| Blogging is not as hard as you may think. Just get started, that’s how most experts today got it done. In this week’s master-class, we unpack some of the issues around blogging and share some secrets to get this working well for your online brand footprint.
Watch the video below for the full lesson (30 minutes). Next week we chat about FaceBook and how to leverage your page to grow your businesses. Register HERE
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For a select few blogging comes as naturally as talking to a good friend. People make a living from blogging, some even a great living. I know of food bloggers, music bloggers, life and love bloggers. I once met a young lady who made a living about blogging about her personal experience of testing sex toys. #truestory
For the rest of us, we need to tap into our inner creative side, brew coffee and muster all our energy to carve out a good 300-word document. Blogging is not easy: it does get easier with practice, but for the most, we need to know the rules and required format and then try to be creative whilst conforming to all of the above.
Blogging for the Entrepreneur is essential. It becomes your information life line to the world and compliments your online profile and brand footprint.
This week we will chat about all things blogging during our Webinar Master-Class on Wednesday at 12:00 CAT. We will cover the essentials of a good blog, look at some examples of successful blogs and then give you some ideas on how best to start or restart your business blog.
If you are interested in blogging or have someone in your business that needs to be interested, then please join us on Wednesday or later for the recorded version. We will, of course, report the entire webinar blog here on Thursday.
Until then: happy blogging – I know you can do it.
| Most people do not consider using LinkedIn as a part of their monthly social media strategy. Once some details have been loaded, most profiles are just left to fend for themselves with little or no updates or posts.
In this 30-minute master class, we go through some of the critical functions and processes to turn your LinkedIn profile into an active marketing tool for both you and your business. Here are some highlights, please also watch the attached video. LinkedIn is a business and employment-oriented social networking service. Your personal profile covers the following areas:
Each of these should be setup and then maintained and added to on a regular basis to keep them current and interesting. Join Groups that are related to both your business sector and your customer, then connect with members of those groups. When you accept invites from others, send them a message to connect with them and give them something to read, download or link to that may spark further conversation. Ensure your website blogs are copied/linked to your LinkedIn profile that will create a regular input of articles. Comment on other people’s articles and ask and answer questions on a regular cycle. Watch the full video (33 min) for all the details of these points and some more helpful hints on how best to leverage LinkedIn. |
This month as we tackle some of the Social Media platforms and unpack some of the ways to best use them for small business and Entrepreneurs, we start with LinkedIn. Register HERE
Many people we speak to seem to have ignored LinkedIn as their primary focus for brand building and online activity. We get comments such as “Why LinkedIn?”, “It is only for job hunting”, “It does not do anything for me” and “There is no company stuff, just people”.
Well in all these cases the answer is, “It can assist you and your business, in many different ways”. But like all platforms: if you do not work it, it will not work for you. We constantly strive for new innovative ways to leverage our online presence for the greater good of our business. Recently I attended a workshop run by Charlotte Kemp, one of most informed LinkedIn person I know. Charlotte was able to show us some cool tips and tricks to add to the stuff I already knew to put our LinkedIn profile on the gas burner.
So here is a short quiz for you to take: Yes or No answers
If you scored more than 2 “No” for the above 6 questions, then you are in dire need of some LinkedIn butt-kicking and I extend to you a special invite to our Wednesday Weekly Webinar presented on 6th September at 12:00.
Register HERE and learn with many others some of the tips, tricks and strategic techniques to make LinkedIn work for you.
Why is Social Media important? 3-5 decades ago, long distance communication was limited to telephones and fax machines. Information was stored and distributed mainly on paper. With the rapid increase in knowledge, one would have guessed we were headed for a disaster especially in an environmental perspective. Then came Social Media.
It’s no surprise that social media is, well social. Social Media content generally has more informal tone than other communications. That not to say Social Media messages are not also professional. LinkedIn is a Social Media networking specifically designed for career and business professionals to connect. It’s about building strategic relationships, making it hard to sell product on the platform. Facebook is one of the cheapest, largest and the most prominent Social Media networking application today.
Social Media is useful when people can use the information to see their lives in new ways, change business strategic ideas, or learn something they didn’t know before. It’s also an affordable way to increase brand awareness, Launches, relevant quiz, marketing, competitions, surveys, referrals and much more. Its tools help to build awareness and direct readers to take action or find more information.
A blog is a frequently updated online personal journal or diary. It is a place to express yourself to the world. A place to share your thoughts and your passions. Really, it’s anything you want it to be. For our purposes, we’ll say that a blog is your own website that you are going to update on an ongoing basis. A blog is a short form for the word weblog and the two words are used interchangeably. Youtube most popular video sites on the web today.
Social Media messages should have a call to action, urging people to take the next step. What is your next step?
The weeks will be split into lessons pertaining to the different platforms. So save the following dates and follow the links to book your spots on the social media webinars and workshops and get yourself added to the mailing list to get the regular blogs on this subject.
