Canadian Small Business Women

Connection, Synergy, Community

3 Reasons Why Passion is Vital to Business Success

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There are so many factors that contribute to our success in business or in any part of our lives really. The Internet is full of articles about the success factors for entrepreneurs, so why not add one more to the list? I believe that we have to love what we do. While there are always things we don’t like to do in our day-to-day tasks, there has to be a burning passion that drives us. Here are three reasons why I think that being passionate about your business is vital to its success:

  1. It fuels you through challenges. We hear so much about “knowing your why” and there’s a reason. You have to be aware of what drives you, what you’re working towards and why it’s important to you. When you don’t have clarity on these things, challenges and obstacles can really become a major distraction and take you off course. When you’re really passionate about what you do, quitting isn’t an option. The saying that “where there’s a will, there’s a way” is the truth. When you’re committed to your goals, the universe conspires with you to make them a reality.

 

  1. It takes selling out the sales process. Cold-calling does not excite me. I’m sure that there are lots of people who have no problem picking up the phone and making those calls, I’m not one of them. The exception to this is when I’m working on a project that I’m excited about where making calls to complete strangers is the only way it’s going to succeed. When we’re passionate about what we do, the people on the other end of the phone can hear it and they’ll want to be a part of it (some of them anyway). If you’re selling something that you don’t believe in, you’re going to have a difficult time.
  2. Life is good when you’re doing what you love! When you’re living on purpose and doing what you love, things start to flow much easier. Things that once seemed like the end of the world are no longer a big deal. Challenges and obstacles are seen as tests to our commitment rather than cruel punishment from universe. You know why you do what you do and it makes your hear sing. There are so many people out there that are living unfulfilled lives. They have dreams that they think can never be a reality. The fact that you have the opportunity to do what you love is a blessing, and you know it.

Passion is what keeps us going as entrepreneurs. It’s the fuel that drives us and our business. If you’re not passionate about what you do, you need to ask yourself why you’re doing it. If passion was what started it, then it’s just a matter of reconnecting with it. If you were never passionate about what you do, it’s time to figure out how to add passion to what you do or do something that you are really fired up about. If we want meaningful success in life, passion is a must-have.

Sandra Dawes is a certified life coach specializing in helping women who feel unfulfilled with their 9-5 follow their dreams and pursue their passions. She holds an Honours BA, an MBA as well as a certificate in Dispute Resolution.She has completed her first book,Embrace Your Destiny: 12 Steps to Living the Life You Deserve!

Connect:

www.embraceyourdestiny.ca

www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestiny

www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestinythebook

www.twitter.com/sandradawes

How Bad Do You Want It?

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Obstacles and challenges are par for the course when you make the decision to become an entrepreneur.  There’s the steep learning curve; tax laws, employment laws, business plan, marketing plan, website design, social media, oh yeah and getting customers/clients!  If that wasn’t enough to overwhelm you and have you running back to the ranks of the employed, you then have those well-meaning friends and family who will question your sanity as you declare that you are now ready to give up the comforts of a “steady paycheque”, benefits and paid vacations.  So how do you keep your head above water when you feel like the waves keep getting bigger and the undertow is pulling you down?

Networking with like-minded people is a definite must.  If you don’t have people you can talk to who can empathize with what you’re going through, all you have left is the peanut gallery of naysayers telling you they know someone who’s hiring.  Going to meetings where you can learn not only from a guest speaker, but from the successes and failures of colleagues is going to be a big help, and it gives you comfort in knowing that you aren’t alone in your struggles, doubts and concerns and that success is possible!

You also need an outlet to release the stress and frustration that is part of the package of being an entrepreneur.  Whether it’s going dancing with the girls or doing yoga, you need to do something that isn’t related to your business that will let you burn off some steam.  This is even more important if you work from home.  The feeling of being isolated can get to the best of us.  Do activities that bring you joy and/or quiet the mind.  Often, it’s during this “down time” that answers to what seem like impossible problems will present themselves to you.

Creating a positive environment is another key to keeping yourself motivated through challenging times.  One of my favourite ways to do this is to have affirmations around my workspace.  Affirmations are positive statements about yourself and/or your environment.  Having positive quotes or affirmations around your desk or work area can provide you with that inspiration and motivation you need on those difficult days.  Playing positive, uplifting music is another great way to get through the rough times.  Whatever you can do to keep your energy up and put a smile on your face is a good thing, even if it means busting a move in the middle of the day in your office!

