The term, “platform” is tossed around liberally in small business circles these days, yet many people remain confused about exactly what it means. To help clear up the confusion, I recently interviewed someone I consider to be an expert on the topic.

Phil Simon is the author of The Age Of The Platform, a book about how small business owners can look to larger companies like like Amazon, Apple, FaceBook, and Google to learn new ways to leverage online platforms for success. Phil has researched the topic extensively, and you’ll enjoy insights during this interview that you won’t find anywhere else.

To listen to my 30-minute interview with Phil, and to put his tips to work in your business now, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the play arrow. If you don’t feel like listening right now, here is a high level summary of what Phil and I discussed, with time stamps in case you want to scroll forward.

1. What is a platform (4:00)? A platform is a collection of integrated planks. An example of a plank is the hair cut service offered by a barber. The barber could also offer the complementary service of a shave. The two planks (hair cut and shave) create his platform. The more complementary services he provides, the more planks he has to support his platform. While the barber can add planks just to increase revenues, Phil says he should avoid misguided attempts to make quick money. Planks should be logical extensions of an existing core platform. They should support the ecosystem of the brand and enhance the customer experience, not be added on willy nilly to make a few extra bucks.
2. Platform alone does not guarantee success (12:45). In addition to knowing what a platform is, we must also know what a platform is not. Phil shares the example of a character in a popular sitcom, who thinks that beepers are making a comeback. That person could build a business around beepers. He could have a blog and manage several marketing channels to bolster a visible platform. Of course he won’t be successful because no one is buying beepers. The lesson here is that a platform does not guarantee success. A platform must must be accompanied by a product people want to buy (know your audience!) and a solid business model. Otherwise, it may be worthless.
3. “What’s Yelp?” (16:00) This is a bit of a rhetorical question, to illustrate the point that, if you’re a small business owner, and are not aware of Yelp or other online outlets discussing your brand and/or the types of products and services you offer, you have a problem.

   Phil shares the example of a conversation he had with the owner of a moving company he was considering hiring. Before speaking with the company owner, Phil discovered numerous negative Yelp reviews for the company — yet the owner of the company had never heard of Yelp.

   Phil’s message is that business is changing — your platform is not completely controlled by you. Not only must you build your own platform, but you must also be aware of third party-owned platforms that can help (or hurt) your business.

Toward the end of the interview, we encountered a technical difficulty. The audio is clear, but you may notice our creative editing in the last few minutes. (Thanks Darryl!) I really wanted to bring you Phil’s insights, so despite the glitch, you will enjoy this podcast.

About Phil Simon

Phil Simon is recognized technology expert and the author of four management books: The New Small, Why New Systems Fail, The Next Wave of Technologies, and The Age of the Platform. His contributions have been featured on Huffington Post, The Globe and Mail, the American Express Open Forum, ComputerWorld, Technorati, ZDNet, abcnews.com, forbes.com, Inc. Magazine, The New York Times, ReadWriteWeb, and many other sites. Visit his website at Phil Simon Systems, and follow him on Twitter.

Related Podcast: Donna Maria and Phil Simon: Tips To Help Small Business Owners Maximize Technology

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Linda shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: How are you building planks and platforms to support your business?

The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute projects that women small business owners will create 5 to 5.5 million new jobs across the U.S. by 2018, transforming the workplace of tomorrow into a far more inclusive, horizontally managed environment.*

What’s more, women-owned small businesses are expected to generate more than half of the 9.72 million new small business jobs projected to be created, and roughly one-third of the 15.3 million total new jobs anticipated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics by 2018. If these predictions come to pass, it will be increasingly important for women entrepreneurs to excel in the executive chair. I recently interviewed Linda Henman, PhD, author of Landing In The Executive Chair, about how women can prepare themselves for these exciting challenges.

To listen to my 30-minute interview with Linda, and to put her insights to work in your business now, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the play arrow. If you don’t feel like listening right now, here is a high level summary of what Linda and I discussed, with time stamps in case you want to scroll forward.

1. Practice “F-squared” leadership (4:00). “Great leadership is about balancing concern for task with concern for people,” says Dr. Henman. Doing so requires “F-squared” leadership, meaning you must have “firm but fair” approaches to communication and leadership.

   You are in business to achieve specific results. This requires not only firmness and fairness, but it also requires a strong sense of self and self-worth, both of which are driven by excellence. Don’t do like many small and “boutique” business owners and sacrifice firmness (which leads to results), thus compromising their ability to achieve business goals. (If you have issues with self-esteem, be sure to listen to this section.)

2. Appropriately value your products and services (6:57). Dr. Henman says that her mantra is, “You’re not charging enough.” You should be fairly compensated for what you’re good at, especially if no one in the world is offering the same thing you are. She shares the story here of how she tells one of her female clients, who consistently undervalues her services, to add a zero after each pricing proposal before she sends it to the prospective client.

   Dr. Henman says she never has to tell her male clients to charge what they are worth. In fact, she says, her male clients often overvalue what they have to offer! (Take a tip, ladies!)

3. MasterMind and hire a business coach (13:30). Dr. Henman highly recommends working with an external coach and a MasterMind group. A coach provides more formal “big picture” feedback while your MasterMind partners are like-minded people who can support in the day-to-day trenches of business.

   Your MasterMind partners will help you do things like pull back when you’re getting too far away from your core business, or maybe telling you when you are not charting a high enough price for your product or service. They will even tell you when your feelings may be getting in the way of doing business, ie., when you are being fair but not firm.

   Linda’s business coach, whom she highly recommends, is Alan Weiss of Summit Consulting Group.

I have worked with a business coach and MasterMind groups for many years. I fully agree with Dr. Henman when she says that both will help keep you from “breathing in your own exhaust.” Love that!

About Dr. Linda Henman

Linda Henman, PhD, is a coach, consultant, speaker, and author. For more than 30 years, she has helped Fortune 500 Companies, military organizations, and small businesses define their direction and select the best people to put their strategies in motion. Linda holds a PhD in organizational systems, two MAS degrees in both interpersonal communication and organization development, and a BS in communication. A member of the National Speakers’ Association, The National Association of Corporate Directors, and Air Force Association, Linda works with executives and boards of directors to help them set strategies, plan succession, and develop talent. Visit her website at Henman Performance Group.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Linda shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What do you think of Linda’s advice to women?

* Source: Guardian Special Report: Women Small Business Owners Will Create 5+ Million New Jobs By 2018, Transforming The Workplace For Millions Of Americans (PDF).

Earlier this week, I went one-on-one with Mari Smith, the author of New Relationship Marketing. Mari has been called the “Pied Piper Of The Online World,” and you’ll see why when you hear how enthusiastically and sincerely she shares her tips for marketing your business.

To listen to my 30-minute interview with Mari, and to put her tips to work in your life right away, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the play arrow. If you don’t feel like listening right now, here is a high level summary of what Mari and I discussed, with time stamps in case you want to scroll forward.

1. You’re already a relationship marketer (2:14)! Since the notion of relationship marketing is based on the underlying intent that governs all of your actions, if you have a business, you currently engage in some forms of relationship marketing every day! Unlike the traditional sales and marketing process, which focuses on closing the sale in front of you, relationship marketing focuses on earning and nurturing relationships, and on acquiring customers for life. This is not a “one off” process. It’s continuous and flowing, and allows you to use new media tools for great efficiencies.

   My Takeaway: Rather than focusing solely on your sales cycle, focus also on how relationship cycles complement your sales cycle. Observe how they mature over time. See how they lead to sales and other positive outcomes in your business and in your life.

2. The line between business, personal and private (28:00). Stressing that you must take control of your privacy, Mari divides sharing into three categories: business, personal, and private. She suggests a 3-prong test to determine whether or not to share something publicly. Don’t miss this section, where Mari discusses how she applied these tests to determine whether and how to share her change in marital status at her blog. You’ll get some great tips if you are trying to figure out what to share and what not to share.

   My Takeaway: If you have a business, there is not such thing as complete privacy. You cannot be an recluse online and then expect the Internet to deliver sales for you. Strike an intentional balance between disclosure and non-disclosure that works for you. Like relationship marketing itself, this is a dynamic process, and may vary greatly depending on the season of your life, the stage of your business, and your own personal comfort level.

3. Three things that will always draw people (11:47). Whenever you’re at a loss for how to connect with and nurture a relationship with someone, consider approaching them around one of these three things: family, hobbies, or travel. Everyone likes all three, so you can’t go wrong with any of them. This is a super tip for when you need ideas for new blog posts, and want to use your blog to reach out to specific people with whom you want to do business.

   My Takeaway: Use your blog, Twitter, FaceBook, etc., to find out about the people you want to connect with. Just like you approach the job interview process only after doing homework on the employer, approach the business networking and marketing process by first doing your home on the business and/or business owner you want to connect with.

About Mari Smith

Mari is a passionate social media leader, specializing in relationship marketing and FaceBook mastery. Fast Company describes her as a veritable engine of personal branding, a relationship marketing whiz and the “Pied Piper
of the Online World.” In addition to her new book, New Relationship Marketing, Mari is the co-author of FaceBook Marketing: An Hour a Day, and is considered one of the top resources and thought leaders in the world of new media marketing. Follow Mari on Twitter here, and check out her website here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Mari shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What do you think of Mari’s tips? What did we miss? How do you use technology to nurture relationships that help you and others be successful?

