Putting Your Expert Team TogetherWritten by Catherine Franz
As a freelance writer myself, I know how important it is to have, and keep track of, experts to interview. Here are a few ideas on topic:I always emphasize to clients and seminar participants how important it is to start and maintain a "Team 100" list -- people to support you in whatever you are doing. It is also equally important to start and maintain "Expert 100" list. For a writer this is almost mandatory whether fiction or nonfiction. However, even if you are a business owner or an employee it is just as important to have this list. One of experts might be your next employer or a friend of one. What is an Expert 100 list? Group of people who are experts in their careers who you know a little or a lot that you feel comfortable enough to contact them if and when you have questions in their area. It doesn't matter whether questions are for your business or for your writing. . There isn't a right way to track your list--computer or index cards. MS Excel handles process well. MS Access offers an easy-to-set-up template that needs minor tweaking. Outlook is a possibility as well, however, file corrupts easily. I began in Outlook, moved to MS Excel, and now use Access. Even with never using Access before, I walked through learning curve in less than an hour. Where to Begin Your List? Take easy route; make a list of friends, family, significant other’s parents, co-workers, neighbors, and anyone else you know. What is their expertise? You also want to track what some of them might consider their hobby. I've met many whose hobby knowledge is off chart, including a seven year old on baseball cards. Don't forget Mama favorite cooking recipes. How about your family member’s friends, your parent’s friends, or co-workers parents? Share what you are creating and watch them start one of their own. What about professors or teachers? Record any papers or books they have written. Do they have a web site? Don't know any local professor or teachers. Pick up phone and call institution’s main office, they will gladly provide you with a list of their experts who have agreed to be contacted. Call and introduce yourself and discuss their expertise--before you need them. You never know when they know someone who knows someone who knows someone that might be your ticket to fame or fortune. Yes, who you know does matter. Take them to lunch at school cafeteria. Send them a book, article, or magazine with a topic of their interest from time to time or send them an e-mail when you come across an Internet article on their expertise. The two or three minutes now will make a BIG difference later.
| | Startling Facts...Written by Jim Green
Fact: Start a Business without a Masterplan for Success and You’re 95% Certain to Fail!Fact: Only 5% of People Who Start a Business Make it into Year 6. “95% of small business start ups fail within 5 years. Two-thirds of new employer firms survive at least two years, and about half survive at least four years.” (Source: Small Business Administration 2004). How can this be when same US Government source claims that small firms represent more than 99.7% of all employers? Why is failure rate so high? Here’s why. 95%of all start ups have no masterplan in position at outset and in consequence flounder and sink without a trace. What’s more, this alarming fatality quotient applies equally to offline and online enterprises. Even worse, tens of thousands more start a business every day and follow exactly same route to disaster. Fact: Google lists in excess of 12,000,000 web sites offering advice on how to start a business - but how many I wonder emanate from people who’ve actually done it for themselves. My site does. I’ve founded, owned and operated dozens of small businesses – and I’m still doing it. I’ve also authored two widely-acclaimed bestselling hard copy books on topic, ‘Starting Your Own Business’ (How To Books ISBN 1-85703-859-2) and ‘Starting an Internet Business at Home’ (Kogan Page ISBN 0-7494-3484-8); titles that sell in big numbers online at Amazon.com and offline in bookstores throughout world. Now I’m unzipping my case notes spanning forty years of successful independent commercial activity to present you with an all-in-one masterplan to ensure success before you start a business – and to maintain momentum in tandem with your endeavors so that you don’t end up in same place as 95% of start ups: dump truck. The All-in-One Start a Business Masterplan doesn’t simply focus on getting you up and running. As Ultimate Start a Business Compendium it goes deeper, much deeper. In its 4 individual tutorials it aims at creative heart of operating a small enterprise: how to start a business with failsafe offline and online strategies, how to avoid crucial mistakes that cripple 95% of all start ups, and how to sustain progress with tried, tested, proven stratagems.
|