Take time regularly to work on your business, not in your business is a statement  we often hear as business owners.  There was only one time that I heard of a couple who took this to its ultimate meaning.  Each year, from year 1, they took a whole month off, to think and plan their business growth and strategy.

One of the most important steps in business success is planning.  A business plan requires an action plan that will have specific and measurable results.  Here is a suggested proven planning method that if you are truly committed to improving your management skills you can become a planning master overnight.  What would it mean to you if you planned every business day on paper prior to the day starting?

1. Block 30 minutes each week to review the week and your Quarterly plan and determine the actions you will need to take that week to achieve those results.
2. Block 10-14 minutes daily to plan the day.  No cell phone, no e-mail, no distractions, just planning.
3. With your goals in front of you ask yourself if the activities you listed will help you achieve those goals.
4. Prioritize your action items for the day.  Put an asterisk next to your 5 most important (valuable) action items.

Outrun The Elephant

Wow, it’s the second quarter already.  Where does the time go? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been looking at doing some things differently. I decided to run with North San Diego Business to help you discover the many no-cost and low-cost marketing and business building tools online.

Now is time to think about the changing marketplace. Are you feeling pressure, looking to gain a competitive edge, or ready, like I am, to unleash the power of owning a business?

Maybe your stuck? You need a team of trusted advisers to bounce your ideas off of and brainstorm strategies and solutions? This may be the best way to spend next Monday, April 6th.

Barbara Eldridge, Mind Masters, will be holding her Second Quarter Business Planning Workshop in Mission Valley.  What Barbara brings to the table is the opportunity for you to sit down and take some time to work on your business, not in it, with other business owners. It’s a great time to bring a new idea, strategy or challenge to the table and get feedback from business owners who are also in the trenches!

I hope I see you there? In the meantime, take a listen to the archived versions of North San Diego Business @Large on the right sidebar. Barbara’s been sharing the 12 Keys to Business Success.

To your Success!!

I recently had the opportunity to interview Dana Bristol-Smith, Speak For Success, about the Women’s Leadership Institute and the fundraiser she’s holding for the Institute on Monday, February 23rd.

The Vagina Monologues, directed by Liv Kellgren, featuring Denise Yamada and extraordinary San Diego Women plays at the Lyceum Theatre on Monday, Febuary 23rd.

The Vagina Monologues celebrates women’s sexuality and strength! No in its 11th year, Eve Ensler’s work continues to support local and global communities. The production benefits The Spaek for Success Women’s Leadership Instiutue. Started in 2008 by Dana Briston-Smith, the Institute gives domestic violence survisors professional development training and coaching to help them transform their lives.

Tickets can be purchased by calling 619-544-1000. The Lyceum Theatre is located at 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego. A silent auction begins at 6pm. The play begins at 7:30pm.

You might recognize some of the women starring in this production. Included in the cast list are: April Barnett, Michelle Bergquist, Helice "Sparky" Bridges, Elizabeth Chapman, Lana Culliver, Dr. Jenn Gunsaullus, Moira Keefe, Donna Lange Thomas, Elaine Masters, Carla Navarro, Pamela Shekinah, Jenni Prisk, Kristi Roth, Anna Seymore, M’lafi Thompson, Dr. Deborah Waitley and Awesta Zraif.

This is going to be a great evening, full of wonderful San Diego women. Come and join me for The Vagina Monologues. I’ll be the one with the hat!

Women’s Leadership Institute Video

When Barbara Eldridge formed a personal mind master group of entrepreneurs, it was to find the support and exchange of ideas she felt necessary to her business success. As a franchisee of Success Motivational Institute, Barbara helped small business owner set goals for their business. Yet, she found they needed more. They needed support, resources, and accountability. MindMasters was born out of that need and has helped many business owners grow their businesses.

Most small business owners tend to be somewhat isolated, especially if they are homebased. They need a place where they can share their accomplishments, a place to come and “pat themselves on the back.” At MindMasters they find that between the sharing of ideas and the input from other members, they could not only prosper in their businesses, but also become more educated in areas outside their realm of expertise. The key factor to MindMasters is having a pool of people, who can share ideas, but also can help envision for you, and with you, that dream or goal you have for where you want to be in your business.

The MindMaster experience is a combination of things, the realization of our needs, and the support and resources needed to accomplish those needs. Through sharing, a member could walk away with just one idea that impacts the success of their business.

