I Got a Boo Berry Up My Nose!

A couple of weeks ago, I was getting ready to leave the house early for SBA Awards in Nashville.  I was excited because I had nominated Angel Carrier, owner of the Tennessee Pour House, for SBA Woman Owned Business of the Year, and she won!

On my way out the door, my three-year-old Lane, kept telling me “Daddy, Daddy, I go a boo berry up my nose!”

He’s three.  He says crazy things like, “I’m Spiderman”, “I washed my hand, weally I did”, and “I like Mommy better than you.”   I just thought this was one of those things.  I finally said, what do you mean little buddy?  He says, “Come here.  I show you.”  He leads me over the board game, Operation, and said, “Dis one, see”, and he points to it.  I notice all of the game pieces are still in there…minus the grapes in his chest. 

Me - “Lane, did you put the grapes up your nose?”
Lane – “Yep.   And it huwts too.  See?”

He leans his head back to show where has stashed them.

So my wife and I are now in a real life version of Operation.  I’m holding his head and she has the tweezers.  She’s crying, he’s screaming, and I’m late.  Needless to say, we didn’t make much progress.

So an hour later, a couple of well-trained nurses pluck the grapes out within a matter of seconds. They were professionals.

Oh, and I missed the SBA Awards.  Sorry Angel.

It did make me think of small business owners and the problems they solve.  So many times, your customers have grapes up their nose and they don’t know how to extract them.  Heck, they don’t even know they are grapes.  They think they have blueberries up there.  They could try to fix the problem, however, they usually make the problem worse.  That’s where you come in with a unique skill set and a long set of tweezers.

Make sure your clients and potential clients know:

• There is a proven return on investment of using your services.  Show them the money than can save by using you to solve their problem.
•  You can take care of their problem immediately.  They won’t be burdened with their problem and have it hanging over their head.
• You are going to do a much better job than they could ever do.  Ever.  If they want it done right and not have to re-do it, they should hire you.  This is where good referrals come in handy.

 And if necessary, show them the tweezers.

The 3 Obstacles between You and Success – Faith, Family, and Friends

Every month I teach a "Starting a Small Business" workshop here at Volunteer State Community College.  I usually get a dozen or so wide eyed optimists wanting to pursue their dream of entrepreneurship.  They tell me they want to start a business so they can immediately call their own shots, spend more time with family, come and go as they please, and do what they want, when they want.

Their priorities are faith, family, and friends and no amount of success will change that!

Then I chuckle a little.  Not out loud.  That would be rude.

We then spend the next couple of hours discussing what it takes to start a business successfully.

I also see the same for businesses that have plateaued or never really taken off. They want to do the same things that the startups are aspiring to, without doing the hard part first.

Of course their priorities should be faith, family, and friends.  Most successful people have those priorities.  But they can’t be your excuse to not building your business, i.e. my business won't take off, because I won't sacrifice my faith, family, and friends.   The truth is, YOU can have both!  

It’s more about what you are willing to do, to truly make those priority matter.

You may have to do some things you don’t want to do, in order to get the things you want.

Doing the following in your business will help you in making your faith, family, and friends your real priority.

• Don’t wait on the economy to take off.  I think we are there.
• Create your goals.  Then create steps to reach those goals.  Then create the team and time to reach those goals.
• Turn off the TV
• Back off golf or “insert-hobby-you-have-justified-here”.
• Exercise
• Read books
• Turn off email, text, and Facebook alerts
• Step outside of your comfort zone, knowing that making an omelet involves breaking a few eggs, i.e. put yourself out there to make sales.

And once your business has a strong foundation, you will then be able to call your own shots, spend more time with family, come and go as you please, and do what you want, when you want, without sacrificing, faith, family, and friends.

The 5 Simple Actions to More Revenue This Year

If you own an accounting, financial planning, HVAC, sign, construction, graphic design, landscaping, consulting, attorney, insurance, catering, massage, photography, insert-almost-any-type-of-business here, this is written for you. 

This process (borrowed from the highly successful businesses I have met) will grow your business in 2016.  Not overnight, but it will build a foundation that, if repeated regularly, will give you more work than you can handle.

     1.    Send a monthly newsletter (yes, I’m partial, but it works) – Just a few effective tips, pretty pictures, and a call to action can make an effective monthly newsletter.  The idea is drive people back to your site and learn more about how you can help them.  And if you are using an email service, you will know who is engaging with your newsletter and you can follow up with them later.

     2.    Use Social Media – The same content in the newsletter can be used in your social media platform of choice.  Additionally, you should take the time to interact with others and use social media to be, well…social.  This helps you continue to build brand recognition and identify people and follow up with them later.

     3.    Networking– Attend at least 2-3 networking events per month.  Make sure to collect at least 3 business cards from people that you can help and follow up with them later.

     4.    Coffee or Lunch – This is the “following up with them later” part.  When you have a coffee or lunch date, make sure to be the one that listens and finds a way to help that person, even if it is not with the service you normally provide.  

     5.    FOLLOW UP the FOLLOW UP! – This is the biggest miss by most entrepreneurs.  They may make great contacts, but then don’t follow up.   At all.  They assume that the other party isn’t interested because they didn’t buy immediately. 

The truth is that people are busy.  Too busy.  They are thinking about themselves and not you.  It is up to you to follow up.  And in most cases it will take 7-12 times before they make a buying decision.  Use hand-written notes, emails, phone calls, gifts, and your newsletter to follow up.

Add these activities to your calendar and treat them like a doctor’s appointment.  You would not let a phone call or an urgent email prevent you from your annual physical or getting your back adjusted when you are in pain. 

Focus on others when you network!

August 23, 2015

Q: I've been told I need to network more in order to grow my service business. How does one go about it?

A: The most effective form of marketing is word of mouth. But people can't spread the word about you and your small business if they don't know you.

That's where networking comes in. Whether it's through a professional association for your industry, a chamber of commerce or another local business group, networking offers a valuable forum for prospective customers and colleagues to learn about you and the services or products you provide.

