Make YOUR Business a Super Success: Commit to Resolve Throughout the Year

Statistics show that 7 out of 10 businesses chronically under perform and are not fulfilling the owner’s strategic plan or vision.

According to the US Small Business Administration, 50% of businesses actually fail within the first 12-18 months.

So, what ARE YOU GOING TO DO DIFFERENT?

Commit to Resolve Throughout the Year


Make your resolutions today and throughout the year to become a better you. January 1st is when most people sit down and assess their goals and recommit to the goals that they didn’t accomplished from the past year. It is great to have goals and to recommit, but why wait? We should recommit to the goals in our lives on a more periodic basis rather than once a year.

Think about it. We set goals we want to reach then after about three weeks of committing to them we stop following through with the commitment. Why is that?

Look at it this way... you charge your cell phone everyday in order to maximize performance and battery life the next day, right? Why not take the same approach to living a better life? Recharge your battery often so that you are producing at the point of maximum performance.

When setting resolutions for life or business set realistic goals, don’t set goals that are truly unattainable. When setting goals you need to become self aware so that you are creating goals that are within your reach. So I challenge you to resolve to make a change today – right now – to resolve throughout the year in order to achieve your maximum performance.

Are you with me?

About the Author: DeLores Pressley, Motivational Speaker and Personal Power Expert, is one of the most respected and sought-after experts on success, motivation, confidence and personal power.

She is an international keynote speaker, author, life coach and the Founder of the Born Successful Institute and DeLores Pressley Worldwide. Her story has been touted in Glamour, Washington Post, Black Enterprise, First for Women, Essence, New York Daily News, Ebony and Marie Claire. She is a frequent media guest and has been interviewed on every major network: (ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX) including America ’s top rated shows; OPRAH and Entertainment Tonight.

DeLores’ client list range from Fortune 500 companies to government agencies, including Procter and Gamble, Roche Pharmaceutical, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Caribbean Association of Administrative Professionals (CAAP) and the FirstEnergy Corporation. She has authored Clean Out the Closet of Your Life, Believe in the Power of You and It Ain’t Over. She has received many awards and recognitions for her work.

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Small business: The do's and don'ts of blogging

It's not about if you have a blog and you're a business owner, but how is the blog being used. Here is a good article from a few years back that can help you with the basics. If you need more support, attend this online event: http://bit.ly/pambloggingsummit

Photo credit: Newsday, 2007 / Ken Spencer | Blogging for a business is good, but obviously as this photo illustration show, there is a time and a place and they do not include the time behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Jamie Herzlich

Herzlich writes the Small Business column in Newsday.

With the explosive growth in social media, it's no wonder that more companies are turning to sites like Twitter and LinkedIn to help promote their brands.

A recent survey of 172 marketeers found that 66 percent of respondents were utilizing social media in 2009, up from 20 percent in 2007, according to the New York-based Association of National Advertisers, which conducted the survey with BtoB Magazine and marketing communications firm 'mktg'.

Since this influences the market, it's important for companies to understand how to effectively use social media platforms and avoid some of the more common mistakes in order to maximize online branding efforts, experts say.

"It isn't enough just to have an account," explains Denise Wakeman of DeniseWakeman.com, a Los Angeles-based online marketing and blogging consultancy. "The key is participation."

If you're not interacting and communicating with your audience, then you're wasting your time, she notes.

With that said, here are a few social media marketing mistakes to avoid if you want to make the greatest impact:

1. Inconsistency. If you commit to a social network, then stay visible to your audience by regularly tweeting, updating your Facebook page, etc., says Debbie Weil, a Washington, D.C.-based corporate social media consultant and author of "The Corporate Blogging Book'' (Portfolio; $23.95). If you're not consistently providing useful and/or relevant information to your audience, they'll lose interest, she says.

2. Being too elusive. Make sure when people go to your social networking page they see more than just a company logo. Attach a name and a face to your profile or description, Weil says. "Be a person," she says, noting that even cable giant Comcast ties a face to its Twitter site, @comcastcares, by posting a photo and contact information for its twitterer-customer service manager, Frank Eliason.

3. Being too self-promotional. Too often, companies use social networking sites to just tout themselves, says Hilary Topper, author of "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Social Media, But Were Afraid to Ask" (iUniverse; $27.95) and president of HJMT Communications, a public relations and social media firm in Westbury. It's OK to promote your company, but it shouldn't be the main focus, Topper says. "If I tweet five times a day, one in five might be promotional," she says.

4. Making it all about business. You're trying to use social media to create conversations and relationships, so don't be afraid to get a bit personal, Topper says. "There's a balance," she notes, adding that there's nothing wrong with showing your human side with some personal posts.

5. Failing to engage. Spark conversations by posting relevant links, articles, commenting on other people's sites, etc., recommends Arthur Germain of Communication Strategy Group, an East Northport-based brand marketing agency.

"Listen to your prospects and customers and have a conversation," he says. Posting photos can be a great way to engage your audience, too.

The Inn at Fox Hollow understands this and has a photo gallery on its Facebook page, as well as links back to photos on its main Web site through specials it posts on Twitter.

The Woodbury hotel launched a new Web site last year and also has a blog, general manager Franklin Manchester says.

6. Collecting followers and "friends". Some businesses base their success on the number of friends or followers they have in their social networks, Germain says. It's less about numbers than about trying to build a relevant community and having good conversations with people, he says.

7. Having no blog. A blog can be a great place to direct social media traffic since it's more conversational than a corporate site. "Your blog is your home base," Wakeman says.

source: Newsday, September 7, 2009 12:45 PM By JAMIE HERZLICH jherzlich@aol.com