Business Need a Boost - Start with Your Friends and Family

By: Stan Washington
Date: 02/14/15

Remember when you had that great idea for a business? There was energy and excitement and you talked about it day and night. Now that you have been in business for more than a week are you still excited? Here are a few things to remember.

Remind everyone about your business. Remember, even though you think about your business 24 hours a day, your friends and family have lives. They forget the special thing you dreamt up last week. Spend time to reach out to your friends and family and let then know how things are going.

Remain excited. When your friends and family don't hear from you then they can sense there is a problem. They are your early ambassadors and require new information to spread. If you remain excited about what you are doing, then you will always have new information to pass on.

Realize their value. Come out of hiding if you haven't communicated in a while. Make your friends part of your vision. Get them personally involved in your success. Your followers will remain the best salespeople for your business. They need the latest update to keep things fresh.

Recognize your shortcomings. Being overwhelmed is part of business. You need help. Ask a friend or family member to assist you, but don't wear out your welcome. Do this in very short spurts and if they don't follow through, thank them anyway.  Don't depend on them being free labor. Treat them out to lunch, give a referral fee or pay them handsomely.

Relax. Ask your friends and family if you are working too hard or pushing the business too much. If they answer a resounding YES then maybe it's time for a vacation. Take some time off to relax and enjoy those around you.

Entrepreneur Dilemma, Split Personality

By: Stan Washington
Date: January 12, 2015

When I joined the ranks of becoming an entrepreneur I did not know I had to split my personality in order to make it. On my very first day, I turned on my computer expecting the reports I would get in the corporate world, but there were none.  I quickly realized I had to generate the work by marketing my company.

When I held a meeting at my house, several people forgot how to use the bathroom and now I was the janitor. When I had packages to deliver, I became the delivery person. I soon realized I needed to do these things well so I had to stop and put my mind to each thing since.

Marketing is Not Sales and Sales is Not Marketing
I tried to combine Marketing with Sales and had miserable results.  I had to split these two extremely necessary functions of my business into their proper places. I would tell people about my product or service and sit back and wait for the sales to roll in. When I got no response, I would jump into sales, bugging and pestering everyone.

I needed to do a better job at marketing my business to build brand awareness and to froth up some buzz about what I was doing. I had to take time to get my message straight and market to my audience.

When it was time for sales, I had to do it my way.  I don't like the pushy sales types so I had to do sales within my personality. Natural is a better approach, this way I didn't have to "seem" sincere because I am.

Operations is not Social Media and Social Media is not Operations
One day I woke up with a huge goal to streamline some of my business processes and made the mistake of looking at my social media pages. I got distracted with the goofy video of a guy skateboarding from one hose to another. Hours later after answering friend requests, tweeting and liking pictures of aunt Selma I soon realized my goal had slipped away.

Turn off Social Media once you have completed your "Personal Engagement" for the day. Reach out to your clients and potential clients. Work on improving your customer service and seek feedback.

On Social, do it well. I mean get away from the pictures of your dinner and post items that are helpful to your audience.