Category Archives: Business Planning

by Gail Z. Martin

We live in a time when most ‘full-time’ jobs last less than two years and when an increasing number of professionals work on a freelance/contract/on-demand basis. It’s called the ‘Gig Economy’ and while I know the term draws from musicians, the reality can feel more like frogs. Key to keeping your head above water is career agility, the ability to gain new skills, constantly learn new things, and reinvent yourself to remain relevant. Here are five more tips to help you make sure the world sees the ‘real’ and ever-changing you.

1. Once you have a name and logo, print up business cards that do you proud. Here’s a tip: have a professional create the layout for your card, then save on printing with online sites like Vistaprint.com. Your business card is your first impression and you want to make a good one, so don’t skimp on quality.
2. Print up at least 500 cards and give them to everyone you meet. And I do mean everyone. It’s going to take you a while to get comfortable with introducing yourself and your new business using your 30-second introduction, so practice, practice, practice. Strike up conversations in the grocery store, at social events, or when you’re waiting in line. The more you use your introduction, the more comfortable and natural it will become. Always have your cards with you, and ask people to pass on your cards to interested friends and family.
3. Expand your personal network, but don’t jettison your old colleagues. Use social media to let your former colleagues know what you’re doing and how they can help you make the transition. You might be surprised about how the friends from your ‘old life’ can make connections, referrals and recommendations that will help you create a successful reinvention. Use your business name and tagline frequently, and repeat your 30-second introduction often enough that the people in your network can use it to tell others about you.
4. Post photos of every step along your journey. Taking a class for certification? Post photos of the classroom, you with classmates, and you with your certificate/diploma. Snap selfies when you travel for work and get clients to pose with you. If you create a tangible product, take plenty of photos. The internet loves before/after photos, so if your work helps people, places or things look better, snap and post! Every photo is part of your branding. Facebook and Pinterest are great for this.
5. Ask for testimonials and recommendations. Ask your former colleagues to endorse and recommend you on LinkedIn. Ask every client, no matter how small the project, for a testimonial you can share. Testimonials and recommendations are an important part of your branding.
6. Tell stories about what you’re doing. Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn are great places to post short (paragraph) stories about the funny things you encounter, the challenges you overcome and the outcomes you produce. YouTube is great for this too. Remember, stories sell!

Changing careers, starting a new business or reinventing yourself takes courage and effort, but you can have fun with your fresh start and enjoy the journey. By making personal branding a conscious investment of your time and focus, you’ll be ahead of the game in rallying friends to your cause and reaching new customers in record time.

by Gail Z. Martin

What is your “Second Act”? Do you know what you want to be doing in the future, and are you making plans to make it happen?

Are you preparing for your next success? Think ahead five years, ten years—where do you want to be, and what do you want to be doing?

If you know where you want to go but not how to get there, it’s time to think about Second Act Success.

I spent 17 years in Corporate America running PR and Marketing departments. It was fun, and it was exactly what I went to school to learn how to do, and I made a good salary. But I always knew that someday, I wanted to write books, especially epic fantasy books filled with magic and swords and adventure. There just never seemed to be enough time.

When I left Duke Energy in the meltdown over Enron, I wasn’t sure what to do next. I looked for the same job at different companies, only to find that the positions available really did not offer much in the way of growth. Colleagues began asking me to take on projects for them, and my consulting business was born.

Working for myself (DreamSpinner Communications is 11 years old now!) gave me the freedom to write the books I had always wanted to write. Glance through the newsletter, and you’ll see how that turned out!

Bottom line—I replaced my corporate income, and then exceeded it while constantly learning new skills and facing new challenges, and I was able to achieve my long-time dream and actually turn that dream into a new core for my business. That’s what I’m talking about when I say “Second Act Success.”

Now, your dreams are probably different. But it all begins by visualizing where you would like to be in five to ten years—and then charting a course to get there. Do you want to be leading adventure travel tours in the rainforest? Running a bed and breakfast? Teaching yoga on a beach somewhere warm? Would you like to be running a business, but a different one from what you have now?

