She Owns It

Celebrating, Connecting, and Supporting Women Entrepreneurs

Looking to Start (or Grow) Your Business, Start Here! by @jillmcabe

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by Jill McAbe

The pandemic’s impact on the U.S. workforce has left an unprecedented 30 million wildly talented and ambitious Americans jobless. But amidst the uncertainty, there are many “accidental entrepreneurs” who have discovered a silver lining — the gig economy.

Oftentimes, a layoff leads people to take the leap into creating their own business, either because they have to in order to generate income or this is the push they’ve been so desperately waiting for. Severance or unemployment pay can also give them the runway to get income through the door while in the initial stages of starting a business.

However, there is a widespread gap of knowledge about how to efficiently build a business that sells talent and time keeping solo entrepreneurs from achieving their potential. There is so much noise about what to do that it’s confusing for anyone to figure out what should be done first, second, third, and so on.

Well-meaning practitioners and coaches will tell you that you need a brand strategy, content marketing, social media, funnels, client journey mapping, public relations, systemization, advertising, graphic design – the list goes on. In a way, they are right; you may need all these solutions at various stages in your growth. But there is an order of operations that will make each project more successful as it builds on the last.

When you do the right work at the wrong time, you risk not getting the benefit you hoped. You’ll end up spending time and money on things you didn’t need, and eventually, you’ll find yourself needing to circle back and do it again when the time is right for you.

When it comes to being immeasurably better with your time, one of the smartest things you can do is pick the right project at the right time. To do that you need to figure out just where you are on the Gig-Economy Career Ladder (GECL).

 

Basecamp

Businesses do one of two things: they solve a problem, or they fulfill a desire. You have developed a skill that you enjoy and sell it to fulfill a need or desire, but your business is inconsistent. It demands too many hours from you, or you cannot step away from it and keep money coming in. If this is the case, then congratulations; on the GECL, you’ve made it to basecamp. The great thing about being at basecamp is that it means you are ready to leverage everything you have learned about yourself, your industry, and your clients, and turn it into your ideal business.

 

Exploration

The easiest way to think about the exploration phase of a business is to think of research and development. The exploration phase is where you take ideas and test them and see if they have merit before dumping all sorts of cash or time into them only to find out they’re not going to work out. Projects to focus on during the exploration phase include:

  1. Identify a target market you can predictably find and that you want to serve
  2. Develop a proprietary solution for a problem your target market will pay to solve
  3. Confirm that your target market will pay you to solve their problem
  4. Test your sales process and solution delivery
  5. Refine your marketing and sales until you can predict your sales volume
  6. Refine your marketing, sales, and solution delivery to ensure worthwhile profit

The things you are looking to prove in the exploration phase are that you have a target market that you can reach and who will buy from you, that you have a solution at a price that is profitable for you to sell, and that you have marketing or advertising channels that lead to a predictable volume of traffic and eventual sales conversions.

 

Exploitation

Once the viability of your idea is proven, you can advance to the exploitation phase. The types of activities that are the focus of this phase have to do with efficiency and expansion. Because you’ve locked down your service or product, you will finally be able to streamline your operations with tried-and-true standard operating procedures (SOPs). It makes sense that you will be positioned to create standards once what you sell is standardized. Standardizing your processes is a key to becoming the owner of a system that makes money with or without you. The exploitation phase is also where you pick up a megaphone and tell everyone what you do through activities including marketing, advertising, and public relations. The types of projects that you focus on during the exploit phase are:

  1. Clarify a business vision, mission, strategy, and structure
  2. Create standard operating procedures for marketing, advertising, sales, solution delivery, legal, and administration
  3. Continuously improve all your standard operating procedures
  4. Outsource everything you can
  5. Manage your systems, not your people
  6. Enjoy your newfound free time (or start the explore phase for another solution!)

 

You are better off going through the exploration phase five or ten times than jumping to the exploitation phase before you’re truly ready. Once you have successfully explored an opportunity, you can move to exploiting it very quickly.

 

 

Jill McAbe is a Business Coach, High-Performance Expert and the #1 Amazon-Best Selling Author of It’s Go Time: The ALL-IN System For Unstoppable Success in Business and Life. By focusing on success-skills that are grounded in the contemporary sciences, Jill helps talented creatives, coaches, and professionals design and build purposeful, six and seven figure service-based businesses that work on-or-offline. Jill carries a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University, is a faculty member of York University’s Schulich Executive Education Centre and is a Top Teacher on the global career-skills platform, Skillshare.

How to Stand Out As a Solopreneur by @DONNAAMOS

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by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

Building a business as a solopreneur can be fun, yet overwhelming. The most important job you have is working to stand out among the competition. This requires the right amount of focus so that you are continuously working toward more leads and sales inside your business. Here are tips that will help you build a larger business year over year.

