Brag Basket every Friday

Each Friday, I open the brag basket as a fun place to brag or promote yourself and your projects.

Last week, we had a special edition to give thanks. Randell Fever gave thanks for Mrs. The Fever! An anonymous friend gave thanks for friends and family and more. Jeanne "OkieJ" was thankful for spending time with far-away family.

What will you brag about this week? It can be your business, your community, or your self. You can even brag on other folks, if you want. It's fun, and you get a link back, not to mention applause from us.

I use the Brag Basket as a reminder to review my week. How did I do? Did I act on my goals? Did I build relationships? I recommend you review your week, too.

You can leave a comment right now, or dm beckymccray on Twitter.

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Two amazing women

Women Helping Women. That's the motto of the Business and Professional Women, which I belong to. In that spirit, here are two amazing women worthy of your attention this holiday season.

Small town entrepreneur Marti Lawrence shares wonderful humor with several innovative projects. Right now, she has three projects going. First, she's acting as a consultant in writing excellent eBay listings for her Grandma at Grandma's Timeless Treasures. Her amazing humor book Queen Klutz is online at Lulu. She also has hilarious items at Enter the Laughter on Cafe Press. That is also the name of her blog, Enter the Laughter.

If you need ebay listing help, contract writing of all kinds, or just a laugh, get in touch with my friend Marti.

Former small town girl, but still an entrepreneur is Glenda Watson Hyatt, The Left Thumb Blogger. She is in the final stretch for the "Blog for a Year" contest. It won't cover a year's salary...

BUT the existing fund would nearly pay for the EZ Keys with Voice software, which would enable me to interact more effectively when in face-to-face groups, as I blogged about yesterday http://www.doitmyselfblog.com/2007/the-cost-of-transitioning-from-silent-to-verbal/.

Vote at http://blogforayear.com/profiles/glenda-watson-hyatt.
She is also author of I'll Do It Myself, a wonderful inspiring e-book. Catch up with her and order the e-book at www.doitmyselfblog.com.

Marti and Glenda are true small biz survivors. I salute you both!

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MEATBALL SUNDAE

I found Seth Godin's blog site today and the meatball sundae was what peaked my curiosity to check him out! What a treat!

This is what he has to say:
A meatball sundae is the unfortunate result of mixing two good ideas.
The meatballs are the foundation, the things we need (and sometimes want). These are the commodities that so many businesses are built on.
The sundae toppings (hot fudge and the like) are the New Marketing, the social networks, Google, blogs and fancy stuff that make people all excited.

The challenge most organizations face: they try to mix them. They attempt to slap new marketing onto old and end up with nothing but a failed website.
This book explores the 14 trends that are changing our world and how organizations can either embrace them or be punished by them.

Seth Godin is the author of nine bestselling books. He writes about marketing, the spread of ideas and managing both customers and employees with respect. You can follow his regular postings with book previews and find out how to get his latest book at www.squidoo.com

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Give Thanks in the Brag Basket

Each Friday, I open the brag basket as a fun place to brag or promote yourself and your projects. This week, it seems especially appropriate to use it to give thanks.

Last week, Kim was excited to be featured in a newspaper article, and Shashi sent an email to introduce himself. Congrats to Kim and Shashi!

What will you give thanks for this week? It can be your business, your community, or your self. You can even brag on other folks, if you want. It's fun, and you get a link back, not to mention applause from us.

You can leave a comment right now, or dm me on Twitter.

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Business inspiration

More entrepreneurial and business thoughts from my smart Twitter network. Today, inspiration and laughs.

susanreynolds Lou Holtz' pep talk on ESPN for Nebraska: "ask yourself after every play: what's important now?" Scrawling on post-it to stick on my laptop

Pistachio Confidence isn’t in knowing you’re right… It’s not being afraid to be wrong. (um, and to learn from the mistakes, of course)

ThomAllen so much for that business idea... next!

jnswanson ya know, i think it's time to go home. so i can come back. so i can go home. so i can...help change lives and the future. Just like you.

badbanana Simplify, simplify, simplify.

chrisbrogan If you don't ask, you will never get.