Time to start making a plan to get you from where you are to where you want to go. And if you’ve already made the leap, have you considered how you will get friends and colleagues to see and understand the “new you” so they can contribute to your success? (That’s where personal branding and social media really play a part!)

Learning to publicly reinvent yourself when you make a big change requires some soul-searching, and it also takes strategic thinking and some savvy marketing. It’s a journey, filled with a lot of challenges and big discoveries. But the results can be amazing, and oh so fulfilling.

I suspect that a lot of folks have reached the mid-point in life and are re-assessing where they go from here. For some, mergers, layoffs and ageism may have forced a change of career plans sooner than expected. For others, dreams long denied are insisting on having their turn. And yet others may want to make big career shifts and lifestyle changes for health reasons, or to savor more time with family.

That’s why I’m working on a new book tentatively titled “You After Corporate” and it’s all about creating “Fresh Start Success” for the second act of your life. I’m interviewing people who have left big corporations, government, and institutions and have created a successful Second Act. I want to find out how they succeeded, what they learned the hard way, what tips they would like to share with others, what secrets they’ve uncovered—and then I want to share those secrets with you.

You’ll be hearing more about this project, but I’ve already got some amazing people on board, and as I interview them over the next months, I plan to introduce them to you!

But I need your help—I am looking for introductions to people who have made the Second Act leap successfully. So if you or someone you know sounds like the kind of person I’m looking for, please send me an email at Gail@DreamSpinnerCommunications and put “Second Act Success” in the subject line. Thanks!

by Gail Z. Martin

The term “Cloud computing” sounds intangible, and that’s just the point.

“Cloud computing” refers to access to software that is accessible via subscription over the Internet. Programs that reside in the Cloud are actually housed on the servers of the company that owns the software and which provides subscription access. Unlike traditional software, such as word processing or spreadsheet programs that are stored on your computer’s hard drive, programs that reside in the Cloud never have to be installed, updated or uninstalled from your computer. That’s the beauty of the “Cloud.”

Why would you want your software to be housed on the Cloud? Several good reasons come to mind:

1. You don’t have to install the program, so you can use software that requires greater speed or memory than your desktop or laptop might possess.
2. Because the software is stored on the Cloud, it doesn’t hog memory or bog down your computer.
3. You don’t have to worry about updating the software; the tech staff at the company providing the software takes care of doing that.
4. Since you access the software via the Internet (and a secure password), you can access your software (and possibly your related files) from any computer, anywhere you have an Internet connection.
5. Since your access is via subscription (usually monthly or annually), your costs are much less than if you were to purchase a private license for the program.
6. When you no longer want or need the software, cancel the subscription. There is no software to uninstall on your computer.
7. If there’s a problem with the software, your subscription includes access to technical support. It’s the provider’s responsibility to fix the bugs, and you don’t have to download patches or new versions.

Starting to see the appeal? Cloud computing programs offer extremely flexible access to powerful programs without the hassles of maintaining the software on your own computer. If you’ve ever suffered through a lengthy software download (especially one that needed to be done over several times), you’ll understand the appeal of being able to “visit” your software instead of needing to have it all on your hard drive.

Three Things You Should Know About Access-Anywhere Software

            Being able to access your software from anywhere on any device can be a real lifesaver when you’re on the road. Programs that live on web servers that you can access via the Internet are what Cloud Computing is all about, and it’s the key to using your smart phone and tablet PC to get more done when you’re on the go.

But if your programs don’t live on your computer hard drive, how safe are you from hackers and viruses?

If the idea of having your valuable and proprietary data residing in the Cloud worries you, there are steps you can take to set your mind at ease.

First, make sure that you understand the individual service provider’s privacy policies, terms of use, and recommended methods for safeguarding the security and integrity of your data.

Secondly, always back up essential information. This can mean creating a print-out, saving a Web-based document as a file or a screen shot, or copying essential information to your hard drive or an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) storage site. An FTP site allows you to store and share documents or files that are too large for regular email. Yes, FTP sites are also Cloud computing sites—a good example is www.4shared.com, but there are many similar sites.