Stay Consistent

Stick to the plan you’ve laid out for your business. Get ready for being challenged on your journey and understand that a business owner’s path is never a continuous upward climb. You’ll encounter difficulties and challenges on your way to the top. There will be times when it feels as though nothing is working. That’s when you need to be consistent in your effort to identify what works and what doesn’t. Course correct and continue onward from there.

Develop New Skills

Work hard to develop new skills that help build your business. For example, you need to become good at the following skills as a business owner:

  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Copywriting
  • Content creation
  • Networking
  • Consistency

You’ll discover that your business profits will increase the more you broaden your skillset.

Attend Networking Events

When things return to somewhat normal then get back out there. Attend local events to meet and network with future customers. Use your Chamber of Commerce to find out about the various events happening in your local area. Many virtual events are available now. Check out Meetups and begin building your network. Practice your what you do dialogue and get it down to 30 seconds: who do you help, what is the problem you help them with and what are the results after working with you.

Would you rather build your business entirely online? Try the hundreds of Twitter chats that occur each day. As your Twitter account grows, start your own chat and get conversations going that eventually end up with bringing new customers on board.

Use Testimonials Effectively

Nothing stands out better to potential customers than seeing what your current customers say about you. Testimonials are social proof in a world where people need to see that others are happy with your product or service. Get creative in the beginning by capturing screenshots of nice comments customers have made on Facebook or Instagram. Ask those people if you can show their headshot and comment as a testimonial to others.

Join Facebook or LinkedIn Groups

Take the time to build a reputation as an expert inside LinkedIn or Facebook groups. Don’t overtly promote and sell in these groups. Instead, offer tips and expertise that show that you’re there to help others. Do the following inside these groups:

  • Contribute to the threads
  • Answer questions
  • Engage with other members

You’ll soon be an expert authority in that community. Opportunities to do business will arise when others in need of your help start reaching out to you personally.

Stay In Contact With Customers

Use snail mail or email to stay in contact with former and existing customers. Nothing stands out more in today’s world than a simple thank you. Thank them for being a customer and ask how you might help going forward. Mention any special offers you have at this time, as well.

Consider a quick video message using a tool such as Loom. Send a thank you note in the mail. Anything you do to personally connect with customers will go a long way in gaining their business again and again.

Create a Facebook Business Page

Create a Facebook page and become active on it. You can get comments, reviews and messages from leads and customers on your page. Use various forms of content to connect with prospects, such as:

  • Videos
  • Quotes
  • Mini-articles
  • Ads

Use Facebook Live to periodically get yourself in front of followers. More people will show up for these sessions as your number of followers grows because Facebook notifies them when you start a new Live session. Use your Facebook Live sessions to:

  • Provide helpful tips
  • Inform leads about sales and promotions
  • Use it as a selling webinar

Use Instagram Effectively

Stand out on Instagram by using images effectively. Make sure your profile is completely filled out with a link back to your most important URL. Use a high-quality profile picture and research hashtags that are relevant for your business.

Use stories to engage with your fans. Post excellent images on a daily basis with the correct hashtags so your core target market can find you. Convert your account to a business profile after reaching 10,000 followers so that you can add links to the stories that you post. This will increase the amount of traffic over to your email opt-in landing pages.

Stand Out With YouTube Marketing

People are increasingly consuming video content online. Start a YouTube channel and publish weekly video content to it. This is one of the most effective ways to stand out as a solopreneur if you work at your channel consistently. Your subscriber base will grow steadily if you post great tips and ideas and encourage viewers to subscribe.

YouTube videos will help your website search engine rankings improve as well. The reason is that you can embed your videos on your site’s pages. As your visitors watch these videos, Google notices that they’re on your site for a longer amount of time. This is one of the metrics that helps improve your overall search rankings.

Don’t forget to optimize your videos for quality rankings in the YouTube search engine. Optimize by using:

  • An attractive video thumbnail
  • Detailed descriptions
  • Keywords
  • Linking to other relevant resources

Stand Out With Your Website

One of the best ways to gain customers inside your small business is getting good at attracting prospects who are further along the buying cycle. Some people are online searching for general information around your topic and niche. Others have done their research already and are now just about ready to buy.

You want to create content on your website that attracts both types of people. However, the more you can attract the people who are ready to buy, the more effective your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts will become.

Your website will stand out well if you focus on putting out excellent content that informs and educates. Do keyword research and find keywords that have the following words in them:

  • Buy
  • Review
  • Top
  • Comparison
  • Price

These terms indicate that your visitor is looking for the best company to buy from. If your content gets found in the search engines for those types of terms, then you will notice an increase in the quality of your site’s visitors from a purchasing standpoint.

Don’t forget to also create “how-to” content to capture visitors just starting down their research path. You’ll have the ability to capture them as leads and nurture them into buying from you later.