Pistachio the more vitrioloc your detractors, the better the chance you are doing something important.

joshhinds Keep this in mind... It's your life, LIVE BIG! -- have a great one today :-)

Akula A manager's job is to exact revenge during the annual review. :-)

newmediajim participation IS marketing

badbanana My brain says stop. My to-do list says don't even think about it.

newmediajim as i drive to work it occurs to me that my day job is really interfering with my plans for WORLD MEDIA DOMINATION LOL!

jnswanson even when you don't work 9-5, some days it's okay to leave at 5.

AnnOhio "The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want." -- Ben Stein

susanreynolds Started a business in my basement w/ my 11 YO as first employee. Grew to 2 locations using only free guerilla marketing

Pistachio enjoy life as an entertaining movie w/ lots of interesting plot twists (not a) pitched battle between everything I like & …don't like.

misc i think i'm a better editor than i am a writer, whatever that means.

ThomAllen Sitting here with a blank sheet of paper, anythings possible

Pistachio "We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities." - Pogo (found in Breszny's weekly horoscopes newsletter)

robcallahan Sure there's more than 1 way to skin a cat, but those other ways are very messy & you'll be cleaning up for ages. Stick to the tried & true.

vaspers Some clients want you to read their mind and give them what they really want, without them having to explain it to you.

thisisjustin Someone just pitched me on the concept that they do what we do but better so would I mind sending them my clients. That was rich!

cc_chapman Check off one thing. Add three more. So goes my 2 Do List

davidfinch I have to much to read, listen to, write, plan, organize etc... One step at a time, one step at a time...

alenardson inch by inch today people, inch by inch.

badbanana Conceiving big ideas is easy. It's the birthing process that gets painful and messy.

chrisbrogan Fear of failure is a lot like fear of getting shot. Hard to move forward if you don't find a stronger motivation to proceed.

sofatoye Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach. - Roger Von Oech

chrisbrogan The future doesn't happen by committee.

vaspers CNN Googled apple orchard, found my client's site, will now be in Peoria IL with Sonjay Gupta story. http://www.appleblossomfarm.com/

Merlene I've become more thoughtful of late about supporting local small biz rather than big corporations. Grocery, deli, hardware, etc.

BeckyMcCray Free analogy for web2.0 biz articles: In the 1920's Indiana produced 150 different car brands - http://urltea.com/1bgi

rexhammock I've had several people ask me to define Spam 3.0. It's any sentence that starts out, "I've had several people ask me..."

cc_chapman it is ALL about teamwork. everything is when you boil it down

badbanana The problem with breakthrough ideas? You get through to the other side of the wall and you're all alone and a little afraid.

Still to come, more resources and tools!

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Business Advice and Ideas from Twitter

Networking through Twitter has brought me connections with many entrepreneurs world wide. Here are some of the best ideas and advice I've heard from them lately.

conniereece Don't start a campaign until you know what the community wants. Read Listen Comment

Pistachio Where do your products fail/ fall short? Do you know what workarounds your customers have adapted? Do you ask?

chrispunke I think every product should come with the home telephone numbers of all of the engineers involved in its design.

chelpixie Does it really matter what city and/or state you're in if you're willing to work hard to help?

