#MomBizMondays – Systems and Support to Simplify Your Entrepreneurial Life
TOPIC: Systems and Support to Simplify Your Entrepreneurial Life
Running small business can be tricky. When most of us start out, we focus on making whatever it is we offer and then finding someone to buy it from us. But the exchange of money for product or service is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making your small business successful.
What happens behind the scenes is critical, especially for mom entrepreneurs, whose number one challenge is finding enough time to do it all. That’s why successful mompreneurs create systems that help save their precious time.
On tonight’s #MomBizMondays, we’re going to discuss those critical business systems that make our lives run more smoothly. From branding to bookkeeping, from managing your time to managing your privacy, let’s figure out what works best during #MomBizMondays.
Tonight’s #MomBizMondays twitter party is all about the systems and support that make being the “Chief Everything Officer” of your household and your business a whole lot easier.
The UPS Store is a proud sponsor of January 16th’s #MomBizMondays Live Twitter Chat.
for sponsoring tonight’s twitter chat and providing everyone who participates the chance to win one of three $25 gift cards and one $50 gift card to The UPS Store!
WHEN:
Monday, January 16, 2012
TIME:
EST 10:00pm to 11:00pm
CST 09:00pm to 10:00pm
MST 08:00pm to 09:00pm
PST 07:00pm to 08:00pm
SPONSORED BY:
The UPS Store – We Love Logistics
Let The UPS Store handle the logistics of your business and home office. From printing your business cards and brochures to managing your mail delivery, look to The UPS Store for help. Run by small business owners who understand the needs of mompreneurs, your local The UPS Store is probably right down the street!
Be sure to connect with Becca and Brandon who tweet from the @TheUPSStore twitter handle. They’re friendly and always ready to answer your questions!
All of us at Mom Biz Coach and Mom Biz Retreat are grateful to have the support of The UPS Store since they have partnered with us to make the Mom Biz Retreats 2012 happen! Watch for a separate post detailing all the great support our premier partner is providing us.
HOSTS:
Lara @MomBizCoach Website: Mom Biz Coach FaceBook: Mom Biz Coach
Shelagh @BizTrainHer Website: Practical Mum FaceBook: BizTrainHer
Melissa @TimeOutMom Website: TimeOutMom FaceBook: TimeOutMom
TWEETS:
We look forward to you joining us Monday night. We would love your help in promoting this chat your communities. Feel free to copy and paste the following tweets to help promote the Twitter Party.
RT @MomBizCoach – @TheUPSStore shares successful biz systems & chance to win giftcards! – Join #MomBizMondays tonight 10pm ET http://ow.ly/8tX0d
RT @MomBizCoach – #Mompreneurs: What systems make ur biz successful? Join #MomBizMondays & @TheUPSStore 10pm ET http://ow.ly/8tX0d
RT @MomBizCoach – @MomBizCoach @BizTrainHer @TimeOutMom will share the importance of biz systems at 10pm ET #mombizmondays http://ow.ly/8tX0d
TWITTER PARTY HASHTAG:
#MomBizMondays
LINKS:
MomBizRetreat – http://mombizretreat.com/register/
TheUPSStore – http://www.theupsstore.com/Pages/index.aspx
AGENDA: SYSTEMS AND SUPPORT TO SIMPLIFY YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL LIFE
RT @MomBizCoach - QUESTION #1: Do you work at home, or an office, or your local coffeehouse? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizCoach – QUESTION #2: If you could simplify a system in your business, what would it be? Marketing? Bookkeeping? Paperwork? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizCoach – QUESTION #3: Do you use a graphics designer to help you with your branding and marketing online and offline? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizCoach – QUESTION #4: How often do you create new marketing materials? Same or different materials for each event? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizCoach – QUESTION #5: Where do you get your marketing materials and business cards printed? Local? Online? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizCoach – QUESTION #6: If you work from home, do you give out your home address as your business and contact information? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizCoach – QUESTION #7: Running errands for biz and home takes a ton of time. Do u do this as needed, everyday, or scheduled wkly? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizCoach – QUESTION #8: Do you actively seek out local entrepreneurs and businesses to work with in your community? #MomBizMondays
PANELISTS + ATTENDEES:
Please be sure to you Twitter Party hashtag #MomBizMondays at the end of every tweet so everyone may follow along in the conversation even if you are not following that person specifically. Please retweet all questions. It would be great if you were able to share your answers to each question. Connect with others at the party and say hello, chat with others, & remember to HAVE FUN! Also be sure to share links to your websites, blogs, and FaceBook pages too! We love sharing! *If you meet some great like-minded people at tonight’s twitter party, be sure to follow them so you can connect afterwards!