Successful networking is more than simply exchanging introductions and business cards, then waiting for someone to call. In fact, Nelson Farmer, a marketing expert and SCORE mentor, says people waste the few precious moments they have with new and existing contacts by focusing on themselves.

"It's better to spend most of that time asking questions and collecting information," he says. "Then you can make quick assessments as to whether they would have any interest in the solutions your business provides."

Farmer recommends that every entrepreneur have a succinct "elevator speech" - a 30-second description of the problems the business solves. After that, the focus of the networking conversations should be entirely on other people: their primary business concerns, problems they want solved and unmet business needs. As the conversations unfold, you may find areas that overlap with the solutions you provide.

"If not, you can still make an impression by referring them to other people in your network who can help," Farmer says. "They'll see you as a problem solver, and be more likely to provide you with referrals in return."

Networking also doesn't end with the conversation. Farmer recommends maintaining a data file of networking information and updating it as soon as possible after every contact.

"Make note of their interests, what you've shared with them, and when to contact them next," he says, adding that regular follow-ups are essential. "People have short memories and may forget that you exist and more importantly, that you're the best person to help them with their business needs and problems."

Finally, while valuable business contacts can happen anytime and anywhere; don't leave your strategy to chance.

"Identify the people you want to make contact with, whether prospects or potential marketing alliance partners, and make carefully researched efforts to build relationships," Farmer says. "This approach takes more time on your part, but it gets results."

Advice for setting your prices

Advice for setting your prices
Published in the July 5, 2015  in  

Q: My prices don't seem to be competitive. What should I do?
 
A: Setting prices for products and services should be simple - cover costs, make a profit and appeal to customers. But there are more variables to the pricing formula than many small-business owners may realize.

"When you're starting out, you may not have a good handle on all the costs you'll incur," observes Janet Attard, founder and owner of BusinessKnowhow.com. "Unless you have previous experience estimating jobs in the same industry, you may have difficulty making accurate estimates of the time and/or materials needed to complete jobs. You also may not account for non-billable hours - the time you spend marketing and Other costs of doing business may also be overlooked, until you have to pay them. These include payroll and self-employment taxes, fees for accepting credit cards, health insurance and other benefits, and a variety of overhead expenses.

Yet even after all those costs are accounted for, a seemingly fair price may not gain traction with customers.

"Prices are market-driven, not cost-driven," former executive and veteran SCORE Houston mentor Raj Mashruwala explains. "It doesn't matter what your costs are because the market doesn't care. What matters is if you can make a profit at a price the market will bear."

Mashruwala also recommends researching online industry benchmarks for gross profit margins. He also cautions new entrepreneurs to avoid the frequent mistake of underpricing their products and services in order to lure customers.

"Rather than getting a toehold in your business, you're actually giving competitors an advantage, because there's no way you can survive for the long term and meet your clients' expectations by pricing under the market," he says.

Attard also says, "Discounting can lower the perceived value of the product or service, or make the customer think you lack the experience or resources to do the job. If you underestimate costs, or overestimate sales volume, the outcome will be reduced profits or a loss."

Once you do establish a reasonable pricing structure, make it a point to review it several times a year. Customers and competitors are watching pricing trends, so don't risk being left behind.

A good place to go for more information on product and service pricing is www.score.org, click on the Marketing tab and then Price Strategy, where you will find online webinars presented by SCORE volunteers with expertise in this area..

Awards program includes small business tips

April 26, 2015

Q: Where can I go to network with other small-business owners and lenders, and pick up some pointers?

A: I suggest attending the 2015 Small Business Awards Luncheon/Workshops/Expo hosted by SCORE Houston. This year's event will be on May 7 at the JW Marriott Houston, 5150 Westheimer, in the Galleria area.

The U.S. Small Business Administration will present seven of Houston's best small-business entrepreneurs with prestigious awards including the Small Business Person of the Year. The keynote speaker will be Sallie Sargent, president and CEO of the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee.

Before the luncheon, SCORE will conduct two small-business workshops.

"Creating an Intentional Culture": Liz Lara-Carreño, outreach program director for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program at Houston Community College, will discuss how to gain and retain a competitive edge by aligning the environment, communications and emotional drivers to a company's strategic vision and brand.

"Email vs. Social Media: Which One is Right for Small Business?" Business coach Toni Harris will discuss how the various social media platforms fit in your business; which platform has the best return on investment; and how to determine which tools are effective at growing your business.

At the event you also can visit exhibits and network with sponsors, representatives of banks and other lending institutions, small-business entrepreneurs, SCORE mentors and other SCORE Alliance Partners. To learn more and register for the luncheon and workshops, visit www.scorehouston.org.

Marvett Sawyer Howard will receive the 2015 Financial Services Champion of the Year Award for her work fostering the development of the Houston small business community. Howard is the assistant vice president for community development banking at Capital One Bank.

Among the many programs that she directs or helps coordinate is Capital One's "Getting Down to Business" Program. This is an innovative technical assistance training program designed specifically for small businesses with annual revenue of less than$1 million.

The program is free and features a multicourse in-depth curriculum, offered over eight months. Capital One will match funds that participants deposit in a savings account up to $2,000, which the business owners can use for operations, staffing or the purchase of supplies upon completion of the program. Deadline: May 5. Apply Online Now.

Customers expect good service online or in person

March 1, 2015

Q: As more business is conducted online, how does this influence customer service?

A: A: If anything, customer service has never been more important, according to John McClymonds, a veteran of the retail clothing industry.

"Customers are much more demanding than they were just 10 years ago," says McClymonds, who now serves as a SCORE Houston mentor. "They're more sensitive to what they feel they deserve and what they feel they've earned by shopping at a particular retailer."

Studies have found that customers are willing to pay a premium to ensure quality service. Many are also more likely to recommend a company for providing outstanding service than for attributes such as product or price, McClymonds says.

