Small Business Revitalization Blog

I’m still laughing because I’ve worked with people who were exactly like that – sadly none of the staff knew what they did either!! Although I always had a sneaking suspicicion that one business owner took a lot of nanna naps while he was upstairs ‘thinking creatively…’   Happily I no longer suffer these moments… the benefits of owning your own business!!

Ok, admit it, funny as that was, you’ve had moments of confusion in your business too! So, this week you can change that by:

- Get really clear on what you do for your clients and specifically why they love you.

- Get even clearer on what you don’t do – that is the simplest key to being more productive in your business.

- If you have a team, have some one on one chats and ask them ‘what do they do?’ You might be surprised by the answers!!

- Identify at least three tasks that are unnecessary in your business and drop them (regular meetings are always a great start!)

- Focus on one new project which has the capacity to be a flagship product or service for your business – do more great work!

Recently a client suggested I would just drop by a business she wanted to connect with and mention her business as a possible partner.  I gently advised that my role as a business coach is to help you work on your business, not work in your business for you!!  When you know your boundaries (often decided by what you are really really good at and what is easy…) you won’t settle for doing just anything!

So what is it that you do?  Tell us about it here…

Today we're welcoming Guest Blogger Lauren Neilson from ISP Media... enjoy!

YouTube is well known and well used. With something from just about every category you can think of from music, to charity and not-for-profit, through to education - it really does seem to have it all.

Now owned and run by Google, the site has a global reach with the functionality and brand awareness to back it up. But can it help you promote your business, products and services?

YouTube opens up a world of promise for business to promote their products and services, showcase your knowledge and expertise, monitor the success of advertising campaigns, encourage new interest from previously untapped or unreachable markets, enhance your brand awareness and more.

While there is a lot of time and effort involved, the broad ranging benefits of this channel are impressive and extremely cost effective.

It is very easy and free to open a YouTube account; however, you will need a Gmail account to sign up. If you do not have one they will happily walk you through the registration process (also free).

The site is very easy to use and has a familiar social media layout and feel to it. The navigation is clear and easy to follow and you can edit just about everything to suit you, from your colour scheme right through to your home page layout.

How can I use this site to benefit my business?

• Create your own unique channel URL to direct users to that links back to your site and has your unique profile
• Embed your web address on all video files that you upload to guide users to your main site
• Integrate YouTube with your other Social Media tools (Twitter, Facebook)
• Broadcast free training videos to encourage interest in your business
• Embed your video files into your web site or blog
• Showcase your TV advertising in another medium
• Send a video message to clients to complement or introduce your eNewsletter
• Visually launch new products simultaneously with your offline launch
• Promote and showcase your services
• Promote and showcase your products in action
• Promote and showcase yourself
• Broadcast seminar or speaking engagements
• Tag your video files with keywords to increase your searchability
• Categorise your video to make it easier for interested parties to find
• Use the YouTube community as a global focus group
• Get visual testimonials from your clients and put them on your blog and web site
• Discover real time trends in your industry by subscribing to related channels
• Guide clients to your video files anywhere in the world with the click of a mouse
• Encourage people to subscribe to your channel and gain a new audience for your business
• Utilise YouTube’s analytics tool, YouTube Insight, to hone your campaigns
• And if you get really popular, consider selling product placement in your videos

 
If it is a bit much initially, then simply create your free account, beef up your profile and begin engaging with the YouTube community. You can do this through searching, watching, selecting favourites and adding subscriptions to your account. Then when you are ready to launch into video, you will not be the new kid on the block!

I would like to end with a polite warning - this tool has the ability to bend the time space continuum to suck your valuable time into a vortex! It is extremely easy to get lost in space and time with YouTube. Not only is the content intoxicating, it is just a hop, click and a jump over to the myriad of Google tools (toys) and if you are not careful, you can spend hours in the exhilarating maze that is Google!

My hot tip is to treat YouTube and Google (including its ever expanding applications) like your grocery shopping, i.e. only visit the items on your list, follow this rule and you should be able to avoid spending over your allocated time budget every time!



About Lauren:
Lauren Neilson, co-founder of ISP Media - an internet marketing and web development business launched in 2000, has been has been researching,  socialising, blogging, publishing, surfing, writing, commenting and more recently tweeting about internet marketing strategies for over 9 years. You can find Lauren and ISP Media on LinkedIn, Twitter, the ISP Media Blog and most other places where Australian business meets the web! Please feel welcome to get online and get social with Lauren and ISP Media!
Connect here:  Email    Twitter    Blog    Website     LinkedIn - ISP Media     Lauren Neilson's LinkedIn Profile    

New business owners often get stuck when it comes to setting pricing. Pricing is determined by factors such as positioning, competition, market demand and, surprisingly, how you value yourself and the services and products that you offer!

Have you ever found yourself pricing a product or service in your business based on what you would pay in your current financial circumstances?  Did you stop to think about whether your personal perspectives are in any way a good match for your ideal customer?

Pricing is a choice.  But rarely do business owners exercise that choice with awareness of the potentials created by different price points.  Let’s consider a brief case study…

Erin is a natural health practitioner who specializes in a couple of healing modalities.  She is making $60 an hour and sees clients for 20 hours a week on average.  This equates to $1200 a week – not quite enough to put her into GST territory, but getting close.  By the time you take out taxes and costs of running the business (eg marketing, hiring space, training etc), Erin brings home closer to $30 a session - $600 a week is not a lot to live on!

So, let’s have a look at the common small business traps Erin has fallen into: She is doing what she loves and is great at, but is not reaping the financial rewards – she needs to charge what she is worth.

• She is swapping time for hours – there is no leverage in her business – if she doesn’t work, nor does the business
• She has not differentiated her service sufficiently so that clients will pay a premium.
• She doesn’t believe people will pay more than she is charging – but she hasn’t tested a higher pricepoint.
• She doesn’t like asking for money for helping people - her beliefs are in conflict with her purse!

Have you ever fallen into any of these traps?  What choices did you make to improve your financial position?  Share your story below – just click the Comment link.

Need inspiration for making more money in your business?  Book your place for the April 19 2010 Playshop:  ‘Show Me The Money’ – you’ll discover more about money and your business than you thought possible!!