The Entrepreneur’s Corner | The Benefits of Being Reactive Instead of Proactive

Mark Twain famously said, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” Psychologists call worry the “What If Disease” because people who suffer it are always wondering “What If…?”

“What if my flight gets cancelled?” “What if I get laid off?” “What if this sale doesn’t close?”

One day, in my meditations, I realized that there’s a lot of benefit in being reactive instead of proactive. What I mean is that you should do whatever you can to get the best possible outcome and then stop worrying about the problem. If it happens, you’ll do something about it. If it doesn’t, you saved a lot of precious time. Some examples:

The Benefits of Being Reactive Instead of Proactive.

Home Based News | General Manager Needed For The elloAgency of Spokane, WA

The elloAgency of Spokane, WA. is under construction and we will need a general manger to run the office.

DMC Resources LLC is committed to creating home based jobs for independent people. For the right person there is nothing more rewarding than managing your own time, being your own boss and making a living working from home.

If you have marketing and/or advertising experience, want to be involved in your community in a positive way, and enjoy meeting new people; then you may want to learn more about the elloTEAM of Professionals.

In a nut shell, the elloTEAM of Professionals provide consulting and coaching services for the small to medium sized business in each community. This includes teaching business managers how to generate online connections, harvest leads, develop prospects and capture new business using the elloAgency MyCMS Concepts.

MyCMS is short for Custom Consumer Management System and consists of a combinations of four Internet marketing campaigns to generate the leads and a four step sales strategy to capture new business from those leads.

If you or someone you know is interested and is looking for a new career, we are standing by to take your call and answer any questions you may have at 360-387-4751 or you can email your questions via this post. See what our elloTEAM associates have to say about us.

Just FYI: If you are in another city in the United States and you would like to consider opening an elloAgency to support the companies in your county we will help you. It takes approximately two weeks to develop an elloAgency and train the general manager. Contact us to find out if your area is still available.

Entrepreneur’s Corner | Houston….We Have A Problem!

“Houston, We Have A Problem…”

Well, not literally.  But it is a catchy headline that virtually everyone recognizes.

by The Rojas Group / elloLasVegas Agency

Taking this “theme” into the business world I wanted to point out that I continually address the same challenges with almost every business owner I consult with.  Yesterday I met with four different owners / or managers from four completely different industries, all to discuss Internet Marketing and their company’s future participation in this emerging segmented marketing industry.  The result?  The same issues and questions for each of them.

How do I get started?  What do I need to do?  I have a Facebook page, isn’t that all I need? How will I make this successful for my business (i.e., what is my ROI and how do I “bring in more clients”).

Same questions and I provided the same answers!

Business owners and managers need more than a Facebook Page and a Twitter account.  In fact, there are five distinct and separate campaigns using multiple websites (social sites, enticement sites, content sites, directory sites, and referral sites) which are required; using a uniformly branded add campaign that delivers the same short and direct message to be successful at capturing new business from an Internet marketing campaign.

But having a multiple campaign network populated and up and running will not bring in many new clients if “Connection & Follow Up” procedures are not used to establish relationships.  Think about it, as small business owners we typically develop good relationships with our clients, and often the number of clients for many small business owners totals fewer than 25.  That is not a lot but usually enough to operate profitably for many companies. Having the ability to generate even just a few new clients that bring in substantial business is certainly worth the effort.

If managed properly, clients tend to lead to more clients as referrals are made.  It is important to develop and establish these relationships and the Internet allows introductions to new people, new markets and new opportunities in just minutes.  For larger companies that rely on multiple clients, such as retailers and golf courses, the network provides excellent methods of promoting their brands to a wider audience and “enticing” consumers into their locations for special promotions and savings, as well as introducing new products and inventory.

I know I have said it before in past blogs, but it is worth saying again;

“More roads leading out into the vast world of the Internet means more opportunities to establish new relationships with potential clients.”

Online Consumer Development is ever changing, with new sites that offer new services coming online almost daily!  And, it requires a commitment, particularly with your time.  But, as business owners it is important to be a part of this new method of developing relationships and capturing new business.

We all recognize that this is no passing fad and that it is not a simply task. It’s time to find out what an elloAgency consultant can do for your bottom line.

Entrepreneur’s Corner | A Short Neurological Test By Zeeshan Ahmed

Here is a quick test I found posted on Google+.

Give it a try, it is quite interesting.

Zeeshan Ahmed originally shared this post:

A Short Neurological Test

1- Find the C below

Please do not use any cursor help.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2- If you already found the C, now find the 6 below.

