North San Diego Business At Large

North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: July 30, 2010

Link to live stream, Friday, July 30th 3pm PT

Dale Condy, Gems of La Costa, will be my business guest interview. He’s using Facebook to raise awareness and brand recognition for his business. He’s got some creative ideas and will be able to share a few ideas as a business owners who is leveraging his “brick and mortar” business online.

I’ll follow that up with a discussion on Facebook Pages and why you’d want to consider adding one to your marketing efforts. Taking your questions on using Facebook Pages for your business.

If you have a question you’d like answered on using Facebook Pages for Business, just use the North San Diego Business Contact form and send your question to me.

North San Diego Business At Large

North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: July 23, 2010

My business interview was with Cassie Carter, QLN Conference Center, about the conference center and how local small business owners can use the center. I also discussed the use of Facebook profiles for business.

The conference center has several space configurations allowing it’s use for many types of events. The center also offers WIFI for those looking to use the Internet in a presentation or as an instructional tool.

Cassie can be reached at QLN Conference Center Contact page or by phone, 760-722-0072 ext. 193. The conference center is located at: 1938 Avenida del Oro, Oceanside, CA 92056

The second half of the show Barbara Eldridge, Mind Masters, and I talked about Facebook profiles and gave some tips on organizing friends and how we use our profiles for business.

Next week we’ll be discussing Facebook Pages. Use the North San Diego Business Contact Us form to send a question you have on using Facebook for business.

North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: January 29, 2010

On this episode of North San Diego Business At Large TC Leary, TLC Estate Jewlery, and I discussed how she’s using social media to leverage her business online.

TLC Estate Jewelry buys and sells estate related jewelry, sterling silver items, collectables and more at her store front in Oceanside, as well as participating in shows throughout Southern California.

Have you recently taken a social media class from your local chamber, business association, networking group or local library?

Did you walk away totally confused?

Don’t you wish someone was there to help you walk through your Facebook profile and help you get the job done?

Help is here!

On January 6th, 10am PT/1pm ET you can attend a Facebook webinar designed to help you:

• Setting Up Your Profile
• Your Privacy Settings
• Status Updates
• Creating Events
• Creating Photo Albums
• Uploading Pictures
• Video
• Finding, and Accepting Friends
• Joining Groups
• Facebook Strategies

The number of attendees is limited, so that you have “hands on” help with your Facebook profile. Don’t wait any longer! Don’t let more traffic to your site slip through your fingers!

Sign up today! Get that help you need, NOW!!

North San Diego Business @Large
Show Notes: December 17, 2009

Today we celebrated over a year of weekly episodes of North San Diego Business At Large. Out of all my guests, I had to celebrate this with Barbara Eldridge, Mind Masters. She has been sharing tips and information on strategic planning, marketing, leadership and so much more during this past year. She’s guest hosted for me so I could take a vacation. She’s been one of my strongest advocates. She also made a special offer for the listeners on her Planning Summit being held January 8, 2010.

We talked about social networking, some of the concerns small business owners have about social networking…what should they do? Linkedin or Facebook? What about Twitter? Then there’s blogging….the list goes on.

It was an animated conversation. I hope you’ll learn something from what we shared. Let me know by commenting.

Have a great Holiday Season and a happy New Year! See you on the radio January 8, 2010.

North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: November 20, 2009

For the first 30 minutes I shared some of the common questions I get about Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and Blogging, and syndicating your content.

Barbara Eldridge, Mind Masters Entrepreneur Association, joined me for the second half where we discussed creating a vision for your business. A vision that would sustain you through tough times. We talked about creating vision boards that keep your vision and goals right in front of you.

North San Diego Business At Large is taking Friday, November 27th off. I’ll be spending it with family and friends. I hope you will be as well.

If you have an idea for a show, know of a business I should interview, or feel you have something that would benefit my listeners, please contact me and let’s talk. As usual, please feel free to join the conversation by commenting below.

I’m reading Seth Godin’s Tribes. It’s about how communities need leaders. He challenges his readers to find their voice and make it known. To that end, I’m going to voice my opinion about the ethical behavior I see in Multi-Level Marketing, or Network Marketing.

PrePaid Legal (PPL) has created a shopping site that they hope will be the funnel, through social media, that they can secure more PrePaid Legal Associates. The new service is called BlastOff.

