http://gjmueller.tumblr.com/post/2962901610/multiple-personalities-and-social-media-the-many-faces Many of us keep our private and professional lives separate online. “In the beginning, social media was a personal platform to market myself,” she says. “But as the number of platforms increase, it’s amazing to watch the way that we are adapting to multiple networks—and our ability to communicate and connect with different audiences through different voices online.” ....
Monthly Archives: January 2011
On our different social media selves!
Filed under Social Media
Site-Member Profile: Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (CCLaP)
Organization Name: Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (CCLaP)
Executive Director Name: Jason Pettus
Year Established: 2007
Contact Information: http://www.cclapcenter.com/
Product/Service: CURRENT: Electronic books, reviews and critical essays, social events, manuscript editing services, and an interview-based podcast. COMING: Paper books, performance events, classes and workshops, merchandise, eventual brick-and-mortar location.
Unique Features/Competitive Advantage: Nonprofit-oriented but with an underlying commercial business structure, CCLaP works much more directly with its fans and members than traditional non-profits do to determine not only the center’s agenda but which types of artists to most heavily feature; and by generating its revenue through commercial products and services instead of nonprofit grants, the center is free of influence from pressure campaigns by conservative watchdog groups, allowing it to fulfill its mission of supporting edgy and independent artists much more fully. By currently being a mostly electronic organization with only one paid employee, both overhead and production costs are nearly zero, allowing the center to try such press-friendly experiments as “pay what you want” electronic books and a Twitter-based story series, ironically generating a bigger audience than normal and a healthy financial profit, despite only 25 percent of the books’ readers being paying ones.
Biggest lesson learned in the last year: That success in the small-business world doesn’t gradually rise like a curving line on a graph, but rather in random starts and fits, which also doubles as “most surprising lesson learned in the last year.” Many times we can toil on a project for months without even the least external sign of success or recognition, the very reason that so many non-business people call entrepreneurs hopeless dreamers when times are tough; what I’ve come to learn is that these might very well be the times when you’re creating the long-term respect in the backs of the minds of random strangers who will eventually bring a big boost to your organization, like a high-profile journalist or venture capitalist, and that it’s this quiet time of simply getting the work done that precisely creates this long-term respect in the first place. It’s why overcoming self-doubt is such a hidden but important aspect of being a small-business owner.
Best advice for someone starting out: Dream big at first, and get a good mental picture of what you see your business looking like when running at full steam; then cut that dream down to a tenth of its former size, and first try getting that running smoothly before attempting anything else. As I’ve learned the hard way, by announcing small goals and then doing a little better than promised, you will gain an immense amount of respect and loyalty from your customers, no matter how modest those goals are; but by announcing an impressive goal and then not quite reaching it, you will garner almost nothing but ridicule.
Past activities: On November 29 Jason hosted a lively CCLaP event at Stage 773, with Nathan Rabin & Ben Tanzer. Author of the bestselling memoir The Big Rewind and now essay series My Year of Flops, Rabin and other “AV Club” staffers are regulars of the NPR and cable-talk-show circuit, as this former offshoot of the satirical publication The Onion has gained a life of its own in the past few years, and has become an outlet for some of the smartest and funniest critical essays currently being printed in this country. All of these subjects and more were discussed, first in a traditional one-hour sit-down interview in front of a live audience, then while taking those audience members’ questions for another half-hour. Cultishly loved local writer Ben Tanzer, whose four publications include the CCLaP books Repetition Patterns and 99 Problems, performed a brand-new 15-minute story on the subject of bad movies to open things up. After the event Rabin was available to sign his books, which were available for purchase in the lobby.
For information on the latest CCLaP events, check out: http://www.cclapcenter.com/events/
Filed under Books & Publishing, Site-Members
Site-Member Profile: Creative Health Care Management
Year Established: 1978
Business/Organization Name: Creative Nursing Management (originally), Creative Health Care Management (since 1988)
Ownership/Management: Organization is employee-owned and team-managed. Current Management team: Jayne Felgen, President; Brano Stankovsky and Mary Koloroutis, Vice Presidents. Founded by Marie Manthey.
Product/Service: Support and Facilitation of Nursing Delivery Systems that promote healing and caring of patients and their families.
Unique Features/Competitive Advantage: CHCM is unique in that it is clinical practice-based, while also incorporating cutting-edge management theories and techniques from across the board. Grounded in real-world implementation, CHCM has been on the forefront of transformational change in hospital practice both nationally and internationally
Organizational history summarized: Marie Manthey formed CNM after leaving an executive role at Yale-New Haven hospital in 1978, in order to support the practice of Primary Nursing. In this delivery system, nurses have a primary relationship with their patients, and are empowered to coordinate their care. In the first full year of the business, starting in September 1978, Marie contacted hospitals who had been interested in hearing her, and told them she was available, booked those trips, made all her own arrangements, went out to those hospitals and spoke and consulted, travelled nearly every week; and also wrote a book containing that same content she was speaking about, and got it published. Marie continued to travel constantly,speaking and consulting, throughout those early years. In the early 80’s, she created the first coordinated curriculum for nurse managers, in which they could learn all the necessary management & team techniques to be successful. Starting from an office in her home, working alone at first and then later staffed by one other person besides herself, it has grown steadily over the years. Currently a multi-million dollar company with dozens of employees and full-time top-level consultants with various specialties, CHCM presents a range of programs and consultative services, as well as books and manuals and other media.
