Eric Deckers really needs no introduction, but I’ll add that his use of certain English words certainly kept all of us intrigued and engaged during his session.

Eric kicked off the second day with “Writing Secrets the Pros Use” and it was very insightful. We each discovered that even though we may not consider ourselves writers, he considers most bloggers to be writers. And his top 10 writing tips were:

(1) A word is worth 1000 pictures
(2) Paint pictures with your words (he dislikes adverbs…the verb and other language should powerfully enhance the writing without adverbs)
(3) Know the Rules, then Break Them….use a LOT of punctuation!
(4) Half the Rules You Learned Were Wrong Anyway
(5) Words have POWER – use them wisely
(6) Write instead of type (probably the only one Denise hesitates about…unless she happens to be in a situation without my laptop)
(7) Write intentionally
(8) Write drunk….edit sober!
(9) A Good Writer Can Write Anything (almost)
(10) Your Words are NOT your Babies (a critical editor is difficult to find, but is truly your best friend)

Good journalists usually use “short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.” Most people don’t want to slough through a whole lot of complex text, so they are likely to skip reading it. For reference books, he highly recommended APStyle and Chicago Manual of Style.

YES, I’ve probably broken every blogging rule the experts taught us at BLOG INDIANA 2011; however, I hope I’ve communicated some valuable information and best practices for you to help with your social media and blogging.

Oh yes, please follow BLOG INDIANA 2012 info at Twitter and Facebook.

The Blog Indiana 2011 Tweet keyword was #BIN2011.

By: Denise Speer Twitter Facebook

Jenn Lisak, DK New Media Customer Advocate and general social butterfly, presented “The Art of the Infographic” and provided 12 tips for issuing infographics. If you aren’t aware of infographics, please visit Golden Rule to view a really good one. You’ll quickly notice that the information is easily absorbed by you in an interesting and appealing (lazy?) manner and one which you may find you retain more easily than reading dry text regarding the subject. Jenn’s 12 best practices are:

(1) Needs to be aesthetically pleasing
(2) Needs to be informational
(3) Needs to be unique
(4) Needs to document research and contributors
(5) Embed code for sharing
(6) Make it easy to share with share buttons, etc.
(7) Track the piece with coding for viewing, embedding and clicking on it
(8) Link back to landing page or call to action
(9) Place on a Landing Page
(10) Short length is better than long
(11) Stick to hot topics
(12) Avoid your brand and colors – not a time for selling

I adore infographics and I am looking forward to the completion of my first one very soon. Of course, I’ll need a graphic expert to help with it since I am quite challenged in that area of media!

Oh yes, please follow BLOG INDIANA 2012 info at Twitter and Facebook.
The Blog Indiana 2011 Tweet keyword was #BIN2011.
 

Michael Reynolds, Spinweb presented “Internet Marketing in 90 Minutes per Week” and gave us tips about scheduling social media using tools such as Hootsuite. It was clear that Michael was a very organized social media author and the structure involved in planning and executing his social media plans were important for consistent contribution and awareness. A book he recommended was Getting Things Done by David Allen, which I plan to download to my Kindle this week. His advice for high-value blogging included three simple steps:

1. State the Issue
2. Solve the Issue
3. Conclude/Call to Action

He also included another tip that I intend to incorporate and that was to make the blog very easy for others to share by including the Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in links for readers. He also suggested submitted the blog to StumbledUpon, Digg, Reddit, etc.
Michael also shared his technique for fresh content and it may not be one that many of us currently use. He views “concepting” separate from “execution.” His blog topics are usually developed all during the week and often at inopportune times to expound on them, so he recommends using “Dragon Transcription”, “Evernote” or “ReQall” to make notes and record thoughts to expound content at a later time.

Michael also recommends spending five minutes per week providing recommendations on Linked-In, etc. and spending ten minutes a week recording your blog as a podcast (this will be my first!) He recommends blocking time every single week on your calendar for execution—meaning blocking out all incoming interruptions such as phone calls, email, etc.

I haven't yet integrated all of the tips I learned at Blog Indiana, but at least they are high on my to-do list.  I hope I’ve communicated some valuable information and best practices for you to help with your social media and blogging. Oh yes, please follow BLOG INDIANA 2012 info at Twitter and Facebook.  The Blog Indiana 2011 Tweet keyword was #BIN2011.
 

