#Business Coach For Small Businesses Phoenix AZ

[serviceindustrysuccess]

Expert Business Coaching for Phoenix Small Businesses

Service Industry Success in Phoenix, AZ, offers specialized coaching for small businesses and entrepreneurs in the service sector. Elevate your service-based business with tailored training and expert guidance. Gain autonomy and boost your success with our coaching designed for small business owners, including general contractors.

[strategicbusiness1]

Businesses For Sale Near Me

change in the economy, personal circumstances, or simply your desire to shift your career path could make it a good time to sell. But before you make the decision to sell your business, you should consider some important factors. First, do you have the skills and knowledge necessary to run a business? Second, will you have sufficient money to cover expenses and overhead and turn a healthy profit? Third, do you have a product or service that has broad enough appeal to be sold on a consistent basis?

If you're looking for businesses for sale near me, you've come to the right place. We've compiled a big list of profitable small business ideas that don't cost you a fortune!

If you have skills in a certain area, such as marketing, sales, or logistics, you can turn those skills into a lucrative and rewarding business. Strategic Business Brokers Phoenix Consultants help businesses develop and implement strategic plans. These services include business plan writing, sales coaching, human resources consulting, franchise consulting, international business consulting, and more business consultant phoenix 

Other consulting opportunities can be more specialized, such as Facebook marketing, website strategies, or email and accounting services. These businesses often have repeat customers and a steady income. You can also build your consulting service around a particular niche, such as a small business or franchise.

Contact Us:

Strategic Business Brokers Phoenix

Address: 4001 N 32nd Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85018

Phone: 602-664-0371

Email:info@strategicbbgroup.com

[mubal4]

The Little Things We Miss

 Yes, this was my dinner last night as I arrived late to my hotel in Fairfield, NJ; about 30 minutes northwest of Newark, NJ.  I am on the east coast for work stuff for a couple days before heading out to CA and then back home.  Busy week for me and, for my family.  When I leave home, it is hard for a number of different reasons and we will get into some of that, but it is also challenging for my wife from a logistics perspective. Oh, yeah, there is a point to this blog, and I am going all over the place but want to, well, tell some stories. 😊  Teamwork is incredibly important, funny I say that since I am hear meeting members of my new team, but when it comes to marriage, it is also a team.  When I am gone, or she is, sometimes 😊, the other has to pick up additional responsibilities.  My wife teaches and coaches gymnastics and, our girls go to school and one plays soccer, the other has gymnastics.  Therefor, like most parents with kids involved in other activities, we have to get them to where they need to go.  Well, when I am traveling, Robin has to pick up those tasks, or, we have to ask for some assistance.  So, I want to say how proud and grateful I am to have a woman in my life that is tough as nails and figures this type of shit out, because I know it is not easy.  I am also proud of her for not being, well, to proud to ask for help.  We all need it and I know there have been many times I was to stubborn to ask for help, the old, “I can do it myself” shit; screw that, don’t be stubborn.  Ask for help and you will be able to learn those you can count on when you really need it.  So, thanks to Robin for picking up my slack and thanks to all of our friends and family that help us out countless times; love you all.  

 So, what about the picture and this blog.  Well, don’t judge me but the picture is what I had for dinner last night when I checked into my hotel around 10pm.  Yep, a Yuengling Lager and a back of microwave popcorn.  I went from having an awesome brunch with Robin, Alaina, and Isabella, to drinking a Lager and having a bag of popcorn, while watching the Phillies blow another game I might add, in the span of about 8 hours……..and on the other side of the country.  When I was sitting on my wonderful hotel couch drinking my Yuengling Lager – just a point to note, we can’t get Lager in Phoenix, actually, Yuengling is the oldest brewery in America and they traditionally didn’t distribute outside of PA until the last several years.  They are no in NJ, NY, MD, DE, VA, even in FL & LA – but not out west; so, any chance I can, I get it. AND, because the folks at the Hampton Inn in Fairfield, NJ are so nice, I got this one for free 😊…..and my bag of delicious microwave popcorn.  Back to the point, as I was getting frustrated watching the Phillies but, enjoying my tasty beverage, I thought to myself, “damn this Lager tastes good.” I was also hoping on my Uber ride from the airport that there would be a Wawa right next to my hotel; no dice on that one but I started about thinking of all the little things from PA that I miss, and, all of the little things in general. It started with the big things – it wasn’t even 30 minutes after Robin and the girls dropped me off at the Phoenix airport that I was missing their faces already. Being back on the east coast, in the green and humidity 😊, not with them, I get a bit sad, but I do know they are safe and are great.  Those sad thoughts turned into happy thoughts thinking about all the memories we’ve had living on the east coast for those years.  Then I looked at my beer again, “ahh, I miss Lager.”  😊😊 – I am cracking myself up with this now! Anyway, the thoughts of missing my family in the present lead to me thinking about all the friends and loved ones we missed; again, not the small things but big things.  All those people, connections and memories we have, all those great relationships and friendships we have been fortunate to make over the years, all those people we are so grateful to have in our lives; we miss that.  That said, it is wonderful to live in the times we do, with technology, to be able to be as “close” now that we can.  And, we are so very grateful for all those friends and loved ones we have in AZ, and the new relationships that we are building, there and all over this great country.  It has been a wild ride this last year and we have been blessed to meet a lot of people that we have been able to connect with and, just relate too. Not sure if it is caused by our us getting older, getting wiser, maybe getting more at peace but we have been able to better the relationships we’ve had over the years, or at least I think so, and connect with so many new and engaging people.  It has just been great but, as I said, we do miss our friends and loved ones in PA.  

 Now, on to those little things that we miss.  How often do we go through life having access to so many things that we take for granted?  Yes, there are those big things, but let’s have some fun now and talk about those things that are, well, less important.  Like Yuengling Lager, Troegs, Wawa (not familiar with the last 2 you can Google them), the Ale House, cheesesteaks – see a pattern? Food and Beer!! Okay, we can get somewhat serious for a second.  I know, very often I can be eating something or drinking something or just walking down a particular street and I am not present in the moment. We think, or at least I do, that that food, a beer, or that moment in time, where we are, it is not a fleeting moment.  It may not be but why am I not present in it?  How do I know that I will be able to eat that food again, drink that beer again, or be at this place again, having this experience? We don’t know if that will be the last time you drink that beer.  Now, again, small things right; but I think you get it. If I never drink another Lager the rest of my life, I will be okay.  But what about that experience you have with that special person, or that moment you have by yourself, walking on that beach – for that present moment? Maybe it is the most peaceful you have ever felt and to think that we may never get that feeling back for the rest of our life; those are some of the little things, the little moments that we need to be completely present in.  I get clouded a lot with what I think is “most important” at that time; and, I think…….most of those times, what I think is most important, isn’t.  Having brunch with my wife and kids, that is most important. And, I was present, engaged – I was there!  I am happy about that.  My buddy from Philadelphia was passing through Phoenix last week on a business trip and he had 4 hours to kill.  You are damn right I went out to dinner with him and we caught up.  I am heading to FL next week on business, to Orlando, and yep, damn right I am flying to Tampa to see my parents and family.  Those are those precious moments that I want to take advantage of.  Are they small? No, when it comes to each other, to us, to human beings, we all want that connection and when we have those chances to connect with one another, those moments are huge!!  

 Let’s take advantage of those precious moments so we don’t go through life missing the small stuff.

[lolitashawn]

A New Year, A New Review

As I'm sitting here sipping my coffee (Lolita's Blend...shameless plug) I've been reviewing last year. Wow...did 2016 happen already? Where does the time go? My Mom always said that I needed to cherish each moment and don't wish your life away because it will fly by in a flash. 

It's that time of year where everyone is looking for a fresh start. Lose weight, more exercise, de-clutter & organize and start anew. I try my best to plan both personally & professionally....goals I wish to accomplish each year. Most years...I wasn't successful. I looked at the goals and saw many failures. However, I found that I never took the time to review the year before, see some of the goals I did complete and be thankful for what I did accomplish. As well as recounting all the wonderful things that happened during that time. Sometimes I met part of my goal but didn't look at it that way...I saw failure. Not anymore....

2016 was about a new beginning. We moved back to Arizona to be closer to family, revamped Johnny Lolita's and Johnny has been focusing on his consultancy-Career Coaching. Although we left our recruitment world, it never left John...it followed him everywhere. So in addition of assisting me on the coffee/confections side...he's continuing his career coaching business. (Click here). In which I can assist him from time to time.  

Each year, there has been one thing that many who preach the power of goal setting, building your business, etc is to be a little more vulnerable and tell the world exactly what you're doing. I never wanted to for fear it was too personal...won't help me reach my goal,...why discuss it? In reading further, many explain that if no one knows what you're wanting to accomplish, how are you going to get there? This year, I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and opening up. 

A quick review of 2016 and things we are thankful for:

Back in AZ and reconnecting with friends & family.

Started Johnny Lolita's and began building locally.

Successfully started to sell roasted coffee locally (Phoenix metro) via online sales, word-of-mouth, social media & events.

Maintained our current customers in TX, NM, PA, NY, GA, DC, TN, WA, FL, CO & CA.

Took my Food Handlers course, & received certification for cottage kitchen and began selling my confections and baked goods locally. Excited that it's been successful and building quickly.

Started custom gift containers and have sold to corporate accounts, realtors and individuals.

Did a couple of large events ( wedding & corporate) and sold "favors" & "thank you" gifts to attendees. 

When I take the time to review...I feel I am making progress. I appreciate everyone who has contacted me and given me the opportunity to roast fresh coffee and/or bake items for themselves, for gifts or some sort of event. Without you all OR "y'all...Johnny Lolita's would not be here. 

I truly L❤️VE what I am doing now. I love creating things that will put a smile on someone's face, I love talking to be people about "The Art of Coffee & Entertaining at home." The ability to create fun & creative ways to deliver gifts....I could blather on. 

Now here comes the hard part for me. Opening up and letting you in on my dreams I have for Johnny Lolita's. Okay....here it goes.

Goals for Johnny Lolita's: 

Have a small building (lease) with a commercial catering kitchen so I can build upon my confections/baking side of business

Start "Coffee parties" at customers' homes to educate on coffee, brewing & other fun accessories for the home.

Providing blogs on entertaining at home with coffee, and other fun ideas for the home.

Partcipate in at least 16 "boutique/events" to sell our products. 

Continue marketing our online sales of fresh roasted coffee shipped to your door. 

Market our local delivery of fresh roasted coffee to your home or office. 

Obtain a vintage trailer or some sort of mobile vehicle to revamp and utilize at events as well as weddings, birthdays or corporate events selling our fresh roasted coffee and sweets. 