Meeting these customer expectations is easier than you may think, and it begins with a well-designed, easy-to-navigate, and fast-loading e-commerce website. Make sure all the basic information about your business and what it offers is clear and easy to find. A comprehensive "frequently asked questions" page helps guide customers, and explain product aspects they may not be fully aware of.
Also, make sure product descriptions are timely and complete, including any items that may be out of stock, and that they detail any additional charges and fees (such as shipping and handling). Few things are more frustrating to an e-customer than unwelcome price surprises that appear during check-out.

Encourage your e-customer's feedback via a comments section on the website, or a follow-up email after the sale. Easy-to-create online surveys using such services as Survey Monkey, Client Heartbeat or Survey Gizmo are a good way to collect information as long as they are brief and questions are focused on the customer's experience.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media sites are also good forums for interacting with customers, as are online rating sites such as Yelp, Google Local and City Search. Even without direct contact, you may still spot trends or issues that need improvement. Also, thank customers who provide positive feedback and encourage them to visit your site again, giving them an incentive to recommend your site to others.

Respond quickly to complaints or negative comments. If the complaint appears in a public online setting, move the conversation offline as quickly as possible.

Be sure to post a follow-up note about the complaint on the forum, even if the outcome is not what you wanted. Regular visitors will see that you're an e-business they can trust, because you take customer feedback seriously.

Make sure customers know you value their business

Make sure customers know you value their business

November 23, 2014

Q: Not as many of our customers are returning for service as we expected. What can we do to encourage more to come back?

A: Every successful sports team has a "go-to" player, someone who can be counted on to deliver whatever is needed in specific situations.

As a small business owner, you want your firm to be a "go-to" resource for your customers, the place they'll turn to whenever they need a certain product or service, regardless of other options that may be available.

To achieve that distinction, you have to develop loyalty among your customers. At first glance, that might seem easy to do; give them what they want, and they'll come back, right?

Not necessarily. Customers have always wanted to feel valued, and to know that their specific needs will receive special attention. But building customer loyalty has become more challenging with the convergence of trends including easy access to data about competing companies; more price- or location-driven purchasing decisions due to economic factors; and greater expectations of value from those purchases.

Fortunately, there are many tactics to foster customer loyalty that can be integrated easily into your daily routine. A simple "thank-you for your business" goes a long way, but so does a personalized thank-you note, especially in the digital age. Don't cut and paste sentiments or use a form letter. Let customers know in a personal way that you appreciate their business.

Creating value will also help boost loyalty. Ask customers if there is anything else you could be doing for them. Then do it. If you blog or send an online newsletter, include stories or links to topics they may find interesting or that relate to your product or service. Consider offering incentives, such as discounts or freebies for frequent customers.

Review each customer touch point - your phone, website and store - to determine the kind of reception customers get, and how helpful each one is from the customer's view. And make sure your employees feel valued. When they feel good about working for you, they'll help customers have a better experience.

Even if your best efforts fall short and a customer goes elsewhere, you can still gain from the experience. Ask why the customer made the switch. If you can change or improve on something, do it.

You may not regain that customer, but you can use the input to better serve the ones you have.

Guest post from Sami Jadallah - Mistakes I Made Starting a High Tech Business

This week, I turn the blog over to Sami Jadallah, a long time friend and client, who started a high tech automotive service business.  Take it away Sami...

Few years’ back I came up with an idea to keep track of service and maintenance of cars/trucks on a smart card. Having worked in Europe for few years, smartcards where a hot thing and with bright future. Ah well.

I proceeded to file for a patent, which took almost 14 months to prosecute and secure, and over $100,000. I won the patent then it was time to raise money and organize a team.

1.      Raising the fund:

Because of my many years of doing business overseas it was not too difficult to raise money, given my performance and my professional integrity. One of my clients agreed to come in as partner together with others. My share of 1/3 was a developer and manager of the project while the overseas investors put up the entire funds.

As it happens one of them ran into financial difficulties and did not pay his share, so I used my own money to pay for his shares including collateralize my stock holding even taking out second mortgage… Big Big dumb and stupid mistake… Never ever do that.. Let the company go down the drain but never ever put what you have a risk for the business.

2.      Selecting a team:

The business required both technical and business. On the technical side there was an Israeli company with advance technology in the field of smart card technology. A business associate of mine introduced me to the company and I negotiated an agreement with them to provide the technology (software) and the hardware. The company sent one of their top software developer to the Washington area where I made several appointments for him with local dealership to understand the automatable dealership software and who they electronically file all the service and maintenance records. Upon his return they filed a proposal of 9 months to develop and test the software. Well, they worked at but it seems it was not their priority since they were gearing to go public and my project was one way for them to present a large business opportunity to go the market and raise money.

As it happened, they did raise the needed capital using my business idea and contract with potential investors.

However when it came to the software they did a very shitty job of it and they were late, quite late… and when their team arrived in the DC area to test the software, none of what they did work and I had to hire a professor from University of Maryland to help fix what they could not fix. Lacking a technical team I was at their mercy and the delay and false start lost me a big opportunity to go public (more on this).

Finally we fixed the software but we lost precious time and confidence with dealership and industry, but never the less we proceeded any way.

To help develop the business and marketing, I hired a former VP of a Premier top of the line German car manufacturer who also happens to be the former president of a smaller European car manufacturer. To be the be the president of the company… he was also a head of a major though smaller European car manufacturer.

I also hired a VP of an extended warranty company to be the VP in charge of marketing.

Meanwhile I continued to work overseas and trying to earn income and enough money to pay there top of the line and expensive executives.

As it happened both were losers and my advice to any one… never ever hires a have been … these top executive can only go down and never go up. Hire a hungry young MBA willing to make something of himself and succeed and never higher guys who can only go down and who are used to big expense account, dinners, wines etc… and charge the small struggling start up company.

Also never ever hire anyone with a salary that is not tied up to performance… Once they have a contract they simply don’t give a shit about happens as long as they get their fat check every month.