#MomBizMondays – Why Girlfriend Time and Talk Matters for Mompreneurs
TOPIC: Why Girl Talk Matters
I have an amazing friend named Mary who is one of those girlfriends I always turn to when I need advice about certain things. She’s my go-to gal for things like: “What should I wear to my husband’s company Christmas Party?” or “I need a simple appetizer that’s cheap and easy to make, but looks like I spent hours doing it,” or “What can I do to nix the struggle I’m having with my son to do his math homework every night?” Mary is the mother of five kids and the bread-winner for her family. She’s an amazing cook, phenomenal gardener, and as best I can tell, doesn’t need sleep. In short, I admire her a ton and have benefited from her support on many occasions.
Mary is not an entrepreneur. She works full time for a company, which requires her to travel on occasion. But her abilities to run a family, run a household, and get dinner on the table every night (even on the nights she’s out of town) fill me with awe. One day around 10 years ago, Mary gave me one of the most poignant bits of wisdom I’ve ever received. I was sharing with her how frustrated I was as a new stay-at-home-mom that my husband didn’t get me, didn’t understand my life, had no idea what I was going through . . that general sense of disconnectedness many of us feel when we become mothers.
She listened patiently as I whined on and on. Then she grabbed hold of my hands, looked me in the eye and said: “But honey, your husband is NOT your girlfriend.”
I was a bit confused at this response. What could she possibly mean? Of course, my husband isn’t my girlfriend! Those are totally separate things! I shot her a dumbfounded look and waited to hear what she would say next.
Mary explained to me that I was making a mistake expecting my husband to relate to me on certain things that my girlfriends would easily understand. She pointed out that this had nothing to do with how great my husband is, but that I was mis-matching certain topics of conversation with the people most likely to get out of them what I was putting into them.
As soon as she said it, I realized how right she was. Mary totally gets me.
I have spent a lot of time over the years trying to talk to my husband about things that my girlfriends are much more interested in. When I first had kids, I wasted my breath trying to tell my IBM friends all about the joys of motherhood and how amazing it was to watch this little human do absolutely nothing but sleep for hours on end. And when I started my business, I chattered endlessly about it to my parents, brothers, sisters and extended family, who would listen for a bit before gently changing the topic. In each scenario, I remember feeling that I was intruding somehow, taking up their time with something that was of great importance to me, but not to them.
The point of this long ramble is that we all want to be understood. We want others to be able to acknowledge what’s important to us, and if we don’t get that support and acknowledgment, we feel bad. We may start to doubt ourselves. We may start letting go of our dreams or goals, and we might let our fears take over.
As a mom entrepreneur, it’s hard to find people who have been where we are and who know what we’re going to go through next. Heck–it’s hard to find people who understand why we even WANT to run a business when running a family is such an all-encompassing (and all-important) role.
So think about who in your world understands all that you’re up to.
Who can you talk to about babies that won’t sleep, or how frustrated you feel about having no time or energy to exercise?
Who understands why you’re doing this business, and why it’s so important for you to do it, even if it’s hard?
Who in your world can you invite over for a playdate, who can enjoy watching the kids play while you pick each others’ brains for business development or marketing strategies?
The job(s) we do as mom biz owners are tough ones, Ladies. We need support. We need champions.
Let’s get online and talk tonight during #MomBizMondays about the things that make sense to us.
Tonight’s #MomBizMondays twitter party is all about Girl Talk–why and how to connect with the right people to support you as a mom biz owner.
Come prepared to chat about the stuff that matters to you, but that your friends and family might not understand. Ask for some help on a big idea or question related to your home, family or business, and get ready to receive some incredibly helpful advice (and virtual hugs) from women who GET YOU! And of course, be prepared to share your wisdom with all your friends.
