“Are you still in business?” A small business owner told me she was talking with a friend, who asked, “Are you still in business?”  If her friends didn’t know she was still in business, she was obviously doing something wrong.
You have a great business, I know.  And you are working hard to do everything you need to do, including marketing, customer service, and managing your finances.  Just don’t forget to promote your business.  What I’m talking about when I say “promotion” are those things you do to keep your small business in the “eye” of the community, to keep …read more

Since this is Freedom from Fear of Speaking Week, I thought I would follow up my discussion yesterday of why you need to do public speaking to promote your business, with some tips for Effective Business Speaking.
The TED Conference has some great “commandments” for public speaking:

In addition: Some tips from my experience as a public speaker and teacher of public speaking:

Find a topic you enjoy talking about. If you don’t enjoy the topic, your lack of excitement will show through.
Show your expertise. As I mentioned yesterday, don’t directly promote your business, but show your expertise indirectly and people will want …read more

This is Freedom from Fear of Speaking Week. It should be “Speak Out for Business Success” week, because public speaking is such a crucial activity for any small business person.  I know, you didn’t sign up for this when you started your business, and I know that public speaking is the number one fear of everyone, ahead of death and snakes.  (I figure public speaking is scarier than death because if you are dead you don’t know/care if people are making fun of you.)
Why Speaking is Important. If you want people to know about your business, you have to …read more

[photo: ourdailybreadmealstogo.com]
As a work-from-home mom, my marketing challenges are often related to finding my clients and assessing their needs. Unlike a brick-and-mortar business, clients don’t come to me – – I have to go to them. And couple that with a service industry like the one I provide (church marketing and professional speaking), the challenges broaden and become a bit harder to define.
Knowing what your customers want can be simple and not so simple. Sure you can ask questions and perform market research analyses, but will that give you a true picture of their needs? Perhaps so, perhaps not. The …read more