3.      Legal Team:

Ah well, lawyers are no better than these car guys, specially when one of them is using your business to score a point for partnership, and keep dragging the business and legal process so that he can keep billing until he secure his partnership.  I lost a big big opportunity to go public with the idea, since it was a hot idea when .com companies were raising millions on names only without a product. And I had a product and had a patent to support it.

4.      Conclusion:

·         Never put your house or saving at risk for a business… no matter what, and if necessary let the company and business go down the drain rather than risk your personal financial security and lose your business too.

·         Never ever higher a technical or business partner who will use your business relations to go to the market or secure a big contract using your business as bait to catch the big fish and you lose every thing.

·         Always make sure that you put a substantial sum as penalty for poor of failing product… let the SOB pay for their failing and make sure that their failure is not all charge to you.

·         Never ever hire a have been, top executives who are used to big bucks and perks to head a start up company because they will milk you along the way as they buy themselves time to get a better job or secure retirement. A had been can only go down never go up… and the bigger they are the bigger they fail because they do not have the time or the smart to learn something new.

·         Always make sure you hire a young energetic smart young graduate who will work hard to succeed and who will also make you succeed.

·         Always tie up compensation to both salary and performance and never salary alone… it gives no one any incentive to succeed since they are guaranteed the money… They will work hard when they know they have to perform and deliver to the bank account.

·         As for lawyers, even the best lawyers are out for themselves… think 100 times before you hire a lawyer who will help you with your business.

I lost over $2.5 millions on this project and I continue to be angry with myself, have not reached peace with my self having put my family and their financial security at risk and I put my self at great financial risk… I did not mind if I lost the business because of the economy or bad product, but to lose it because off these so-called top of the line executive is a crime…

Sami Jamil Jadallah

Fairfax, VA

Weird Al Yankovic Knows Internet Marketing

Weird Al Yankovic pulled off a major feat in viral marketing when he released a video each day for eight straight days to launch his new album, "Mandatory Fun."

Here is a man who launched his career in the 70s and 80s and somehow broke through the clutter of the online marketplace to establish relevancy 40 years later. Businesses and brands everywhere can learn from Weird Al's success in Internet marketing.

Weird Al's parodies of Pharrell Williams "Happy," Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Sweet Judy Blue Eyes" and Lorde's "Royals" hit the Internet with force, and prove that an old dog can learn new tricks and make the transition from MTV to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and the Internet of all Things. 

My personal favorite, as a grammar junkie, is Weird Al's parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," called "Word Crimes." 

3 Things Weird Al Yankovic Knows About Internet Marketing

1. Be Who You Are
Weird Al Yankovic didn't try to relaunch himself as someone different. In fact, he maintained many of the 80s fashions so familiar to those of us who were children when he first hit it big (the hair! the shirts!). Nor did he decide that what he really wanted to be was a "serious" singer and abandon his strength in parodies. Weird Al knows that his entire history is visible to us online, and a quick check of Wikipedia can tell us everything about him, from his hits and flops to his LASIK eye surgery. Instead of trying to change his image, he maximized his opportunity by reflecting his existing online profile rather than trying to reinvent it.

2. Stay Relevant
It might seem counter-intuitive to what I just wrote, but Weird Al did not get stuck in a time warp. On this album he does a great job of spreading his parodies across relevant songs and high-trending social topics. In doing so, he connected with a variety of people on the Internet. If he had only parodied current Billboard Top 5 songs, or chosen to only be the grammar police, he would have fallen flat. Instead, he offered variety of content that was relevant to a broad audience.



3. Get Professional Help
When we see a performer, it's common to attribute everything to the person on the stage (or in the video), but Weird Al Yankovic clearly knows how to get the right professional help. He might be the mastermind behind his parodies, but those videos weren't produced overnight. It took a team of producers, talent, writers, musicians and graphic artists to create the videos. And then, just as importantly, it took a team of digital marketers to create the marketing strategy and start the viral avalanche accompanying the release.

As someone who owned his first album, "'Weird Al' Yankovic in 3D," I already thought Weird Al was funny, but now that he has accomplished this latest feat, I'm deeply impressed with his business savvy as well. 

Social Media Marketing: 5 Tricks You Have to Know as a Small Business

Social Media Marketing Tricks for Small Business

Social media can be a critical part of your digital marketing strategy, but it can also be confusing, overwhelming, and, as a direct result, done poorly. Here are five tricks you should know as a small business owner about social media marketing. 

1. Every platform is different
The biggest mistake you can make is to approach social media as a single entity, as if Facebook is the same as LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, or Google+.

Instead, you need to get to know each of the unique settings of each social media platform.  Hang out there for a while to get a feel for what other people are doing. For example, LinkedIn is similar to a business networking event or presentation. It's OK to promote yourself and your business, as long as you do so eloquently and professionally. On the other hand, Facebook is more like a coffee shop. If you walk in there expecting to hand out business cards and make connections like you do at a networking event, you will fall on your face. Instead, you need to be more subtle. Regardless of what social networking platform you're learning, pay attention to what is encouraged by others, and how you gain positive attention within the community.

LinkedIn vs. Facebook marketing strategies

2. Consistency is key
Anyone can join 5-6 social media platforms in one day, then create amazing profiles and the perfect first post. Most people can keep up their enthusiasm for a week. But after that, most people drop off, unable to maintain the single most important thing in marketing: consistency.

Whatever platform you choose, make a commitment and show up consistently over time. Social media is frankly a big waste of time if you just float in and out, posting updated occasionally, but never making a true impact on the community.

3. Make a commitment
If you are running a small business, there is a good chance that you don't really have time to hang out on social media networks. You probably have real customers to worry about on a daily basis, and are struggling to keep them happy, while managing a staff and cashflow.

Social media marketing is like all other forms of marketing: it requires a commitment. If you decide that your prospects are hanging out on social media, then it is worth making a commitment to marketing your business on social media, but don't try to do it all yourself. Hire someone to help. If you are knowledgeable about social media and marketing, then you can hire an assistant and guide them on how to do the work. But if you don't know much yourself, then find an expert who can guide the way for you. 

