Author Archive
Holiday Giveaway from Women on Business
Posted by: | CommentsCongratulations to our winner and THANK YOU to all who participated.
Thanks to CSN for offering a giveaway to WomenonBusiness.com readers.
CSN offers business and office needs such as office furniture, as well as office supplies and office accessories and decor.
They also offer various sections like Baby and Kids, Outdoor Living, Home Improvement, and Cookware and Bakeware.
Many thanks to all who participated. Here’s to a wonderful holiday celebrations and to a spirit of peace, thanksgiving, and unity for the close of the year.
With our warmest holiday greetings, from Women on Business! Bookmark our site and return often for more news, tips, business insights, and connections.
Getting Back to the Basics
Posted by: | CommentsOn my blog at ASuccessfulWoman.com, I invite new members to post what their goals are. So far, most of the declarations have been about transforming energy in some way: such as financial (”double my income”) or spiritual (”get back to the basics in my life”), or interpersonal (”increase my Twitter or Facebook followers”)
I have been thinking a lot about energy transfer lately — some themes that have been floating around my mind include:
- energy is something that we each have and that we each share
- I feel most energized when I do what I love and share that knowledge and skill, and get paid for it
- as entrepreneurs, our task is to provide more value to more people by creating systems and processes
- we have an ability to go green and transform the economy by using sustainable, organic, and holistic methods
- to grow a business, we desire the growth of a core community of clients who grow along with us
- listening to customers helps us understand what new products and services they request
- love is a form of energy, and money is a form of energy
So for 2010, I encourage you to consider your business (or personal) goals in the context of energy.
For example, if you’d like to double your company’s revenue, what are you really saying?
My sense is that you are saying that you are ready to take on the challenge of being a leader in your community, and you are ready for your business to shine a light of hope and opportunity.
If you’d like to get back to basics, what are you really saying?
My sense is that you are saying you are returning to our core, root principles: the things that make us happy, the activities we’re good at, and the people we like to be around. Any business relies on good feelings like those basic feelings.
If you’d like to increase your following, what are you really saying?
My sense is that you are saying that you are ready to share your message with a larger audience, and you feel ready, willing, and able to commit to performing at a greater level than that required of just friends and family.
Let’s get back to the basics and commit to creating a 2010 that is filled with profitability, sharing, connections, innovation, and a positive change in our environment and our economy.
I invite you to bookmark WomenonBusiness.com and share your journey with us.
Coaching as an Asset to your Business Development
Posted by: | CommentsHow does your business make a difference in the world?
In 2006 I began an intensive coaching process with Rob Seidenspinner of Sage Circle Coaching. Rob is a personal and professional coach and I was looking for specific insights into how my personal “story” was influencing my business outcomes.
The benefits I’ve seen are as follows. Not all of these are directly attributable to coaching, but I would say that the business-related items are attributable to my own personal goals, which the coaching relationship helped me clarify.
1. Development of a mission statement to help me formalize my thinking about what I am hear to do.
2. An increase in the quality and types of referrals who we serve in my primary business.
3. A quadrupling of the typical amount of our new business account (from approximately $1000 – $2000 per account to $5000 – $10,000 per account)
4. Professionalization — such as getting a toll-free number and fax line, reaching out to increase our subcontractor availability, thinking like a leader of a team instead of just as one individual
5. Publication of my first and second book (in my initial coaching session, I envisioned that the book was a key “turning point”)
6. A move to another state (California to Hawaii)
7. Birth of a second child (obviously, this is not attributable to coaching, but the fact that the child was born at home and is raised in an environment that is much more conducive to one-on-one parenting *is* attributable to coaching)
8. Development of three additional projects to reflect my interest
9. An introduction and acknowledgement of my personal “gremlin” who always wants to bring me backwards when I am moving forwards.
10. More prioritized time to focus on personal development
11. More focus on intuition as a guiding force in all my decision-making
12. Deeper focus on relationship-building in my business (meaning, not focusing so much on the quantity, but focusing on the quality of my professional relationships and making sure that all our efforts are beneficial to all parties involved)
I wouldn’t say coaching is for everyone, but it has definitely helped me put my goals into a framework of being accountable to them (on a weekly basis) and breaking down my big “high dream” lofty aspirations into specific actionable items that I feel like I can accomplish.
image credt: littleman
Your Product or Service: How to Price it Right
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve always believed that you must price your particular product or service at a level that provides value for others at a price they’re willing to pay.
There are two parts of a price tag: one is the actual sale price of the item. The other is the value that the purchaser finds in buying that item.
The actual sales price is just a number. However, the item is essentially priceless — it could be worth $5 or $5000, depending on how valuable that item is to its owner. Any visit to Christie’s or Sotheby’s will convince you of the varying price that someone is willing to pay for a particular item.
Your product or service might be worth $7.99, $79, or $790 to your particular client — you must price it at a level that you find profitable and that the customer finds reasonable for the value that item delivers.