Use Email Marketing Intelligently

Your ultimate goal to stand out as a business owner should be to build an email marketing list. An email list allows you to market to your prospects over time until they trust you enough to buy your products or services. Work hard to place strategic ways for people to become email subscribers on your website and social media channels.

Send out weekly or bi-weekly newsletters that provide helpful content for your subscribers. Educate them and help make their lives better. Link them to your new blog articles or social media posts. Send them to your latest YouTube video. Ask yourself how you can best nurture them along so they come to trust you enough to buy from you.

If you take the time to build a large email newsletter list over time, then you will discover that you can often create revenue on demand by sending out the right offer or discount at the appropriate time.

Standing out as a solopreneur isn’t as difficult as you might think it is. Yes, the marketing world is a noisy one with many business owners trying to get their messages out. Your job is to use the above tips in a way that resonates well with your target market. Teach them something valuable first. They will notice that you’re different from your competitors and will buy from you.

 

How to Create a Reopen Plan by @DrRKayGreen

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by Dr. R. Kay Green | Featured Contributor

As the shelter-in-place laws begin to easy, many business owners are looking toward their future. But nothing is going to be the same, and opening up business will not be as simple as going back to business as usual. No matter the industry, changes are going to have to be made, and care will have to be taken when reopening business.

Here are five things to consider while creating your reopen plan.

Know the laws in your state.

The first step to any reopening plan is to make sure you are compliant with any laws in your state. Make sure you stay up-to-date on any shelter in place laws, but also keep an eye on things like recommended building capacity. You may not be able to fill a restaurant to full occupancy, for example. This may affect your time table.

Of course, for many, these laws are changing every day. Make sure you keep your finger on the pulse and be prepared to change and update your plan as new information becomes available.

Consider any logistical challenges.

Some businesses will have more difficulties than others operating in this post-COVID environment. Will your prices have to go up to compensate for the lowered occupancy? Is it feasible for you to test temperatures at the door? These are the questions you should be asking yourself to ensure the smoothest transition.

Some “best practices” might simply not be possible or beneficial for your business. Take the time to consider these carefully and make sure you have the best possible plan for you.

Get serious about cleaning.

As day-to-day work resumes, it is important not to let safety measures go lax. It is incredibly important for all of your employees to understand that regular cleaning is imperative. You should be purchasing masks for them, and consider investing in additional safety measures such as barriers in front of registers to ensure both their safety and the safety of your clientele, for example.

Ultimately, though, it will be the responsibility of your employees to keep things clean and safe, even when work life starts to pick up again. Make sure they understand that this is in their best interest as well as the best interest of your clients.

Consider the little things.

While talking about reopening seems easy in theory, in practice there could be things you had not accounted for. For example, consider the size of your bathrooms and the space between stalls. Can people easily move around while safely social distancing? Or what about your parking lot? How filled does it get, and what does foot traffic look like.

These are things that are easy to overlook, but can create challenges in the long run. Think of your business from a very analytical perspective and try to catch these things before they actually become problems.

Be prepared to take it slow.

As difficult as it might be to hear, these past few months have marked a dramatic shift for everyone, and we will not be able to return to normal overnight. Even as you open your business, consider taking it in phases—for example, having employees come into office in “shifts” and have them work remote on off days.

But even while you are taking it slow, there are things you can do to take advantage of time. If your employees are not going to be working the same number of hours, for example, now is a good time to invest in training, to empower them to make the most of their time.ournal, College View, Business New Hampshire Magazine, Bay State Banner, Reader’s Circle, North Dallas Gazette, Harlem News, Top News Today, One News Page, NE Informer, Women in Business PR News, Consumer News Today, Women PR News, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Daily Herald, The Miami Herald, and Book News Articles.

 

Why CRO is a Must for Your Small Business by Kurt Phillip of @ConverticaOu

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by Kurt Phillip

Your website exists to push your brand, whether that’s through subscriptions to your course, customer email acquisition, or direct purchases of a product. To make the most of it, you need a strategy that leads new website visitors from your landing page to checkout, so that few people click away.

This is where CRO comes in. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the process of fine-tuning your website to create the highest number of conversions possible. What this conversion looks like is entirely up to you, and depends on what your end goals are. Regardless, CRO is a lucrative process; services like Convertica help businesses increase sales in ways they didn’t think were possible through CRO.

Below, we’ve compiled four reasons why CRO is a must for small business owners in the digital arena.

 

1) Your Site Takes on a Greater Purpose

When you implement CRO conversion tactics, your website is no longer just an indicator of your brand’s existence. Instead, it’s a fully optimized sales website where every single visitor is encouraged to subscribe or make a purchase. You will achieve increased conversion rates through a variety of tactics which all differ based on what your goals are.

 

2) It’s the Most Efficient Way to Use Your Budget

If you’re a small business, that means you probably have tried digital marketing on your own in the past with lackluster results. However, creating a Facebook page for your company and sharing it with friends doesn’t compare to how intricate CRO tactics are. CRO leads to increased conversions, which means more sales. In turn, you’ll have a more flexible budget that you can use to expand your brand or put it back into your company.

