Open for Business – 5 Tips for Starting Your Own Business

Posted on February 4, 2015 by MarleneMB

Have you ever dreamed that you would do something that made a difference? So did I. One of my aspirations was to start and operate my own business. I had a stable 9-5 job but lacked fulfillment and wanted to pursue my DREAM! How about you, do you desire to have your own BUSINESS? If yes, the following are some tips to help you on your way!

The Internet has lots of information about starting your own business. Perhaps too much. As you search you find that the rules vary from state to state, province to province, country to country. It can all be overwhelming.

Here are some basic steps that I find work for me after starting a few businesses or helping others to start theirs:

1) Choose the Right Name: Creating the right name for your business is one of the basic steps for creating a successful Brand Name that others can easily associate your business for its expertise, products and services. If your business is part of an established industry, I suggest that you include something about your offering in the name of your business.

For example, if your target market is small businesses, you may want to include something about small business or some word associated with small business in your company name.

In an episode of the CNBC series “Profit,” one of the companies featured was called “Green Tea.” Most people polled thought the company was selling tea. It was actually an ice cream company. This didn’t cause the business to fail, but it may have slowed the growth because of the lack of name association to the product it was offering.

2) Corporate Structure: Structuring your corporation requires a little more thought and homework; if you are not familiar with setting up a company. Deciding whether your company will be a sole proprietorship, S-Corp, C-Corp, Limited Liability Corp, etc. is very important for not only decision making process, but taxation purposes, liabilities and any future sale of the company.

The rules surrounding these various types of corporate structures are different based upon where the company is established. In Florida, the definition of the Managing Member of a Limited Liability Corporation has been modified with huge implication on who has the authority to make decision in such entities. Do your homework and/or consult with a corporate attorney to help you understand the rules.

3) Virtual Presence: Today, if you are do not have a virtual presence (website, social media page, etc.), most folks, at least in the USA, would question your business validity. If you are reading this article, I presume that you are in an area where people have access to the Internet.

Having a virtual presence will help you reach an audience outside of your local area, if this is one of your goals as an entrepreneur. It gives you the appearance of being an established company just like the larger corporation. It gives you access to a wider marketplace with more buying power.

4) Brand It: When you think about your company name also think about things such as:

What should the company Logo be?
What are the color schemes for the Logo?
How about the company other marketing materials and virtual sites?
What should your tag line be?
What do you want your company to be known as or for?

Create marketing materials that support these aspects of your business. Include them on your business cards, virtual cards, brochures, letterheads, videos, podcasts, etc. You don’t have to do all of these, but even if it is only your business card, make it count. Brand your business to standout from the crowd.

5) Give It A Heart: In your Vision, Mission and Values statements, give your company a heart. I call these three your companies Heart Statements. Put the things that you envision your clients would experience from purchasing your products, services and ultimately you and your employees! Then live this heart. Don’t just state it. Live it.

I find that I am willing to purchase from companies that live their Heart Statements. There are arguments abounding whether a corporation is a person or a thing. I won’t get into them. My views about it is that someone creates a product or offers a service for another person to purchase and use. When a company makes it all about the money and nothing else, I’m not willing to share my hard-earned dollars with this type of business. Many of my friends and colleagues feel the same way. Again, give it a Heart by offering products and services that benefit others.

I hope these tips help to guide you in your steps towards becoming an entrepreneur. There are more to these as you may expect. Take it one step at a time and before you know it, you can hang the “Open for Business” sign literally, figuratively and virtually!

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Entrepreneurs: A Major Lesson Learned from the Academy Awards Committee Faux Pax – Diversity

Posted on January 16, 2015 by MarleneMB

OSCARS DIVERSITY.001 — Image from cloudfront.net

The envelops were opened to announce the nominations for the coveted 2015 Academy Awards. Generally, this is a highly visible occasion to help build the excitement leading up to the televised Academy Awards event.

But something seemed amiss. None of the nominees were people of color. Also, a majority of the behind the scenes categories excluded women. The “Twitterverse” exploded with tweets of condemnation. YouTube lit up with videos of people ranting in disbelief. Not has something like this (exclusion of people of color) happened since 1998!

