Time For A Change?

Working hard on my freelance writing site. Not ready for prime
time as yet, but then neither was this blog in 1995.

It's been a learning experience. Funny monetizing this blog was
not one of my goals for writing...I was either being altruistic
or very, very naive. Likely both.

This blog has been on the first page of Google (it's not hard to
do, so stop worrying about it) and has had up to 100 readers in
one day....that was weird, even for me.

And during all that time, maybe 3 people commented. Guess because
it's Blogger and Blogspot..no "professional" would use such a thing.
Especially now that there's paid themes, WP, Drupal, Joomla and only
God knows what else.

Know what? I don't care. Really. Blogger and the Google team have been
very accommodating to my fledgling writing endeavors.

There have been times when it seemed my posts were pushing
the limits, but the blog wasn't deleted. That's my idea of tolerance!

I'm back, let's hope a bit wiser. This is still a journey. Thank you
for being brave (or crazy) enough to come along.

Until next time, I leave you with this -

Tough times never last, but tough people do.~Robert H. Schuller

Twitter For Solo Entrepreneurs? Maybe 5 Years From Now.

Hey Guys,
Just read this post from GigaOm, Twitter Used By 8 Percent
of American Internet Users. And unless your customers are
18-24 year old, urban youth - you may want to take another
look at how you're using Twitter.

I've said it in prior posts: Know your customers and clients,
but don't spend stupid money playing follow-the-hype.

When you are an independent small business, income does
not equate to "getting the word out".

Either the people who have an interest in what you
sell and money to pay you are where your small marketing budget is
spent, or you're "spraying and praying".

For those of you who are wondering when I'll start giving
you these nifty tips again - have no fear, 2011 is a brand
new year for TSG!

We're going to go down rabbit holes to increase your business
income, market smarter and get more qualified prospects coming
to your business.

And yes - there will be more sources for you to ramp up your
Solo Entrepreneur Business like never before. Screw the economy!

Solo Entrepreneurs On Local Networking

Stopped in to share this local networking tip for you. BNI is one of the longest running small business networks globally.

Here's The Latest News - Straight from the site.


This will auto-update for those who subscribe to my feed,
you'll get the updates.

Where have I been since March? More on that later:)

Until next time, I leave you with this-

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t
live long enough to make them all yourself.”

~Eleanor Roosevelt

Twitter and Other Social Networks

Busy working on the Natural Weight Loss Newsletter blog and
setting up the paid subscribers section, so this post will be
brief.

Those of you operating a business online (or off), how are you
tracking the effectiveness of your social media marketing
efforts? I asked this before and half of my readers ran for the
hills...or gave me the 'party-line: "Everybody is doing it and
it's the thing for the future of online marketing".


Don't be an idiot. I know everyone is 'trying' to use it, what I want to know is are any of you tracking your results using it. Let's be
specific: Has the traffic converted into sales? Is it more
effective than other marketing methods you are using?

Even the newest online denizen can build a list of freebie
seekers and tire kickers. Traffic isn't hard to get,
targeted-credit card carrying-ready to buy prospects is the
problem.

That's it for today and I leave you with this -

A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice.~James Callaghan

Work From Home: Find The Fit

I've been reading quite a bit these past 6 months about ideas for creating a
home-based business. During that time, the "internet opportunities" and "work-at-home scams" have exploded.

This overload has also created a lot of very frustrated and broken spirit entrepreneurs.

Here's what I mean -
Not everyone is cut-out to work online nor want to create a business that requires sitting at their computer everyday. Some of you would prefer to get outside in nature, others want to work with their hands (and not on a keyboard!) and still others want something but have no idea what that something will be.

What I've done in the past with TSG was give you marketing and business tips heavily swayed towards using the internet. Most were on the various options for you to consider working from home as an affiliate or information marketer.

I missed the mark totally and for that I apologize.
In my last survey, I asked what made you start your home-based business. 2 of you responded to that survey and I thank you because it helped me make a decision about TSG.

This survey is going to be a bit different. The 5 questions are right here that I'd like you to answer for me! Simply post a comment with the question number, can't get any easier than that:)

what I want to know:

• 1. What is the #1 question you have about starting your own business?
  
  
• 2. Where would you prefer to grow your home business, locally in your area or strictly on the internet?
  
  
• 3. When you think of business ideas, which ones interest you the most? For example import/export or running a laundromat or having a little vending machine route. Think about it.
  
  
• 4. How many "business opportunities" have you tried to make work in the past 3 years and what were they?
  
  
• 5. How do you choose a good work at home opportunity? How did you choose the last one.

5 Easy Little Questions. Some of you haven't been to the archives in a while, so let me give you this tip before you answer those questions: Take money out the picture.