99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
69999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

3 – Now find the N below. It’s a little more difficult.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

This is NOT a joke. If you were able to pass these 3 tests, you can cancel
your annual visit to your neurologist. Your brain is great and you’re far
from having a close relationship with Alzheimer.

Congratulations!

eonvrye that can raed this rsaie your hnad.

If you can read the following paragraph, you are just awsome.
Only great minds can read this
This is weird, but interesting!

If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid too

Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the
olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a
pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot
slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed this forwrad it.

RESHARE ONLY IF YOU CAN READ IT.

elloTEAM of Professionals | Join The elloTEAM of Professionals

The elloTEAM of Professionals and the elloUSA Entrepreneur’s Association are made up of those companies and individual entrepreneurs who have joined forces online to support each others online marketing efforts through joint cooperation and support.

The association management creates and features individual member biographies, company profiles, new product and service announcements, and online marketing content to support and improve the online marketing efforts of the elloTEAM members using free will marketing concepts and online social relationship associations.

In other words, we work 24/7 to find way to market the elloTEAM membership online without spending a dime on Internet marketing. In addition, we provide off-line training and support tips, information and news on how to develop lead generating sales strategies to capture new business from the Internet.

Someone once said to me, “If it is free, it probably isn’t worth it.” We say, “Free improves the chances of a better ROI!”

Get the details on how to become a member:

Entrepreneur’s Corner | Twitter Marketing: 5 Ways to Maximize Your Return | Heidi Cohen

Is your Twitter marketing yielding the best results possible? It isn’t if you’re just using it as another one-way broadcast channel filled with your marketing messages. Best social media marketing practices have evolved and it’s time now to integrate your Twitter efforts with the rest of your marketing plan.

5 Marketing Strategies to Maximize Your Twitter Effectiveness

As a social media platform, Twitter requires a continual stream of targeted, fresh content and multi-directional engagement to attract and maintain an active follower base. Here are six strategies to boost your Twitter return.

Twitter Marketing: 5 Ways to Maximize Your Return | Heidi Cohen.

Home Based News | Seeking General Manager For The elloAgency of Seattle, WA.

The MyCMS Network for Seattle, WA. is under construction.

DMC Resources LLC is committed to creating home based jobs for independent people. For the right person there is nothing more rewarding than managing your own time, being your own boss and making a living working from home.

If you have marketing and/or advertising experience, want to be involved in your community in a positive way, and enjoy meeting new people; then you may want to learn more about the elloTEAM of Professionals.

In a nut shell, the elloTEAM of Professionals provide consulting and coaching services for the small to medium sized business in each community. This includes teaching business managers how to generate online connections, harvest leads, develop prospects and capture new business using the elloAgency MyCMS Concepts.

MyCMS is short for Custom Consumer Management System and consists of a combinations of four Internet marketing campaigns to generate the leads and a four step sales strategy to capture new business from those leads.

If you or someone you know is interested and is looking for a new career, we are standing by to take your call and answer any questions you may have at 360-387-4751 or you can email your questions via this post. See what our elloTEAM associates have to say about us.

Just FYI: If you are in another city in the United States and you would like to consider opening an elloAgency to support the companies in your county we will help you. It takes approximately two weeks to develop an elloAgency and train the general manager. Contact us to find out if your area is still available.

elloUSA Success Story | Go Try It On – Marissa Evans

Marissa Evans created her company, Go Try It On, as a means of answering that age-old question, “What should I wear?” Along the way, she recruited a technical team, launched her product at South By Southwest and was able to land $3 million in funding.Check out Marissa’s interview to hear what she ha

Home Based News | Why Wrist Braces Don’t Solve Carpal Tunnel

Wrist braces have their place – but on your wrists for 10 hours a day is not one of them.

They are a great idea for things like snowboarding, skateboarding, and rollerblading, where the risk of falling and shattering your wrist is very real – and where you wear them for short periods of time.

But, when you wear them day in and day out, they do more harm than good. As Inigo Montoya would say, “let me explain…”     READ MORE

Entrepreneur’s Corner | The Internet Marketing Guru Who Cried Customers! Fairy Tale?

The Boy Who Cried, "Wolf!"The town’s people soon tired of the Sheppard Boy who cried wolf, and much like the fairy tale, business managers have become skeptical of the Internet marketer’s claims of increased business coming from the World Wide Web.

Let’s face it, the Guru said “Build a company website and they will come!” and it did not happen. The Guru said “Create a business blog and they will come!” and they did not show . Then the Guru said “Do social media and they will come!” but again the consumers did not appear.

