Small Business Success - It’s a Matter of ConfidenceWritten by Diane Hughes
I was floored! I couldn’t believe what they were saying! But there they sat -- three of biggest film stars of our age -- telling world they had issues with confidence. I was watching an interview where Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore were talking with Oprah Winfrey. Their conversation gave me a lot to think about in regard to small business success.It started with Meryl making a comment about a movie she’d starred in. Her joke was about fact that she actually quit movie before it began filming and then ended up following through with her commitment after all. At this point, Nicole and Julianne chimed in. "I do same thing!" was cry. As I watched these three huge film stars go back and forth with their issues of insecurity, it dawned on me that I had something in common with these movie icons. As a small business owner, I constantly question myself. I wonder if I have imagination, talent, skills, or drive to make it online. Yes, I’m earning a full-time living on Web. I’ve done so for quite some time now. But that fact seems to play a tiny part in establishment of my self-esteem. Like most small business owners, and apparently at least three giant film stars, there is a constant struggle with what we *think* we can do, and what we can actually achieve. Self-doubt creeps in and - if we let it take hold - we want to quit. We question our abilities and even our successes. It has potential to be devastating. There is something else I learned from this interview, however. While all three of these ladies had gone so far as to call their agents and tell them they weren’t making movies they were contracted for, they still did them. Even with high levels of insecurity, they got themselves together and marched onward.
| | Building An Unstoppable Multi-pillar BusinessWritten by Willie Crawford
Jay Conrad Levinson, in his books Guerrilla Marketing Weapons and Guerrilla Marketing Attack, points out that there are easily hundreds, if not thousands, of tools/methods you can use in your marketing. He points out that your competition is probably only using a few. He also emphasizes that if you just use a few more - effectively - you will dominate your industry.Jay Abraham gives diving board versus Parthenon analogy. In analogy, each method a business uses to obtain new business is a pillar that business is built on. He points out that most businesses only use one primary method (or pillar) for bringing in customers. If that method collapses or fails, they go out of business. He then teaches businesses to effectively utilize multiple pillars for deriving business. We all seem to understand what both of these "Jays" teach :-) What's difficult for many of us is applying it. How do you use as many different tools, approaches, and methodologies as you can in your marketing efforts? How do you build a strong, multi-pillar, approach to generating new business? Perhaps best place to begin is with what you are already using and what your competitors are already using. Begin by making a list of methods you currently use to promote your business and a list of tools that you probably could use. This list will likely include things like: ezine ads, writing articles, publishing your own newsletter, postcard mailings, package inserts, banner ads, link exchanges, writing and distributing a low-cost book with intention of it going viral, creating and distributing low-cost software with intention of it going viral, an affiliate program, pay-per-click search engine campaigns, listings in specialized search engines, forming strategic alliances with other businesses, etc. After you have you list, take methods one at a time and carefully examine them. Ask yourself if you are currently using them with any real success. If you are using them and you are not having any success with them, you need to determine why. It could be that method is all wrong for your business or situation. If it is then you need to stop wasting time with it.
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