The MomBizRetreat is a proud sponsor of January 9th’s #MomBizMondays Live Twitter Chat
WHEN:
Monday, January 9, 2012
TIME:
EST 10:00pm to 11:00pm
CST 09:00pm to 10:00pm
MST 08:00pm to 09:00pm
PST 07:00pm to 08:00pm
SPONSORED BY:
Mom Biz Retreat Weekend Getaways for Mompreneurs
***Seats are still available! We’re 18 days away, and the excitement is building! Hurry and grab your ticket now and save $100 off the ticket price with this coupon code: CHICAGO100. Register and details here: http://mombizretreat.com/register/ ***
This party is sponsored by Lara Galloway, @MomBizCoach6363636363 and Shelagh Cummins @BizTrainHer3030303030, co-hosts of the Mom Biz Retreat. The Mom Biz Retreats are mompreneur getaways that offer women the chance to unplug from their daily routines and responsibilities. They get business coaching and expert consulting to plan, develop, market and grow their business during 2.5 days of intensive workshops. And as a reward for all their hard work, the mom entrepreneur participants treat themselves to private Wake Up Yoga Classes, spa treatments, exquisite meals, delicious wines, and the chance to connect with other women who think talking business and family makes a really good time.
HOSTS:
Lara @MomBizCoach6363636363 Website: Mom Biz Coach FaceBook: Mom Biz Coach
Shelagh @BizTrainHer3030303030 Website: Practical Mum FaceBook: BizTrainHer
Melissa @TimeOutMom4545454545 Website: TimeOutMom FaceBook: TimeOutMom
TWEETS:
We look forward to you joining us Monday night. We would love your help in promoting this chat your communities. Feel free to copy and paste the following tweets to help promote the Twitter Party.
RT @MomBizRetreat – Time for some “girl talk” for mompreneurs! Join #MomBizMondays tonight 10pm ET http://ow.ly/8ngl3
RT @MomBizRetreat – #mompreneurs: Does your family get ur business? Join #MomBizMondays 10pm ET http://ow.ly/8ngl3
RT @MomBizRetreat – @MomBizCoach @BizTrainHer @TimeOutMom will share the importance of “girl talk” at 10pm ET #mombizmondays http://ow.ly/8ngl3
TWITTER PARTY HASHTAG:
#MomBizMondays
LINKS:
MomBizRetreat – http://mombizretreat.com/register/
AGENDA: THEME = WHY GIRLFRIEND TIME AND TALK MATTERS FOR MOMPRENEURS
RT @MomBizRetreat – QUESTION #1: When is the last time you went out with your girlfriends and what did you do? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizRetreat – QUESTION #2: What stops you from having more time with your girlfriends? Money, Time, Guilt? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizRetreat – QUESTION #3: How are girlfriends different when sharing than your spouses/partners? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizRetreat – QUESTION #4: How are other mompreneur friends different than just your regular girlfriends that are not business owners? #MomBizMondays
RT @MomBizRetreat – QUESTION #5: What kind of goals do you have in 2012 for more girlfriend time? How are you going to make sure this happens? #MomBizMondays
PANELISTS + ATTENDEES:
Please be sure to you Twitter Party hashtag #MomBizMondays at the end of every tweet so everyone may follow along in the conversation even if you are not following that person specifically. Please retweet all questions. It would be great if you were able to share your answers to each question. Connect with others at the party and say hello, chat with others, & remember to HAVE FUN! Also be sure to share links to your websites, blogs, and FaceBook pages too! We love sharing! *If you meet some great like-minded people at tonight’s twitter party, be sure to follow them so you can connect afterwards!
MomBizRetreat Tweets
No laundry? No kids? No cooking? No cleaning? Weekend away with like-minded women? #MomBizMondays #MomBizRetreat http://ow.ly/8ngtk
Kids driving you crazy? Family not understanding you? Struggling in Business? We help. #MomBizRetreat #MomBizMondays http://ow.ly/8ngtk
The best gift this holiday season? A weekend away to work on and build your business. #MomBizMondays #MomBizRetreat http://ow.ly/8ngtk
#Mompreneurs – don’t hide behind your computer feeling lost and lonely. We can help. #MomBizMondays #MomBizRetreat http://ow.ly/8ngtk
I bet your moneymaker doesn’t involve carpooling and dusting. Come and learn how to manage it all. #MomBizMondays #MomBizRetreat http://ow.ly/8ngtk
Stop struggling with your business. We help you create a clear and definitive path for your business. #MomBizMondays #MomBizRetreat http://ow.ly/8ngtk
RELEVANT ARTICLES
SOURCES:
www.MomBizRetreat.com
www.MomBizCoach.com
www.BizTrainHer.com
www.TimeOutMom.com
Mariah Humphries
#MomBizMondays: Social Media Power Tools for Busy Mompreneurs
TOPIC: Social Media Power Tools for Busy Mompreneurs
Welcome back, Mom Biz Owners! Hope you took some time off to enjoy your friends and family over the holidays. Here at Mom Biz Coach, we “go dark” during the holidays and are just now re-surfacing and re-connecting with our online friends. It’s time to kickstart the #MomBizMondays Twitter party tonight to talk about how to use some of our favorite power tools to make the time we spend on Social Media more productive.