Pistachio the thoughts below from Patricia Fripp (www.fripp.com) from me: when you tell a story, build an experience in the audience's minds.
It's not your customer's job to know how else they can use you...
solution, situation, success: to set up narrative of how you helped/can help customer

stephenjoyce Lesson of the day. If someone asks you a question and you don't hear all of it, ask them to repeat it. Its a lot better then giving a totally ridiculous answer.

chrisjohnston Why do you have to wait soooo long for food at the movies when their is a 200% markup. You should never understaff your profit center

jnswanson secretary out. I'm in. how does she get anything important done with all these questions? Oh wait. that's the point.

joshhinds networking - always ask, "what can do for the folks I know that will make me more valuable in their eyes? whatever the answer - do it!

digitalvillages Mass consumption is out. People are looking for products with a deeper value. Do we understand the emergence of the need for sustainable.

vaspers The world is not "flat" per Friedman. It does matter if food comes from China (poison) or Chicago (not as cheap). The Definitive Drucker.
The World is Flat is a delusion used to excuse outsourcing for cost savings, with no regard to quality, value. India or Indiana? It matters.

jnswanson No whiteboard? Use the window

Akula Does your company have a number of processes that should be easy but are made difficult for no reason?
For example, if it takes employees 2 hours to properly fill out an expense report, that's time they are not spending improving your biz.

Dayngr I wonder if business people on twitter realize that when they are rude/snotty they alienate potential clients

joshhinds read your speech before falling asleep. most memory consolidation occurs during sleep. so more likely 2 be encoded in long-term memory
source: according to a candi heimgartner, an instructor of biological sciences at university of idaho.

pacificIT When you get really discouraged by a group you are contributing to, it's best to walk away for a bit, regather enthusiasm, and try again.

chrisbrogan How do you spend the hours between leaving work and falling asleep? What's the #1 thing you use that time for?

Next in this series? Inspiration!

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Brag Basket Bulging with Good News

Each Friday, I open the brag basket as a fun place to brag or promote yourself and your projects.

Last week, Derek made his first brag on his new blog, Doug was proud to be featured in a PR roundtable, Erica bragged on her new job and salary negotiating, Lea was excited to hold a copy of her own book, Joe bragged about learning new programming skills, Jeanne bragged (2nd week in a row!) that she set up a blog all by herself, Connie was stepping out of her comfort zone to do some videos, and Mark bragged on rounding up more contest participants than this time last year! Whew! What an amazing week!

What will you brag about this week? You can brag on your business, your community, or your self. You can even brag on other folks, if you want. It's fun, and you get a link back, not to mention applause from us.

You can leave a comment right now, or dm me on Twitter.

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Common Small Biz Mistakes - Awful web presence

Common mistakes can kill your small business, but most of them can be easily corrected or avoided. Here are two more Twitter friends with examples of mistakes:

phillymac Only one? How about 2. Bad customer service. Awful web presence.

zemote Get suckered by a SEO/SEM person.

We just talked about bad customer service, so let's focus on web presence, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

Solutions

1. Seek professional help with web presence. If you must do your site yourself, at minimum pay for some feedback from a professional.
2. Include your contact info prominently on every single page. Include a phone number and an email address.
   
3. Don't get "suckered." Ask for and check references. Don't go overboard with Search Engine Optimization, fancy design, or flashy animation.
   
4. Keep it simple! Use the same design elements and branding you use on your business cards, signs, brochures, etc.
   
5. Don't remain stuck with a permanently unchanging design. Customers would like to know that you are still in business and that you are not stuck in a time warp to a 1995 GeoCities design. (And I just found another small town small biz example of that this week, though I don't want to embarrass anyone by name.)
   

Your Assignment
Together, we are going to try to help each other out of these most common, deadly mistakes. You can use real world examples, real small businesses. Write it up, take a picture, or shoot a short video. Take care not to embarrass the offenders! Key point: include suggestions on how to do it right!

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Common Small Business Mistakes - Breaking your promises

Common mistakes can kill your small business, but most of them can be easily corrected or avoided.

Today's Bad Example: Breaking your promises to customers
I asked for some examples of small biz mistakes on Twitter, and you answered! This time, let's combine two real-world examples of mistakes:

BarbaraKB Not "call me back" in the 24 hours that they promised. If it will be 48 hours, then just say that. ;-)

jnswanson smilingly give great directions to another location... but with the wrong highway number.

In both cases, the person representing the company broke a promise to a customer by providing bad information.