Third, be certain to safeguard your password. Realize that when you share access to your Cloud computing sites with an administrative assistant or colleague, they may gain access to your billing and credit card information unless the site allows for different levels of access. Some Cloud computing sites offer a group membership, so that you can provide access to several employees or partners while keeping your own account information private. Other programs make it possible to designate an “administrator” who can access everything except the billing/payment information. If you must share your password with an assistant, keep track of which passwords have been shared and be sure to change your password if your relationship with the assistant ends.

Cloud computing programs can boost your productivity by giving you access to powerful software without the hassle of downloads and updates. You save time, reduce the in-house needs for online storage, and reduce your dependence on hired computer professionals. Just think–no more losing part of a day as your IT consultant tinkers with the settings to make sure a newly downloaded program doesn’t wreck your network!

Small businesses and solo professionals also benefit by gaining access to valuable online services and software which would be prohibitively expensive to license on an individual basis, and which would require significant investment in servers and personnel to install and manage in-house.

Five Important Reasons to Move to The Big Storage Unit In The Sky

No, this isn’t about the afterlife. It’s about how you can store files someplace that never runs out of room, and back up your important data in a safe place outside your home or office.

Corporations store their data backup in salt mines and high security off-site locations. That’s a little extreme (and expensive) for most small businesses, but the need for secure storage and backup isn’t limited to large corporations. A flood, fire or natural disaster could wipe out your computer and your locally-stored flash drives and portable hard drives. Frequent back-ups to a storage location reduce your risk of a catastrophic data loss.

Storage capacity is another challenge for many users. While storage costs have decreased tremendously, making terabytes of capacity reasonably priced, some users rapidly exceed their on-site storage capability.

Fortunately, Cloud computing offers alternatives for both data security and data storage.

Carbonite, Dropbox, GoogleDocs, and other sites offer Cloud-based data backup and storage capabilities. Most sites provide automated back-up, making it less likely that you’ll forget to update files. In addition, files stored on the Cloud can be accessed from any location, giving you portability.

When looking into Cloud-based data storage, remember that you’re entrusting your sensitive files to a third party. Here are some questions to consider as you weigh your alternatives.

• What happens to my data if the provider is sold, merged or goes out of business?
• How does the provider assure site security?
• What precautions are taken against hackers?
• How does the provider do its own back-up to assure my data is safe if the provider has a catastrophic event at their location?
• What do other users say about the ease of use, security and customer support?

Cloud-based storage and back-up can be valuable and affordable services. Having your files saved from just one on-site disaster could well be worth the investment in monthly fees. As always, be sure to check out provider options to find the service that is the best fit for your business.

For big productivity gains and lower costs, get into the Cloud!

by Gail Z. Martin

Marketing case studies MUST create empathy with the reader. If they don’t, you’re wasting your time, and your readers will become buyers—elsewhere.

I see people write up very “logical” and “fact-driven” case studies that look like the case studies they’re familiar with, the case studies they’ve seen in text books, and then they wonder why their case studies flop at making the sale.

Compelling marketing case studies—ones that create Results Envy—are NOT like academic or clinical case studies.

People who come from academia or from the health professions struggle with this. Academic and clinical case studies are impersonal. They create distance between the reader and the subject for a reason, because they are focused on details and technique. They are not trying to sell you something. They actually create emotional distance on purpose. They stress facts, not benefits. The reader does NOT want to see himself in the case. The human piece is almost completely gone.

Now those types of case studies serve a purpose in academic and medical circles, but they aren’t going to do you one bit of good when it comes to selling.

The reader must FEEL the pain of the person in the case study. If the reader doesn’t identify and empathize, the case study fails. So you’ve got to avoid anything that creates distance, that gives the reader ways to say “that couldn’t happen to me” or to look down on, pity or fear the person or their story. If the reader feels superior, he won’t feel that he needs whatever you’re selling. If the subject of the case study, the person whose story is being told isn’t a close enough match to the person reading the story, you might get pity, you might get compassion (bless your heart), you might get disdain, but you won’t get empathy and you won’t get sales. Reader empathy is CRITICAL.

