Blogs for Entrepreneurs
It is broadly accepted that social networking can have substantial benefits for small business, but what are the tricks and challenges, to using it successfuly?
Lets begin by reminding ourselves that social networking tools are really just a digital extension of a long standing tradition of personal and professional networking (in person).
Certainly networking can be a useful tool for entrepreneurs and big business alike. But its also fairly obvious that choosing carefully who one networks with, and what impression one makes while doing so is key in any networking interaction.
That's true for online networking as well as for mingling at a conference. It may however be far more important when 'networking online' than it is networking in person.
Networking in person, you control how you are seen, how you sound. You choose your venue and so you know (broadly speaking) what type of audience you have, and as such you have some control over who you interact with.
But imagine if that conference covered such a tremendously broad range of wildly disparate subjects that you couldn't really know in advance what the particular interests of your contacts are.
Now imagine that standing next to you at that conference is your 16 year old daughter wearing a skimpy bikini. She is a lovely girl but is constantly interjecting into your conversation with prospects. Chatting randomly about subjects ranging from the trivial to the embarrassing.
However professional you look and sound, the presence of your non professional connections will make you look less professional.
and no matter how carefully you describe your product or services, it is likely that the noise created by so many different subjects wiil deminish the experience of your message. This is the Facebook experience.
Facebook is a chaotic social carnival by its very nature. In the rush to leverage social networking tools we should not forget that ordinarily we would never choose to present our professional message in such an environment. It would likely be a waist of time and money if not actually damaging.
Recent studies have found that while some have had success using social networking, most have experienced no benefits at all. It is not enough to be on Facebook or Linked in, they are not panaceas. Like all tools they can be used well to good effect, or used poorly to no effect, or even to detrimental effect. Perhaps such old standards as strategic marketing, targeted messaging and making a good impression - still have their place in the context of social networking.
In an ideal world people would understand that your facebook connections should not reflect on you. They would not associate your profile with the chatter on your wall, but in reality we know that people are being judged by their connections, image and 'conduct' as recorded on Facebook. Its even being used as evidence in courtrooms.
The bottom line is that Facebook is inately social and so is more personal than is strictly appropriate for business interactions. The very structure of Facebook is designed to provide public access to personal detail and it is not possible to separate these layers because any separation could only be partial. The personal details are always very accessible however careful you are with your page. Someone else can post photos of you and if they tag them with your name then people with only the most casual interest will stumble upon them readily.
The LinkedIn Solution?
One possible solution (although only partial) is to use Linked in for this purpose, rather than Facebook. Linkedin is a similar online community with a lot of the same features. They have a smaller population 140million instead of 500 million but that population is almost entirely professional. (no kids, less casual chatter).
The profile pages are more restrictive - they allow only one photo, and don't really have a public wall, but they have internal mail, multiple links to your websites, blogs etc. They have hundreds of subject specific forum groups where like minded people chat on relevant subjects. And above all they very intentionally present a very professional appearance.
If you sending people to your linked in profile rather than your facebook page they will see a more professional presentation. If they happen to find your facebook page while googling you, you can only hope that they realize that everyone has a right to a personal persona and that they should try to keep the professional message separate in their minds.
I loved this article from the Harvard Business Review on the subject of what makes someone an entrepreneur. Its an unusual and very honest perspective on the subject. http://blogs.hbr.org/pallotta/2010/07/misfit-entrepreneurs.html
STEP 5: Create sales projections and business plans
This is where most step by step guides begin. Its important to know what you are getting into before you get into it, and before you start making promises to other people about it.
1) Describe what the business will do
2) Descibe your goals for this business that you will run
3) Describe the market
4) Describe the competition
5) Summarize how you will differentiate yourself
6) Build a complete marketing plan
7) Describe how you will execute your plan: sourcing, hiring, sales, technology etc.
8) Layout your cost and revenue projections - time line and goles to timeline
9) Summarize your expectations for a next step.
STEP 4: Learn the skills that you will require.
Basically this can be summarized as 'don't go naked to the ball'
1) Break down the business into its respective tasks and skill sets, and then learn each one.
2) Web marketing is a unique skill. You will not pick it up along the way.. you have to make an effort to learn it and apply what you learn, or your web business will fail.
3) Its always best to learn to do all the basic sales and marketing stuff yourself.
- Learn to create content - writting blog posts may well become your most valuable skills
- Learn Search Engine Optimization
- Learn to create a newsletter
- Learn to network
- etc
3) Investivate the legal issues surrounding your chosen industry. Its best to oriente your business with them in mind.
4) Work out how long each task is likely to take and calculate what you can handle yourself. You will need to hire one or more people to to the rest.
Once you have learned theses skills you will be much more qualified to hire someone else to do them.
STEP 3: THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX
Its easy to think of what you already know, now you have to figure out what you don't know. Think beyond your expectations and models. Don't get indimidated - its not impossible it just requires that you are willing to give up some preconceptions and learn to think outside the box. Think of it as personal growth.
1) Look up how many people are 'searching for' your 'product' or service online. Use wordtracker or similar to research the actual number of serchers and competitors for your particular keyphrases.
2) DON'T PICK A PRODUCT THAT HAS NO MARKET UNLESS YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE THE PERSON TO CREATE THAT MARKET.
3) Its ok if there is competition in the market, you just have to be prepared to work harder & smarter than your competition to win your customers.
4) Look at different industries for business models that you like and then see if you can apply that model to your chosen industry.
5) It is likely that you will come up with dozens of ideas that won't work, before come up with one that will. Be kind to yourself, it takes perserverence and creativity to come up with a really great idea - and creativity doesn't flow well when you judge yourself harshly. So just keep on keeping on till it comes.
STEP 2: FIND A PRODUCT OR SERVICE TO SELL
1) Find something you are interested in
2) Try to pick a field that you have a familiarity with already
3) Think outside the box!!!
Steps for creating a small online business:
STEP 1: CHOOSE A BUSINESS MODEL
Small online businesses come in basically three forms:
1) Find a physical product, market and sell the product online
2) Find / Create a digital product (eg, software, digital media), then market and sell this product online.
3) Create an entirely web based service or digital product that can be marketed and sold online for a subscription fee.
These are all good solid business models but my personal favorite is number 3: Subscriptions provide you with annuity income, and a service or digital product avoids the endless hassles associated with shipping and sourcing.
Second best is #2: A digital product or service still avoids the issues associated with inventory and shipping etc, although the income tends to be less steady than that of the subscription based service.
Selling a physical product is still a good business if you can find the right product. Look for something you don't need to inventory yourself, (ideally ship direct from the manufacturer). Find something high value and small in size to avoid having to deal with freight companies.