Yes, your business must make a profit (profit=money in the bank). But it is not how you make a decision on what business to start. I can make my business profitable, I'd suck running Microsoft. Bill Gates would likely suck at running my business too, so we're even:).

Here's why I'm asking for your feedback. I've been writing this little newsletter offline for my coaching clients (yeah I do that too). What I've learned working with them is - I may have not helped quite a few of you really create the work at home business you want with this blog.

The only way to know going forward is to ask. What more would you like to see on this blog? No there's no money in answering the questions?! I might send you a sample of my paid newsletter or a product that I own you can have rights to - but no money will be changing hands here:) That's it for today and I leave you with this -

Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes~Napoleon Hill

Solo Entrepreneurs: Offline or Online?

As solo entrepreneurs you may have been convinced the internet was going to change
the way business is done, and in some ways it has -
1. Faster market research
2. Easier to target niches with more profit potential
3. Wider audience for your offerings...
and more.

But I've noticed a trend lately of more guru marketers moving offline. Wonder why that is? Here's my opinion (then you knew I had one, right?)

Because no matter how many affiliate networks, ebooks, webinars and so forth there are, people do not spend their lives online. Unless they had no life to begin with or their idea of living is playing games.

Here's where I'm going with this: Really rethink the business you're in long term. If you are spending 90% of your time trying to get people interested in what you're selling, being a whore to the search engines for traffic or stressing over trying to keep up with every affiliate "new shiny box" - you are working a job, no matter what you call it for less than someone will pay.

I'll admit when I first started out, every guru or wannabe had me on their list. In fact I spent more money trying to make money than actually making any, which is a bad business decision in anyone's book.

This past few weeks while deciding to overhaul The Solo Gazette, I went to visit some of the local businesses in my area. Guess what I found?
1. Most didn't have a website and could care less about getting one.
2. There were many that have been in business 10+ years or longer and didn't fire, layoff or reduce any staff. Yes, they all have fewer than 20 employees but the fact is they haven't missed a payroll.
3. The internet is for entertainment maybe a couple hours at night, or on weekends but none feel they are at starvation's door because they have no "web presence".

All knew I "do something" on the internet and a couple had even visited a site or two of mine. Know what the one thing they all wanted to know. I'm embarrassed by this but here's the question: How stable is your income from it.

See we forget that marketing our services or products on the internet may be fun, but if it's the only revenue stream you have then you are in the same position as someone with a job.

At anytime the search engines, affiliate networks, or payment processor can change the rules to suit them and your business will be affected. Period.

I'm not telling you to jump on the "offline marketing" band wagon, far from it. What I am telling you is to consider diversifying your business. You may think network marketing is a pyramid scheme (which tells me you have never been in the job market) or that affiliate marketing is here to stay (Hydra just dropped 15,000 affiliates who aren't going to be happy this morning). As a solo entrepreneur, you might want to start thinking: What if?

That's it for today and I leave you with this -

Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but
that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative
thinking. Running that first shop taught me business is not
financial science; it's about trading: buying and selling~ Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop

Solo Entrepreneur: FTC & Covering Your Butt

I'm always getting my panties in a twist over something, and this
new "ruling" is no different.

Ok, I do understand about making false claims (no Acai berries will not
make your penis hard or take you from 450 pounds to 120 overnight),
but come on here - most folks online are not being irresponsible.

But tell that to the FTC! They are using a shotgun to kill a mosquito
and everyone is paying for it. Read it here.

It means, in a nutshell that:

You better have real endorsements and not
those you get from your affiliate merchant (makes sense).

You better tell people they will not make money from what you're
endorsing unless you can prove it (makes sense too, because if they
buy your stuff and don't use it - you're on the hook).

You better tell people you're going to make money when they
follow your endorsement (sorta makes sense - transparency and all
that).

What bothers me about this? Except for the knuckle heads that use an
affiliate letter 'word for word' and haven't a clue what they are promoting,
the rest is common business practice.

When I buy a product it's a given that it does me no good if I don't use
it! Maybe on first reading it was something that simply pissed me off, who knows.

So to keep it simple, here's a snip from Randy Smith for a product he's promoting on his site:

(It might not, You may completely waste your money buying this,I'm not typical, I'm not a lawyer, I will be paid a commission if people buy this through my link, I haven't paid for this product, I got it cos I'm friends with the creators, and yes they are hoping I'll promote it, I don't promote product I think are crap, I think this is cool - but what do I know, repeat - I'm not a lawyer...etc.)

Now that's what I call 'Covering Your Butt'!

Only a couple tools you may be interested in checking (no affiliate links) out
if you're an affiliate.

Wordpress Easy Ads

This one is for those of you using Wordpress on your own hosting account. Allows you to host different ads with more ease than trying to make those suckers line up to fit your template.