Contact Information: www.chcm.com
Notes from the Field: when asked for her current thinking on lessons learned and what she would share with others in business for themselves, here are her thoughts:
One of the most important things is to put yourself in the shoes of the client. When you listen to the content of your client’s situation and their challenges and goals, and you have experience that is relevant, you are able to imagine how you can best help them. You can imagine what you would need if you were them. That empathy-based viewpoint is crucial to creating long-range client relationships.
Regarding rates, it is all very tricky. We have found that it almost always is in our best interest to set the rate based on market conditions and our costs, and to not go below that. Of course, when market conditions change, it is crucial to be sensitive to those changes, and adjust accordingly. If the only way to work is to lower your rates, and you need to work, then you need to lower your rates.
Common sense is also important. That goes beyond simply understanding the language of accounting and business principles and ratios and so on. It all has to make sense, as well. Like your checkbook makes sense. That is the bottom line as far as finances.
And, seek help when you need it. Early on, the organization SCORE was a huge help, they were actually instrumental in our survival and growth in our first few organizational years.
Additional References: http://www.score.org/index.html
Filed under Site-Members
Patience, by Kat Reed
pa·tience
[pey-shuhns]
–noun
1. the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.
2. an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay: to have patience with a slow learner.
3. quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence: to work with patience.
source: Dictionary.com
From my experience, an imperative essential to any undertaking in entrepreneurship is one of the most difficult to practice: patience. In 2009, I started my business with high hopes and outside influences praising me with optimistic promises of grandeur and sales beyond my wildest dreams. I have been working with entrepreneurs long enough (since 1988) to know it takes much more than a great idea and a flock of supporters to merely break even, let alone make “a lot” of money. The biggest financial goal for me was to get in the black. Self publishing is not cheap (with my specialized product) and I would never have been able to do it had I not had my husband and his income financing the endeavor. The dream would have taken five years instead of six months and may not have taken life at all if I had to have a full-time job along with working diligently to “sell” my product.
The Marketing budget for my new startup was about $100.00 (if that) for business cards and things I needed for speaking gigs – nothing more, no postcards, no flyers, nada. Marketing Plan: contact every news entity in every industry that fit into my “category” (funeral home, deathcare, aftercare, Hospice, houses of worship, financial planners, bookstores, many more) as well as any newspapers I thought someone may have an interest, boomer writers, women’s interest, local story; if I could draw a line from them to me or my product, I contacted them. With a “schpeel” that runs anywhere from 600-900 words – I realize this is entirely too many words, but my product is so specialized all are necessary – I tell my story in the shortest way possible to spark interest. I stopped keeping track of all the people and entities I contacted (always individually, never a mass email) due to the lack of reliable data it would give me (how did I even know they got my email? etc.) My hypothesis would be that I have contacted well over 200 and from that, 17 entities that have published a feature story, endorsement, interview, book review (a couple in the works as of this writing) or something similar singing the praises of the book, nothing negative – yet.
Where does patience come in here? Due to the internet and many media outlets falling under one entity, I discovered (what many already know) that if a story gets printed in one newspaper, it is very likely that the story will be printed in another paper, in another town, and possibly another state. This has helped my marketing (sales) tremendously. The first article printed was in my hometown of Galesburg, Illinois. When I googled myself, I found the story was in a dozen other online newspapers in other states! It was very exciting.
The last article written was in early October 2010. I was on the cover of the Lifestyle section of the Star Tribune. Hundreds of sales followed the article. Last week I got an order from an independent bookstore in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was thrilled. The book is in a few bookstores in Minnesota, but none outside my state. I asked them how they found out about the book, he replied, “someone came in asking about it and they said they saw an article about it a month or so ago” and I thanked him for the info.
The best marketing I have had has been free. Believe me, I know it is not easy, but it is worth every email and who knows what could come of something I sent six months ago to someone? Patience is key.
Filed under Marketing, Site-Members
Site-Member Profile: Helping Survivors Manage
Year Established: 2009
Business/Organization Name: Helping Survivors Manage
Owner/Executive Director Name: Kat Reed
Product Inception/Business Creation: Kat Reed created this definitive book on what to do when a loved one dies based on her own experiences after her mother’s death, when she discovered the lack of resources available for families facing the struggles inherent in the death of a loved one. She and her predominantly deaf father experienced first-hand the same challenges that overwhelm so many. Kat decided to do something about it, and using her volunteer hospice experience and prior career in business and communications, she created this helpful resource which fills a much-needed gap for everyone who is a survivor facing these tasks.
