Hard–Earned Lessons From An (Accidental) Entrepreneur

I wish I could say I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

After all, my father was one, my brothers run a successful business and I married an entrepreneur.

From my perspective, they worked long hours, talked about business all the time and always seemed to be thinking of taking things “to the next level.”

I didn’t understand that those long hours didn’t seem long enough when it’s spent pursuing your passion. That you cannot help sharing your enthusiasm about what you love and how you are going to change the world to anyone who has a minute to spare. And that having your own business opens up a whole new world of creativity and perseverance that you previously didn’t know existed about yourself.

I didn’t know any of this until I became an entrepreneur myself.

In a new country, with no local experience and no contacts, I began consulting until I could get a secure job. What was simply a bridge to the next “sure thing” turned into a never-ending road with an unknown destination.

In 13 years, I’ve gone down the bumpy road of entrepreneurship traveled by many before me, and learned a few good lessons along the way. I hope these lessons make your road to adventure a whole lot smoother:

1. Embrace That You’ll Never Know Everything

It took you years to be THE expert in your field. You struggled to finally make THE product that everyone’s talking about. However, if, after all those years of hard work, you think you know it all and stop learning, or stop innovating on product development, your business will either fail or eventually get left behind.

Curiosity and perseverance are some of the most important traits for an entrepreneur to embrace – why do things work and how can it be better? What would happen if I did the opposite of what is the logical thing to do? Who knows more than I do and whom did they learn from? Do I really know what my customer wants?

Assume there is more than one “right” answer and ask the difficult questions no one is asking. You might be surprised at the answers you’ll get.

2. Work Hard And Give Yourself The Gift of Time

One of the most frustrating traits of an entrepreneur is our impatience. We spend weeks, months, even years creating something we love and when it’s ready, we’re caught by surprise at how slow it sells: How come my potential client can’t see how brilliant our product or solution is and how perfect it is for them? How can they not want it right NOW?

In a market with ever-increasing noise, it really does take time for you to stand out and build a momentum with your marketing.  “Overnight successes” can often take 18 – 24 months or more. If you truly believe in your offering, keep working hard but give yourself the gift of time and know that you may need to take the marathon approach versus trying to sprint to success. Remember that childhood story? The turtle eventually beats the hare!

3. Be Willing To Succeed As A Result of Your Work

You should definitely be willing to fail as an entrepreneur, but sometimes what can hold us back is the willingness to succeed.  It seems counter-intuitive but many of us have a fear of success in some way.  We may believe: I’ve worked so hard but don’t deserve the good things and recognition that come my way. What if I can’t sustain my success? What if I take on something way over my capabilities?

Remember that many of your fears will be irrational if you look at them closely. Success is your reward for setting your sights on a seemingly impossible goal, pursuing it doggedly and sometimes making incredible sacrifices to get there.  YES, you are worth it, and yes, you deserve all the recognition and success that comes your way.

4. Keep Working Towards The Next Step

Having your own business can provide amazing freedom and flexibility in creating a lifestyle you want.  There are times though, where it takes great effort to get out of bed and hang onto your determination to keep going. You may be stuck on what you need to do next in order to reach your goal.

During these times, I remember an analogy a business coach shared with me: When trying to reach a mountain’s summit (your goal) you know the general direction is up. Even in the worst weather, when you cannot see the summit and don’t know how you are going to get there, you can at least see the next step.

In building your business, just keep taking the next step, work hard, and trust that you know what you need to succeed. You may go down the wrong path here and there, but you won’t know until you take that step…and sometimes the step you need to take may be asking for help from a guide who’s been to the summit and back!

 

Disclosure: I received compensation from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. This post was sponsored by Visa Small Business as part of their #gobiz Sweepstakes for @VisaSmallBusiness. Visa will be rewarding small business owners with $10,000 in prizes for their hard work from October 25^th through November 17^th. Visit here http://hosting.thetenthwave.com/visasb/ for more details, and follow @VisaSmallBiz for ways to help make your small business more efficient and successful. Discover more at http://visa.com/business.

 

Photo Credit: The Femme Files

PR in Your Pajamas Close Out Sale!