4. Use photos, infographics, etc.
More and more, social media is about graphics. It wasn't always that way. Four years ago, Facebook and Twitter relied mainly on words and links. Now, they are heavily graphically-oriented. Newcomers like Pinterest and Instagram are almost entirely graphics-based. The fact is that if you want to be on social media, then you need to accompany most of your posts with photos, infographics, and other images that make your posts more interesting to readers. In the end, human beings are attracted to pictures, so make sure you use them! 

5. Share the love
Social media is set in a basic foundation: social. This means that basic human instincts such as sharing and communicating are maximized. Don't show up to the party as the bore who only wants to look in the mirror and talk about himself. If that's who you are, then it's frankly better not to show up on social media at all. Instead, take note of the human nature involved, and show your businesses' humanity in the process. Comment on real situations that you care about. Comment on other people's posts as much as (and more than) you post about yourself. Follow the golden rule, and you can't go wrong. 

Must-Know Strategy: Content Marketing

Content marketing is the hottest buzz phrase in marketing right now, but many people are confused about what exactly it means, let alone how to implement it. In the most simple terms possible, content marketing is the act of creating information products to promote your business, and spreading them throughout the world using multiple media channels.

First, let's address why you should be using content marketing to promote your business:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO used to be a relatively simple action that you took care of on your own website, but now you need to have multiple (meaningful) links to your website in order to be relevant to Google. Content marketing is the best way to get external links to your website.

2. Reach: Since every website knows that it needs content to increase SEO, blogs, news outlets, other websites and social media sites are looking for content. If you are able to provide them with your content, then it's a win-win situation: they get content, and you get both links and the eyeballs of the people who they already reach.

3. Lead Generation: Most content strategies can directly drive lead generation, which is ultimately marketing's job. When you create content, you have many opportunities to structure it so that you drive leads.

Next, it's important to recognize that there are two media channels of which you should be aware:

Owned Media: These are the places where you control your content 100%, including your website, enewsletter, blog, and social media channels (your profile on Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Other Media: These are places controlled by other people and companies, including other people's websites, enewsletters, blogs, news outlets and social media connections (the people with whom you are connected on Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Finally, you need to build a "Content Library" that you can use for both owned media and other media. You don't have to build all of these, and you may want to consider some other options, but these are the top 6 ingredients to a good content library:

1. Articles
2. Videos
3. White Papers
4. Webinars
5. Infographics
6. Books (including eBooks)

The most important thing about content marketing is that you 1) must do it; and 2) need to have a schedule to do it correctly.

There are hundreds of ways you can develop your content marketing strategy; here is an infographic to help you get started:

View this information on SlideShare for more details:

Content Marketing 2014 from Virginia Ginsburg

Small Business Marketing Trends 2014

Small business owners are in a great position to harness the power of marketing to drive leads and interest in their companies. But deciding where, how and what to deploy their limited resources is a significant challenge. Here are three ideas about the three areas in which we'll see small businesses succeed in 2014. 

Better Social Media: Most small business owners have been pretty overwhelmed by social media platforms as marketing tools. This year they will find ways to better utilize social media platforms to promote their brands. For many of them, the focus will be on the big platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, which each have demonstrated value to consumers and their own unique take on communication. The key is to choose the platform that fits your target audience best and that you can commit to on a reasonable basis.

More Content: This year small businesses will join the trend of providing a significant quantity of content to draw customers in and keep them interested. Blogs, articles, white papers, slide shows, photos and videos are all great ways to attract attention and tell your story. They also help drive traffic to your website because they are search engine friendly.

Authentic Communication: Small businesses will increasingly seek ways to connect with customers using an authentic voice that stays true to the company’s personality. Small businesses are ideally situated to capitalize on this movement because they are still perceived as being run by people, whereas corporations are viewed as machine-like. This gives small businesses significant advantage in today’s authenticity-seeking marketplace.

Business Networking to Grow Your Business

What do you get when you cross a masters degree from George Washington University with a former mean girl from high school?  You get the force of nature to whom I'm married.  She uses her supernatural powers sparingly, but effectively.  A few years ago a tenant in our rental property tortured us repeatedly.  After a few interactions with Laura, he called one Saturday morning.  Laura answered, but he asked to speak with me.

He said, "Hey dude, I don't like talking to her.  She talks down to me."

I'm guessing she caused my dude buddy flashbacks from his high school loser past.  She should have her own Avengers movie called "Mean Girl."  She would subdue villains by reminding them of their inadequacies, causing them to surrender to authorities in search of peaceful incarceration.  What does this have to do with business networking?  Not a damn thing, but it's my blog.  Now on to networking.

 Business networking is the least expensive form of marketing to grow your small business - at least in terms of cold hard cash.  In the early stages, when you have more time than money, networking is an effective strategy.  Later, you begin to see the actual costs of networking when you've tasted some financial success, and time becomes scarce.  But, networking will remain an effective strategy then, even if you have to cut back on the time commitment.  Fortunately, networking's benefits are cumulative and will continue even as you cut back on time.

Step one:  Set realistic expectations.  Networking doesn't work overnight.  You won't attend a chamber of commerce breakfast and walk away with immediate business.  Networking takes two years to achieve significant results, especially if you don't have much of a customer base to start.  People will refer business to you when they trust you.  That doesn't happen overnight.

Step two: Determine who your best referral sources are.  If you are a handyman, think real estate agents.  They'll have a steady supply of home sellers, who need fix up work to successfully sell their homes.  If you're a CPA, you want to meet bankers and lawyers.  Most banks hold small business events.  Attend them.

Step three:  Determine what events your potential customers and referral sources attend.  If you own a consulting business targeting small businesses, don't attend public policy meetings.  You won't find many small business owners there.  Look for networking groups sponsored by business groups such as the chamber of commerce.  Also look into the for profit groups, like BNI.  They ask for a large commitment of time, but deliver good training in basic networking.  Once your business grows, you'll find the for profit groups a black hole for time.  Then switch to a group with a lower time commitment.