Easy Clickbank Ads

This one is from the same guy and for Clickbank affiliates. Nice he thought to add this one for those of us in more than one niche.

Crazy Egg

This one I haven't used as yet but intend to. You install a piece of code on your pages to give you a visible way to track what people are doing and where they're going on your site. The basic install is $9 a month but you can put it on 10 pages, and track up to 10,000 visits per month. Currently I use only Google Analytics, but adding this may save a bit of time weeding through all the numbers.

That's it for today and I leave you with this -

"The most handicapped person in the world is a negative thinker" ~ Heather Whitestone, former Miss America

Happy Easter 2009

Thought I'd stop in this week and do a post (my birthday week is not the best time for me to write anything - I'm having a Mai Tai Overload!)

Anywho, found this blog Easy Membership Sites that can help those of you still not using Wordpress or who (like me) don't find it as 'easy' as everyone claims.

Speaking of membership sites, I have 2 membership site projects
waiting for my return, thought this would be a good time to encourage
you to at least consider it.

We're not all expert copy writers, guru product launch folks and simply
want to get something going to pay the bills. A membership site,
even a tiny $10 a month site that's autoresponder based can go a long
way in keeping that feeling of 'hungry wolf sitting at the kitchen
table waiting for dinner' away.

You may remember some time back my talking about joining the Rhodes
Brothers membership. Well here's the video that inspired me to
get started with membership site projects, Simple Business Model.

Before you get overwhelmed and think membership sites are
entirely too much work, watch the video. This one does work and I'm
seeing more of them come online daily.

Gotta run but watch a couple of the videos, signup if learning to
put together a membership site is on your list.

That's it for today and yes, I'll leave you with this:

It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating~ Oscar Wilde

Who Are Your Blog Readers?

It's been an eventful week and while reading the blogs of people I respect online (and it ain't that many let me assure you!), there was a post Darren has on Problogger that still gives me sleepless nights.

How To Build Community On Your Blog. Have you noticed there are no longer count chicklets on The Solo Gazette? For some odd reason, from 500 readers December 2008 to 8 in January 2009, the thing stopped working.

What does that have to do with you?
Knowing who your visitors are streamlines your ability to give them exactly the information they are looking for. On your blog, it's critical in making your messages relevant to the interests of your readers.

Chicklets, Widgets, Talking Characters are nice little touches but in and of themselves does not sell your products or services. People who come to your site or blog have specific interests in common.

For example, parents of newborns may come to read how to get their baby to sleep through the night but the same information holds no interest for parents dealing with the 'terrible twos'. Yes, both groups are parents but that's where the commonality ends.

Darren recommends 8 strategies for building 'community' with your blog and after reading it I thought how it could effectively cross-over to your website.

• 1. Ask Questions of your visitors. Most people hate those 'unblockable' pop overs, but why not add a short survey like the one from the Ask Database to find out specifically what your visitors are looking for. It's something I'm considering implementing this year to 'pump up' the response on this blog.
  
  
• 2. Invite Questions from Blog Readers. This can work for your blog or your website. Sometimes solo entrepreneurs tend to answer questions that haven't been asked yet, thinking that if it were us we'd ask the same question. Your visitors, customers and readers may not be thinking the same thing.
  
  
• 3. Specialize Them. Are you a member of Linkedin, Merchant Circle, or any number of social networking sites? When they come to your site or blog, make them 'members' instead of simply a part of the 'other surfers' online.
  
  People like to be a part of something exclusively for them, whether it is between posts that only they have access or a special bonus offer only they get notified about in advance.

Take these few tips and the ones from Problogger to help you get more mileage from your business efforts. Often it's the simple things we overlook that make the most impact to our bottom line. That's it for today and I leave you with this -

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours. ~Harry S. Truman

Target Marketing - Smart or Unethical?

How's your week shaping up? Other than an occasional blip, I'm finally catching up on cleaning up this blog...funny when you write how things sorta pile up.

Target Marketing.
We all know about finding your target market, but along the way you must ask yourself: Am I actually doing what's best for the people in my market or doing whatever it takes to get the money in my pocket? Why this came up was an article written by Samantha Gonzales on Invesp Blog titled: Emotional Targeting-Smart Marketing or Virtual Sucker Punch.

I'm not going to go rewrite the entire article here, reading it however is a good place to start reviewing your own marketing materials. Is it ethical to target your markets basic human needs to sell your product or services? Maybe. But what about when those messages you're sending tap into people's privacy or deepest fears.

I'm not here to chunk rocks, point fingers or make character judgments (unless you're a bucket head, then all bets are off!). When I target 'work at home, part-time micro business solo entrepreneurs' with my message - Tips, Techniques and Resources To Help You Grow Your Solo Enterprise - that's a marketing message that allows me to only speak on subjects they all have in common.

