Small Businesses For Teens

Ways to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business

Social media isn’t going anywhere. It’s not a fad or a flash in the pan like “teen pregnancy” or “unconditional love.” It’s here to stay. And how do we know? Because Google is starting to index your tweets on Twitter, and your status updates on Facebook. That’s like hearing it from the Almighty, and by “Almighty”, we of course mean Rachel Maddow. If social media is here to stay, may as well put it to use, right? Here are a few some simple tips on making Twitter an effective marketing tool.

1. Grow Your Following. The way you to this is to tweet relevant and interesting content about your business. For example, if you are a Reiki healer, try to consistently tweet web content about Reiki and MAKE SURE TO HASHTAG (putting a # in front a topic word) YOUR TWEETS. Hashtags help people interested in certain topics find your tweets. If they like your tweets, then they are likely to follow you. Here is a good sample tweet:

Healing with your hands: #Reiki for Newbies! http://ow.ly/P1gr #spiritualism #bodywork

Anyone searching Twitter or even Googling for content about Reiki, spiritualism, and bodywork will find this tweet and can click on the link to find a web FAQ on Reiki from The International Center for Reiki Training. You could be perceived as authoritative and worth following. Gradually, your following will grow and so does the number of potential new clients. This is really the basis of effective marketing through Twitter.

2. Tweet Your Reviews. Anyone potentially interested in hiring you is naturally inclined to get some kind of recommendation. Whether the reviews are links to a specific massage advertising site like Manworks.com where you have a profile or to your personal site or blog, make sure to tweet them so potential new clients can read what it is about your handywork that makes you worth the expense. But again, don’t tweet a link. Pull a great little quote from the review to intro the link, or some other bit of text to get someone to click the link. For example:

“I learned what he meant by the ‘Hands of Zen.’” http://ow.ly/P2u5 #gay #masseur #massage

3. Tweet Your Availability. Free for the day? Or for the next 8 hours? Did a client cancel and now you have a spot open? Keep your clientele in the loop so that you can book appointments now that they know you can see them. A slow day can easily become a busy and profitable one.

4. Tweet Your Personality but Leave a Little Mystery. You don’t have to tweet info all the time. Interesting anecdotal tweets show who you are and people are inevitably drawn to approachable and likeable types. Who you are is part of your marketing arsenal, but don’t lay it all out on the table with your dirty laundry. Unsavory characteristics like being overly whiny or a habitual complainer, unreliable, a gossip, etc. are things you don’t want to come off as in your tweets. Those are turn offs for current and would-be clients. So practice discretion over how much of yourself you reveal. It doesn’t pay to have everyone know how much of bitch you think your mom is.

Is Bad Customer Service Killing Your Business?

It’s time to beat the old bad customer service drum again. I know, I’m sick of beating the drum, too, but as long as bad customer service runs rampant through so many businesses I feel it is my entrepreneurial duty to bring it to your attention. So grab a pew and prepare to listen to the sermon I’ve preached before: bad customer service is the bane of business. If the Almighty smote down every business that dispenses bad customer service the world would be a much friendlier, albeit much sparser place. Consider a world without malls and fast food joints… would it really be so bad?

What puzzles me most is if bad customer service is such a death knell for business, why do so many businesses allow it to go on? Don’t they read my column, for Pete’s sake? I think the problem is that most bad customer service is doled out (or at least condoned) by business owners and managers who have ceased caring what their customers think. When you stop caring what your customers think it’s time to close the doors. Go find a day job. You’ll make someone a wonderfully disgruntled employee.My latest parable of lousy customer service was actually experienced by my better half while attempting to buy my daughter a pair of basketball shoes. I won’t mention the name of the sporting goods chain store in which the bad customer service took place, but I will tell you that its name is similar to the sound a frog with hiccups might make.

As my wife waited for someone to assit, the four or five teenagers who had been charged with manning the store stood in a clump at the cash register giggling and flirting with one another as if they were at the prom instead of at work.When my wife pointed out this fact, one of the employees, a cheeky lass of 16 or so, put her hands on her hips and said, “How rude!” The males in the group didn’t react at all. They were too busy arguing over who could take a break so they could chase other cheeky lasses about the mall.

target=”_new”> alt=”Tim Knox Teams Up With eCapital Training To Offer Professional eBay and Internet Coaching” border=”1″>

Needless to say my lovely bride, who has the ability to instill fear into the hearts of even the most worthless employees, left the gaggle of giggling teen idiots standing with their mouths open in disbelief. How dare a customer tell them to do that with a pair of basketball shoes?

