Kendall Summerhawk asked:


You’ve heard it before, right?

How you’re supposed to work on your business instead of in your business? Sounds good, but how on earth do you make that happen when you’re already stretched thin trying to get everything done in your day?

Carving out time to consistently work on your woman-owned business is actually quite simple if, instead of trying to “fit it all in”, you shift your outlook about this important time.

Trying to “fit it all in” is a left-brained, logical way of looking at your time. It’s a distinctly masculine viewpoint of time, which works great when you need to powerhouse your way through a project. But, it does not work as well when you find yourself butting up against the competing needs of clients, family, exercise, down time and other priorities.

Here are four tips for turning your marketing strategy time into sacred time so you can accomplish what matters most, even on your busiest days:

Small Business Marketing Tip #1: Create a ritual of beginning and completing your marketing tasks.

Days that seem to run together are missing the important ritual of beginning and completing, a ritual that actually helps you feel like time is slowing down. So instead of letting your marketing tasks bleed through to everything else, create your own personal ritual that signals the start of your marketing for the day. One of my favorite rituals is to close out my email program, unplug the telephone and pull out my marketing to-do list. When finished, I just reverse my steps for a satisfying feeling of completion.

Small Business Marketing Tip #2: Clear space on your desk, even if just for ten minutes.

If your desk is normally piled with papers and sticky notes, try moving everything off to one side so you have a nice, clean welcoming work space. You’ll be surprised at how much more creative you are with your marketing plans when you (literally!) make space for them!

Small Business Marketing Tip #3: Keep it pretty.

Who says marketing has to be unattractive?! I use pretty marking pens, colorful folders, pretty paper clips and sticky notes with inspiring messages printed on them to keep my marketing ideas and projects organized and fun. Making what we do a visual treat is an important part of creating a feeling of the sacred.

Small Business Marketing Tip #4: Don’t let the needs of others trample your sacred time.

Sacred time inspires feelings of abundance, importance and quiet. Think of it this way: you wouldn’t play loud rock music in the middle of a sanctuary, would you? Of course not. So it makes sense that you wouldn’t let other people interrupt your sacred marketing strategy time either.

By thinking of your marketing strategy time as sacred time you’ll find it simple and easy to honor working on your business, so that your woman-owned business grows and thrives into the true expression of your Soul’s Divine Mission™ that it’s meant to be!

Tammi Metzler asked:


If you haven’t been hiding under a rock for the last few years, you’ve probably heard people talking about blogging for both business and pleasure. But you may have no idea what blogging is or how to get started. Well, I’m here to tell you.

Keeping a business marketing blog can do wonders for your business, both by driving traffic to your web site and by establishing you as an expert in your field.

I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s start at the beginning. What is a blog, you ask? According to Wikipedia.com:

A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

What does this mean for you, the small business owner?  Blogging isn’t typically a method to get clients now; it’s more of a branding practice to get your name out there. Search engines love blogs because of the fresh content. With that being the case, a blog can bring new visitors to your site, and your regularly updated blog content can keep interested visitors coming back to your site to check out what’s new. Eventually, those interested prospects will start to see you as an expert, and the next time they need what you’re selling, they’ll remember you. 

The hardest part is coming up with fresh content for your blog. You can’t write a blog post once every two months and expect to have any favorable results. There’s nothing worse than a silent blog, so if you think you lack the time to maintain one, you’re better off exploring other options, whether that be looking into other internet marketing methods or hiring a copywriter to take care of the dirty work of actual getting your thoughts down into writing (yes, we do exist, and we can transform your knowledge and experience into interesting content that will attract the attention of your potential customers). If you can commit just a few hours a week to posting at least two blogs (or if you’re ready to hire a copywriter to take on this task for you), read on for more information about this increasingly popular marketing method.

Quite frankly, a small time commitment each week leads to the possibility of greater exposure for your business. Which means more interested customers are stumbling onto your web site, which means a higher chance of sales. It’s really very simple!

But maybe you’re not a writer, so it’s not that simple after all. If you find yourself staring at a blank page when it’s time to write your posts, take a moment to think about the questions your customers regularly ask you. For instance, let’s say you’re a financial consultant and people constantly ask you the easiest way to create a budget so they can pay their bills and still have fun money left over. Jot down the top ten tips that you would give your customers and describe each one in detail in its own blog posts. Just like that, you’ve got your first ten blog posts. If you post twice per week, you’re covered for five weeks!

