We entrepreneurs have a few secrets that most of us won’t talk about. Like, ever. Because if you’re successful, you’re not supposed to experience this stuff, right? WRONG. Successful business owners experience this stuff, too! And if you don’t know that even the most successful entrepreneurs have doubts, uncertainties, and yes, even fear, when you do experience these things you might think you’re a) crazy, b) doing something wrong, or c) a big failure. But the correct answer is D) NONE of those things. So read on, because you’re about to feel better, just knowing that you’re not alone.

What does this dog have to do with entrepreneurship? I’m not sure yet, but he’s awfully cute, and this is how I look when I’m on unnecessary phone calls.

Here we go…the big secrets of entrepreneurship: what every business owner should know.

Secret #1. Owning a business is scary.

Business ownership is inherently anxiety-inducing for many reasons, chief among them that you want to pay your mortgage and, on a bigger scale, that the success or failure of the business lies squarely on your shoulders. Sure, you can hire people to help you, but hire the wrong people and your business will undoubtedly suffer. Yikes!

Plus, when you start a business, you’re stepping out on a limb and you’re never sure just how strong that branch might be. You can conduct market research all day long, but the question of “Is there a target market and will they pay for what I have to offer?” is only really answered once you launch the business.

Not to mention that when you own a business, you’re constantly thinking about where the next client or customer is going to come from…and if that next client or customer is going to come.

But it’s not all about fear. Once you get the right systems in place for lead generation and marketing your business, it’s not nearly as scary. And if you get the right people in the right positions, your business will flourish.

Also, entrepreneurship can be exhilarating! It’s one place where you can take chances and experiment. And while you might never stop being afraid (even the most successful business owners I know still experience fear), when you succeed in business, the payoff can be huge, both personally and financially.

Secret #2. You will have sleepless nights.

When you have a job in a company that other people own and run, you’re under the illusion that you have more security because you don’t actually see the inner workings of what keeps the business afloat. You don’t see what’s in the books. So you sleep soundly at night because you think you’re safe, and that paycheck comes like clockwork every month.

What most corporate employees don’t understand, though, is that in the best case scenarios, somebody at the top of the chain of command may be having sleepless nights (or they should be), worrying about all the people s/he is responsible for, worrying about satisfying shareholders, or worrying about whether someone in the company is doing something he or she shouldn’t. (And if they’re not worrying, you should be!)

When you own the company, you’re responsible for all of the people who work for you and making sure all of the bills get paid. If you don’t keep things going, your mortgage (and the mortgages of your employees) won’t get paid. That can weigh heavily on an entrepreneur.

But when the weight of the world rests on your shoulders, you’ll work harder to make sure you don’t fail. When you know that you bear a responsibility for your employees’ families, you’ll want to do everything you can to make sure your business grows—including hiring great people who will make your business stronger.

Secret #3. You won’t have complete freedom…at least not right away.

When I first started my company, I worked whenever my clients needed me. I would schedule appointments on any day of the week and I worked every single day except Sunday. Generally speaking, at the beginning of your business, you won’t have much freedom, no matter what you might want to believe. At the beginning of any business, you take whatever work comes, you work hard, and you work when they need you. At the beginning, that’s how it works.

Plus, sometimes you might work for some jerks. We’ve all had our share of clients that were overly demanding or unpleasant. But working with this kind of client is part of this old-fashioned concept we used to call “paying your dues.” When you start your business, you might have to take business you might not love, but it’s a way of paying the bills and building your reputation on the way to the top.

The good news is that once you’ve built a reputation and have business flowing in, you’ll get more freedom (never complete freedom, but definitely a lot more freedom!) Today, unless a client is flying me in for a site visit or a meeting, I limit client meetings to specific days each week. And where I used to work 12-hour days, these days I rarely work past 5:30 PM and spend every evening with my family. Once you’re established, you’ll get more freedom.

See this guy right here? He probably just launched his business. Give him a minute. He’ll settle down.

Secret #4. Starting a business is exciting! And then it’s not.

At the beginning of any business, you’re going out on your own, coming up with the concept, the products, the services, trying to get the branding just right…it’s exciting and fun! Woohoo!