As much as I bemoan bad customer service I celebrate good customer service. It should be applauded and the purveyor of said good customer service should be rewarded for actually delivering satisfaction to the customer above and beyond the call of duty.So let me tell you the story of my new hero, Ken. I won’t tell you the name of the store in which Ken works, but let’s just say they started out selling radios in a shack somewhere long, long ago.

I first met Ken when I went into the store to buy a mixing board for my business that records audio products for the Web. In a nutshell, you plug microphones into the mixing board then connect it to the computer and you can record audio directly to digital format. Totally beside the point of this article, but I didn’t want you thinking that I was purchasing non-manly cooking utensils.When I got the mixer installed it didn’t work. So I boxed it up and headed back to the store to return it. When I told Ken my problem he didn’t just grunt and give me my money back as so many bad customer service reps would do. Instead he asked, “Do you mind if I try it?”

“Knock yourself out,” was my reply, confident that if I couldn’t get it to work, neither could Ken. Ken took the mixer out of the box and went about hooking it up to one of the computers on display. He started pulling power cords and cables off the display racks and ripping them open and plugging them in. He tore open a new microphone and an adapter and kept going until he had the mixer hooked up and working. Yes, I said working. It turns out the mixer was fine. I just had the wrong power adapter.

Ken could have just given me my money back and been done with me. Instead he spent 15 minutes and opened a number of other packages that I was under no obligation to buy just to help me get the thing working.

I was so impressed that I not only kept the mixing board, I also bought another $50 worth of products. And the next time I need anything electronic guess where I will buy it? Even if it costs twice as much, I’ll buy it from Ken.

Now here’s the moral of the story: if you are a business owner who has a gaggle of teenagers in charge of customer service at your store you would be better off replacing them with wild monkeys.

At least monkeys can be trained.

Social Networking and Your Home Business

If you have been in business at any time in your life then you have been involved in some type of networking. In decades past it was cocktails or dinner with a client or potential client. Networking has always played a role in marketing a business or business opportunity.

The latest marketing tools, are the social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook or the newest Twitter. More than half of all Americans from those in their early teens to those heading for retirement are active on one or more social networking site. More and more individuals are hosting their own blog to talk about themselves, the family or their business.

With technology and software becoming more user friendly, more people are using the Internet to stay connected with family and friends. They are blogging and using social networking sites to meet people around the globe. Individuals are using these sites to learn about products and services. It is similar to talking to friends and family for recommendations for everything from where to have dinner, shop or visit. It’s the “word of mouth” advertising that business crave and need to grow and prosper.

Business and marketers continually look for ways to improve and expand their client base. Social networking sites and blogs provide an avenue for these individuals to learn who their potential clients are on a personal level. You get to know them as individuals first and then as clients. It allows that personal touch which as been missing from business and from corporate America.

To use social networking sites effectively and to grow your business, individuals must remember that words have meaning and impact those reading them. How you use words can directly impact the growth or decline of your business. Many social sites promote a “free wheeling” atmosphere in conversations, therefore caution is advised in your conversations on those sites. It is important to remember that words linger on the Internet long after your “log off” a site. This written word is the presentation you have given of you and your business. It’s how you are representing yourself.

Social networking is about getting to know your potential clients and in turn letting them know who you are and what your business has to offer. It’s that human touch that, we as social creatures crave.

Many traditional marketers underestimate the power that social networking sites and blogs have on consumers. They also underestimate the role that these sites will continue to play in business and with the growth of businesses. With the growth of Blogs, Twitter, Squidoo and other social sites, those with online business or who are contemplating starting an online business must learn how to leverage these social networking sites to their advantage.

While more conventional marketing will continue to play a role in business and a marketing budget, marketers will need to be more fluid in their thinking and in their marketing techniques.

South Sound man gets the surprise of a lifetime

South Sound man gets the surprise of a lifetime
A small volunteer project explodes into a community event.

Read more on KING5 Seattle

Bomb suspect may suffer from mental illness

Bomb suspect may suffer from mental illness
TUPELO – The man accused of causing a bomb scare at a South Gloster Street bank on Monday has a history of mental illness, according to police.

Read more on Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

Broomfield Enterprise upcoming events — Aug. 19

Broomfield Enterprise upcoming events — Aug. 19
Upcoming events in and around Broomfield

Read more on Broomfield Enterprise

Vacaville, Benicia and Vallejo police chiefs against pot legalization

Vacaville, Benicia and Vallejo police chiefs against pot legalization
The marijuana tug-of-war — with supporters likely endorsing a hemp rope — is gaining intensity as a state ballot measure to legalize the drug is less than 100 days away.