In a recent episode of Indie Business Podcast, I sat down with Tiffany McCauley, the incredibly devoted and diligent mind behind the popular Gracious Pantry website. Not only did Tiffany and I discuss some of her recipes, but Tiffany also shared a bit about her journey to better health through “clean eating.”

Not only has she lost 59 of the 114 pounds she’s aiming to lose, but she is also off of her blood sugar medication and hopes to soon be able to ditch the high blood pressure pills too. This was a holiday show from last month, but the principles Tiffany and I discussed apply all year long. Sit back and enjoy super tips and ideas to help you improve your life by improving your diet.

To listen to my 30-minute interview with Tiffany, and to put her tips to work in your life right away, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the play arrow. If you don’t feel like listening right now, here is a high level summary of what Tiffany and I discussed, with time stamps in case you want to scroll forward.

1. Reinvention (2:00)? Before Tiffany and I got into the aspects of clean eating, she shared some of the emotional challenges she faces on her fitness journey, and how she changed her professional career more than once before settling on her current passion, which is also her business. This is a super segment if you need some encouragement and confirmation about the kind of dedication it takes to get a new business off the ground.
2. Holiday celebrations shouldn’t last forever (8:30). Tiffany reminds us that a holiday should never last a whole season. After all, it’s Christmas day, not Christmas month. It’s a birthday, not a “birthweek.”

   When not enjoying the actual holiday celebration itself, you should choose healthier options. “Preparation is the biggest key to success where eating is concerned,” she says. Enjoy your treats, but make sure your meals include good tasting foods made with lower fat ingredients. (See below.)

   Love this quote from Tiffany: “You have to know what you’re going to eat ahead of time. Otherwise, you’ll just eat what’s there.” (So true!)

3. Substitutions (11:47). Tiffany shared a few substitutions you can use for higher fat ingredients: substitute grapeseed oil or olive oil for other types of oil. Bake, instead of fry, as much of your food as you can — baking requires less fat to cook food. Replace some of the fat in some baked goods with pureed bananas. Use a combination of grapeseed oil and unsweetened apple sauce to sweeten baked goods. Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour.

Don’t miss the part at 15:00 where Tiffany offers tips to convert your favorite calorie laden sweet potatoes into something healthy and delicious, how to liven up your oatmeal, some smoothie ideas (with spinach?), and also, what she thinks of sugar substitutes of all kinds. (Hint: the term “chemical surprise” involved.)

And in case you’re wondering, the graphic above is Tiffany pictured with her brand new Clean Eating Four Bean Chili — get the recipe here.

About Tiffany McCauley

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tiffany McCauley is a soon-to-be published cookbook author (January 8, 2012), and is currently pursuing a master’s degree as a registered dietitian. She publishes TheGraciousPantry.com and SkinnyCrockPot.com (which she co-authors with Gale Compton). Both blogs offer clean eating recipes, tips, weight loss support and encouragement. Follow Tiffany on Twitter here, and check out her website here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Tiffany shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What do you think of Tiffany tips and insights? Do you practice “clean eating?”

While the holiday season and start of a New Year can be an especially stressful time, small business owners manage an extraordinary amount of pressure all year long. But you don’t need to live in a constant state of overwhelm and anxiety in order to thrive in your life and your business.

Gina Rafkind, otherwise known as the “Anxiety Busting Guru” joined me on a recent Indie Business Podcast to share her best tips for overcoming anxiety and actually using stress in your life to reduce stress in your life. Yes, Gina says, it’s possible.

To listen to my 30-minute interview with Gina, and to put her tips to work in your life right away, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the play arrow. If you don’t feel like listening right now, here is a high level summary of what Gina and I discussed, with time stamps in case you want to scroll forward.

1. Form your business around yourself (2:30)? Before we got into the anxiety busting conversation, Gina shared a bit about her journey from a business that was bad for her to a one that is good for her. It all comes down, she says, to putting herself first. Gina recommends that you check your life and make sure that as you serve your customers, you don’t forget to serve yourself too! The desire not to let other people down can be overwhelming. Still you must make sure you don’t sacrifice yourself to please your customers.
2. Practice conscious breathing (13:40). Here, Gina shares how to quickly (really quickly) go within yourself to notice what your body is saying to you. this is a fun exercise we do live on the show. Try it and notice the benefits! We also discuss the circuitous nature of negative feelings and how they can sabotage our progress to appropriate respond to our bodies.
3. Value your values (11:47). In addition to conscious breathing, Gina says you can relieve stress and anxiety by identifying your core values and then situating your business around them. For example, as much as Gina loved her career as a hair stylist, it was not allowing her to enjoy her core value of “freedom.” Once she made this connection, she “did the hard work” (her words) of closing one business and opening a new one that she felt would provider her with freedom and work enjoyment simultaneously.

Of course Gina’s not suggesting (nor am I) that if you feel excessive stress and anxiety, you should close your business and open a new one. That was right for Gina, but your journey may lead elsewhere. It all starts with putting yourself first, knowing what you want, and then creating your business around that.

About Gina Rafkind

I like to call Gina the “Anxiety-Busting Guru.” She helps women establish new paths of “being” so they can enjoy their lives more. Through guided meditations, e-books, workshops, and transformational life coaching, Gina’s work helps women transform stress and anxiety into positive forces for good in their live, so they can have more fun and experience more success in buisness and in life. Follow Gina on Twitter here, and check out her website here. You can also connect with Gina at Indie Social.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Gina shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What do you think of Gina’s tips and insights? Did you try the breathing exercise on the show?

In How To Control Your Growth and Don’t Break Your Life, I shared my insights based on 12 years in business about successfully integrating your need to build a profitable business with your need to build a business that is the right for your life.

These are two distinct things, but unless they are considered together, you could end up with a highly profitable business but no time to enjoy your life, or a great life plan, but not enough money to live it. When it comes to business, my definition of success is actively leading a business that’s designed to finance your unique lifestyle goals. How that looks will vary from person to person and from life to life, and that’s what Adelaide Lancaster and I discussed on a recent Indie Business Podcast episode.

Adelaide is the co-author of The REAL TRUTH About Social Media: Confessions of a Social Media CEO. To listen to my 30-minute interview with Adelaide, and to put her insights to work in your business now, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the play arrow. If you don’t feel like listening right now, here is a high level summary of what Adelaide and I discussed, with time stamps in case you want to scroll forward.

1. What’s in it for you (5:03)? While you’re probably used to asking this question when it comes to your personal relationships, you need to ask it for your business as well. Of course, you have to look at how your business will serve your customers, but in that process, remember to also ask how your business will serve you.

   There are multiple ways to support yourself, and if you choose entrepreneurship, be aware of why you are making that choice. What do you want to get out of making money as a business owner that you cannot get out of making money by being employed in a traditional job. Knowing the answer to this question will help you choose an entrepreneurial path that will help propel you toward the kind of life that keeps you happy and satisfied.

2. A “job” is a good thing (8:08). Traditionally, business has been defined in party by how many systems you have in place and how few employees you can hire to run those systems so you can maximize your efficiencies. OK, that’s all good stuff, and more power to businesses that run that way. We need them. But, says Adelaide, don’t let anyone tell you that your business doesn’t matter simply because it’s really a job you have created for yourself.

   Today, she says, more and more people are deriving enormous amounts of personal pleasure and satisfaction from their work and their role as a small business owner. This flies in the face of the “auto-systematization of everything” kind of mindset. If you have created a business that you enjoy, and your hands-on role is personally and financially profitable, then more power to you for creating a means to leverage your best skills and talents to benefit your community and yourself.

3. Be prepared for short-term consequences (9:43). I pulled my share of “all-nighters” in college and law school. I didn’t stay up all night every night, but for brief periods, I had no choice if I wanted to complete a project on time or study enough to excel on an exam. Business is much the same way. Says Adelaide, there will be times when you will have to work more and spend less time with family in order to do things like push through a customer order, open your new online store, or organize your marketing system.

   “Your business will require you to do a lot of things you don’t necessarily want to do,” says Adelaide. The trick is to push through those times so your life can normalize again. You don’t want lead your business from one never-ending emergency project to another.

As you listen, be sure to catch the part beginning at 18:00 where Adelaide shares specific tips she uses herself that will help you embrace and organize your social media marketing efforts.

About Adelaide Lancaster

Along with her co-author and business partner, Adelaide is the founer of In Good Company, a community, business learning center and workspace for women business owners in New York City. In addition to her entrepreneurial ventures, she works as a consultant and business advisor. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Huffington Post and MSNBC. Follow Adelaide on Twitter here, and check out her website here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Adelaide shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What do you think of Adelaide tips and insights? Is your company big enough, or is it too big, for you?

I have shared with you previously how managing my life and business from a specific mission-focused perspective has enhanced my life, and also, how New York Times best selling author Laurie Beth Jones helped me clarify my mission. This week, I was thrilled to welcome Laurie Beth as my guest on Indie Business Podcast.

Laurie Beth is the author of The Four Elements of Success: A Simple Personality Profile that will Transform Your Team (and 15 other books … ) On my podcast, I went one-on-one with Laurie Beth to discover how she combines a life and a business mission into a cohesive whole, and how you can do the same.

To listen to my 30-minute interview with Laurie Beth, and to put her insights to work in your business now, click here. If you don’t feel like listening right now, here is a high level summary of some of the things Laurie Beth and I discussed.