Then your company launches. Still exciting! But a few months in, the excitement of the launch has died down, and that’s when persistence is key. Once you settle into the business of growing your business and, well, staying in business—now we’re talking about getting clients and customers, marketing, delivering your products and services—let’s face it…that’s not as exciting as the initial launch phase was. Until you get your business going and figure out which marketing strategies and systems work best for you, you can be stuck in this part for quite awhile. And it doesn’t always feel quite as fun as it was in the beginning.

But remember, now you’re living the dream! You’re doing what you love, you own your own business. And while there’s usually that period that can be a little slow and dull (and because you’re so focused on marketing that you may not get to do as much of what you love), once you figure out the strategies that work to bring in clients and customers, you’ll get to do a lot more of what you love. So hang in there, if you’re in that phase. Things will pick up!

Secret #5. Complete balance with massive success is a myth.

We have this idea that we’re supposed to be able to have it all, and then we feel horrible when we can’t quite manage it. Phooey! Even the people who run around teaching people how to have it all don’t have it all! I don’t know a single hugely successful entrepreneur who hasn’t made sacrifices to get there.

I used to work 12-hour days in the early days of my business. But when I got married, my priorities changed, and I decided that my family needed to come first. That meant that I had to fit more into the time I was working, so I searched out ways to improve my productivity and get more done in less time. As a result, I stop working every day by 5:30 and spend the evening with my husband.

If I wanted a global empire instead of a successful consulting and coaching business, then I probably would have to work a lot more hours and spend far more time away from home. But that isn’t the life I want. That’s why in Business In Blue Jeans: How To Have A Successful Business On Your Own Terms, In Your Own Style, one of the first things I start with is, “What do you want your life to look like?”

Very few people, if any, have it all. Many entrepreneurs who are on the speaker’s circuit travel around 200-250 days a year. That means 2/3 of the year or more away from their families. Is that the life you want? Let’s be real here—even Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week doesn’t work just four hours a week to maintain his success level.

So while, yes, you can have some balance, make no mistake about it, you have to make choices to get that balance. And that means if you want to be a business celebrity, you probably won’t have the strongest home life on the way to getting there.

Secret #6. Entrepreneurship can be lonely.

It’s lonely at the top. If you’re just starting out and don’t have employees yet, you’re on your own, which can be lonely, especially if you work from home. You may, for example, find yourself in far too many conversations with the grocery store clerk (hypothetically speaking, of course—that never happens to me).

If you do have employees, when you’re the boss true camaraderie with co-workers is a thing of the past. And that’s as it should be – your employees need to know that you’ll make the hard decisions, so you can’t and shouldn’t be their friend. That’s one of the biggest mistakes business owners make!

So instead of looking for friendship in your business, look for it in your personal life. And if you’re still lonely in your business, find the right mentors, coaches, and mastermind group members to discuss questions or concerns, commiserate now and then, and support you as your business grows (and try not to weird out the grocery store clerk. Again, hypothetically).

Secret #7. Sometimes you’ll fantasize about getting a job.

Everybody has bad days. And even successful entrepreneurs get tired. So sometimes, even when you’re successful and enjoy having your own business, the stress will get to you and you’ll think about throwing in the towel and getting a job. Because, really, how bad could it be to work for someone else?

Seriously? Yes. Really. You will think about it. For a second. A millisecond.

And that’s about the moment when you’ll laugh at yourself, wrap up the pity party, and get back to work. If you’re truly meant to be an entrepreneur, those moments will be fleeting. So hang in there when the going gets tough, frustrating, annoying, stressful, exhausting, and once in awhile, gets to be just a little too much. Because it won’t be long until it passes and you remember why you started this thing in the first place.

BONUS Secret. Entrepreneurship is magical.

Most of the things I’ve covered in this post might be considered the “bummers” about business ownership. But you know what? Entrepreneurship is awesome!

Even though I personally don’t camp out on the beach every day (nor would I want to), I actually do have my dream life. Every day I get to help other business owners and entrepreneurs to do what they do more and better. I spend every evening with my wonderful husband in our beautiful home, relaxing, laughing, cooking together, dancing in our kitchen, and every so often, we go on a global adventure. We contribute to causes we care about, spend time with friends and family, and generally just have a good, pleasant, happy life. This is the life I want. And entrepreneurship makes it all possible. At the end of the day, that’s what matters most.

So even though sometimes we business owners might be lonely, frustrated, annoyed, stressed out, scared, or uncertain, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Would you?

The post The 7 Huge Secrets of Entrepreneurship: What Every Business Owner Should Know appeared first on Business in Blue Jeans.