 

3) Larger Customer Base

More conversions means more visitors to your site. You’ll develop a larger network of supporters, who will then share your business with others.

Word of mouth marketing is an incredibly powerful way for a business to improve its client base. More purchases = more people talking about your brand, which means more site visitors. These visitors are then converted via your expert CRO techniques, and the cycle just continues. It’s a win-win.

 

4) Increases Specific Customer Targeting

The primary goal of CRO is to hone in on your target audience and then convert them using techniques you’re confident they’ll respond to. You create these tactics via analytics, which show helpful information about your audience, such as:

  • Age range
  • Location
  • Gender
  • Bounce rate (how long they spend on any one page on your site)

Customers like to purchase or subscribe to brands that they have a connection with. CRO prioritizes connection with your audience. You’ll have a website designed to specifically target people who are most likely to buy your products.

 

CRO is the Future

As the world of e-Commerce expands, so does the demand for new ways to capture your audience. More brands are waking up to the benefits of CRO, which means competition is only getting more fierce. Step up your digital brand today, and watch the benefits unfold.

 

 

Kurt Philip is the founder and CEO of Convertica, a done-for-you conversion rate optimization agency. You can get the Convertica team to audit your site for FREE. Visit convertica.org for details.

 

 

 

 

 

Mistakes to Avoid as a New Entrepreneur

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by Jessica Peters

If you have an entrepreneurial mindset and are looking to launch your own business, it’s important that you possess the right skills and tools to increase the chances of your company becoming a success. No successful entrepreneur has got to where they are now without hard work, patience, and perseverance, so here are some common mistakes that you should avoid before launching your brand.

Not Setting Attainable Goals

For your startup to move in the right direction, it’s crucial that you lay out goals that are attainable. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of pushing themselves too hard and creating unrealistic goals. While it’s important to aim high, if you don’t set both short and long-term goals, it can be easy to lose track and focus on how to get your idea off the ground. Once you identify the specific steps needed to succeed, you face a greater chance of your business becoming a success.

Not Thinking About Marketing

If you’re new to the business world, relying on word of mouth and free PR will only get you so far. To draw consumers in, it’s essential that you use the right marketing strategies. The vast majority of startups will need to invest their time and money in marketing, including SEO, paid advertising, and content marketing. If you aren’t sure which strategy will work best, conducting research into your competitors to establish how they market their brand can help. It’s important that you create a USP (unique selling point) to compete and differentiate yourself.

Financial Mismanagement

If you aren’t managing your finances, it’s likely that your startup will fall at the first hurdle. Whether you are on a tight budget or you have money to spend, it’s vital that you know where every dollar is being spent in your business. To make things easier, hiring a financial advisor may be the best course of action. Having a professional by your side can help you avoid financial blunders and ensure your operation runs smoothly.

Not Taking Time for Yourself

As an entrepreneur, it’s only natural that you will have the drive to succeed. To get your startup off to a good start, it’s important that you put your full energy and concentration into your brand. While you may want to spend every waking hour on your business, if you don’t take time out away from your enterprise, this can have a negative impact on your mental and physical health. If you’re the type of person who is constantly on their phone taking calls and chasing emails, it may be wise to put down the tech and give yourself a break. Getting enough sleep, following a balanced diet, and making exercise a priority can all contribute towards keeping your health and wellbeing in check.

Focusing on Growth Only

Your company won’t be able to expand if your strategies aren’t dynamic. To be a successful entrepreneur, you will need to think in numerous directions when making decisions. If you are heavily focused on business growth only, rather than the quality of your services, this will have an impact on your business operation. Finding a balance between quality and growth is key for success in the business world.

Building a company from scratch is no easy feat. As an entrepreneur, there will be many obstacles and mistakes you will face and make along the way. However, it’s how you deal with the situation which will keep your operation running. To win a competitive edge over your rivals, you need to be aware of some of the fatal mistakes that entrepreneurs make which can damage your business.

 

Jessica Peters is a freelance writer from Melbourne who blogs about health and fitness. Jessica is an avid traveler and regularly crosses the globe to learn about other cultures while blogging from her laptop.

 

 

 

 

Strategies to Stay Motivated During COVID-19 by @JenniferKemComm

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by Jennifer Kem

COVID-19 is impacting the individual and collective experiences of communities around the globe. With many Shelter-in-Place or Stay-at-Home orders being practiced, some are celebrating the permission to be a little more introverted, while others long for the illimitable social structure built into an office ecosystem. Some express gratitude for the constancy of their income, while others fear and mourn the great financial losses imminent if not already present. One pattern, however, that I am finding so many have in common during this global pandemic regardless of if they’re in a position of pain or privilege is a lack of motivation.