1. Are you a “Spiritreneur”. Laurie Beth defines a Spiritreneur as those who can answer “yes” to these questions:
   

   (1) are you doing work that honors God?
   (2) are you doing work that honors your gifts and talents?
   (3) are you making a living full-time doing that work?

   If you answered, “yes” to all three, Laurie Beth defines you as a Spiritreneur.

2. Understand your personality type. Laurie Beth analogizes the four physical elements of the universe to our personality types. The four elements are earth, wind, fire. Each, says Laurie Beth, is characterized by traits that are present in your personality. Knowing which elements are dominant and not dominant for you is key to creating your ultimate success.

   Be sure to listen to his part of the show so you know the distinct characteristics of each element. It’s very enlightening to see how Laurie Beth helps you, as she says, “Tap into the creativity of the universe.”

3. Laurie Beth’s mission statement formula. Laurie Beth offers a simple formula to help you create your life mission statement. She says to it should include “three verbs, a core value, and a tribe.” Think about how easy that is!

   Using Laurie Beth’s formula helped me craft my mission statement: to empower and encourage women to maximize their potential through small business ownership.

You can do the same, and I can tell you from personal experience that having this laser focus has made all the difference in my life and my business.

About Laurie Beth Jones

Laurie Beth is Laurie Beth Jones, management expert and business consultant extraordinaire, noticed that none of the personality/temperament profiles in the market today, none of them provided a tool that was simple, visual, intuitive, and powerful enough to create a shift in thinking as well as relating. So she developed The Path Elements Profile (PEP), which can be used in recruitment, placement, retention, team building, and customer relations as businesses transform many individuals into a harmonizing, humming force for good. Within the framework of the book will be scriptural examples as well as modern day business stories. Follow Laurie Beth on Twitter here, and check out her website here.

(I just noticed that some of Laurie Beth’s downloads are 50% off. I’m not sure how long this will last, so head on over and grab yours now!)

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Laurie Beth shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It can take up to a day for iTunes to feed my show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: Are you a Spiritreneur? How do you integrate your business and life mission to create a cohesive whole that serves others and accomplishes your own personal goals?

Fresh from running a marathon to help non-profit CARE fight global poverty with an emphasis on empowering women and girls with education, and maternal health and micro-finance resources, Ironman Eric Harr joined me to talk about making sure your social media outreach is ship shape.

I interviewed Eric when he was fresh back from completing IronMan Triathlon World Championships in Hawaii. He finished 40th overall, and the 7th American. This the most diff one-day event int he world, and Eric had a perfect day. Eric is the author of the newly released The REAL TRUTH About Social Media: Confessions of a Social Media CEO. Eric’s book explores inspirational real-life stories of people who use social media to advance their business and personal interests. In my interview, he revealed some of the things successful people (including himself) do in order to use social media wisely and to accomplish specific goals.

To listen to my 30-minute interview with Eric, and to put his insights to work in your business now, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the play arrow. If you don’t feel like listening right now, here is a high level summary of what Eric and I discussed, with time stamps in case you want to scroll forward.

1. “The first wealth is health” (3:00). Eric provides a short but pointed overview, and a challenge to all of us really, about how he has always pursued sport as a way to be healthy first and foremost. The first thing Eric does in the morning, he says, is kiss his kids and then immediately address his body. He is far more productive because his fitness comes first each day. Eric says that all the things you do to pursue a healthy lifestyle will benefit you in business.

   Continue listening to this segment when Eric shares the three things he did to embrace the mindset he needed to be successful as an Ironman.

2. Start at the beginning (5:17). Eric says you have to start with social media by asking the question, “Why?” Why are you involved on Twitter, or FaceBook, or whatever? Yes, social media empowers the individual like never before, so there’s no question that you should be involved in it. However, social media should drive specific business objectives. Eric says to first decide what your top three business objectives are, and then select the social media tools you will use to drive those goals.
3. Go “old school” with new media (9:43). “Social media is not a media. It’s a human relationship,” says Eric. So many companies alienate people by trying to “message” them. Eric says to spend time school. Consider “Karen in Kansas,” Eric says in this segment. Spend time caring about and loving on people. If you do that, people will be drawn to you. When that happens, the business will follow.

As you listen, be sure to catch the part beginning at 8:00 where Eric shares specific tools you can use to measure: (1) how many people you are reaching using social media; (2) track how many people are actually clicking on your links; and (3) track how clicks are (or are not) driving sales.

Listen at 9:30 where Eric shares the one social media tool he recommends that everyone use!

Tune in at 17:10 for Eric’s advice on buying targeted FaceBook ads, and engaging in what he calls “like-gating.”

About Eric Harr

Eric is the host of the Social Media Minute, the author of The REAL TRUTH About Social Media: 8 Timeless Truths and 8 Monumental Truths, and an IronMan who believes that “Empowering women is unleashing the greatest power on Earth.” Don’t miss this amazing show where we’ll explore the mind of someone who has used social media to highlight his accomplishments and help others be healthier and more successful in life and in business. Follow Eric on Twitter here, and check out his website here.

And don’t forget to join Eric in his commitment to support CARE’s vision to help women around the world!

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Eric shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What do you think of Eric’s tips?

You’ve heard me talk about consumer-business owners, that is, people who are at once consumers and business owners. They are consumers because they consume in a traditional sense. They have a traditional job, they buy things, they provide for their families. They are business owners because, in addition to a job, they also sell a product or service that provides for their families and supports the local, national and/or international economy. There was a time when consumers could be neatly categorized. They were not direct producers of anything, except for what they produced on behalf of an employer. That was then. This now.

Felicia Joy knows what I’m talking about. She’s the author of Hybrid Entrepreneurship: How the Middle Class Can Beat the Slow Economy, Earn Extra Income and Reclaim the American Dream, and in this podcast, she offers tips and insights to help you successfully pursue hybrid entrepreneurship.

For a high level overview of what Felicia shared, read this post. If you’d rather go beyond reading and start applying, scroll to the bottom of this post, click the gray arrow, turn up the volume and enjoy my interview, using the time stamps to find what interests you most. You can use the link below to download the podcast to your favorite mobile device, or you can listen, download and subscribe via iTunes.

1. Hybrid entrepreneurship as a philosophy (9:24). It’s no secret that banks and large companies are sitting on mountains of cash these days. Even though we bailed them out, they are not pumping anything to speak of into the economy, leaving it to us to fend for ourselves. Like me, Felicia believes that today’s small business owners are bailing this country out moment by moment, day by day. Imagine what would happen, she says, if everyone earmarked 10% of what we spend to patronize local businesses.
2. Hybrid entrepreneurship as a strategy (11:15). Once you embrace the philosophy, it’s time to get busy figuring out what you will do to create your own business. To do this, Felicia suggests doing a “brain dump” of your talents and skills. Come up with a simple idea that can generate money by providing a needed product or service in your local community. Start there and begin working on a plan to start offering what you have for sale.
3. Hybrid entrepreneurship mechanics (13:31). Felicia reminds us that it’s a process. If you have a traditional job, you’ll want to make sure you divide your work time based on whether you are working for yourself or your employer. This separation is important for your own peace of mind and to make sure that you are meeting your end of the agreement you have with your employer. (This important point was also addressed in my interview with Rhonda Cook on How to Leave Corporate America.
4. Be flexible (14:50). Felicia shared the story of her first business, a social networking site that had the phrase Wall Street in it. It attracted people until the market tanked, after which point no one wanted to be a part of anything related to “Wall Street.” Ever the flexible business woman, Felicia re-grouped and formed Ms. CEO. The point is that you have to plant the seed, and then water, work and tweak it until you find the right target customer for you.

Don’t miss the part starting at 17:05 where Felicia discusses how important it is to be prepared to run your business in what I call a “constant state of beta.” This is an important point that many new entrepreneurs overlook.

About Felicia Joy

Felicia Joy is the founder and CEO of Ms. CEO in Atlanta, Georgia. She enjoys sharing her insights with others as a marketing and small business instructor at Emory University. Felicia is also a speaker to diverse audiences nationwide on personal transformation and entrepreneurial success. She has been featured on CNN, FOX, ForbesWoman and Black Enterprise. Visit Felicia’s website and follow him on Twitter here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Felicia shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Click here to listen at Blog Talk Radio
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: Are you a hybrid entrepreneur? What do you think of Felicia’s tips?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have watched some kind of makeover show. Whether its fashion, homes, makeup or weight loss, reality shows depicting the makeover process are very popular. I recently interviewed Gil Effron, author of How to Give Your Business an Extreme Marketing Makeover, about his 5-step process to help you makeover your sales and marketing processes.

For a high level overview of what Gil shared, read this post. If you’d rather go beyond reading and start applying, scroll to the bottom of this post, click the gray arrow, turn up the volume and enjoy my interview, using the time stamps to find what interests you most. You can use the link below to download the podcast to your favorite mobile device, or you can listen, download and subscribe via iTunes.

1. Take inventory (4:04). Before you can change anything, you need to know what to change. Go into your “marketing closet” and see what’s there. How are you marketing your business? What’s working and what’s not working? Find one or two things you do regularly that are not working well, not producing results. Once you pinpoint a few items, move to the next step.
2. Analyze the processes (5:21). Once you identify a few areas to work on, dissect each step. What are you doing? What results do you expect? What can be improved about what you’re doing so you can get better results? Look for what Gil calls, “points of constraint,” where there are inefficiencies hindering your goals — or just things that are slowing you down or taking up too much of your time for the results you are getting out of them. Once identify points of constraint, you can remove and move past them.