And that, my friends, is why I created Business in Blue Jeans. It’s why I wrote the book, Business in Blue Jeans: How to Have a Successful Business on Your Own Terms, in Your Own Style, and it’s why I spend every day, all day, working directly with entrepreneurs and business owners, coaching them to create a business they love.

Want to join me in creating your own life’s meaning? 

The post Why A Business in Blue Jeans? appeared first on Business in Blue Jeans.

Why do you need to do things differently?

Let’s look back on 2013. How was your level of success? Do you feel like your business grew significantly throughout the year, or did you end 2013 close to where you started it? Did your business grow the way you hoped it would? Did you achieve your goals? Did you have any clearly specified goals?

Taking a look back at the last year can bring into perspective what you did right – and what you did wrong. Because as much as we want to celebrate our successes, we also want to improve in the areas where we fell short.

Clients often come to me saying, “If my business is a success, it’s in spite of me, because I haven’t been able to put any real structure or systems in place!” That’s a very common concern for successful (and successful-in-the-making) entrepreneurs. So if you look back over 2013 and you’re honest with yourself and realize that whatever growth your business experienced during the year happened in spite of you not setting clear-cut goals and creating plans to get there, know that what got you there won’t get you to the next level. To get to the next level, to see your business continue to grow, you must step up your game. And there’s no better time than the present.

That’s why the first thing you need to do differently to achieve business success in 2014 is…

1. Set A Stake in the Ground for Business Success.

At the end of 2014, where do you want to be- in business and in life? What do you want to have accomplished?

When I asked my clients this question back when we started planning in late November, some of them told me, “I don’t want to set goals in case I don’t meet them. I’m afraid I’m going to fail.” Friends, we are all afraid we’re going to fail. But the difference between people who stay where they are and people who continue to grow is that people who continue to grow and achieve business success face the fear and set those stakes in the ground anyway.

2. Face the Fear.

Yep, that’s number two. Face that fear, know that it’s there, breathe into it, and go forward. Maybe you achieve all of the goals you set. Maybe you don’t, but you’ll sure be a lot closer to where you want to be than you were when the year started, right? Otherwise, what’s your choice? To set NO goals and achieve everything you set out to achieve, which pretty much means staying right where you are? Gross. Who wants that?!

3. Create A Plan.

It’s awesome to set those goals and get them crystal clear. But if you don’t create a plan to get you from here to there, then it’s just a nice statement that you made, but had no intention of achieving. So create a reasonable, manageable plan to get to that stake you set in the ground.

4. Vow to Get Past the Freebies.

All too often, entrepreneurs and business owners get stuck at the “free reports” and “free webinars” and never go further. Unfortunately, the free stuff, which is often awesome, almost always offers a mere fraction of the help and resources that you need to achieve business success. If you’re looking at a marketing method, the free webinar won’t show you the entire method and you’ll miss key steps that won’t help you implement that method properly. If you’re looking at a coaching event, the free webinar might help you see things in a new way, but won’t help you stay accountable. This is more important than you know. So right now, regardless of where you are in your business, vow that you are going to get past the freebies and invest in your business and in yourself, whether that means group coaching or one-on-one work. Vow to go beyond where you’ve gone before.

5. Show Up and Be Present.

This goes for everything in your business. Don’t half-ass a single thing that you do this year. When you meet with a client, remove all distractions and be fully present. When you write a blog post, write the whole thing before you check social media or email. When you register for a webinar, show up and participate fully, instead of doing other things while you listen halfheartedly. Look, I get it, we’re all busy. I’ve committed many of these sins. But it’s when I’m fully present and participatory that the biggest business success stories happen—for me and for my clients. So remove distractions and be present.

Will doing these five things change your life and help you achieve business success in 2014? Alone, these actions might not make all the difference, but they will have a significant impact.

Want to add to the list and find out how to achieve major personal and business success in 2014?

Join me for my live web-based training, “The Best Year of Your Life: The 5 Fundamental Shifts That Will Guarantee 2014 Will Be the Best Year You’ve Ever Had” on January 16, 2014. Limited Seating. Register Now.

The post 5 Things To Do Differently To Achieve Business Success in 2014 appeared first on Business in Blue Jeans.

Perhaps when you were a child, someone in your life tried to emphasize the importance of listening by reminding you that we each have two ears and one mouth. According to the well-known saying, we have two ears and one mouth in order that we might listen twice as much as we speak. There’s a lot of truth to that idea, and never more so than when a buyer raises objections during the sales process.