(Part 1 of 4)

I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive about taking two days out of my ultra-busy work schedule to attend BLOG INDIANA a few days ago; however, as soon as the keynote speaker started talking with us, I knew that it was going to be worthwhile.  In fact, it was more than worthwhile because I now consider the conference to be a necessity for keeping abreast of social media and blogging trends.

The only downside to the entire two-day event was the fact that concurrent sessions were held and my having to choose attendance to only one presenter out of two or three insightful sessions proved difficult.  It was nearly impossible choosing among  such social media experts as Doug Karr, Jason Baer, Robby Slaughter, Kirsten Shaw, Jenn Lisak, Jessica Journey, Randy Clark, Michael Reynolds, Kenan Farrell, Lorraine Ball, Kevin Mullett, Rocky Walls, Eric Deckers, Bill Dawson, Tricia Meyer, Vince Robisch, Chris Lucas, John Strauss, Sara Croft, Peter Dunn, Casey Mullins, Andy Huston, and Sean Ireton.  I had several friends asking about what I had learned, so that is why I decided to share some of my favorites via my blog:

Jay Baer, author of NOW REVOLUTION was our Keynote Speaker and although I had heard Jay speak at one of our 2011 Social Media breakfasts, he delivered new information and had some great tips for Social Media Measurement.  As you may be aware, social media ROI is a factor that many businesses believe is necessary in order to invest in social media.  Jay agreed that while some type of measurement is good, he cautioned that there are many, many ways to “measure” ROI…some good ones and some not so good ones.

His summarized advice was for each business to determine what’s most important to it  (Awareness, Sales, or Loyalty) and choose metrics related to those factors.  It’s important to choose the metrics IN ADVANCE of any execution, not after the execution has began then STICK with them and track them quarter by quarter.  Because so many business owners (myself included) want to see instantaneous growth and consistent results immediately, we tend to skip around and change metrics too often and too quickly.  Social media usually doesn’t work in that manner, but consistency in metrics monitoring is key to seeing what worked and what may not have worked so well.  Basically, when you find something that works, stick with it.

Rocky Walls with 12 Stars Media spoke about “How to keep it real on Camera.”  He recommends video blogging—not as a nice to have, but suggests that is essential in today’s market.  He recommends doing a video blog without stopping and restarting or pausing.  Often, the video blog is best with the first attempt and can quickly go downhill from there when started over multiple times.  As far as editing, he suggests “Candidio.com.”  (Of course, 12 Stars Media also can be a powerful partner in video creation and editing!)

Rocky also used a very cool presentation tool called Prezi that I’m researching for c3-Indy’s next workshop.  So thanks to Rocky’s expertise advice and encouragement, this blog writing will be the subject of my first video blog.

I’ve probably broken every blogging rule the experts taught us at BLOG INDIANA 2011; however, I hope I’ve communicated some valuable information and best practices for you to help with your social media and blogging.   I’ll start practicing all that I’ve learned.

Oh yes, please follow BLOG INDIANA 2012 info at Twitter and Facebook.

The Blog Indiana 2011 Tweet keyword was #BIN2011 if you want to review some of the comments.

While it is a bittersweet acknowledgement that I have limitations regarding energy, focus and resources, I believe it’s also a healthy one.  It is because of increasing success in my primary business that I need to provide it more attention and focus…which is a good thing.  I believe that the secondary business would have been very successful and know that I would have made it so, but the reality is that there are only so many hours in the day and there are many competing priorities at this stage in my life.  I have chosen to add some simplification so that those priorities such as family, home and leisure can start receiving undivided attention again.  It’s been a while and I am looking forward to it.

So, to make a long story short, I’m in the process of finalizing my exit plan for Accessory Queen…stay tuned to the execution of that plan.  I’m sure it will be a bit of a roller-coaster ride—that just seems to be an integral part of the entrepreneurial process!

Remember when you first started your business? Remember that intense passion and drive that was there to do whatever it is that you love to do? Whether that was providing a product or a service, it was at the core of your wanting to create a business around it.

