While I was in Dallas a few weeks ago for the eWomenNetwork International conference, I met two women from Dell Computer.  The women were from a new Women Business Owner Initiative and spent a long time talking with me about how they are trying to connect with women business owners to meet their needs.

I told them that they should try to connect on a personal level, as many, many women business owners are small companies operated out of their homes by moms just like me. As Nika Stewart says, we’re Laptop Moms!

I went on to share with them about how my girls like to play “office” on a daily basis and when they do, they staple two pieces of paper together to make laptops.  My 8-year old even writes DELL across the top, complete with the slanted “E” in the logo, just like on my laptop!

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There is a story about how Shoestring Marketing was born. And, I tell my story all the time.

It’s in the “About Me” section of my website. It’s in my ebooks. It’s in my sales-copy. When I host webinars and teleseminars, I start with the story behind Shoestring Marketing.

Why?

Because it helps my prospects connect with me.

The goal in telling my small business story is to show people that I personally know what it feels like to build a business on a shoestring budget. And that it CAN be done.

I tell my story so that I can try and convince people that if I can do it – so can they.

If you really want to stand out from the crowd, then you have to connect with people on a deeper level.

It’s not enough to tell people about the features of your product or service. Believe it or not, they really don’t care that your widget is faster than the speed of light.

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I had an amazing interview with Laura West yesterday on my “Spotlight on Style” radio show on the Diva Toolbox Network at BlogTalk Radio. Our topic was “How to Market Your Business Like a Business Goddess for More Success with Grace and Joy” and Laura did not disappoint! I’ve been coaching with Laura for several years now and feel so connected to her joy-full approach to marketing for heart-based business owners like me. She shared some fabulous information with my listeners, including the “7 Traps” that we face as women entrepreneurs. I guarantee you will learn some valuable tips from this call! If you missed it, or just want to listen again, you can go to my show page for the replay.

Here’s how you can connect with Laura and learn more about the Business Goddess movement:

The Center for Joyful Business: www.joyfulbusiness.com

FREE Inspirational Download — The Business Goddess Manifesto: www.joyfulbusiness.com/manifesto

Like most small business owners, you’re probably putting a lot of time and energy into building your email list.

And, like most small business owners, there’s that inevitable day when deep despair kicks in. You only have 150 subscribers, you’ve worked your butt off and, at this point, you’ll do just about anything to get more subscribers.

In your desperate state of mind, you decide that you’re going to employ a creative, simple tactic to jump-start that list.

So, you cleverly go over to your Facebook Fanpage, gather up your Fans’ email addresses and shove them into your email autoresponder program. Then, you head over to LinkedIn and Twitter and grab those email addresses as well. Wow…you instantly added a few hundred people to your list. You certainly are a clever little genius!

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Many small business owners shy away from video marketing because they’re camera-shy and don’t want to be the “star” of the video. However, even if you don’t do well in the spotlight, you should still consider using videos as a marketing strategy for your small business.

Whether you want to be the main focus of your videos or not, here are four ways to produce your videos.

1) Someone Else Is The Star. If you don’t want to be the main focus in your videos, you can always have a business partner, employee, assistant or someone else associated with your small business be the star. It’s important to keep in mind that they need to have a strong grasp of your business and be able to relate it effortlessly to your viewers.

2) Record Your Screen. Screen capture software allows you to record what you’re doing on your computer screen along with voice narration. You can create instructional videos, demonstrations, or a powerpoint presentation. Usually screenware capture software is well over $200. However, there is a free alternative available at: www.jingsoftwareproject.com Jing has excellent editing capabilities and allows you to convert your videos to many different formats.

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I want to ask you a very simple question. More importantly, I want you to take the time to answer it reflectively and honestly.

“Why are you living the life that you are living right this very moment?”

Are you happy with your family, your relationships, your finances, your career and your spirituality? If you are, pat yourself on the back and get back to enjoying your life!

If you’re not living the life of your dreams, why not? Are you parents to blame? How about your dead-end job? Perhaps you’ve been down-sized and are living paycheck to paycheck?

One of the easiest and most common things to do is to blame everyone else for the way that your life has turned out. The truth of the matter is that YOU are in complete control of your life.

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Even though there are countless ways that you can use Twitter to build your small business, there are also some obvious activities that you want to avoid at all costs.

Not only will engaging in these activities hurt your business, they can even cause Twitter to suspend your account.

So, avoid these 3 Twitter No-No’s:

1) No spamming. Spamming consists of sending out the same message over and over again (especially if you are sending out your message to the same people over and over again.)
One common practice in Twitter is to send out an automatic Direct Message (DM) to all of your new followers.
I strongly suggest that you avoid this practice. The reason is fairly simple. Many of your followers consider the use of automated DM’s “spam.” Furthermore, people in the Twitter community are allowed to report you for spamming. If enough do, then Twitter can suspend your account instantly. And, once you’re suspended, it’s virtually impossible to get reinstated.
If you do want to welcome new followers, then welcome them personally in a tweet post.

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Many individuals fail to realize success simply because they’re never in the right mood at the right time.  Perhaps you have a press release that needs to be written. But, since you’re tired and your back hurt, you decide to lie down for a bit and work on the press release tomorrow.

When tomorrow comes, you’re stressed out because you got into a fight with your daughter. You definitely need some time to cool off and decide that the press release can wait one more day.

When the third day arrives, you sit down, but you just can’t get into the flow. You have writer’s block and can’t think of a single word to write.

Suddenly a week goes by and you haven’t accomplished a thing. You’re depressed, stressed out and deflated.

It takes quite a bit of courage and discipline to act in spite of how you are feeling. However, in order to take action, no matter how you are feeling, there are a few tips to keep in mind.

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Although public relations is incredibly accessible and simple, it remains the most underutilized marketing tools for today’s small business owner.

The main reason is that a large percentage of small business owners simply haven’t taken the time to learn the rules and regulations of this game called Public Relations.

But, here’s the good news. The public relations game isn’t very hard to play. Unlike the card game of Bridge (which can take a lifetime to learn and perfect), the game of public relations is relatively simple.

If you want to get into the PR game, here are three rules that you must understand:

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Many small business owners hop onto Twitter and aren’t quite sure how to find people to follow.  So, they simply start following anyone and everyone. Of course, they’re hoping that 50% of these people will follow them back and that their Twitter following will grow beyond their wildest dreams.

One of the most important aspects of Twitter is building a “targeted” Twitter following.  Keep in mind that it’s more important to have 500 targeted Twitter followers (related to your industry) than 5,000 general followers (unrelated to your industry).

The best way to begin to build a targeted following list is to follow Tweeters in your own industry. If 50% of your target market follows you back, then, and only then, have you struck gold.

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