You may think: “What does this have to do with my business? I don’t care about the Academy Awards.” It does have a great lesson to offer you in your business decision making: Make Room for Diversity.

The Academy Awards Committee members are estimated to be close to 6000 people. According to an article in the LA Times 94% of these members are Caucasians and 77% of male. Only 2% are Blacks and 2% Latinos. This does not reflect the audience that view movies in the United States, let alone across the globe. Hence, the greater probability a situation like this will occur.

Here is some of the things you can do to avoid making the same mistake:

attracting-a-diverse-audience — Image from Soapboxsample.com

1) As an entrepreneur, it is critical that you think of the demographics of your target audience. Include folks on your staff (if you have employees) or in your circle of advisers (especially if you are the sole-proprietor) that reflects your target audience. We are told that one should diversify one’s financial portfolio to maximize the gains in the marketplace. The saying is true if you want to maximize your probability of the success of your business.

older-worker-handshake — Image from medreps.com

2) Oftentimes I have witnessed older workers being pushed out of corporations or not hired due to their age. This is not a great practice in my opinion. Some of my best advisers have been older workers, or as I liked to call them “seasoned workers.” They have years of work and world experiences that I can harvest to help me solve problems that I encounter.

Technology changes. Usually, people’s emotions and some behaviors remain the same for generations. Some of my seasoned advisers have helped me avoid bad business decisions that have saved me money. They have also given me great advices that caused me to earn more money.

3) In the same breath, don’t excluded younger workers because you perceive them to have less experience. I would rather take a chance on someone with less experience that have the willingness and the ability to learn quickly; than someone that has the experience but has no enthusiasm for the job.

A friend of mine was being considered to speak before a particular group. The event planner told someone that she (the event planner) thought my friend wasn’t seasoned enough in that particular area. Yet my friend helped her clients take their income from 5-figures to 6-figures in a matter of months! Obviously to me and my friend’s clients, she was doing something that was working well and could offer great information to the event planner’s audience. But the event planner had blinders on that state one has to have certain experience over a length of time to be considered “seasoned.” How unfortunate for this event planner and her audience.

Large group of ethnicity — Image from Mitchcommongroup.com

4) Include women, men, and minorities on your staff and in your circle of advisers. We all have our individual experiences that may limit our views that also limit our marketing reaching. Having a well-rounded source of viewpoints from various backgrounds (regardless of race, creed or sexual orientation) may give your business the spark it needs to attract more clients on a local, national and global level.

I thought my target audience were immigrant women. The more I deliver my keynote speeches or sell by books, I find that my message resonates with a lot of men from various backgrounds. It was a wonderful surprise. Now I include more men on my lists of advisers. This gives me a greater opportunity to spread my message and to earn more income.

globe450 — Image from smallbiztrends.com

5) Include people of many nationalities as you can; if you want a global reach. As you know, the explosion of the internet has allowed entrepreneurs to have access to international markets. It seems wise to include people of different nationalities in your circles.

My circle of associates, advisers, and clients hail from many different countries with different cultural experiences and spoken languages. I revel in this diversity, because it has enriched and enlightened me in so many ways.

Did the Academy Awards committee miss a great opportunity to promote its brand in a golden light? Only time will tell. It seems that the uproar from the lack of diversity of the 2015 nominees has dulled the shine on this body of decision makers, and unfortunately taken some of the spotlight off its nominees.

Avoid the faux pax of the Academy Awards Committee. Include diversity in your staff and circles, professionally and personally. Let the tweets award your business with praises for its inclusions and successes.

Find out how I learned these tips and more from my Diamond Cutters, my mentors and coaches, pick up a copy of Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters today.

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Before You Get Off the Hamster Wheel to Become An Entrepreneur: Get Over Your Fear of Failure

Posted on December 29, 2014 by MarleneMB

Pet Hamster Holding A Blank Sign — Image from launchalegacy.com.

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“How do you get off the hamster wheel?” This was a question someone posed to me this weekend. He stopped by my table at one of my book signing events. He asked me about the content of my book Living a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters. I told him that I wrote the book to encourage others to find a meaningful purpose to life; then, surround themselves with mentors and coaches to help them live that life.

