5 Apr
You can once again buy the Marketing Preschool ebook on our website. Our new and improved shopping cart keeps you here on our site during the checkout process (except for that PayPal connection). If you’ve been waiting to purchase, now’s your chance!
We’ll have more news and updates coming soon.
30 Dec
This week’s Small Business Roundup is all about the year-end and the new year.
Five Things You Should Stop Doing in 2012 – These are really excellent. Everyone should read this and take it in.
What to Do About All that Stuff – I admit that I’m a saver. And not in the money way, but in the save stuff way. I’m getting better, though. If you are like me and need some help de-cluttering, take a look at this article.
8 Metrics Every Freelancer Should Measure at the End of the Year – Another good one from Freelance Folder. Just in case you don’t already have a shiny spreadsheet to do all of these calculations for you (they exist!), the article details how to figure each out.
Lifehack has a series of New Tools for the New Year this week:
Cross-posted from the Circa Consulting blog. Check out my Tech Roundup, too.
Tags: communication, de-cluttering, lifestyle, management, new tools, technology, year-end financials
16 Dec
This week’s Small Business Roundup includes a productivity twist, taming your website, and some wonderful blog post inspiration ideas.
Stop Being So Damn Productive – An interesting perspective on productivity. There’s definitely a difference between being productive and just being busy. Worth a read, even (especially?) for a productivity junkie like me.
Is Your Website Like A Jungle? – While I like a website that has as much useful information on it as possible, I think you really have to master saying all you need to say in as few words and pages as possible. The article includes 11 tips for reviewing and paring down your site.
Finding Blog Inspiration in Unlikely Places – There are five really great suggestions here. If you find yourself stuck for a blog post, these should be your go-to ideas.
5 Tips For Writing Your 2012 Marketing Plan – Have you started work on your marketing plan for 2012 yet? Use these 5 tips to get started or revise your plan.
Are You Talking Yourself OUT of Clients Paying You? – I think this is one a lot of us get stuck on. I know it took me a while and now I won’t even talk about numbers until I know all the details of a project. My favorite “fix” in this article is the last: “Let Silence Reign.” It’s my favorite because I know it to be true and I know I need to work on it!
Also, if you run WordPress on your website, please check out my post highlighting key features of version 3.3 released this week.
Cross-posted from the Circa Consulting blog. Check out my Tech Roundup, too.
Tags: blog ideas, client conversations, marketing plan, money talk, productivity, website tips
13 Dec
Join us this Thursday at 11am PST. We’ll be talking about how to not freak out because you didn’t get your holiday special out in time and new ways to play with us in 2012. We’ll also have an open question and answer session. The call is free. Here are the details:
Thursday 12/15/2011 11:00 AM PST
Conference Access Number: 1-218-936-4977
Conference Passcode: 397389#
Call in with your marketing and technical questions and we’ll do our best to answer. Did I mention it’s free? Hope to “see” you then!
2 Dec
This week’s Small Business Roundup includes pricing, taxes, some handy Firefox and Chrome extensions, and interesting blogging stats.
Hide morning and night hours in Calendar – This could come in handy if you are a Google Calendar user.
The Black Friday and Cyber Monday Purchases You Can Write Off – You may be able to help your taxes with the goodies you picked up last Friday and Monday. Check out this article to see if your loot qualifies. While we’re on the subject of taxes, check out this article for three things you need to do before the end of the year: Small Business Strategies: Three things to do in December.
OneReceipt – This seems like a great idea but I have yet to try it. It’s a free online app that will store and organize your receipts and analyze your spending. If you’ve tried it, please post your feedback in the comments.
Chrome and Firefox Extensions That Protect You from Yourself – Some great ideas for productivity, in-browser spell check, and embarrassment prevention. Check these out if you use Firefox or Chrome.
Why We Are Afraid to Talk Pricing – Do you list your prices on your website? I know a lot of companies (particularly in my line of business) do not. I know, as a consumer, that is one of the first things to turn me off. I don’t want to have to contact someone to get a general idea of how much something will cost. I understand exact pricing can be hard (it is sometimes for my projects!) and that’s why I use “starts at…” for pricing most of my packages.
The Emergence and Explosion of Blogs, Blogging and Bloggers! – If you’re still wondering about this whole blogging thing, take a look at the stats in this article. They’re interesting. Don’t miss the three suggestions at the end.
Cross-posted from the Circa Consulting blog. Check out my Tech Roundup, too.
Tags: blogging, Chrome extensions, Firefox addons, Google Calendar, OneReceipt, pricing, taxes
25 Nov
Happy Thanksgiving to those that celebrated yesterday! This week’s Small Business Roundup includes social media calendars, collections tips, the new Gmail, and some Black Friday sales.