It's when a marketer use services like Claritas demographics, and police records to find out 'Mr. So and So' living in Bugtussle Acres, California on 123 Peanut Street has 40 registered sex offenders in his neighborhood and sends him messages that "he needs to buy XQZ burglar alarms before he gets 'got' because there are 40 registered sex offenders living on 123 Peanut Street, is when it might be a bit too much.

Here's my response to the post:

....you make very good points and your analysis leaves room for serious introspection on the part of all marketers.

As marketers, salespeople, business owners it would appear there are many who accept sleaze as the 'means justify the ends' to gaining customer loyalty.

It does beg the question: Where does manipulation begin and marketing begin? It appears there are areas which overlap and in some cases, to the extreme.

Are the marketers for 'gangsta rap' accountable to a public inundated by violence, when song lyrics are fictional events played out in real communities?

There are no easy answers, but as a business owner we are ultimately responsible for what we do or do not in getting our products out the door.

And if you have something to add, go read the full article and post your comment.

Solo Entrepreneur: Grow Your Business

What a week. Have the new theme and now to do something about the
blank advertising slots. There's only room for 3, so if you
want to promote your business there, here's what you do:
1. Send me an email with your url so I can see you're not trying to
gank my system.

2. The size of your site graphic can be no larger than 120x96.

I'll run it on my new blog for 30 days free. First come, first
served on this because there isn't enough time in the day to
respond to everybody.

Now, with that out the way - let's get to it:
Growing a business when you're a solo entrepreneur can seem
daunting at times. There's not only the service or product you
are responsible for getting out the door, you must also take care
of your own:

Make selling and marketing decisions.

Find new customers and respond to current customers.

Send invoices for services provided and follow-up messages.

Monitor your finances and plan cashflow.

And the list goes on and on. But there are a couple things
you can do to make your life a little bit easier, and give you
a road map for the things you need to do.

Your first step is to redefine your business vision and mission.

After being in business a couple years, you may notice that
the landscape for your industry, your customers and even
your offerings have changed.

It's easy to fall into a 'busy-ness' trap because you work
primarily alone. We all do it from time to time, but it's when
you lose sight of where you were headed when you started that can
create frustration, boredom and mistakes.

That's it for today and I leave you with this -

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor
the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change~Charles Darwin

Solo Entrepreneur - 2009 Backup Plan

No, I didn't forget there is a blog out here with my name on it....I did the #1 thing I've warned every one of you to do often - Back Up Your Hard Drive! I don't care how many gigs you have, when that sucker goes down - you'll be growling at your nearest and dearest.

How's 2009 treating you so far?
If you're still reading the newspapers, it seems the beginning is 'iffy'...if this happens, then that will happen but the good news is 'if this doesn't happen then that over there won't happen!'. Does any of this sound like a rant coming on...it is.

Where ever you find yourself beginning this new year, sit down and figure out if it's really the direction you want to go. There's too many opinions by 'unreliable sources' who make it their business to tell you what they think you want to hear. In Vegas, they call it 'the Pit Boss'! He/she will smile and tell you just to hang in there, it will get better...while you're watching your mortgage payment, food budget and ticket home get sucked into a slot machine. Get real.

If your goal for your business is to make an extra $20,000 this year, how you're going to make that happen is your focus. There will be things outside your control, always has been and always will be. Even Einstein had to deal with political upheaval and Nelson Mandela spent 20 years attempting to talk sense to idiots...it happens. But it didn't stop them making plans and completing the tasks they set out to accomplish.

That's it for today and I leave you with this:

Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. ~ Voltaire

Solo Entrepreneur Blogging Minutes

I was reading through a list of new articles from Ezine Articles
and came across one that nearly made me puke. Ok, it's too
close to Thanksgiving dinner to use that term but it reads like
so much other 'wanna-be' advice that runs rampant online.
Someone has a brain fart and thinks, Wow! This is great. Let me
post it somewhere.

Here's the gist of the article on 'You Are An Entrepreneur
If...'
1. You are creative.
2. You are courageous.
3. You are extremely resourceful.
4. You possess a specific talent, or
specialized knowledge of some kind.
5. You are very disciplined, determined and highly
motivated most of the time.
6. You have a strong desire to help others.
7. You not only have a daily plan; you have a life plan

Some of you are going to think, it's not too bad and that's
what everyone says an entrepreneur is, right? Wrong!

Here's what bothers me about this article list. First its a
list of generalities that reads like a plan for a serial killer
and second it's 500 words of gibberish.

