Firing on All Cylinders – Workshop for Solo Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners

Posted by kboon on September 1, 2010 under Business Building Strategies, General | 3 Comments to Read

I’m excited to announce my first workshop for solo entrepreneurs and small business owners.

This workshop came about as an idea back in the spring of 2010 when I began networking with some of the small business groups where I live (Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge & Guelph, Ontario).  Originally I was planning to start my own consulting business and provide services for medium to large fortune 500 companies.

But as I talked to entrepreneurs, something inspired me.  I was blown away by their stories.  Small business owners tend to have a larger purpose and vision for their life.  They see having their own business as a way to create more freedom and live a much fuller and richer life. They usually have a great deal of passion and love for what they do.  Over the past 8 or 9 months I have been so impressed with the stories that I wanted to find a way to help.

As I asked more questions I learned about the challenges faced by entrepreneurs.  How do I find more customers is a big one. When I brought up social media, most would have interest, but they knew very little about how to make it work successfully for their business.

The other challenge facing business owners is time.  Time to be able to commit resources to explore new technologies, learn new business building skills, new networking approaches and use social media effectively.

Hence the workshop.

IS YOUR BUSINESS FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS?

A workshop for solo entrepreneurs and small business owners…

Owning a small business can be challenging at the best of times.  Often we have great skills with our service or product offering, but we may lack technical knowledge or business or marketing experience. Social Media has added a whole new dimension to the skill set required to run a successful business.

Today millions of people are adapting technology and social media strategies to reach customers directly.  Firing on all Cylinders is a workshop designed to help solo entrepreneurs and small business owners navigate the waters of technology, sales, marketing and social media.

In this workshop you will learn how to…

• Establish your image and learn how to create a successful web presence.
• Evaluate social media technologies like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter and learn how to successfully create relationships and build community.
• Network more effectively, both online and in-person.
• Overcome your own personal fears and obstacles that hinder your success.
• Manage time more effectively and leverage technology for maximum impact.
• Develop an outline to move your business towards future growth.

Date: Sunday September 19^th 2010

Location: Whispering Willows – 76 Regina Street North, Waterloo, Ontario

Time: 10am to 2pm (Lunch will be provided)

Cost: $80.00 (Pre-Registration Required)

Cash or Cheque Payments or Questions please contact:

Email: kevin@kevinboon.ca or call 519-569-9281

I’m looking forward to working with this first group and also will have a Facebook page soon.

Bandwidth & Relevancy – 2 Factors that Prevent Companies from Using Social Technologies

Posted by kboon on March 1, 2010 under Business Building Strategies | Comments are off for this article

Companies both large and small, are grapling with how to use social technologies within their business. Some have made the mistake of jumping off the cliff too early, only to realize there are no sales and there are rocks at the bottom. For this reason, some companies stay away like the plague, frustrated by this mysterious technology which seems to threaten their business.

Yet there are a growing number of companies (large and small) using social technologies to build their brand, their business reputation and increase sales.

The two main challenges for any business are bandwidth and relevancy. Most business owners will say, our employees are already maxed to the limit. We don’t have time, or the bandwidth to support a blog or Twitter. The other challenge is relevancy. Do these technologies really help my business or are they time wasters?

Let’s talk about each of these challenges and how to work through them.

Bandwidth

Companies exist in fast paced, highly competitive marketplace. Most employees seem to work harder than ever, and from layoffs and cutbacks they have seen their workloads increase. If you’re a manager, executive or employee, how do you incorporate a blog, Twitter or Linkedin if you are so busy handling the other demands of your job?

Relevancy

The other question is relevancy. How is Twitter really going to help my business? Laying it out for employees without a policy or strategy can be disasterous. For small businesses you can waste a lot of time (time taken away from earning money) if not thought out effectively.

Here are 4 Tips for Getting through the Bandwidth and Relevancy Issues

Learning & Research – Read up on those who are using social tools and getting results. Better yet look for examples in your industry. Be careful of not getting caught up in the hype, but look for clear examples of people who are getting results. If you can, make connections and ask lots of questions.  What strategies do they use?  How do they manage their time? What can you learn?  Here is an example of a chiropractor, Dr. Patrick MacNamara, using social tools to build his business.  I’ll guarantee you will find someone or some company in your industry using these tools.

Develop a Listening Strategy First – Although this is part of research I feel it’s an important point on its own.  Chris Brogan, who consults for many fortune 500 companies says, developing a listening strategy first.  He says it better than I can in these two posts.  (Starting a Social Media Strategy & Five Tools I Use for Listening)

Develop a Business Strategy – For larger companies, developing a good corporate policy is important.  Defining your goals for social media are critical.  For small businesses it’s about defining your goals and being smart with your time. Plan your day and give your self a few hours per day (or per week) to learn some of the social tools.

Play Smart – Through your research and testing you can start to make decisions where to play in the social space.  With thousands of social networks, you can’t be everywhere at once. Spend some time, find out where your customers are and go to them. Focus on one or two platforms, especially if your time is limited.  Later you can find ways to automate or be in multiple places at once.

I will talk about those tools in a future post.

3 Factors that Define Social Media

Posted by kboon on February 23, 2010 under Business Building Strategies | 4 Comments to Read

There is barrage of hype around the term “social media”.  Everybody is writing about it, tweeting about it, spamming about it, and a lot of people are trying to determine how they use it for their business.

The other day, I mentioned social media as being a useful method to connect with customers or business partners.  My colleague politely said, “It is more hype than fact!  It really doesn’t substitute for selling or promoting your business. It’s a time waster.”

We talked a little more about about his thoughts and that was the end of it.  But the conversation made me think.

What does social media mean to me?  Do I use the term too loosely?

Social Media (in my view) is a component of a larger business strategy.

The way I see it there are 3 main factors:

1. Web Tools that enhance productivity
2. Sharing technologies to enable you to be part of a community and be in multiple places at once (leverage).
3. Communication technologies that allow you to better reach within your community.

How do you define social media?  Is there a better term?