6 Sept – LinkedIn – BOOK HERE
13 Sept – Blogging – BOOK HERE
20 Sept – FaceBook – BOOK HERE
27 Sept – YouTube – BOOK HERE
Do you have a new invention? Do you think it will get to market? Maybe make you millions, so you can retire on a beach and sip cocktails? Well, maybe this article is for you.
We all have those good ideas spark through our brains at least once in our life time: for inventors and innovators, it happens a lot. But what you do with these ideas depends on a number of things: Energy, Time and Money.
Do you have the energy to invest in the invention and start working on the initial concept? This will often take you on a roller coaster of emotions as you think you have a great idea but then find something else that is similar, so you change it and again you find something else, then your friends laugh at your idea and so it goes. Your mental and emotional energy needs to be prepared for the long haul here. Be ready to spend many hours online and getting your emotional butt kicked.
Time is money and money buys you time. Both will be a big issue as you work on your new invention. Do not think that this will be a short time to wealth. It will take months, if not years to get to market. You will need to do a bunch of research, design, prototyping and many different iterations of your idea until it works.
Then you will have to face the daunting task of IP: securing your Intellectual Property with PPA, PCT, Designs, and Trademarks that all come with costs and more time, and more costs.
Typically we see a physical product development from initial concept to final prototype in 9 months with a cost of around R50k. (This is an average and can change depending on the complexity of your product) At this stage, you should be ready to chat to people for a deal to go to market.
So pitch ready, prototype in hand you can chat to a big firm to get your idea into production and ready for distribution. You will need this to assist in the future IP costs, molds and logistics that still need to be done. A typical joint-venture goes to the inventor 10%-90% and if you are lucky enough a little more up to 20%. But if this product is good and it sells this should be enough to make you some money and pay for your kid’s schooling or your retirement plans.
Scary enough for you: Do not fear we are here to assist with all this and take your idea through this quagmire or complexity. We do not promise a smooth road but will keep you on the road and encourage, educate and support you emotionally along the way.
Join us on our monthly inventor’s get-together or call us direct for a chat about your new idea that will change the world.
POPI or the Protection of Personal Information Act is coming. We are not sure when or how, but coming it is and businesses of all sizes need to be ready and compliant or face the consequences.
Now I am sure that you will join in with the millions of others and just brush it off as yet another Act from the government that will not be implemented and if it is, it will never be enforced. And Yes, I agree with a lot of that, but the POPI act does give us some good guidelines as to how we should be running our businesses and how we need to and should be handling the sensitive data of our staff and clients.
So I would suggest that you either enroll in one of those expensive courses that are currently being run by all sorts of people across the country of doing some research for yourself and find out exactly what you and your firm are in for before you spend any money.
We are on this quest and doing a bunch of reading, listening, and research to find out exactly what small businesses need to do and be to become compliant. This we will share here and on various webinars over the next few months. So you can relax a bit and read these articles or do your own research.
What we have learned so far is this: There is nothing that needs to be done now: so relax. If you are just a normal business with client lists, a mailing list, and some backups: there is very little to do other than firm up your business processes and maybe write a document or two. If you are in the mass market with many different types of lists, marketing platforms or if you manage people’s sensitive information such as financial or health data: then you need to do a whole bunch more.
This serves just as an initial warning to put POPI on your radar for the next 6 months as an investigation then later for some form of implementation. If you want to add to this or learn more then, please contact us on this website and we would love to engage with you and chat further. POPI goes well with Coffee.
We get a lot of people knocking on our doors asking for help to take their ideas to market and make then a truck load of money. Mostly by this time they have already spent a fortune on their new idea and come with cap in hand begging for some advice to get them to the next stage.
Here is some advice we offer them:
Come sooner rather than later: we know where it is that you need to spend money and where you can save a whole bunch. It is what we do.
Know the problem you are trying to solve: you will need to have done a full research assessment into the problem you are trying to solve and into the product you are trying to develop. It is a waste of time just reinventing the wheel that someone else has done before. If we find a similar business or product we cannot help you with the development of yours unless it is unique or very different.
Keep your ideas secret: Once you have made your ideas public, it becomes very difficult to register any form of IP. Anyone you work with or share your ideas with needs to sign and adhere to a Non-Disclosure Agreement. We have an Engagement agreement we sign with all our clients, this covers the NDA, work for hire and IP transfer and our fees. Be very careful who you talk to.
Develop your networks: It is very difficult, if not impossible to develop an idea and get it to market on your own: you will need a good team that adds value to your business and product development cycle.
Be aware of scams: the web is full of getting rich with your invention scams. Never trust anyone who demands fees up front or offers riches in exchange for your idea. In reality, it is a long and often expensive road to your first payment. We will navigate this with you and tell you truthfully if it is not worth perusing or ready to market.
With all this in mind, we recommend that you engage with us as soon as you have that idea, we can advise you on the best way forward and who to talk to from 3D printers, mouldings, IP issues, Business development and saving money.