It is important to remember that when a buyer raises objections, they are not complaining, but are asking you, the sales professional, for help.

A common mistake that sales professionals make is to believe they know where a buyer is going with an objection before the person has even finished speaking. The temptation is to be formulating an answer to a question that hasn’t yet been asked. When you are busy putting together an answer in your head, you are no longer fully listening. In doing this, you risk losing your connection with the buyer (people can tell when they are not being listened to!) And, if you jump the gun and assume you fully understand what a buyer is asking before clarifying anything with them, you risk even more.

Rushing to respond to an objection before fleshing it out is asking for trouble.

If you assume to understand what is troubling a buyer based on one small objection and hurry to respond to what they have (barely) said, you could very likely create new and bigger problems. Here’s how that works: The buyer starts to mention an objection and feeling like you’ve heard that particular remark a thousand times before, you all but cut them off with what you believe is the pertinent information they need to alleviate their worries.

But, you could be wrong…because you don’t actually know what their worries really are…because you didn’t finish listening! So, by trying to solve a problem that you don’t fully understand, you may inadvertently plant the seed for more concerns and objections!

The way to avoid this trap is to cut yourself off, internally, when you are tempted to rush in. Instead, ask your buyer a question like “Would you tell me more about that?” when they raise an objection. Everyone, everywhere likes to be listened to and a buyer with objections will respond positively to a sales professional who makes an effort to understand their concerns in depth vs. assuming they have all the answers.

Buyers aren’t making things up when they raise objections. They have reasons for their concerns that are unique to them and it is your job to understand where they are coming from. Encourage your buyers to tell you more so that you can finish listening.

SUMMARY: To be bold in a successful way means to first and foremost be bold with oneself. This type of boldness is rooted in overcoming our knee-jerk reactions and training ourselves to embrace discomfort of many kinds, including the pain of keeping one’s ears open and mouth shut!

The post Make More Sales: Be Bold and Finish Listening appeared first on Business in Blue Jeans.

Leaving Love Notes for Your Google-bot

Do the special someones in your life like to find sweet notes from you around the house?  Do you put notes in your kids’ lunch box or leave notes for your spouse?  Why do you do that?  Do you want them to get a particular message?

Well, yes, you want them to get the over-arching message that you love and care about them.  And you like to remind them.  It just promotes good feelings and relationships.

Let’s think along the same lines for Google-bots.  If you have a website or a blog, you need to be using your best love note writing skills to your Google-bot.  They have a language, they have places they frequent where they might find notes from you, and they can be temperamental.  We have to get to know our Google-bot in order to get them to love us back!

5 Places to leave Love Notes for your Google-bot

1. Blog Post Title – KEYWORD your blog post title.  A conflict will always exist between writing blog titles that have keywords and blog titles that are catchy and make you want to read them.  You’ll want to find a healthy balance between the two. Readability and engagement are key. Remember, catchy titles are only seen by people who are already connected to your social media channels.  If you want new readers to come to your site, using keyworded titles may serve you better, so that people find you in search results. (Business in Blue Jeans Note: However, bear in mind that you want people to come to your site, but you also want them to stay, so readability and writing for the reader is still important!)
2. First Paragraph of your Blog Post – KEYWORD your first 150 words.  This first paragraph is the most important part of the post.  Do whatever you can to make sure that your main keyword phrase for your post in in the first 150 words.  Now, Google-bots are temperamental, so make sure you don’t copy/paste the first paragraph from another post to use again!  If you do that, you will get dinged for duplicate content and both posts will suffer in search results.
3. Categories and Tags – These are easy to forget, but very valuable.  Make a category and a tag for your main keyword phrase for your post.  Tags are easy, but categories can be tricky because your navigation menus might be set up as categories, and you may not want your keyword phrase for that post to be a whole category.  In that case, try and find a way to exclude that category from your navigational menu (you may need to find a plugin).
4. URL – Did you know that you can change your URL in WordPress?  When you start a new post, the URL just makes itself.  But there is an edit button next to the URL and you should always use it!  Make sure your main keyword phrase for your post is in the URL.  The auto-URL usually grabs the post title.  So if the post title did not include your keyword phrase, then add it to the end of the URL.
5. Images – ALWAYS have an image!  And optimize it!  There are two main ways that Google-bots crawl your images.  One is the filename and the other is the Alt-tag.  So before you upload an image to your site, make sure the filename includes your keyword phrase.  Once you upload an image to WordPress, the name cannot be changed.  After you have placed the image in the post, click on it to edit it (click the picture icon on the top left), and type in your keyword phrase in the Alt-tag space.