We were discussing the fact that so many people stay in jobs that they disliked. This leaves them feeling unfulfilled in these positions. He said he admires people, similar to his friend, that are pursuing their passions. He explained that his friend had a lucrative practice as an attorney. His friend left the law business to become an entrepreneur in an area that involves his passion. His friend’s saved money from his law practice. Therefore, he does not worry about earning a large income in this new endeavor.

This gentleman told me that he personally trades in options. He also owns a rental property as added income. He felt that he could not pursue what he would like to do (he never did say exactly what that was). He needed the security of having enough money in the bank to sustain his lifestyle. I reminded him what we do in life is a choice. Whatever we choose to do, or not do, comes with consequences. We have to decide if we can live with those consequences.

My good friend Dr. Larry Benovitz, a psychiatrist and author of There is No ReDo: Strategies for a Lifetime, once said: “Many people are living behind prison bars they created themselves.” I thought about this quote as I spoke with my visitor. It didn’t seem that he was afraid of taking certain risks. He was trading in options…you can make a lot of money one day and lose it the next. Yet, I did sense a fear of failure or of the unknown from him in our conversation.

Early that day, I had listened to one of Tony Robbins’ sessions on Personal Power. Tony encourages the listeners to embrace failure. We should not be afraid of failing. As we push towards achieving our goals, we may experience failures. We should learn from them and get back in the game. If we don’t push pass fear of failure, we may never experience the joys of the manifestations of our dreams into realty.

Brigette Hyacinth, Director at MBA Caribbean Organization, wrote a great LinkedIn article, Leadership Lesson: The Wisdom of Failure, that gives valuable insight on how to approach failure in our lives. I recommend that you invest the time to read the article by clicking on the title.

Back to the questions: “How do you get off the hamster wheel?” You decide to do so after you examine:

What it is you want – Vision – The End Result
Why you want it – Purpose – If you don’t have a strong why, you won’t survive the failures
How do you get there – Mission – Build a Plan with goals that have timelines and milestones
What is the impact if you do or don’t pursue this Vision

A week before he died, my dad told me he regretted not living his dream of being an artist. He reminded me that we cannot take material things and money with us. Only our life’s experiences and our relationships with people. I don’t want this regret to happen to me. I want live my life doing what I understand to be my purpose. Don’t you?

Yes, we have to be realistic that we have to take care of our basic human needs.But how much are we willing to sacrifice in order to stay behind our prison bars or stay on the hamster wheel due to fear of failure. Prison bars that may exist because we bought into what the media or others tell us is a successful life.

Why not approach life like my 86 year-old friend, Lyle, does? He told me yesterday that he is happy because he realized earlier in life that “It is my choice.” He chooses to define what happiness and success mean to him.He experiments different ways to enjoy life by learning new things and not worrying about failures. He sees failures as life’s lessons. Because of this approach he has been able to enjoy many things in life. By the way, he was captain of his high school football team, a race car driver and married to a beautiful model! Sounds like an exciting life to me.

You will not be a successful entrepreneur if you are afraid to take some risks. Things don’t always work out the way we plan them. Take each failure by learning its lesson and build a stronger Will to achieve your Vision.

Here is to your Success in 2015. Remember to Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose on Invincible Monday.

Find out how I learned these tips and more from my Diamond Cutters, My Mentors and Coaches, pick up a copy of Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters today.

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Thank you for reading my post. Please hit the “follow” button at the top of the page. This will allow me continue to write and share with you on a variety of topics.

Webinars Suck – Is That Right? – Part 4 of 4

Posted on December 19, 2014 by MarleneMB

Select the Right Webinar Provider

We are almost at the finish line for you to conduct successful Webinars. You may recall in Part 1, we wrote great content. In Part 2, we organized prior to the Webinar. In Part 3, we learned how to be Interactive with our participants. In this final part (4) you will learn how to select Webinar Providers. The Webinar Platform you choose as your Webinar “stage” is important. Do not use free, cheap or even expensive as your only criteria for selecting a Webinar provider.

