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We are excited!!
To give for this event to help entrepreneurs:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ways-to-empower-my-business/x/10382501
Showing posts with label Victoria Cook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victoria Cook. Show all posts
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Ways to Empower My Business - Resources and Book Talk
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On
Saturday April 18, 2015 at Chicago State University Library Auditorium we will
be hosting our “Ways to Empower My Business” Resources and Book Talk.
- Address: 9501 S King Dr, Chicago, IL 60628Phone:(888)611-7725 x1
It’s time to turn the “Hustle” into a money
making business! We have brought together mentors, resources and advice for
small business owners who are ready to grow but do not know how.
Authors Victoria Cook, Dan Duster and Stan
Washington will be there to sign their books, discuss the curriculum and give
tips to those who have been in business but need some fresh new ideas. We welcome
those who are just starting out as well!
Please remember to bring your business pitch and
win prizes! More details on this in days to follow!
Victoria
Cook, founder & managing director for The Center for Guilt-Free Success,
helps women entrepreneurs grow their businesses through coaching and training.
Known for her proprietary 7-step Guilt-Free RESULTS™ process, she often is in
demand as a speaker. Named "Business Brick Builder" by the
International Coach Federation Chicago Chapter in 2013. Her innovative approach
reflects her commitment to building the strengths of her clients as she helps
them market their businesses more confidently and easily. Victoria is co-author
of Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems and Tools for Small Business Marketing
Success.
Dan
Duster President 3D Development Group, is more than a
salesperson. He sits on numerous boards, conducts training for personal
development and goal achievement, and he still holds one of the largest picnics
on the lakefront of Chicago for his high school, college friends, and
colleagues. He loves people. One of his favorite hobbies is playing bid whist,
where he welcomes any and everyone to challenge him. He combined his passion
for sales with the skills of training and became one of the most decorated
salespeople in his area. In 1999, Dan felt the need to formally begin helping
people get over the fear of selling.
Stan
Washington, a McDonald’s executive turned entrepreneur is founder and president
of Honor Services Office, software that helps small business grow
sales, market businesses, and process invoices easily. He has helped thousands
of small businesses achieve sales into the millions. His leadership of
operations and technology enabled multi-billion dollar corporations to increase
sales and he is ready to share their tips. Stan also is the co-author of
Peaceful Selling: Easy Sales Techniques to Grow Your Small Business and Plans
to Prosper: Strategies, Systems and Tools for Small Business Marketing Success.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Things You Should Know About Writing a Book - Our Journey (Part 5)
Date: February 26, 2015
We were in the homestretch, or at
least we thought so. After months of late nights and hundreds of hours logged
on phone calls, we could finally see the end of the tunnel. Our scheduled end
date for this project had past but only by a couple of days. Our thoughts of
being "done" were dashed to bits instantly when we threw the book
over the wall at the editor.
"This
is just the beginning of your journey" implied the editor with that steely
eyed look that would terrify the fearless! Okay, enough exaggerating. She read
our sample chapter and sent it back with a huge number of strikethroughs,
corrections and suggestions. We thought we were finished!
Hire a
professional editor. We hired a
professional editing company, L Marie Editing. This was part of the project
budget and worth every penny! We thought we would put down our content
and have someone simply modify our words into something coherent. Wow, were we
wrong! With thirty years in the book business and several books published,
she asked us the right questions.
When she asked "Where is your
back of the book copy?" we looked at each other like she was a martian.
That was just the beginning. We soon realized that she is an editor in
this project and not an author. She pointed out missing or vague information.
Fortunately for us, she was great at following up to see if we had the missing
content. Here is the link to our editor's blog: https://lmarie7b.wordpress.com
Be careful of quotes. We put a ton of quotes in the book thinking it
would be so cool if we would mention words from a particular expert. Our editor
stopped us dead in our tracks. There are a ton of rules regarding quotes that
we had no idea of. Siting the sources became more of a task than a pleasure.
Format after editing. With red pen flying, we received countless cuts,
additions, and changes but eventually we were finished! We frantically grabbed
the CreateSpace 6 x 9 template and began stuffing in our content. Use the blank
template if you can. Here are the Create Space templates. https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/InteriorPDF.jsp.
Use quality pictures. After the final review of the book, we were
ready to upload to CreateSpace and Smashwords, or at least we thought so. When
we uploaded our book, it took 24 hours to get comments. We sat and sat and
finally received an email. To our dismay it said "The book interior has
issues that need to be corrected." Our pictures were not high quality and
could be blurry in the final print. We changed the pictures and inadvertently
changed the spacing of the content.