You are communicating to your Google-bot.  You have one message, your “keyword phrase,” that you want to rank for in search.  You need your Google-bot to go around your blog and find all the little notes you leave for it, and then leave your site, knowing what your message is.  Because if they do, they will deliver that message to search results.  And that is when the love comes back to you!

Parting thought:  Have you thought to look around to see if we sent love notes to Google-bots with this post?  Optimize your blog posts!  It will make a difference in the SEO for your business websites!

The post SEO for Business Websites: Optimize your Blog Posts appeared first on Business in Blue Jeans.

1. Invest in Advertising

Invest financially in Facebook. A BDO study found that 99% of retailers indicated they would be focused on Facebook for their social marketing efforts – and that was last holiday season. 51% planned to spend on Twitter, while 20% planned to invest on Pinterest.” With other platforms, such as Vine, on the rise, it is crucial to follow in last season’s footsteps and invest in Facebook advertising but not neglect newer social media platforms. Human capital is extremely important, but putting dollars behind your team’s efforts can amplify your social content in a big way.

Jeremy Goldman
Founder & CEO, Firebrand Group
@jeremarketer

2. Hold a Contest

Run a holiday Facebook campaign featuring a contest with a giveaway. You can now post your contest directly on your Facebook page. Give it a holiday theme – ask all fans to post their best Christmas shopping tip or the most creative way to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Reward the three best commenters with a free product from your business or a gift card to Amazon.

Carly Fauth
Director of Marketing and Outreach, Money Crashers
@MoneyCrashers

3. Use Video

When it comes to sharing content on Facebook, videos outperform pictures which outperform links, and yet, what do most business owners share? You guessed it – links and pictures! If you want to engage your audience, invest in high-quality videos and then share them.

Ben Landers
President, Blue Corona
@benlanders

4. Do a Flash Sale

During the holiday season, shoppers are always scouting out great deals and love sharing them with friends and family. Engage your current fan base and tap into their own personal Facebook networks with a limited time flash sale just for Facebook fans.

Promote on your page that you will unlock a special flash sale once you hit a certain number of likes. A flash sale can be a coupon code, VIP pass, or even a big discount on your most popular product or service. Once the sale is unlocked, users will be notified on Facebook that they have the green light to shop!

Christine Rochelle
Integrated Marketing Manager, lotus823
@CLRochelle

5. Get Personal and Grateful

Holidays are about connecting with loved ones and reflecting on what’s important to you. During the holiday season, post pictures about the things you/your company is grateful for such as family members, customers, and events that happened in 2013. You can even do a collage-style post where each employee takes pics of what they are grateful for. You then ask your followers to list what they are grateful for. This is a great way to build goodwill with your followers while engaging them to share their experiences. Every post should have an image or video to enhance interaction.

Joe Fairless
Principal, Fairless Consulting
@joefairless

6. Sponsor Stories

I recommend using Facebook’s sponsored stories to reach you potential clients this holiday season. Ever since Facebook changed their EdgeRank to allow only about 10-15% of your page’s followers to see your posts, using sponsored stories has become more and more important. It enables you to show your post to a larger audience than you would if you did a regular post. We have seen huge spikes in engagement with our fans by using promoted posts. The best way to combat EdgeRank is to take it head on and get your followers into your store!

Jayme Pretzloff
Online Marketing Director, Wixon Jewelers
@jpretz

7. Get Seasonal

Be sure to post message content that directly connects to the holiday theme – according to Facebook these thematically related posts generate about 90% more engagement than all posts published on a given day.

Bill Elward
Chief Marketing Officer, http://www.castleink.com
@castle_ink

8. Create Loyalty

For small businesses, there is a tremendous opportunity to showcase roots in the community – ultimately adding a sense of loyalty to a fanbase that puts a human element of the business in the spotlight. A well-thought out content strategy that is organized with an editorial calendar will help earn the interest of key audiences and motivate them to action – either by engaging with brands online or in person. At the end of the day, it’s about providing a reason for users to belong. If you can determine what that value driver is (loyalty, customer service, awareness, recruitment), you’ll be successful.