Throughout my career in various positions, I have had to conduct Webinar sessions to a variety of audience: sales people, customers, Value Added Resellers (VARs), customer service representatives, etc. Now as a small business owners, I conduct Webinars as a part of Live a Diamond Life, a Life of Purpose to help people find their true life’s purposes. I also include Webinars as part of my Leadership program to corporations and organizations.

In all these position, I’ve found a webinar is only as good as the platform it is conducted on. At the early stage of the Webinar revolution, many people did not understand the concept that is was simply a conference call that allowed you to share content (data) from your desktop to multiple people simultaneously. Webinars are now widely accepted methods of sharing information.

The processes and platforms have also improved over the years. Yet there are still important matters to consider when selecting a provider.

1) Reliability – Are you able to connect successfully each time you dialing into the Webinar session? You know that making multiply tries to connect to platform gets old very quickly, as the moderator, presenter or participant. It creates frustration and leaves a bad impression on you and your company. You may avoid this by selecting a provider that offers service that has a high percentage of successful connection. This also means that you have to select the right connections to your home or corporate office. Don’t try to conduct a Webinar on a shoddy or shared Internet connection while at Starbucks or Panera!

2) Scalability – Whether you have 5 or 500 participants, you want to know that all parties can get an open port on the Webinar. Have you tried getting on a Webinar only to find out that the session has met the maximum access? If you are unsure of the number of participants, you may want to choose a provider that has a scalable product that can contract or expand based on the number of callers.

3) Stability – I recall a webinar that I was excited about learning to effectively share my blog articles. I registered for the session, included it on my calendar and dialed in. It wasn’t the clings and clangs that got to me, it was the constant dropping of the session. The platform would freeze up and force me to dial back in. The moderator’s voice faded in and out along with some voice clipping. It was a disastrous session. Many participants posted comments about it. The presenter offered a refund and a free session to make up for it. You can minimize this on your Webinar by conducting test sessions prior to the live session. Get others involved with your testing. Once you are satisfied, publish your live session.

4) Security – In this day and age of Hactivism, Identity Fraud, etc. protecting your participants information is important. If providing a strong privacy policy is part of your business, then you need to make choosing a provider with great security part of your decision making. There are providers that address security needs on Webinar platforms. You generally have to pay for these features. Free service providers may not guarantee that your Webinar participants information will be protected.

5) Flexibility – Your participants may use various devices and portals to access your Webinar session. Opt for a provider that offers access from multiple portals (Google Chrome, Explorer, FireFox, etc.) and from multiple devices (tablets, mobile phones and desktops). This will broaden your reach to many folks in the digital community.

6) Pricing – As mentioned prior, pricing should not be the single item to determine a provider; however, it is still important. You don’t want to pay a premium for a particular feature when you can get it for a reasonable rate for another provider. The Webinar arena is becoming more competitive with more providers coming onboard and more useful features being added. Know what your budget can afford and work with a provider that fits most of your other needs at a reasonable price.

7) Customer Service – I don’t know about you, but I prize great customer service. When I company offers great customer service to me, I am more willing to stay with them and purchase more products/services from them. If I’m experiencing issues with a Webinar session or trying to understand a particular feature, I appreciate connecting with a knowledgeable person on the phone that can help me. Ask about the availability of the customer service department before you sign on the dotted line. You don’t want to select a provider with limited or no customer support during a time that you may encounter issues on one of your Webinar sessions that is provider related.

I have used the services of a few providers to conduct my seminars: WebEx, GoToWebinar, join.me and others. I also know, freeconferencecall.com also has a Webinar offering that they call “Online Meeting.” I have not tried this offering yet. These providers all have strong and weak points.

Take the time to do your homework, compare each of these providers features, functionalities and all the points I highlighted in this article, previously. Give them a trial run. Most of them offer a trial period. Test them out. Then select the one that is right for you.

Give yourself a pat on the back! You hung in there for all four parts of this series. I hope that you have gained some information that will prove to be valuable to your Webinars’ success. Remember Webinars don’t have to Suck! Give them great Content, make it Organized, make it Interactive and select the Right Platform, most of all make it Fun!