   (It’s hard to describe this process in a vacum, but here’s a simple example, off the top of my head. Let’s say you have a great newsletter, but people are not subscribing. You spend hours each week getting it ready to publish, but the numbers are not going up. Take a look at the entire “subscribe” process and identify points of constraint. Maybe the subscribe link isn’t working, or maybe it’s hard to find on the page, or maybe it’s confusing so people aren’t using it. You may ask a few people what they think of the subscribe process, and use their feedback to help you improve it. This is a simple example, and I made it up. but hopefully, it illustrates Gil’s points.)

3. Create your ideal process (9:00). The example above describes working backward from a goal (more newsletter subscribers) to evaluate current processes so they can be improved to achieve the goal. Duplicate the process over and over again (for example, place the newsletter subscribe link in prominent places across your websites). Maximize the value of each customer relationship, one by one.
4. Create “good marketing” that supports the sales process (23:12). Gil defines “marketing” as “any activity that speeds shortens, streamlines or favorably influences the outcome of the sales process.” In the big picture, this definition includes just about everything business-related task you undertake. In our example, by placing the newsletter subscription link everywhere it makes sense to do so, you are creating efficiencies that feed directly into your sales process.
5. Create a plan (26:55). Well, that sounds easy, but that’s what it boils down to. After all, all the knowledge in the world does no good unless it’s put to good use. Once you’ve followed this process for a few smaller things, you can use them for more intricate marketing processes.

It’s a challenge to summarize Gil’s points in text, but I do hope the above newsletter example helps a bit. To get the most out of Gils’ process, you really need to listen to the podcast and read the book.

About Gil Effron

Gil Effron is the author of How to Give Your Business an Extreme Marketing Makeover. He is founder and president of Strategies For Growth and its 10-day marketing makeover division, where he helps guide business owners and professionals on how to transform their marketing effectiveness, sales efficiencies and bottom line results. Visit Gil’s website and follow him on Twitter here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Gil shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What makeover tips resonate most with you? Are you considering giving your business a marketing makeover? Or have you done so?

I am pleased to share my podcast line up for June 2011. I have four wonderful, information-packed shows just for you, so be sure to mark your calendar to listen live at the links provided.

You can also follow along live at the INDIE Business FaceBook Page.

June 6: Mike Schultz: I’ll interview Mike Schultz, author of Mike Schultz, co-author of Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade, and Sell in Any Situation, about how to master the art of the sales conversation. Listen live on Blog Talk Radio at 1:00pm EST on June 6.

June 13: Stephen Rappaport: I’ll interview Stephen D. Rappaport, author of Listen First!: Turning Social Media Conversations Into Business Advantage, a playbook for marketing and advertising successfully in our conversational era.. Listen live on Blog Talk Radio at 1:00pm EST on June 13.

June 20: Larry Weber: I’ll interview Larry Weber, author of Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era, about how to put your digital marketing strategy at the center of your organization. Jeanne will share time-saving tips and insights to help you create a culture of customers satisfaction and love for your brand. Listen live on Blog Talk Radio at 1:00pm EST on June 20.

June 27: Shannon Kelley: I’ll interview Shannon Kelley, co-author of Undecided: How to Ditch the Endless Quest for Perfect and Find the Career-and Life-That’s Right for You, an invaluable guide to the cultural phenomenon of “analysis paralysis” that is causing women to struggle more than ever to make career decisions and move forward without second-guessing themselves. Listen live on Blog Talk Radio at 1:00pm EST on June 27.

While you’re waiting for these shows, enjoy my extensive Podcast Archives with small business influencers and authors like Brian Solis, Shel Israel, Mike Michalowicz, Pam Slim, Melinda Emerson, and more!

You can also download my shows on iTunes!

Disclosure: Amazon links are affiliate links.

Questions: What do you think of this lineup? Which show will help you most in this season of your life?

Customer service has always been important, but today, there seems to be a reawakening of its importance to small business success. As we lead out business out of a brutal economic downturn, we can see that the companies that fully embraced providing stellar customer service are the ones that are not only doing well today, but also did well during the worst parts of the recession. So says Jeanne Bliss, my guest on INDIE Business Podcast. Jeanne is the author of “I Love You More Than My Dog”: Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad (See all Customer Service Books).

For a high level overview of what Jeanne told me about how to create customer love, read on, using the time stamps to find what interests you most. To go beyond listening and start applying, scroll to the bottom, click the gray arrow, turn up the volume and enjoy the full 30-minute conversation. You can also download the podcast to your favorite mobile device or via iTunes. Here are 5 things companies do to create and drive what Jeanne calls “extreme customer loyalty.”

1. They suspend cynicism (12:36). Instead of building policies and procedures that manage the minority, companies with extremely loyal customers build policies that support the majority. This focus on building up the positive (instead of managing the negative) sets these companies apart.
2. They have clarity of purpose (12:55). These companies anguish over their higher purpose to serve and support their customers’s lives. They’re not just providing a commodity. They are providing an experience. For example, one business offers you a hotel room while another business offers you a retreat.
3. They are real (13:22). When you deal with these companies, you are made to feel important. There is a humanity about them at every level. Customers are treated with respect, as are employees, who are encouraged to bring the best version of themselves to work every day.
4. They create moments of contact (13:40). By consistently creating reliable connections — one by one — that enhance their customers’s lives, these companies actually earn the right to grow.
5. They say, “I’m sorry” (14:06). These companies capitalize on their mistakes by quickly repairing any damage by apologizing in meaningful ways. Companies that do this well and consistently often create more customer loyalty than they would have created if they had made no mistake at all.

Don’t miss the part starting at 15:43 where Jeanne shares a bit about how Lush Cosmetics creates extreme customer loyalty around their “fizzing bath bombs” and other handmade cosmetics. And scroll to 21:13 to enjoy case studies of specific things companies have done to deliver great customer service. (One company spent $1,500 to save $150,000 in business!)

About Jeanne Bliss

Jeanne Bliss began her career at Land’s End as a customer service pioneer and went on to serve as the chief customer e served as the chief customer executive at Coldwell Banker, Allstate, Microsoft and Mazda. She is now the president of CustomerBliss, her own consulting firm where she guides companies large and create extreme customer loyalty. Visit Jeanne’s website and follow her on Twitter here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Jeanne shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: How do you create extreme customer loyalty at your small business?

Irecently interviewed Tim Pearson, author of The Old Rules of Marketing are Dead: 6 New Rules to Reinvent Your Brand and Reignite Your Business. Tim believes that the greatest challenges for businesses of all sizes today is rebounding from the “great recession” and properly embracing the new technologies that have drastically changed the way products and services are bought and sold.

For a high level overview of what Tim shared, read this post, using the time stamps to find what interests you most. To go beyond listening and start applying his insights to your life, scroll to the bottom of this post, click the gray arrow, turn up the volume and enjoy my interview. You can also download the podcast to your favorite mobile device or via iTunes.

1. Focus on what really matters (7:50). Your core is everything, so be focused on it. Your business has a brand essence. It’s intangible because it’s really the emotional connection your business has with your customers. Find it, and then focus on it. It will be the game-changer for your business.
2. Build your foundation (14:40). Mind your P’s: (1) Penetration of your product and brand; (2) Relationship of price to perceived value of your product; and (3) Preference, as in what you do that causes people to prefer your offering over similar alternatives.
3. Many choices, one customer (22:06). While you use multiple channels to engage customers, you are still dealing with individuals. Resist lazy marketing. Use technology to reach the masses, but don’t treat people like “masses.”
4. Do the right things (25:00). Avoid making decisions to do things for the wrong reasons. For example, the question, “How can I get my company on FaceBook?” is different from the question, “Does our company need to be on FaceBook?”
5. Technology is not a savior (27:43). Instead of getting lost in technology, get lost in exploiting technology.
6. Lead and others will follow (25:23). No business can be successful without a strong leader. Leadership is active. It is vibrant. Leadership is a verb, not a noun.

Oh! And don’t miss the part starting at 17:30 where Tim and I discuss the importance of resisting the temptation to compete simply by lowering your prices.

About Timothy Pearson

Timothy Pearson is the author of The Old Rules of Marketing are Dead: 6 New Rules to Reinvent Your Brand and Reignite Your Business. He is founder and president of Pearson Advisors || Partners, a marketing management consulting firm serving Fortune 1000 companies. Tim’s specialty is helping is companies merge new marketing rules so their businesses can succeed. Visit Tim’s website and follow him on Twitter here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Tim shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What rules resonate most with you? Which ones challenge you the most?

We all need to hear from women in the trenches — ones who have been in business for many years, grown steadily, and who can share from their hearts about what it really takes to create a business that lasts. But where do we go for this advice? One super source is Anita Campbell, founder and CEO of the popular Small Biz Trends blog.

To get some great cutting edge tips from my 30-minute interview with Anita, scroll to the bottom of this post, click the gray arrow, turn up the volume and enjoy. You can also download the podcast to your favorite mobile device or via iTunes. If you prefer to read, here are three of the insights Anita shared, with time stamps so you can easily find what interests you most.

