Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Make Your Home Office Schedule YOURS!

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This is a guest post from Pamela Hilliard Owens of Writing It Right for You.

Working from can be a mixed blessing: on the one hand, you have a very short commute and can work in your jammies if you want to. But the boundaries between “work” and “home” can become very blurred unless you work to maintain a “real” work schedule. Two of the time-stealers for home office workers are lack of discipline and outside distractions. In order to have a successful home-based business, you should find creative and personal ways to set a schedule that works for you and actually work during your “work time”.

One of the greatest benefits of working from home and making your own schedule is the ability to work when you are at your optimum attention level. For some, that is morning or daytime; for others, evening or even late at night works best for them. Depending on your business, while you can set a schedule for yourself that is different from the traditional 9-to-5, you may also find it helpful to have rituals to start and stop your workday.

When you had a job, how long was your commute? Think about that time in the car or on the subway, and instead use it to “get ready” for work. Do your workout, eat a good breakfast, get dressed (really, working in your jammies could be counter-productive), get the kids off to school. Any activity that will clear your mind before you go into your office to settle down to work is helpful in separating home from work. At the end of the day, check for unfinished projects, make your plans for the next day, clean off your desk and workspace, turn off the computer, and close off your office.

If your family situation or your type of business necessitates working more flexible hours, you can do that successfully too, because you work from home. The most important thing to keep in mind is that when you are working, you are working; and when you are off, you are off! It takes a lot of practice, but let family and friends know that interruptions during your work time, even “just for a minute” (my husband’s favorite phrase), are disruptive to your workflow. Let the people close to you know that you will check in with them at set times, and stick with that promise.

Whichever schedule you choose, it will take discipline and practice to make it work for you and your family. But that is how successful home office workers manage their time and their efforts for maximum productivity.

How do you schedule your day? What has worked for you? What challenges do you still deal with?

Pamela Hilliard Owens has her own freelance writing and editing business at Writing It Right for You. She knows that “It Matters How You Say It”! Pamela works with individuals, graduate and post-graduate students, and businesses throughout the United States, Canada, the Middle East, India, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom on a variety of academic and business writing and editing projects.

Face Slapping the Fishies Will Get You Results

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This is a guest post from Thomas George.

When creating copy, or blog posts or any content you want to grab attention with, you must write as though your audience are as smart as fish. This was the first thing I learnt.

Your title and first few words are your bait. If you haven’t slapped hard enough, you’ll lose. If you make it too long, you’ll lose. If you make it too complex, you’ll lose.

I’m not saying that my audiences are idiots. Never confuse the writing structure with personal opinion.

When I started in marketing, I used big words, complex analogies, structured sentences that would give Jane Austin cause to salivate much like a Pavlovian puppy with irony and wit weaved in more subtly than a deft pickpockets fingers.

And I was told it was all crap and wasted effort.

The art of copywriting is to engage the majority of the audience. You do that by being punchy and quick. People are much more likely to read an article that spans a few paragraphs than a few pages, so get to the point and do it fast. They have fish memories of around 2-3 seconds.

Attention spans are getting shorter, this is one of the sad things about the new technological age and the entire mission here is to get your whole article read. You do that one sentence at a time and each sentences primary purpose is to get the next one read.

Some people can do this easily and without effort. It took me a while to get the hang of it because I utterly despise reducing my vernacular range and lexicon. I’m a smart guy who grew up in an area of Sydney that promotes and celebrates both mediocrity and stupidity so I naturally have issues with it. I always will.

But the key to remember is it’s not about you.

You’ve got to make copy as engaging as possible and your primary tool is language. Adapt to the product or service your promoting and look at it from a fishes eyes.

You have to make the choice of being smart or getting results and when other people are paying for your time, they couldn’t care less about your brilliance.

Controversy always gets the most attention so use titles that cause outrage. Make hyperbole your best friend because if you use him well, you’ll do great. But always do it appropriate to the product your pitching.

For example, I use wild, in-your-face, language with my friends because they “get” me and understand my sense of humor. However, if I ever used that sort of hyperbole for a client, I’d immediately lose the client and damage my reputation as a writer. There is always a line and it moves around, which is something I’ve covered on my own semi-offensive copywriting blog.

So the essence of what has worked for me is to be short, simple and direct. Don’t allude to anything, don’t be overly clever, make the focus the client and audience. Read what other people say, take it all in and filter out what works for you. Remember the fish will come and eat out of your hand, if what you have to offer is tempting enough.

Thomas George

Adventures in Advertising

Short Stories and other Curiosities

How To Create an E-book To Promote Your Business

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This is a guest post from Chuggin McCoffee of TheCoffeeBump.com about using an ebook giveaway to attract customers.

As a small online business, you have a world of opportunity at your fingertips, which is Internet marketing! One easy way to draw attention to your small business niche and beef up your website is to offer a small e-book on your website for free or a small price.

Keep in mind that people are always attracted to something that is free, so they will be likely to request your free offer, which can provide more information about your niche market. This is the perfect way to get your foot in the door! E-books are often called reports, and these small reports should be no more than 15 pages. You can easily hire someone to write your e-book for you or write it yourself ranging anywhere from 5 to 15 pages.

From that point, you can promote the e-book on your niche market on your website and elsewhere, which will give you the opportunity to gain more exposure to your small business. Even though this may seem like an overwhelming task, one of the easiest rules of thumb to use is to write a How To e-book. With the wealth of content available on the Internet, people are instantly attracted to content that will teach them something, making a How To e-book more likely to be a hit. To get the idea for your e-book, all you have to do is brainstorm based on your niche market and your keywords.

