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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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.