Beth Thompson
Account Supervisor, Gatesman+Dave
@bchoike14

9. Engage with Your Followers

The holiday season is when so many people are trying to up their Facebook game. The issue is though they’re doing it by just putting more out and flooding the timeline of their audience. The best way to really get people in the door and hitting the checkout buttons on your website is to engage with them. Offer them something worth checking out. Share things you feature in your store and ask their thoughts about it or ask them to share what is on their holiday wish list from your store.

Stacey Harris
Hit the Mic with Stacey Harris
@TheStaceyHarris

10. Use Your Likes for Good

The holidays are the perfect time to communicate your organization’s charitable side. A great way to do this is by hosting a Facebook “Like” campaign where you pledge to donate a dollar to a charity of choice for every new like received. By offering users the chance to give back in exchange for a “Like”, you increase brand exposure and goodwill. Bonus points for giving to an organization that is related to your products and services, as the organization will likely share your campaign through their own social channels and introduce you to a host of potential new customers.

Rebecca I Rubin
Digital Marketing Specialist, Blue Water Media
@RebeccaIRubin

11. Stay on Top of Complaints

Make sure to monitor your Facebook page for any negative posts or customer complaints. If you’re going to increase your social media exposure this season, make sure it’s as positive as possible. Address issues immediately and solve them to the customer’s satisfaction. Then ask that customer to
write a positive post about your business.

Adi Bittan
Co-founder & CEO, OwnerListens
@AdiOwnerListens

12. Stand Out

If you want to turn your Facebook visitors into actual customers, you have to stand out from all the static. Create appealing holiday campaigns, big discounts and open houses that will allow you to entice them to stop by. You can also host games through Facebook that will encourage visitors to stop by to claim their prize. Ideas include:

• Treasure hunt within the store to find an elf, reindeer, etc.
• Dress up contest- Who’s the best Santa?
• Festive pet contest/judged in the store
• Door prizes daily for a certain visitor. The visitor number is given through Facebook and then they have to come by to see if they could win.

Tabitha Jean Naylor
Owner/Founder, TabithaNaylor.com
@TabithaNaylor

13. Use Seasonal Graphics

Take advantage of your photo space. For example:
• Using festive cover photos to tie-in the holiday season with your brand.
• Combining seasonal creative assets with your post copy that is branded, but easily sharable by fans.
• Creating photo albums of “must have” holiday products or gift guides;
• And businesses can even substitute the app images to further the holiday theme.

Nikki Means
CEO, Project Socialize
@projectsocializ

14. Engage more.

The most important role of social media is to engage consumers. Staying active on Facebook will not only gain the attention of consumers, but it will create loyalty. Brands and businesses have to remember to interact with their fans. Taking the time to do this conveys transparency, which gives consumers a sense of trust – something very important in a consumer landscape that has become skeptical of advertising in recent years. This also gives your brand a human persona.

On the contrary, staying inactive on social media is a one way ticket toward consumers losing interest and trust in your brand.

Frank Riolo
Manager of Corporate Communications, ConvoAgency
@convoagency

15. Get OFF of Facebook

The holiday season is a rare opportunity for busy entrepreneurs to spend quality time with their family and friends. Don’t waste that time by distracting yourself by constantly updating your company’s FB page. Instead, automate the process using a message scheduling tool like HootSuite.
You can write any messages you want to post, set times for them to go live, and relax knowing that your Facebook followers will be up to date when you return in the new year.

Matt Ehrlichman
CEO, Porch

Want to learn more about Facebook marketing and how to do it the right way?

Check out the Business in Blue Jeans training, “Quick and Easy Facebook Marketing”  to learn how to set up your company Facebook Page and start getting followers today!

The post Holiday Marketing With Facebook appeared first on Business in Blue Jeans.

Not-to-be-missed highlights:

• 0:28 Our sponsor for this episode: Author Services Group
• 0:59 How to send your questions in.
• 1:20 Opening comments on gratitude
• 2:23 The benefits of a daily gratitude practice
• 4:19 What I’m most grateful for
• 5:00 One of the most wonderful things you can do for another person
• 9:40 A delightful break
• 10:50 Info about an awesome new thing
• 13:33 The write-in questions for the day, featuring:
  • Is Facebook dying?
  • What can I do to become less overwhelmed in my business?
  • How can I take advantage of Black Friday, as a small business owner?