Create new products (coffee accessories or other home products) to sell online. 

The list above are my top goals I wish to accomplish for Johnny Lolita's in 2017. There are some lofty goals however I am willing to do the hard work it takes to see this become a reality. Of course I need your help...in your continued support of our small business. Letting us know if there is anything we can do for you. 

Johnny and I wish to thank all of you who have purchased our products and have supported our business. We wish to grow so please share our story and our business with others. We have our business on all social media platforms so please feel free to share. Whether you're on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest...the one that is your "social media of choice" please invite others to be a part of our community. We thank you in advance and wish everyone an awesome 2017.

Lolita💋 

[unixcommerce]

Zoho Hosting a Website Basics Webinar for Small Businesses

If there is anything the surge in remote work has taught us is the importance of digital technology. And in an online world, it all starts with a website.

With that in mind, Zoho is going to hold a webinar to teach people the basics of choosing and registering a domain name. As part of its Educational Webinar series, this particular lesson is called “Setting up Your Website.”

Whether you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur working from home a website is critically important in today’s digital ecosystem. A website allows you to tell the world about your business, sell your products and services, interact with your customers and much more.

This webinar is going to start at the beginning of your online journey so you can establish your brand. In addition to choosing and registering a domain name, the webinar will also go over web hosting options for your business.

Educational Webinar: Setting up Your Website is going to be held on August 26 starting from 1-1:45 p.m. EST.

Click the red button and register.

Register Now

Featured Events, Contests and Awards

Small Business Expo 2020 – BOSTON August 13, 2020, Boston, MA

Small Business Expo is the most anticipated business-to-business networking & educational event, trade show & conference for business owners, entrepreneurs, start-ups, decision-makers or anyone who works for a small business or is interested in starting a Small Business. Small Business Expo is a FREE one-day event to attend for small businesses to network, attend great business-growth workshops, build new business relationships, exchange ideas, shop from new vendors and learn from leading industry experts.

Educational Webinar: Setting up Your Website August 26, 2020, Online

Learn the basics of choosing and registering a domain name. We’ll also go over web hosting options so you can decide what’s best for your business.

Educational Webinar: Establishing Your Brand Story September 2, 2020, Online

Learn how to find, incorporate, and use your brand’s voice throughout your website to increase website traffic, improve customer engagement, and drive brand loyalty.

Educational Webinar: Elements of Website Design September 9, 2020, Online

Join us to learn about fonts, color schemes, and gain a basic understanding of visual hierarchy.

Educational Webinar: Converting Visitors to Leads September 16, 2020, Online

Learn best practices for optimizing webforms and CTAs in order to maximize the number of visitor conversions on their site.

Getting Started with Zoho One September 23, 2020, Online

In this presentation, we will walk through an overview of Zoho One using real case studies from Zoho customers to demonstrate different ways Zoho One can support your business.

Small Business Expo 2020 – PHILADELPHIA October 28, 2020, Philadelphia, PA

Small Business Expo is a FREE one-day event to attend for small businesses to network, attend great business-growth workshops, build new business relationships, exchange ideas, shop from new vendors and learn from leading industry experts. If you are serious about starting or growing your business, Small Business Expo is a “must attend” event. Small Business Expo is the #1 Business to Business Networking Event for business owners, entrepreneurs, start-ups, decision-makers or anyone who works for a small business or is interested in starting a Small Business.

LinkUpConferenceShow November 12, 2020, Online

LinkUpConferenceShow (LUCS) is a digital networking conference that merges the incredibly dynamic worlds of tech and comedy to provide informative and personalized networking opportunities designed to help executives, entrepreneurs, business leaders and tech professionals grow and scale their businesses. LUCS is the tech conference that combines Silicon Valley insights with New York’s nonstop energy to bring the technology community a totally new virtual experience designed to inspire, engage and entertain.

More Events

Remotely Delivering Effective Coaching and Feedback August 4, 2020, Online

How D2C Brands Are Defining The Future of Retail – Free Online Event with Digital Leaders August 6, 2020, Online

Intermitten 2020 August 7, 2020, Online

ACES Summit August 11, 2020, Washington, DC

CNBC’s Small Business Playbook: The Path Forward August 12, 2020, Online

Free Webinar – New Rules of Marketing: Behind The Changing CMO Role August 19, 2020, Online

Digital Marketing Transformation Virtual Assembly – August 2020 August 25, 2020, Online

Advancing Integrated Project Delivery 2020 September 14, 2020, Online

Small Business Expo 2020 – PHOENIX October 1, 2020, Phoenix, AZ

World-Famous HR Technology Event, Oct. 2020 October 13, 2020, Las Vegas, NV

Creative Operations San Francisco 2020 October 14, 2020, San Francisco, CA

Miami’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 20, 2020, Online

Small Business Expo 2020 – CHICAGO October 20, 2020, Chicago, IL

Atlanta’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 22, 2020, Atlanta, GA

Houston’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 24, 2020, Houston, TX

Austin’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 26, 2020, Austin, TX

Claims Innovation USA Virtual Event October 26, 2020, Online

AI DevWorld 2020 October 27, 2020, Online

Salt Lake City’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 31, 2020, Austin, TX

Denver’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour November 2, 2020, Denver, CO

More Contests

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends.

You can see a full list of events, contest and award listings or post your own events by visiting the Small Business Events Calendar.

Image: zoho.com

This article, “Zoho Hosting a Website Basics Webinar for Small Businesses” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

The post Zoho Hosting a Website Basics Webinar for Small Businesses appeared first on Unix Commerce.

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[businessreviewguidenow]

Zoho Hosting a Website Basics Webinar for Small Businesses

If there is anything the surge in remote work has taught us is the importance of digital technology. And in an online world, it all starts with a website.

With that in mind, Zoho is going to hold a webinar to teach people the basics of choosing and registering a domain name. As part of its Educational Webinar series, this particular lesson is called “Setting up Your Website.”

Whether you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur working from home a website is critically important in today’s digital ecosystem. A website allows you to tell the world about your business, sell your products and services, interact with your customers and much more.

This webinar is going to start at the beginning of your online journey so you can establish your brand. In addition to choosing and registering a domain name, the webinar will also go over web hosting options for your business.

Educational Webinar: Setting up Your Website is going to be held on August 26 starting from 1-1:45 p.m. EST.

Click the red button and register.

Register Now

Featured Events, Contests and Awards

Small Business Expo 2020 – BOSTON August 13, 2020, Boston, MA

Small Business Expo is the most anticipated business-to-business networking & educational event, trade show & conference for business owners, entrepreneurs, start-ups, decision-makers or anyone who works for a small business or is interested in starting a Small Business. Small Business Expo is a FREE one-day event to attend for small businesses to network, attend great business-growth workshops, build new business relationships, exchange ideas, shop from new vendors and learn from leading industry experts.

Educational Webinar: Setting up Your Website August 26, 2020, Online

Learn the basics of choosing and registering a domain name. We’ll also go over web hosting options so you can decide what’s best for your business.

Educational Webinar: Establishing Your Brand Story September 2, 2020, Online

Learn how to find, incorporate, and use your brand’s voice throughout your website to increase website traffic, improve customer engagement, and drive brand loyalty.

Educational Webinar: Elements of Website Design September 9, 2020, Online

Join us to learn about fonts, color schemes, and gain a basic understanding of visual hierarchy.

Educational Webinar: Converting Visitors to Leads September 16, 2020, Online

Learn best practices for optimizing webforms and CTAs in order to maximize the number of visitor conversions on their site.

Getting Started with Zoho One September 23, 2020, Online

In this presentation, we will walk through an overview of Zoho One using real case studies from Zoho customers to demonstrate different ways Zoho One can support your business.

Small Business Expo 2020 – PHILADELPHIA October 28, 2020, Philadelphia, PA

Small Business Expo is a FREE one-day event to attend for small businesses to network, attend great business-growth workshops, build new business relationships, exchange ideas, shop from new vendors and learn from leading industry experts. If you are serious about starting or growing your business, Small Business Expo is a “must attend” event. Small Business Expo is the #1 Business to Business Networking Event for business owners, entrepreneurs, start-ups, decision-makers or anyone who works for a small business or is interested in starting a Small Business.

LinkUpConferenceShow November 12, 2020, Online

LinkUpConferenceShow (LUCS) is a digital networking conference that merges the incredibly dynamic worlds of tech and comedy to provide informative and personalized networking opportunities designed to help executives, entrepreneurs, business leaders and tech professionals grow and scale their businesses. LUCS is the tech conference that combines Silicon Valley insights with New York’s nonstop energy to bring the technology community a totally new virtual experience designed to inspire, engage and entertain.

More Events

Remotely Delivering Effective Coaching and Feedback August 4, 2020, Online

How D2C Brands Are Defining The Future of Retail – Free Online Event with Digital Leaders August 6, 2020, Online

Intermitten 2020 August 7, 2020, Online

ACES Summit August 11, 2020, Washington, DC

CNBC’s Small Business Playbook: The Path Forward August 12, 2020, Online

Free Webinar – New Rules of Marketing: Behind The Changing CMO Role August 19, 2020, Online

Digital Marketing Transformation Virtual Assembly – August 2020 August 25, 2020, Online

Advancing Integrated Project Delivery 2020 September 14, 2020, Online

Small Business Expo 2020 – PHOENIX October 1, 2020, Phoenix, AZ

World-Famous HR Technology Event, Oct. 2020 October 13, 2020, Las Vegas, NV

Creative Operations San Francisco 2020 October 14, 2020, San Francisco, CA

Miami’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 20, 2020, Online

Small Business Expo 2020 – CHICAGO October 20, 2020, Chicago, IL

Atlanta’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 22, 2020, Atlanta, GA

Houston’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 24, 2020, Houston, TX

Austin’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 26, 2020, Austin, TX

Claims Innovation USA Virtual Event October 26, 2020, Online

AI DevWorld 2020 October 27, 2020, Online

Salt Lake City’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 31, 2020, Austin, TX

Denver’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour November 2, 2020, Denver, CO

More Contests

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends.

You can see a full list of events, contest and award listings or post your own events by visiting the Small Business Events Calendar.

Image: zoho.com

This article, “Zoho Hosting a Website Basics Webinar for Small Businesses” was first published on Small Business Trends

source https://smallbiztrends.com/2020/08/small-business-events-calendar-august-1-2020.html

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[serviceindustrysuccess]

Service Industry Success

Service Industry Success is your local source for top-notch coaching that is tailored to business owners in contracting, home services, and B2B service industries. Situated right in the heart of your community, we're dedicated to empowering local entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed. Our expert team offers personalized coaching sessions and in-depth training programs all designed to enhance your business's performance, growth, and profitability. Whether you're in the contracting, home services, or B2B service sector. We understand the unique challenges you face and provide you with local insights and strategies to conquer them. Join us at Service Industry Success to drive your business to new heights today.

