There will be lulls...

There will be times when you ask yourself what you were thinking when you thought you could be successful.  There will be moments of utter loss and total chaos.  You will question your motives, your abilities, and your ideas.  Keep going.

The things they don't tell you about being an entrepreneur...

It's 2:05 am.  I got ready for bed around 10:30 pm...It's been a long week and I've been studying for exams every day.  I took a certification course that took over my entire Saturday and Sunday I finally took my dog on the extra long walk that he deserves before hunkering down for another afternoon of studying.

Every morning we have to check all of our social media sites, and again midday and at night.  Sometimes we check in during random hours for good measure.  We are fighting with ranking websites to make sure our company page is correctly represented, we have less than 30 days to use a great offer from GoogleAds to try to gain some business and move up on Google searches, and on top of that we had to drive our shirts to the printer before they close in order to have them in time for our sale.

We had to haggle with the printer, who tried to double the price per item, and finally came to an agreement that we could get original price if we meet a minimum order:  A small victory because now we'll have consistent pricing that we can count on!

I tried to pack for my trip tomorrow, tried to study, at least was able to get in a workout.

Again...at 10:30, I had turned off the lights and was ready for bed.  It is now 2:12 am.  Since sitting down to close the computer at 10:30 I have spoken to two potential clients, gotten a new order for shipment, added 4 new pages to our website, and written and published a blog post to social media.

This is the life of an entrepreneur.  I have to go now, my 9-5 job requires that I get more sleep than I ever do while I spend my nights and wee hours of the morning on my company and my days at theirs.

Someday this will all be over.  I'll probably miss the excitement of trying to best express our company goals in web format, or trying not to over-write and bore people with my FAQs page, but right now, it's 2:16 am and if I don't go to sleep, I'll be writing you my accomplishments again in a few hours time, so goodnight, dear entrepreneurs out there!

Get some sleep.  Your business counts on you!

Make yourself Google-able

So you have a website...don't make the mistake (or rather the oversight) that we did.

We had our website for almost six months before we realized that it's quite possible the reason our tweets and instagram photos were coming up on google searches before we ever found our website was because we never added our site to the Google Index!!  Who knew you actually had to tell Google that you exist?  Now you know.

Go here to add your website to the Google Index

Now Google searchers will be more likely to find your site, 

and not just random posts from indexed sites that mention your site,

(though those are good too).

The "Quality Quantity Price" Puzzle

Buying en masse can be really helpful price-wise but definitely make sure you check out the quality of the product before you go too crazy or you might end up with a ton of product that isn't quite the bargain you were hoping for from buying bulk.

One way to check and see about products you're buying online is to ask companies if they can give you a sample of the material you want to use, of the item, or even of your own personalized item.  It may seem like a lot to ask, but you're investing in your company and if you like the product, you're going to buy it.  Manufacturers know that and a lot of the time (if they don't already do this) they're more than willing to help you out so you know you're getting your money's worth.  It's good business because you leave a happy customer with their service AND you get a firsthand look at the product, and it's good for them because, if you like what they send you, you're going to buy...and since you already know you like it before you bought it the first time, there's a really good chance you'll be a repeat customer.

So check the quality by asking BEFORE you buy to get a sample and make sure it's what you really want.  Get a good price by ordering in quantity now that you have the quality check, and go be successful with your high-quality, cost-saving purchase!

Dream BIG!

Follow your passion

The inventor of GoPro on how he developed the idea.

You can start around 1 minute mark if you want to skip the funny intro and get to the heart of the interview.  Follow your passion.  Be in tune with yourself and your energy.  Build your life around it.

Social Media: 3 Steps to Growth

If you're just getting started, you probably won't have "someone else" who can do the social media grunt-work for you.  What you can do is be sure you're on the most popular networks (a recent article by Buffer is a good way to get started knowing what will work best for you).  I especially like  KnowEm which can help you find the best username with the most flexibility based on what is available on various social media platforms.

1) I noticed that the first strike against a page that I look at is images.  I know, I know, you're an excellent writer and you have the best product/service ever and that's what is the most important.  Put it on a shelf.  Content is second to imagery.  Get some images for any article or blog post or anything that you are going to post on your social media.  Make sure it's decent, representative or catchy and relevant to your content.  This way, people will get past the opening wall of words that would otherwise have deterred them from further exploration.  This is the thing I found most prevalent in my own use of networks like Twitter and Facebook; if there aren't any pictures to grab my attention and solely text, even if the text is really great, I'll never get to the point of reading it and I definitely won't follow.  This is the sad truth of the way the global culture is evolving.  If you can't grab attention quickly, you're gonna' lose your audience.  I had to change my own strategy when I realized I was guilty of the same thing other pages were...to much text, not enough "Look at me!"

2) Second thing is content...and YES, this is the most important thing to YOU to have it reach your audience...so NOW it's your turn to pump up the charm and wow people with your brains, knowledge, know-how, connections, and spunk.  Give the people something worth sharing about.  Give them catch-words.  Hashtag the heck out of things.  Give them locations and names and anything that might grab the people you want to see this content.  Tell people why you're awesome!

3) Finally the fish-hook.  Remind people to "like" "share" and "follow" and remember the golden rule: do unto others as you would have done unto you.  This means:  like, share, and follow others, too!  Be a good friend so that others are good to you!  It's actually quite simple.  Give "shout-outs" say "thanks" to people who leave you positive feedback. Leave positive comments on things that make you happy or excited or interested in what they are sharing!  Thumper's words of wisdom are also very useful; "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."  Nobody needs your negativity in their life.  Don't use your social media to bash others.  Keep the circle positive!

Social media is about forming and growing a community or audience.  

1) Catch them with the eye candy, 
2) Keep them with the content, and 
3) Bring 'em back for more with positive interactions!