Barbara shares a story about her grandfather. Six years before Henry Ford invented the automobile, Barbara’s grandfather fashioned a crude engine and mounted it on the buckboard. He never saw past motorizing his own buckboard to the much bigger picture. He missed the opportunity. If only he had a roundtable of CEOs off of which he could bounce his ideas and see how they reacted to his new mode of transportation. Could he have been the first to invent the automobile? We’ll never know.

While MindMaster is not a networking group, it is a network of ideas and experiences of other people that can enhance what you do in your business. Why reinvent the wheel? If you keep doing what you’re doing, and you keep getting the same undesirable results, it may be that you need to change! Yet, change can be difficult, even challenging. It’s that perspective others can give you, as a small business owner, that may be the key to turning that challenge into an opportunity. You can’t get that just anywhere.

A typical MindMaster meeting begins by sharing accomplishments and achievements from the previous week. The facilitator encourages the members to share because it’s important to build on successes. Then a topic is presented, which is chosen by the facilitator, in any one of the four areas of business; business management, marketing and sales, financial, and leadership.

The “meat” of the meeting is the ten minutes each member is given to share a challenge, an idea or maybe they need a resource. The point is to get input from others in the group. The value is in the free sharing of experiences to benefit others in a safe environment, your own boardroom. Each meeting ends with the members sharing what they learned from the group.

Planning Summits

Planning sessions are held at the beginning of year, then quarterly after that. Each month one meeting is dedicated to monthly planning. It’s a time to set the goals for the month, then break them down into weekly, manageable pieces. Each member determines what he or she needs to do to get the results they are after. Then they commit to an action step, which is what keeps them accountable to their goals. During the week, the facilitator makes coaching calls to see how the member is progressing and if he or she needs any support.

Barbara believes that what holds back most small business owners is their attitude about success, their belief in themselves and what they offer to others. She states it’s the lack of consistency that’s detrimental. “When we are handling so many things as small business owners, we get off track, especially when it comes to building relationships with our clients, states Barbara”. “Building those relationships demands consistency in how we portray ourselves and how we keep in touch. A lot of the times that’s what falls through the cracks. We spend time looking for the next client, when we don’t realize a little nurturing of our current clients would bring us repeat business.”

Barbara’s next business planning summit is January 5, 2009 from 9:30am to 3:00pm. Your next business success could be only a phone call away. Barbara Eldridge can be reached at 858-467-9091, or visit her website at www.mindmasters.com.

On Friday, June 6th Barbara Eldridge, Mind Masters was my special guest in Conquering Digital Divide, presenting "Strategic Planning for Your Business, Part One".

Take a listen and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Visit The Digital Divide page for upcoming Free Friday webinars.

Launch in external player

On Tuesday, April 15th Microsoft held "Vision to Venture", an event bringing together women from all over San Diego County to share ideas about starting and growing your small business.

Microsoft introduced their Office Live Small Business service for budding entrepreneurs, or solopreneurs as I like to refer to us! There were four excellent speakers. The first speaker was Susan Wilson Solovic, SBTV.com, who spoke about building a million dollar business. She’s the author of "The Girls’ Guide To Building A Million Dollar Business." What an energetic woman and an inspiration to all.

Additionally, she moderated a panel of three entrepreneurs who shared their experiences while answering questions from the audience. The panel was made up of: Lisa Baker, Lisa Confetti; Holli Door, Hollister Construction Company; and Ramona Russell, Uptown Liz.

This is the interview I did with Susan about the conference and SBTV.com

The second speaker, Rich Sloan of Startupnation.com, spoke about the seven overlooked secrets to starting up a business. He’s incredibly knowledgeable about the small business community and the co-author of "StartupNation: America’s Leading Entrepreneurial Experts Reveal the Secrets to Building a Blockbuster Business." He was gracious enough to sit down with me for a few minutes to share information about Startupnation and being a solopreneur.

Karen Dayan, Microsoft’s Digital Media Expert, spoke about taking your business and promoting it online in an easy and affordable way using Microsoft’s Office Live Small Business service. She also served as the Master of Ceremony during the day.

Microsoft is also offering an "on demand webcast" of the Vision to Venture event and it will be available later in May. Visit the Vision to Venture page to sign up for an e-mail alert as to when the webcast will be available.

Here’s my interview with Karen.

John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing, wowed the audience with the 5-step conversational marketing plan. He share how to create an education-based, information-rich branding strategy. I’ve been following John for a couple of years now, as a subscriber to his blog and a fellow tweeter on twitter. I was delighted when he agreed to an interview. I hope you’ll enjoy all these interviews as much as I enjoyed speaking with these four delightful and insightful professionals. Here’s my interview with John.