1. Develop your confidence (1:46). Stop thinking about the past and start thinking about going forward. It’s counter-productive to get caught up in what you didn’t do or what you should have done in the past. Focusing on the forward looking changes you can make will build your confidence and move you closer to what you want your life and your business to become.
2. Integrate your life and your business (3:10). Anita says being a business owner will continue to offer great opportunities for you to integrate your life and your business. For example, as a business owner, you have the ability to create flexibility. You can run your business and your errands on a fluid schedule. While this kind of approach does not work for everyone, Anita says it’s how she lives her life and she highly recommends it. (Ditto from me on this one for sure!)
3. How your blog can positively (or not) affect the future of your business (5:12). While we must work harder to promote our blogs these days, Anita says that blogging will continue to be a critically important tool for small business owners. It’s a way to speak to your customers, to differentiate your business and to share your personality.

Speaking of blogs, don’t miss the part at 7:00 where we discuss recent studies showing the connection between a blog and having a specifically defined niche for your business — which is an increasingly important aspect of small business success. And if you’re looking to obtain funding for your business, scroll to 15:15 where Anita and I discuss small business financing options.

About Anita Campbell

Anita Campbell is an award-winning business woman, blogger, and online radio show host. She left career as lawyer first, and then as the CEO of a tech company to start Small Biz Trends which offers a variety of website and information feeds to help you stay informed about the small business market. Anita’s work has been praised by Hewlett Packard, Forbes, MSNBC and multiple other influential business leaders. BizSugar.com, a social bookmarking and networking tool, is one of Anita’s newest ventures. Visit Anita’s website and follow her on Twitter here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Anita shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What do you think of Anita’s tips? What stands out to you most — confidence, business-life integration or blogging for success?

Irecently interviewed Lorelei Kraft, author of Anything Is Possible: What You Can Learn From a Little Country Girl Who Went From a Two-Room School to Building an Award-Winning Village From Scratch in Five Weeks and Five Days. In a minute, I will tell you how to get a copy of her new book AND her PBS documentary on DC for FREE. (The video below is a must-watch introduction to the documentary.) But first, let me introduce you to an amazing lady.

Lorelei Kraft is a Minnesota Woman Business Owner of the Year and a winner of the Governor’s Entrepreneurship Award. She started out making candles in her Green Bay, Wisconsin, basement, and after a divorce, she and her children expanded her business nationwide. To scratch the surface of her amazing story, scroll to the bottom of this post, click the gray arrow, turn up the volume and enjoy my interview. You can also download the podcast to your favorite mobile device or via iTunes. If you prefer to read some, here are three pointed tips Lorelei shared, with time stamps so you can easily find what interests you most. (Scroll below the tips to learn how to win!)

1. Don’t let reality get in your way (13:45). Lorelei says, “Whenever I want to do something, I just look at where the goal is, and if there are obstacles in the way, I go around them, over them, through them, under them, I don’t care. If I want to do it, I’m going to do it.”
2. Don’t be a “yes but” person (23:354). Lorelei says some people want to change and some don’t — even though they say they do. For example, when Lorelei suggests some ways people can change their lives, people who don’t want to change will say things like, “Yes, but ….” There’s always some “yes but” reason why they cannot take the actions that will bring about the change they say they want. Lorelei says, don’t be like that.
3. Capitalize on what makes you stand out from the crowd (25:23). To be successful, you must position yourself differently from everyone else who offers the same things you do. Whatever you sell, you must articulate what differentiates it from the crowd, and then make everything else (packaging, brochures, etc.) revolve around that central theme.

Oh! And don’t miss the part starting at 5:18 where Lorelei describes her heartbreak when a store manager belittled her efforts because she made her her candles by hand in her basement. (Grrrrr!) By the way, it took Lorelei and her team six years to get out of that basement. What a great reminder of how important it is to view your business as a long-term commitment!

How To Win Lorelei’s Book and PBS Documentary On CD

To win one of three autographed copies of Lorelei’s book AND her PBS documentary entitled, “Five Weeks & Five Days: A Minnesota Documentary,” on CD, do two things: (1) ReTweet this post using the share links; and (2) leave a comment below, either the FaceBook comment area or the blog comment area, sharing why you would like to win a copy of Lorelei’s book and PBS documentary. To be considered, your comment must be entered no later than May 1, 2011 at 5:00pm EST. Three lucky winners will be announced early next week. I will choose winners based on the sincere nature of their comments and how they uplift and inspire everyone gathered here to learn and grow together.

About Lorelei Kraft

Lorelei Kraft is the author Anything Is Possible: What You Can Learn From a Little Country Girl Who Went From a Two-Room School to Building an Award-Winning Village From Scratch in Five Weeks and Five Days, and the producer of the accompanying PBS documentary. She is a Minnesota Woman Business Owner of the Year and a winner of the Governor’s Entrepreneurship Award. She has been featured in numerous national and regional magazines. Visit Lorelei’s website and follow her on Twitter here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Lorelei shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: Why would you like to win a copy of Lorelei’s book and PBS documentary? What about her insights will be most helpful to you at this time in your life and in your business?

Q: “Can you fill us in on how to secure gurus like Dan Zarrella to do interviews like the one you just did with him?”– Becky Lam, Social Media Services, Augusta, GA.

dM’s Answer: “Becky, at the end of this post, I’ll tell you a funny “secret” about how I secured Dan to be on the show. But for now, I’m so glad you asked this question, because it’s not as hard as you might think!

Since launching INDIE Business Podcast in October 2005, I’ve had the honor of interviewing hundreds of amazing people, including Brian Solis, Pamela Slim, Carol Roth and more. It’s one of the most satisfying parts of the work I do to serve micro-businesses. Here are some tips that may be helpful.

1. Know your audience. The best way to appeal to guests with established reputations is to let them know that they can trust you to deliver an audience that wants to hear from them. From its inception, the purpose of INDIE Business Podcast has been to empower small and independent business owners, many of the solo-entrepreneurs, to effectively lead their companies. The fact that I have an established niche focus makes it easier for guests to see whether reaching my niche will be a good use of their time.
2. Stick to a production schedule. Influential guests are more likely to accept interviews for a show that is consistent and well organized. With rare exception due to illness or holidays, I host and produce INDIE Business Podcast on Mondays from 1:00pm to 1:30pm EST. A consistent production schedule gives a guest the confidence in you and inserts a level of accountability into the relationships. If they know you are dedicated to producing a quality show on a consistent basis, they will be more likely to want to be a part of that.
3. Promote your guests. There are many ways to do this, for example on a FaceBook Page like this. Promote the guest’s Twitter page, blog, etc. Let your followers know how excited you are that the person agreed to be on your show. When a prospective guest sees your enthusiasm, they can become excited too. Once the show wraps, spread it far and wide.

   I blog mine and post them to the Podcast Category here at my blog. I often comment live on the show via FaceBook the INDIE FaceBook Page (here’s an example from this week’s show) to generate a link I can share later — like I’m doing now. I also push my shows to iTunes for maximum exposure, and I let my guests (and their publicists if appropriate) know where they can find the links and audio downloads to share with their audience, if they so desire.

4. About that secret … So, here’s the “secret” I promised at the beginning of this post. I’ve been hosting and producing my podcast for 6 years. (In fact, mine is the longest running weekly small business podcast in the world, as far as I know.) I was able to snag Dan when a marketing assistant for his publisher sent me a copy of Dan’s book, The Facebook Marketing Book (affiliate link).

   The secret is that as you consistently produce a show, publicists representing the influencers you want to interview will add you to their mailing lists, and they will eventually start reaching out to you to offer their clients as guests. This means you spend less time looking for guests and more time delivering a great show every time!

   I’m interested to know your feedback and the feedback of others with experience and questions in this area. Keep me posted on how things go, Becky. I wish you the best!” –dM

I’ve hosted my podcast since 2005, but when I started, I had never done it before. Don’t let the fact that I (or others) have been doing it for a long time stop you from getting started. Each successful podcast started with one episode that most people didn’t know about. It takes time to build an audience and to build credibility, but you can do it! Remember that it all starts with the first show. Learn more about Social Media Services.

Questions: If you have a podcast, how do you reach out to prospective guests? If you don’t have a podcast, but would like to start one, what are your questions? Please share using the either the FaceBook comment or the blog comment area below.

If you’d like one-on-one help engaging your community with a branded podcast, dM can help. For details, click here.

Have a question for dM? Send her your question about business and success now via this form, and it could be featured in “Ask dM!”

This post provides a high level summary of my interview of Justin Levy, author of Facebook Marketing: Designing Your Next Marketing Campaign (affiliate link). It was recorded in July 2010 (yikes, time flies!), so it is published now with my apologies to you and Justin for taking so long to release it. This hour-long poscast is jam-packed with tons of useful FaceBook tips.

The written part of this post is a very high level overview of using FaceBook for marketing purposes. If you want the most out of Justin, I encourage you to listen to entire show, then buy Justin’s book to apply detailed advice to your unique situation. To listen, scroll to the bottom of this post, click the gray arrow, turn up the volume and enjoy. You can also download the podcast to your favorite mobile device or on iTunes. If you prefer to read, here is some of what Justin told me, paraphrased of course, with time stamps so you can easily find what interests you most.

1. Community (1:47). Since there are tons of people who care a lot generally about the types of products you offer, the process of creating community on FaceBook is all about causing people to “bubble up” from this massive number and into your sphere of influence. In other words, from your direct and indirect connections to thousands upon thousands of people, you can create niche community by causing the people who are most interested in what you have to offer to bubble up to the surface so you can engage with them. This is the foundation of any type of marketing campaign, social media or otherwise.

