Happy Thanksgiving!
November 26, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
…Too many people in the kitchen, a mummer of conversation and laughter, football in the background…
…Crisp autumn air, piles of fallen leaves in the yard, a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood…
…The smell of turkey, a wood fire in the fireplace, and Aunt Pat’s favorite perfume…
…The farm, my brother’s house, Ann’s, Margie’s…the places we congregate for get-togethers…
Pieces of many Thanksgiving come to mind. From the turkey feast to football fest, Thanksgiving traditions make this Holiday special and a personal favorite.
“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” Eric Hoffer
My favorite relaxation activity, needlepoint, gave me an opportunity to craft a Thanksgiving memento, finished to perfection with ribbons and beads by Petra Dennis, The Needlewoman. It’s comprised of thousands of stitches, each representing people I’m blessed to know and connections we share.
Although the list could go on and on, here are a few items of note:
Those who follow my blog know about the migration from Blogger to WordPress and Joomla to WordPress. Thanks goes to Maria Nozza, My Graphics Notebook for making it happen. Instead of a destination, I got a process and the real work now begins.
MARKETLINK, an intensive course for entrepreneurs, which I’ve been facilitating, completes in the next two weeks. I’m grateful to each of the 13 participants for their participation and dedication. And, I’m reminded of that saying: “You never learn as much as when you teach.” I’m grateful too to WESST for giving me the opportunity to lead the group. Thank you.
AIBA – Albuquerque Independent Business Alliance – concludes another great year with a Board meeting this Wednesday. My hat is off to my fellow Board members. Thanks for your commitment and loyalty and continued service in 2009 as I move into Mary Schmidt’s big presidential shoes.
Without a doubt, I couldn’t have accomplished nearly as much without the support of my mastermind, Coach Karen Van Cleve and Coach Rachelle Disbennett-Lee. Ladies, I’m grateful for your support.
Thank you to each client. It’s been a pleasure to work with you during the past year. I appreciate your confidence in me and I’m excited about the promotions we’ve created together.
To my readers: thank you as well. Your loyalty means a lot. I look forward to our continued association.
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” William Arthur Ward
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Business Incubation: Celebrating a Decade of Success in Santa Fe
November 20, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
A gala event at the historic La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe capped the 10th Anniversary year for the Santa Fe Business Incubator. Congratulations to SFBI CEO Marie Longserre for championing an event highlighting good things within the community.
A crowd of politicos, including Former Santa Fe Mayor Debbie Jaramillo, New Mexico Cabinet Secretary for Economic Development Fred Mondragon and many others celebrated with clients, graduates and staff. Debbie Jaramillo presented her speech which launched the project in 1995. She emphasized synergistic collaboration and positive solutions to an economy dependent on tourism in that presentation; a decade later, the Incubator can trace client revenues in excess of $100 million, more than 600 jobs created and over 66 businesses served.
I was lucky enough to join a table with partners from Elemetrics Instruments, developers of a patented, breakthrough technology to detect hazardous element monitoring, 20th Century West Art Appraisal, an art appraisal business and Spa Enrichment Strategies, a retail, consulting and private label resource for spas and salons. These diverse businesses capture the essence of an incubator.
The hit of the night was a video in which Incubator clients talked about their experience. From the heartfelt story of Kokopelli Landscaping’s David and Deborah Martinez to Daryl Ehrmantraut’s prediction of Elemetrics as a $40 million company within five years, the audience was spellbound with real time stories of successful operations, collaborations, and commitments to building business the Incubator way.
Each place setting also featured a 16-page overview of Incubator history, client success and partner participation; this insert will run as a statewide supplement to the New Mexico Business Weekly newspaper later this month. Special thanks to Nancy Salem, publisher, Rebecca Lynch and Brent Woodard from NMBW for their part in the publication.
SFBI represents a reason to believe in community, a modern cache of good news and optimism in a volatile economic climate. I for one am excited to celebrate the inspiration. Congratulations to everyone involved.
Disclosure: I worked on behalf of SFBI coordinating the 10th Anniversary Project.
Hello? Anybody there? Hello? Can you hear me?
November 18, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Customer communication intrigues me. Sometimes it raises more questions.
- A tight deadline requires work over a weekend. After moving the project forward as far as possible you leave a cell message requesting follow up and get no call from the customer. What’s the next step?
- A talented, competent vendor suddenly doesn’t return phone calls or answer emails. Additional business is at stake. You’re the customer – forgotten, ignored, holding money that is apparently unwanted. Do you continue to reach out to make contact?
- An enthusiastic committee member volunteers for your organization and then always has an excuse for not attending meetings. As a volunteer, a customer, you feel a sense of tolerance and yet you’d like to address the situation and re-engage the person. What do you say?
It takes two people to communicate. In a selling situation, does the seller have more responsibility?
When communication has been interrupted, is it important to discuss the incident or simply pick up where you left off?
How do you establish communication boundaries?
How’s your communication working for you?
Art Business: Marketing for Creatives
November 13, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
I’m meeting Art Business Coach Alyson Stanfield who wrote I’d Rather Be in the Studio this morning. I put her in the category of “Walk your talk.” We agreed to meet at Albuquerque’s Flying Star Downtown. Alyson plans to tour art galleries later today and there are dozens in the Downtown, Old Town and Nob Hill area.