Academic and clinical case studies use a lot of jargon to be very precise and to keep the story emotionally dry. Jargon saps the blood right out of your story. Take out the buzzwords, the jargon, the abbreviations, the industry-speak. Use solid nouns, active verbs, feeling words. Paint word pictures. Use short sentences that make an emotional impact. Make it tangible so the prospect feels the pain and feels everything that the person in the story feels.

Which brings me to the next point: tell the story. I’ll share some secrets on how to do that in just a little bit, but you’ve got to think about your case study as a story, with a beginning, middle and end. Think about what authors call the ‘dramatic arc’, which is how the story starts, then rises, then rises some more, then hits the climax, then drops off to a wrap-up.  Don’t tell a boring story. Tell a blockbuster. Tell an adventure story, or a love story, or an action story, but don’t tell a boring story.

The other way marketing case studies are very different from academic or medical case studies in in the importance of getting the reader to identify with the results. You know, if you’re reading a clinical case study about someone with a horrible disease, the reader doesn’t want to identify with the patient. He doesn’t want to feel their pain. He might be interested in how to treat the disease, but he wants to see the subject of the case study as a patient, not a person. And he really doesn’t want to identify with the results, because he hopes he never has the disease.

Most academic case studies are cautionary tales told to illustrate what went wrong. The listener is invited to feel superior and somewhat disdainful, and to pick apart the poor choices of the people in the case study. Nothing is being sold, and there’s no desire to feel the pain, empathize with the person in the case study, or identify personally with the results. It’s very impersonal.

That won’t cut it for a marketing case study if you want to sell products and services.

Make it exciting.  Get emotions involved. That’s when you’ll make the sale!

by Gail Z. Martin

Recently I had a call from a business owner I’ll call Jane (not her real name). She had been referred by a client and friend of mine, and Jane was shopping around for new talent to handle her PR and social media.

The problem, Jane said, was that while her PR folks were getting her into the news and the social media people were driving traffic to her web site, people weren’t buying. And that, she felt, was the fault of the PR and social media folks.

Hmmmm….maybe. But the longer Jane talked, the more I heard a full-blown case of the three most deadly social media mistakes.

Mistake #1: A hammer is not a chainsaw. It’s not the hammer’s fault you can’t cut down trees with it.

Different tools have different functions. You don’t use a waffle iron to iron shirts, and you don’t use a steam iron to make waffles. If you tried to do so, it wouldn’t be the tool’s fault if it didn’t perform according to your (mistaken) expectations.

Social media and PR are not advertising. Social media is a tool to build relationships, increase engagement and raise visibility. PR is a tool to raise visibility, cement your professional platform and increase credibility. Both tools can also work to drive traffic to your web site. But neither tool is intended to directly increase sales. That’s advertising’s job, as well as good web design.

Too many people are like Jane, thinking of social media and PR as another form of advertising, and then they’re upset when their “ads” don’t result in sales.

Social media and PR are indirect reputation builders. They give you the “I’ve seen your name everywhere” viral buzz, and they help you establish yourself with the credibility of being in the news and the accessibility of being interactive online, but they are not meant to create direct sales.

Paid advertising and direct mail are tools to create an immediate “buy now” incentive. A well-designed e-commerce web site can also encourage shoppers to become buyers. Don’t assume that all promotional tools do the same thing.

Mistake #2: One-size-fits-all metrics don’t work.

Jane went on to tell me that she was unhappy with her current social media and PR people because while they were driving traffic to her site and resulting in news placements (which means they were succeeding at what they set out to do!) they were not resulting in a three-to-one payback of her investment.

Where did she get that 3:1 ratio? Who knows? Someone along the line told her that, or she read it somewhere. Once again, she’s mistaking an advertising metric with a social media and PR metric.

How do you know if your social media is working? Here are some metrics:

• Your business page is seeing steady growth in page “likes” or Twitter followers
• Your posts are getting consistently high numbers of likes/shares/YouTube clicks/comments/retweets/favorites
• People commenting on your posts have a genuine interest in the topic (you are reaching your ideal audience)
• Your posts are consistent and on-topic, and you are responding to comments and new followers.
• Your Facebook ads are getting click-throughs and a large number of views.
• Your posts about upcoming webinars or links to articles or other resources on your web site are getting click-throughs and sign-ups.
• Your page is helping you increase your newsletter opt-ins.