Step four: Go deep rather than wide.  Participating actively in a couple groups will lead to more referrals than participating occasionally in a bunch.  Networking is about establishing trust through quality interactions.  Take a position of leadership in a group.  But don't do that unless you intend to do a great job.  I've been in groups with leaders, who really didn't do anything other than hold officer titles.  No one sent business their way.  Doing nothing is better than doing nothing right.

Step five: Be of service.  BNI has the slogan that "givers get."  Expect to give referrals before you get them.  Expect to pay for lunch the first couple times.  Generosity from you will breed generously and trust from your referral sources.  Networking is about win-win relationships.  Show your value to referral sources.  They'll then show their value to you.

Thanks for reading!  As always, please visit the main S&K web site www.skcpas.com for real tax and accounting advice.  Also, please like the "How to Screw Up Your Small Business" Facebook page.  I post snarky advice there three or four times daily.

Until next time, let's do it to them before they do it to us!

How Customer Selection Affects Your Work Life Balance

I'm tired of the grade school girlie gossip war between Dan Snyder, owner of the team soon formerly to be known as the Redskins, and Mike Shanahan, soon to be former coach of said team.  Their moron minions battle each other through leaks to the Washington Post and local sports radio stations.  Here's a succinct summary of the battle.

Shanahan's minions, "RGIII is my boyfriend.  If I can't have him, you can't either.  I'll bench him."

Snyder's minions, "RGIII is my boyfriend.  He likes me better than you.  He told me so when we went on a date to the Tom Cruise movie premier in Hollywood."

I began to solve the work life balance equation when I realized that my choice of clients largely determined the hours I must work.  I also realized that the clients, who wanted to meet after hours, aren't my best clients.  My best clients are business owners, who consider accounting and tax matters to be part of their normal business day.  They no more want to schlep across town at eight P.M. to meet with me any more than I wanted to meet with them at that hour.  They value their down time as I do.  Unless we're meeting for beer, then count me in.

The potential clients, who want to meet in the evenings, have a number of bad characteristics, not the least of which is cutting into my time off.  They are typically lower income than my best business owner clients.  So they care more about price and less about value.  They are great clients for H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt, and Liberty Tax.  Their bosses are my great clients.

I began the transition to a saner life by preventing our admin staff from scheduling new client meetings after four P.M. after tax season.  Yes, people go elsewhere.  The ones I want to go elsewhere.

I once had a potential client call me at eleven P.M. on a Saturday night to see if he should lease or buy a car.  No thank you, not this boy.  I told him to buy the car and then park it up his ass.  Alcohol might have been involved at that hour.

There are some businesses, like retail and restaurants, where business hours are basically all day.  God have mercy on your soul if one of these is your business.   You'll likely never have a decent work life balance.  Better you than me.  These businesses are also typically unprofitable.  So if you own one, you'd probably feel less pain from a sharp stick in the eye.

If you own a business that should allow for a sane life, ask which customers cause you to work long hours.  I'll bet they're the price sensitive ones, whom you can never satisfy.  Fire one of these miscreant customers and see how it makes you feel.  I'm betting the feeling isn't quite as good as sex, but it's probably a close second.  Masters and Johnson should have studied this.  Of course, they were too busy studying each other naked.

As I did with my clients, determine the characteristics of your best customers.  Determine which twenty percent create eighty percent of your profits.  Then market just to them and accept only the best.  Satisfy these customers and they'll refer more great customers to you.  Great customers associate with other great customers the way great musicians play with other great musicians.  Soon you'll have a critical mass of profitable customers, who respect your time and great service. 

Then your life will begin to make sense again.  You wife and kids will recognize your face again.  Of course, spending more time with them may make you want to spent less time with them.  But that's your problem.  I'm not a damn social worker.

Thanks for reading!  As always, for real tax and accounting advice, please visit the main S&K web site at www.skcpas.com.  Also, please like my Facebook page, "How to Screw Up Your Small Business."  I post snarky advice there three or four times daily.

Until next time, let's do it to them before they do it to us.

What is SEO and What Can it Do for Your Business?

This week we have a guest blogger, Steph McGuinn


Stephanie McGuinn is a Digital Marketer specializing in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with additional skills in Social Media Management. She is an Account Director at Creative2, where she manages the digital marketing accounts. She is the author of the Search Engine Savvy blog.

Take it away Steph...

 “I finally have a nice website but nobody comes to it.” “We don’t have time to keep up with a blog on our website, why do we need one?” “When I search for my product or service on Google, why doesn’t my website show up?”

These are all questions that SEO companies get on a daily basis and the answer is: SEO, SEO, SEO!

What the heck is SEO anyway?
Here’s how SEO is defined by Search Engine Land:

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” listings on search engines. All major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing have such results, where web pages and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users. Payment isn’t involved, as it is with paid search ads.

Companies compete for the top spots on search results pages through SEO. These sought-after positions are attained by developing a widespread presence on the web and establishing your site as a trusted source for information.

5 Ways SEO Can Bring in the Big Bucks for Your Business

With a well crafted SEO plan, you will be able to:

1. Find Customers You May Not Otherwise be Able to Reach

According to a 2010 Nelson Global Consumer Report, 81% of people research products or services online before making purchases. When people are narrowing down which store to patronize, or which company to use, they are doing it online. More specifically, as we’ll see in a moment, they are searching Google. Do you think you should be there? I do!

Many people in this market are not likely to walk into your store or meet you at a networking event. The best way to reach this population is to show up high on Google search results.

The best part? These people are already shopping for your product or service. Wahoo!

Additionally, you can use keyword research to determine what people are typing to search. For example, if you are a dentist and sell tooth implants, you might discover that people are searching for pricing information rather than where to get their implants. Answering this population’s query with a blog about average pricing can develop instant rapport and give them the feeling that they need not search any further than your dental office.