Their Books
Girls Guide To Building A Million Dollar Business	Duct Tape Marketing

Customers make the heart of your business beat with their desire to choose products, services and experiences that meet their needs, fit their values, engage their emotions and respond to their desires. Your role is to transform prospects into customers and customers into fiercely loyal advocates. As your own marketer you have to be heard over the marketing noise that is everywhere, (TV, newspapers, on every street corner, now even at the movies). You then have to overcome the skepticism of the more sophisticated consumer.

Many of you have taken one of our "Personal Branding" workshops to learn more about standing out, creating interest so that people take action. It is important to understand that all of this starts with what you say about who you are, what you do, but most importantly what is the outcome you deliver that satisfies someone’s desire to buy.

I would like to suggest you start by asking yourself some questions that can flush out the things you need to know about your customer, and what your customer needs to know about you. If you have targeted a market, what is their challenge, issue or problem. The better prepared you are to answer that question the better prepared you will be to know what your customer needs to know about you.

What is the value of your product or service in terms of saving customers time and effort? Does what you offer add value by offering an enhancement – beauty, status, advancement or guarantees? Can you demonstrate that your product or service is not a cost but an investment? How about your competition, why do people buy from you rather than your competition? What makes you different? What do your customers tell each other about your product or service?

Amazon.com and eBay have capitalized on this by giving buyers a chance to comment and/or review what they purchased and in the case of eBay how well the seller fulfilled what he sold. You need to be able to tell the stories and quote the testimonials of happy customers so others can see how you are different.

Few products or services are unique, you make them unique by looking at your strengths to create your competitive edge. What strengths do you have that you can effectively capitalize on? When you have answers to the questions that apply to you, you must be able to deliver that information verbally and in all your written and hand out materials. Remember people want to know "what’s in it for them." So what is the outcome and value you deliver; this is not the how, but the what, that will keep them coming back over and over again.

For more than twenty-five years Barbara Eldridge has been contributing to other people’s business success. Her many years experience in the corporate world provided her with knowledge, insight and presence to help thousands of entrepreneurial men and women nurture their business ventures into thriving successes.

Barbara founded Mind Masters in 1991 as an organization for entrepreneurs to master the challenges they face in an ever-changing market place. Barbara has a vision of Mind Masters to provide a value based program so that business owners could harness the power of each members’ success, make wise business decisions and realize their dreams. Visit Mind Masters for a meeting location near you and start on your path to business success.

According to Alan Kay from Disney’s R&D Department: "When you … offer unique value your competition cannot, then you … make headway by giving your ideas away."

You can expand your visibility by disseminating information as one of your prime marketing tactics. Don’t make the same mistakes most small business people do, and think that the knowledge and experience you have is widely known, on the contrary, you are the owner of a capital asset that others do not possess and have no easy way of possessing it.

There are many avenues available to you to present what you know. Trade association journals and newsletters are always looking for articles. What organizations are you associated with? Approach them with a suggested topic.

On staying current with your clients, you need to create information tools such as newsletters or e-mail newsletters that will give you consistent visibility. Clients start to see you as a valuable resource.

Seminars, workshops and talks to groups and organizations put you out ahead of the competition. Your exposure to your market place helps you to build credibility.

When you make your information available to your market place, you position yourself as an expert. Experts produce and sell information. This lets clients sample your information and expands your market to people who can’t hire you. Products can be given away or can bring you significant incremental revenue.

The market place of today wants concise information, whether you record it or put it in print, it will create a definite advantage over your competition. Where do you want to be in the market place? You must put yourself there. The next time a client asks you a question, make note of it – others want that answer too.

For more than twenty-five years Barbara Eldridge has been contributing to other people’s business success. Her many years experience in the corporate world provided her with knowledge, insight and presence to help thousands of entrepreneurial men and women nurture their business ventures into thriving successes.

Barbara founded Mind Masters in 1991 as an organization for entrepreneurs to master the challenges they face in an ever-changing market place. Barbara has a vision of Mind Masters to provide a value based program so that business owners could harness the power of each members’ success, make wise business decisions and realize their dreams. Visit Mind Masters for a meeting location near you and start on your path to business success.

One of the questions I often get from my members is, "when is the right time to incorporate"? The answer is often the question of liability that one needs to take into consideration before deciding which entity best suits ones business needs. Do you have employees that put you at risk driving your business vehicle or dealing with customers? Each business entity has its advantages and drawbacks, benefits and tax consequences.

