Solo Minute: Nick's Law Says: Get Up!

I've just been reading about how creating 'compelling' titles
for your blog will bring in more visitors, backlinks, pizza,
wine, money, blah, blah blah.

Of course you already know, I write these tips and tidbits to make you
think - the last thing you need is for me to start being some internet
geek.

This next bit comes from a post I made on that Wordpress blog (yeah,
that one!) for those holding back starting their own business because
of the economy. You can read it to help bolster your courage, or skip
it and just watch the video at the bottom - I'm learning to be
flexible.

Let's get to it -
Just when you think you have things figured out, Murphy pays a visit.

Hosting account? Check
Wordpress Theme? Check
Autoresponder? Check

Edited theme? No one told me that! Check
FTP program working? Uh, where is that registration
code!?! Check
View new blog? Aaack! It's not working!

Welcome to Murphy's! It doesn't matter how well you plan to get your
business moving forward or what skill set you have, unless you created
the universe, and I'm reasonably certain you didn't
there will be Murphy!

Murphy's Law loosely says:
"If it can go wrong, it will go wrong at the worst possible time, in
the worse possible way and take 3 times as long to correct!"

So should you become a solo entrepreneur in your own micro business?
Only you can answer that but I let me assure you - There are no guarantees.

The best you can do is expect the unexpected.

Things you plan to go right, may not. Plan as best you can, but get over the fear of going on your own.

And yes, you might get into the wrong business or no one may want what you're selling or any number of 'trials and tribulations' may befall you as a Solo Entrepreneur.

Ohh, poor you! You're not making the millions your sponsor, that new
course, that e-book or infomercial guy promised and nobody understands how
hard it is...boohoo.

Here's a tissue, blow your nose and....Cowboy Up! In the final results, it's up to you whether you succeed or not - no one else. Responsibility for yourself comes back to you.

That's it for today and I leave you with this (it's a video, so watch it on the blog!) Nick is what we should all aspire to be - grateful for what we have and
the journey along the way.

Cowboy Up!

Tax Season & WP Saga: Persistence My A&&!

If you've been reading this blog a while, you know how much trouble
I've had with Wordpress. Well, the saga continues.

For the past 2 weeks or so, I've been using a hosting account in
anticipation of putting this blog on it. Yeah, well that was a
futility of effort. Since a 'scheduled maintenance', the blog there
has been showing my hosting accounts
under construction page.

Now that wouldn't be a stressor for most of you, afterall Wordpress is
supposed to be the next best thing since bar soap and sliced bread.

For Georjina Sinese it isn't!

Whether free or hosted, WP has turned into a dog with fleas and ticks
for me. Maybe it's my accountant's mind and perfectionist gene
kicking in on overtime but I am beginning to really,
really detest WP! Ok, rant is over.

Ready to see what I've been up to on the other blog? Let's get to
it!
Tax Time - Tick, Tick, Tick, Bong!
Ok, that was silly but it is that time of the year when we're
looking at our 1099's, W-2's and wondering where the money went.

Are you wishing someone would bail you out? Me too, but the last time
I checked it wasn't happening! So what's a poor, lonely Solo
Entrepreneur to do?

Beat the bushes to scare the snakes! Find the leaky faucets
sucking money from your bank account or skimming off your credit
cards. Become a mercenary, literally!

If you can write, know how to upload photos to Flickr or simply how
to get at least 100 people to read your blog - hire yourself out to
do that work for money.

Ok, ok. I hear you saying 'but I wanted to do what I want in my
business, not become some wage slave again!'. I feel your pain, but
remember 'slaves have their bills paid, some food and at minimum a
cave to keep out the elements'.

I'm not telling you to do it permanently. Mercenaries are 'hired
guns', in to get the job done and G.E.T-G.O.N.E.! when it comes time to
'settle down' with a cup of coffee....or at least for me that's
how it works;-)

So start offering your 'services' to anyone with the money to pay
you. I'm doing double duty as a personal tax preparer, plr content
writer and niche researcher.

Anybody who wants to hire me, get in contact and let's work together.
Just remember, I'm a mercenary.

As a Solo Entrepreneur, especially my US associates: The same work
is being outsourced - use the skills you have that brings cash in the door
and become an outsource mercenary!

Target Marketing - Smart or Unethical?

How's your week shaping up? Other than an occasional blip, I'm finally catching up on cleaning up this blog...funny when you write how things sorta pile up.

Target Marketing.
We all know about finding your target market, but along the way you must ask yourself: Am I actually doing what's best for the people in my market or doing whatever it takes to get the money in my pocket? Why this came up was an article written by Samantha Gonzales on Invesp Blog titled: Emotional Targeting-Smart Marketing or Virtual Sucker Punch.

I'm not going to go rewrite the entire article here, reading it however is a good place to start reviewing your own marketing materials. Is it ethical to target your markets basic human needs to sell your product or services? Maybe. But what about when those messages you're sending tap into people's privacy or deepest fears.

I'm not here to chunk rocks, point fingers or make character judgments (unless you're a bucket head, then all bets are off!). When I target 'work at home, part-time micro business solo entrepreneurs' with my message - Tips, Techniques and Resources To Help You Grow Your Solo Enterprise - that's a marketing message that allows me to only speak on subjects they all have in common.

It's when a marketer use services like Claritas demographics, and police records to find out 'Mr. So and So' living in Bugtussle Acres, California on 123 Peanut Street has 40 registered sex offenders in his neighborhood and sends him messages that "he needs to buy XQZ burglar alarms before he gets 'got' because there are 40 registered sex offenders living on 123 Peanut Street, is when it might be a bit too much.