2. Get Those Site Visitors to Buy Something Already!
With a good SEO plan, you can be in front of potential customers at their point of decision, which is already a great start.

But even better, is that you can monitor their behavior once they get to your site and rework web content that isn’t resulting in sales.

A wealth of data about the behavior of visitors to your site is available merely by adding a snippet of code to your site. Easy enough, eh?

It’s important to note, though, that the amount of data is massive and complex. You’ll likely need the help of a professional or you’ll need to be prepared to spend hours upon hours learning the system on your own to be able to process and make decisions based on the data. Yikes!

3. Appear Trustworthy
“Google isn’t a search engine, Google is a reputation management system.” Clive Thompson, Wired Magazine. Google spends a huge amount of resources to ensure that its algorithms provide visitors with search results that best meet their needs. If your site appears as a top result, it provides instant credibility.

4. Get People to Come To Your Website
Managing where and how your company appears in search results will ensure that people looking for your brand will easily find you. Places you may wish to appear in addition to searches for a product or service are: within search results for your competitors’ names, and in response to common misspellings of your company’s name.

Also, as you acquire more web real estate by creating shareable content, your site will appear in more search results, websites, blogs, social networks, and directories. This will not only help in getting and keeping you top of mind with consumers, but should also build your reputation in the eyes of the customer as they see you on multiple reputable platforms.

5. Go Head-to-Head with Your Competition
Each month 87.8 billion searches are performed on Google. Your competitors are on those results pages, getting new customers, and in Google, the top results win.

Here are ten facts about how click-through traffic on results pages is distributed, courtesy of The Beginners Guide to SEO on Moz.com.

1) The first ranking position in the search results receives 42.25% of all click-through traffic
2) The first ten results (page one) received 89.71% of all click-through traffic
3) The second position receives 11.94%
4) Third position on the first page obtains 8.47%
5) The fourth placed position on page one receives 6.05%
6) The others on the first page are under 5% of click through traffic
7) The next 10 results (normally listed on the second page of results) received 4.37%
8) Third page receives a total of 2.42 %
9) The fifth page receives a total of only 1.07%
10) All other pages of results received less than 1% of total search traffic clicks.

If you want to increase traffic to your site, grow your brand, and increase online sales leads, SEO could be the right next step for you.

Trust Your Data

The world is infected with garbage data.  Nine out of ten dentists prefer Pukebreath toothpaste.  Three out of four people prefer AT&T to Verizon.  Some dumb ass voted for Sarah Palin.  Before you can trust data to run your business, there are three things you need to know.  Who collected the data?  Why did they collect it?  How did they collect it?

Who and why are closely related.  If Pepsi quotes a survey telling you that seven out of ten people prefer Pepsi to Coke, you need to know if Pepsi paid for the survey.  If they did, the why part is obvious.  They are selling you something.  Sometimes the connection between who and why is less obvious.

This past week, on the Facebook page that shares a name with this blog, we spoofed Dunn & Bradstreet and Yelp with a bogus business allegedly owned by my mother-in-law, Sharlene.  We called the business,  Between the Wise Sheats (Chantilly, VA).  It's an adult companionship service that serves the over sixty demographic.  In other words, it's a whorehouse for the elderly.  Customers have come here for over a week.  We proved that D&B and Yelp contain a lot of bogus data.

D&B and Yelp collect data to sell it.  Despite protestations to the contrary, they don't care much about the validity of their data.  Data is their inventory.  No inventory, no sales.  After a week, both D&B and Yelp still list our whorehouse.  The next logical step would be to get a tax ID number from the IRS and apply for government grants.  It's a women owned, disadvantaged business.  Surely some dumb ass government worker would give us a grant.  After all, old people need to get off too.  We're willing to sell the business to some genius entrepreneur.  We're only asking $10 million, a bargain given the aging of baby boomers.  Or best offer.  We take credit cards.

I would get the tax ID number from the IRS, except that would be fraud.  I like preparing tax returns more than I like preparing license plates.

So we know the who (D&B and Yelp).  We know the why (to sell the data).  The how is downright amazing.

D&B collects business data from Sam's Club applications.  Sharlene applied for a membership to Sam's Club.  The membership clerk started out using a business application instead of a personal application.  When Sharlene told the clerk that a personal, not business, application was what she wanted, the clerk told her it didn't matter.  The clerk didn't want to start a new application.  Thus, bogus data was born.

D&B got the data and issued the much desired, among fledgling government contractors, DUNS number.  Businesses pay hundreds of dollars to D&B to get expedite issuing these numbers.  Sharlene got one for free via a lazy clerk.

D&B then sent Sharlene a letter asking for financial information.  I have extensive experience responding to D&B financial information requests for previous employers and clients.  I volunteered to be her CDO, chief disinformation officer.

Years ago, D&B called our office to get financial information about our CPA firm.  I politely declined having past experience with D&B people.  I'll be honest; politely might be an exaggeration.  I was polite in the way Lee Harvey Oswald was polite to JFK.  I'm not perfect.  You knew that already.

One afternoon, D&B called back and talked to our office manager, Jane.  They told her that we had a contract to provide financial information, but had not provided it.  They needed the information immediately (that night) or we would be noncompliant with our contract.  Of course all of this was total bullshit.

Jane answered their detailed financial questions the best she could.  She wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack on her best days, but that's another post.  She did her best to keep us out of nonexistent trouble.

A few weeks later, I got an offer from D&B to see the information they had on us as a promotion to get us to buy their data on other businesses.  When the report arrived, I learned that we had owned our office space for nearly ten years.  That would have been news to our landlord.  They even had us starting our CPA firm before we had graduated from college.  They were selling this data.  If you bought it, do you think you got your money's worth?

