Promote your business and get paid to do it! Written by Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D.
How can you gain credibility and exposure for you and your business, reach a motivated audience, develop a far-flung network, hone your presentation skills -- and get paid to do it? Many writers, artists, speakers and entrepreneurs have found an answer: they teach classes in adult education programs. Adult education is big business. In new century, "change" is a hot topic and learning is no longer confined to traditionaldegree programs. As people want to grow their careers and enrich their lives, specialized programs have evolved to reach this market. Some teaching venues require at least a master's degree. Others allow you to share your unique skills, from designing brochures to tarot reading. Temple University's continuing education program has offered a half-day class taught by a cleaning lady. The subject? Speed cleaning. If a target market exists for your business or if you have knowledge that people can use on job, chances are a target market exists for you in world of adult education. By entering this world, you can demonstrate your skills to a receptive audience, meet some terrific people, learn more than you expected and even have some fun. Teaching requires more than a good speaking voice and a knowledge-filled brain. Every minute you are in classroom, you are marketing yourself to your students. You must keep students involved for up to eight hours. Since average adult attention span is about fifteen minutes, you have to design exercises, activities and questions. You have to deal with unexpected.Students will arrive late, ask off-the-wall questions and challenge your expertise. Occasionally, students will be rude, insulting or even abusive.
| | 10 Ways To Get Your Share of the Mature Written by Joanne Fritz, Ph.D.
Every 7.7 seconds someone in United States turns 50. The 50+ population controls more than $7 trillion in wealth and is responsible for 50% of all discretionary spending. It purchases 41% of all new cars, buys 80% of all luxury travel, and is 30% more likely to purchase products online than younger users. Yet, internet marketers often miss this rich potential market. Perhaps they don't think older people are on web. However, older adults are often more "wired" than we think. Many seniors are coaxed into going online by their children or grandchildren. But, once they have logged on, many become eager Internet users. Plus, internet use is high among those over 50 who work and have college degrees. Indeed, this group is more likely than younger Americans to be online on a typical day. Wired seniors say it has helped them connect better to loved ones and makes it easier to get information. So, how do you reach them? First, recognize that over 50 crowd are not all alike. They are more diverse than any other market segment, spanning those at peak of their careers, to active, independent seniors, to elderly in need of care. Here are some clues to communicating with and ultimately selling to new mature market. 1. Do not talk down to, or treat them as children, or remind them of their age. Most do not consider themselves "old." 2. Although there is disagreement about using words like "senior citizen," reserve such terms for World
|