If you are selling beauty products, then consider writing a free How To makeup or skin care e-book. Likewise, if you are selling furniture or home decor products, then consider writing a How To e-book on easy steps for interior design. Do you see what I am getting at? It’s actually quite simple to create a small e-book to give away or promote on your website, but it does need to relate to your niche market and leave your customers wanting more! The primary purpose of this e-book is to bring customers to your website so that they will be interested in your products or services that you are offering.

If you want to promote your e-book to gain more exposure to your business elsewhere, then consider the use of ClickBank. ClickBank will partner with you to sell your e-book, and they also have many affiliate marketers working through them. This will gain immediate exposure to your niche market so that even more people will pick up your How To e-book on skin care tips for a small price to potentially come back to your website to purchase products. This is something that can jumpstart your niche market to offer more exposure and credibility to your website for an increase in sales!

Chuggin McCoffee is a coffee fanatic that has spent the entirety of his career cultivating and studying all of the best uses and brewing styles for optimal coffee and espresso flavor. His specialty site for all coffee needs, supplies, and Bunn Filters can be found at The Coffee Bump at http://www.thecoffeebump.com.

5 Tips for Getting Clients and Building Business

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This is a guest post from small business coach Jennifer Davey on the five best strategies to get new clients.

Out of all the strategies you can use to get new clients for your business, here are the 5 that I’ve found to be among the most effective.

1. Schedule plenty of time to develop your business. Open up your outlook and schedule time, and then actually TAKE the time. If you don’t set aside time to market your business, you’ll never get around to it. During your scheduled “working on your business” time, shut down your email, switch off your phone, and focus on building your business.

2. Know your niche. If you want to get clients, you have to know your niche. This gives you the important information you need when it comes to reaching your target market. It also clarifies how you should spend your time and energy. Don’t try to market to everyone. Find your niche, and live happily there. Trust me, it works.

3. Be the expert. Your potential clients are looking for the most qualified person in your field to work with. Be that person. You’ll earn more money this way, and you’ll be given opportunities to show what you can do, which will lead to even more income in the future.

4. Stay in touch with your network. Never go too long without communicating with your contacts and associates. Let them know what you’re doing, and don’t be afraid to request referrals.

5. Follow up. In many cases, you have to reach out to a potential client at least seven times before he or she decides to work with you. If you stop making an effort to connect with clients and potential clients, this gives your competitors the perfect opportunity to swoop in and steal your future business right out from under your nose after YOU spent time priming them for the sale..

Small Business Coach and Marketing Strategist, Jennifer Davey, is the author of the “Getting Clients Home Study Program”, the step-by-step guide to getting clients, building your business and making more income. For a FREE copy of her 14-Step Formula for Getting Clients and Report “What you Need to Know to Be Successful at Getting Clients” visit http://jjscoaching.com/free-marketing-tips/

Six Things You Need to Know About Sales

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This is a guest post with sales advice from G.L. Hoffman. It is excerpted from his book, Dig Your Job.

sales-woman

Sometime during your adult years you will wonder about starting your own business or company. Everyone thinks about it so you will too. There are a lot of factors than go into this decision and things you should know. Some people can achieve success on sheer effort combined with a great business idea…even if they have little experience or knowledge about business. However, no business can survive without sales. Here are some things you need to do to make your business successful.

1. Sales is number one, two and three on the priority list. You should plan on spending most of your time worrying and working on your sales efforts. Nothing else matters much. A sale happens when someone pays you for your service or product. Don’t get too excited if the marketing focus group says everyone will buy one. Get excited when someone pays for it.

2. To sell many, sell one. To build your company, you have to sell multiples. You can’t just sell one. Anyone can sell ONE. The trick is to sell a lot, right? Sure. But before you can sell many, you have to sell that one single customer so that he is excited and pleased to have your product or service. This is why when you talk to venture capital investors, they are obnoxiously insistent on waiting until someone buys something from your company. Everything else is classroom.

3. Do you know what scalable means? This is a relatively new business topic for an old business process. What this means is that you should try to develop processes in the business that can be easily duplicated and replicated. It is one thing to sell your product to one person, quite another to figure out how this sale was made so that you can make the next sale more efficiently. Success often hinges on your ability to continue to do the correct things faster and better that result in some tangible success.

4. Your sales people don’t work for you. The sooner you realize that all good sales people work, truly, for the customers and not for you, you will understand more about sales people than 90% of all non-sales people.

5. Sales trumps all. Sales will mask a lot of internal problems. Or, said another way….sales mean you can live to fight another day, and buys you time to fix and solve internal problems…which are sure to come.

6. Just stay in business. Too many new companies flame out, just like the afterburner on some supersonic jet. The pilot kicks in the after-burner for an added jolt of power, but once it happens, that’s it, no more power. If you can just continue your new business, first year to the second year, then to the third year…chances are great that you will make it. Do whatever it takes to make it to that third year. Don’t flame out.

G.L. Hoffman is a serial entrepreneur and venture investor/operator/incubator/mentor. Two of his companies have traveled the entire success path from the garage to IPO. He has been featured in Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other local business publications and newspapers.

Currently, he is Chairman of JobDig, an employment-focused media company that delivers multi-channel recruitment advertising solutions to employers of all sizes in all industries. JobDig publishes a free weekly jobs newspaper in markets throughout the U.S., operates the popular website jobDig.com, and partners with network and cable TV stations and radio stations in each of its markets to allow companies to leverage broadcast media in their recruitment advertising. The company also owns and operates LinkUp.com, a site that aggregates and publishes only jobs listed on corporate web sites from over 10,000 companies around the U.S. His daily blog can be found at www.whatwoulddadsay.com, JobDig.com, and now as a weekly guest writer at US News and World Report. He can be followed on twitter at www.twitter.com/glhoffman