The reality is that if you’re looking for an excuse not to follow your dreams, they will be easy to find.  What you need to ask yourself when your facing what seems like insurmountable obstacles is how badly do you really want this?  Whether “this” means a new client, a new product or the business itself doesn’t matter.  What matters is the fact that you have a choice.  You can let the difficulties of being an entrepreneur lead you back into the life of an employee, or you can choose to focus on the fulfillment and gratification you will experience when you’ve accomplished what you’ve set out to do despite the odds.  No one ever said the life of an entrepreneur was going to be easy, but I do believe that seeing your vision manifest into reality is worth it!

Sandra Dawes is a certified life coach specializing in helping women who feel unfulfilled with their 9-5 follow their dreams and pursue their passions. She holds an Honours BA, an MBA as well as a certificate in Dispute Resolution.She is working on her first book, Embracing My Destiny: My Journey to Discovering My Divine Path.

Connect with Sandra via the links below
www.embraceyourdestiny.ca
www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestiny
www.twitter.com/sandradawes

Facebook Basics For Small Business

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In only a few short years it has become a household name and a part of everyday life for over a billion users and growing.  Each day, all across the globe members are engaged in a seemingly endless stream of sharing, “liking”, commenting and communicating on every kind of topic; from world issues, to gourmet recipes and adorable photos of pets dressed up in costumes.  The content flying around the world of Facebook each day seems to have few exemptions or limitations.  The undeniable fact is that power of Facebook is, for lack of a better work ginormous.  It has revolutionized so many aspects of our day to day lives and continues to gain momentum at the speed of a runaway freight train.

Being the savvy business woman you are, you’ve decided that you are ready to tap into Facebook’s vast network and want to get started with using it to market your small business.  Excellent!  Or maybe you have already tried your hand at Facebook by creating a page for your business.  Congratulations!  But…  You are feeling intimidated by what you see when you begin to create your page…  The jargon, the tricks, the quirks.  It all feels so overwhelming, like too much work and perhaps you are ready to give up.  Or for existing users, you feel the page you created just isn’t doing for your business what you had expected it to, or you aren’t sure how to decipher if your page truly adding value to your business.

Rest assured I have been in your shoes and feel your pain.  Especially if you are relatively new to world of social media and social media marketing.  If you are a sole proprietor or a small business in many cases you are already operating, managing, marketing and facilitating all aspects of your business.  To help empower you to tame the Facebook beast I have complied useful information from some of the top social media review sites on the web for you to consider reviewing.  The tips and information written in the below articles and blogs are excellent for helping the beginner get started, as well as will teach the novice a thing or two that if implemented, your page will reap the benefits from.

Success on Facebook: A How-To for Small Businesses (http://bit.ly/XarGi0) is a fantastic article that will provide any Facebook for small business newbie valuable information on how to get started. Page creation guidelines, why creating your “place” is important and quite a thorough breakdown of how Facebook measures success are all included herein.  This article does an excellent job of outlining how to measure the success of your page through Facebook Insights, reach, traffic and sharing.  Also included is a straightforward explanation of EdgeRank, which is the newsfeed algorithm for Facebook.

6 Tips for Writing a Facebook Post with the Perfect Call to Action (http://bit.ly/QnPVsz) is a valuable blog post that highlights the 6 steps to creating engaging content that will subtly direct your followers to not only read your posts but like and share them with others.  Writing engaging content that is short and sweet is an art in itself.  If this is something that you find to be a challenge then you will find the tips provided to be especially helpful.  Examples are provided on how to spin a basic “OK” post into one that is a call to action that will engage viewers and drive traffic.

5 Facebook Marketing Resources You’re Not Using Yet (http://on.mash.to/NyhkZk) is a post from Mashable (considered by many to be an authority on all things social media) that I found to be especially helpful as it references 5 marketing tools that have been created by the official Facebook social network.  If you are looking for inspiration, this article will provide you with some excellent visuals to help stimulate those creative juices.  You will find links to visit the Facebook Studio and Success Stories and also a link sharing tips on marketing mistakes to avoid.  If you click on Brand Resources & Permissions Center you will be directed to the place where Facebook guidelines and rules are set forth.  Yes, there are rules for the content you display on your page and if caught violating the rules your Facebook page could be suspended, so it’s best to get to know the boundaries and limitations early on.  I know of more than one Facebook page that has been suspended due to lack of diligence on policy awareness by the page owner and one in particular that was shut down completely.  In the case of the page being shut down ALL of the content contained on that page was lost and needed to be recreated, which is something no one wants to be faced with.  Information on Facebook’s Demo Tool is also provided along with the link to Facebook’s official marketing page.  I highly recommend that if you own a page on Facebook at the very least bookmark or like this page.  It is an excellent resource that provides the most up to date information, events and Facebook marketing news.