You're a working solo entrepreneur, do you think if you were
more creative, courageous, resourceful, had a specific talent or
special knowledge, were more disciplined, determined or highly
motivated your business would make more money?

How about if you had a stronger desire to help others with your
daily plan or your 'life' plan?

This is the kind of Miss Information slung around the internet as
reality by many people who have never owned or have just started
a business. All the creativity in the universe will not add one
more cent to your bottom line!

My mechanics are certified, talented and specialized to the max
but they still work for Rolf's European Auto! Think about your
own venture, it takes more than discipline and determination to
make your business work.

I'm not saying that discipline, determination and being
resourceful doesn't help because it does. But, there is more to
being an entrepreneur and those of us in the trenches everyday
know it.

Interesting that persistent didn't make the list and
neither did taking action nor focus. Reads like B.S. to me!

I've been putting together my plans for 2009 and part of that
plan is to dump some of my marginal activities that are not
producing the results set for 2008.

Part of my plan is do more blogging and implement more marketing
related actions. In order to implement this plan, I've decided
to join a program to more effectively use my blogs.

I'm not going to lie, money is tight for me as it is for many
people and to spend hundreds of dollars on a 'might work'
proposition of any kind isn't going to happen (even if I had it
to throw away).

With that said, here's 2 programs I'm considering:
One by Mark Joyner is starting on December 8th. It may be a bit
more basic than it seems reading the marketing page but who
knows. I'm familiar with Mark from being a member of
Simple-ology and this may become the push I need to get my online
publishing on a more solid footing.

If you already have a blog, he's offering anyone who blogs about
this new no-cost multi-media blog course -No Name Yet free entry.

The catch is you post about it on your blog...seems fair enough.

The second one I'll be joining too (if for nothing more than to
make TSG better) is going to start December 4th and for the first
week you can join for $27 a month before it takes a leap to $47 a
month.

Yaro Starak is partnering with Gideon Shalwick (no idea who he
is) on this one, but if you know Yaro - it's going to be 'hit
the ground running' intense.

Get more Blogger Roadmap info ebook and audio download. See if
this is something you can add to your own marketing mix. I
have mine and yes, it appears to be worth the investment when it
opens.


That's it for today and I leave you with this -

“An entrepreneur assumes the risk and is dedicated and
committed to the success of whatever he or she undertakes.” ~ Victor Kiam

Leave a comment!

Solo Entrepreneur: Relaxing Sunday

Today is going to be a little different post because I'm taking
a relaxing Sunday to finish up some reading. Most weeks it's
at least 2 books, the real "hold in your hand hard-cover"
variety.

So, I'll share my reading list and you can go back to enjoying
your weekend (for my Aussie and New Zealand readers, ooops!
You're back to work, peace!). My current reading list for this past week:

How To Be Invisible. J.J. Luna - The Essential Guide to
Protecting Your Personal Privacy, Your Assets, and Your Life.

Right Risk. Bill Treasurer aka Captain Inferno - 10 Powerful Principles for Taking Giant Leaps With Your Life

Living Your Unlived Life. Robert A Johnson and Jerry M Ruhl - Coping With Unrealized Dreams and Fulfilling Your Purpose in the Second Half of Life

No Time To Lose. Pema Chodron - A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva

Mall. Eric Bogosian - (fiction) A series of fast paced psychological sketches of characters who happen to be at the wrong mall at the wrong time

The Brain Trust. Larry McCleary, MD - A leading neurosurgeon reveals secrets for increasing brain function at any age

Counter Knowledge. Damian Thompson - How we surrendered to conspiracy theories, quack medicine, bogus science and fake history

The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments. George Johnson - Interesting book on the ten most fascinating experiments in the history of science

All books can be found on Amazon or your local library.
When you read for the pleasure of reading, sometimes the
information you learn may give you insights for your business
that business books or reports miss.

That's it for today and I leave you with this -

"Perhaps where you are is not on any map."~Winnie the Pooh

Leave a comment!

How To Gauge Your Progress & The Art of Reciprocity

It's this time of the year that I do my biannual progress
report. What's that?

In order to know if I'm on track, there must be something to
measure. For me, it means looking at where my business was six
months ago, what goals did I hit (or miss) and overall evaluate
various processes in relation to how effective they were.

Here's what I mean. Let's say the goal for the past six months
was to add another 200 subscribers to my blog list. The method
would be social networking and posting on 2 niche forums. Ok,
six months go by and the result - 50 new subscribers, 5 from
social networking and 45 from forum postings.

Was this a failure? To many of you, it would seem so since the
goal was 200 subscribers. In my opinion it isn't a failure
because I learned something.

First, social marketing has a low ROI for the time I put in,
so it will move down on my list of effective methods for getting
subscribers.

