Maintain a Success Circle in Direct Sales & Relationship Marketing

Posts Tagged ‘Yvonne A Jones’

In Part I of this topic I introduced the bumblebee as well as featured one of it’s characteristic: it’s wings in relation to it’s body.  You may read Part I on how home-based businesses can benefit from the bumble bee by clicking on this link.

Another characteristic of the bumblebee is that it’s a “social insect.” Like honeybees they form colonies, only smaller.  Their colonies typically have anywhere from 50 to 200 bees at the max.

How can entrepreneurs who work from home in offline businesses be part of a colony or group?  Like the bumblebee, entrepreneurs need the association and support of like-minded groups.  In fact, groups do not have to be like-minded because these can open horizons and provide a different perspective on your business, therefore enhancing your current business and introducing other opportunities.

Even in small towns there are business groups like the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, the Jaycees, Business Network International (BNI), one of the most supportive business networking groups.  There are also other local networking groups, which are not to be confused with meetings for a particular MLM or direct sales group. These are meetings attended by entrepreneurs and small business people  Read the rest of this entry »

A bumble bee…Is she asking me about my shape, you may be wondering? And, no, this has nothing to do with the brand of tuna. Let’s take a closer look at the bumble bee for a few minutes.

The bumble bee’s body is large and is supported in the air by two pairs of very thin wings connected together so that they look like just one pair.  A statement attributed to scientists around the mid-19^th century and again in the early 20^th century concerning the ability of the bumble bee to fly has proven to be a myth.  The view was held  for many years that aerodynamically the bumble bee should not be able to fly, but it flies anyway.  Although the original calculations proved to be faulty and we recognize that the bumblebee was created with the ability to fly, people still continue to quote the thought.

Ivars Peterson goes further to confirm that “on average, a bumblebee travels at a rate of 3 meters (almost 10 feet) per second, beating its wings 130 times per second. That’s quite respectable for the insect world.”

The bumblebee CAN fly: Women, more often than men, are told that that they cannot possibly achieve a particular goal.  One that bothered me over the years was when a woman saw the flexibility and opportunity to start her own Read the rest of this entry »

In my last post the focus was on making the best use of your time with blog posts.  Today we will look at utilizing our time effectively with articles, creating videos, and other product creation.

Points to note from comments received on the previous post:

(a) Do indepth research on a topic in one sitting

(b) Write a long article and then divide it into two or three blog posts

(c) Write a series on a topic you’ve researched

(d) Use templates or copy and paste your format.

Articles:

(i)  You can re-purpose your post by submitting it to your favorite article directories.  You will need to verify the acceptable minimum number of words as some article directories will accept as low as 250 words, whereas some will accept a minimum of 500 words, and at least one that I know of will not accept less than 700 words.

(ii) Because you have written a series or done research extensively on a specific topic, if your individual posts Read the rest of this entry »

We know that as entrepreneurs we are responsible for carrying out various tasks essential to our business.  Many entrepreneurs have wisely taken advantage of Virtual Assistants and other professional services to outsource a number of their projects.

Let’s imagine that like the majority of us, you do it all.  For the do-it-yourself person, let’s look at posting to your blog.

• How long does it take you to do research for each post?  And how long does it take you to write it?

• If you post to your blog everyday this alone could take significant chunks out of your day. What’s more, you may work your online business only part time so you do need to maximize your time. Read the rest of this entry »

When you market offline you get to physically interact with your prospects and customers.  They get to see and read your facial expressions as well as your body language.  When you market online people can base their opinions only on the image or persona that you present to them.  They can individually create their own perception of who you are.

It is not always easy to translate who you really are online and it takes time to refine as well as a measure of skill.

Perhaps like me you may have found Twitter a challenge at the outset.  I’m more reserved, like to observe people before jumping in.  I laugh a lot with close friends, but smile more often than laugh.  I’m detail oriented and like real discussions and conversations but was never good at ‘one-liners.’  So, initially I found it difficult to condense what I wanted to say in 140 characters.   Did you have that challenge?

Another thing that presents a challenge when marketing online is that you can say something with  smile in your heart Read the rest of this entry »

Providing valuable content on your blog, the hub of your online activities, is not always easy.  Your goal should always be to provide a valuable source of information so that your readers will want to come back for more.

It’s easy to reason that since you’re not being paid for the information on your blog, it does not have to be of the highest quality.  Thinking that way would be a huge mistake.  Put yourself in your readers’ place.  Would you revisit a website where the information is of little or no value?

It is true that you are in business because we want to make money.  On the other hand, the interesting thing is that when you give your readers really valuable information, you are nurturing and building relationships so that when you have something for sale they will be more willing to purchase products from or through you.  They will have come to appreciate that you have their interests at heart and so you would recommend only products that are worthwhile and will be of  benefit  to them.

What are your thoughts on the topic?  Please share in the Comments section.

A growing number of men are pursuing successful businesses from home; however, it would appear that the majority of home-based businesses are managed by women. Many of these women are mothers, especially of small children; wives; caregivers for elderly parent/s; involved in social and volunteer activities, and the list goes on. While these are normal, everyday activities and responsibilities, they can create tremendous stress for solo-professionals working from home.

It is important to maintain a proper balance between personal and professional life when working from home:

a) Location: Your office building is your home. Your office may be a desk and chair in an already occupied room. Or you may have a room designated as your office. Can you make and receive phone calls without interruption or background noise? At the start of your day, do you dress as if you were expecting a client in your home, or as if you were leaving for a job outside the home? Nothing excessive, but doing whatever is necessary to make you personally feel Read the rest of this entry »

As entrepreneurs we are often affected by many negative things beyond of our control and these can cause F.E.A.R! According to the Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, fear is defined as dread, terror, trepidation; emotions that react to stimulus, external or internal. In addition, I like the definition of F.E.A.R as  False Evidence Appearing Real.

I believe that because we are natural nurturers, women more than men are anxious to see that everything follows a specific path; the slightest deviation from that path causes us intense anxiety and result in fear lurking its ugly head. In our minds we see gloom and doom when the reality is that it may just be a temporary setback.

This is where the Entrepreneurs Fear Factor comes in. Some years ago there was a reality show called “Fear Factor” that you either liked or disliked.  This is our reality as entrepreneurs: we encounter F.E.A.R in our business.  However, there is a simple element that if introduced more often could dilute the level of F.E.A.R we experience.  It’s as simple as Read the rest of this entry »