   No matter what you plan to do next, you must first create community.

2. Promotion (34:00). Once a community exists, you can begin to use FaceBook as a promotional tool to share things like product photos, trade show appearances, book signings, podcast schedules, new product releases and anything else you want your community to know about. If you carefully balance non-promotional engagement with things you want to promote, you will eventually be rewarded when your community begins to promote things with and for you. Justin shared some good stories about this using Chris Brogan and Gary Vaynerchuk as examples.
3. Advertising (36:01). With Facebook, you can expand your community by promoting things using advertising. FaceBook makes it effective and easy to control costs by allowing you to target ads via things geographic region, gender, by age, interest and more. The ads appear in the right sidebar of the profile pages of the people who fit the description you provide to FaceBook when you set up your ad. We didn’t get a chance to go into depth on this, so you might enjoy this post about how to avoid launching cheesey FaceBook ad campaigns.

   To give FaceBook advertising a try, click here.

Oh! And don’t miss the part starting at 2:39 podcast where Justin gives a quick rundown about how FaceBook started. (You won’t believe what the company’s original name was.”) Also, starting at 21:00, you’ll want to hear why Justin is adamantly opposed to cross-posting between FaceBook and other social media platforms.

About Justin Levy

Justin Levy leads social communications at Citrix Online where he helps to develop and execute social media strategies as part of the corporate communications team, as well as being the editor-in-chief of Workshifting.com, a blog focused on sharing resources on telecommuting, online tools, travel, technology, productivity, work/life balance and helping you to shift when, where and how you work. Justinis an award-winning social, search, and viral marketing scientist at HubSpot and author of author of Facebook Marketing: Designing Your Next Marketing Campaign (2nd Edition) (Que Biz-Tech). Visit Justin’s website and follow him on Twitter here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Justin shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 60-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: How can you employ Justin’s simple tips for using FaceBook to plan a successful social media campaign? What tips can you share?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that FaceBook has recently added several new ways to help you interact with your friends and business associates. Recently, I interviewed Dan Zarrella, co-author of The Facebook Marketing Book (affiliate link), about some of those changes.

In this 30-minute podcast, I quizzed Dan about the 3 things I think are most important for small business owners to use FaceBook effectively: marketing a business, marketing a self and using photographs to do both. To get all good stuff, scroll to the bottom of this post, turn up the volume and don’t miss a second of Dan’s advice. You can also download the podcast to your favorite mobile device or on iTunes. If you prefer to read, here is some of what Dan told me, with time stamps so you can easily find what interests you most.

1. Market your business (1:47). Now that we can interact on FaceBook as our businesses or our personal selves, Dan says that the most important thing to do is make sure that your marketing efforts are focused from a Business Page and not from a profile page. All the “cool tools” for businesses are available through Business Pages only, so if you’re not using Business Pagae, you may miss out on some positive marketing benefits. Dan also discusses (at 5:50) that you can set up a Business Page without a Profile Page, but there are some drawbacks to doing so.
2. Market yourself (9:23). If you want to create a personal brand beyond the products you sell, in addition to a profile page and a Business Page, follow Dan’s (and my) example by setting up a Business Page in your name. For example, Dan has a Business Page for his book, a Profile Page for his friends and family members, and a self-branded Business Page for him. This is a really good way to brand yourself if you want to expand your business beyond products, to things like books, consulting or speaking engagements.
3. Market with photos (16:20). Dan says that while FaceBook limits the display of photos atop Business Pages, you can use the five photos you have to “draw out” what your brand stands for. This is a super way to give your brand visual personality. Studies show that when people see their friends take an action, they often believe that action to be correct. So as you share photos of yourself connecting with customers and business colleagues, you increase the positive images of you and your business.

In line with point number 3, consider how I use photos at the top of my three main Business Pages. The top of the INDIE Business Page features photos of my IBN members. The top of the INDIE Beauty Network Page features photos of IBN member products. The top of the Donna Maria Business Page features photos of me as a speaker, advocate, and collaborator. (The latter page is actually part of a recent experiment.) I also maintain a Profile Page where I connect with personal friends and family members. This 4-pronged set-up is meant to be dynamic and will change as my business evolves, but you get the idea. The same sort of logic can be applied to your business.

About Dan Zarrella

Dan Zarrella is an award-winning social, search, and viral marketing scientist at HubSpot and author of author of The Facebook Marketing Book . He has spoken at numerous conferences, including PubCon, SXSW, Search Engine Strategies, SMX, Iowatasmic, Convergence ’09, 140 The Twitter Conference, The Cool Twitter Conference, WordCamp Mid Atlantic, Social Media Camp, Inbound Marketing Bootcamp, and Social Fresh. Follow Dan on Twitter here. Dan is married to Alison Zarrella, an interactive copywriter and social media marketing consultant, and Dan’s co-author. You can follow Alison here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Dan shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: How can you employ Dan’s simple tips for using FaceBook to attract more people into your sphere of influence?

I am pleased to share the podcast line up for May 2011. I have four wonderful, information-packed shows for you so be sure to mark your calendar to listen live at the links provided.

You can also follow along live at the INDIE Business FaceBook Page.

May 2: Gil Effron: I’ll interview Gil Effron, author of How to Give Your Business an Extreme Marketing Makeover about logical strategies for identifying and fixing problems your sales and marketing processes. Listen live on Blog Talk Radio at 1:00pm EST on May 2.

May 9: Jeanne Bliss: I’ll interview Jeanne Bliss, customer service guru and author of I Love You More Than My Dog: Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad. Jeanne will share time-saving tips and insights to help you create a culture of customers satisfaction and love for your brand. Listen live on Blog Talk Radio at 1:00pm EST on May 9.

May 16: Paul Gillen and Eric Schwartzman: I’ll interview Paul Gillin (pictured) and Eric Schwartzman, co-authors of Social Marketing to the Business Customer: Listen to Your B2B Market, Generate Major Account Leads, and Build Client Relationships a great book dedicated only to business-to-business social media communications. Listen live on Blog Talk Radio at 1:00pm EST on May 16.

May 23: Rupert Scofield: I’ll interview Rupert Scofield, author of The Social Entrepreneur’s Handbook: How to Start, Build, and Run a Business That Improves the World about how to start, build, and run a business that improves the world. Listen live on Blog Talk Radio at 1:00pm EST on May 23.

While you’re waiting for these shows, enjoy my extensive Podcast Archives with small business influencers and authors like Brian Solis, Shel Israel, Mike Michalowicz, Pam Slim, Melinda Emerson, and more!

You can also download my shows on iTunes!

Disclosure: Amazon links are affiliate links.

Questions: What do you think of this lineup? Which show will help you most in this season of your life?

As small and independent business owners, we juggle a lot of important balls. If we are not doing all the juggling ourselves, we are leading others who are doing some of the juggling for us. That means that when unexpected family hardship rolls around, if we want to continue in business, we have to find a way to deal with the trauma and without dropping the balls.

But how do you do that? How do you continue to lead your business when unexpected tragedy strikes? Tony and Linda Cole know what that’s like, and they joined me to share some tips you can pack away for future use if, God forbid, you ever need them. Tony and Linda are a husband-wife business team and the co-authors of Resurrecting Anthony: A True Story of Courage and Destination (affiliate link). When their son had a sudden heart attack, followed by 90 days in a coma, they nursed him, maintained their marriage and relationship with another child, and kept their business going. How did they do it?

You might be tempted to skip this podcast because there’s currently no trauma in your life. But this is the kind of information you need to collect BEFORE you actually need it. Get the scoop now by scrolling to the bottom of this post, turning up your volume, and clicking on the gray arrow. If you’d rather read a high level overview, I have paraphrased Tony and Linda’s remarks here.

1. The importance of relationships (5:10). One of the things that helped Tony and Linda survive was the depth of relationships they had previously developed with their clients. They cared about them intimately. While they didn’t give Tony and Linda a “hall pass,” they did give them the freedom to drop business for a while so they could tend to their family. This gave them the breathing room they needed to organize a new life around their son before they had to get back to making money.

   (Be sure to listen to this section for tips on how to cultivate meaningful business relationships.)

2. Failure is not an option (15:30). There are no books for handling life and business when your child has cardiac arrest. Tony and Linda say they were absolutely overwrought with their situation, but they had a good team of nurses for Anthony, good family support, and a healthy daughter.

   Still, in order to function, they nearly stopped communicating in order not to make it worse for the other person. Underneath it all, giving up the business was never an option for them. As a result, failure also was not an option, and since it wasn’t, they just kept plodding away.

3. Take responsibility (18:20). Tony says that a lot fell through the cracks when their son became ill, but rather than pick at the omission or blame others, they just picked up where they were and got it done. Tony says:

   My gut tells me that one of the challenges for businesses today, especially over the last couple of years and moving forward with economic challenges, is it’s become easy for people to make excuses and blame the economy or blame something else, and so they kind of throw up their hands and say ‘too tough, I quit.’ And so they file bankruptcy or do this that or the other thing. And you know, everybody faces some sort of tragedy in their life, but when you take responsibility and say, ‘it’s not an option to this thing fall, it’s an option to take care of Anthony, it’s not an option to get nursing in line,’ then nothing gets in the way. And if businesses are going to survive, that’s the mentality they have to have, I don’t care how big or small they are. They are 100% responsible for the results that they are getting.

