Working From Home and Loving It: Secret Weapons for the Serious Business Builder

by Des Walsh on July 1, 2009

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This post on Secret Weapons for the Serious Business Builder is the last in the Working From Home and Loving It series.

I’ve identified five “secret weapons” for people building a business from home.They are not “secret” in the sense that nobody knows about them. They are however secret in the sense that many people I meet who are in business, from home or elsewhere, seem oblivious to the fact that these resources are available to help them.

My list is, in no particular order of priority:

  • Organic search
  • Social networking
  • Skype
  • Blogging
  • Syndication

In selecting my favorite “secret weapons” I have used as one criterion the consideration that many or most people with businesses from home do not have large marketing budgets and are always interested in what can be done effectively on a limited or zero budget.

Organic search

Whether we want to sell our goods or services locally or globally – or both – gaining a basic understanding about search is both imperative and potentially very rewarding. Deciding not to know about search is not a good business decision.

My focus here is on organic search, because I believe the power of organic search is relatively secret.  I find that people seem to feel they understand paid search: maybe they see that as a kind of new, web version of paying for a box in the printed yellow pages. People sometimes tell me what good results they are having from Google ads or other paid research. Sometimes they tell me what bad results they’ve had.

I find it a challenge to get either group interested in  a conversation about organic search.

I don’t have any problem with people using paid search, as long as they know what they are doing and know how to manage the process, or have it managed, within a specified budget.

But if the home based business owner’s first real introduction to online search resources is from an individual or company offering to sell search or search engine optimization (seo) services or products, it’s really important to be able to establish from the outset how much of the service is about using paid search and how much about organic search.

And for a cash-strapped home business owner, there is a lot you can do with just organic search, without having to pay. Of course, if you do have a budget for the purpose, there are search engine optimization expert companies and individuals who can help you with organic as well as paid search: with the right expertise you can surely move faster and better than doing it the self-help way.

And whether you are hiring external expertise or going the diy route, it will be relevant for businesses wanting at least some business from a local market to build some understanding of the new realities and opportunities with local search. There is an excellent interview on local search by Michael Gray with my friend, top search wiz, Lee Odden.

In that interview, Lee provides some great advice, including how to interact with local media.

One tool in this area of search and media, global as well as local, and which in my not totally unbiased opinion is ideal for the home business owner, is Pitch Engine. There is a free level and then other levels still within the budget frame of most home based businesses. I posted here recently about Pitch Engine and small business (and declared there my interest as Australian manager).

Social Networking

In an earlier post in this series I wrote about what I called the myth of isolation for people in home based business. No prize for guessing that how I named the post showed that I am not on the side of those who think that working from home means you will necessarily feel isolated.

But here I am going to go  a step further and say that working from home may well give you access to many more people, more communities, in more diverse parts of the world and walks of life, than your friends and colleagues in more traditional, “working for the Man” places of work, may have.

And with time zones being what they are, those of us who work from home have access to such communities around the clock, if we wish.

With resources such as  the various groups we can join on Google Groups, Yahoo! Groups, or Ning and access to other social networking platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter,  most with no financial outlay involved, we have access 24/7 to a potentially amazing array of resources for collegial support, research, checking and feedback.

Not to mention that a number of these can and do also serve as virtual water coolers.

Skype

The free or low-cost VoIP or Internet phone service Skype has to be one of the best of all the secret weapons for the home based business owner.

Secret? With millions of people using Skype at any one time, you may well ask. And yet I continually find people with businesses from home who do not use Skype, although many indicate that they have “heard of it”. Skype enables me to have conference calls around the world, to coach clients in far-flung localities and all at no cost other than what I am already paying for Internet access, plus, with a very modest, one-off outlay for a third party application, Pamela, having the option to record any of those calls in a downloadable file, .

“”Skype: don’t work from home without it.” :)

Blogging

Don’t believe the pundits who say blogging is dead. What they really mean is they are bored with it. A recent survey indicated that blogging in the business context has a bright future.

Blogging is potentially a very powerful weapon for the home based business owner. When I think that, ten years or so years ago, to even begin to have the kind of communication capability provided by a free or low cost blog, together with RSS/syndication (see next point) cost me and others  thousands of dollars, I find it impossible to be blasé about blogging.