Motivation acts as the initiator of minute daily tasks such as getting out of bed every morning and brushing your teeth, to hustling your team of children out the door, to innovating new protocols in your business’ operations to ensure client attention and retention. It can often be threatened in times of stress. So, as the rhythms and routines that keep us so connected to the consistency, community, and creative efforts that literally and figuratively keep us moving are strained during the pandemic, so many of us are feeling lost, lethargic, and lazy.

As a serial entrepreneur and brand futurist, I strongly believe that we must not only creatively work to maintain stability during the pandemic, but also begin to ponder what post-pandemic growth will be available to us at the end of this challenging time. Therefore, if we want to not just survive this, but thrive through it and after, it is imperative that we stay motivated. Below are three strategies that I’m certain will help to light a fire under you to keep you stretching instead of stagnant in this time of limitation: one, find an accountability partner; two, research brand models; and three, deepen your emotional intelligence.

 

FIND AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER

An accountability partner can be anyone from a good friend who needs something else to do, a coach, a superior, or a mentor who you can communicate your goals and check-in with weekly to keep you on track. This person will serve as an anchor. Seek people who are managing competently, but honestly during this time. Someone who acknowledges the severity of the situation, as well as stays solution-focused on strategies to move through it. If you don’t have an overly available friend or boss who are modeling this form of honest and qualified leadership, then look to sources like LinkedIn’s Career Advice program, which connects you to leaders in your industry willing to volunteer their time to offer experiential knowledge to help you to succeed. Score is another great organization that connects professionals to mentors to keep them motivated.

RESEARCH BRAND MODELS

People aren’t the only inspiring resources that we can connect to in times of energetic drought. Brands can also serve as bustling and beautiful archetypes that can encourage renewed attention and action. Make a list of brands that you admire because they are modeling resilience, courage, and connection during the pandemic. Ask yourself: What do you like about what they’re doing? How can you borrow those skills to show up as a more competent, curious, and impactful person in this time of crisis?

DEEPEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

All instances of suffering can either be used to bring out the worst or the best in us. The choice is each of ours to make. There are a lot of people creating free content right now: offering self-care services like donation-based yoga programs, online tutorials that teach viewers anything from crocheting summer socks to mindfulness exercises. There is also a plethora of articles being published with updates about COVID-19 and how to cope from individual, business, and communal perspectives. The risk here is information and content creation overload, but the opportunity is far greater. Find the tools that speak to you and create a schedule that integrates physical, mental, emotional, and social expressions to keep all of your important faculties engaged. At the end of the day, you are your best life strategist. How can you live your fullest life during COVID-19 and set yourself up to succeed when this season is over?

 

Regardless of how COVID-19 is impacting you, your family, your business, or your community during this time, it’s imperative that you keep your energy levels high, your focus fixated on hope, and your goals aligned with the success that you want to create in the future. Finding an accountability partner, researching brand models, and deepening your emotional intelligence serve as three ways to keep your internal fire lit, your heart centered, and your mind open while so many other things are shut down. Shelter-in-place doesn’t mean to stop seeking and it certainly doesn’t mean to stop serving, it simply means that we must do both differently. I invite you to be endlessly creative during this crisis for your benefit and the continued and conscious improvement of the human collective.

 

 

Jennifer “Jen” Kem is a San Francisco Bay Area-based branding and marketing expert who gets entrepreneurs seen, heard, and paid – for being themselves. She’s the creator of the Master Brand Method: a framework to develop powerful brand archetypes that win customers’ hearts. She has provided digital strategy coaching for emerging entrepreneurs, celebrity brands like Oprah Winfrey Network, and major corporations including Verizon. Recently, she launched her legacy project, Femmefluence, a platform to increase women’s affluence and influence. To date, her proudest creations are her three children.

3 Ways Small Businesses Can Provide Comfort to Customers During COVID-19 by @DeborahSweeney

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Photo by Gustavo Fring from Pexels

by  | Featured Contributor

In April, I was able to catch a Salesforce webinar on stories of resilience that was co-hosted by Mark Cuban. During the webinar, a listener wrote in to ask his advice for marketing and messaging during this time. His response was simple and transparent: at this specific moment, small businesses need to connect more than sell.

Behind every sale a small business makes is a customer. Right now, that customer is scared or at least a bit worried about something during COVID-19. Small businesses can provide comfort to their customers that go beyond making a purchase from their storefront. Here are a few ways you can get begin spreading kindness as quickly as today.

Add a handwritten note to orders.

Small business owners are currently working from home and have adjusted their daily routines accordingly to safety/shelter in place structure. As we take the time to make healthy lunches and add meditation to our schedules, how about setting aside 20 minutes to hand write thank you notes?

Put aside 20 minutes daily (if not more) to write physical thank you notes to customers. Not sure what to write? Keep it simple. Write a few sentences thanking them for shopping with you. Talk about how much you love to use the product they purchased or where the inspiration to create it came from. If you’re artistic, add an illustration to the note.