Alyson’s book tour is in full swing – virtually and physically. She’ll be autographing copies of “I’d Rather Be in the Studio” this evening in Albuquerque. Meanwhile, she encourages bloggers to post reviews and questions and engage their own audience.
Check out the ArtBiz blog for marketing secrets, resources and motivation. Today is “Deep Thought Thursday” and Alyson’s challenge is about goals. This challenge combines a question with a six-minute podcast, part of Alyson’s action-oriented theme. While Alyson is all about artists, her info applies to any number of industries.
She’s a great model: boundless energy, new ideas, upbeat approach to life and the business of art. Kudos, Alyson!
Buy Local Rather than Bye, Local!
November 11, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Networking events and big celebrations run the risk of being boring. Happily, that wasn’t the case at last week’s annual “Keep it Querque” gala presented by the Albuquerque Independent Business Alliance.
This year’s event at Albuquerque’s Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Cultural Center had little of the ambiance of stodgy meetings. For one thing, the food, catered by Los Poblanos, was a far cry from those rubber chicken events I long to miss; I highly recommend the mini cupcakes from Slate Street Café.
The program emphasized Home Grown Marketing for Indie Businesses and two speakers addressed the theme. Steve Wedeen, owner and president at Vaughn Wedeen Creative, discussed three big words that make a difference in business: positioning, differentiation and value proposition. He managed to weave in a few stories and specific examples to showcase the benefits of “Buy Lcl.” Monte Skarsgard, better known as Farmer Monte of Los Poblanos Organics, spoke passionately about community supported agriculture and its impact on the local market. Local restaurateur and emcee, Myra Ghatis of Slate Street tied both presentations together with tales of organic eggs delivered in 200-dozen increments from Taos.
Supporting local business makes sense (dollars and cents, too) for any number of reasons, not the least of which can be that it’s fun. By way of disclosure, I’m prejudiced in favor of the organization as one of its Board members and the incoming president. I’m excited to be a part of AIBA. Here’s to vibrancy, authenticity, and independence! Look for these kind of characteristics when you look to expand your networking.
Emotion-Connection-Purchase. Looking to position your product?
November 6, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
A simple ad can work well when it frames benefits with emotion and connects with the right audience. Content, properly presented wins. This ad, placed in my mailbox got my immediate attention:
Reliable pet sitting for the TLC your pet deserves and the peace of mind you’re looking for while you’re away.
I’ll also bring in the mail and paper, water the plants, open and close the blinds, ETC, with discounted rates for all (subdivision) residents. Call (full phone), First and Last Name, Full Address.
Can you make a similar connection with your audience? Think about it. Take the time to run your idea by a friend or associate. In a recent marketing discussion, business owners talked about their most costly marketing mistakes. In nearly every instance, haste became an obstacle to success.
The pet sitter carefully planned her advertisement:
- She used the word “reliable,” and immediately addressed the fear of “what if my sitter doesn’t show?
- The TLC your pet deserves positions your pet first, an important detail when you plan to leave beloved animals for any length of time.
- Peace of mind is desirable. You don’t want to worry about the home front while traveling.
- Then, the small ad goes on to make an offer targeting other potential concerns for those who are away…the mail, the paper, the plants, the blinds.
- Discounted rates offer still more interest
- The advertisement appeared to be targeted for the subdivision; not only was the subdivision named, but the address could be readily identified prior to the call and a reverse directory would confirm it.
- Finally, the advertisement was neatly and plainly printed on a strip of paper and placed in the mailbox so the cost to present the ad to the public was contained.
Make the time to create an emotional connection with potential customers, regardless of the communication.
“Blog Me.” Sounds Like Talk to Me … Only Different
November 3, 2008 by Mary Ellen · 1 Comment
ProfitMeister readers have followed my saga about migrating from Blogger to WordPress. The process dominated my October. Last Friday, I signed in and posted (easy!) for the first time ever in the new environment. On Saturday, I enjoyed recommending blogging to Theta State Educators, a group of professional women educators.
We talked about the conversations on the web. Mary Schmidt, fellow blogger who mentored my venture into the blogging community presented with me. We told the group to begin simply. Rather than re-inventing the wheel, work with what you already know. Think of your blog as a conversation, an extension of your bulletin board. Connect with your class.
You can do this, I enthused. Silly me. In the joy of the moment and the flush of WordPress success, I neglected to see the English error in the eval form. Several of the group pointed it out. (Sigh.)
I had to laugh. It’s part of the go with the flow philosophy. Think about it. One hundred years from now, who will care? Did you spend Saturday cleaning up tricks from Halloween revelers or celebrating Dia De Los Muertos? No? Me neither.
I promoted blogging. What matters: the willingness of the audience to learn, to try something new, to challenge each other. Kudos to Saturday’s attendees, many of whom had never “googled” themselves. Congratulations, ladies, for thinking outside the classroom. One of my past newsletters discusses blogging and could serve as a resource for anyone beginning such a project.
Remember, think simple. Start where you are and keep it real. I look forward to hearing about your successes.
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