This is probably a good point at which to mention that my book for small business 7 Step Business Blog, is  not only in its 2nd edition but is now available for downloading free of charge (see form, top of right sidebar).

Syndication

Having sung the praises of Skype, I actually believe that, for the home based business owner, syndication, or RSS, is a bigger gift than Skype.

To use what is probably the more common term,  RSS provides me as a home based business owner with a two way benefit:

  • I can get up to date news and other information from selected sources delivered automatically to me on a continuous basis
  • I can make information available to others who might not come on a regular basis to visit my blog but are happy to receive regular updates in their RSS reader

What’s not to love?

Are there other secret weapons for the home based business owner? Please share.

Picture “Working from Home” – by carlfish via Flickr, Creative Commons

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Social Media Ignorance Not an Option for Business

by Des Walsh on June 27, 2009

A blog post a few days ago by the very savvy “Community Guy” Jake McKee, Why is a lack of knowledge cool? struck a chord with me.  Jake was commenting on the fact that in an otherwise quite interesting set of comments about social media and specifically Twitter, US Secretary of State Clinton made a joke which was to the effect that she did not really know what Twitter is or does.

And Jake asked “Will there be a time when older people don’t think it’s cool to joke about their tech cluelessness?”. As a card-carrying “older person” I was not offended, although at least one commenter, younger than I, took umbrage at the generalization about age groups.

One reason I was not offended is that I do hear, especially from people over about 55, those jokes about not understanding the technology – usually, I believe, with a sub-text of “and I don’t want to know”.  Up till now I’ve tended to “go along with the joke”, as the saying goes, although I don’t actually find it funny. But now that I’ve read and reflected on what Jake is saying, I think I might emulate young Jake and start getting a tad peeved. Because however jokingly, however implicitly, being proud of ignorance is surely not a good look for anyone, at any age.

And ignorance of social media, at this point in time, is no longer an option for anyone who has a serious desire to be successful, or continue being successful, in business, government or other walks of life.

Speaking earlier this week at a conference on Government 2.0, on the theme that parliamentarians and public sector managers need to become active participants in social media, I mentioned that at at another event a couple of years ago, in the private sector, I’d been asked by a member of the baby boomer generation how people who did not become knowledgeable and skilled with the new media would get on, and I’d said “they will just become irrelevant”.  I did not spell out, but left the thought hanging in the air, so to speak, that the same would apply to politicians and public sector managers.

Not that I want to preach to the choir here. I just wanted to share the “Ah ha!” moment I’d had in reading Jake’s post and participating in the comment discussion:  ignorance about social media is no laughing matter.

More to the point, I am guessing there are many people besides me, who are active users of social media, participants in social networks, and are starting to find it frustrating in business to have to deal with people who are not participating.  Minor irritants perhaps, in themselves – “you’re not on Skype and you don’t want to check it out?” “you’re not on Twitter and you think it’s a waste of time?” – but indicating a mindset of resistance to learning and adapting.

I believe some of those people are in for a shock, the day they find that their unwillingness to learn new skills, new ways of communicating and collaborating, has left them out in the cold. Some of us just won’t want to put in the effort to do business with them and will seek out people who are more tuned in to these modes of communication and collaboration.

It won’t be joke time any more.

In short, I can see a time, if it hasn’t already arrived, where being able to use social media effectively and, for the digital immigrants among us, as natively as possible, will become a requirement for doing business. And, for those who feel they are behind the game, putting in the time now to learn and be more skilful will surely pay off in providing an edge in a tough world.

The age discussion is just a distraction.

But as I was asked on Monday by conference convenor Senator Kate Lundy,wh ere can those people who want to learn go to get the information they need? One suggestion I made, which would work for people in business as well as those in government, is to join one of the Social Media Club groups, where the motto is “if you get it, share it”. Other ideas or suggestions?

Picture credit: Social Media Club, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, Kristie Wells, via Flickr – Creative Commons

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Pitch Engine Social Media Release Works for Small Business Too

by Des Walsh on June 11, 2009

Pitch EngineThe social media release service provided by Pitch Engine empowers small businesses, as well as large, to be more effective in their online marketing.*

Although the term “social media release” has wide currency, I don’t know of any one, generally accepted definition or simple explanation.