How do you know if your PR is working?

• Your news gets into the desired media on a fairly regular basis. (Awards, promotions, new hires, product launches, events, etc.)
• You are getting a steady stream of requests for interviews, profiles and Q&A.
• People say “I see your name in the news all the time!”
• You are getting articles and blog posts you’ve written placed regularly in the appropriate industry media.

Social media increases engagement. PR increases visibility. These are long-term investments, not quick sales gimmicks. Sorry, but the mystical/magical 3:1 ratio Jane was using doesn’t apply.

P.S. If you are using any metrics from before the 2008 economic crash, they’re out of date.

Mistake #3: Believing you don’t need to understand PR and social media because you have people for that.

I explained to Jane that my current focus was coaching and consulting on social media and promotion. She was quick to tell me that she didn’t need that, because she hired out those functions.

I told her that most of my clients hired someone to do their PR and social media, but that they discovered they could manage those resources much more effectively after they had been coached on how social media and PR really work.  Think about it. If you don’t understand how something works, how will you know if your people are doing it right? How will you decide whether a campaign they propose is a good idea or not? You’re flying blind, and you’re at the mercy of anyone with a good pitch.

Bonus Mistake #4: If your web site is getting a lot of traffic but not generating sales, then you’ve either got a problem with your site’s usability, or your products aren’t attractive to the traffic you’re getting.

Jane was upset that the people who came to her web site because of social media and PR weren’t buying. I told her that social media and PR had done their work delivering the traffic, but it wasn’t their job to make the sale—it was up to the site and the products/services to do that.

Maybe the site is difficult to manage. Maybe the shopping cart is wonky. Maybe the pricing is not competitive or perhaps the services weren’t compelling. Or maybe the audience being delivered wasn’t ready to buy, or even a good fit. (Numbers alone won’t make the sale. You have to be getting the right people, which is a targeting issue.)

Before you pull the plug on your social media and PR services—especially if they’re delivering traffic—step back and ask a few questions.

• Who are we targeting with our social media? Are they my ideal prospects? (If not, change the targeting.)
• Who reads the media where we’re getting our PR placements? Are they my ideal prospects? (Again, fix the targeting if need be.)
• Do the people going to my web site need an intermediate step between coming to the site and buying to build trust? (Like downloading a free ebook or getting invited to a webinar?)
• Is my web site easy to use and my shopping cart hassle-free?
• Have I validated that the market still wants/needs what I’m offering and that my pricing is competitive?

So before you use a flame-thrower to make coffee or a coffee pot as a weed-whacker, remember: know what each tool does best and use it for its intended purpose, then judge its effectiveness accordingly!

by Gail Z. Martin

Want to find your tribe? Start by going to their favorite campfires.

The people you want are your tribe.

The places they gather, I call “campfires.” Just like the cavemen.

Your tribe is already gathering around other people’s campfires, where there is a common interest, and they’re waiting for you to join them.

This is SO much easier than trying to find your tribe one person at a time.

And I know so many people do that—looking for potential customers one at a time. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. I bet you’ve done it, too.  And it drives you crazy. It makes you frustrated.  You feel like you’re never going to find the people who are interested in your business for which we recommend this paystub generator.

And the truth is, those perfect prospects—your tribe—are just sitting around another campfire, waiting to meet you, and you can find dozens—maybe hundreds—of them all at once.

And once they get to know you and you have a relationship with them, they will come over to your campfire.

You will be more successful building relationships that lead to sales if you focus on finding the campfires where the tribes you serve are already gathering, and go there to meet your tribe, in business, while if you need to finish other businesses you have, you need to learn How to Close a Limited Company with Debts to HMRC so you can start all over again.

It’s a lot harder to build a campfire and then try to get total strangers to come hang out with you.