Address: 1002 9th ave SE unit E204, Puyallup, WA 98372

Tel No: (253) 255-9204

Hours of operations: Monday - Friday - 7:00 am-6:00 pm pacific standard

Website: https://www.serviceindustrysuccess.com/

[stylistic-choice]

Depósito de Aviões Militares

The DSN may be the company of long-distance communications support for that Office of Protection (DoD). Every single installation contains a unique DSN number as well as quantities change by world-wide site. As a way to area a connect with applying DSN, the caller must be using a army cell phone on an installation. Cellular phones are unable to dial DSN figures. When dialing a DSN selection from the United states of america installation to another United states set up, it is actually unwanted to dial the DSN 312 space code. When dialing a DSN amount to/from overseas places, the DSN place code must be bundled. Be sure to notice that prolonged length costs may very well be incurred.

Davis-Monthan AFB is situated in Tucson, AZ.   Tucson may be the second largest metropolis in Arizona situated in the varied Sonoran Desert region in the Southwestern United states of america.  Tucson has about 545,975 (2018) folks, and it is in Pima County. Other close by small communities include Marana, Oro Valley, Vail, Sahuarita, and Eco-friendly Valley.  Tucson is situated 108 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S. - Mexico border.

See far more details during the movie below

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is found within the town boundaries of Tucson, Ariz. The 355th Wing could be the host device providing healthcare, logistical, and operational assistance to all D-M tenant models on foundation these as twelfth Air Pressure (AFSOUTH), the 309th Aerospace Upkeep and Regeneration Team (AMARG), the 55th Electronic Combat Team, 943rd Rescue Group (AFRC), and the 214th Attack Team (ANG).

The wing's missions are to coach A-10 and OA-10 pilots and also to provide A-10 and OA-10 close assistance and forward air manage to ground forces globally. The wing is additionally tasked to provide command, command, and communications countermeasures in guidance of tactical forces with its EC-130H plane and, using the EC-130E aircraft, present airborne command, regulate, and communications abilities for taking care of tactical air operations in war and other contingencies worldwide.

Go to us to learn more: Novas maravilhas do mundo natural

Davis-Monthan was activated in 1924. Charles Lindbergh formally conducted the bottom opening ceremonies. The bottom was named for 2 neighborhood early aviators, who died in independent flight mishaps: 1st Lt Samuel H. Davis, killed December 22, 1921, and 2nd Lt Oscar Monthan, killed March 27, 1924.

The 355th FG flew its to start with battle mission, a fighter sweep around Belgium, on fourteen September 1943 and later on served largely as escort for B-17 / B-24 bombers that attacked industrial locations of Berlin, marshalling yards at Karlsruhe , an airfield at Neuberg, oil refineries at Misburg, artificial oil plants at Gelsenkirchen , locks at Minden , and also other targets. The team also flew fighter sweeps, place patrols, and bombing missions, hanging these kinds of targets as air parks, locomotives, bridges, radio stations, and armoured cars.

With the airport, head North on Tucson Boulevard, come up with a suitable transform on Valencia Highway headed East. Make a left turn on Alvernon Way headed North. Alvernon Way will merge with Golf Hyperlinks. Proceed on Golf Backlinks till you appear to Craycroft Street. Come up with a right flip on Craycroft Highway headed South. You'll solution Davis-Monthan AFB principal gate and customer heart.

Instructions

The Tucson International Airport is situated close to ten miles in the center of city. Transportation options include rental cars, shared experience vans, taxis, plus the town bus.   All departing shuttles, vans, buses, and taxis can be found within the business roadway over the reduce degree in front of the terminal. Uber Assistance is also out there.

Visit us for more info: Cristo Redentor

[silveroakhealth]

How to Stay Focused and Productive When Working From Home

Whether you��re working from home in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic or you’re already a full-time freelancer or on a distributed team, remote work can come with unique challenges. Especially if you’re not used to it, it can be tough to channel the same level of focus that you might have in an office setting. And when you’re suddenly away from the rest of your team, a lack of collaboration and connection can be difficult to navigate.  

Below are the small steps we can take to reduce distractions and protect our well-being when working remotely. Which of these tips will you try?  

Establish clear working hours  

“I’m a creature of habit, and though I could work from anywhere in the world, nothing beats routine. I run my errands in the morning, start my workday between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., and only work in my office space. I simply refuse to look at my work email once I’ve signed off for the day. Having a routine and boundaries helps keep me sharp and focused, and allows me to enjoy my evenings.”  

—Katie Stearns, P.R. manager at BeeBole Timesheet, Spain  

Close non-work-related tabs  

“I’ve never worked in an office. I’ve had to create my schedule and also train others who have been independent for years. To stay focused, I suggest doing two simple things before you start working in the morning: taking social media apps off your phone, and closing any open tabs on your computer. It’s easy to get distracted by the alerts. You can create a system to check them, but limit your exposure.”

  —Rebecca Gebhardt, founder of Rise Up Consulting LLC, Minneapolis, MN  

Write things down  

“I make sure to write things down on paper when I’m working from home. When you are working remotely, you will probably spend much more time looking at a screen than when you are in an office. I find that my eyes need regular screen breaks. Plus, nothing beats the satisfaction of scratching an item off of your list! Clicking a checkbox in your online calendar just can’t compete with that.”

  —Lauren Brownstein, philanthropy consultant, Bethesda, MD

Tidy up first  

“I find that my biggest distraction is when the space around me feels untidy. When I work from home, I tidy up as much as possible before bed and take a few minutes in the morning to finish any tidying. Then, I set out my tasks that need to be accomplished for the day and start working. I find this routine really helps my mind stay focused on my work instead of the ‘home things’ that need to get done.”  

—Marianne D., virtual assistant, Burlington, ON, Canada  

Change out of your pajamas  

“I suggest getting dressed in workwear every day. No PJ’s while working from home! This helps shift your mindset from ‘I’m just going to lounge around on the couch today’” to ‘It’s time to crush all my goals today.’ This is actually a process I start the night before. I lay out my work clothes for the day ahead, which actually is an old habit from when I used to work in an office. It’s a time-saver in the morning, and it helps improve my focus for the entire day.”  

—Caru Jones, leadership coach, New York, NY  

Establish a designated work area  

“I have a dedicated office that is separated from the main part of my house. When I am there, I am quite cut off from the rest of the house, and I can focus on my work. I appreciate that this complete separation is not always possible, but it’s important to have some sort of physical boundary when working from home — ideally away from your bed, kitchen, and TV.”  

—Ranjana Panikar Pollet, investor relations consultant and corporate wellness consultant, U.K.  

Eat your meals in a different room  

“I find that it’s helpful to eat your meals away from your workstation. Having the mental break and taking time for mindful eating will result in a more productive afternoon.”  

—Martha Switzer, co-founder of Sprout Wellness, Toronto, ON, Canada  

Step outside to reset  

“When working from home, I always try to leave my apartment for a short break just as I do at the office for a quick reset. Most often, I’ll run out and grab a coffee before my day starts, or pick up some lunch. Leaving my apartment and workspace for a brief period of time allows me to move my body, get some fresh air, and provides me with a mental reset so that I can ensure I am productive upon returning to my work.”  

— Alyssa Swantkoski, executive assistant, Denver, CO  

Take a real lunch break  

“On days I work from home, I do my best to stick to my typical going-into-the-office routine. For example, I make sure that my alarm goes off at the same time. I shower and get dressed as though I’m going to the office. I take a break for lunch — and since I have eliminated commute time, I can give myself a pat on the back and sometimes wrap my day a bit earlier because I’ve been more productive!”

  —Tami Nealy, public relations, Phoenix, AZ  

Start your day with mindfulness  

“I have been running my consulting business out of my home office for five years. Just as I commit to conference calls and meetings, I commit to practicing daily self-care rituals. Instead of checking my email when I wake up, I read a daily affirmation. I commit to ten minutes of mindfulness a day, which typically includes a guided meditation or breathing exercise. My best ideas and solutions to problems come to me when my body feels energized and my mind is clear.”  

—Carolyn Montrose Dub, marketing consultant, Haworth, NJ  

Incorporate bursts of movement  

“I try to incorporate exercise throughout my day. I write for a couple hours, then move, and repeat this pattern throughout the day. My movement usually includes walking, yoga, and even doing household chores.”   —Natalie Bonfig, writer, St. Paul, MN  

Open the window  

“Over the years, I’ve learned to nourish myself while working from home through incorporating regular short breaks, standing up, opening the window for a deep breath, and going for a walk during lunchtime. Diffusing some essential oils for concentration and motivation also helps me a lot.”   —Michaela Ottoman, marketing and communications manager, Gilching, Germany  

Take little micro-breaks  

“I reward myself after I’ve completed various work tasks with walks outside, short breaks to watch YouTube videos, and snuggles with my dog!”  

—Suzy Goodwin, podcast host and content creator, Fayetteville, NC  

Assign timeslots to your tasks  

“When writing a to-do item in my calendar, I assign the item a certain amount of time. When you are working at home alone, the time can really run away from you! I find it helpful to assign blocks of specific time to your tasks.”  

—Lauren Brownstein, philanthropy consultant, Bethesda, MD  

Set an alarm for 25-minute work intervals  

“To stay healthy and productive when working from home, I schedule breaks into my workday by setting an alarm for 25 minutes any time I get in front of my computer. I focus on work for those 25 minute and ignore other distractions. When the alarm goes off, I get up and take a break to stretch, move, reset my posture, and check my phone before getting back to work.”  

—Megan Nolan, yoga instructor and personal trainer, Maui, HI  

Schedule at least one call or meeting   “I tend to be extremely productive on the days I work remotely, but that being said, it can come with a feeling of isolation. I make sure that I have at least one call or meeting scheduled for the days I work remotely, and have conversations on G-chat so the workflow can progress at an appropriate rate. Taking these steps allows me to stay focused and feel connected to my team.”  

—Kaleen Skersies, real estate development, Seattle, WA  

Notify your team about your priorities  

“Working from home can be hugely productive if you have the discipline to carve out chunks of time dedicated to key priorities. I notify colleagues when I am working from home, and let them know that I will be committing the next few hours to important tasks and critical projects. This helps to minimize interruptions.”  

—Candice Tomlinson, learning solutions manager, Sydney, Australia  

Switch up your working space  

“My husband and I work at home together and now that my daughter’s school is closed, she is studying remotely. We each have two areas set up in different ways that we can switch off to when we get bored. All desks are by windows and some include standing desks.”  

