatever new social site seems to be the latest, greatest thing? Do you know how much time the various social networks demand in order to gain traction and see results? If, “No,” seek out others who have been using the platform for at least a year and who are generating more leads, sales, and referrals as a result. Ask them what sort of time commitment they’re putting in. That will be a pretty good “real world” way to gauge how much time you might need to devote to the cause.

Money – While some marketing endeavors require an investment of time only, others can take a chunk of change from your business’s piggy bank.

Do you need a website? Absolutely! And if you haven’t got the skills to design one yourself, you’ll need to pay someone to do it for you. Costs can vary considerably depending on who you hire to develop your site and what features and functionality you want on it. There are also the repeat costs of annual domain name registration and web hosting.

Online advertising can run up a tab, but pay-per-click options like Google Adwords can be a viable way to reach prospects who are specifically interested  in the types of products or services you’re offering. If you’re looking to get a lot of bang for your buck, Facebook ads might be worth a look with their ability to target messages at users with very specific interests and in very specific geographic locations. Another plus about online advertising in general is that you’re not left wondering how many people visited your website as a result of your ad – performance reports are automatically generated to monitor performance.

Print marketing can get steep, but having tangible, touchable collateral or ads might be an effective way to differentiate your business as more competitors focus on online efforts. Factor in design, printing, and postage (if doing direct mail) costs into the equation. And realize that you’ll need to have a strategy in place to track the success of print marketing campaigns.

And then there’s outdoor advertising, TV, radio…Sure, it would be fantastic to be able to do it all, but there’s this little thing called “a budget.”

Know-how – Different marketing initiatives require varying degrees of writing skills and technical adeptness. If you can do it all – and do it well – on your own, fantastic! But chances are you’ll need to either invest some time to learn and hone your skills, or you’ll need to find professionals who can do a great job for you. Seriously consider outsourcing some of the elements of marketing to freelancers if you don’t feel completely confident in your ability to get the right message across or to implement them technologically.

What are your biggest challenges in marketing as a solopreneur? Do you do it all on your own, or have you enlisted the help of other professionals?

Consider joining the Dialing 8 Project! A forum for learning, sharing & getting the most out of your social media efforts for your small business.

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The need for patience permeates every aspect of starting and running a business. Small business owners need a tolerance for delay and the capacity to withstand difficulty. As a freelancer, I’ve found my patience tested regularly in ways that are likely common to most entrepreneurs.

Waiting for the ROI on networking – It would be fabulous to walk into a mixer and walk out 2 hours later with 5 (or even 1) solid lead that you’re quite sure will convert to a signed proposal. The reality is it just doesn’t work that way. It can take months, sometimes years of repeat exposure at networking events and on social media to build trust and establish relationships that transform into referrals and contracts. But don’t give up! Patience pays because after the ball gets rolling, it builds momentum, and networking gets easier and yields greater results. Think of your networking time (online and offline) as an investment that’s building interest with each and every interaction.

Just sign on the dotted line, would you? – On occasion, you’ll find yourself courting a prospect longer than the Amish require before their folk can get married [a comparison that stems from my residency in Lancaster County, PA ]. You promptly submit a proposal…and then find yourself waiting. People are busy and budgets are tight. Sometimes it takes a long time before a client decides to move forward because of other priorities. Sometimes they decide not to move at all because of reasons beyond your control. Without a doubt, you need patience in situations like these. As you’re waiting for “yea” or “nay”, keep yourself top of mind in subtle ways that show your interest, but that don’t make you appear pushy. Interact with prospects via social media by sharing, liking and commenting on their posts and, at appropriate intervals, send emails to check on the progress of decision-making and to reinforce that you’re available to field questions.

As with any other core competency, building patience as a professional strength is easier for some entrepreneurs than others. Whether it’s inherent in your genetic makeup or not, it is a quality worth developing and exercising. Without patience, you’re left with frustration. Which do you think is the better choice for your business model?

Your turn to weigh in! How has your patience been tried as an entrepreneur? What tips can you share for maintaining patience when you want immediate results?

Consider joining the Dialing 8 Project! A forum for learning, sharing & getting the most out of your social media efforts for your small business.

Image: Keattikorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It’s what I find most challenging to stay on top of on social media (especially on Twitter and Google+)…reviewing the profiles of people who have just followed me, to see if their content, industry, or affiliations make following them back the right thing to do. I know that there are probably a hundred or so people among my Twitter followers and Google+ circles who I should be following, but I can’t keep up! And so, I’m begging. I’m pleading for you to share your thoughts, ideas and best practices on efficiently and effectively checking out profiles/posts to decide who to follow back.

What I Don’t Want

I don’t want to follow everyone. And I don’t expect everyone who I follow to follow me. If you don’t enforce some level of selectivity, picking out relevant content in your news feeds becomes a nightmare. I forget where I read it, but someone, somewhere wrote something to the effect of “When I follow everyone; I follow no one.” Truth! If you have to ferret through too many posts/tweets that are completely unrelated to anything that’s within your frame of interest, you’re distracting yourself from the content that really matters. That means the folks who should be getting your attention won’t be getting nearly as much as they deserve, and you could be missing out on some really good stuff.

Help!

How do you manage it?

Do you set aside a certain time of day/week/month to review and organize connections?

Do you put new connections into lists/specific circles as soon as you add them, or do you go back later and classify/categorize?

Do any of you follow everyone back, and then go back later to remove them if their content isn’t relevant?

Please comment here, send me an email or share your suggestions on my Facebook page, via Twitter or on Google+. I’m looking forward to learning from you and sharing your ideas with others in a future post! Thanks in advance for your help!!

Consider joining the Dialing 8 Project! A forum for learning, sharing & getting the most out of your social media efforts for your small business.

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