Instead, find your tribe at the campfires where they’re already gathering, and get to know them. Let them get to know you. Then you can invite them to visit your campfire, and they’ll come gladly, because you have a relationship with them.

Now let me be clear here.  I’m NOT talking about joining a mastermind group or an expert’s Facebook page and trying to poach their clients.  That’s not professional, and it will backfire on you. I’m NOT talking about posting spammy links on people’s blogs or hijacking the conversation to turn it into a sales pitch.  If you do that, your tribe will run the opposite direction.

So where are these campfires and how can you meet your tribe without getting into trouble?

Look for groups where people are united by their interest in a particular topic, but where the group isn’t owned or run by any single person or expert. So, for example, on Facebook and LinkedIn, there are groups on just about every business topic. There are groups on marketing, investing—all kinds of topics.

Join the groups and be a good neighbor—not a salesman. Answer questions. Make referrals. Suggest resources and solutions. Don’t sell.  You won’t need to sell—if you give good, helpful answers that aren’t self-serving, you will earn the respect of the group. The people who are really your tribe will begin to like and trust you.  They’ll feel a connection because you’ve invested in building a relationship.  And if your responses include a short signature with your name and the name of your company and a tagline that makes it clear what you do, the people who are drawn to become your tribe will make a connection outside of that group, and that’s when you can invite them to come over to your campfire—your web site, your Facebook page and blog.

Not only that, but people who find what they need around a campfire invite other friends who will be a good fit.  Your tribe will invite their friends to become part of your tribe. That’s the magic.

Now this is where a lot of people get lost.  You’ve been out on Facebook and Twitter trying to make good connections and you feel like you’re wandering around in the dark.  You can’t find the right people.  You feel like you’re wasting your time.  Or you attract followers, but they don’t buy anything.  It really hurts. You start to feel overwhelmed and ready to throw in the towel, but you can’t, because you’ve got a mortgage to pay and college tuition to pay and kids to feed. It really hurts. And it makes you want to scream.

Cindy was one of those people who got lost.

Cindy owns a national company that sells craft supplies.  She knew that teachers are always assigning craft-related projects.

She also knew that teachers and homeschooling parents are always looking for fresh project ideas—and she had a ton of them to share.

But Cindy was overwhelmed when it came to social media.  She knew who she needed to reach, but finding them on Facebook seemed worse than looking for a needle in a haystack.

She was trying to find teachers and homeschooling parents one at a time, and it was burning her out.  Cindy was pulling her hair out.  She was wasting HOURS hunting through random strangers on Facebook, following every Tom, Dick and Harry on Twitter—and not getting any results. She was ready to give up and walk away from social media.

She needed a blueprint.

And then I let her in on the most powerful secret.

Find your tribe around other campfires. Then invite them to join your campfire, too.

You do this in real life.  If you want to find people who like to play tennis, you don’t start calling through the phone book asking if the person you’ve called likes tennis.

You go join a tennis club.

So Cindy started to connect with her tribe on Facebook groups for teachers and homeschooling parents.  They welcomed Cindy with open arms.  She won their trust by sharing first—project ideas, ways to use craft supplies to do more, last longer, tips for saving money on craft supplies—all the things those teachers and parents NEEDED to know.

They were HAPPY to go to her web site to download craft supply shopping lists and project designs.  They were THRILLED to get coupons for her company’s craft supplies.  They COULDN’T WAIT to go to the store and BUY her products.

Cindy didn’t just find new customers.  She created raving fans.  And those raving fans not only bought Cindy’s products, they introduced their friends to her who bought even more products.

Then I shared a secret with Cindy that blew her mind.  Facebook isn’t the only game in town. It’s only one campfire—but there are lots more!

I showed Cindy how to find other campfires outside of Facebook—websites, blogs, forums– where teachers and homeschooling parents were already gathered, people who were DESPERATE for her project ideas and craft material tips.

So Cindy joined those groups, became a helpful good online neighbor, and attracted more people to her tribe—and ultimately, to her campfire.

It all starts with finding those places—campfires—where your tribe is already gathering. And when you find the right campfires, it’s like finding a gold mine.