Posted by kboon on April 6, 2010 under General | 
This is part 2 of some insights from Kevin O’Leary’s (Dragons Den on CBC) talk back in March in Waterloo Ontario.
Part 1 is here.
Someone asked Kevin, what are the common characteristics or traits you see in successful businesses? He listed several ideas. First, being able to tell your story (or idea) in 90 seconds or less. The second, was confidence and a persons ability to sell. The third response intrigued me. He said successful businesses have what he described as “an aura” about them. He said he couldn’t explain it. You feel it when you are in the room with them. He didn’t know if it was good karma from a past life, but what he did know, it was intuition or a feeling he had. There is a confidence. You want to do business with them. In his case you want to give them money.
I’m paraphasing here because I can’t recall word-for-word his exact response.
His response was at the heart of what I feel is the challenge that many businesses face.
What is an Aura?
So what is this aura that O’Leary refers to? I’ll have to admit that I have spent most of my adult life trying to figure this out. What does it take to create a successful business or a better career?
Some people seem to create success so effortlessly, while others struggle and sometimes never get there? We’ve all met that business entrepreneur, sales person, author or musician who seems to start with the same level of knowledge as you or I, but when it comes down to their craft, they’re a natural. They have a special talent. Money flows to them. People want to be around them. Business opportunities come to them.
Is this the aura that O’Leary describes?
Is aura something that comes naturally or can it be learned?
My feeling is both can happen. Some people truly have the gift. For others it takes effort and time to learn. I’ve seen this phenomenon on Twitter where a person builds their website, their profile and their network. They work very hard over a period of time and then there is a point where something kicks in. Opportunities start flowing to them, their business starts to grow. The work over time seems effortless and I’m sure that people looking from the outside think that its easy for them.
Being aware of my own aura has been critical for me in starting my business.
For me it comes down to understanding 4 factors:
- Having a clear vision of my goals and where I want to be with my business. (Both short & long term)
- Becoming aware of my own patterns of thought or limiting beliefs. Are their any judgements I hold about others or about myself that limit my success?
- Letting go of resistant thoughts or beliefs that might be holding me back.
- Focusing once again on my vision, goals and where I am going.
For example, if I’m looking for new clients or opportunities and constantly seem to come up against people saying no, then what I’ve learned there is something off in my aura. There is something about my beliefs or some resistance thought I’m putting out there. This aligns with the ideas around the law of attraction or the Secret.
In my experience, your thoughts do create your reality.
When you change the thought, your aura lifts slightly and opportunities begin to show up.
This is a topic I want to explore in more detail because I feel it is critical for entrepreneurs or small business owners to understand the underlying “aura” or image that they present to customers.
Would love to hear your experiences.
Posted by kboon on March 1, 2010 under Business Building Strategies |
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.
Posted by kboon on February 10, 2010 under Business Building Strategies |
Imagine you have an important business meeting. You worked hard to get this appointment and you know this person would be a great partner for your business. You want to make a good impression. You take extra time to prepare for your meeting and you make sure you dress professionally and appropriately.
Chances are you wouldn’t dress in a pair of sweat pants, an old t-shirt and running shoes.
Yet many businesses dress their website this way. Their website is an afterthought.
Website as a Central Source
Social media strategists often say, the first step to creating a social presence is to have a good website. The main purpose of social tools like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and other forums is to drive people to your website. According to the Edelman Report Barack Obama’s election team used 15 social networking sites to get the word out. They created a central website at BarackObama.com and that had videos, blogs, calls to action, and resources that people could use and share. (I’ll include a link to the report at the end of this post)
There are 3 components to a good website.
- Graphics Design & Layout
- Programming & Development
- Usability
It can be difficult to find website design companies who have mastered all 3 of these skills. If you do, you’re likely to pay big bucks! IT companies will tend to hire in-house, but small businesses usually have limited budgets.
6 Ideas for Building a Website on a Budget
My website is about 3 weeks old and has been created on a small budget. This is still a work in progress but here are some resources that I use today:
- Wordpress – Wordpress is easy to use, includes great themes, and it’s free.
- Netfirms – URL Registration & Hosting – Hosting is generally inexpensive
- IstockPhoto – For low-cost images – or Flickr for free images
- Website Grader – from Hubspot – this is a free tool that lets me grade my website for design, web usuability and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Technical & Design Support – I am not a techie so I have a friend who helps me with any coding or technical work. Usually all it takes is an email and he can create something quickly for me.
- Access to Communities – Accessing web communities is one of the most powerful resources I use. With Twitter, Linkedin and a new community called Third Tribe Marketing, I can get answers to most questions, business, marketing, sales or web related.
Developing a good website is worth the time investment.
At the end of the day your website can make your day-to-day sales efforts a lot easier.
Resources:
- Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit. Here is the Edelman website.
- Website Grader is free. Hubspot has other free graders for Twitter, Facebook and Press Releases.
This is part 2 of some insights from Kevin O’Leary’s (Dragons Den on CBC) talk back in March in Waterloo Ontario.
