Small Biz Survival

Step up to the Brag Basket

The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. Step up and share some good news.

Step basket photo
by Joe Shlabotnik on Flickr.

The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one Feb 3-5, 2012. Have some good news this week? Put it in the Brag Basket.

Don't hold back because of that word, "brag." When you hold back, you hide your good news and accomplishments that might inspire others. Even though I call this the Brag Basket, it's not really about bragging. It's about sharing.

What can you do in the Brag Basket?

introduce yourself
share some great news from this week
congratulate a friend
laugh about something wonderful that you tried that failed
applaud for each other

Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.

How does it work? You write a comment on this post.

This is not an ad. (I delete the ads.) It's a conversation with friends. So jump in. And remember to cheer for each other.

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3 ways to get locals to follow you online

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Tourism groups and small businesses both struggle with a common question: once we get online, how do we get local people to follow, like or friend us?

Online friends join local friends for a
tweetup in Alva.

Here are 3 quick ideas on how to get connected with the locals:

1. Talk about local issues. When you talk about the topics that local people care about, they are more likely to engage with you.

2. Tell local people about it. Talk in person, talk with them online, make business cards for your blog and Twitter and hand them out to locals.

3. Invite locals to participate. Ask them to guest post. Quote them in a story. Use their story, with their permission to illustrate a point.

How do you connect with locals?

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What to do if you can't pick a niche

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Picking the right niche for your business is a large task. I hear from many small business people who have several different targets, but can't pick one to be their niche. This seems to be especially true for freelancers, consultants, and other independent business folks.

Time to pick a direction.

If you have trouble deciding on a single niche, here's my advice:

Spend one month focused on one of your possible niches.

Pick your favorite target, and decide to spend one full month focused on them. Find those folks, connect with them online and offline, find out as much as you can about what they need, and how you can work together.

At the end of the month, you'll know a lot more about that niche. Do you love it? Is it the one you want to spend most of your time on? If not, move on. Take your second favorite niche, and spend a month focused on them.

At the very least, you'll learn a lot more about your potential niches. You'll better connect with them.

More likely, you'll learn that some of your potential niches are not a great fit. Drop them from your business. Refocus on the more promising ones.

What's the best outcome? You'll find your best niche. Or at least, you best niche for now.

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Quick! Open up the Brag Basket!

4 comments

The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. Together, we build something meaningful.

The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one Jan 27-29, 2012. Have some good news this week? Put it in the Brag Basket.

Don't hold back because of that word, "brag." When you hold back, you hide your good news and accomplishments that might inspire others. Even though I call this the Brag Basket, it's not really about bragging. It's about sharing.

What can you do in the Brag Basket?