And don’t miss the part starting at 2:14 where Tony talks about how, no matter what your business is, and no matter what tragedy strikes, if you have a business, your real job is generate sales — and that never changes. Even when tragedy strikes, Tony says, “You can’t lose sight of the money machine.”

(Please accept my apologies for enjoying this show so much that we ran out of time at the end, and I had to interrupt Tony to conclude the show before our time slot cut off.)

About Linda Cole

Linda founded Alexandra Publishing in 2009 to bring stories of personal courage to those who are enduring difficult times. Her goal is to provide real life experience, insight and useful strategies and resources, empowering readers to meet and overcome their challenges. Linda is also CFO of Anthony Cole Training Group, a successful company that builds sales cultures within organizations nationwide. Follow Linda on Twitter.

About Tony Cole

Tony graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Education. A scholarship athlete, upon graduation Tony leveraged his experience to coach Iowa State University and University of Cincinnati athletic teams. Tony is CEO and President of Anthony Cole Training Group which serves companies nationwide, bringing new life to sales organizations. Follow Tony on Twitter.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Tony and Linda shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: If you’ve faced family tragedy, how did you get through it and maintain your business? Can you related to the experiences shared by Tony and Linda?

While I am as excited as ever about the rise in the number of American entrepreneurs, I am concerned that too many are starting businesses without knowing what they’re getting into. They run on adrenaline for a while, and many even have some cash saved up. But eventually, the creative high gives way to the reality that while making a profit doing what you love includes having fun, it’s also about putting (boring) systems in place that make doing what you love profitable.

In other words, you have to ask the question, “Should I have a business?”, and not just “Can I have a business?” Recently, I interviewed John Bradberry, author of 6 Secrets to Startup Success: How to Turn Your Entrepreneurial Passion into a Thriving Business (affiliate link). John is the founder and CEO of Ready Founder, where he helps business owners go from passionate to prepared. To get a real flavor for what John shared, I strongly urge you to listen to the entire 30-minute podcast by scrolling to the bottom of this post, turning up your volume and clicking the gray arrow. You can also download it to your desktop or mobile device so you can enjoy it later. If you prefer to read, here are some of the high points of what John shared about avoiding what I call, “the passion pit.” I included time stamps to make it easy for you o a particular point.

1. Avoid the “passion pit” (3:45). While entrepreneurial passion is critical, it often gets in the way of success. When you become emotionally attached to, or fall in love with, your venture, you can fall prey to emotions and biases that lead to behaviors that cause you to underestimate what is needed to get a business off the ground. John says that the “just do it” mindset, without planning and preparation, set many up for failure.
2. Discipline your passion (6:40). John points to three universal fundamentals that are inherent in the process of running a successful business. First, be honest with yourself, identifying your strengths and your weaknesses. Second, “No market, no business,” so be careful not to create a product in search of a market. While you can experiment yourself to success (love this!), be sure to shape your business form the outside in and not the other way around. In other words, do what you love, but don’t fall in love with what you do. Thirdly, make the numbers work. In other words, make sure you can sell what you offer in a way that allows you to make enough margin, over time, to generate the profit your business needs to survive.
3. Know your risk profile (23:48). Evaluate how much risk you (and your family) are willing to live with. Answer the question: “What will my life look like if my business idea does not work out?” Answer honestly, and be ready to live with the outcome, good or bad.

Oh, and be sure to enjoy the part of our conversation where John talked about “founder readiness,” or taking an honest look at the situational factors, especially family, that will affect your success as an entrepreneur. (8:55).

About John Bradberry

John is the founder and CEO of Ready Founder, where helps business owners go from passionate to prepared. John earned a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Richmond, where he was honored as the Psychology Department’s Outstanding Graduate Student in 1991, and is a 1983 graduate of Davidson College. He has worked with companies like Sun Microsystems, Novartis, Coca-Cola, and Bank of America. Learn more at his website, and follow him on Twitter here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information John shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: How do you avoid “the passion pit?” What do you think of John’s suggestions?

Iam thrilled about the increase in the number of newly launched businesses in America. As a person who has been in business for eleven years, and who has coached thousands of entrepreneurs through the process, I steep myself in the observation of what makes businesses succeed and what makes them fail. The truth is, anyone can start a business, but not everyone can actually manage and grow one.

The longer I observe, the more convinced I am that, on average, people who find out what they are getting into before they spend a ton of time and money always maximize their chances of long-term success. Sometimes this means no business at all — a smart decision made by two women I spoke with earlier this week. More about that later, but for now, I want to share what Carol Roth, author of The Entrepreneur Equation: Evaluating the Realities, Risks, and Rewards of Having Your Own Business (affiliate link) told me when I interviewed her earlier this week.

Carol offered honest advice for people thinking of going into business for themselves. To listen to my 30-minute interview with Carol, and to put her insights to work in your life, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the arrow. If you don’t feel like listening right now, here is a summary of what Carol and I discussed, with time stamps in case you want to scroll forward.

1. Assess the timing (4:50). Take a hard look at what is going on in your life at the time you want to start a business. What are your responsibilities? What is your mindset like? What are your finances like? Zoom out and take a look at your personal big picture to honestly assess whether now is the right time for you to start a business. 

   Evaluate the business opportunity in light of your life, and do not start unless you can document and validate assumptions that the rewards will greatly outweigh the risks.

2. Avoid following your emotions (7:06). Carols says that too many people are “intoxicated” by idea of entrepreneurship. Emotions overtake good sense and they forget to do what needs to be done to stack the odds in their favor. 

   Passion is great, but you have to avoid what I call the “passion pit.” Carol echoes this sentiment when she says, “While passion is a critical component of being successful, there is no rule that you have to earn a living from your greatest life passion.” In other words, just because you love something doesn’t mean you should start a business doing it.

3. What to do if you feel like you “must” start a business (11:56). Carol empathizes with underemployed or unemployed people who see entrepreneurship as their last chance of replacing income from a lost job. But, she says, “[I]f you are having a hard time wooing potential employers, you may have an equally hard time wooing potential customers.” In other words, if you cannot sell yourself, you may not be able to sell anything else.

That’s hard for me to swallow, just listening to it. But Carol is right. Asking the tough questions and accepting the tough answers in advance will save tons of heartache down the road. Put a magnifying glass on your life and be honest about what you can accomplish at any given time.

Oh, and be sure to enjoy the part of our conversation where Carol talked about how “bad competition is bad for business” (16:40) and how you can implement her “spinach in your teeth” philosophy (22:00).

Apprentice Programs

Carol recommends looking for opportunities to learn the ropes of the type of business you want to start on someone else’s dime, so you can find out what you’re getting into before you start. One of the ways I help people do this is through an Apprentice Program where people who want to go into the cosmetics business can take advantage of INDIE Beauty University (12 hours of audio training) along with seminars and webinars presented by experts in the field.

Earlier this week, two former Apprentices told me that, thanks to the program, they had decided NOT to start cosmetics businesses. Through the training materials, they were able to see that now is not the time for them. I applaud those women, who can now focus on other areas of their lives, saving entrepreneurship as a possibility for another time and place.

To learn more about my Apprentice Program, click here.

About Carol Roth

Carol is an investment banker and business strategist. She graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and has helped businesses grow and increase profitability over the past 15 years. She also has her own Carol Roth fashion doll, which I think is terrific! Follow Carol on Twitter here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Carol shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What do you think of Carol’s “tough love” advice? What are you doing (or have you done in the past) to “apprentice” or otherwise test the waters before you started a business?

You don’t have to read my blog for long to uncover my passion for helping women maximize their leadership potential. One of the ways I do this in my own life is by surrounding myself with women leaders, including people like Anne-Marie Faiola and other amazing members of IBN.

Another way I do it is by being connected to women leaders through my weekly INDIE Business Podcast. I discovered Susan Bulkeley Butler, author of Women Count: A Guide to Changing the World
(affiliate link) while scouring the Internet for guests. As soon as I discovered Susan, I knew I wanted to introduce her to you. Susan was the first female professional to be hired by global consulting firm Arthur Anderson & Co., when people referred to her as “a man in a skirt.”Today, she leads the Susan Bulkeley Butler Institute for the Development of Women Leaders. Susan shares some valuable insights into how we can more fully embrace leadership roles, both in business and in others area of our lives. To listen to my 30-minute interview of Susan, and to put her insights to work in your life, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the arrow. If you don’t feel like listening right now, here is a summary of what Susan shared with me.

1. Counting women vs. making women count. Susan says she is tired of walking into groups and asking why there are so few women in the room? It’s not a fair representation the more diversity we have around the decision-making table, the better the solutions will be better and the value delivered from those solutions will be better. Susan says that by 2020, “[W]e need to get at least 30% women on all leadership teams, wherever they are.”
2. Leadership comes in different shapes and sizes. Susan says leadership is a way of life. “It’s how you live every moment of every day, every day of every week, every week of every year to make things a better place because you were here.” Being a woman leader may mean being the CEO of your home. Susan says women are better listeners than men, so leading may be just listening to someone who needs to talk. it can be being a good role model, a contributing member of society. Everyone is a leader.
3. Don’t wait for an invitation. When Susan was the first woman professional at Arthur Anderson & Co., she ate a lot of lunches by herself because she was not invited to lunch with the men at the organization. She thought she needed to be invited. She eventually decided she didn’t need an invitation. She finally began to invite herself. After she began to take some risks in this regard, her confidence began to rise.