Encourage shoppers to stay connected by including your contact information, including social media handles, website link, and where they may sign up to receive a company newsletter, at the bottom of the card. Customers will be surprised and delighted to see a thoughtful thank you note included with their order.

Engage on social media.

Most individuals spend roughly 90 minutes on social media apps. Our amount of screen time has likely increased significantly during COVID-19. As customers and potential customers scroll through their Instagram and Twitter dashboards, your business has plenty of opportunities at hand for how it may engage and connect on social.

  • Repost content. Share the love by spreading it on your social accounts. Fill Instagram Stories with image reposts from customers excited to receive their new products. Retweet tweets from customers about positive interactions with your business.
  • Respond to comments. Whether these comments are made as a private message or publicly to your social media page, write back in a timely manner to thank customers for their kind words or address any potential issues or concerns.
  • Follow customers. Depending on the platform, follow your loyal customers back. They’ll be thrilled to see their favorite small business follows them!

Take a phone call together.

Many entrepreneurs, including business consultants, PR executives, and real estate professionals, are accustomed to taking calls and meetings with clients. We may not be able to physically meet with customers during this time, but that doesn’t mean we are unable to connect over the phone. Pick up the phone and call clients with whom you have developed a rapport together.

What’s a good icebreaker to open with for this kind of call? Why not start by asking, “How are you doing?” It’s an ordinary question that has an extraordinary impact. Clients, established and brand new alike, are ready to talk. They want to highlight professional and personal aspects of life that are going well, ask for help where they need it, and update you with news on major changes or trends in and out of the industry.

Use this time to have a heartfelt, open conversation. This is one of the greatest opportunities you have to connect on a transparent level. Your kindness and understanding will pay back incredible dividends into the business. Make the time for a long, candid chat. It will pay off in the long term — and is absolutely worth it.

 

Deborah Sweeney is the CEO of MyCorporation.com which provides online legal filing services for entrepreneurs and businesses, startup bundles that include corporation and LLC formation, registered agent services, DBAs, and trademark and copyright filing services. You can find MyCorporation on Twitter at @MyCorporation.

Considering a Business Pivot? Here are the 5 “P’s” you must Ponder before you Pounce by @Inspireonthego

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by Marleen Fairchild

 

Considering a Business Pivot? Here are the 5 “P’s” you must Ponder before you Pounce:

1. Passion equals Payment

Here are two P’s for the price of one. Change is often hard on most of us. So, if you’re truly considering a pivot in your business, it should be to get closer to the daily activities and subject matter you’re most passionate about. Consumers don’t pay for lukewarm information. Our hyper-informative society requires cutting edge research, insider exclusives, and poignant strategies that will get right to the point on what they need to know. To deliver these golden nuggets, time and time again, you have to be constantly and rigorously seeking out and developing this type of information to deliver to your audience/customer. Therefore, you must be passionate and engaged before you expect to charge for your expertise.

 

2. Pray

Not many people write this down in their business plan, but it is an often-understated necessity to business preparation and survival. Most entrepreneurs are very familiar with the term faith and speak candidly about their dependence on God to see them through situations that appear insurmountable from a business standpoint. Ask around, it will not take long to find an entrepreneur who lists faith as a catalyst for taking a leap into the unknown with only a hope and a prayer.

 

3. Pick a date

Procrastination is a terrible “P” to be plagued with. It has killed more dreams than can be counted. If you don’t set a date to when you will make a move, then someday will never come. One of the benefits of formal education is that a student is given clear guidelines as to when things are due. These declarative deadlines provide the incremental gauges needed to determine how much work needs to be done and by when so that the final product is ready by the deadline. The business world may not offer as clear of deadlines but you have to put them in place if you ever determine to make anything happen. It will not happen otherwise. Pick a date, then stick to it. Extensions in the real world are costly and don’t come easy, so don’t give yourself an out when the date arrives.

 

4. Purpose-driven

It never fails that at some point you will be deterred by some obstacle or hardship to making this move. You had better have a clearly defined purpose or motivator that will get you over that hump. Being ill-prepared here has sent many entrepreneurs back to indeed.com. This venture is not easy and is laden with grunt work. You may be saying to yourself today that you will do whatever it takes to get things done. I firmly believe that you will. However, you may not be ready for the immobility of an elderly parent to embellish your schedule, or the misbehavior of a child to trigger parent-teacher conferences or mandatory corrective action, or the layoff of a spouse that makes you question whether now is the right time to pursue this. Your pursuit will be challenged, and you need to be ready for it with enough purpose-fueled arsenal to get you through it.