Are you frustrated trying to “keep up” on Social Media? Feel like all your tweeting, posting, tagging and friending isn’t giving you the results you want? Maybe you created some new goals or revised your business plan to work on building your visibility and credibility to your target market this year, but you’re not sure how to do that? (What’s that? You haven’t updated your business plan lately/ever? Then you better get your ticket PRONTO for the MomBizRetreat Chicago so you can get it done!)
Tonight’s #MomBizMondays twitter party is all about great tools to make the time you spend on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other networks as powerful as possible. Learn how to curate and serve great content to your target audience that keeps them coming back to you for more! We’ll be talking tools and strategies tonight, including:
Hootsuite
Crowdbooster
BufferApp
SocialOomph
and many more!
Come prepared to learn some tricks and tips from seasoned Social Media pros who can share ways to help you grow your business in 2012 by leveraging Social Media to attract your ideal clients! And of course, be prepared to share your wisdom with all your friends.
The MomBizRetreat is a proud sponsor of January 2nd’s #MomBizMondays Live Twitter Chat
WHEN:
Monday, January 2, 2012
TIME:
EST 10:00pm to 11:00pm
CST 09:00pm to 10:00pm
MST 08:00pm to 09:00pm
PST 07:00pm to 08:00pm
SPONSORED BY:
Mom Biz Retreat Weekend Getaways for Mompreneurs
This party is sponsored by Lara Galloway, @MomBizCoach and Shelagh Cummins @BizTrainHer, co-hosts of the Mom Biz Retreat. The Mom Biz Retreats are mompreneur getaways that offer women the chance to unplug from their daily routines and responsibilities. They get business coaching and expert consulting to plan, develop, market and grow their business during 2.5 days of intensive workshops. And as a reward for all their hard work, the mom entrepreneur participants treat themselves to private Wake Up Yoga Classes, spa treatments, exquisite meals, delicious wines, and the chance to connect with other women who think talking business and family makes a really good time.
HOSTS:
Lara @MomBizCoach Website: Mom Biz Coach FaceBook: Mom Biz Coach
Shelagh @BizTrainHer Website: Practical Mum FaceBook: BizTrainHer
Melissa @TimeOutMom Website: TimeOutMom FaceBook: TimeOutMom
PANELISTS:
Mariah Humphries – @MariahHumphries – http://about.me/MariahHumphries
Manon Leroux – @sociallysavvy4u – http://savvysocialsolutions.com/
TWEETS:
We look forward to you joining us Monday night. We would love your help in promoting this chat your communities. Feel free to copy and paste the following tweets to help promote the Twitter Party.
RT @MomBizRetreat – We’re talking Social Media Power Tools tonight! Join #MomBizMondays tonight 10pm ET ow.ly/8gb7B
RT @MomBizRetreat – #mompreneurs: Be a power user of Social Media. Learn tips tonight! Join #MomBizMondays 1/2 10pm ET ow.ly/8gb7B
RT @MomBizRetreat – @MomBizCoach @BizTrainHer @TimeOutMom will be sharing their fave Social Media secrets Mon 1/2 10pm ET #mombizmondays ow.ly/8gb7B
TWITTER PARTY TWEETGRID LINK:
[to be provided shortly before the start of the party]
TWITTER PARTY HASHTAG:
#MomBizMondays
LINKS:
MomBizRetreat – http://bit.ly/uzBN17
AGENDA: THEME = SOCIAL MEDIA POWER TOOLS FOR BUSY MOMPRENEURS
RT @MomBizRetreat – QUESTION #1: What is your biggest frustration with social media?
RT @MomBizRetreat – QUESTION #2: What do you need social media tools to help you with?
RT @MomBizRetreat – QUESTION #3: What is your favorite social media manager?
RT @MomBizRetreat – QUESTION #4: How much time do you spend a day on social media?