Many of us coming from corporate America had no idea of the complexity involved in running our own business; after all, we were accustomed to having large departments and staff to take care of most types of activities. Activities like technology, payroll, public relations, marketing, bookkeeping, office space and the like were handled by others allowing us to only focus on our piece of the process. As entrepreneurs, we quickly learned that there were many hats to wear…and that some of those fit nicely and some did not.

In the beginning of a business, the solopreneur takes on all of the responsibilities; however, most quickly learn that there are those activities that they don’t want to continue either because of lack of skill or interest. I have learned that leveraging others who focus on those activities as their core business quickly benefited mine. No longer did I have to slave over aspects of the business that I was inefficient at, or, simply, did not like to do.

I learned that the investment in leveraging the experts was worth the time it saved me – that extra time allowed me to focus on my core business – and to continue its growth and expansion. That extra time also allowed me to do planning – which made the overall business model more lucrative and rewarding.

Once I performed the hourly value rate calculation (Example below—not my actual c3-Indy numbers), it made me realize that I could pay others to do what they do best and still remain profitable. I quickly embraced the “outsourcing” model and believe it has allowed growth at a much quicker rate than I would have achieved continuing to do everything myself. I believe you should consider it as well.

Example of Value Calculation:

Average Revenue per Client  $ 3,600 per year

Est. No. of Clients                       30

Estimated Revenue               $108,000 per year (Value = $9,000 per month, $54 hr)

Net Revenue After Tax          $ 75,600 per year (Value = $6,300 per month, $38 hr)

It, too, may make a lot of sense for you to leverage outsourcing and virtual assistance if the cost of expertise is lower than your value per hour.

Blogging is usually pretty easy for me, but for some reason, completing this week’s blog has been extremely difficult. I believe it may be because of where I am in the evaluation process of understanding part of my life’s true purpose…and how those individual contributions impact others through my business.

When I started c3-Indy, my goal was to help the small business owner/entrepreneur grow his/her business. I intended to treat each of those businesses as though they were my own…to watch them grow from small one-person shops to shops with multiple employees and to enable the entrepreneurs to focus on their core specialties. We enable their enhanced core focus by transferring some of their work processes to my company and staff. We are there for those entrepreneurs when they begin to outgrow the ability to do everything themselves. Whether or not they’ll need our services once they begin adding their own staff still remains to be seen; however, I will always know I was there to help them get to that point.

Even though most of my clients are in the Indianapolis area and may never be known on a national level, I feel like I’m serving an important purpose. One of the measurements of that purpose is that my business continues to grow on a daily basis—we are mirroring our clients and that is very exciting.

I believe that “what goes around, comes around” and I’m hoping that all of the hard work and custom services we provide will come back to us in the form of extremely successful clients. I’m encouraged when I see small business owners embrace delegation of their non-favorite activities to us so that their time and energy can be used toward growing their sales and revenues.

Although this feels like being a tiny cog in the big picture wheel, I believe it is essential to the growth of many businesses. So while c3-Indy may never be the next Google or win any awards for unique innovation, I believe that our daily contributions to others may enable some of my clients to reach such heights…and that makes everything seem very worthwhile.
 

Based upon my experience of telecommuting from my home office for over 10 years and running my own businesses from home for 2 years, I’ve decided to write a Top 5 Pros and Cons list related to it. In doing this, I found that most benefits are also double-edged swords, but again, I haven’t perfected it after 12 years and maybe you have some ideas to make it better. I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

5. PRO: The ability to move laptop from room to room keeps scenery fresh. (I’d highly recommend the back patio!)    CON: While having ability to move laptop from room to room keeps scenery fresh, it also has a tendency to make each of those workplaces as messy as your office!

4. PRO: Convenient ability to work any time of day or night (example is this blog being written at 3:49am because I couldn’t sleep!)   CON: Having the ability to work at any time day or night usually results in extremely long hours working for yourself or others and the office never “closes” so your mind never switches gears (or maybe this is only my problem and others have found ways to shut it off).

 
3. PRO: Lack of colleagues increases efficiency (no more wasted time talking about the games or the latest reality TV show or the latest news or those snippy co-worker sagas…or just plain life).   CON: Lack of colleagues increases loneliness – thank goodness chats were invented so that you can still have those conversations about the games, latest reality TV show, latest news fiascos and just plain life! (still don’t miss the snippy co-worker sagas).

