If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. – Henry Thoreau

Happy Memorial Day!!

Follow the Leader

Social media is a great way to find and follow leaders in your industry. You can find and engage with influencers that have an audience you are targeting. You can also share the content of these leaders with your followers and fans.

Where do you find these people? Here are some places to look.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has the culture of business networking and connecting so it can be easier to connect you’re your industry leaders here.

LinkedIn Groups are a great place to find connections with influencers in your industry. Search for groups that are relevant to your business and then request the group moderator add you to the group.

Contribute to the group. Comment to a post or submit a post yourself.

Twitter

Twitter is another social network where it is acceptable to connect with people you don’t know.

It’s easy to find influencers for any given topic on Twitter. You can find them by searching for a keyword and scrolling through the top tweets which contain your keyword. These top tweets from your search have the most engagement.  You can also search for a keyword and toggle to the “Accounts” tab where you will find a list of 

Twitter accounts.

Twitter also gives you suggestions for whom to follow. These suggestions are based on patterns from your ‘following’ history. They’re generated by an algorithm so you may not find all of them relevant, but it’s worth it to scroll through those suggestions every so often to check.

Facebook

Facebook is one social media network where it is less socially acceptable connect with strangers so making connections on Facebook can be trickier. A referral from a friend can be the most effective way to connect with someone. 

Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. - W. Clement Stone

Fall seven times and stand up eight. – Japanese Proverb

5 Tips to Make Public Speaking Easier

Public speaking, even just the thought of it, can raise your anxiety level. Many people panic at the thought of the crowd, the lights and the dreaded Q&A session. It can be a lot to deal with. Studies have shown that 75% of the population has some level of anxiety regarding public speaking.

But allowing these worries to silence you can be crippling to the future of your business. As a small business owner, you need to be seen as a smart and articulate professional. You can sound smart when presenting, even if you feel butterflies in your stomach.

Here are five tips to help you come across as smart and eloquent when presenting.

Practice Makes Perfect

Practice your speech in front of family and friends. This type of repeated practice will help you become more comfortable in your delivery and you can revise it and work out any kinks before the actual presentation day.

Posture

Work on your posture. Your spine should be relaxed, whether you are standing or sitting. Your body will project an image of confidence and comfort.

Speak Loudly

Project your voice. Speaking loudly is different from speaking forcefully. Speaking loudly takes practice but being heard in the far corners of the room is an asset. Speaking forcefully, or shouting, can wreak havoc on your voice and will put your audience on edge.

Don’t be Afraid of Silence

Pausing can add thoughtfulness to your presentation so don’t be afraid of silence. Keep some notes on index cards in your hands to put you back on track if you lose your train of thought.

Look for a Friendly Face

Look for the smiling face in the audience. This kind of positive reinforcement can eliminate some of your nervousness. Have a friend or colleague sit up front so you can make eye contact with them.

As you move on in your speech, don’t forget to look around the room and make eye contact with others. As your comfort level grows, this eye contact will make you look sincere and comfortable and increase your likeability with the audience.

Public speaking gets easier the more you do it. Public speaking is a great way to promote you small business, so use these tips for your next speaking engagement and you’ll see that it is much easier than you thought.

A goal without a plan is just a wish. – Larry Elder

How to Get More Followers and Increase Your Reach on Social Media

As a small business owner, what is your main purpose for using social media? For most businesses, it is to generate leads.

However, to make social media an effective lead generating tool, you must first have a following. The more fans and followers you have on your social media platforms, the better reach you will have.

So to use social media for lead generation, you must take steps to increase your social media reach.

Which social media platforms are best for me?

To choose which social media platforms are best for your business, you must discover where your target audience is. This should be part of your marketing plan discovery. 

Know your target market and where they are spending their time.

If you don’t know where your target audience hangs out, ask your customers. Send your current customers a survey and ask which social media networks they use most often.

Create a robust profile

Whether you are on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn or Instagram or one of the many other social media networks, make sure your business profile is professional and the wording is a clear and concise description about your company. You can make it fun too but make sure to include a link to your website.

Be sure to use your business’ name, upload your company logo and post pictures that are recognizable of your products, your staff or yourself.

Promote your social media presence everywhere

And by everywhere, I mean everywhere: on the footer of your website, on your blog, on your email signature, in your print advertising, on signage in your store or office, on your business cards.

Most social media networks have “Follow” buttons you can use on your website and blog where people can start following you without leaving your website or blog.

Cross promote your business on all of the social media platforms you use. This is a great way to let your followers know where else on social media they can find you. This way you can get your Twitter followers to become Facebook fans and your Facebook fans to become your Instagram followers, and so on. Cross promoting is easy. It is a simple as adding a link to another social media network in a post.

Add social sharing buttons

Social sharing buttons allow your readers and site visitors to easily share your content with their personal networks. You will reach a broader audience with your fans and followers sharing your content.

Post useful, valuable content

Just posting for the sake of posting will not grow your business or increase your followers. Your social media presence must me something that is worth your readers’ time to read and follow.

Make sure your posts, tweets and updates contain valuable, useful and engaging content. Avoid product-focused content. Instead, aim for content that educates.

Interact with followers

Social networks are about being social. Monitor your social media presence and interact with your fans and followers. Reply to comments, even negative ones. Engage smartly with your followers.

Happy Mother's Day!

Becoming an Amazing Speaker

It’s been said that people would rather die than get up and speak in front of an audience.

But if you’re a small business owner, speaking is a great way to get the word out about your business and to grow your business.

In talking with a speech coach, he told me three best practices that good speakers share.

Love what you do

When you truly love what you do, talking about it becomes easy. And the passion you have for your job shines through when you present. You can’t help but engage the audience with your enthusiasm. When you are in your element, talking about something you love, you will find presenting is easy.

Be Yourself

Each person is different so don’t try to be someone else when you are presenting. Let your unique personality shine through. People enjoy doing business with a ‘real’ person, not a phony. Be genuine and your audience will love you for it.

Tell a story

Use stories to get your message out. Telling stories about customers, their problems and how you helped solve their problems allows your audience to ‘find themselves’ in your stories and they can then easily relate to your message.

Practice, practice, practice

Even though you know your presentation, it is important to practice it. Practice will make you feel more comfortable when you present so you’re less likely to have a ‘brain fart’ on stage. Keep a small index card on hand with key points of your presentation, just in case you have that moment. They will get you back on track.

Are you ready to get out there and speak about your small business? 

Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection. - Brené Brown