Read more on The Vacaville Reporter

*why Business Partnerships Don?t Work

Partnerships are typically formed due to a joint business idea or the need for financial aid with business start-up expense. Either way, only about 40 percent of partnerships work out and partnership dissolution is like a divorce–it’s really ugly.

You can only think and speak for yourself, you cannot for someone else. You can’t assume what someone else is thinking, so you can never speak for your partner. Therefore, there will be differences in your decision-making as a partnership.

If everything is going great with the business, there’s not a problem. But when things get difficult and there is a problem, everyone has their own interpretation of how to solve it and you are always going to have some type of a problem somewhere down the road in a functional business.

A silent partner, who is truly silent, will sometimes work out. But when people invest their money, they usually want to see where it’s going and where it’s coming in. They will eventually want some involvement, which can cause conflict between partners.

May partners develop their business without having a solid business plan, without having a partnership agreement, and without having an understanding upfront about how they’re going to deal with the business. Eventually, it starts falling apart and there’s nothing in writing. It’s hard to even write a partnership contract that will fully protect you and your business should the partnership fail.

A strong marital or family relationship makes for a better partnership because there is an existing bond deeper than any contract. They have a previously developed patience with each other and a nurturing relationship already established. In addition, most family business owners have invested “family” monies and share the work load equally. But even so, many family businesses close due to irresolvable conflict.

New businesses are often referred to as “your baby,” so try to imagine your new business as your first born child. You have dreams and hopes for them to have a happy and prosperous future. You want their lives to be smooth and headed down easy street. You also have a plan to give your child the best odds for this type of life. What if someone else, i.e. your partner, has a very different idea of how to raise “your baby?” Maybe you agree on the infancy of your business, but what about the later years of development, the “teen years?” Will your ideas on how to run the business be the same then?

There are many reasons business partnerships fail; too many to mention here. Statistically, the odds for sole proprietor business success are minimal; with a partner, even less. Try to avoid going into business with a partner. Being a boss is not easy. Being a boss and an owner isn’t easy either. But being an owner and having another owner tell you what to do is even more difficult. Don’t take partners unless you’re married to them, and that may not even be a good idea.

Find more free information about business start-up at http://booksbydenbow.weebly.com/business-books.html.

Successful Offline Advertising For Your Home Business

If you have a home business and you have lots of local customers then you are going to want to focus as much as you can on doing local advertising. There are several tips that you can follow to be sure that your advertising is going to be as successful as it possibly can. Remember that these are all things that you should try and if one does not work for you; you should move onto something different. Advertising is going to be at the heart of what kind of business you get and how successful your business is. Therefore, you have to be sure that you are doing it right.

The first step to doing offline advertising is to know who you are looking for. Remember that in order to do advertising well you want to know exactly who you are trying to find. Even if your product or service is something that lots of people will enjoy; you want to be sure that you can narrow down your customer base very well so that you will be able to structure your advertising in a good way. Often when you start your advertising you do not have a lot of money, so in order to make money with your business you have to be able to look at what you are doing with your advertising and make sure that you are able to make it as small as possible and have it focused.

After you know who you are going to target with your various ad campaigns the best way to do your advertising is to figure out where they go. If you are looking for teenagers, then you want to see where the local teens hang out, what radio station they listen to and other places that they go in order to get your advertising in there. Remember that if you are doing posters or flyers you have to be sure that you are following the local regulations when it comes to putting them up. You do not want to get into any trouble because of your advertising.

There are other things that you should consider when you are doing your advertising. Remember that often you can advertise on the local radio and you can also sponsor things like the daily weather on the radio. If you are able to sponsor things you might find that this is a great way to do your own advertising. The more times that your customers can hear your company name during the day; the better of you are going to be when it comes to advertising in general. Be sure that you can get your name out there in as many places as possible and to as many different situations as you can. This is going to be the best way that you have of doing your own advertising. And this does not mean that it has to be expensive, either.

Seminar in Business

Life coaching

Life coaching is a practice with the aim of helping clients determine and achieve personal goals. Life coaches use multiple methods which will help clients with the process of setting and reaching goals. Training isn’t focused at psychological sickness and coaches are neither consultants nor advisors.

Life coaching has its roots in executive coaching, which itself drew on methods developed in management consulting and leadership training.[citation needed] Life coaching also draws inspiration from disciplines including sociology, psychology, positive adult development, career support, mentoring and other sorts of counseling. Recent life training can also be traced to the teaching of Benjamin Karter, a college soccer coach turned inspiring speaker of the late seventies and early eighties. The coach may apply mentoring, values assessment, behavior modification, behavior modeling, goal-setting and other techniques in helping their clientele.