Right now you are probably thinking that you don't do this, that you give only good information, and that you don't break promises. Think again. During your every day conversations with customers, you will inevitably make a mistake, or circumstances will change and keep you from doing what you promised. It will happen, and it probably happens more than you think.

Solutions
This is squarely under the customer service heading. I can't claim a magic knowledge of your business and your customers, so I recommend a few favorite sites that consistently share good advice on serving your customers.

• Zane Safrit, Conference Calls Unlimited CEO
• Customers Are Always
• Flooring the Consumer
  

Once again, Zane will probably come up with some better advice than I did on this one!

Your Assignment
Together, we are going to try to help each other out of these most common, deadly mistakes. You can use real world examples, real small businesses. Write it up, take a picture, or shoot a short video. Take care not to embarrass the offenders! Key point: include suggestions on how to do it right!



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Common Small Biz Mistakes - Not staying in touch

Common mistakes can kill your small business, but most of them can be easily corrected or avoided.

Today's Bad Example: Not staying in touch
I asked for some examples of small biz mistakes on Twitter, and you answered! First up is shashib:

not using their mailing lists at all ( Restaurants collecting addresses from feedback forms and sleeping on them)

This is pretty common. Lots of us have mail or email data on our customers, but we don't take the time to write!


Solutions
Those contact lists are gold! Your customers want to know what is happening in your business, and they are interested in all sorts of news and tips written for their perspective.

Learn to re-use your writings. The same wonderful conversational items for your blog are easy newsletter fodder! Enlist some help to handle the newsletter, either paid or volunteer.

At the very least, send occasional postcards or other short mailings.

Keep the customers' needs first in your mind when you write. And stay in touch.

Your Assignment
Together, we are going to try to help each other out of these most common, deadly mistakes. You can use real world examples, real small businesses. Write it up, take a picture, or shoot a short video. Take care not to embarrass the offenders! Key point: include suggestions on how to do it right!

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Share it in the Brag Basket

Each Friday, I open the brag basket as a fun place to brag or promote yourself and your projects.

Last week, Barbara bragged about a success with a client, Jeanne bragged on her classic car, and Phil was back to brag on his personal branding teleseminar.

What will you brag about this week? You can brag on your business, your community, or your self. You can even brag on other folks, if you want. It's fun, and you get a link back, not to mention applause from us.

You can leave a comment right now or dm me on Twitter.

The Brag Basket has no deadline, so don't wait. Brag now!
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Do You Hate Your Cell Phone Contract & Want Out?

The high cost of getting out of the contract for your cell phone can be a headache.

The best way to wiggle out of your contract is, possibly, to trade it online.

Try CelltradeUSA.com or CellSwapper.com .

Brag Basket Fridays

Each Friday, I open the brag basket as a fun place to brag or promote yourself and your projects.

What will you brag about this week? You can brag on your business, your community, or your self. You can even brag on other folks, if you want. It's fun, and you get a link back, not to mention applause from us.

You can leave a comment right now or dm me on Twitter.

The Brag Basket has no deadline, so don't wait. Brag now!

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Rural advantage 5: A smaller, better network

Reader Doug Mitchell shared another rural advantage:

OK, Des Moines is not exactly rural...but it is compared to where I come from in Southern CA. So my slightly "rural" advantage is that it's much easier to connect with the proper network one needs to get things done. Granted the network is much smaller...but that's the beauty of it. I'd rather navigate a small but powerful rural network than what I had to deal with before (seemingly millions of people that didn't care much about what I was doing).

Thanks, Doug!

More reasons to love where you live:

Rural Advantage 1: No 'rush hour'; only 'rush moment'
Rural Advantage 2: Random encounters are good for business
Rural Advantage 3: People are helpful
Rural Advantage 4: No need for GPS Navigation

Have your own idea of a rural advantage? Share!

[My photo of the small but powerful rural network combining to help a small business owner.]

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