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We uploaded the book and it was
accepted, but upon closer review, we noticed a number of formatting errors that
we did not catch in our final review. The inadvertent shift caused many
problems that rippled throughout the book. We made the change to the picture
sizes and waited yet another 24 hours! We
finished our books and celebrated when
everything was in, formatted and uploaded..jpg)
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Our books have been featured in Small Business Trends!
Blessings to you!
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Sunday, January 25, 2015
Plans to Prosper GREAT REVIEW - Small Business Trends
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http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/01/plans-to-prosper-book-review.html
Plans to Prosper: Small Biz Marketing Doesn’t Mean Small Impact
Summary
"Plans to Prosper" offers advice to small business owners on how to take control of their time, marketing, and sales.
As a small business owner, you have been told more than a million times, “You need to market your business. It won’t promote itself.” And many small business owners would gladly agree.
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But implementing that advice is harder than it sounds. With all of the marketing advice out there, how do you know where to start? How much money and time should you spend on marketing and advertising and still make a profit?
“Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems, & Tools for Small Business Marketing” by Victoria Cook and Stan Washington is a short, sweet guide to specific topics that are often neglected in most marketing books.
It walks readers through a 90-day program intended for them to better grasp how to juggle the tasks of marketing while also managing the business. Plans to Prosper promises that readers will walk away with not just a marketing plan – but an improved perspective with a process to keep it alive.
A 90-Day Prosperity Plan for Your Small Business
As discussed above, the core solution provided by Plans to Prosper is the 90-day plan called the “High Achieving Marketing Process.” The plan is arranged in 3 convenient phases, each 30 days:
- Readiness
- Execution
- Follow-up
In this respect, Plans to Prosper follows the trend of other books focused on quick business planning for results, such as the 7-Day Startup and The One Week Marketing Plan. Like those books, this book doesn’t go into extreme detail on topics. But it does provide targeted information on some areas that business owners often have questions about.
As an example, Plans to Prosper recommends creating a marketing calendar, then provides bullet points on what should be done daily, weekly, monthly and yearly on it.
The plan itself, however is not marked by days. Rather, the authors outline the phases of their plan and provide recommendations and guidance for those phases. Most of the information will be familiar to any person who has ever read a marketing book. But there are a few differences that stand out.
One notable difference in Plans to Prosper is the diminished role of social media. There are no blogger outreach campaigns or tips on which hashtag to use. It’s not that kind of book.
Cook and Washington recommend that owners engage in social media as a relationship and networking tool. But they encourage business owners to limit their time and participation to the channels that actually brings in customers. Particularly of note is this statement from Plans to Prosper, “In my experience, the more you rely on free marketing channels, the less likely you will experience true growth.”
Instead of reliance on social media and free channels, Plans to Prosper prefers a multi-channel approach based on market research (carried out in the first phase), relationship building (carried out in the second phase) and marketing/promotion (carried out in the third phase). Marketing and promotion is part of every phase. But a different aspect receives focus in each phase. This makes the plan cumulative, building on the success of the phase before it.
Who Will Benefit Most From Plans to Prosper?
The book will be best suited for two types of small business owners:
- The small business owner who runs a one-person business.
- The small business owner who has a growing business and recognizes the need for marketing, but is unsure of how to do it or how much to spend.
Plans to Prosper is especially targeted to solopreneurs and people who own a business with a small number of people. Because the authors, particularly Cook, have experience with a one-person business, Plans to Prosper goes into topics from that perspective. Some of the topics in that category include:
- What to charge clients or customers.
- How to find time to market.
- How to deal with obstacles to sales (such as guilt, fear, lack of time, etc.).
- Building referral programs.
Plans to Prosper is also ideal for small business owners who know they want to market, have established a marketing budget, but need specifics to get them started. Cook and Washington provide very specific numbers and percentages that shed light on just what a confused business owner might want to consider.
Plans to Prosper also limits itself to particular issues, rather than general concepts. Some of the topics in that category include:
- Market research.
- Developing a marketing calendar.
- Creating packaged deals.
- Loyalty programs.
The only businesses that might not benefit as much from this book are relatively new businesses. Since they don’t have the research and customer base yet, the steps may not work as effective. Larger businesses might consider the information in Plans to Prosper as well. But the book is highly geared for smaller business who can implement ideas faster and adapt quicker.
In summary, if you are a small business owner or solopreneur and want to know what you can do now to improve your marketing process in your business, Plans to Prosper helps in that regard. If you are a person who wants a straightforward answer to a marketing issue, this book helps you approach that issue in a systematic and targeted way.