In the reality of pricing your products and services, you’ll want to find the “sweet spot” that fits your company’s ability to make a targeted profit as well as your company’s ability to fulfill the job, deliver the product, or get the goods out the door.
What we’ve found in our own work and in consulting with other women entrepreneurs is that many of us take time finding the right price for an item. Here are some assessments for you to consider when you create your menu of available options.
1) How about making it free?
The price of delivering a turn-key product, especially one that’s digitally delivered, is essentially going to reach $0. Many people download documents online. Read-only and PDF formats work for many customers who simply need an electronic version of software, or an e-book, or an online product download (like a podcast or a Powerpoint presentation). We’re seeing more and more ways that people file share. How is your item going to fit into a marketplace where people expect knowledge for free?
2) Can you make your product free as part of an exchange?
Do you have something that you can make available to your customer, but as a fair trade: for example, if you offer an e-download in exchange for someone signing up to your e-mail list.
Is it possible based on your numbers to offer a “buy three, get one for free” or some other such discount? Can you give away a freebie? Is there a way for you to engage with your client more by sharing something of value with them now?
3) Is it priced at a rate that convers your expenses and allow you to make a profit?
By far, this is the most difficult item for people in time-based or service-based industries. If your work is somewhat fluid and does not have clearly constrained guidelines, deliverables, or outputs, you run the very real risk of underbidding and over-working on a particular project. In this case, scope out the actual cost of doing a project and bid realistically.
4) Can you sell more to your existing customers?
It is easier and more effective for you to provide add-ons to your existing accounts than it is to find a new customer or client. Consider ways to upgrade service, provide premium services, or increase the value proposition you offer your clients.
5) In service industries, figure out what it will cost, then add a little bit more to your quoted estimate.
I learned this from Suze Orman. In general, as women in business, we tend to undercalculate the actual cost of a product. I see this in my own web development business: while we know how long a particular site will take time-wise, there is always additional customization, or a way to make a particular page render better, or some additional SEO or Analytics work, or a new form, or some more complex functionality that is needed. When estimating the time it takes to do a project, plot out what you think it will cost, and then either add a small bit of padding to cover the inevitable delays, or lock down the scope of activities or your deliverables list in very granular detail.
6) Can you offer a package deal?
Can you bundle some of your products together into a package that provides even more value? Do you find yourself selling the same items together, over and over again? Find a way to package items into one attractive, all-inclusive package. Think airline, flight, and hotel.
7) What will make your customer happy?
In general, as business owners, we exist to provide solutions to our customers. Alternatively, we provide entertainment, something useful, or something necessary. What is the pressure point your customer needs to fulfill? Can you use the information you collect during your preliminary sales discussions to come up with a new product that you can offer through your company?
For example, for my web design and development clients, not everyone can afford a full-fledged website, but many people want the knowledge and procedural-type checklists we have, so now we provide books (print and e-version) to help with the planning process.
Learn from the music industry.
Seth Godin is an excellent thought leader about new ways for companies to engage with their customers. For example, the music industry, in the face of massive digital file-sharing and outright theft of music, has re-imagined their outreach, with some artists (Madonna, The Rolling Stones) taking more control of their share of profits from live concerts, other artists (Radiohead) offering pay-as-you-like versions of their music, and most performers setting up Fan clubs, members-only websites, ticket promotions through Facebook and Twitter, and other benefits only available to fans.
9) Be a producer.
If you don’t currently create for your company, find good staff or teammates who will create for your company. It does you no good to moan, complain, criticize, get angry, or worse– get frightened!– about your company’s future. There are literally millions of opportunities for us in the world. We simply need to find the item that works for us in our business, and then do that one thing well: then find ways to replicate that, provide a variation, or expand the available options on that one thing.
Will you make a kids version?
Will you do it in green or red?
Will you bundle it for a particular industry?
Do you offer a group discount?
10) Learn from the newspaper industry.
Newspaper ad revenue has declined (almost 40% from 2005 to 2009) — the world is changing. Many people now get their news online. What is the traditional newspaper going to do to increase its revenue? There are many ways that these publishing companies can find new customers and provide new revenue streams. These include partnerships, social networking outreach, subscriptions, annual events, video and audio media creation, and conferences.
11) Connect and empower others.
Can you offer affiliate marketing through offering a commission to others who sell your product? Will you offer a giveaway to increase your available pool of bloggers, Tweeters, and Facebook fans who will rave about your company? What is your bonus item for long-term customers? What community outreach and support will your company offer locally or for a cause? Increase your ability to serve your best customers and fans — they will help you find even more customers and fans.
12) Think 21st century.
The days of marketing your company solely through television, radio, and/or newspaper ads are on the wane. The companies that make it to 2012 will develop and execute a plan for social media, social networking, embedded applications, and referral marketing.