Until next, keep Living a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose!

Find out how I learned these tips and more from my Diamond Cutters, My Mentors and Coaches, pick up a copy of Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters today.

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Thank you for reading my post. Please hit the “follow” button at the top of the page. This will allow me continue to write and share with you on a variety of topics.

Webinars Suck – Is That Right? – Part 3 of 4

Posted on December 18, 2014 by MarleneMB

Take a Poll - Make Your Webinar Interactive — Take a Poll – Make Your Webinar Interactive

Interacting with Your Audience

Welcome back! In Part 1 you read about importance of good content, and in Part 2 you learned how to get organized in this four-part series. Now it is time to conduct your Webinar. Don’t fail by making your session! Your content may be technical, complex or perhaps it is a new concept that requires critical thinking. This doesn’t mean it has to be a Snoozer! You can make the Webinar interactive and fun.

Let’s get started…

1) Establish a rapport – Start your Webinar by establishing a great rapport with your audience. Tell them why they should pay attention to you. Lay the foundation of why you have authority or expertise about the subject. Share tidbits about yourself that may help to endear you to the audience. Or make them laugh; great humor disarms people. Remember, people buy from folks they like and trust.

2) That Monotone Voice – Did you ever get on a Webinar and the presenter voice makes you want to sleep? You find yourself constantly yawning. Using voice modulation will help to your audience pay attention. Raising and lowing your voice at certain point during the Webinar will make your points come across better. You can emphasize certain words and phrases such as “THIS product will…”

3) Get rid of the Ums, Ers, Likes – It is amazing to me how much folks don’t realize how often they use filler words as crutch words when speaking. It drives me crazy to hear a presenter saying: “and then, you can, like, use it to, um, tweak your, er, SEO ranking.” WHAT! With all those filler words the message gets lost. I’ve been a Toastmasters member from 2009. This organization helped me to learn to get rid of my penchant for using the word “like” every time I opened my mouth. Check it out at toastmasters.org. Visit a club. It may change your life. It did mine.

4) Ask questions – Asking questions of your audience and allowing them to reply either in the chat session or verbally helps to keep the audience tuned in. Utilizing questions keeps it interactive. Asking a question at the beginning, during and after the session is helpful in keeping the audience engage. It is a great way to gauge if the audience is learning from your presentation.

5) Affirmation Polls (Check in with Your Audience) – One of the tools I admire about my pastor is his use of “Amen” to validate that his parishioners are paying attention. He would make a statement then ask: “Can a get an Amen?” or he may say: “Clap, if you agree.” Checking in with your audience by polling them with a question or statement that prompts an immediate response is a great way to ensure they are following along.

6) Offer Give-aways to Make it Fun – Tell the participants that “N” amount of respondents will receive a special discount or a give-away item for doing “xyz.” People like gifts and discounts. It could be a free e-book, consultation session, or discount on the next Webinar.

One of my best experiences on a Webinar was a few years ago. The presenter, Lewis Howe, demonstrated how establishing the right LinkedIn Profile can help to increase the participant’s visibility on LinkedIn. This would in turn make the participant more attractive to future employers and recruiters. Lewis had the participant modify his/her profile with keywords during the Webinar. This action caused the participants ranking in his/her area of expertise to increase.

When Lewis was finished he gave a Call to Action to purchase a more detailed session for successfully navigating LinkedIn. The response rate was very high to his Call to Action. You too could increase the success of your Call to Action by keeping your clients and future clients engaged through interactive, informative and fun Webinars.

You have created great content, got yourself organized for your Webinar and you have everything set to make it an interactive session for you participants. But what about the platform? Which Webinar provider should you select? Part four, the final part of this series will give you some information how to select a provider.

We are almost at the finish line for you to conduct successful Webinars. The Webinar Platform you choose as your Webinar “stage” is important. Do not choose free, cheap or even expensive as your only reason for selecting a Webinar provider.

Find out how I learned these tips and more from my Diamond Cutters, My Mentors and Coaches, pick up a copy of Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters today.

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Thank you for reading my post. Please hit the “follow” button at the top of the page. This will allow me continue to write and share with you on a variety of topics.