Government bodies have not found it necessary to provide a regulatory standard for life coaching, nor does any state body govern the education or coaching standard for the life training industry ; the title of’coach’ can be utilised by any service supplier. Multiple training schools and coaching programs are available, permitting for many options ( and often causing confusion ) when an individual makes a decision to gain’certification’ or a’credential’ as they apply to the coaching industry. Multiple certificates and testimonial designations are available in the industry.

Some assert that life coaching is akin to psychotherapy without restrictions, oversight or regulation. The State legislature of Colorado, after holding a hearing on such concerns, disagreed, exclaiming that training is unlike therapy because it doesn’t concentrate on inspecting nor diagnosing the past. Instead training focuses on effecting change in a customer’s current and future behavior. In addition, life coaching doesn’t dig into diagnosing psychological sickness or dysfunction.

According to a survey of training clients,’sounding board’ and’motivator’ were the top roles selected for a coach. Clients are searching for a coach’to really hear them and give fair feedback.’ The top three issues in which clients seek help are resource management, career and business.

It doesn’t happen very often where you get the chance to learn directly from some of the world’s top thinkers and business leaders .. But that’s's precisely the chance I needed to share with you today!

Some of the world’s brightest entrepreneurs will converge on Calgary from September 30th to October third to ‘engage community to change the world.’

Engage Today brings together top business leaders to explore how they can use business and commerce to create the catalyst for positive commercial, social and environmental change.

This international conference will bring the world together under one easy theme – by engaging business, affiliations and individuals in our community, we create the catalyst for positive change from a business, social and environmental perspective.

Using their bodies to create positive change in the world is the hardest challenge for business owners, entrepreneurs and investors.
Fervour to contribute and create change in the world is not enough, we also face the problems of a way to employ our resources effectively to fire up the passion and zeal to bring out that change.

Engage Today will supply the world business, investment and non-profit communities the chance to see first-hand what percentage of the world’s leaders are making significant change through their setups. You’ll learn the way to bring about change and ignite your thing whether or not you are the CEO of a major world co., the owner of a SOHO business, a sole proprietor or anywhere in between.

Engage Today will draw attendees together from around the world to be inspired, empowered and educated on how they can use business and commerce for the good of the local and worldwide community.

Keynote speakers include, but isn’t restricted to :

Sir Richard Branson, president and founder of Virgin Group.
Its 2 hundred corporations employ 50,000 people in twenty-nine states in the aviation, entertainment, hospitality and leisure, telecomms, financial services, health and wellness and clean energy industries.
Richard in 2004 launched Virgin unite to pull together the Group’s international resources and staff.

Virgin unite has fostered new entrepreneurs through the Branson college of Entrepreneurship in S. A. and has also helped create sustainable health clinics all over Africa.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama. One of the most prized experiences that conference attendees, from leaders of world companies to small business owners and sole proprietors, will have is to hear the Tibetan spiritual leader talk in a private display at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Stephen R. Covey. An internationally respected leadership authority, family expert, teacher, organizational consultant and author, Dr. Covey has sold over 20 million books in 38 languages, including the 1 Most Influential Business Book of the twentieth Century, The 7 Habits of highly effective folks. Recognized as one of Time mag’s twenty-five most influential Americans, Dr. Stephen R. Covey has dedicated his life to demonstrating how every person can control their destiny.

Janet Bray Attwood is a visionary leader and world humanitarian.
Janet is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller The passion Test – The effortless path to Discovering Your Life’s Purpose.
She and her co-author Chris Attwood have trained more than 450 Passion Test Facilitators around the globe.
She earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award for her work with children and teens in detention centers and homeless males and females in transition.

The conference also has exclusive concerts by award-winning musicians, Bryan Adams and K.D. Lang.

Engage Today is the idea of Greg Habstritt, founder and president of SimpleWealth and the real Equity Group of companies. With more than 20 years of entrepreneurial and investment experience, Greg has founded, built and sold more than a dozen companies ; become a millionaire with four businesses in four industries ; and received countless awards, including Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

To find out more, visit www.engagetodayevent.com.

You can still participate in the FREE coaching calls, so you will be able to tap into the wisdom of world-renowned super-achievers, expand your thinking, possibly transform your life and even make a significance difference to the world, even if you may not be in a position to attend the live event in Canada.

And right now the world is short of individuals, like you, who need to make a big difference!