 

5. Push and Press

Think about the last 10 minutes on the elliptical or the last mile in the marathon. You have given everything you have and you see the finish line in sight. Willpower may be faint and scarce. Support may be waning. The quarter is ending on a low note. The sales have all fallen through. Every potential lead has said no. The Holidays are ensuing. You have done all the research you can and you stand at the precipice unable to see the next clear step. Questions grip you. You know you have passion for this. You have prayed and have taken a leap of faith. You have set the date and you know why you are doing this with a strong and sure purpose. Now push on and press in. There is no time to think here. You have been diligent and reserved. There is no more to do, but to do it. Dig in and just move. Go. Grow. Push. Press. Pivot.

 

 

 

About Marleen Fairchild: After receiving her Bachelor and Master degrees in Communications from Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Los Angeles, Marleen made the decision to relocate to Las Vegas.

After successfully navigating her relocation to Las Vegas in 2015, Marleen found her passion in helping others smoothly traverse the logistical challenges of relocating to, and from, Las Vegas, Nevada, as a Realtor.

Marleen’s an avid reader, blogger and coffee enthusiast. She’s a member at Southern Hills Baptist Church, where she serves at the Coffee Shop, and can be found working from her laptop at odd hours in local coffee shops around the city.

Financial Help for Freelancers, Gig Workers, and Creatives During The Coronavirus Pandemic

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As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across the world, the United States’ economy is suffering. Businesses big and small are closing their doors, and hardworking people are losing jobs, struggling to put food on the table, and drowning in unexpected healthcare costs.

Thankfully, both the federal government and other groups recognize the need to provide financial assistance to small business owners, entrepreneurs, artists, freelancers and independent contractors. In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, unemployment benefits, grants, and funds are helping freelancers, artists, and SMBs survive.

If you’re a boss babe who needs some financial assistance to keep going, check out these funds, grants, and loans to help you make it through COVID.

 

Funds and Grants for Freelancers

Women freelancers are some of the most economically vulnerable workers in America right now. The companies and contracts that used to pay your bills are cutting costs—and that often means fewer jobs for freelancers. Here are some places you can look to for help during these uncertain times:

 

The Freelancers Union has cooperated with companies like Fiverr and Upwork to create a Freelancers Relief Fund that helps freelancers weather this storm. The fund offers “financial assistance of up to $1,000 to freelancers who are experiencing sudden hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether as a result of illness, lost work, or caregiving responsibilities.” You can use this money to pay for food, utilities, and more.

Freelancers Union

The Freelance Co-Op, a group established to empower freelancers with the resources they need to run their own businesses, has created a COVID-19 Emergency Fund. These funds can be used for medical bills, utilities, food and even childcare. It’s important to note that there is a stipulation that those who receive funding donate the same amount to a similar charity when they get back on their feet.

Freelance Co-Op

 

Financial Assistance for Small Businesses

Small businesses often run with little to no financial safety net, which means the COVID-19 quarantine is forcing many women-run businesses to permanently close their doors. Luckily, there are funds and grants popping up to help keep SMBs afloat.

 

The federal government and SBA are working with state Governors to offer financial relief as well as business counseling to small businesses who are struggling due to Coronavirus. The SBA is providing SMBs a low-interest loan with a long repayment schedule, if needed. You can use the funds to pay “fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact.”

Small Business Agency Disaster Assistance Loans

Business For All grants. In partnership with Verizon, the digital fundraising and advocacy platform Hello Alice is offering emergency grants of up to $10,000 for companies impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. $10,000 COVID-19 Business for All Grants are awarded on a rolling basis. General Business for All Grant applications are due September 25, 2020 at 12:00 am PT.

Hello Alice Business For All

Google announced an “$800+ million commitment to support small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organizations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global pandemic.” Though they aren’t offering direct grants to small businesses, they are providing SMBs with active Google Ads accounts $340 million in Google Ads credits. According to Google, “credit notifications will appear in their Google Ads accounts and can be used at any point until the end of 2020 across our advertising platforms.”

Google Funding and Grants

 

Funds and Grants for Creatives, Artists, and Musicians

 

The Creator Fund from the email marketing company ConvertKit is offering financial assistance of up to $500 for artists and small business owners. Supporting Creators in Need.

The Creator Fund

MusiCares is aware of the enormous financial burden to those whose creative practices and incomes are being adversely impacted by COVID-19. In response, The Recording Academy® and its affiliated charitable foundation MusiCares® have established the COVID-19 Relief Fund to help the music community affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Recording Academy / MusicCares COVID-19 Relief Fund

Sweet Relief Musicians Fund provides financial assistance to all types of career musicians and music industry workers who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability, or age-related problems. In other words, Healing Musicians in Need.

Sweet Relief Musicians Fund

 

Additional Resources:

5 Women-Owned Small Businesses Pivoting to Provide COVID-19 Relief

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by  | Featured Contributor

It’s difficult to know for certain when this — the COVID-19 pandemic — too shall pass. Many small business owners are pivoting their products and services during this unprecedented time. The decision to pivot is doing more than assisting those in need with necessary supplies and relief. It’s helping small businesses stay in operations. Pivots also allow owners to take a nimble approach and create even more valuable offerings for their company business models.