Susan shares amazing learning experiences from decades of stepping outside of the box and making her voice heard. But don’t take my word for it! Scroll to the bottom of this post and click the gray arrow to listen to the 30-minute show. And don’t miss the part starting at 19:35 where Susan shares about mentoring, the importance of joining and participating in networking organizations, and how we can use technology to lead more effectively wherever we are online.

About Susan Bulkeley Butler

Susan is CEO of The Susan Bulkeley Butler Institute for the Development of Women Leaders. Prior to founding the Institute, Susan established herself as an accomplished business leader who shaped her career at Accenture, the world’s leading management consulting, technology services and outsourcing organization. She joined Arthur Andersen & Co. as its first professional female employee in 1965, and 14 years later, was named the first female partner of its consulting organization, Andersen Consulting, now known as Accenture. Follow Susan on Twitterhere.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Susan shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What do you think of Susan’s definition of leadership? Are you taking risks? Stepping outside the box? Leading where you are? Please share your experiences and ideas with us!

When I left a well-paying, “secure” corporate job in 2000, I had never met a woman who voluntarily left a good job to do anything other than get married and have children. What I did over a decade ago is commonplace today, as more and more people are leaving (or being forced to leave) jobs to start businesses of their own. But what about all these new “jobless entrepreneurs” who are not leaving voluntarily to start new business? What can they do to maximize their chances of success?

One thing they can do is subscribe to my blog. Another is to listen to my interview with Rhonda Cook, author of Transitioning From Corporate America to Entreprenurship (affiliate link). You probably haven’t heard of Rhonda, but whether you’re about to leave a job or you have already left, you’ll benefit from this interview covering some proactive steps you’ll want to take and a few big mistakes to avoid. To listen, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the arrow. If you don’t feel like listening, here is a summary of what Rhonda shared with me.

1. Count the hidden costs of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship involves more than financial changes. It also requires lifestyle ones. Mothers in particular have think that having a business of their own will allow them to spend more quality time with their children. If this is you, stop right now and heed Rhonda’s advice (and mine) that, while you will enjoy more flexibility as a business owner, you will not get increased uninterrupted time with your children. Plan for this as much as possible by doing such things as getting help with your kids, having regular family discussions about the impact of the business on the family, and being diligent about identifying your priorities and sticking to a schedule.
2. What to take with you. Any successful business leader will tell you that your success in business will be determined in large part by the caliber of relationships you maintain and nurture. If you have a job now, you have a great view of how the at your company relate to one another. Observe how they do business together. What habits (both positive and negative) contribute to the company’s day-to-day operations? Take notes, and then take the best of what you see with you to your new business.
3. What to leave behind. The biggest thing you need to leave at your job is “corporate think, which Rhonda describes as the mindset that other people should make important decisions for you. You are especially prone to this if you had a job that did not afford you much autonomy at their jobs. Because you may be used to other people making tough calls, you could be indecisive and slow to react to situations that demand your immediate attention. Don’t do this. Learn to assess situations quickly and then take decisive action so you can move on to the next milestone in your business.

Don’t miss the part starting at 15:45 when I asked Rhonda to discuss the practical aspects of marketing a business while you have still have your job. This is important because many business books advise not to leave a job until you have established a business. Since you cannot establish a business without marketing it, this is a special challenge. Do you tell your co-workers? Should you risk setting up a website or FaceBook Page and having your boss find out that you’re starting a business son the side? These are huge issues, and Rhonda shares some helpful insights.

About Rhonda Cook

Rhonda Cook is Chief Strategist and workshop facilitator at Khiron Bae Associates, LLC, which she owns. An entrepreneur for a decade, Rhonda has a passion to inspire and support entrepreneurs in building legacy organizations through strategic planning. Visit Rhonda’s website here.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Rhonda shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire 30-minute show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: What do you think of Rhonda’s ideas on going from corporate American to entrepreneurship? What questions or tips do you have about taking the plunge?

Most small business owners know that technology is important. But this knowledge does not always translate into action. I personally have no fear of trying “the next new thing,” and utterly failing at it. But it’s not that easy for everyone. That’s one reason I invited Phil Simon to be on my podcast.

Phil is the author of The New Small: How a New Breed of Small Businesses Is Harnessing the Power of Emerging Technologies (affiliate link), which offers insightful tips to help you embrace all that new technology can do for your small business. Here is an overview of some of what Phil shared in the podcast.

1. Start small. Resist the temptation to dive in and start using everything all at once. Begin by watching what others do successfully. Phil reminds us that we can look at how some very large companies use technology to engage and create community. We do not have the financial resources of such companies, but we don’t need them. We can be at least creative as they are when it comes to figuring out how to efficiently reach prospective customers on a budget.
2. Be innovative, not pushy. On the show (and in his book), Phil tells some of the story of Tony, the “Chief Seafood Officer, owner of a restaurant on Maryland’s eastern shore. Tony blogs and uses video to expose his restaurant to more and more people. Phil says Tony is innovative without being pushy. In other words, the content he shares is not solely about him and his restaurant. He shares recipes too, and even works to introduce his customers to one another. Phil says that Tony’s costs have decreased over time, and his marketing budget is practically zero.
3. Think long-term. Phil points out the importance of being present in your use of technology. In other words, today, your customers want to have a relationship with you. They want to know that you are behind the personalities that are displayed on your FaceBook Page and your Twitter stream.

   Phil says technology enhances, but does not supplant the need for human interaction. It’s all about people, after all. Phil’s remarks in this regard, including how we you can use automation without losing the personal touch, were very useful, and I encourage you to listen to the podcast so you don’t miss them.

About Phil Simon

Phil Simon writes about the intersection of business and technology. In addition to The New Small, he is the author of “Why New Systems Fail,” and “The Next Wave of Technologies.” He is also an independent consultant, and a public speaker who focuses on how organizations use technology. You can connect with Phil on Twitter, and don’t forget to visit his website at The New Small.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Phil shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now!
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Coming Up March 21!

March is Women’s History Month, and on March 21 at 1:00pm EST, we’ll celebrate when my guest will be Susan B. Butler, author of Women Count: A Guide to Changing the World (affiliate link). We’ll discuss how it’s time to move away from “counting women,” to making sure “women count.” I cannot wait to chat with this amazing woman leader, and I hope you will join us!

Join me and Susan at 1:00 on March 21 at this link.

See you then!

Question: What do you think of Phil’s tips? What questions or tips do you have about using social media to advance your business?

I hosted my first virtual event in 2001. Over the last few years, there has been an explosion of them. Recently, I interviewed Leesa Barnes, pictured with me here, who offers virtual event planning services.

Leesa cut her teeth in the virtual events field when a job required her to train employees worldwide for an employer that did not have a travel budget. Leesa’s use of basic technologies available at the time eventually led to a business teaching others how to host virtual events. Leesa shared some of her tips with me, using the A-L-I-V-E acronym to put things into context.

A-L-I-V-E stands for Abundance, Legacy, and Influence in Virtual Events.

1. Abundance. Within six weeks of hosting her first virtual event, Leesa says her mailing list grew from 2,500 to 5,000, more than it had through article marketing and blogging. She made nearly $20,000 in the first two days of registration. But more importantly, she reached outside her existing circle to meet hundreds of people she would not otherwise have encountered. This abundance of new connections has created an abundance of opportunities for her to serve others.
2. Legacy. Through virtual events, Leesa says she focuses on her legacy in the present, rather than planning for how it will look after she’s no longer here. Using technology to reach and teach allows her to serve others in the moment, while also creating opportunities for them to learn from her in future years.
3. Influence. Leesa says that hosting virtual events allows her to cut through the noise of other people offering similar services. By bringing together people (teachers and learners) from all walks of life to accomplish specific goals, she boosts her business and her influence, and creates a forum for others to learn and grow with her.

Leesa says you can do all of these things too, by hosting your own virtual events.

If you’re looking to participate in a virtual event as an attendee, you may be overwhelmed by the number of options available. Leesa suggests narrowing the field by identifying exactly where you are in your business and what you want to accomplish. Read event announcements carefully, get references from prior attendees, and ask questions of the host before you register so you can choose the event that is most likely to help you achieve specific goals.

About Leesa Barnes

Leesa Barnes is the author of Podcasting for Profit: A Proven 7-Step Plan to Help Individuals and Businesses Generate Income Through Audio and Video Podcasting (affiliate link), and the leader of a virtual event training and planning service based in Ontario, Canada. She appeared on a previous episode of INDIE Business Podcast to share podcasting tips.

You can connect with Lisa on Twitter and on FaceBook.

How to Listen to the Show

This post contains my paraphrases of the information Leesa shared. To hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself, listen to the entire show using one of these options:

• Download it on iTunes. (It usually takes a day or two for iTunes to feed the show there.)
• Click on the arrow at the bottom of this post to listen now! (The beginning of this podcast is an introduction of my new assistant. Our discussion of virtual events begins at 7:33.)
• Because I have not had a chance to load all of my shows to this blog, you can listen to hundreds of interviews from 2005 to 2010, each one as relevant today as it was when I recorded it, at my Indie Business Radio site.

Question: Have you ever attended or hosted a virtual event? What tips and experiences can you share?