 

I’ve been thinking about my business a lot lately. So far, I’m really happy with the way things have been going. Business is growing faster than I can sometimes handle — and that’s a good thing.

However, it’s clear I need to prune some areas of my biz in order to let the other areas grow even more.

And so, I have decided to retire two of my products: How to Do Your Own PR: A Guide for Small Businesses and Social Media for Beginners: Generating Online Buzz.

Before I take them off the shelves, I’d like to give you the opportunity to buy them — at a huge discount.

From today until Friday, July 15, 2011, you can purchase How to Do Your Own PR and Social Media for Beginners for only $47 each.

That’s $150 off the regular price!

If you’re interested, grab these today, because after July 15, they will no longer be available — at any price.

Click here to check out this massive sale.

Or click on the ecovers below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember, these products will disappear after midnight this Friday, July 15. So don’t wait!

The Art of Enchanting Your Professional Crush

Yes, we all have them.

A professional crush is someone who is brilliant and you admire a lot (sometimes from afar). You want to follow in their footsteps. You’d love to pick their brains all day. You will do anything to work on a project with them.

For years now, one of my professional crushes has been Guy Kawasaki, Silicon Valley venture capitalist, Apple evangelist and marketing guru. I first met and wrote about Guy in 2007 when he was speaking about his book The Art of the Start – a start-up bootstrapper’s bible that I still refer my clients to.

Like real-life crushes, throughout the years, my path would cross with Guy’s – close, but not quite close enough:

• My friend Ria Sharon hosted a “virtual pajama party” as a fundraiser and I was on the same “virtual stage” as Guy and Lewis Howes.
• When I started my blog two years ago with just four posts and a Twitter following of maybe a hundred, Guy tweeted about me and one of his followers contacted me to work for his company.  Talk about social media power.
• And more recently, Guy was interviewed by Maruxa Murphy and she mentioned to him that she first heard about him from me.

Like real-life crushes, I’m sure Guy still didn’t know me from the 365,000 followers he currently has on Twitter.

When I found out he was coming to Vancouver for an event, I thought about buying a ticket, but that wouldn’t differentiate me from the hundreds of people there. I wanted to stand out.

So I set out to enchant my professional crush from what I’ve learned from his books and speeches. Here’s what Guy says about Enchantment and how I, in turn, implemented it:

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10 Elements of A Social Media Policy for Your Company

Your business needs a social media policy.

Let me illustrate why:

Many of our clients at Cross Border PR embrace social media wholeheartedly. One in particular, is a service provider with $20M in revenue.

One day, the CEO attended a conference call with one of their clients, where it was announced that their client company’s president was retiring. Because there were several hundred people on that call, my client’s CEO felt it was ok to tweet about it. And he did. To all 200 of his followers.

Lo and behold, the CEO was shocked and embarrassed when he got a call from his client. Apparently, what he tweeted was not public knowledge. His innocent little tweet had set off a chain reaction, which turned into a PR situation for his client. As a result, this CEO got his hand slapped for leaking something confidential.

Was the CEO at fault?

What should he have done?

What could his client have done to avoid the leak in the first place?

The answers lie in a social media policy.

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#FollowFriday @Jacob_Gordon of @Treehugger

A Green Force in Social Media

Our #FollowFriday recommendation this week is Jacob Gordon, social media expert, green-tech writer and blogger, and host of TreeHugger Radio.

Jacob interviews thought leaders, opinion influencers, and pioneers in the world of green technology, environment conservation and other areas of eco-consciousness. Listen to his radio series to discover people who are making provocative contributions in green advocacy. An example is Isabella Rosellini, who’s been making “Green Porno,” a series of short films about the sex life of bugs and other animals.

He also edits Treehugger.com’s series of guides on “How to Green Your Life,” bringing the conversation down to the level of lay people. The series covers greening all aspects of daily life, such as cars and transportation, eating, beauty and fashion, home design, school, travel, gift giving and celebrations.

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The 7 G’s That Maximize Your Presence At Live Events

 

In the two and a half years since I’ve been active on social networks, I’ve met a ton of really interesting and influential people. I love online networking and it works really well for me as an entrepreneur running a virtual business.