—Eve Mayer, author and consultant, Carrollton, TX  

Stay connected to teammates  

“Working from home can be lonely, and having no colleagues or teammates to talk to can be emotionally exhausting. I make an effort to sync up with the team every day on video calls or over the phone. The daily syncs and occasional jokes help me stay connected and not lose my mind. Talking regularly to other humans is important for our productivity!”  

—Priyamvada S., founder and CEO, Amsterdam, Netherlands  

Do you have a go-to tip that helps you focus when working from home? Share it with us in the comments!

[bettydgunter90]

2020 Women to Watch: Deborah Razo

Think Realty shines a light on some of the many women who are making waves in the real estate investing industry.

Just over 10 years ago, real estate investor Deborah Razo had an opportunity to start over. She was in a car accident that left her literally crushed; her head was cracked open and her neck was broken. It took multiple surgeries and over a year before the doctors released her in good health.

“During that time, I had a lot of time to think about life and how I wanted to live,” she said. “I had a great life; I was surrounded by people I loved, and I was a small business owner, but I felt like my primary relationship was looking at a computer screen. I wasn’t spending my time the way I wanted to. After the accident, I decided I wanted to have more time with the people I love. I wanted to be able to travel the world. I wanted to enjoy life more and have more freedom. I needed a way to fund that. I needed passive income,” Razo said.

She researched and educated herself and started flipping houses in L.A. and then reinvesting in buy & holds for cashflow and long-term wealth. She owns single-family homes in Memphis,TN; multifamily in Tucson, AZ; and has also been a private lender. And she’s still going.

“Now, I’m a first-time developer! Currently, my team and I are finishing our first development in Los Angeles, a fourplex, and have a couple more finishing this year. We are also building accessory dwelling units,” she said.

For many years Razo was a solopreneur. She liked making all the decisions and doing things herself, but she realized she was even better at networking, which has proven to be more beneficial to her business.

“I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to grow and make my financial goals by doing it alone. I needed to partner and grow a team to excel faster. It was uncomfortable at first and making sure you are picking the right partners/team is a learning process,” she said.

Razo, founder of the Women’s Real Estate Network (WREN), is a newfound natural at networking; yet, although she was getting great information from male mentors in the industry, she felt isolated among people who couldn’t relate to many things she was going through as a woman.

“I was looking for some other women, people like me, who had figured out this real estate thing. I scheduled a brunch and invited some kick butt real estate women just to see how they juggled it all. And… the magic began.”

Those twelve women having brunch in downtown L.A. sparked the first WREN meeting. The network has grown to six WREN Chapters nationwide: Los Angeles, Seattle, Orange County, San Diego, Phoenix, and Atlanta.

“We’ve done deals together and have become financial friends. And those relationships have affected my bottom line! Somehow fears went away as we leaned on each other for courage and support,” Razo said.

“Choose a peer group with a high standard, utilize a coach, and immerse yourself in an environment that reinforces you for your wins and challenges you to reach greater heights. Most people’s lives are a direct reflection of the expectation of their peer group. So… I created what I needed and what I wanted — a community of women I can identify with.”

In 2020, Razo wants to build more WREN chapters and see more women leaders emerge.

“We feed their dream, arm them with education and give them resources to get into action. We would like to reach more women with that intent,” she said.

Razo’s number one tip to new investors? Get a mentor. Put yourself in the same space as those who have experienced success in the field.

“Proximity is indeed power. By learning from mentors, you are becoming more powerful in your intentions and moving closer to your goals. That’s been true for me. WREN has provided an opportunity to surround myself with like-minded women who challenged me and helped me develop my skills,” she said.

Although Razo believes real estate is an incredible wealth-building vehicle that is great for everyone, she feels the current generation of women has “become the most autonomous, free, independent, educated, and powerful in history.” But, according to Razo, women can continue to evolve their mindset to achieve greater success in real estate. Here’s how:

Embrace what comes naturally.

“We are nurturing and collaborative and therefore great at forming and directing teams. And let’s face it — most of us have had to run a household on a shoestring budget so making a little money go a long way is also something you should embrace.”

Don’t do everything alone.

“Women tend to take on so much and think we have to do it all ourselves. We don’t. Do you wonder why any time women come together it’s a powerful thing? Whether they’re in a kitchen preparing a meal or running numbers on a real estate project, when women come together with a collective intention, magic happens!”

Connect With Deborah

Website: WRENinspires.com | DeborahRazo.com

Email: drazo@WRENinspires.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/deborahrazo/

The post 2020 Women to Watch: Deborah Razo appeared first on Think Realty | A Real Estate of Mind.

from Real Estate Tips https://thinkrealty.com/2020-women-to-watch-deborah-razo/

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My 10 Biggest Mistakes in 10 Years as an Entrepreneur

I guess I’m now a 4%-er. According to Inc. Magazine just 4% of new companies make it to 10 years. And guess what? We just made it here at Convince & Convert. Our 10 year anniversary is today! This is the longest I’ve ever done ANYTHING continuously (other than being a husband and a father), and I’m so proud of my team and the work they’ve done – and continue to do.

We’re so fired up; we even created a temporary new logo to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Convince & Convert.

I was an entrepreneur before I started this firm. In fact, Convince & Convert is my fifth startup endeavor, and I’m an investor in dozens of others. But this is certainly my most well-known and longest-running venture, so on this anniversary date, I decided to take some stock and think about the mistakes I’ve made along the way. I hope these confessions will help you in your own entrepreneurial journey.

There’s been a lot of successes, and I am incredibly thankful to my team, my family, and our remarkable clients, partners, collaborators, and friends for each of them. But me writing about what I may have done right isn’t particularly interesting, or illustrative, in my estimation.

Instead, here are the 10 biggest mistakes I’ve made in 10 years with Convince & Convert.

I Didn’t Delegate Early Enough

It feels like this is a classic entrepreneurial blunder. You trust yourself to do everything exactly how you want it done, and taking on more yourself is usually a pretty cost effective angle of attack as well. For the first four years of this company, I wrote every check, and spent every Saturday at my local bank branch depositing checks. Accounting is not something at which I am particularly adept.

Social Media AZ – back in 2009

Fortunately, I eventually realized that for a company to grow, the leadership of the firm needs to concentrate as much as possible on doing what they are UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO DO. Now, I seek every year to delegate about 15% of my time to others at Convince & Convert. When you do that consistently, it concentrates your own time like a reduction sauce. Eventually, you start to use your own time more and more efficiently and effectively.

I’m not all the way there yet, and I still do some stuff I probably shouldn’t, but I keep working on it. Delegation isn’t a dereliction of duty; it’s how good companies get better. Further, it’s a symptom of great trust in your team, when you let go of things that your formerly held in a death grip of micromanagement.

I Was Late Adopting Systems

Are you a golf fan? If so, you’ll know exactly what I mean when I remind you that there are two types of golfers. The first are practice-based golfers. They have a lot of coaches, and spend a lot of time practicing. They are trying to groove their swing to make it flawlessly repeatable. The second type of golfer are feel players. They seek less coaching and practice less often, trusting their instincts and creativity to take over when they need it.

I am a feel golfer, but in business.

Thus, I’m guilty of believing that if I can’t remember something, it’s probably not worth remembering. I also abhor unnecessary meetings, structure, and process, as I believe it thwarts creative problem solving and breeds inefficient use of time.

The Convince & Convert Team – 2012

This “go with the flow” attitude serves me well in the very early days, when indeed I could actually remember all that mattered. But I waited too long to flip the switch to project management systems, time tracking systems, accounting and finance systems. Fortunately, Kelly Santina, who heads our operations, came aboard and made me see the light about this and a great many other things.

Today, we are religious users of Teamwork Projects for project management, Sococo for communication, QuickBooks for accounting, and a flotilla of other systems to manage other elements of the business, including CoSchedule to maintain our editorial calendar.

I should have systematized earlier.

I Resisted Specialization For Too Long

One of the truisms of most small companies is “everyone wears a lot of hats.” This is equal parts a financial necessity and a cultural necessity. At first, you don’t have the cash to pay someone to do just one job, and it’s also good for esprit de corps when everyone is pitching in to do everything that needs doing.

The Convince & Convert Team hiking in 2014

But you can’t play that game too long, and I did.

It’s true in a lot of areas, but most so in our business development function. For a long time, Kim Corak handled biz dev for all three divisions: speaking, consulting, and media/content. She did an amazing job. But eventually, I realized that to keep moving forward, we needed more specialized skills. Now, Kelly and I handle most media/content sales, Kim focuses almost exclusively on consulting, and the sublime Michelle Joyce handles the speaking side.

This division of labor isn’t always perfect, but it’s much more sensible than putting everything on one person, and it’s enabled us to continue to grow. I should have done this earlier, too.

I Didn’t Set Appropriate Customer Expectations

As we grew, one of our challenges was making sure customers knew/know that while I see have input on everything we create and publish, I am not personally making every slide of every strategic plan, and I’m not writing every blog post on this site (although I did for a long time).

It’s hard to set customer expectations appropriately, especially when I am the most visible member of the team and clients think I will personally manage every project.

We’re very good at this now, and I’m careful to always talk about WE and rarely about ME when discussing the company and our capabilities. But it was definitely a tough transition for a while there.

Today, we have a similar issue, but with timing. We’re often at capacity on strategy projects, and on content projects, meaning that new opportunities may have to wait 3-4 weeks before we can commence work. Being better at setting those expectations accordingly is something I’m still working through.

I Gathered Too Little Customer Feedback

Related to the prior point, when I was fully in the middle of every project, and essentially quarterbacked everything, it was easy to not worry about formalized customer feedback. I had a handle on what customers thought of us, because I was personally talking to all of them, all the time.

Now that we have grown, and the team does more customer interaction than do I, it’s critical that we have a consistent, standardized feedback system so that we all know how we’re doing, and where we stand.

About 18 months ago we moved to a Net Promoter Score survey protocol, whereby we survey consulting clients at least twice during each project. We also use NPS for speaking opportunities, and we’re going to roll it out for media/content. I am incredibly proud that our NPS is 73 right now, which is very, very high and puts us up there with the best brands in the world.

I wish I would have started this program years ago!

I Gave Disorganized Feedback to My Team

Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I can be a bit of a handful. When I have “suggestions” I tend to offer them at less than ideal times, with less than realistic expectations for execution. I used to email Kelly all the time with “ideas” on things we could/should improve. I’m SURE she loved that!

The Convince & Convert Team – 2014

And then I realized that every time I emailed her, she had to stop what she was doing and address whatever crazy idea I’d come up with in the prior 11 seconds.