The great thing about each of these articles is that contained within are additional references to other to reputable social media marketing and information sites that you can choose to visit for additional information and to help grow your knowledge base.

Facebook can be a highly effective, low cost, marketing catalyst that can yield thousands of far reaching followers provided you have a grasp on the fundamental basics and how-to’s.  With quality information and resources at your fingertips to guide you along each step of the way, in a short time you will learn how to design, create and launch a purposeful Facebook business page that represents your business in professional manner that aligns with the goals and the vision of your company.

Happy “Facebooking” everyone!

(Infographic source:  Crystal Vilkaitis – Director of Social Media, www.snapretail.com)

Shannon Lauzon is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder of Pragmatic Approach, a boutique small business development, strategic planning and social media marketing firm located in Southwestern Ontario.  Pragmatic Approach’s mission is to provide purposeful, solution-focused consulting to entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout all stages of their business life cycle.
Contact information:  Pragmatic Approach ~ Tel: (519) 498-4958 ~ Email: purposeful.biz@gmail.com ~Twitter: @shannon_lauzon~ Blog (under construction):  www.PragmaticApproach.wordpress.com

How To Successfully Make MORE

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Creating simple strategic planning steps early on is one of the most important tasks you can do to guarantee the success of your business. Just as good habit forming is paramount to success in all things we do, so is strategic planning. Failing to make the time to create a plan is the business equivalent of traveling without a map. If we haven’t taken the time to determine where we are going and how to get there, then how can we expect to do so successfully?

Each of us understand and recognize the importance of strategic planning. Who am I kidding? We are savvy and intelligent business women of the 21st century. With the right tools in place, one highly driven business woman can yield the results of a small army.

Presumably it is fair to state that although our individual objectives in business may vary, we collectively share a common goal to achieve “more” of something. Whether it is more sales, more contacts, more referrals, or more revenue – the list of “more” truly is as endless as the horizon on a clear day. The MORE is one of the primary motivating factors that keep us inspired and driven to press on against our competition and to do what it takes to make our businesses thrive in today’s highly competitive marketplace.

What does MORE mean to your business? How do you know if you are achieving it? Do you know how to continue to make MORE purposeful opportunities? A great place to begin the strategic planning process is with the creation of a standard document or template that will help guide you along through your planning sessions. Creating a standard strategic plan to follow will help you lay the ground work, draw out the details and hone in on what the MORE is and how you are going to make it happen.

MORE is a simple, easy to remember acronym that I’ve created to assist each of you as you are developing your strategic planning template. It is the “meat and potatoes” of the strategic planning recipe. Since each business is unique in virtually every aspect, so will be the “ingredients” or content that provide you with an individualized recipe tailored to suit your taste and align with the goals and objectives of your plan.

Simply put, the steps to help you achieve MORE are:

1. Determine how (the criteria you will use) you will measure your planned outcomes

2. Create a clear objective of your particular plan that aligns with your goal and desired outcome

3. Establish a purposeful rationale or reasoning for the creation of your plan

4. Outline how you will execute the steps to achieve the desired outcome

a. And of course, define the method(s) for evaluation of the outcomes of your plan after execution

If you are a sole proprietor or manage a small business the reality is that you wear many hats and are responsible for a variety of areas of the business, and because you wear many hats more often than not you will find yourself getting yanked in multiple directions. At times it may become challenging to carve out additional time in your already action packed day to be able to sit down and focus on strategic planning, and it can be an extremely daunting task if you are starting the process from scratch each time.

I strongly encourage each of you to be proactive and to consider creating your basic strategic planning process and template in the early stages of your business or role. In my opinion and based on experience it is time well spent and will serve you well. Your strategic planning document will be a tool you will utilize frequently and refer back to when you are preparing for new challenges. It is a tool that can easily be tweaked to suit the needs of your business as new projects arise and goals change.

“Good plans shape good decisions. That’s why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.” – Anonymous

Shannon Lauzon is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder of Pragmatic Approach, a boutique small business development/strategic planning/Social Media Marketing firm located in Southwestern Ontario.  Pragmatic Approach’s mission is to provide purposeful, solution focused consulting to entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout all stages of their business life cycle.  Contact information:  Pragmatic Approach ~ Tel: (519) 498-4958 ~ Email: purposeful.biz@gmail.com ~ Blog (under construction):www.PragmaticApproach.wordpress.com