Feeling inspired to make a pivot, but not sure which direction to move towards or which would be best for your startup? Take a cue from the pivots that these female entrepreneurs are making with their small businesses.

 

Claire Coder | Aunt Flow

Pivot: Menstrual products to face masks.

Claire Coder is the founder of Aunt Flow, a startup that prides itself on the ability to ensure everyone has access to menstrual products. Aunt Flow sells dispensers and supplies to help stock organizations in the United States, including workplaces and university campuses, with menstruation products. However, the company faced a major hurdle when these organizations closed due to stay at home orders across the country.

In a time of crisis, Coder played to Aunt Flow’s strengths. Aunt Flow is a Class II medical device supplier and a Food and Drug Administration registered importer. The company was able to switch from making menstrual products to manufacturing three-layer disposable masks. The company manufactures pads in Shanghai, where they quickly made the pivot to mask production. Aunt Flow also partnered with manufacturing company Atrium Corp. for quality assurance purposes.

Currently, face masks are available to order on Aunt Flow’s website. They will begin shipping out from Ohio on April 20th.

 

Merrilee Kick | Buzzballz

Pivot: Alcoholic spirits to hand sanitizer.

When the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) came out with hand sanitizer formulation and waived the necessity to have a permit in order to manufacture it, Merrilee Kick seized the moment to pivot her business.

Kick is the president of Texas-based alcoholic beverage company Buzzballz. Her company had the necessary raw materials needed to make hand sanitizer and was vertically integrated with the proper equipment. Kick was able to quickly find 100% glycerin to add to the alcohol mix. This allowed her to make the company’s first 100-gallon batch of hand sanitizer.

Since creating that first batch, Kick has been able to donate to three local hospitals in critical need. Hand sanitizer batches have also been sent to pathology labs, firefighters and police officers, supermarkets, the Army and the Air Force, and airlines including Spirit and American Airlines. Buzzballz, and its happily employed team, continue to make and provide COVID-19 first responders with necessary hand sanitizer.

 

Chavonne Hodges | GrillzandGranola

Pivot: In-person fitness classes to Workout From Home programs.

Many small business owners with brick and mortar storefront locations have had to get creative to make a successful pivot for their business. GrillzandGranola launched in June 2016. Chavonne Hodges, who started going to the gym to feel better as she went through a divorce, noticed a lack of diversity in her gym. She became a certified group fitness instructor, created TrapAerobics, and founded the company.

Due to COVID-19, GrillzandGranola has had to cancel its in-person classes and events. Online classes, however, have not been cancelled. GrillzandGranola now offers a Workout From Home program that allows students to work on their post-quarantine bodies and boost their energy and moods with 20-minute workout sessions. Live workouts, including the signature TrapAerobics class, are accessible to one and all via smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer. They’re also inexpensive, with 20-minute classes priced at $5 each and no equipment necessary in order to work out.

 

Mollie Eliasof | Mollie Elisaof Therapy

Pivot: In-person therapy to tele-therapy.

Many individuals would like to see a therapist for mental health support. However, there are a few obstacles in the way as we continue to stay at home. Those on a budget may struggle to figure out how to pay for therapy. Remote workers with families and/or children may not have enough quiet time to set aside to keep an appointment.

Mollie Eliasof, CEO of Mollie Eliasof Therapy, has started providing virtual tele-therapy resources to clients in need. She shares free information on her social media platforms, like Instagram, and has been creating therapy content on publishing platforms including Forbes so readers may learn more by listening in and reading.

 

Wei-Shin Lai | AcousticSheep

Pivot: Inventing SleepPhones® to help people go to sleep.

Dr. Wei-Shin Lai’s pivot isn’t exactly a pivot as much as it is an innovative invention. The idea for SleepPhones® came after Lai, CEO of AcousticSheep, struggled to get back to sleep after taking patient calls in the middle of the night. The bulkiness of headphones and uncomfortable feeling of earbuds inspired Lai and her husband to invent their own headphones. SleepPhones® are headphones specifically designed for sleeping with a soft headband contained thin, removable speakers.

As more people work from home and struggle with anxiety and stress, a good night’s sleep matters now more than ever. This product enhances AccousticSheep’s existing offerings, including their specialized running headphones called RunPhones, and provides individuals everywhere with one-of-a-kind headband headphones that make it easier to drift into a deep sleep.

 

 

Deborah Sweeney is the CEO of MyCorporation.com which provides online legal filing services for entrepreneurs and businesses, startup bundles that include corporation and LLC formation, registered agent services, DBAs, and trademark and copyright filing services. You can find MyCorporation on Twitter at @MyCorporation.