“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”
- Margaret Fuller
Archive for the ‘Grow Your Business’ Category
Quote of the Week
Friday, August 13th, 2010Quote of the Week
Friday, August 6th, 2010“Small opportunities
are often the beginning
of great enterprises.”
–Demosthenes
Quote of the Week
Friday, July 30th, 2010“The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.”
-Ben Stein
Upcoming Teleclass: Step Up Marketing Using Social Media
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Did you know over 400 million people have Facebook accounts and 75 million keep up with friends and colleagues via Twitter? Or that three quarters of global consumers who go online visit social networking sites regularly?
Social media has the capabilities to take your business to new places, but you have to understand how social media interacts with your existing marketing plan. You might be posting to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube many times each day, but do you know eactly how this is benefitting your business? Are you sure that you’re using these powerful social media tools smartly and effectively?
Check out our next live Teleclass on Wednesday, July 28th at 8 PM EST entitled “Step Up Marketing Using Social Media” with social media expert Tia Singh and learn how to take advantage of this amazing technology. Tia has used social media to take her business from the ground up, and will teach you the tips that have made her a success. By the end of the call, you’ll be equipped with 3 social media steps you can implement immediately in your business! Click here to register for our next call.
Quote of the Week
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
“Anyone can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend’s success.”
– Oscar Wilde
Last Day For Buy 2, Get 1 Audios
Monday, May 31st, 2010Last Chance! Buy 2 Audio Recordings, Get 1 Free
(2010 Conference Offer, even if you didn’t go to conference)
We’ve opened our conference offer to everyone in our database. For three more days you can purchase 2 Audio Recordings and get 1 Free. Offer ends May 31 at midnight and coupon code is Conference2010.
We have over 50 Audio Recordings to choose from and many may apply towards your continuing education credits. Click here to see our audio library.
Keeping Track of CEU’s?
Depending on your services and scope of work, A Red Bench Audio Recordings may apply towards your continuing education units. With each audio purchase you receive a certificate of attendance upon passing the class quiz. Calls are 75 minutes long and may count as 1 CEU.
Expo Hall with A Twist
Friday, May 14th, 2010
The Expo Hall at the 2010 NAPO Conference had a new twist called the Market Place with over 20 exhibitors including A Red Bench. This was a great and even more personal way to see the products and talk with the vendors.
My booth neighbors were Sandy Jenney of Organize with Sandy and Linda Easton of Extraordinary Organizing . That’s us pictured to the right. Here is what I LOVE about conference…there are so many people doing amazing things! These women are both doing amazing things and are pioneers in their own rights. Sandy is very successful with her organizing business, Organize with Sandy blog, Chat with Sandy blog, product reviews, selling products, and more. She recently had the opportunity to interview Peter Walsh on her blog, click here to watch the interview. Sandy is a woman who is in the know and stays on top of products and trends.
Linda Easton is also doing some amazing things. Of course she runs her organizing business but she has also created her own line of workbooks, and she has started an organizing home party business. To learn more about Linda and opportunities to becoming one of her consultants click here to visit her web-site.
The take-away here is that when you look at Professional Organizers there are many different business models that are available. In both the cases I described above and what I observe from many successful Professional Organizers is that they have multiple streams of income, they are doing something unique, and they have a passion for what they are doing. Marrying what you love and what you have fun doing with what you are already good at, time and time again shows up as the secret to success. Can you add a twist to your services? Something new and different that might bring a little excitement to your business? We’d love to hear what you’re doing.
Angela
NAPO Conference 2010
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
This year’s NAPO Conference delivered again! It’s Spring and if you’re a Professional Organizer you know that is a sure sign that it’s time for the NAPO Conference. There was lots of talk this year about the venue. Ohio??? “Who wants to go to Ohio?” I kept hearing. I DO! Columbus was beautiful and full of fabulous even swanky restaurants within walking distance.
This year’s conference was bitter sweet for me, okay, much more sweet than bitter, but bitter non-the-less. It was sad because my business partner Christa Wagner could not make it this year. Oh how I wish she could have been there. But it was exciting because this year I was going to be on the oh so famous Ask the Organizer Panel. This was a true treat as I was on the panel with five amazing women! New organizers and veterans alike asked some fantastic questions with many coming up about social media. Yes, social media was definitely a hot topic this year.
The Expo Hall had a mini face lift this year with the addition of the Market Place. This was exciting as A Red Bench was able to participate in this new venue.
There is so much to talk about I will be posting several blogs over the next few days with my conference highlights. Including highlights from the Ask the Organizer Panel, the Expo Hall, Opening Keynote with Tim Sanders, and more on trends I observed at conference including Social Media. So keep checking there’s more to come soon!
Angela
The Most 100 Valuable Brands In The World
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010Millward Brown Optimor has released its fifth annual BrandZ report(.pdf file) that shows the 100 most valuable brands in the world–and it shows just how integral technology has become in our lives. The top spot goes to Google, with IBM and Apple following close behind–and out of the top 10, there are just three non-tech brands: McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Marlboro.
Of the 16 categories, however, it was not technology that posted the biggest rise but, rather, financial institutions, with a 12% growth, compared to half of that for tech. Only beer and fast food, with increases of 10% and 1% respectively, showed positive, with the other 12 sectors dropping. It’s worth comparing the list with Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2010.
The report–its methodology is explained here–has a lot to say about social media and how it affects a company’s brand–especially for those in the tech sector. The BrandZ list didn’t feature Facebook in the top 100, but it slipped in at 20th in the tech rankings. The site, however, featured large in the report, and is seen as a crucial tool in how the big firms will increase their reach using social networking sites.
Its advice to budding Jobses, Brin/Pages, and Zuckerbergs is to forget about philanthropy (not something, whisper, that either Apple or Facebook is known for) and embrace responsibility, to see mobiles as the new billboards–RIP Don Draper–and that successful brands are built from the top down.
How does this relate to your small business? If your branding was as strong as your organizing skills, you could drastically increase your revenue. Once you create a powerful, compelling brand, business comes to you instead of the other way around. To create a compelling brand purchase audio recording with fellow organizer and brand expert, Krista Green, called Get Noticed, Be Remembered. You’ll learn how to communicate your values, personality, talents and unique skills to create your own personal brand and influence the way others perceive you. Brand is not only for the fortune 500 company, perception is everything.