The same is true with search engine optimization, listing enhancements, profile upgrades, pay-per-click services, banner advertising and everything else the local companies have shelled out the big bucks for. So far, the return on investment has either been immeasurable or nonexistent for the vast majority of entrepreneurs.

The reasons for this outcome is actually quite simple. I would suppose that most business managers today are too young to remember the time when the public had only one main source for business information, the community phone directory. Who remembers, “Let Your Fingers Do The Walking”?

Before the Internet, the single printed phonebook was the only source directory in use for businesses seeking customers and consumers seeking products and services in each community. The Internet has not only wiped out this single information source directory, in its place, it has bombarded the consumers with thousands, if not millions, of choices as to how and where they get their local business information.

TMI? Perhaps; but the fact remains, business owners and marketers must now deal with this electronic phenomenon. However, there is a proven solution that works effectively to generate great revenue from ones Internet marketing campaign if it is monitored and managed correctly. But first it is important that business managers understand their new role in making this happen.

wood splittingToday your product and service advertising is much like harvesting firewood for the winter. In this photo, let’s say the rounds are the Internet, the axe and chain saw are the tools you use to promote your company on the Web, and the split and stacked wood is the customers harvested from the Net. But what is missing in this example is the single most crucial element for success.

THE WOOD SPLITTER! Someone has to chop the wood! In your business someone needs to proactively generate the connections, harvest leads, develop prospects and capture new business customers from the Internet campaign you create. It is the same as cutting the logs, splitting the rounds, and stacking the wood for the winter. The fact is, whether you want more business from your marketing campaign or firewood for the winter, someone needs to do the work.

At the elloAgency we call this process the MyCMS or Custom Consumer Management System. After you build your website, create your blog, develop relevant content, and post your profile on all the social media sites; you then need to generate connections, harvest the leads from those connections, develop new business prospects from those connections and finally capture new business sales and loyal consumers from those connections.

wood splitterMost marketing guru’s and business managers are just beginning to get this message, but like the wood cutter in the picture, they know just enough about the task to be dangerous.  So that means all you struggling business managers and entrepreneurs have two choices; do the work yourself or hire someone to do it for you.

FYI: Did you know that, using the MyCMS Concept, it is entirely possible to build a highly productive online marketing presence without spending one dime on advertising? Before you decide to do-it-yourself consider this: The best way to grow your business is to surround yourself with the experts that are strong in the areas where you are weak.

I recently met with a practicing attorney to discuss my three decades of marketing experience and how my services could help his law practice grow. The attorney indicated that Internet marketing was not rocket science and that he would prefer to do the work himself and save the money.

I then told him that I would do the same and represent myself in court if the need arose. He laughed and told me that he had spend several years in law school to perfect his craft and although I have had some legal experiences in my life, I was in no way qualified to represent myself. It was then that the light went off in his head.

The elloAgency Consultant in your community is standing by to provide complimentary consulting services to assist you with any questions you may have about the future of online marketing and how to make it work for you.

elloUSA Success Stories | Reflection on how I went from Employee to Entrepreneur

How I Went from Employee to Entrepreneur

Reflection of Employment vs Self Employment

By Lawrence Tam

So I was having dinner at my Moms house last night and was checking out some of the pictures she had and ran across this one. I almost fell out of my chair. It immediately brought me back to 8 years ago when I was an employee for a local government and caused me to reflect on the differences and also the similarity of me then versus now.

My Life as an Employee in the IT Field

I touched my first computer in 1999 (never did computer classes in high school) and decided to go into the field. Looking back, I had never been interested in anything technical or how things worked or even science fiction but what prodded me to go into the field is a friend of mine who was really smart at computers made a comment one day that I could never do computers (I think hinting at my stupidity when it came to them) and that challenge, certainly not intentionally, prompted me to go into computers for the next 5 years. I had no idea how I was programmed or that I was on auto-pilot back then.

Read On . . .

Home Based News | 5 Things Every Entrepreneur Must Do Each Day

Article By Melinda Emerson

Article By Melinda Emerson | The Small Biz Lady
 
Meditate— The worst thing you can do for your business is start each day in a race. I am strong believer in thinking about your day before you jump into it. I start each day in prayer before I leave my bed. I find that I am able to keep a positive disposition throughout my day regardless of what happens as a result. Years ago, Oprah Winfrey featured a book on her show called Simple Abundance; A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach. In it, she provides daily lessons about the concept of peace, joy and gratitude. This is a great book that I have used over 10 years to stay centered. If you start your day thinking about what you are grateful for it’s much easier to keep perspective when things go wrong. Running a small business involves 10 or more jobs at one time. Do yourself a favor, slow down and mediate on something before each day starts. Read More
.