What is the price for your product or service? By focusing on choosing the right price, your business will succeed and thrive, your customers will find great value in doing business with you, and you’ll be rewarded every time a new client buys from you.
I’m now providing social networking packages with a partner through BergerLodise.com. Contact me there for a proposal that matches your company’s budget and timeline. Or if you need web design and development (such as Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, or custom content management system implementation), feel free to reach me through my web design business.
Special offer for Women on Business readers: purchase an e-version of my 240-page book on “Fifty-one Ways to Build your Community of Clients Online” for only $9.99 (use PayPal or your credit card to pay). 200 copies available. Use this discount code: womenonbusiness.
For instant download click to purchase
Learn more about this resource.
Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, or Custom Content Management?
Posted by: | CommentsHaving built over 250 websites in the last ten years, I have a good sense of what tools would be a good fit for a particular project. If you’re thinking of building a website for your own business, you’ll want to identify some key needs around the following:
1) your budget — how much can you realistically spend
2) your timeline to get the website up — when do you need a working version of the website
3) specific functionality — what do you need the website to do for you
4) who will maintain it — do you have the internal capacity to make ongoing website updates?
5) other sites you like the look-and-feel of — identify a list of 5 websites whose design and layout you like
What about using a Wordpress, Joomla, or Drupal site?
The basic rubric we use when figuring out which tool best fits your needs is the following.
1) WORDPRESS is an excellent tool for blogging and simple page content management. Typically a variety of bloggers can access it and add articles (blog postings) or pages as needed. It is much more of a “news publishing” type of software. Consider WORDPRESS MU (Multi-user) if you need multiple bloggers contributing to one major news-type site.
2) JOOMLA is an excellent tool if just a handful of people will be controlling most of the page content. This is a tool mostly for publishing content and doing things like displaying information to certain levels of group access.
3) DRUPAL is becoming our favorite choice. It’s an excellent tool for managing multiple members: members may have profiles and there are standard tools like discussion forums, blogs, and groups that may be set up “out-of-the-box”. May member-to-member/social networking type sites are built on Drupal. You have an ability to leverage the work of built-in modules, contributed by hundreds of thousands of programmers around the world, to make your site work the way you want to.
If you need customized functionality, for example if your website needs to fulfill specific functions, or you have specific forms or databases unique to your business, consider a customized content management system.
We’ve developed a comprehensive checklist on the web design and development process here, and we now have some social networking resources and packages available.
Contact me directly if you’re considering developing a website or you need additional information on your specific project — I can at least give you a sense of what you’ll need to budget for and how the web development process works.
Special offer for Women on Business readers: purchase an e-version of my 240-page book on “Fifty-one Ways to Build your Community of Clients Online” for only $9.99 (use PayPal or your credit card to pay). 200 copies available. Use this discount code: womenonbusiness.
For instant download click to purchase
Learn more about this resource.
Asking the Right Questions for your Website Process
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you’re doing any new process, it can be difficult to understand the correct questions to ask.
We are often called to give estimates on website development, including web design, customization, functionality, social networking integration, ongoing maintenance, and search engine optimization. There is so much information in this field — as I’m sure there is in yours — and new trends and tools emerge daily, so often we have to balance the needs of building a site vs. going into “analysis” mode, which can take as long as needed.
I always recommend you look at this process like you would look at constructing a building: a website is often an incredibly useful and efficient property for the business. We find that it’s important to ask the right questions — but if you as the buyer don’t know what you’re asking, it’s easy to get sold the proverbial “bill of goods.”
Here are some sample questions for you to think about during your hiring process, and the subtext you are wanting to get answered through these questions.
1) How long have you been in business?
(Subtext: do you know what you are doing?)
2) How many clients do you serve in a month?
(Subtext: will you be able to pay attention to my project?)
3) How many websites have you built?
(Subtext: how experienced are you? will you do a good job?)
4) What is your process?
(Subtext: do you have a process?)
5) How much does a website cost?
(Subtext: I have a lot of needs and want an estimate while I do market research to figure out what I need)
6) What kind of timeline will it take?
(Subtext: How much time do I need to allocate for this project?)
7) Can you tell me some references to other clients?
(Subtext: I don’t want to be your only customer. Tell me who else has hired your company.)
Also know that your initial gut feeling is a good one: if you don’t honestly feel like it’s a good fit, or if you feel like you’d do better by your new endeavor by extending the search, then by all means, wait a little longer, find someone else, or restart the question-and-answer process until you receive satisfactory results.
Would you like some additional free ideas on your website development? Follow @monicadear for general ideas, and @10kweb for web-specific tips and tools.
Special offer for Women on Business readers: purchase an e-version of my 240-page book on “Fifty-one Ways to Build your Community of Clients Online” for only $9.99 (use PayPal or your credit card to pay). 200 copies available. Use this discount code: womenonbusiness.
For instant download click to purchase
Learn more about this resource.