You can sign up for free and start saving a few dollars here and there. The real goal of BlastOff is for you to sign up as an associate. I did that several months ago, feeling it would be a nice service to offer my readers. However, I wasn’t able to promote it my way, which if I had realized that I probably wouldn’t have signed up to be an Associate,  and that wasn’t PrePaid Legals goal. They wanted me to work PPL, which would have taken away from my own business.

So, why do I share this story with you. I arrived at a networking event to hear that BlastOff was going to be bigger than Facebook.  Really???  Please!!! The tendency to over exaggerate MLM opportunities are abundant and just too ridiculous to even acknowledge. I’ve heard another MLM tell my fellow business owners that the product she represents (which IMHO BlastOff is trying to compete with) didn’t require me to do anything but purchase what I’m currently purchasing. She “forgets” to tell people that this opportunity to save money comes with a price tag of a couple hundred dollars.  Give me a break. Be honest when you give that 3o sec. elevator pitch.

The PPL sales reps that I’ve met over time have come to me asking me my opinion of BlastOff.  I’ve been honest with them. When I first tested BlastOff, remember I’m a web programmer, I realized that the product was no where near ready to launch. It had dead links and nothing else that could compare to the likes of Facebook. I wasn’t surprised that they had to push back the launch. I shared that I didn’t think it was ready for prime time and that it won’t be as big as Facebook. That doesn’t stop them, though. The next request was to ask me to send her link to my email database. Wow, hutzpah.

Which brings me to the point of my post…I recently had a running Facebook email conversation with, yet another, PPL and told him the same thing. I’m a PPL associate.  Even with that info, he decided it would be cool to post his BlastOff link on my wall.

So, what does that mean, to post a link on my wall. Posting a link on my wall, just like tagging a note or picture, puts the “poster’s” information on my wall and viewable by all my friends. What he did, after knowing I’m a PPL Associate, was to directly market to my friends, using my wall. It’s somewhat similar to spamming.  TOTAL BREACH OF ETHICS!! In fact, going over to Facebook I noticed I was tagged in a note from another friend…guess what….a note about another fabulous MLM opportunity. Geez, it never ends. Where’s the respect for my business and my friends?

Now, I know there are probably a lot of MLM businesses that are ethical, and do try to behave like business owners. It’s the rest of the MLMers that just don’t get it. This is why you are seeing more Business to Business (B2B) networking organizations cropping up. There are business owners who want to work with other business owners and not Network Marketing businesses.

So, what did I do, I unfriended the offender and am now having to justify my opinons with the PPLs who are commenting on my Facebook page. I’d like to hear the opinons of other business owners about their interactions with MLM or Networking Marketing businesses.  Have you been solicited lately? Asked to “work” their biz, rather than your own? I’m sure I’ll be flamed by the MLM/Networking Marketing community, but it’s time someone said something!

North San Diego Business @Large
Show Notes for Friday, October 9, 2009

Cliff Kaiser, Kaiser & Associates discussing the opportunities to market your business at the Vista Business Expo. I’ve interviewed sponsors and Vista Chamber Presidents over the past four years, and am continuing the tradition!

Second Segment, Facebook for Business. How to properly market your business on Facebook, and no it’s not a second profile that you claim is your “Business Only Profile.” Don’t risk loosing one of your best social networking tools by making these mistakes….

Barbara Eldridge will join me for the third segment where we talk about being a solopreneur and how to grow your business! We’ll be taking your questions, so come prepared!

When I speak to small business groups about social networking, or using social media / web 2.0 tools to market their business, I usually get the same reaction…”where am I going to find time to do this too?” You know what, you may not have a choice. Your market may already be there….and if you don’t start incorporating some of these new tools, you’ll be left in the dust.

The first thing you have to do is define your target market. I think this video I found will help you see why you need to consider moving to social networking. If you are local, consider attending the Vista Chamber of Commerce “Good Morning Vista” Breakfast where I’ll share why Facebook and Twitter are viable marketing tools for your small business.

Are you too timid to tweet? Too bewildered to blog? Are you looking for a new job? Or looking to make contacts? Social Networking is here to stay!

I’ll be speaking at this free event, sponsored by  Tick Talk Toastmasters, Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 7pm about using these new and exciting tools to meet more people, for whatever your goals are. It could be you want a new job in a particular industry or for a particular company. Or, it could be that you want more clients and business.

This event is free to anyone. Tick Talk meets at Carlsbad by the Sea, 2855 Carlsbad Blvd. which is at Carlsbad Blvd. and Grand Ave. The event begins at 7pm, there will be light refreshments and lots of friendly people to meet. Please RSVP by calling 760-630-2089 and speaking to Pat Rarus.