Entrepreneur’s Corner | Ten reasons why small businesses fail

Let us ask ourselves ‘why do businesses fail?’ It is sometimes a very difficult question to answer, especially in our rabid superstitious society, therefore, one of the least understood aspects of entrepreneurship is why small businesses fail.

As a small business consultant, I have had contacts with many small businesses formally and informally. Most of them seem to look in the wrong direction when they have problems with their businesses. In any case, if the business owners knew what they were doing wrong, they probably would have been able to correct it. 

Ten reasons why small businesses fail.

Home Based Business News – The Hard Truth About How Success Really Works | Inc.com

The hard truth about how success really worksThe Hard Truth About How Success Really Works

Here’s what’s getting in your way when you attempt (and fail) to hit those “reach” goals.

Home Based News – Free Online Calendar & Day Planner

I call this MyACT (Short for keeping track of Appointments, Calls & To Do’s for my business) If you are going to operate from a home office, keeping track of your appointments, calls and business to do’s is critical to financial success.

Free Printable Daily Calendar & Free Daily Online Planner

Free Printable Daily Calendar

Need an online planner? Use KeepandShare daily planner calendars for a wide variety of daily planners, journals, diaries and logs. Because our calendars are online and web-based, you can access them from any internet-connected computer.

Your KeepandShare calendar can be viewed four different ways: day view, week view, month view, and event view. So you can ‘zoom in’ or ‘zoom out’ for any detail level. It’s ideal for all daily planner, weekly planner and monthly planner needs.

Better yet, our calendars are the only leading web calendars to be word-processor based, meaning you can enter thousands of characters into each day with complete control over the fonts and colors – making them ideal for daily planner, fitness logs, food diaries, exercise journals, travel journalsand the like.

Online Planner: Free Printable Daily Calendar & Daily Planner.

Entrepreneur’s Corner – Are You ReTweetable?

Learn More About ReTweeting!

Learn More About ReTweeting!

Successful relationship or social media marketing requires a multi-faceted campaign approach of which Twitter plays a key role if used properly.

Twitter has several tools available for generating the connections needed to harvest leads, develop prospects, and capture new sales for any company, but nearly every business I review is either unaware of these tools or is simply not using them or is focusing on postings instead of connections.

For example, ask yourself: How often are my company tweets “Re-Tweeted” by someone else? If you answer this question with not at all or almost never; then you are wasting your time on Twitter. But, according to many Internet sources, using Twitter for business is not about the Tweets because 99% of all tweets are never read by human eyes.

Does oxymoron come to mind here? First I said you need your tweets re-tweeted, then I said no one reads tweets. So, that sound confusing to me and for awhile it was. What I found out is that everyone likes to see their posts validated by a re-tweeter.

I will explain: The purpose for a business to spend any time on the Internet is to capture a sale and to do that you need a relationship, to develop a relationship (prospect) you need a connection. There are two ways to develop a connection on Twitter, one is obvious, ask people or companies in your service area to follow you.

The second method is the most often missed. To get your tweets re-tweeted, you need to re-tweet the tweets you receive. When you do that Twitter sends an email to the recipient of your re-tweet. When you get a message that someone else valued your Twitter post enough to re-tweet it, how does that make you feel? Good, right?

The practice of re-tweeting is another form of connecting with others to begin that relationship that is required to produce a future sale. It takes just seconds to review a dozen tweets and pick a half dozen to re-tweet.

Each time you use your Twitter account you should be focused on connections, not content; ask potential customers to follow you and re-tweet some of the tweets you have received. Always use your best judgment when re-tweeting; for example, don’t re-tweet any posts with foul language, and only re-tweet posts that pertain to the demographic in your follow and following lists.

Note: The purpose of Twitter is to tell the people that follow you what you are doing at the moment. Some of them will appreciate a soft sell over a direct sell tweet; which will produce more re-tweets. For example, Today I will be getting the big 50% off sale ready that starts tomorrow. Instead of, Come to my store, everything 50% Off, sales ends Sunday.

For more information on using the Internet for business, contact your elloAgency Consultant, they are standing by to offer suggestions and solutions to improve your web marketing successes. Ask for a complimentary Online Marketing Review, you will be surprised at what you learn, and it is a free service.

Home Based News – Small Business Saturday

Shop Small Business This Saturday

Shop Small This Saturday

Fifty-four percent of small businesses say what they need most to grow their business is more customers. Local businesses create jobs, boost the economy, and preserve neighborhoods. That’s what Small Business Saturday is all about. Get out on Nov. 26, and support your peers–and hopefully they’ll support you, too.

Small Business Saturday