Tag Archives: short-term goals

Permalink to The Next Time You Attend a Seminar or Info Session, Do This.

The Next Time You Attend a Seminar or Info Session, Do This.

by Angie Sanders|on September 19, 2012 |in Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , |4 Comments

How many seminars or other related sessions with classroom-style seating do you attend in which you sit down, listen to the panelists and leave without meeting any of the other attendees in the room.

Perhaps after the session, you rush the front of the room like everyone else to meet the presenters and exchange cards, but do you mingle among the rest of the people who came to get the same information you did?

Classroom-style seating flips a switch in our brain that focuses us only on learning from and meeting the people talking at the front of the room. Although we leave with some valuable information, we may be leaving behind a great chance to network with others in the room who we can potentially work with and partner.

Last Wednesday, I attended the Community Business Partnership event, “Social Media Marketing Made Simple” session at Teqcorner. Like everyone else, I’d visited the refreshments table, grabbed my complementary sesame seed bagel and bottled water and took a seat between two other women.

After a few minutes, Juli Monroe {@1to1discovery} of 1 to 1 Discovery appeared at the front of the room to tell us to get off our butts, move around the room and meet each other. She encouraged us to introduce ourselves to at least two other people in the room and ask the question: “What can I do to help you achieve your goals before the end of the year?”

And what do you know? We all got up and did what Juli said. I just happened to be sitting between two smart business owners. Veronica owns a professional organizing business and wanted to know more about affiliate marketing and publishing an e-book. Elia is launching an online resource for people who are dealing with parents with dementia. She wanted resources for marketing her new business venture. Within a few minutes, I was able to point the women in the direction of information that could help them both. And of course these women are be ideal clients for me.

When the session began to start, Veronica said, “Oh, we didn’t get a chance to ask you how we could help you achieve your goals!” But just by talking to both women, I’d gotten clarity on a few products aiellejai is launching in the coming months.

The next time you attend a seminar and are sitting in a room filled with other smart and motivated people, take Juli’s advice and introduce yourself to at least two of them. Ask them how you can help them achieve their goals. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by the conversation’s outcome.

Permalink to Are You Really an Entrepreneur? Take this Test to Find Out.

Are You Really an Entrepreneur? Take this Test to Find Out.

by Angie Sanders|on August 8, 2012 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

Shantel, my 16-year-old niece, asked me if I had a job. Why did she ask? Because she noticed that during her visits, I’m usually free to hang out with her on any given weekday.

First, I explained to her that with careful planning, I’m able to get my work done in advance so that I’m free to spend time with her. Then I explained to her that I don’t have a job. I run a company. I’m an entrepreneur. Her uncle—my husband—is too.

We pay life taxes to be able to hang out when family comes to visit, run errands during the middle of a weekday and not have to adhere strictly to the normal 9-5 hours. These life taxes include economic hills and valleys, unrelenting ambition and a willingness to work when everyone else is asleep.

In June, as part of their Startup Month, Forbes.com sponsored a questionnaire from Kauffman FastTrac to test entrepreneurial aptitude. Kauffman FastTrac helps aspiring and established entrepreneurs start and grow companies.

The test, which is by no means scientific, confirmed that I was an entrepreneur. I was pleased. Out of the 22 questions on the questionnaire, five stuck with me the most:

Q: I can prosper in an environment with many questions and few answers.
My Answer: Average
Even when I was a part of the 9-5 world, my career was filled with many questions and few answers. Being an entrepreneur is no different. Although I’m afforded more freedom to find answers to those questions my way, the stakes are a bit higher because I call the shots. I answered “average” because I sometimes get frustrated at first when I don’t have the answers. But I have to remember that it may take a while, but the answers are usually revealed in their own time.

Q: I can hang on in hard times and recover quickly.
My Answer: Needs improvement
This element is especially important, especially given the current economic climate. I answered “needs improvement” because I still work on managing my expectations and realizing what I have control over and what I don’t.

Q: I take responsibility for my own success.
My Answer: Strong
I come from a poor family and from a rural town. So whatever success was coming to me was going to be up to God and me. I’m a firm believer in “God helps those who help themselves,” and I try to do everything I can to help his plan for me along.

Q: I can do the tasks necessary to succeed, whether pleasant or unpleasant.
My Answer: Strong
While I was pregnant with my daughter, I embarked on a cold-calling campaign for aiellejai. I bought a list that didn’t have all the contact information I needed. I performed Google searches to update the entire list—more than 2,000 entries—and locate the communications and marketing staff I needed to reach.

Q: I provide for my own needs with little support from others.
My Answer: Strong     
Although I answered this question with “strong,” aiellejai reaches out to outside content creators and other vendors as our client needs dictate. My answer pertains to the day-to-day operations and client-facing activities.

Take the test and let me know how you fare. Are you an entrepreneur?

Permalink to 7 Lists that Keep Me Productive

7 Lists that Keep Me Productive

by Angie Sanders|on June 11, 2012 |in Content marketing, Just good business |tagged , , , , , , |7 Comments

During a business mastermind group meeting a few weeks ago, one word continued to come up in our conversations: list. We were throwing out ideas left and right for the types of lists we needed to create to grow our businesses. One of us needed a list of bridal shows and Washington, D.C. area event planners. Someone else needed a list of mommy bloggers.

List making has been a job function of mine since my first position out of college in 2001. At that time, I was responsible for creating/maintaining media lists for my employer’s communications department. I undoubtedly thought this task was tedious, and I probably dreaded doing it, but the skill—along with Internet data mining—has been an invaluable one to me as a business owner.

There are notebooks around my house and office filled with lists I’ve made over the years. Most of these lists—which have maintained order and sanity in my life— fall into nine categories:

Daily to-do list
Each morning in the shower I ask myself, “What do I need to get done today?” I keep that list in the back of my mind until I get to the office. The first thing I do after turning on my laptop is jot that list down on a sticky notepad.

Short term goal list
Some of my tasks should be completed in the next week or month. These items are jotted down in a list and assigned ideal due dates.

Long term goal list
Most of the time, there are projects that involve a number of tasks that should be completed in the next 60-90 days. Again, I jot those items down and assign ideal due dates.

Contact list
There’s always someone I need to call back or follow up with via email. Since I do a lot of cold-calling and email prospecting, this list can also be a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that details the contact name, company, email, phone and other information. Ideally, this information should be housed within a web-based customer relationship management tool.

Questionnaire
These are helpful for client meetings or interviews. If I don’t jot these questions down, then I’ll forget to ask for the most important information I need for client projects or video.

Post-meeting task list
Have you ever left a meeting thinking either, “Now what was the point of that?” or “So what am I supposed to do now?” This list helps prevent post-meeting head scratching. When I was interviewing for jobs after college, my friends would ask for details after the meetings were over. I’d forgotten most of the information by the time I’d started my car to leave. Now, I write everything down during meetings, especially action items.

Pro/Con list
Okay, I’ll admit, I often have a hard time making decisions. It’s not that these decisions are particularly tough. It’s just that I don’t want to decide one way and end up kicking myself later because I didn’t really think through my choice. Here is where the pro/con list comes in. It helps me weigh the advantages and disadvantages of my choices. When the good outweighs the bad on my pad of paper, I feel like I can make an intelligent decision.

Pre-writing list
My blog posts begin as general ideas until I ask myself, “What is it that I want to say?” or “What are the main points I want to make?” I then jot those down in a pre-writing list. This list can look like the standard outline for longer written pieces.