Second, niche forum marketing pulled in more targeted
subscribers. So move this to the top of my marketing methods for
getting subscribers.

Finally, it tells me where to focus my efforts to reach my goal,
and gives me numbers to better estimate what the return should be
for the next six months. This isn't an exact science.

It's only meant to make me more effective as a solo business
owner. In this way I can gauge my progress and eliminate that
'deer in the headlights' tunnel vision that can set in when you
work on your own.

The Art of Reciprocity. While reading what others had to say on
the subject of social marketing, it occurred to me that social
marketing is no more than an old technique with a newy name -
reciprocity.

In simple terms - You wash my back and I'll wash yours. A
technique someone posted in a forum about using this online
was...interesting, to say the least. Here's the internet
equivalent (I guess) of reciprocity:

Go to my Blog which is in my signature.
1) Subscribe to my RSS feed
2) Leave a comment
3) Rate my blog at Blog Catalog
4) Add to favorites at Blog Catalog
5) Post a comment at Blog Catalog
6) Post a free add daily on my new forum.
Then let me know and I'll do the same for you.

Does it work? Don't get me lying, I have no idea.
It does appear if only 3 people were doing this, it would
seriously eat into the time you spend operating your business

But it does bring up an interesting question: How does this build
a business relationship?

Maybe I am missing the point here and being a bit 'old
fashioned'. Isn't all the talk of JV partners and networking
for your business about mutually cooperative interaction, even if
cyber enhanced?

Or is the whole Squidoo, Technorati, Chamber of Commerce thing
about ganking off other peoples time and efforts...who knows,
it's beyond my tiny universe.

My definition of reciprocity - I know or like what you
do/say/offer as a business owner and would recommend you to my
circle based on my having this knowledge of your business.

You, when the opportunity presents itself after having learned
over time what I offer/say/do in my business will also recommend
me to your circle.

Look, there's nothing wrong with what other people choose to do
in their business. You, me, and everyone else hopefully are
trying to get to the same place...earn enough to live decently
with our values intact.

You have to decide which methods you choose will get you there.
For those of you with no values...there's hope.

That's it for today and I leave you with this -

"What our country deserves from everyone who enjoys
its fruits and freedoms is a little more gratitude -- and a lot less greed" ~ Michelle Malkin

Leave a comment!

Solo Entrepreneur Tribute - Blog Action Day

I have at least 10 emails about Blog Action Day (forgive me if it didn't ring a bell), so here's a post for my new readers and 'Shakin In My Shoes' Solo Entrepreneur Gonna Be's. Regular readers....go do something else because this is a Seth Godin full post.

Looking For A Reason To Hide.

I've seen it before and I'm sure I'll see it again.

Whenever a business cycle starts to falter, the media start wringing their hands. Then big businesses do, freelancers, entrepreneurs and soon everyone is keening.

People and organizations that have no real financial stress start to pull back, "because it's prudent." Now is not the time, they say. They cut budgets and put off investments. It's almost as if everyone is just waiting for an excuse to do less.

In fact, they are.

Growth is frightening for a lot of people. It brings change and the opportunity for public failure. So if the astrological signs aren't right or the water is too cold or we've got a twinge in our elbow, we find an excuse. We decide to do it later, or not at all.

What a shame. What a waste.

Inc. magazine reports that a huge percentage of companies in this year's Inc. 500 were founded within months of 9/11. Talk about uncertain times.

But uncertain times, frozen liquidity, political change and poor astrological forecasts (not to mention chicken entrails) all lead to less competition, more available talent and a do-or-die attitude that causes real change to happen.

If I wasn't already running my own business, today is the day I'd start one.

That's it for today and I leave you with this -

Never be afraid to try something new. Amateurs built the
ark. Professionals built the Titanic~Anonymous

Leave a comment!

Holiday Promotion Idea & Productive Toughness

I'm not going on about the economy nor the Bucket Head election in the U.S., good or bad because it is all relative - remember if it's not under your immediate control you roll with it and focus on what you can do.

This post is longer than usual (ha!)...Let's get to it -

The holiday promotions season is in full swing and that means it's time we start thinking about other ways we can promote our own small enterprises. This idea goes beyond the usual executive gifts basket.

Let's talk - Chocolate. Edible Imprints will put your image or text directly on delicious chocolates. Imagine the reaction from your best customers or your best suppliers when they receive your logo made into an edible, chocolate CD!

As a Solo Entrepreneur, we don't have the luxury to be dumped in the 'Oh, one of our customers/vendors/somebody we do business with' category.

You want to get my attention and have me remember your business....do something that will give me a reason! Send me chocolate?! And with your logo or picture on it?! Get out the way Richard Simmons, Georjina is comin' through!!

