Getting Noticed - Small Fish vs Big Fish

As a small business with limited (read no) marketing budget, how do you get noticed and how do you get your brand to be top of mind for your buyers?
We struggle with this daily.
Social networking is touted to be the way to become an influencer  - offer free advice and knowledge.
Let me tell you that most of the time the people using this free information and knowledge are your competitors. Other small businesses that have exactly the same idea and are just using the information you publish to promote their brand.
When you spend all your time taking care of business that pays the bills today, how can you make time to spend on social networks because no matter how hard you try, you get lost and distracted and peel yourself away from someone else's posts 3 hours later!
Here's how I do it. I  put a timer on - a loud clicking mechanical timer like you would when a cake is in the oven. When it goes off - I stop.
It does take some time and it does pay off in due course.
Better anyway than the annoying shouting 'buy this and get that free' type stuff.

Would you work with your partner?

Ask anyone; 'Would you work with your partner? The answer is almost always 'no'.

Well, I do and have done for many years.

Sure, it is challenging. It's virtually impossible to keep work from encroaching on your private life.
It's equally hard to keep conversations at work impersonal and detached from domestic issues.
Financially, all your eggs are in one basket. Most entrepreneurs live on the edge and if there is a blip in the business, there is no second income stream to keep the engine running.
And then there's always the question; Who is the captain and who is the running mate?

That begs the question; Why do I work with my partner?
There is no other person I could trust as implicitly.
Our paths are different but our destination is the same 
We complement each other - yin and yang.
We feel the pain of failure and share the elation of success together.

It's hard work but it's worth it.

Mentors - be one and have one

We all have something to teach and something to learn.

Become a mentor - it is rewarding and fulfilling  - for both the mentor  and for the mentee (still find that a strange word). It doesn't take much; Share your  experiences, provide some tips and lend a helping hand.
My mentoring sessions make me realize how much I do know and how much I can help. Helping someone else kick start their journey makes me reflect on mine.

Find a mentor - you need it too. Entrepreneurs fly by the seat of our pants. We live, breathe and think about our business all the time.
My mentor helps me to step back and refocus on the outcomes and goals and to find ways to achieve them.

So become a mentor and find one for yourself.

People matter

People matter for all businesses - but for small businesses they matter more!

You are only as strong as your weakest link. In small teams there is no redundancy - and very little room for errors.

Do they have the right attitude?

Do they know what the business goals are?

Do they understand and believe in the business?

Do they allow you to get on with your job?

Do they add value to your business?

Do they look out for you?

If they do, hang on to them and look after them.

If you find yourself questioning whether someone is right because they have the right skills but have a bad attitude or if they work hard but don't get the point, then they are probably not. 

Make a change, do without - you'd be better off!

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Women in business - no emotions please!

I believe and actively support equality for men and women in the workplace. However I do think that we are disadvantaged by many of the qualities that we inherently possess as women.

Being a woman, I am designed to bear children, to be caring, nurturing and, unfortunately, extremely emotional. Hormones wreck havoc for us each month from puberty to menopause and beyond.

These qualities often work in our favor, but when emotions enter the workplace and impact our business interactions and decisions, we have problems. 

Girlfriends talk non-stop - we can spend hours together and we talk about families, friends, pets, work, the environment and we know each other inside out. The boys go out and solve problems by having a beer, watching a game or playing a sport. This is a huge generalisation and there are exceptions on both sides - these are just my observations and thoughts.

At work, we need to be unemotional, objective, business-like and to build fair work relationships. Our employees and colleagues have mothers and friends - we don't need to play that role with them. 
I think this would help us to work better, more efficiently and to come home less emotionally drained.

Starting today - I'm going to leave my emotions at home where they belong...

Converting negative customer experiences to delighted customers

We have all experienced negative customer experiences. The restaurant meal that arrived cold, the tech gizmo that arrived in the mail that didn't work, the shoes that arrived in the wrong colour or the rude telephone operator when you called to complain.

If you can convert this negative experience into a positive one and if you exceed customers expectations, the relationship is renewed and stronger than what it was before.
The negative restaurant meal experience can still create a stronger customer relationship...

Restaurant meal arrives cold > Customer complains to the waiter 

Scenario 1: Waiter apologises and replaces meal with a fresh warm dish
Outcome: Satisfied customer - likely to return but will remember the cold dish

Scenario 2: Waiter apologises and replaces meal with a fresh warm dish AND a desert on the house
Outcome: Delighted customer - will definitely return and will remember the free desert

I remember this when there is a blip in my relationship with a customer and find ways to recover and strengthen the relationship.

5 stages of grief and loss

I now know that as an entrepreneur I will lose more battles than I will win and that I will fail many times before I succeed.

When you lose a project, a business or a valuable employee you grieve as you would when you lose a friend, a loved one or a beloved animal. An understanding of the process of grieving helps to resolve these feelings so you can get up, dust off and start over.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross first proposed the five stages of normal loss in her  1969 book "On Death and Dying". She describes these stages of denial, anger, negotiation, depression and acceptance.
These are not necessarily experienced in this order and often you bounce from one to the other if you haven't fully resolved one stage.

Denial: the disbelief, the shock and horror that it can't possibly be happening.
Anger: transferring the emotions to someone else - it's their fault. The client, the partner, the supplier...
Negotiation: maybe if we do something this will change the outcome - give them a bit more, increase a salary, reduce the price, throw in a freebee
Depression: that empty sad feeling of it being over. Of no hope, no future.
Acceptance: coming to terms with the loss and moving on (usually to better things). This is the stage that I look forward to each time...

So, it's not life an death and when you lose something, you gain something else.
As Richard Branson said, 'business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one around the corner'.

It just may be slower and more rickety and have a lot more stops - but you can still get a ride so hop on!