Now – and this is especially key because we are 100% virtual and always have been, and we have very few meeting and calls – I send ONE email per week to our head of operations called SOMM: “stuff on my mind”. It’s a compendium of everything that I’m thinking about or upon which I request a status update. Putting all of this in one, weekly email and resisting the temptation to fire off random “but what about…?” emails, has improved operating efficiency dramatically.

I Didn’t Force Proximity EVERY Time

As mentioned, we are an all-virtual firm, with team members all over the USA, and beyond. On occasion groups of us will connect face to face at a client meeting or conference. But the full Convince & Convert team meets in person just ONE time per year, at our annual strategic planning retreat.

Convince & Convert Retreat – 2016

Of our nine retreats, the first one was in Phoenix (when I still lived there) because there were very few of us, and we had no money. Then, we started going to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where we rent a giant house and the whole team (and their spouse/other/friend) lives together with harmony, good times, and good ideas.

We did Puerto Vallarta together in a house every year except for 2017 when we went to Santa Fe and stayed in a boutique hotel. And it was……..fine. But it was definitely not the same. In a virtual firm, in the rare cases when you do get together you have to make it count, and create as many opportunities for unstructured bonding and closeness as possible.

That one year, I didn’t. We did a hotel instead of a house. And it’s not like it killed the company or anything, but it hurt our cohesion a little, which is why we went back to a house this year.

I Pursued Ideas Without Execution

I’m an idea guy. Always have been. It’s why I love consulting. The challenge of figuring out how to improve someone else’s business is fun and exciting for me. But I’m guilty in my own businesses of letting the idea supersede the execution plan, and sometimes I pursue an opportunity without thinking it through 100%.

And it’s a fine line between a culture of trial and testing, and culture of going off half-cocked without a plan. I try really hard to land on the former, but sometimes I peek over toward the latter.

Perhaps the most egregious example is the ill-fated MarketingPodcasts.com project. This was—and maybe still is—a good idea, in my estimation. The premise back in 2013 was that podcast discovery is hard, and it was nearly impossible to find great marketing podcasts with any degree of efficiency. So, I decided to solve that problem. We worked with a dev team to build MarketingPodcasts.com, a sophisticated, algorithm-powered directory of marketing podcasts; like Google for audio programming. It worked, and people liked it.

Here’s the problem. I was so in love with the idea, and so convinced it solved a real problem, I never fully articulated how we were going to make money, or how MarketingPodcasts.com fit into our other divisions and programs at Convince & Convert. After a year or so (maybe less, I’ve blocked out the details!) we shut it down.

Lesson learned (I hope).

I Gave Up First Mover Advantage

A few years ago, I launched one of the first daily video programs in the marketing space, called Jay Today. It was before the Gary Vee show, and long before a lot of other programs of similar type and intent, of which there are now hundreds.

Partially because I was first (or nearly so), and partially because the content was at least decent, Jay Today got pretty good traction. Not Gary Vaynerchuk traction, but good by my mortal standards.

I did the Jay Today show three times each week for about 14 months. And then, I quit. I simply got tired of doing it, which is rare for me (my Social Pros podcast is 8+ years old). I think I just felt like I didn’t have anything else to say in that format at the time, and I sunsetted the show.

Afterwards came the big explosion in daily video programs and video podcasts. About 18 months after the end of Jay Today version 1.0, I returned with Jay Today version 2.0. And it was fine, but I’d lost my first mover advantage.

I let fatigue convince me to give away an edge I’d developed. That was a mistake.

I Picked the Wrong Competitors

In the early years, Convince & Convert was really just Jay’s blog, and operated as such. Then, as we grew it became a multi-author home of intermediate to advanced social media and content marketing advice and counsel.

Over time, we saw ourselves competing against Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, MarketingProfs, TopRank and other terrific online resources that publish daily articles with excellent, tactical, how-to guides to all things digital marketing.

We tried to fight that fire with our own fire, and our editorial approach here began to embrace volume and practical advice as key components.

I realize now that was a mistake. We’re not going to out how-to those great sites, and we never should have tried. We’re a thoughtful, strategic, consulting firm that works with many of the world’s most interesting brands to solve large and thorny marketing and customer experience challenges. We’re not in the how-to business, we’re in the “now what” business.

For a while there, our audience for our content was one persona, and our audience for our consulting services was a different persona. We’ve fixed that now, which is why we publish less frequently here than we used to, our content is purposefully longer-form and more detailed, and a lot of our stuff now is based on first or second party research.

We regained the right focus and are trying to serve the same, smart audience with both content and consulting.

I hope you agree. If you like what we’re doing here, you may want to visit this page to sign up for our feed, where we’ll send you a quick email each time we publish something new.

Thanks again for the opportunity to serve. Whether our relationship began today, 10 years ago, or anywhere in between, I very much appreciate your time and your trust.

And congratulations to all at Convince & Convert for being extraordinary every day, and for getting us to TEN YEARS!  I don’t say it enough, but I love each and every one of you.

https://ift.tt/2Kq7zA8

[fairchildlingpo1]

My 10 Biggest Mistakes in 10 Years as an Entrepreneur

I guess I’m now a 4%-er. According to Inc. Magazine just 4% of new companies make it to 10 years. And guess what? We just made it here at Convince & Convert. Our 10 year anniversary is today! This is the longest I’ve ever done ANYTHING continuously (other than being a husband and a father), and I’m so proud of my team and the work they’ve done – and continue to do.

We’re so fired up; we even created a temporary new logo to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Convince & Convert.

I was an entrepreneur before I started this firm. In fact, Convince & Convert is my fifth startup endeavor, and I’m an investor in dozens of others. But this is certainly my most well-known and longest-running venture, so on this anniversary date, I decided to take some stock and think about the mistakes I’ve made along the way. I hope these confessions will help you in your own entrepreneurial journey.

There’s been a lot of successes, and I am incredibly thankful to my team, my family, and our remarkable clients, partners, collaborators, and friends for each of them. But me writing about what I may have done right isn’t particularly interesting, or illustrative, in my estimation.

Instead, here are the 10 biggest mistakes I’ve made in 10 years with Convince & Convert.

I Didn’t Delegate Early Enough

It feels like this is a classic entrepreneurial blunder. You trust yourself to do everything exactly how you want it done, and taking on more yourself is usually a pretty cost effective angle of attack as well. For the first four years of this company, I wrote every check, and spent every Saturday at my local bank branch depositing checks. Accounting is not something at which I am particularly adept.

Social Media AZ – back in 2009

Fortunately, I eventually realized that for a company to grow, the leadership of the firm needs to concentrate as much as possible on doing what they are UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO DO. Now, I seek every year to delegate about 15% of my time to others at Convince & Convert. When you do that consistently, it concentrates your own time like a reduction sauce. Eventually, you start to use your own time more and more efficiently and effectively.

I’m not all the way there yet, and I still do some stuff I probably shouldn’t, but I keep working on it. Delegation isn’t a dereliction of duty; it’s how good companies get better. Further, it’s a symptom of great trust in your team, when you let go of things that your formerly held in a death grip of micromanagement.

I Was Late Adopting Systems

Are you a golf fan? If so, you’ll know exactly what I mean when I remind you that there are two types of golfers. The first are practice-based golfers. They have a lot of coaches, and spend a lot of time practicing. They are trying to groove their swing to make it flawlessly repeatable. The second type of golfer are feel players. They seek less coaching and practice less often, trusting their instincts and creativity to take over when they need it.

I am a feel golfer, but in business.

Thus, I’m guilty of believing that if I can’t remember something, it’s probably not worth remembering. I also abhor unnecessary meetings, structure, and process, as I believe it thwarts creative problem solving and breeds inefficient use of time.

The Convince & Convert Team – 2012

This “go with the flow” attitude serves me well in the very early days, when indeed I could actually remember all that mattered. But I waited too long to flip the switch to project management systems, time tracking systems, accounting and finance systems. Fortunately, Kelly Santina, who heads our operations, came aboard and made me see the light about this and a great many other things.

Today, we are religious users of Teamwork Projects for project management, Sococo for communication, QuickBooks for accounting, and a flotilla of other systems to manage other elements of the business, including CoSchedule to maintain our editorial calendar.

I should have systematized earlier.

I Resisted Specialization For Too Long

One of the truisms of most small companies is “everyone wears a lot of hats.” This is equal parts a financial necessity and a cultural necessity. At first, you don’t have the cash to pay someone to do just one job, and it’s also good for esprit de corps when everyone is pitching in to do everything that needs doing.

The Convince & Convert Team hiking in 2014

But you can’t play that game too long, and I did.

It’s true in a lot of areas, but most so in our business development function. For a long time, Kim Corak handled biz dev for all three divisions: speaking, consulting, and media/content. She did an amazing job. But eventually, I realized that to keep moving forward, we needed more specialized skills. Now, Kelly and I handle most media/content sales, Kim focuses almost exclusively on consulting, and the sublime Michelle Joyce handles the speaking side.

This division of labor isn’t always perfect, but it’s much more sensible than putting everything on one person, and it’s enabled us to continue to grow. I should have done this earlier, too.

I Didn’t Set Appropriate Customer Expectations

As we grew, one of our challenges was making sure customers knew/know that while I see have input on everything we create and publish, I am not personally making every slide of every strategic plan, and I’m not writing every blog post on this site (although I did for a long time).

It’s hard to set customer expectations appropriately, especially when I am the most visible member of the team and clients think I will personally manage every project.

We’re very good at this now, and I’m careful to always talk about WE and rarely about ME when discussing the company and our capabilities. But it was definitely a tough transition for a while there.

Today, we have a similar issue, but with timing. We’re often at capacity on strategy projects, and on content projects, meaning that new opportunities may have to wait 3-4 weeks before we can commence work. Being better at setting those expectations accordingly is something I’m still working through.

I Gathered Too Little Customer Feedback

Related to the prior point, when I was fully in the middle of every project, and essentially quarterbacked everything, it was easy to not worry about formalized customer feedback. I had a handle on what customers thought of us, because I was personally talking to all of them, all the time.

Now that we have grown, and the team does more customer interaction than do I, it’s critical that we have a consistent, standardized feedback system so that we all know how we’re doing, and where we stand.

About 18 months ago we moved to a Net Promoter Score survey protocol, whereby we survey consulting clients at least twice during each project. We also use NPS for speaking opportunities, and we’re going to roll it out for media/content. I am incredibly proud that our NPS is 73 right now, which is very, very high and puts us up there with the best brands in the world.

I wish I would have started this program years ago!

I Gave Disorganized Feedback to My Team

Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I can be a bit of a handful. When I have “suggestions” I tend to offer them at less than ideal times, with less than realistic expectations for execution. I used to email Kelly all the time with “ideas” on things we could/should improve. I’m SURE she loved that!