So how can you use this holiday business gift idea for your own business? Here's a few promotion ideas I came up with for my short list this year:

Send your website logo or your mug shot to your customers with a holiday specific greeting. Something like "Jane Green and her team wishes you and yours a Prosperous New Year" on a 3-inch Cookie.

How about a Deluxe Portraits With Truffles consisting of 13-ounce Chocolate Columns and a message like "Fred Flintstone, Hardworking Dino Driver wishes your family a Very Bed Rock Kwanzaa".

Talk about effective?! It doesn't stop with your best customers or clients, what about a vendor that provides excellent service (or your favorite blogger with an attitude). Take some time to think about it - How can you make a lasting impression during your 2008 holiday promotions?

Taking Back Your Time! Over at Lifehack Joel Falconer makes a point about reclaiming your work day time. What he calls ruthless, I call being smart and necessary. I can relate to the person who calls and wants to bond with you by telling you their life story. I don't mean this in a bad way but...Get Away From Me! Read the rest of the post and find some way to take back your time.

Are You Resilient? I'm always finding new solo entrepreneurs, some are full of it but others tend to rise above the heap. Ivan Widjaya is one of these.

When it comes to being an entrepreneur, the ability to recover quickly from change or misfortune will get you through the rough times more than the latest gadget, technique or even money. Emotional toughness is absolutely necessary.

Though I do take issue with a few things in Ivan's post (he recommends selling your business when times are tough) yeah, like that's going to happen for most small businesses but overall he makes a few very good points about how much resilience you need to keep going.

Quite often I slip up and add a post about believing in yourself as a Solo Entrepreneur. I hope this one inspires you to keep going and create the business of your dreams.

Dream Big!
That's it for today and I leave you with this quote from one of the world's most successful Solo Entrepreneurs who continues to maintain full control over his business and is still going strong after 33 years in the fashion industry - Giorgio Armani.

Remain true to yourself and your philosophy. Changing in the face of adversity will in fact diminish your credibility with your customers. You have to think of the future. If not, we would close town! My work is my life. Even though it is good to take a holiday, after two vacations it is boring.

The long and short of it for me is that the entrepreneur is the one who at the end decides yes or no and I like that even though it’s a lot of responsibility. It would be very hard for me to do things somebody else’s way. At this point I think of myself more as an entrepreneur than a designer. This is my life’s work and I’m more passionate about it than ever.~Giorgio Armani

Leave a comment! Keep It Clean!

Update & Knowing Your Fears

Solo Gazette Update
Got stuck in a time warp over the weekend but here I am!
Many of you know the Solo Gazette was under consideration
for a move – scrap that! It's fine right here with Blogger.

As for the membership site? I must have had an acid
flashback – what the hell was I thinking?!

Instead
There will be a paid version of the blog called: Solo Gazette Entrepreneur.
Ok, that's a weird name and needs work. But members will have
access to business guides, Mp3 interviews, downloads, teleconferences
and time saving worksheets to get going and growing a lifestyle solo business.

Let's get to it -
Some of you are still looking for the Holy Grail to
starting a million dollar business. Unfortunately, you
are also the Golden Fleece on someone's balance sheet
because they know they can claim anything and you'll
buy it.

Stop that nonsense! Whatever anyone tells you, the
bottom line is the old rules of business still apply.

It's no big secret, hush-hush, expert advice to
operating a successful business. In fact, ask any business
owner and they will tell you:
Do these 4 things right and success is within your reach.

What are they?
Focus on your own business, sell what your customers want to buy,
price for profits and watch your cash flow like a hawk!

It may not be hot, pretty or trendy but it works.

After all the businesses that I've started (that looked good on
paper and which I quickly closed), there were things
I wish I'd known and paid attention to.

1. Know your personal strengths and what you won't do.
Everybody has strengths and finding what they are is your
first goal. Knowing what you won't do (find that archived post
on non-negotiable things in your life) can save you a great deal
of time and frustration.

You can have all the skills in the universe behind you,
but if you don't want to manage people or get into
direct sales or get your hands dirty, admit it.

I was well trained for accounting. But what got me in trouble
was not knowing what I didn't want to do and those were
some of the first things that met me head-on in my
business.

As the new kid on the block, making contacts and knocking
on doors was part of the business building steps. I hated
them!

Being an introvert, the small talk and the 'tap dancing' made
me physically ill. So I started a newsletter, mailed it to
every new business I found in the papers and kept on mailing
it.

Will it work today? Try it.
It did get me a few phone calls with questions about my service.

Even then, I didn't have the guts to ask for an appointment to sell
the accounting service, how lame was that?

It wasn't about being lame, it was the fear of being
told No! and fear of rejection.

Being afraid of rejection may be normal but it definitely is
high on most people's list of Don't Want To.