Picture a situation where an employee is driving with you in your vehicle and you are in an accident. The accident is not your fault but your employee gets injured. You are now in a position where the employee’s lawyer decides they need to sue you too. What kind of protection do you have?

Most small businesses are started as sole proprietorships to allow an individual the independence, flexibility and minimum government red tape giving him/her absolute control. Taxes are filed on a regular 1040 form with a schedule C attached. Employee benefit premiums are deductible. However, Linda Harris of Harris Insurance and Financial Services says that the disadvantages of the sole proprietor are so profound that I will quote her explanation.

"The sole proprietorship is limited by the personal financial resources of the owner and the ability to obtain credit and borrow money. The sole proprietorship is also limited in terms of business talent and ability and the success of the business generally is tied to the ingenuity, initiative, resourcefulness and managerial abilities of the sole owner. "

Without proper planning the employee in the above scenario could wind up owning the assets of the business and other personal assets as well. Creditors may attach personal resources (home, bank accounts, retirement accounts, etc) in the event of a business failure. Also what happens to a sole proprietorship upon the death of the owner? In general, state laws provide that all of a sole proprietor’s business activities cease at the owner’s death.

Without getting over my head in legalities, let’s look at the General Corporation advantages that could offset the sole proprietorship disadvantages. There is limited liability as all responsibility for debt and liability fall on the corporation. That means creditors cannot attach personal assets of the share holders. Financing is generally more easily secured, as corporations have a more stable appearance, whether or not it is true. Unless there is a restriction on the transfer of stock, shareholder’s interests are freely transferable. As a separate legal entity, a corporation enjoys perpetual existence.

Often small business owners fail to value their sole proprietorships and do not adequately plan for its security or continuance. It is important to review all of the benefits and drawbacks of incorporating with your attorney, CPA and financial planner so you understand the financial impact on the business and your family.

For more than twenty-five years Barbara Eldridge has been contributing to other people’s business success. Her many years experience in the corporate world provided her with knowledge, insight and presence to help thousands of entrepreneurial men and women nurture their business ventures into thriving successes.

Barbara founded Mind Masters in 1991 as an organization for entrepreneurs to master the challenges they face in an ever-changing market place. Barbara has a vision of Mind Masters to provide a value based program so that business owners could harness the power of each members’ success, make wise business decisions and realize their dreams. Visit Mind Masters for a meeting location near you and start on your path to business success.

Here we are in the second month of the year, are you already finding yourself coming and going, wondering how to get done all the things your business demands of you? Is it more like being in a batting cage with things coming at you, rather then in the game playing to win? Over the years I have experienced my clients suffering through those long lists of "got to get done" things, but what I have come to understand is most of those "things" are not focused, nor do they consistently support the things that really matter, your dreams and goals.

But, you ask, when the list is so long what does really matter? That sounds more like you are striking out instead of scoring. So let’s think about your game – how many up at bats have you skipped this week? This month? Managing the high priority, high pay off areas of the business means first having a clear focus on the mission and goals of the business. Anything that distracts you from realizing those goals is likely producing inconsistent results. The question to ask yourself to stay focused is, "is this activity helping me reach my goal?"

Weekly you must carefully define your work and break it down to essential tasks which will give you a game plan. Growing a business means having consistent up at bats, i.e. activities that produce high pay off results, that means prospecting for new clients, calling for appointments and having face to face encounters with them. In addition it means staying in touch with your "centers of influence" who recommend you.

Paul J. Meyer, Founder of Success Motivation Institute once wrote "There is a world of difference between mere action and constructive action." So instead of just adding to that "to do" list, take time to plan a week of constructive action, focusing on the things that hit the mark consistently. I recommend that you break your activities down to Business Development, Contract Fulfillment/Work to be Completed, Follow up, Personal/Home, and Administration. When you have your goals in front of you it is easier to see what needs to be done.

Challenge: Take one half hour each week to review your accomplishments and plan for the next growth steps for your business.

For more than twenty-five years Barbara Eldridge has been contributing to other people’s business success. Her many years experience in the corporate world provided her with knowledge, insight and presence to help thousands of entrepreneurial men and women nurture their business ventures into thriving successes.

Barbara founded Mind Masters in 1991 as an organization for entrepreneurs to master the challenges they face in an ever-changing market place. Barbara has a vision of Mind Masters to provide a value based program so that business owners could harness the power of each members’ success, make wise business decisions and realize their dreams. Visit Mind Masters for a meeting location near you and start on your path to business success.