About the Authors
Victoria Cook is a trainer, speaker, coach, and founder of The Center for Guilt-Free Success, a business coaching service that helps women. She can be found on thebooks website and on Twitter @Ctr4GFSuccess.
Stan Washington is a coach and founder of the Honor Services Office, a business software company. He can be found on the books website and on Twitter@KunakaNotes. Plans to Prosper can be found on Amazon. This review was based on a purchase of the electronic copy of the book.
@thecharlesiwas
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Plans to Prosper Book Signing
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Date: January 17, 2015
We are honored to serve the small business owners who cam out to celebrate our book release. We now have a Marketing Curriculum that takes entrepreneurs step-by-step through a process to market their business.
Victoria Cook and Stan Washington co-authored the book and it's said to be "simple to read and easy to implement." Great for businesses right now!
The crowd gathered to get their book signed. Felt like a celebrity!
Here is what people are saying about the book:
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
PHENOMENAL!!!!, December 7, 2014
This review is from: Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems and Tools for Small Business Marketing Success (Paperback)
Awesome find! This author does a masterful job of weaving the critical elements of faith into our plans to develop and prosper personally and professionally. The book serves as a coach with strategies which were easy to follow, understand, and integrate into my daily life. I can't wait for the follow up...
This should be a best seller!
This should be a best seller!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
highly useful book! Victoria gives clear, January 8, 2015
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems & Tools for Small Business Marketing Success (Kindle Edition)
This is a really important, highly useful book! Victoria gives clear, concise information and priceless tips and tools. And what’s really invaluable is that it all feels doable, it takes away the overwhelm. And wow the 30 day checklist of what to do for the next 30 days- what a gift. Ive taken some of Victoria’s classes and this book is all that and more! Love it if you can’t tell!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A MUST read!!!, December 23, 2014
This review is from: Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems and Tools for Small Business Marketing Success (Paperback)
Unlike many, this book provides step-by-step strategies on how to grow your business and won't leave you feeling overwhelmed. I recommend it for those who are just starting out as an entrepreneur as well as those who have been in business for a while but could use timeless approaches to increase revenue.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Great value for small business on a budget!, December 12, 2014
This review is from: Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems and Tools for Small Business Marketing Success (Paperback)
This a must read. Most people want to prosper but forget about the plan. The book provides simple but necessary and often forgotten solutions everyone can use in their life plan to prosper. It also provides additional tools that are extremely helpful in your small business. This is a great value!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
No-nonsense strategy, December 23, 2014
By
This review is from: Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems and Tools for Small Business Marketing Success (Paperback)
Stan is an amazing small business coach. Using tried and true principles, he designs a no- nonsense strategy that is easy to implement and maintain. This is an awesome tool designed to take your business to new heights!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
I highly recommend that you adopt this book into the best practices ..., December 14, 2014
This review is from: Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems & Tools for Small Business Marketing Success (Kindle Edition)
As a small business owner, I'm always looking for ways to sharpen my approach to doing business. I highly recommend that you adopt this book into the best practices of your business.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Clear and Easy to Follow, December 10, 2014
By
Avid Reader (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems and Tools for Small Business Marketing Success (Paperback)
Often, we get so caught up in the day to day operations or just "putting out fires" that we fail to put together a clear plan to get us from where we are to where we want to go in our businesses. This book provides a clear, step-by-step marketing plan that is easy to follow. It is a great resource for making sure nothing falls through the cracks, causing you to waste time and money. The sooner you read it, the sooner you'll get on the right track.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Comprehensive. Easy to follow. Brilliant find!!, December 19, 2014
By
This review is from: Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems and Tools for Small Business Marketing Success (Paperback)
If you are excited about starting a new business but aren't sure where to start with your marketing, or if your small business needs a boost, you've got to read this book! Great tools, tips, and easy-to-follow guidelines to get you going and keep you on track.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Must have marketing book, December 8, 2014
By
Motivator in Chicago (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems & Tools for Small Business Marketing Success (Kindle Edition)
This book is the best resource that I've seen when it comes to being able to help an entrepreneur market their business. It is practical and has things that you can implement quickly and easily. It is a must have if you want your business to prosper!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Great marketing resource, December 7, 2014
This review is from: Plans to Prosper: Strategies, Systems and Tools for Small Business Marketing Success (Paperback)
Great marketing resource. This book provides a good framework for establishing a good marketing strategy for any small business. I will continue to use it to further develop my consulting business marketing plans.
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