Don’t let that stop your creative wheels from turning, though, because those five weeks will be gone before you know it. Keep looking for new ideas, and be sure to write them down as they come to you. You don’t want to be stuck scrambling for new material on a moment’s notice – you can bet your creative muse will be on vacation just when you need it the most!

I know what you’re thinking…”Sounds interesting, but how much is this gonna cost me?” Nothing more than your time, my friend. You can set up a new blog in mere moments with no out-of-pocket expense. Check out www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com for a few free blog options. Yep, that’s right – FREE. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Or maybe you’re concerned about the technological aspect. Have no fear; you don’t have to know HTML code (or even know what that is) to create your own blog. The programs mentioned above do all the behind-the-scenes work for you, so all you have to do is start typing. What are you waiting for?

The next time you find yourself with the desire (or the need) to grow your business, consider the increasingly popular world of blogging to get your name in front of potential clients.

Happy blogging!

Todd Jirecek asked:


Small businesses are popping up everywhere. However, one of the biggest problems they face is small business marketing. To understand this lets first take a look at why.

Today more than ever, people are jumping on the small business band wagon like the traffic that arrives at a 60% off sales at a major clothing store.

There are all kinds of people starting their own plumbing business, contracting business and whatever else you can think of.

Part of the reason for this is there is no job security anymore and unions seem to be a thing of the past. The days are long gone where people stayed at the same job for 25 years or more.

Corporations have downsized more than ever in today’s changing world. People seem to be laid off for just about any reason you can think of anymore. One thing is for sure, the economy has changed.

Many people think we are doomed as a society but, are they failing to realize that things have just only changed.

It’s kind of like the auto worker who was laid off because he was replaced by the mechanical robot arm that now makes cars. However that worker took notice and went back to school and learned to repair those robots.

His future is now bright again because he was able to see the change he needed to make.

In marketing, the same change takes place all the time. Marketing is a never ending battle to get the word about your products or services.

If one thing doesn’t work you should try something else until you land upon a winning combination. And then create a small business marketing plan.

Don’t get caught up in the mindset of you tried something once and it didn’t work for you so therefore it doesn’t work at all.

Marketing takes many years of skill and practice to be able to perform it like a red belt karate master.

But let’s look at that karate master just a little closer for a second. In some forms of martial arts, a black belt has to learn only 5 to 10 moves to become a black belt.

So they practice those moves over and over until they know them like a pup knows its own mother.

The point here is many people are looking for the quick fix all the time. They continue to search out many sources of marketing information without taking any action at all.

Learning is a very positive thing and should be performed all the time.

However, one of the greatest tricks of marketing is finding that one thing that you know you can do and works very well for you.

And then repeat it over and over until you know it like the karate master.

Then and only then can you move on to other things in the marketing mix to help make your business more money.

Again, do not get caught up in thinking you have to learn and do everything at one. Your business marketing will take time to learn.

Make it a process and enjoy it. Continue to read books and other marketing strategies materials that help you learn more.

If you find yourself in a bind and already own a business that needs help with marketing. Here are five small steps to help you until you learn the bigger picture.

1. Hire an expert. Many marketing experts do consult for thousands of dollars at a time. However, maybe you have a friend that owns a business. Jump up off the couch and see what they do for their marketing.

2. Get the word out. Listen you are going to make mistakes. But, doing nothing is a total loss. Get out there and do something today to make it happen. You could try to make a flayer and hand it out to people.

3. Tell your friends and family. Friend and family are there to help when you need it. So don’t be shy. Ask them for help. You could ask them if they might know anyone interested in your business or if they know anyone who could help you.

4. Start a company web site. A website is a great way to get the word out about your business. The trick here is learning about web marketing. One way could be a logo on your car.

5. Joint partnerships with other businesses. Whatever business you own there are similar businesses that you could pair up with. You could recommend each others products or services to the others customers. Just make sure they are in line with your target market.

These are small ways to leverage your business over your competition.

Just remember to learn all you can and if you do nothing else take action to make it happen.

You will stumble along the way, that is a given. But, if you do nothing you have no business.