RT @MomBizRetreat – QUESTION #5: What tips can you share about the best way to find more clients on social media?
PANELISTS + ATTENDEES:
Please be sure to you Twitter Party hashtag #MomBizMondays at the end of every tweet so everyone may follow along in the conversation even if you are not following that person specifically. Please retweet all questions. It would be great if you were able to share your answers to each question. Connect with others at the party and say hello, chat with others, & remember to HAVE FUN! Also be sure to share links to your websites, blogs, and FaceBook pages too! We love sharing! *If you meet some great like-minded people at tonight’s twitter party, be sure to follow them so you can connect afterwards!
MomBizRetreat Tweets
No laundry? No kids? No cooking? No cleaning? Weekend away with like-minded women? #MomBizMondays #MomBizRetreat http://bit.ly/uzBN17
Kids driving you crazy? Family not understanding you? Struggling in Business? We help. #MomBizRetreat #MomBizMondays http://bit.ly/uzBN17
The best gift this holiday season? A weekend away to work on and build your business. #MomBizMondays #MomBizRetreat http://bit.ly/uzBN17
#Mompreneurs – don’t hide behind your computer feeling lost and lonely. We can help. #MomBizMondays #MomBizRetreat http://bit.ly/uzBN17
I bet your moneymaker doesn’t involve carpooling and dusting. Come and learn how to manage it all. #MomBizMondays #MomBizRetreat http://bit.ly/uzBN17
Stop struggling with your business. We help you create a clear and definitive path for your business. #MomBizMondays #MomBizRetreat http://bit.ly/uzBN17
RELEVANT ARTICLES
SOURCES:
www.MomBizRetreat.com
www.MomBizCoach.com
www.BizTrainHer.com
www.TimeOutMom.com
Ready to Grow Your Business? Mom Biz Retreat All Access Pass Giveaway
It’s time to stop thinking about branding, business planning, time management, work/family balance strategies, social media marketing plans, how to create systems and structures to support you, what to delegate, how to manage your business, and where to find more clients…and time to get it DONE!
We’re offering a huge, mega-great, super fantastic, just-what-you-always-wanted gift just in time for the holidays. The gift of learning, planning, strategizing, building, re-inventing and a whole weekend of yum, ahhhh, and “me time” rolled into one package: The Mom Biz Retreat in Chicago! This ticket is valued at $595 and will give you access to all the sessions, parties, yoga, networking and business building that you can handle in 2.5 days.
The Mom Biz Retreat is a weekend getaway for mom entrepreneurs who want to make their business successful while enjoying some much needed “me time”. Spend the weekend working on your business and walk away with tools to help you grow your business. Work in a supportive environment with other mom entrepreneurs who understand you and receive the help of a business coach and trainer.
Head on over to the Mom Biz Retreat blog for contest entry details!
>> http://mombizretreat.com/free-pass/ >>
Determined to grow your business? Forget a giveaway – do you really want to and need to attend? Buy your ticket now to the Mom Biz Retreat Chicago – only 30 spots available.
Conquer Your Fear of Marketing: How to Sell Yourself When You’re a Mom Entrepreneur
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Are you too scared to market yourself?
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Do you struggle with selling yourself or your products?
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Are negative thoughts running through your head?
You’re not alone. Nearly every mom entrepreneur feels a little afraid of selling herself and promoting her business. Let’s look at some strategies to find out how to stop the fear from holding you back from marketing yourself and growing your business.
Here’s how to overcome the fear of marketing: Read more
How to Make Twitter Marketing Fun and Interesting
Marketing does not have to be “boh-ring”. Especially when you’re marketing an event or promoting a product on Twitter.
Here are a few quick ideas to help you spice things up and boost business as well when promoting on Twitter:
Host a Twitter Party
Twitter parties are a great way to make marketing fun and effective. I’ve attended so many of these and hosted many as well, and these parties are a fantastic way of promoting a campaign, building expertise, connecting with your target market, and having a lot of .
You start by creating a #hashtag and a name for your event, and then set the date and time.
Establish a chat room (check out Tweetgrid.com) and invite people to get on and talk about whatever is the topic of your party. Ask and answer questions, offer tips and ideas. A Twitter party is also a great way to “pay it forward” and establish yourself as an expert in your niche while promoting your event or services.