However, I’ve been attending more live events and conferences recently and networking in person because I really love meeting new people.

Even if you’re not the host, a speaker or an exhibitor at the event, here are simple ways you can have fun, make an impact and maximize your presence -– and therefore the business opportunities coming your way.

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109 Ways to Make Your Business Irresistible to the Media

This post was first published in Copyblogger.com. My friend Patrick Garmoe, a former reporter, wrote this piece and received permission for us to reprint it here. Enjoy!

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Ever wonder why some businesses get press and some don’t? Getting a mainstream media outlet to pay attention to your business seems like an impossible-to-solve mystery.

You might see your competitors spouting a diatribe that you know for a fact is wrong, or that you could explain better.

“Why did they interview that guy instead of me?” you wonder.

Actually, it’s not you. 99 times out of 100, it’s not your qualifications, your knowledge, or your ability.

It’s your approach.

After 10 years as a journalist, I’ve seen just about every bad pitch you can imagine. And I’ve also come up with 109 foolproof ways to entice the media in your city to highlight your business — approaches that make the mainstream media unable to resist you.

(And lots of them work just as well with bloggers and social media influencers.)

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How to Find Time to Begin Your DIY PR Campaign

Many small business owners and solopreneurs have one-person marketing and PR departments. A common complaint I hear is the lack of time to do PR. What a shame! PR, done right, has far-reaching benefits. This is why I’ve invited Monique Wells, a time management expert and coach, to write a guest post for us today. Monique tells us how we can MAKE time for PR.

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So you’re a small business owner who wants to begin a do-it-yourself public relations campaign! You’ve got Elena’s arsenal of PR weapons at your disposal, and you are ready to get started.

Or are you? What about the errands that need to be run? The invoices that need to be sent? The phone and e-mail messages that need to be answered?

Don’t worry! There is a way of dealing with these mundane, repetitive tasks so that you will have time to devote to your public relations project.

I recently interviewed Brian Tracy, a time management and productivity expert whose principles and practices I admire. We talked at length about the concept of delegation for the entrepreneur or solopreneur, and what value it can add to your business.

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Building Long-Term PR Relationships in a Digital World

When we first started working with Dongbu HiTek in 2001, it was a start-up semiconductor manufacturer based in Korea wanting to enter the North American market. Though its parent company was worth $11 billion, Dongbu was going to enter a competitive market mostly buying from strong competitors in Taiwan and China. It was virtually unknown in the semiconductor industry and had no relationships with key media and analyst influencers in the US.

In 10 years we have provided the gamut of technology PR and marketing communications services for Dongbu – writing, media relations, trade show and event management, marketing collateral development, and much more.  We have also done PR projects for them in Europe and Asia.
Although we now work with clients on online strategies, a decade ago there was no Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. No one was blogging, getting inbound links or using SEO to get found. We built relationships with Dongbu’s key influencers the old-fashioned way – one person at a time.

In an increasingly digital world, don’t underestimate the power of building long-term and personal relationships. The lessons below still apply today.

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How to Use Twitter to Build an Army of Adoring Journalists

Today’s post is written by Patrick Garmoe, a former reporter for newspapers in three midwest cities. He is a digital marketing specialist who loves helping businesses spread good ideas through social media and search engine optimization. Patrick also works with me as a senior associate at Cross Border Communications.

This post was originally published at Spinsucks.com.

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I spent 10 years as a reporter in the BT (Before Twitter) era. Now as a social media strategist and public relations professional, I’ve found Twitter to be my primary and most successful method of building and maintaining relationships with reporters. It’s brought myself and clients I work with tens of thousands of dollars in free press coverage.

One public relations agency I work with even grew out of a connection made on Twitter. And that’s perhaps the main reason I advise every public relations professional to become a regular. Just like real life, you communicate with a large circle of professionals, but the bulk of the benefits come from just a handful of clients or connections you make over months and years.

I consider Twitter the tool that delivers tangible value in great gulps, so long as you commit to it for a year.

Skeptical? Here’s exactly how I use it. This will work both for one-person shops and advertising agencies trying to build a following to use for clients.

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