Other business owners had told me how they were getting clients: Yep, knocking
on doors, cold calling and networking with other people.

Had I listened, starting an accounting service would not have been my first business.

Know what you don't want to do before you get that website,
join that affiliate program, start that catering business or
decide consulting looks like fun.

Just by talking to a few business owners and other solo entrepreneurs,
you may find there are things that you just don't want to do.

Resources:
Boomer Business Launcher
Do My Stuff, Outsource Locally
The Small Business Blog
Business Alone

That's it for today and I leave you with this

"Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare."- Japanese proverb

Employee To Solo Entrepreneur

This delay in posting was for a good reason. After reviewing the posts for the past two years, I realized in 2007 the focus was more on giving you resources for an online venture, or some business opportunity instead of the purpose and mission of The Solo Gazette: Getting those of you who are still working full time jobs to take the steps into having a true solo business that gives you financial control over your life.

For that lapse, I sincerely apologize. With that said, here is where we are:
1. The Solo Gazette will have a new home by April 1, 2008. A great WordPress designer and solo entrepreneur named Liz is helping with the move.

You know me - if it can be screwed up, I'm your girl! Seriously, I'm keeping the focus of Solo Gazette on solo entrepreneurs, whether online or off but definitely to help you make the leap and give you resources to help no matter what business you operate.

Everyone needs marketing, financial and day-to-day operations advice that works. That is going to be the focus. Everything else, yeah well....let someone else get into it. You don't need me to tell you how to build a website, do search engine optimization because there are others who have waaay more experience that I listen to - they will be the ones I recommend.

2. Quotes. Yep, they'll still be a part of the blog.
3. Articles from other sources. Yes, if they further our mission to get it going and making it last! No articles, out-side posts just to increase the noise from hacks.

4. Rants and Raves. I'll be more selective in them (at least the raves part) and if you are looking for me to be less opinionated - ain't going to happen. There are entirely too many 'wanna-be' business advisors for me to take pot shots at to let a good rant go by.

5. Membership site. Yes, I'll have this fully tested by the end of March. I'll tell you more about it later but I will add this: It will move fast, be 52 weeks of 'take action steps' and isn't for the freebie seekers.

That's it for today and I'll leave you with this

Whether you be man or woman you will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor~James Lane Allen

Thanks and Giving. To All Solo Entrepreneurs From Georjina Sinese

I was going to be all drippy and sentimental because of the holiday season, but I've decided to do something else instead. Say - Thank You.

Some of you have been with me since the beginning, when I had no idea what the hell I was doing (ok, still don't most times) and have watched as I've gotten into telling you what you need to make your business your own.

Thank you.

Now for the sentimental part (those of you who'd rather not hang around, go below the next couple of paragraphs!).

Thanksgiving has lost a lot of it's original meaning in the US, since I'm here it's the only one I know about. Instead of saying grace before a meal (which is an example of 'giving thanks'), we eat like starving buffalo and if anything is said at all, it's 'gimme that'.

There has been wars on this planet since the beginning of time (I really wasn't there people, though some of you think I was!). What we, as people must really give thanks for, every day and not just one or two out of the year is - We are here. Living, breathing and trying to be what we consider basically good people.

There are those who are no longer living lives that they can say they are either proud of or want. Sometimes in our rush, we forget there really are people grieving the death of someone they loved who was alive yesterday. We forget that there really are people who will never leave a hospital or a sick bed. We forget that all over this planet, someone somewhere is hurting and there is no one there to care.

With that said, continue reading below for a couple resources, then go off-line for 24 hours. Put the business books away, turn off your IPod, DVD, WII, XBox, Cell phone and any other distractions. For 24 hours, just sit and think about what you really have to be thankful for. Are you in reasonably good health? Be Thankful. Can you read words on a page? Be Thankful. Can you speak without assistance? Be Thankful. Do you have to? Nope.


Only 2 resources because I'm headed offline for some down time for the next 4 days. Enjoy....Oh, before I forget - I'm thankful to you for your time spent with me.


1. Text Aloud
Have you ever needed to read something on your computer while working on something else? I have and because I'm a reader, it made it frustrating hopping from screen to screen just to get something done.

This you're going to like - Text Aloud. I thought it was 'huh, what the heck' until I got the free trial.
You've got to go to the site to see what this little honey will do.

2. Web Tools
Resources for the work you do online as your own webmaster. Many are free to use and there is a
section for scripts, site submitter and HTML protector in a members area for $4.99 each. That's an excellent price by the way, I have a site submitter that ran me over a $100 when it was new! Dumb.


That's it for today and I leave you with this:

True happiness is walking the darkest road in life, alone with a smile. ~Zaid Adam