Once I got the DUNS number for Between the Wise Sheats, spoofing Yelp was next.  How better to achieve credibility in the whorehouse business than some satisfied customers?  I created a bogus Yelp account and posted a review as James A. from Ashburn.  In a few minutes, the business had a raving fan.  Feel free to post your own glowing reviews.  I would never own a substandard whorehouse.  Quality matters to me.

Before condemning me as a fraudster, consider this.  Literally thousands of the reviews on Yelp are written by the reviewed businesses themselves or hired whores known politely as marketing firms.  Have you ever visited a four star Yelp restaurant and thought, "What half-wit moron gave this four stars?  Dog turds taste better." (I won't ask how you know how dog turds taste.)  Answer, the owner's social media expert.

If you don't know your data's who, why, and how, consider it garbage.  No data is usually better than garbage data.

Thanks for reading!  For real tax and accounting advice, visit our main S&K web site at www.skcpas.com.  Also please like the "How to Screw Up Your Small Business" Facebook page.  I post there several times daily.

Until next time, let's do it to them before they do it to us!

Die Without a Buy-Sell Agreement

I just returned from a week of sightseeing in Boston.  Reading a book on Thomas Jefferson ignited my interest in the pre and post Revolutionary war periods. We did all of the normal touristy stuff.  At the end of our week, we took a Ghosts & Ghouls tour of Boston burial grounds.  As part of the tour I was hanged at Boston Commons.  Please send money to my not so mourning family.  Then the tour guides married me off to a serial killer.  She killed her first four husbands before being slain by her fifth.  It was a tough week.

September 2012 was a tough month for me.  Actually, it wasn't so much tough on me but on my clients.  Four died in one month.  Our staff joked that being my client was a terminal disease.  Three of these clients had their affairs well in order.  But one didn't.  He owned a business with a partner.  He died without a buy-sell agreement or an operating agreement.

Fred and Al owned an IT business that served the federal government.  They provided fail over services for government agencies.  If you had computer operations in say... the World Trade Center, and someone flew a plane into the building destroying your IT facilities, Fred and Al made certain your operations continued as usual.  You can probably understand that Uncle Sam had quite an interest in their services.

Fred and Al were both in their mid-forties and in good health.  Then Fred got run over by a truck, literally.  He died instantly.  Fred and Al had neither a buy-sell agreement nor an operating agreement.  What happens when your business partner dies, and you don't have the legal documents to ensure an orderly transfer of the business?

You end up with unwanted partners, and they aren't usually the silent type.  Al was contacted by a personal injury attorney representing the two daughters from Fred's first marriage.  Al barely knew the daughters existed.  Since, there were no legal agreements regarding what happened to the business upon Fred's death, the attorney volunteered to draft an operating agreement for the business installing the two daughters as Al's new partners.

Here's the problem with allowing a personal injury attorney to write an operating agreement in these circumstances.....  Personal injury attorneys don't know a damn thing about estate law, at least this moron didn't.  Fred's daughters were not the rightful owners of Fred's share of the business even though they were his heirs.  In Virginia, Fred's estate owned Fred's share of the business.  The attorney was busy writing an invalid agreement.

I referred Al to an estate attorney, who began the process of probate for Fred's estate, working with Fred's second wife to close out the estate.  In Virginia, counties administer the probate process.  Periodically, the estate executor files an asset inventory and reports on the progress in winding up the estate.  Besides the legal fees, the county requires substantial probate fees based on the value of the estate.
Fred's share of the business was his primary asset.  So the estate engaged me to provide a valuation of Fred's share on the date of his death.  Al, and the estate attorney, hoped to use this valuation to settle the estate and buy out any claim on the business from the daughters.  Hoped is the key word here.

If you are caught in Al's situation, you can be certain of one thing.  The heirs of your business partner will smell the pot of gold.  They are thinking millions of dollars for their share even if they peed in his porridge while he was alive.  It's party time, baby.  Fred's daughters were no different.

Fred and Al had a nice business, but it was really just two well paying jobs.  They provided all of the services personally, relying on their combined forty years of engineering expertise creating fail over systems.  That doesn't make for a valuable business.  For Al to continue the business, he needed to hire someone with similar expertise.  These people aren't cheap.  In fact, it was going to cost more to replace Fred than Fred's salary.

Fred and Al were very valuable computer engineers, but the business itself was worth pretty much nothing since the pool of potential buyers was almost nonexistent due to the technical qualifications required of a new owner.  I valued the business at just the cash on hand and the receivables at the date of Fred's death.  Fred's half of that was about $100K, hardly the millions his daughters envisioned.

Are you surprised that they weren't happy with me?  Al was faced with tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, not to mention the business disruption.  He offered the daughters the opportunity to pick a business valuator of their choice.  But, that would cost them money.  They were content to threaten legal action and delay the closing of the estate.  The county was after the estate to close and continued to impose more fees.  The business was being ignored.

In frustration over the lack of progress getting the business out of the estate, Al hired a litigation attorney.  Al's attorney asked the daughters to submit what they thought the business was worth telling them that Al would either buy it from the estate for that price or sell his share for that price.  They would then be obligated to buy Al's share at his option.  Of course, they refused.  They had no money, but they had plenty of attitude.

Al's attorney then told the daughters that Al was resigning from the business.  Since there was no operating agreement, Al was free to withdraw from the business and form his own new company.  Of course, he couldn't take any existing contracts with him, but those contracts were worthless without him.  The daughters would never be able to manage the existing contracts, and the business would fold.  Then Al could bid to get the contracts back.

The daughters' attorney called for a mediation meeting and the daughters settled for almost the exact value I had calculated.  Al had his company back after spending $20K or so, not exactly a happy ending, but a satisfactory one in the end.

Dying without buy-sell and operating agreements is malpractice for a business owner.  You are ensuring heartache for your family.  Of course, if you hate your partners, spouse, and family, go for it.

Thanks for reading!  For real tax and accounting advice, please visit the main S&K web site at www.skcpas.com.  Also, please like the "How to Screw Up Your Small Business" Facebook page.

Until next time, let's do it to them before they do it to us.