The Convince & Convert Team – 2014

And then I realized that every time I emailed her, she had to stop what she was doing and address whatever crazy idea I’d come up with in the prior 11 seconds.

Now – and this is especially key because we are 100% virtual and always have been, and we have very few meeting and calls – I send ONE email per week to our head of operations called SOMM: “stuff on my mind”. It’s a compendium of everything that I’m thinking about or upon which I request a status update. Putting all of this in one, weekly email and resisting the temptation to fire off random “but what about…?” emails, has improved operating efficiency dramatically.

I Didn’t Force Proximity EVERY Time

As mentioned, we are an all-virtual firm, with team members all over the USA, and beyond. On occasion groups of us will connect face to face at a client meeting or conference. But the full Convince & Convert team meets in person just ONE time per year, at our annual strategic planning retreat.

Convince & Convert Retreat – 2016

Of our nine retreats, the first one was in Phoenix (when I still lived there) because there were very few of us, and we had no money. Then, we started going to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where we rent a giant house and the whole team (and their spouse/other/friend) lives together with harmony, good times, and good ideas.

We did Puerto Vallarta together in a house every year except for 2017 when we went to Santa Fe and stayed in a boutique hotel. And it was……..fine. But it was definitely not the same. In a virtual firm, in the rare cases when you do get together you have to make it count, and create as many opportunities for unstructured bonding and closeness as possible.

That one year, I didn’t. We did a hotel instead of a house. And it’s not like it killed the company or anything, but it hurt our cohesion a little, which is why we went back to a house this year.

I Pursued Ideas Without Execution

I’m an idea guy. Always have been. It’s why I love consulting. The challenge of figuring out how to improve someone else’s business is fun and exciting for me. But I’m guilty in my own businesses of letting the idea supersede the execution plan, and sometimes I pursue an opportunity without thinking it through 100%.

And it’s a fine line between a culture of trial and testing, and culture of going off half-cocked without a plan. I try really hard to land on the former, but sometimes I peek over toward the latter.

Perhaps the most egregious example is the ill-fated MarketingPodcasts.com project. This was—and maybe still is—a good idea, in my estimation. The premise back in 2013 was that podcast discovery is hard, and it was nearly impossible to find great marketing podcasts with any degree of efficiency. So, I decided to solve that problem. We worked with a dev team to build MarketingPodcasts.com, a sophisticated, algorithm-powered directory of marketing podcasts; like Google for audio programming. It worked, and people liked it.

Here’s the problem. I was so in love with the idea, and so convinced it solved a real problem, I never fully articulated how we were going to make money, or how MarketingPodcasts.com fit into our other divisions and programs at Convince & Convert. After a year or so (maybe less, I’ve blocked out the details!) we shut it down.

Lesson learned (I hope).

I Gave Up First Mover Advantage

A few years ago, I launched one of the first daily video programs in the marketing space, called Jay Today. It was before the Gary Vee show, and long before a lot of other programs of similar type and intent, of which there are now hundreds.

Partially because I was first (or nearly so), and partially because the content was at least decent, Jay Today got pretty good traction. Not Gary Vaynerchuk traction, but good by my mortal standards.

I did the Jay Today show three times each week for about 14 months. And then, I quit. I simply got tired of doing it, which is rare for me (my Social Pros podcast is 8+ years old). I think I just felt like I didn’t have anything else to say in that format at the time, and I sunsetted the show.

Afterwards came the big explosion in daily video programs and video podcasts. About 18 months after the end of Jay Today version 1.0, I returned with Jay Today version 2.0. And it was fine, but I’d lost my first mover advantage.

I let fatigue convince me to give away an edge I’d developed. That was a mistake.

I Picked the Wrong Competitors

In the early years, Convince & Convert was really just Jay’s blog, and operated as such. Then, as we grew it became a multi-author home of intermediate to advanced social media and content marketing advice and counsel.

Over time, we saw ourselves competing against Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, MarketingProfs, TopRank and other terrific online resources that publish daily articles with excellent, tactical, how-to guides to all things digital marketing.

We tried to fight that fire with our own fire, and our editorial approach here began to embrace volume and practical advice as key components.

I realize now that was a mistake. We’re not going to out how-to those great sites, and we never should have tried. We’re a thoughtful, strategic, consulting firm that works with many of the world’s most interesting brands to solve large and thorny marketing and customer experience challenges. We’re not in the how-to business, we’re in the “now what” business.

For a while there, our audience for our content was one persona, and our audience for our consulting services was a different persona. We’ve fixed that now, which is why we publish less frequently here than we used to, our content is purposefully longer-form and more detailed, and a lot of our stuff now is based on first or second party research.

We regained the right focus and are trying to serve the same, smart audience with both content and consulting.

I hope you agree. If you like what we’re doing here, you may want to visit this page to sign up for our feed, where we’ll send you a quick email each time we publish something new.

Thanks again for the opportunity to serve. Whether our relationship began today, 10 years ago, or anywhere in between, I very much appreciate your time and your trust.

And congratulations to all at Convince & Convert for being extraordinary every day, and for getting us to TEN YEARS!  I don’t say it enough, but I love each and every one of you.

https://ift.tt/2Kq7zA8

[christinesumpmg]

My 10 Biggest Mistakes in 10 Years as an Entrepreneur

I guess I’m now a 4%-er. According to Inc. Magazine just 4% of new companies make it to 10 years. And guess what? We just made it here at Convince & Convert. Our 10 year anniversary is today! This is the longest I’ve ever done ANYTHING continuously (other than being a husband and a father), and I’m so proud of my team and the work they’ve done – and continue to do.

We’re so fired up; we even created a temporary new logo to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Convince & Convert.

I was an entrepreneur before I started this firm. In fact, Convince & Convert is my fifth startup endeavor, and I’m an investor in dozens of others. But this is certainly my most well-known and longest-running venture, so on this anniversary date, I decided to take some stock and think about the mistakes I’ve made along the way. I hope these confessions will help you in your own entrepreneurial journey.

There’s been a lot of successes, and I am incredibly thankful to my team, my family, and our remarkable clients, partners, collaborators, and friends for each of them. But me writing about what I may have done right isn’t particularly interesting, or illustrative, in my estimation.

Instead, here are the 10 biggest mistakes I’ve made in 10 years with Convince & Convert.

I Didn’t Delegate Early Enough

It feels like this is a classic entrepreneurial blunder. You trust yourself to do everything exactly how you want it done, and taking on more yourself is usually a pretty cost effective angle of attack as well. For the first four years of this company, I wrote every check, and spent every Saturday at my local bank branch depositing checks. Accounting is not something at which I am particularly adept.

Social Media AZ – back in 2009

Fortunately, I eventually realized that for a company to grow, the leadership of the firm needs to concentrate as much as possible on doing what they are UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO DO. Now, I seek every year to delegate about 15% of my time to others at Convince & Convert. When you do that consistently, it concentrates your own time like a reduction sauce. Eventually, you start to use your own time more and more efficiently and effectively.

I’m not all the way there yet, and I still do some stuff I probably shouldn’t, but I keep working on it. Delegation isn’t a dereliction of duty; it’s how good companies get better. Further, it’s a symptom of great trust in your team, when you let go of things that your formerly held in a death grip of micromanagement.

I Was Late Adopting Systems

Are you a golf fan? If so, you’ll know exactly what I mean when I remind you that there are two types of golfers. The first are practice-based golfers. They have a lot of coaches, and spend a lot of time practicing. They are trying to groove their swing to make it flawlessly repeatable. The second type of golfer are feel players. They seek less coaching and practice less often, trusting their instincts and creativity to take over when they need it.

I am a feel golfer, but in business.

Thus, I’m guilty of believing that if I can’t remember something, it’s probably not worth remembering. I also abhor unnecessary meetings, structure, and process, as I believe it thwarts creative problem solving and breeds inefficient use of time.

The Convince & Convert Team – 2012

This “go with the flow” attitude serves me well in the very early days, when indeed I could actually remember all that mattered. But I waited too long to flip the switch to project management systems, time tracking systems, accounting and finance systems. Fortunately, Kelly Santina, who heads our operations, came aboard and made me see the light about this and a great many other things.

Today, we are religious users of Teamwork Projects for project management, Sococo for communication, QuickBooks for accounting, and a flotilla of other systems to manage other elements of the business, including CoSchedule to maintain our editorial calendar.

I should have systematized earlier.

I Resisted Specialization For Too Long

One of the truisms of most small companies is “everyone wears a lot of hats.” This is equal parts a financial necessity and a cultural necessity. At first, you don’t have the cash to pay someone to do just one job, and it’s also good for esprit de corps when everyone is pitching in to do everything that needs doing.

The Convince & Convert Team hiking in 2014

But you can’t play that game too long, and I did.

It’s true in a lot of areas, but most so in our business development function. For a long time, Kim Corak handled biz dev for all three divisions: speaking, consulting, and media/content. She did an amazing job. But eventually, I realized that to keep moving forward, we needed more specialized skills. Now, Kelly and I handle most media/content sales, Kim focuses almost exclusively on consulting, and the sublime Michelle Joyce handles the speaking side.

This division of labor isn’t always perfect, but it’s much more sensible than putting everything on one person, and it’s enabled us to continue to grow. I should have done this earlier, too.

I Didn’t Set Appropriate Customer Expectations

As we grew, one of our challenges was making sure customers knew/know that while I see have input on everything we create and publish, I am not personally making every slide of every strategic plan, and I’m not writing every blog post on this site (although I did for a long time).

It’s hard to set customer expectations appropriately, especially when I am the most visible member of the team and clients think I will personally manage every project.

We’re very good at this now, and I’m careful to always talk about WE and rarely about ME when discussing the company and our capabilities. But it was definitely a tough transition for a while there.

Today, we have a similar issue, but with timing. We’re often at capacity on strategy projects, and on content projects, meaning that new opportunities may have to wait 3-4 weeks before we can commence work. Being better at setting those expectations accordingly is something I’m still working through.

I Gathered Too Little Customer Feedback

Related to the prior point, when I was fully in the middle of every project, and essentially quarterbacked everything, it was easy to not worry about formalized customer feedback. I had a handle on what customers thought of us, because I was personally talking to all of them, all the time.

Now that we have grown, and the team does more customer interaction than do I, it’s critical that we have a consistent, standardized feedback system so that we all know how we’re doing, and where we stand.

About 18 months ago we moved to a Net Promoter Score survey protocol, whereby we survey consulting clients at least twice during each project. We also use NPS for speaking opportunities, and we’re going to roll it out for media/content. I am incredibly proud that our NPS is 73 right now, which is very, very high and puts us up there with the best brands in the world.