Product/Service: Self-help instructional manual for the survivors of a death; death care industry, book and online tools. Begin Here guides survivors through the seemingly overwhelming practical yet necessary tasks that remain after a death, from residential to financial to personal. Leveraging Reed’s unique insights, invaluable suggestions, and organizational skills will help anyone simplify this process.
Unique Features/Competitive Advantage: Nothing else available similar to it in the market for the general public
Contact Information:
Kat Reed
HSM
PO Box 16058
Saint Paul, MN 55116
612.293.6407
kat@HelpingSurvivorsManage.com
www.HelpingSurvivorsManage.com
http://www.helpingsurvivorsmanage.com/
Notes/Misc other:
Finalist in the 2009 Midwest Independent Publishers Association Book Awards, Social Science category.
Currently focusing on large businesses to use book as a private label product; part of insurance services; as well as EAP (Employee Assistance Program) for large companies. Plans to expand the version to translate and customize into different languages for use all around the world; customize to religion, relationship, location, cause of death, death circumstance; versions that can accommodate those with disabilities. Also in the beginning stages of developing an “app” for the web and mobile devices. Plans to become and remain the “go-to” organization for after-death care concerning business responsibilities.
Best lessons learned:
A mentor in his late 70s told me that if you don’t keep up with technology, you WILL be left behind by your competitors.
High school art teacher and mentor said, and I always remember, “there is always room for improvement.”
Great ideas are a dime a dozen, what makes one succeed? Research the industry, research the competition, research profitability, research demand for the service/product, then hard work in your product/service; and start all over again, researching and studying every single day.
Asking and more importantly, listening.
If you cannot or will not manage an integral part of your business, (for example, branding/public relations/media) find someone who can and will, and hire it out to them.
Do the math.
Filed under Site-Members
Site-Member Profiles
So, am in the process of posting the profiles from the current cycle, and Ann’s since I posted an article of hers yesterday (her turn hasn’t come up yet in this cycle).
These profiles are a primary linchpin of this site, which is (as well as my business site) kind of an online networking group. These are folks I know in real life, or have become acquainted with online. Their profiles and involvement here are their introduction to you, direct contact with them is advised for further information.
Additional site-members always welcome! This site is inclusive, and does not contain any content that is political or religious. The only real criteria is acceptance of those terms, that the business be owned by individuals/small group (not a MNC), and that the business be community-oriented. Community is a big part of this site.
Nonprofits also very welcome! That is actually the area I’m most active in right now.
Questions/comments/ participation always welcome!
Filed under Community, Site, Site-Members
Site-Member Profile: E & L Bindery
Business Name: E & L Bindery
Year Established: 1960
Business Owner: Jeff Dahlin
Product/Service: Custom Hardcover Bookbinding services Unique Features/Competitive Advantage: Serving the niche market of binding and book restoration for individuals, schools, companies & organizations. Print runs for 1 copy to 200 copies.
Examples: Limited Editions binding: Family histories, poetry collections… Professional Journals and Thesis binding: Also includes dissertations, honors projects… Periodicals binding (Newspaper, Bulletin, Newsletter file volumes): Bind those stacks of back issues into protective hardcover volumes for easy storage and reference. Book restorations and repairs,Custom binders, portfolios, and boxes.
Contact Information:
Phone: 651/251-2255
Email: jeff@elbindery.com
Website: http://www.elbindery.com/
Other Community Activities: Jeff Dahlin, owner of E & L Bindery, also participates in the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. At Windrose Mil as “Master LooseLeaf,” Jeff demonstrates the art of bookbinding alongside other specialized artisans who demonstrated paper making, printing and calligraphy. Jeff/Master LooseLeaf has been honored by the King as a Master Artisan over the years.
Filed under Site-Members
Site-Member Profile: Entrepreneurial Realtor!
Year Started: Employed as a Realtor since 2006
Business/Organization Name: Sandals Realty of Fort Myers, Inc.
Product/Service: Real Estate in the Fort Myers area
Unique Features/Competitive Advantage: Anyone who buys or sells through me will receive a traditional Native American house blessing!
Contact Information:
Jeanine Standing Bear
Phone: 239/340-5600
Email>: jstandingbear@yahoo.com
Website: http://jeaninestandingbear.point2agent.com/
Notes/Misc other:
Assisting buyers in their search of their dream home. Whether it be their primary home, vacation home or investment property, I take pride in making my buyer’s goal my number one priority!
Member: Florida Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors. Certified as an “At Home With Diversity” Realtor.
Filed under Site-Members
Brickfish Social Media: On Top of the World
Brickfish Social Media: On Top of the World.
Here is the *actual* optimal link to use, to make WordPress show up in the viral map for my family member’s photo!
It’s a bit late, but with WordPress being as it is, anything is possible!
Filed under Social Media
An Unexpected Commonality of Entrepreneurs and Investors (via Cut to the Niche)
Interesting!
via Cut to the Niche
Filed under Business
Clarity Solutions 