Posts Tagged ‘small business’

SOME companies understand social media and how to deal with negative comments about their businesses.

But most small and medium-sized firms prefer to ignore the comments rather than deal with the problem head-on, as Mocks founder Lara Solomon has.

Last year Solomon decided to swap PR for social media as the main marketing method for her business, which sells sock-like mobile phone covers in Australia, Britain and the US.

She focused on a Facebook page but didn’t anticipate the full consequences of engaging with her customers on social media sites.

The Mocks brand attracted about 12,000 Facebook fans (it now has more than 15,000) within three months, with the result that sales doubled in the final quarter of last year compared with 2008. What Solomon didn’t expect was the magnitude of the task of dealing with online comments from mainly 12 to 20-year-old girls.

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Here are some great tips to help you to understand how to manage the Gen Ys in your organisation.

• Understand their motives and values. Work is a social outlet for them and they value being part of a bigger community, so engage them in the team’s vision. If they feel part of the team, they’ll work towards the common goal.
• Involve them in decision making. They like to contribute.
• Embrace their ideas. Ideas are their strength and they often bring them to managers, even if not requested,
• Salaries and promotions are not the big motivators, though they expect to be paid well. They want to have fun at work, so create a social environment with training opportunities.
• Be flexible. They like to travel, explore new pursuits and get engaged in big social issues like animal rights and the environment. Finding ways to allow them to pursue their activities through unpaid leave will increase their longevity with the company.
• Provide lots of stimulation. They’ve grown up watching five different screens at the one time so they’re used to being entertained. Offer a variety of roles or the chance to move between positions and divisions.
• They like to be mentored.
• Set ground rules around social networking and technology usage early and firmly. Expect to be challenged on them and be ready to justify your policies. They will comply if the rules are explained.

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This is the edited transcript of the LIVE CHAT which was conducted by:

Peter G. James Sinclair ( www.motivationalmemo.com ) with fellow Motivational Experts:

Mike Litman ( www.mikelitman.com )

Josh Hinds ( www.GetMotivation.com )

The chat was scheduled for one hour and the subject was:

“THE AWESOME POWER OF HAVING A DOMINATING PURPOSE”

Peter Sinclair : Hi Mike & Josh. I want to welcome you both to our LIVE CHAT event. It’s going to be fantastic. The first question I would like to put to you both is this. How important is it to have a dominating purpose? Mike would you like to lead us off?

Mike Litman : Yes Peter. I believe that our dominating purpose is closely tied to our self-esteem. When your ZEST for life mirrors your DESIRE for breath, that is when you will see rapid advances in all areas of your life.

Josh Hinds : Great analogy Mike.

Peter Sinclair : Thanks Mike. Wow. “Zest for life mirroring your desire for breath”, that’s profound. Josh. What are your thoughts?

Josh Hinds : Peter, without a doubt the key to life’s riches is to have a dominating purpose. I think without a larger dominating purpose, a person might find himself or herself moving in all sorts of directions. For instance, the goals I set for myself keep me moving in the direction I want to head.

Peter Sinclair : Excellent Josh. Mike, returning to your last answer. You draw the comparison for us that it’s a bit like the difference between life and death. Serious stuff. Perhaps you would like to elaborate a little.

Mike Litman : It all depends what one WANTS in life. If you look at history you will quickly see that everyone who has accomplished something major has had an EAGER, BURNING desire for its accomplishment.

Peter Sinclair : So Mike, just continuing on, if you were to help someone to define their dominating purpose, how would you direct them?

Mike Litman : Peter, it is my contention that we all have SLEEPING POWERS inside us just waiting to be AROUSED. All these POWERS are only unleashed through the DESIRE that comes with a dominating purpose.

Peter Sinclair : What if someone doesn’t know his or her dominating purpose? How can you help them define it?

Mike Litman : To define it? Hmm. First, one must know that their life HAS a purpose to it. Not everyone does. To me, and in my experience, FINDING your purpose comes through keen INTROSPECTION. This is one reason so many people feel “lost.” They never introspect.

Peter Sinclair : So by defining it they would get a wake up call Mike? Can you explain it a little further?

Mike Litman : Sure. They would begin by asking themselves POWERFUL questions. A good place to start is by serving others.

Peter Sinclair : On the subject of powerful questions – what questions have helped you personally, Mike, to get to where you are and to take you where you’re going.

Mike Litman : Peter, it is critical that we must FIND what we TRULY want and go after it with PASSION. This can be arrived at by asking ourselves important questions.

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Before I started our OE Design business I conducted a number of live chats. I have just recently uncovered these, and the information is still relevant today – so I thought I’d add them to our OE Design blog for the benefit of our readers.

This is the edited transcript of the LIVE CHAT conducted by:

Peter G. James Sinclair ( http://www.motivationalmemo.com ) with:

Brad Sugars ( http://www.bradsugars.com/ )

The chat was scheduled for one hour and the subject was:

“THE AWESOME POWER OF THE ENTREPRENEUR”

Peter Sinclair : Hi Brad. Welcome to our live chat.

Brad Sugars : Hi Peter. Thank you. It’s great to be here.

Peter Sinclair : Brad, just to inform our guests I think we should give them a little bit of background on you.

Brad Sugars : Sure.

Peter Sinclair : Brad Sugars is the International Chairman of one of the fastest growing businesses on the globe. He started out with absolutely no capital and had his first business at age 15. Brad retired financially as a millionaire when he was just 26. Today he calls himself a “Billionaire in Training.” He is well on his way to that first billion. Welcome Brad, it’s a pleasure to be able to share this next hour with you at this month’s MotivationalMemo Live Chat.

Brad Sugars : Thanks Peter and thanks for the introduction.

Peter Sinclair : My pleasure. Brad, to commence today’s Live Chat can I ask you for your definition of an entrepreneur?

Brad Sugars : Perhaps I could answer your question in three parts. First, an entrepreneur is a visionary. Second, an entrepreneur remembers that profit is the goal. Third, an entrepreneur is what I call a “can do” type person. What I mean by that is a person who makes the vision become real whilst at the same time returning a profit on that vision.

Peter Sinclair : In your view, what would be the major reason for anyone to want to become an entrepreneur?

Brad Sugars : I think we are all born with a little bit of the entrepreneurial spirit in us. The major driving force behind most entrepreneurs that I have met is a desire to do something that no one else has done before. That may be a desire to achieve more than others thought possible and a desire to play the game they love – the game of business.

Peter Sinclair : Would you say it’s the pioneer spirit that makes up the entrepreneur?

Brad Sugars : Indeed, but it doesn’t always have to be in a new field. It could be a way of doing something new in an old field. Most entrepreneurs are the ones who see an opportunity and have the gumption to step up and do something about it.

Peter Sinclair : Like spotting the gold in a previously mined gold mine? Doing things better, using better technology, better ideas?

Brad Sugars : Or even simply better service, better sales or better marketing.

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As the web is being rapidly transformed from simply being an informational monologue into an exciting interactive and socially enriching platform, social networking sites are gaining greater power and prominence in the online media community.

So it is because of this major shift that small business owners are being forced, in their media planning, to start including these websites as part of their plan for posting compelling online advertisements, writing articles for this media while also using audio and video to capture their target market share.

Social media is becoming an extremely powerful tool for creating marketing leverage through persuasive communication – whereby customers can share their insights, their perspectives, and their opinions. Customers want to engage, and this media is providing them the perfect platform for that end. Small Business clients are demanding to be heard in an ever-increasing manner.

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