5 rules of small business advertising success – Some great, simple tips to use on your next marketing effort.
How to Create a Social Media Marketing Schedule – The social media schedule detailed here is kind of intense but it gives you some really good ideas for setting up your own schedule that meets your needs.
10 tips for making collection calls – The calls we never want to make. It’s never fun to have to track down money. If this is hard for you, keep in mind how you feel about paying your bills (on time and at all) when it’s time to send the late notices and make the past due phone calls. This is money you are owed for products and services you performed. It’s your customer’s responsibility to pay you for that and to do it on time. The “Be Proactive” tip is probably the best one in this article. It’s a nice gesture and it ensures your client received the invoice and allows you to answer any questions up front.
Master the New Gmail with These Tips, Shortcuts, and Add-Ons – If you use Gmail, check out these tips for making the most of the new version. There are a lot of goodies here!
(Disclaimer: I may get a small bonus if you purchase anything through these links but I wouldn’t tell you about them if they weren’t awesome!)
Today only, Host Gator is having a 50% off all hosting sale.
Now through Monday, MOO is having their annual Cyber MOOdays with 30% off everything
. Stock up on business cards or get your holiday cards!
Now through Sunday, ING Direct is having an awesome sale on savings, checking, and investing accounts. Who couldn’t use an extra $107 just for setting up an account and spending money??
Don’t forget tomorrow is Small Business Saturday! Show your support by shopping with the smaller guys!
Cross-posted from the Circa Consulting blog. Check out my Tech Roundup, too.
Tags: advertising, black friday, collections, Cyber Monday, Gmail, social media, tips
11 Nov
This week’s Small Business Roundup includes marketing tips, Square, home office tax tips, and Emergency Turnaround Clinic from IttyBiz.
Square Updates Mobile Payments App – How would you like to pay for something just by speaking your name? That’s one of the new features in the Square iPhone app. Coming soon to Android.
7 Steps To Sure Fire Marketing Success – Admittedly, I haven’t had a chance to read this in detail yet. That’s part of the reason I’m keeping it on the list – so I can remember to read it later. 
Looks like some good stuff.
What and How Much of Your Home Office Can be Deducted – As always, run any tax advice by your accountant first, but some good tips here if you have a home office. And I didn’t know you could deduct repairs and improvements. That’s super handy!
Google+ Pages: connect with all the things you care about – Google+ now allows companies and brands to sign up. Are you going to sign your business up? I probably will but it’s not high on my priority list right now. Here’s another article, including 4 reasons why you should give G+ a chance: From #BWELA: Why Guy Kawasaki and Chris Brogan are betting big on Google+
New Google Search Update Could Spell More Trouble for Business Websites – In case you needed another reason to keep your website updated (Do I sound like a broken record yet?), here’s more proof of the benefit. Google is focusing more on regular updates in its newest search algorithm. So if you haven’t updated your website in 5 years but have great search rankings – that might change.
Finally, I’m taking a class from IttyBiz this month. It’s called Emergency Turnaround Clinic. First off, I’m a huge fan of Naomi from IttyBiz. I think she’s amazing and a genius. I am so excited about this class. I’ve already had brilliant ideas and I’m not even halfway through. I can see taking myself through this class (or at least parts) once or twice a year. Yes, it’s that useful already. You can still sign up and you don’t have to be in “turnaround” mode but it is definitely geared toward that. It’s pay-what-you-can, so if you’re not in turnaround mode, I suggest you pay full price. If you are in turnaround, she really means pay-what-you-can.
Cross-posted from the Circa Consulting blog. Check out my Tech Roundup, too.
Tags: Emergency Turnaround Clinic, google, google search algorithm, home office, IttyBiz, marketing tips, Square, taxes
27 Oct
Business is hard.
Being in business by yourself is even harder.
Today I want you to celebrate the fact that you are doing it.
Even if you are sucking at it, going into debt, not working enough, what ever. You are doing it.
You took a HUGE risk.
You can learn to run a better business, you can learn to find more clients, you can learn better systems. If you can read, and you have a library card, then you can learn to control and change those screwed up things.
But it’s really hard to learn how to take the risk in the first place.
Not very many people can learn that.
And you are doing it!
Wait YOU DID IT!
So what if you screwed up or are a screw up, you can learn to be different.
Sometimes when if feels as if everything is totally screwed up, take a second to remember you already did the hardest part. And even if you have to retreat you still succeed in taking a step where millions of people won’t even go.