Join a Twitter Chat for Establishing Expertise
Alternatively, you can also join one of the Twitter chats hosted by various online groups, blogs and businesses. Participating in a Twitter chat in your niche helps increase your visibility to your target audience while also establishing your expertise when you offer answers, tips and advice during the chat. Bloggers, for example, wanting to establish expertise can join the #savvyblogging or #blogchat Twitter chats and connect with thousands of beginner bloggers seeking advice and help. And be sure to check out #mombizmondays on Mondays at 10pm ET, when I’ll be hosting a Twitter Chat for mompreneurs!
Collaborate with Colleagues
Another great way to create visibility on Twitter is to collaborate with your colleagues and other bloggers or writers on Twitter. Connect with another business that has a similar target market and cross-promote your events, campaigns, etc. For example: If you design wedding invitations, why not find a couple of wedding planners on Twitter and offer to give their clients a discount if they’re willing to list you as a vendor?
There are a lot of ways to market your business and services. Twitter is just one of them. Do read Make Tweeting Work for You to create a marketing plan for Twitter, and make full use of this free, fun, effective and super-easy way of getting the word out about whatever it is that you do or would like to do.
How do you make promoting or marketing on Twitter fun and interesting?
Make Tweeting Work for You: Create a Marketing Plan for Twitter
Twitter as a social network has always been a centerpiece for me. I get 95% of my leads from twitter and when I get those leads, they’re already warm to what I do, are qualified, need my services and are ready to start working with me.
I’m no MBA in Twitter Marketing, but I do know something: I use Twitter to create buzz, to do my marketing, to attract the ideal client for me, and to build relationships with each of them, and here’s how I do it:
Tweet Smart: Identify Your Goal
The first thing you want to do is identify your goal for Twitter marketing. What do you want to accomplish? What is your intention?
Here are some ideas:
- Is it to be visible? To be recognized as an expert?
- Is it to promote an event?
- Is it to announce the launch of a new store, a new service or that you’re taking new clients?
Twitter is great for all of that.
When I want to get more clients or more people into the MomBizAcademy, my coaching group, I set up a campaign and invite people to sign up right there on Twitter. We’ll keep the details of that for another post. For now, once you’re clear on your goal from your Twitter marketing, let’s move to the next step.
Plan Your Marketing Strategy for Twitter and Other Media
The next thing you need to consider is: strategy. So, say your goal is to be more visible as an expert, a go-to-resource in your niche.
We think of people as experts when we see them everywhere, hear them everywhere and experience something with them. You can do that using Twitter and other Social Media platforms as well.
What would your strategy be?
Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll go find all the small business, entrepreneurial and mom bloggers out there and find out if I can do a guest post there or create a special report for them.
I’ll leverage the mom bloggers I know and find out if they’ll be willing to give me a shoutout on Twitter or interview me on their blogs.
Blog Talk Radio {link to www.blogtalkradio.com/mombizcoach is a great resource that you should totally check out for interviews and guest speaker opportunities.
Look at other media outlets – magazines, local television, newspapers to get you more visibility, cover what you’re doing and establish your expertise. Follow these media folks on Twitter, contact them and ask if they have a story coming up where you may fit in.
Timing Your Tweets
Think about the timing and don’t overwhelm your twitterfeed with pure marketing tweets. You’ll quickly frustrate your followers and lose them, since no one on Twitter appreciates you pushing your marketing message down their throats. Use that to connect with your audience as well. Think about how often you want to tweet marketing or promotional tweets. I tweet a lot but it isn’t always about a workshop or event. I use Twitter to mainly build relationships, say hello and thank-you, share interesting and relevant articles, videos and podcasts I find when I’m browsing around the internet. If I find something I think would be valuable to my Twitter followers, I share it with them. I suggest doing only promotional/marketing tweets for every 10 helpful/engaging tweets. Do check out our next post on making marketing on Twitter fun and interesting for more practical tips and ideas.
Do you use Twitter for marketing? How do you use tweets to sell your products or your services?
Essay Contest Winner: Defining Success
This is a winning essay submission for the essay contest here at Mom Biz Coach. Click here to read other entries already published.
Defining Success
As I sit at the kitchen table drinking warm ginger tea at dusk on a summer cool, New England evening, the question of how I define success as a mompreneur is tumbling in my head.