I wish I would have started this program years ago!

I Gave Disorganized Feedback to My Team

Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I can be a bit of a handful. When I have “suggestions” I tend to offer them at less than ideal times, with less than realistic expectations for execution. I used to email Kelly all the time with “ideas” on things we could/should improve. I’m SURE she loved that!

The Convince & Convert Team – 2014

And then I realized that every time I emailed her, she had to stop what she was doing and address whatever crazy idea I’d come up with in the prior 11 seconds.

Now – and this is especially key because we are 100% virtual and always have been, and we have very few meeting and calls – I send ONE email per week to our head of operations called SOMM: “stuff on my mind”. It’s a compendium of everything that I’m thinking about or upon which I request a status update. Putting all of this in one, weekly email and resisting the temptation to fire off random “but what about…?” emails, has improved operating efficiency dramatically.

I Didn’t Force Proximity EVERY Time

As mentioned, we are an all-virtual firm, with team members all over the USA, and beyond. On occasion groups of us will connect face to face at a client meeting or conference. But the full Convince & Convert team meets in person just ONE time per year, at our annual strategic planning retreat.

Convince & Convert Retreat – 2016

Of our nine retreats, the first one was in Phoenix (when I still lived there) because there were very few of us, and we had no money. Then, we started going to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where we rent a giant house and the whole team (and their spouse/other/friend) lives together with harmony, good times, and good ideas.

We did Puerto Vallarta together in a house every year except for 2017 when we went to Santa Fe and stayed in a boutique hotel. And it was……..fine. But it was definitely not the same. In a virtual firm, in the rare cases when you do get together you have to make it count, and create as many opportunities for unstructured bonding and closeness as possible.

That one year, I didn’t. We did a hotel instead of a house. And it’s not like it killed the company or anything, but it hurt our cohesion a little, which is why we went back to a house this year.

I Pursued Ideas Without Execution

I’m an idea guy. Always have been. It’s why I love consulting. The challenge of figuring out how to improve someone else’s business is fun and exciting for me. But I’m guilty in my own businesses of letting the idea supersede the execution plan, and sometimes I pursue an opportunity without thinking it through 100%.

And it’s a fine line between a culture of trial and testing, and culture of going off half-cocked without a plan. I try really hard to land on the former, but sometimes I peek over toward the latter.

Perhaps the most egregious example is the ill-fated MarketingPodcasts.com project. This was—and maybe still is—a good idea, in my estimation. The premise back in 2013 was that podcast discovery is hard, and it was nearly impossible to find great marketing podcasts with any degree of efficiency. So, I decided to solve that problem. We worked with a dev team to build MarketingPodcasts.com, a sophisticated, algorithm-powered directory of marketing podcasts; like Google for audio programming. It worked, and people liked it.

Here’s the problem. I was so in love with the idea, and so convinced it solved a real problem, I never fully articulated how we were going to make money, or how MarketingPodcasts.com fit into our other divisions and programs at Convince & Convert. After a year or so (maybe less, I’ve blocked out the details!) we shut it down.

Lesson learned (I hope).

I Gave Up First Mover Advantage

A few years ago, I launched one of the first daily video programs in the marketing space, called Jay Today. It was before the Gary Vee show, and long before a lot of other programs of similar type and intent, of which there are now hundreds.

Partially because I was first (or nearly so), and partially because the content was at least decent, Jay Today got pretty good traction. Not Gary Vaynerchuk traction, but good by my mortal standards.

I did the Jay Today show three times each week for about 14 months. And then, I quit. I simply got tired of doing it, which is rare for me (my Social Pros podcast is 8+ years old). I think I just felt like I didn’t have anything else to say in that format at the time, and I sunsetted the show.

Afterwards came the big explosion in daily video programs and video podcasts. About 18 months after the end of Jay Today version 1.0, I returned with Jay Today version 2.0. And it was fine, but I’d lost my first mover advantage.

I let fatigue convince me to give away an edge I’d developed. That was a mistake.

I Picked the Wrong Competitors

In the early years, Convince & Convert was really just Jay’s blog, and operated as such. Then, as we grew it became a multi-author home of intermediate to advanced social media and content marketing advice and counsel.

Over time, we saw ourselves competing against Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, MarketingProfs, TopRank and other terrific online resources that publish daily articles with excellent, tactical, how-to guides to all things digital marketing.

We tried to fight that fire with our own fire, and our editorial approach here began to embrace volume and practical advice as key components.

I realize now that was a mistake. We’re not going to out how-to those great sites, and we never should have tried. We’re a thoughtful, strategic, consulting firm that works with many of the world’s most interesting brands to solve large and thorny marketing and customer experience challenges. We’re not in the how-to business, we’re in the “now what” business.

For a while there, our audience for our content was one persona, and our audience for our consulting services was a different persona. We’ve fixed that now, which is why we publish less frequently here than we used to, our content is purposefully longer-form and more detailed, and a lot of our stuff now is based on first or second party research.

We regained the right focus and are trying to serve the same, smart audience with both content and consulting.

I hope you agree. If you like what we’re doing here, you may want to visit this page to sign up for our feed, where we’ll send you a quick email each time we publish something new.

Thanks again for the opportunity to serve. Whether our relationship began today, 10 years ago, or anywhere in between, I very much appreciate your time and your trust.

And congratulations to all at Convince & Convert for being extraordinary every day, and for getting us to TEN YEARS!  I don’t say it enough, but I love each and every one of you.

https://ift.tt/2Kq7zA8

[unixcommerce]

Zoho Hosting a Website Basics Webinar for Small Businesses

If there is anything the surge in remote work has taught us is the importance of digital technology. And in an online world, it all starts with a website.

With that in mind, Zoho is going to hold a webinar to teach people the basics of choosing and registering a domain name. As part of its Educational Webinar series, this particular lesson is called “Setting up Your Website.”

Whether you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur working from home a website is critically important in today’s digital ecosystem. A website allows you to tell the world about your business, sell your products and services, interact with your customers and much more.

This webinar is going to start at the beginning of your online journey so you can establish your brand. In addition to choosing and registering a domain name, the webinar will also go over web hosting options for your business.

Educational Webinar: Setting up Your Website is going to be held on August 26 starting from 1-1:45 p.m. EST.

Click the red button and register.

Register Now

Featured Events, Contests and Awards

Small Business Expo 2020 – BOSTON August 13, 2020, Boston, MA

Small Business Expo is the most anticipated business-to-business networking & educational event, trade show & conference for business owners, entrepreneurs, start-ups, decision-makers or anyone who works for a small business or is interested in starting a Small Business. Small Business Expo is a FREE one-day event to attend for small businesses to network, attend great business-growth workshops, build new business relationships, exchange ideas, shop from new vendors and learn from leading industry experts.

Educational Webinar: Setting up Your Website August 26, 2020, Online

Learn the basics of choosing and registering a domain name. We’ll also go over web hosting options so you can decide what’s best for your business.

Educational Webinar: Establishing Your Brand Story September 2, 2020, Online

Learn how to find, incorporate, and use your brand’s voice throughout your website to increase website traffic, improve customer engagement, and drive brand loyalty.

Educational Webinar: Elements of Website Design September 9, 2020, Online

Join us to learn about fonts, color schemes, and gain a basic understanding of visual hierarchy.

Educational Webinar: Converting Visitors to Leads September 16, 2020, Online

Learn best practices for optimizing webforms and CTAs in order to maximize the number of visitor conversions on their site.

Getting Started with Zoho One September 23, 2020, Online

In this presentation, we will walk through an overview of Zoho One using real case studies from Zoho customers to demonstrate different ways Zoho One can support your business.

Small Business Expo 2020 – PHILADELPHIA October 28, 2020, Philadelphia, PA

Small Business Expo is a FREE one-day event to attend for small businesses to network, attend great business-growth workshops, build new business relationships, exchange ideas, shop from new vendors and learn from leading industry experts. If you are serious about starting or growing your business, Small Business Expo is a “must attend” event. Small Business Expo is the #1 Business to Business Networking Event for business owners, entrepreneurs, start-ups, decision-makers or anyone who works for a small business or is interested in starting a Small Business.

LinkUpConferenceShow November 12, 2020, Online

LinkUpConferenceShow (LUCS) is a digital networking conference that merges the incredibly dynamic worlds of tech and comedy to provide informative and personalized networking opportunities designed to help executives, entrepreneurs, business leaders and tech professionals grow and scale their businesses. LUCS is the tech conference that combines Silicon Valley insights with New York’s nonstop energy to bring the technology community a totally new virtual experience designed to inspire, engage and entertain.

More Events

Remotely Delivering Effective Coaching and Feedback August 4, 2020, Online

How D2C Brands Are Defining The Future of Retail – Free Online Event with Digital Leaders August 6, 2020, Online

Intermitten 2020 August 7, 2020, Online

ACES Summit August 11, 2020, Washington, DC

CNBC’s Small Business Playbook: The Path Forward August 12, 2020, Online

Free Webinar – New Rules of Marketing: Behind The Changing CMO Role August 19, 2020, Online

Digital Marketing Transformation Virtual Assembly – August 2020 August 25, 2020, Online

Advancing Integrated Project Delivery 2020 September 14, 2020, Online

Small Business Expo 2020 – PHOENIX October 1, 2020, Phoenix, AZ

World-Famous HR Technology Event, Oct. 2020 October 13, 2020, Las Vegas, NV

Creative Operations San Francisco 2020 October 14, 2020, San Francisco, CA

Miami’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 20, 2020, Online

Small Business Expo 2020 – CHICAGO October 20, 2020, Chicago, IL

Atlanta’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 22, 2020, Atlanta, GA

Houston’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 24, 2020, Houston, TX

Austin’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 26, 2020, Austin, TX

Claims Innovation USA Virtual Event October 26, 2020, Online

AI DevWorld 2020 October 27, 2020, Online

Salt Lake City’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour October 31, 2020, Austin, TX

Denver’s Largest MBA Event! QS MBA Tour November 2, 2020, Denver, CO

More Contests

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends.

You can see a full list of events, contest and award listings or post your own events by visiting the Small Business Events Calendar.

Image: zoho.com

This article, “Zoho Hosting a Website Basics Webinar for Small Businesses” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

The post Zoho Hosting a Website Basics Webinar for Small Businesses appeared first on Unix Commerce.

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[mercedessharonwo1]

My 10 Biggest Mistakes in 10 Years as an Entrepreneur

I guess I’m now a 4%-er. According to Inc. Magazine just 4% of new companies make it to 10 years. And guess what? We just made it here at Convince & Convert. Our 10 year anniversary is today! This is the longest I’ve ever done ANYTHING continuously (other than being a husband and a father), and I’m so proud of my team and the work they’ve done – and continue to do.