My adaptation of an explanation by social media template author Todd Defren is that the term “social media release” (SMR) is used to describe a media release which incorporates social media tools (social bookmarking, RSS etc) to provide background data, context and on-going updates to clients’ news, so as to help journalists and bloggers better understand and/or research the story behind the releases.

brands on Pitch EnginePitch Engine has been taken up by some major brands, including Xerox, IBM, Hallmark and many others.

It also works very effectively, in terms of functionality and especially financial affordability, for even the smallest, work from home, solopreneur business.

The most economical option is the free one. The next level of subscription, providing archiving of releases and other benefits, is only $35 a month or $400 a year. And for an additional $15 a month or a total $500 for a year’s subscription you get, for any brand from the largest to the smallest, your own customized newsroom. The details of the various options are described here.

Right now there is a special Buy One Get One Free offer for annual Pitch Engine subscription purchases – but it lasts only for another couple of days, through June 13, 2009. For anyone taking out a one-year paid subscription, a second will be added free. You might notice that the media release focuses on PR firms, but the offer is for any subscription, so the home based entrepreneur who does her own pr is most certainly included!

* (Disclosure: our company Webartsco is now working with Pitch Engine to market and support the service in Australia.)

Photo “Working from Home”, courtesy RodBegbie via Flickr, Creative Commons license

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My New Self-Designed Business Card

by Des Walsh on June 4, 2009

I need a new business card and I’m thinking through what I need to have on it and what the basic look will be. My existing one is a 2007 quick adaptation I did online of a professionally designed card which was originally done about four years ago.

The old card is pictured here.
old business card

With a few offline events coming up I really do need something more up to date.

I’m taking this opportunity to figure out just what role I see the card as playing in my marketing and what I want the card to communicate about me and what I do.

That process is making me do some serious questioning of the whole business of business cards.

I’m by no stretch of the imagination a graphic designer, but for reasons outlined below I’m casting caution to the winds and designing this card myself, with the help of a couple of basic tools, Microsoft Publisher (part of Microsoft Office) the free, downloadable Irfanview image software and online tools provided by business card printers (details below).

This is a longer post than I’d orginally intended. Its length is partly due to its reflecting over 20 years experience of using a variety of business cards, with at best mixed results. I’m hoping the post might be helpful to someone, sometime, although as it’s about a DIY exercise I’m pretty sure it won’t win me any friends in the business card design game!

Memories of cards past

I’ve had a lot of business cards in my time, first in the public service once I reached a level of seniority where it was deemed appropriate for me to have a card, and then in business. In the public service I think it was a status thing, kind of a right to show off my title once I reached the executive level.

When I started in business, getting a business card was one of the things  you did. And you went to networking functions or meetings and exchanged cards with the other people there. I think the theory was that this was a way to attract business, although as I reflect on that now there is no single instance that springs to mind where I could say my business card did in fact ever play a key role in attracting new business.

That reminds me of the gag I heard a few years ago: “Did you hear about the consultants’ Christmas party? They all had a drink and exchanged business cards.”

I didn’t have or need a business card when I was a school teacher or when I drove a taxi. No point. I believe I needed one as a consultant and coach. I am pretty sure I still need one.

But what kind of card am I going to have? What words and other information will it have on it?

I’ve done some online searching for ideas, with mixed results (some links at the end of this post) and the realization that I have to figure out what will work for me, rather than rely on others’ ideas of what “should” be done. My ideas on that have changed in recent years and in fact my thoughts on the subject are still changing (evolving I hope).

My pre-conceived notions challenged: Bob Burg on the uses of cards

My ideas about business cards and their value for business started to change when I read master networker Bob Burg’s book Endless Referrals. Bob is not big on cards, or at least on how cards often get used.

He certainly doesn’t have time for the way they get used often at networking functions. If you have ever been to a networking breakfast where a person you’ve never met arrives and sprays their cards around the table like a dealer at a casino you will get the idea. Waste of time.

Bob says there are three uses for a business card: 1) you could win something (you know, the fishbowl thing at the local restaurant, or some other “email address catcher” receptacle at an expo); 2) you could get a lead (he is less than enthusiastic about this one); 3) you can get others’ cards. This third reason – to get others’ cards – is, Bob says, the only one that matters. “As far as I’m concerned” he writes “this is the one truly valuable benefit of business cards…”.