Here's my response to the post:

....you make very good points and your analysis leaves room for serious introspection on the part of all marketers.

As marketers, salespeople, business owners it would appear there are many who accept sleaze as the 'means justify the ends' to gaining customer loyalty.

It does beg the question: Where does manipulation begin and marketing begin? It appears there are areas which overlap and in some cases, to the extreme.

Are the marketers for 'gangsta rap' accountable to a public inundated by violence, when song lyrics are fictional events played out in real communities?

There are no easy answers, but as a business owner we are ultimately responsible for what we do or do not in getting our products out the door.

And if you have something to add, go read the full article and post your comment.

Local Marketing - Should you do it?

I'm always looking for new avenues to market my business, what solo entrepreneur do you know who doesn't? And lately looking around have found online marketers shouting the virtues of 'local search' directories.

Here's my problem with local search for part of your business: What if your local market isn't the market for your product or service? You may be a virtual assistant with clients in the global marketplace who understand outsourcing and use the tools needed for you to be effective at what you do.

How much time are you going to spend explaining to Joe Jones downtown that you have no intentions of working in his office nor that you want him 'dropping in' on you? What I'm finding locally is that since I'm 'right around the corner', many times the prospective client wants to have some 'face time'. Excuse me?! I don't think so!

I've decided to work virtual because I also like to travel. For serious Road Warrior entrepreneurs, 'local' is where they can get an internet connection, which likely will not be the same location next week.

Can local marketing work? Sure for those of you who provide services or products to a specific local market, have developed a network that recognizes you locally and there is a known market for what you sell. It's affordable, good source for direct you-to-customer contact and belly-to-belly selling.

There are those of us who do not fit that mold and that's something you need to consider before you jump on the 'Go Local' bandwagon.

HOT UPDATE: Those of you still sitting on the fence about getting a SBI site, the deadline for the $100 off special Valentine's sale is coming to a close today! So if saving money is high on your list, now is the time to get your site up before the offer ends.

SBI! removes the technical barriers allowing you to keep your attention on building your business. Many functions are completely automated. You don't need to know anything upfront about building a Web site in order to succeed. The tedious, "under-the-hood" stuff is handled automatically so you can focus on other important business-building activities.

Solo Entrepreneur: Grow Your Business

What a week. Have the new theme and now to do something about the
blank advertising slots. There's only room for 3, so if you
want to promote your business there, here's what you do:
1. Send me an email with your url so I can see you're not trying to
gank my system.

2. The size of your site graphic can be no larger than 120x96.

I'll run it on my new blog for 30 days free. First come, first
served on this because there isn't enough time in the day to
respond to everybody.

Now, with that out the way - let's get to it:
Growing a business when you're a solo entrepreneur can seem
daunting at times. There's not only the service or product you
are responsible for getting out the door, you must also take care
of your own:

Make selling and marketing decisions.

Find new customers and respond to current customers.

Send invoices for services provided and follow-up messages.

Monitor your finances and plan cashflow.

And the list goes on and on. But there are a couple things
you can do to make your life a little bit easier, and give you
a road map for the things you need to do.

Your first step is to redefine your business vision and mission.

After being in business a couple years, you may notice that
the landscape for your industry, your customers and even
your offerings have changed.

It's easy to fall into a 'busy-ness' trap because you work
primarily alone. We all do it from time to time, but it's when
you lose sight of where you were headed when you started that can
create frustration, boredom and mistakes.

That's it for today and I leave you with this -

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor
the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change~Charles Darwin

Solo Entrepreneur Minute: Archived Tips

Are you still learning something new in your business?
It's been a couple days and I haven't blown up my hosted blog:)

While reading through some of my archived posts, it dawned on me that
quite often the tips you received came from my personal experience
working solo.

Some of them you likely didn't need to know, however as I'm not
trying to impress you - that was fine. It's human nature to have a
chuckle every now and again when someone else puts their worse foot
forward.

If you haven't seen it, take a look at the new Solo Gazette; simply
leave off the 'blogspot' in the URL. It's not finished yet but leave
a comment and you'll get a link back to your site.

Until I figure out how to move widgets, I leave you with this:

'If you are going to achieve excellence in big things,
you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude."~ Colin Powell

Solo Minute: Nick's Law Says: Get Up!

Just when you think you have things figured out, Murphy pays a visit.

Hosting account? Check
Wordpress Theme? Check
Autoresponder? Check

Edited theme? No one told me that! Check
FTP program working? Uh, where is that registration code!?! Check

View new blog? Aaack! It's not working!

That's Murphy. It doesn't matter how well you
plan to get your business moving forward or what
skill set you have - unless you created the universe, and
I'm reasonably certain you didn't, there will be Murphy!

Murphy's Law loosely says "If it can go wrong, it will
go wrong at the worst possible time, in the worse possible way
and take 3 times as long to correct!"

Thinking this is a good time to start your home business?
It is the best of times but re-read that little bit about Murphy. There
are no guarantees...sounds a bit like "life" doesn't it!

My rant is about expect the unexpected. You will never
know everything, get over it.

Things you plan to go right, may not. Get over that too.

And yes, you might get into the wrong business for you or
no one may want what you're selling or any number of 'trials
and tribulations' may befall you as a solo entrepreneur.

Ahh, poor you! You're not making the millions your
sponsor, that new course, that e-book or infomercial guy
promised...boohoo.

Here's a tissue, blow your nose and....Cowboy Up!
It's up to you if you succeed or not - no one else. Responsibility for
yourself comes with choosing.

That's it for today and I leave you with this (it's a video, so watch it on the blog)
Nick is what we should all aspire to be - grateful for what we have and the journey along the way.
Get Up


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