2. PRO: Lack of commute increases efficiency (unless you are lucky enough to have mass transit where you can actually be productive on your journeys to and from work—Indy needs this).  CON: Lack of commute time makes transition time from “home” to “work” difficult, meaning you may find yourself stuck in “work” mode most of the time,

and finally, the number one double-edged sword for working out of your home:  

1. PRO: Working from home permits a more flexible schedule--usually. CON: Very difficult to convince others you are really working (and don’t have time to participate in those priceless moments of life like when your little girl asks you to do crafts with her in the middle of the day… and doesn’t understand your 30-minute deadline).  

All improvement suggestions welcome!
 

Once the shock of not having the steady income finally subsided, it was time to take action to renew my cash-stream. Given my age and propensity for taking on the most challenging of projects, I decided I not only needed one cash-stream, but also a second "easier" business that would carry me into my “golden” years. (I personally believe that these are my golden years and live each day as such, but, none-the-less, decided I’d rather be safe than sorry and to plan accordingly.)

I believe that I’ll be working many years into the future and have never bought into a “retirement” solution for myself …mostly due to my inquisitive nature and excessive energy level.  While I’m not counting on true “retirement”, my plan is to gear back to running only ONE business in my golden years. (Why I thought that running two businesses wouldn't require truly TWICE the work is quite beyond me and I'm still questioning my sanity about that thought process!)

While I envision that my administrative service c3-Indy business will continue to grow and prosper, I don’t always anticipate being able to stay current with the latest technology and media tools on a daily (almost hourly at today’s technology evolution rate) basis as I do currently. I anticipate that, while I will still own the business, I will eventually hire a different day-to-day manager or business partner to take care of the details…allowing me even more time for my secondary "less demanding" direct-sale business, Accessory Queen. 

So, if you are thinking of multiple cashflows, don't let anyone tell you that running a second business isn't truly twice the work.  Each business definitely requires focus, individual attention, careful decision making, strategic marketing/branding and, of course, sales!  While I’m finding that while running both businesses is very demanding, it is also very fulfilling.  I think that I might actually franchise both of the businesses in due time (oops...my husband is giving me "the look")…so I think I'd better do first things first and let the future unfold as it may.  
 

It’s been an exciting first year and a half in business for c3-Indy, but I have to admit that the last few months have been the best. It’s when I finally “heard” what my contacts, colleagues, and clients were saying…and adjusting my offerings to meet those needs.

When I first started my business, my passion was solely around technology and wanting to train and implement various forms of technology, including CRM (AddressTwo was the only one I chose to resell after doing extensive research and testing), Microsoft online software and Office 2007. Which sounds all nice and convenient…and somewhat worked, but still didn’t provide a service in which I was being sought by clients versus me seeking clients.

What I learned about this episode was that while I believed I was providing a service that entrepreneurs and small businesses (my passion’s target market) needed and wanted, it was, in fact, delivering a service that caused then more work and angst. Although they understood the importance of the products and even purchased the products, received the training, etc., they were not in a position to execute the products. When I circled back around with them a few weeks or months after training, I found that although they were paying for the services, they were not implementing the processes…in other words, they weren’t using the software!

More than once I had them ask me during training “Can you just do this for us?” and “Isn’t there an easier way?” and I replied, more than once I’m embarrassed to admit, “I don’t offer that service.” When it finally dawned on me that my entrepreneurs and small/micro-business offers really NEEDED my abilities to do the work for them instead of teaching, my business exploded. I finally saw that I needed to narrow my scope of offerings and go deeper into providing the labor needed for those offerings.

I learned the value that virtual assistance offered and have never looked back. I hired my first team member a few weeks ago and it has gone extremely well. Lovely, (yes that is her name!) is able to take care of the client activities and has allowed my time to continue toward expanding my business…the ideal scenario for a growing business.

I have often been accused of being “stubborn” and I’m not sure if that is the reason I wasn’t “hearing” what my clients were saying, but I’m at least glad that I was stubborn enough to stick with my company and finally get to see it flourish.