The post Business in Blue Jeans Radio, Episode 12 appeared first on Business in Blue Jeans.

The post It’s Time to Talk About Your Pricing Strategy appeared first on Business in Blue Jeans.

Not-to-be-missed highlights:

• 0:28 Our sponsor for this episode: Author Services Group
• 0:59 How to send your questions in.
• 1:20 Opening comments on self-discipline
• 1:54 What self-discipline really is
• 2:34 Why self-discipline is really hard for me to do this time of year
• 9:20 One strategy for building self-discipline
• 11:55 My favorite strategy for self-discipline
• 19:00 A delightful break
• 20:19 Awesome information you do NOT want to miss about this.
• 24:55 The write-in questions for the day, featuring:
  • How do I get fired up and motivated to work on my business?
  • How do I build my Twitter following?
  • What if social media isn’t my thing?

The post Business in Blue Jeans Radio, Episode 11 appeared first on Business in Blue Jeans.

As a coach, consultant, solopreneur, small business, insert your type of business here, November and December are an ideal time for you to work with the media.

During the holidays, newspapers and broadcast journalists are on the lookout for stories with a holiday tie-in or ideas that can tap into the new year goal setting phenomenon.  Plus, it is usually a slower time of year for news, so that means they have spots to fill.

If you have never worked with the media, this is a great time to dive in.  Here is how to get started:

1. Determine Your Holiday/New Year Stories

Working with the media is all about storytelling. So before you go any further, you need to figure out what stories you can share that will be interesting to the TV viewer or newspaper reader.

Maybe you are a fashion stylist and can talk about tips for the office holiday party or next year’s fashion trends. Perhaps you have a physical product that would be a good gift idea. Or if you’re a coach, you can talk about staying motivated through the holidays and establishing realistic goals for the new year.

Whatever your story is, keep it simple. Focus on a single concept instead of trying to to share everything. Think along the lines of “my top tips” versus “everything you ever needed to know” when you are developing your stories.

2. Figure Out Who to Pitch

Once you have your stories figured out, you will need to do a little research. Start by creating your wish list of media targets with a focus on outlets that have a short lead times such as TV, blogs and newspapers. Most print magazines plan their editorial content months in advance so they are not an ideal target for this type of pitch.

Whether you have a local business or an online one, your local media is a perfect place to start. You can get practice being interviewed or appearing on camera, telling your story and working with editors and producers.  All of this experience will be beneficial when it is time for you to move on to bigger media targets.

Most contact information for media can be found on their web site on the about or contact pages. Be sure to do your homework and track down the most appropriate contact at each outlet. For TV, you want to look for producers or assignment editors, and for radio hosts and/or producers are your best bet.

For newspapers and larger blogs, identify the section that is most relevant to you and look for a section editor or beat editor. For example if you are talking about holiday meal ideas, you want to pitch the food editor. Be on the lookout for special holiday sections that may also be a fit.

3. Write and Send Your Pitch

You’ve got your story and target, now you just need to write your media pitch.  Pitches should be customized for each media outlet you plan to pitch—that means you customize for every individual blog or show.

Every pitch should include a working title, a summary paragraph with the key points for the story and a two line bio that showcases your expertise.

The real meat of your pitch is the summary paragraph as that is what will really sell your story. Outline the topic and what you are going to talk about. Also, if you are pitching TV, you may want to offer a visual to make the story more appealing.

Be sure to keep your pitch short and to the point.  Here is an example:

The holiday office party can be one of the trickiest events of the year to navigate, especially when it comes down to what to wear. If you are interested, I’d love to come on XYZ morning show to share my top three tips for tasteful style that stands out for the holiday office party. I can also bring some sample outfits and accessories to share with your viewers.

In three short sentences, this fashion stylist has identified an issue, talked about how she can address it and followed up with an idea of how to make the story visual.  That information, paired with a bio establishing her expertise, would likely make this pitch a home run.

Once the pitch is written and ready to go, you just need to send it via email and then wait. If they do not get back to you in about a week feel free to gently follow up with another email.  Do not assume that if you do not hear back, your idea was a dud, they may have just received a lot of similar ideas or are not looking for that type of content right now.

Media relations requires perseverance to get started but the benefits to your business are many, especially when it comes to reaching new customers and building your credibility.

Have you worked with the media to create publicity for your business? Share your story below in the comments.

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