We’re so fired up; we even created a temporary new logo to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Convince & Convert.

I was an entrepreneur before I started this firm. In fact, Convince & Convert is my fifth startup endeavor, and I’m an investor in dozens of others. But this is certainly my most well-known and longest-running venture, so on this anniversary date, I decided to take some stock and think about the mistakes I’ve made along the way. I hope these confessions will help you in your own entrepreneurial journey.

There’s been a lot of successes, and I am incredibly thankful to my team, my family, and our remarkable clients, partners, collaborators, and friends for each of them. But me writing about what I may have done right isn’t particularly interesting, or illustrative, in my estimation.

Instead, here are the 10 biggest mistakes I’ve made in 10 years with Convince & Convert.

I Didn’t Delegate Early Enough

It feels like this is a classic entrepreneurial blunder. You trust yourself to do everything exactly how you want it done, and taking on more yourself is usually a pretty cost effective angle of attack as well. For the first four years of this company, I wrote every check, and spent every Saturday at my local bank branch depositing checks. Accounting is not something at which I am particularly adept.

Social Media AZ – back in 2009

Fortunately, I eventually realized that for a company to grow, the leadership of the firm needs to concentrate as much as possible on doing what they are UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO DO. Now, I seek every year to delegate about 15% of my time to others at Convince & Convert. When you do that consistently, it concentrates your own time like a reduction sauce. Eventually, you start to use your own time more and more efficiently and effectively.

I’m not all the way there yet, and I still do some stuff I probably shouldn’t, but I keep working on it. Delegation isn’t a dereliction of duty; it’s how good companies get better. Further, it’s a symptom of great trust in your team, when you let go of things that your formerly held in a death grip of micromanagement.

I Was Late Adopting Systems

Are you a golf fan? If so, you’ll know exactly what I mean when I remind you that there are two types of golfers. The first are practice-based golfers. They have a lot of coaches, and spend a lot of time practicing. They are trying to groove their swing to make it flawlessly repeatable. The second type of golfer are feel players. They seek less coaching and practice less often, trusting their instincts and creativity to take over when they need it.

I am a feel golfer, but in business.

Thus, I’m guilty of believing that if I can’t remember something, it’s probably not worth remembering. I also abhor unnecessary meetings, structure, and process, as I believe it thwarts creative problem solving and breeds inefficient use of time.

The Convince & Convert Team – 2012

This “go with the flow” attitude serves me well in the very early days, when indeed I could actually remember all that mattered. But I waited too long to flip the switch to project management systems, time tracking systems, accounting and finance systems. Fortunately, Kelly Santina, who heads our operations, came aboard and made me see the light about this and a great many other things.

Today, we are religious users of Teamwork Projects for project management, Sococo for communication, QuickBooks for accounting, and a flotilla of other systems to manage other elements of the business, including CoSchedule to maintain our editorial calendar.

I should have systematized earlier.

I Resisted Specialization For Too Long

One of the truisms of most small companies is “everyone wears a lot of hats.” This is equal parts a financial necessity and a cultural necessity. At first, you don’t have the cash to pay someone to do just one job, and it’s also good for esprit de corps when everyone is pitching in to do everything that needs doing.

The Convince & Convert Team hiking in 2014

But you can’t play that game too long, and I did.

It’s true in a lot of areas, but most so in our business development function. For a long time, Kim Corak handled biz dev for all three divisions: speaking, consulting, and media/content. She did an amazing job. But eventually, I realized that to keep moving forward, we needed more specialized skills. Now, Kelly and I handle most media/content sales, Kim focuses almost exclusively on consulting, and the sublime Michelle Joyce handles the speaking side.

This division of labor isn’t always perfect, but it’s much more sensible than putting everything on one person, and it’s enabled us to continue to grow. I should have done this earlier, too.

I Didn’t Set Appropriate Customer Expectations

As we grew, one of our challenges was making sure customers knew/know that while I see have input on everything we create and publish, I am not personally making every slide of every strategic plan, and I’m not writing every blog post on this site (although I did for a long time).

It’s hard to set customer expectations appropriately, especially when I am the most visible member of the team and clients think I will personally manage every project.

We’re very good at this now, and I’m careful to always talk about WE and rarely about ME when discussing the company and our capabilities. But it was definitely a tough transition for a while there.

Today, we have a similar issue, but with timing. We’re often at capacity on strategy projects, and on content projects, meaning that new opportunities may have to wait 3-4 weeks before we can commence work. Being better at setting those expectations accordingly is something I’m still working through.

I Gathered Too Little Customer Feedback

Related to the prior point, when I was fully in the middle of every project, and essentially quarterbacked everything, it was easy to not worry about formalized customer feedback. I had a handle on what customers thought of us, because I was personally talking to all of them, all the time.

Now that we have grown, and the team does more customer interaction than do I, it’s critical that we have a consistent, standardized feedback system so that we all know how we’re doing, and where we stand.

About 18 months ago we moved to a Net Promoter Score survey protocol, whereby we survey consulting clients at least twice during each project. We also use NPS for speaking opportunities, and we’re going to roll it out for media/content. I am incredibly proud that our NPS is 73 right now, which is very, very high and puts us up there with the best brands in the world.

I wish I would have started this program years ago!

I Gave Disorganized Feedback to My Team

Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I can be a bit of a handful. When I have “suggestions” I tend to offer them at less than ideal times, with less than realistic expectations for execution. I used to email Kelly all the time with “ideas” on things we could/should improve. I’m SURE she loved that!

The Convince & Convert Team – 2014

And then I realized that every time I emailed her, she had to stop what she was doing and address whatever crazy idea I’d come up with in the prior 11 seconds.

Now – and this is especially key because we are 100% virtual and always have been, and we have very few meeting and calls – I send ONE email per week to our head of operations called SOMM: “stuff on my mind”. It’s a compendium of everything that I’m thinking about or upon which I request a status update. Putting all of this in one, weekly email and resisting the temptation to fire off random “but what about…?” emails, has improved operating efficiency dramatically.

I Didn’t Force Proximity EVERY Time

As mentioned, we are an all-virtual firm, with team members all over the USA, and beyond. On occasion groups of us will connect face to face at a client meeting or conference. But the full Convince & Convert team meets in person just ONE time per year, at our annual strategic planning retreat.

Convince & Convert Retreat – 2016

Of our nine retreats, the first one was in Phoenix (when I still lived there) because there were very few of us, and we had no money. Then, we started going to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where we rent a giant house and the whole team (and their spouse/other/friend) lives together with harmony, good times, and good ideas.

We did Puerto Vallarta together in a house every year except for 2017 when we went to Santa Fe and stayed in a boutique hotel. And it was……..fine. But it was definitely not the same. In a virtual firm, in the rare cases when you do get together you have to make it count, and create as many opportunities for unstructured bonding and closeness as possible.

That one year, I didn’t. We did a hotel instead of a house. And it’s not like it killed the company or anything, but it hurt our cohesion a little, which is why we went back to a house this year.

I Pursued Ideas Without Execution

I’m an idea guy. Always have been. It’s why I love consulting. The challenge of figuring out how to improve someone else’s business is fun and exciting for me. But I’m guilty in my own businesses of letting the idea supersede the execution plan, and sometimes I pursue an opportunity without thinking it through 100%.

And it’s a fine line between a culture of trial and testing, and culture of going off half-cocked without a plan. I try really hard to land on the former, but sometimes I peek over toward the latter.

Perhaps the most egregious example is the ill-fated MarketingPodcasts.com project. This was—and maybe still is—a good idea, in my estimation. The premise back in 2013 was that podcast discovery is hard, and it was nearly impossible to find great marketing podcasts with any degree of efficiency. So, I decided to solve that problem. We worked with a dev team to build MarketingPodcasts.com, a sophisticated, algorithm-powered directory of marketing podcasts; like Google for audio programming. It worked, and people liked it.

Here’s the problem. I was so in love with the idea, and so convinced it solved a real problem, I never fully articulated how we were going to make money, or how MarketingPodcasts.com fit into our other divisions and programs at Convince & Convert. After a year or so (maybe less, I’ve blocked out the details!) we shut it down.

Lesson learned (I hope).

I Gave Up First Mover Advantage

A few years ago, I launched one of the first daily video programs in the marketing space, called Jay Today. It was before the Gary Vee show, and long before a lot of other programs of similar type and intent, of which there are now hundreds.

Partially because I was first (or nearly so), and partially because the content was at least decent, Jay Today got pretty good traction. Not Gary Vaynerchuk traction, but good by my mortal standards.

I did the Jay Today show three times each week for about 14 months. And then, I quit. I simply got tired of doing it, which is rare for me (my Social Pros podcast is 8+ years old). I think I just felt like I didn’t have anything else to say in that format at the time, and I sunsetted the show.

Afterwards came the big explosion in daily video programs and video podcasts. About 18 months after the end of Jay Today version 1.0, I returned with Jay Today version 2.0. And it was fine, but I’d lost my first mover advantage.

I let fatigue convince me to give away an edge I’d developed. That was a mistake.

I Picked the Wrong Competitors

In the early years, Convince & Convert was really just Jay’s blog, and operated as such. Then, as we grew it became a multi-author home of intermediate to advanced social media and content marketing advice and counsel.

Over time, we saw ourselves competing against Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, MarketingProfs, TopRank and other terrific online resources that publish daily articles with excellent, tactical, how-to guides to all things digital marketing.

We tried to fight that fire with our own fire, and our editorial approach here began to embrace volume and practical advice as key components.

I realize now that was a mistake. We’re not going to out how-to those great sites, and we never should have tried. We’re a thoughtful, strategic, consulting firm that works with many of the world’s most interesting brands to solve large and thorny marketing and customer experience challenges. We’re not in the how-to business, we’re in the “now what” business.

For a while there, our audience for our content was one persona, and our audience for our consulting services was a different persona. We’ve fixed that now, which is why we publish less frequently here than we used to, our content is purposefully longer-form and more detailed, and a lot of our stuff now is based on first or second party research.

We regained the right focus and are trying to serve the same, smart audience with both content and consulting.

I hope you agree. If you like what we’re doing here, you may want to visit this page to sign up for our feed, where we’ll send you a quick email each time we publish something new.

Thanks again for the opportunity to serve. Whether our relationship began today, 10 years ago, or anywhere in between, I very much appreciate your time and your trust.

And congratulations to all at Convince & Convert for being extraordinary every day, and for getting us to TEN YEARS!  I don’t say it enough, but I love each and every one of you.

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