I find myself thinking that I would definitely be drinking coffee were it morning. Earlier today I had an epiphany that I don’t like being told that coffee’s not good for me! I gather myself around my coffee in the morning and take pleasure in the deliciousness of the dark, locally-roasted fresh-ground beans brewing their scent into the kitchen. Yup! Today I stopped “shoulding” on my coffee and decided to simply enjoy it without apology – a good metaphor, don’t you think?
My cup of Bali or Ethiopian anchors and inspires me as I plan the business of my day – listening inside to what I require to move my business forward and feel fulfilled at the end of the day. The answers come as I sip.
As a mompreneur, I can now put all the energy I want into the entrepreneur part without having to work around my three kids – now grown. But it wasn’t always like this and it’s the MOM part of mompreneur where I measure my success.
Back when they were younger, I was single and self-employed. I don’t even think the word mompreneur existed. Mostly, I felt overwhelmed and exhausted trying to survive each day, be a good mom and make money in a way that was both flexible and satisfying. Looking back, I would give anything to have known how to get the support I so desperately needed so I could have been calmer and more present with my kids and been able to enjoy them the way I wanted. At the time, I saw no alternative to being superwoman. This left me stressed out and physically compromised.
As my kids got older, I began to understand the impact my stress was having on them and knew I needed to change. With support, I became more emotionally present, and began to take better care of myself. I realized I didn’t have to do it all. These changes were key to the amazing relationships I have with my children and the creation of a business that allows me live my passion by helping families enjoy peace and harmony at home. At the core of my success is knowing that connection matters more than perfection.
So how do I define success? I look into the face of each of my children: The sweet dancing eyes of my oldest daughter who reclaimed her life from drugs 5 years ago and now lives with gusto, laughter and love; The deep turquoise pools of courage and determination in my middle one to boldly live the full beauty and expression of who he is; and the copper reflection, in my youngest son, of the brilliance, longing and possibility of a dancing physicist.
When I look at them…I see success.
Submitted by: Kathy Whitham
Life’s too short to hate your job
Browsing around on Facebook this morning I came across a great post on the Harvard Business Review about the relationship between mentors and mentees. A favorite topic of mine, I read the entire post and took away some great ideas from it, which I’ll talk about in another post.
The author of the post, Whitney Johnson, mentioned a young woman she had recently advised on how to approach a mentor. There was a link to that woman’s post, and I read it. I’m so glad I did, since this is the link that led me to discover DreamChamps, a community that is committed to helping Gen Y job seekers connect with companies who possess exceptional cultures. Their motto is “Life is too short to do work you hate.”
Yeah! Landing on this site and reading their mission statement got me so fired up I decided to blog about it. At 7am. Before the kids were even up. And now that they’re awake, I’m typing as fast as I can before I have to logoff, feed them breakfast and get them off to school.
After I followed them on Twitter and said hello, I headed over to their Facebook Page to see what sorts of things they were talking about there.
This post on their wall caught my attention:
Wondering if company culture actually matters? Think about this.
Your co-workers are your second family. You spend more time with them, than practically anyone else in your life.
Wouldn’t you agree it’s important to like them?
Here’s my response:
“Love this question! Growing up, I got used to hearing the employed people in my life complaining about their jobs, their bosses, their coworkers. Not liking your job seemed to be “the norm,” and I didn’t realize it back then, but I accepted that idea like it was a simple truth: ‘A job is something you do in order to have the opportunity to do (and have) the things you want.’ There was no mention about the need to love the work you do. It was just a job, a way to make money and move up.
“Fortunately, and despite this belief, I had a many great experiences working for IBM and am grateful for my time spent there. But as an entrepreneur, and as a business coach who helps other entrepreneurs be successful on their own terms, I am very focused on aligning how I spend my time with the things that make me happy.
“I’m incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by people I love, respect, admire and rely on as my support in my business. I totally love my job, and my kids know this. I hope I leave behind a new ‘norm’ and belief system for my kids that echoes the DreamChamps motto: ‘Life’s too short to do work you hate.’ I’m teaching them Henry Ford’s philosophy: ‘Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.’”
What sort of work culture are you creating? What’s your relationship to your employees/team members? Are you considering this as you hire on team members to your company? Make sure you browse around the DreamChamps website so you can include a perspective from the other side of the employer/employee equation as you build your company.
How are you creating projects, work and a company your employees/support team love to be a part of? Or do you feel this is even something worthy of your time and energy to care about? Please share in the comments below.
* Photo courtesy Erno Hannick via Flickr Creative Commons
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