Although he is not what you would call an enthusiast, he’s not completely down on the idea of business cards:

Although I make light of business cards, and generally find they are not worth much more than the paper stock on which they are printed, they can have some value when used correctly.

Another challenge: The Case of the Disappearing Cards

I’ve started asking myself and the occasional person who will listen “Why do so many people not have cards any more?”

Because increasingly I’m noticing that people don’t have them, especially people in Internet/social media related business, with the notable exception of people who are in that arena but more in design, advertising and marketing fields.

Is it because business cards are so 20th century, so analog, so uncool? Is it a sign of a quiet revolution against the tide of newsletters, promos, last chance offers, exciting news that flood our email boxes in response to all those cards we’ve given out at breakfasts, in the bowls at expos, at business gatherings?

Or is it because a lot of us feel that we and our contact details are now so findable online that we don’t need the expense and inconvenience of having cards designed and printed and then having to carry them around, against the moment when someone at a function says “Do you have a card?” Or say we meet a business person from Japan.

Awkward thought: am I at risk,  if I fall in with a bunch of geeks, of looking like a real doofus if I ask for or produce business cards? Oh the embarrassment!

And what about the planet?

No doubt because I work mostly online, I always seem to have these days more business cards than I need. And the ones I have are now out of date, using a title I no longer use. And with that thing of it being only marginally more expensive to have a thousand printed than five hundred, I hate that moment when, sooner or later, I have to ditch about 600 cards I’ll never have use for again because the information on them is out of date.

Not to mention the speed of change in technology and business

Business cards, it seems to me, used to have a longer life than they are likely to have now. Twitter didn’t exist when the first version of my current card emerged and when I updated it in 2007 it did not occur to me to put my Twitter handle on the card, whereas now I’m doing so with my next card.

I also used then the title “Blogging Evangelist” which I don’t use now, not because I don’t promote blogging for business – I decidedly do – but because it’s not the focus of my business in the way it was back then.

The new card project

Taking all those considerations aboard, I do believe that, for the time being at least, I still need a card. But I’m going with temporary and home-built design, using some basic tools to get a result which I believe will work for me.

These are the principles I’ve applied:

Front of card

  • include photo (a feature of the older and current card commented on positively, many times)
  • my name in a font size easy to read at a glance
  • my preferred contact details: mobile (cell) number | Twitter @ handle | email address
  • primary web/blog address
  • tagline
  • no title (I find using titles triggers pigeonholing)

Back of card

  • what I do in social media – strategy
  • a quote about the importance of strategy
  • room for recipient to jot a note
  • matt finish (current card I had foolishly made gloss – no one could write on it!)

What’s not there

  • other blog/web sites (potentially confusing)
  • landline number (not always at base but usually have mobile)
  • fax number (no discernible usefulness)
  • coaching information (again, potentially confusing – thinking about a separate card)
new business card new business card

Design and printing I’ve used Microsoft Publisher for the card design, Irfanview to adjust the picture, Click Business Cards (based in North Sydney, Australia) for the printing.

My intention is to do another version before my next overseas trip, with the international phone number (country code etc). In the US, I’ve found the people at Overnight Prints really helpful: but I had to learn the hard way that “Overnight” was a brand, not a literal promise – it was still speedy by the standards then (and perhaps still) prevailing in Australia and very economical.

Both Click Business Cards and Overnight Prints provide really helpful online tools. With each, you can use one of their templates or use their blank format and upload your own image/text, as I’m doing with the new card.

My new cards will not be certainly not as elegant as the old ones, but I am confident they will be more practical in helping communicate what I do in the social media space.

I quite liked the old black background but it was never part of an overall branding and in fact the card I’m producing now is more aligned with the very plain style of my main web/blog sites.

Some links for stimulating card design ideas (some fairly zany, which could work for some businesses):

I welcome any suggestions as to how, within the parameters I’ve indicated above, I could improve on my new design or comments on how I’m proceeding with this project. As there is no cost other than my time in any re-design, and a fairly modest cost for another print run, I’m quite open to practical suggestions. And anyway I’ll be doing a new run when I’m next planning to travel internationally.

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