Opening a Window

by Marna on December 3, 2009

windowAnd so my season of being thankful continues…
Last fall as I finished writing my book EVENTually Perfect, I researched how to get it published. After several weeks, I decided to self-publish. If you haven’t realized it by now, I am all about getting things done. And while I could have pursued the traditional publishing routes, this would have taken a long time, and I wasn’t willing to wait. So, now that I made the decision to self-publish, I had to figure out how to do that. And I also wanted to make my book an e-book. That’s when I found out about WordPress.
I wanted to get involved in new things, and found a WordPress group onhttp://meetup.com. I attended my first meeting and was amazed. Jack Kennard (@javajoba), who headed up the group in Atlanta, worked with me on launching my site and showed me how to use some plugins. And over the next month, I took the time to learn more. I also found another meetup group for Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs (@AWE), led by Mike Schinkel (@mikeschinkel), that was hosting a WordPress workshop, so I registered to attend that.
In the four hour workshop, I would learn:
o how to install and configure WordPress
o configuring settings
o creating posts, pages, links and media
o installing MailChimp plugin (a sponsor and a email program I still use)
o installing & configuring other plugins
The amazing part of this workshop, was that I did indeed learn all of those things! I also got the opportunity to meet and learn from others at different stages in the WordPress world. I was able to see what others were doing with WordPress and how they were doing it, which is an invaluable lesson. Unlike most classroom situations, the meetup workshop forged relationships that became the beginning of my “technical” community. I was able to learn of other networking and learning opportunities that would continue to build.
What I quickly learned was that I was learning new things that would open many more windows. And I couldn’t wait to learn more. But mostly I want to thank Jack and Mike for their willingness to share their expertise and pay it forward by helping me and others to open windows to new adventure.

{ 1 comment }

The Season of Giving

by Marna on December 2, 2009

christmas treeTis the season. The season of giving. The season to be thankful. So I have decided to spend the next 25 days thinking about all of the things I am thankful for this year and how I can pay this forward. A year ago, I barely knew what a blog was, let alone all of the amazing things that I could accomplish with my blog. A year ago I didn’t understand Twitter or the many ways it could enrich my life. My interest in blogging and social media was a result of writing my first book, EVENTually Perfect. And while I never thought about writing a book, it opened a whole new world for me. And these are the things I am thankful for.
I think about what I have learned this past year. The learning curve was amazing! And while I could have sat back and continued on the path I was on, I realized that I was at a fork in the road. I chose to embrace the new technologies and all that it had to offer. And along the way, I made new friends and acquaintances. I forged new alliances. And I even wrote two more books, The Small Business That CouldTM and The Small Business That Could For Women.
I am currently working on a membership website, and that was what sparked my desire to write this post. After several months of searching for the right tools to create this website, I sought the advice of a friend and mentor, Jen Bonnett (@jen_bonnett) of Startup Chicks (@startupchicks). She shared her insight with me and motivated me to move forward with this project. And while I spent a significant amount of time and frustration, not to mention excuses on why I couldn’t do this, I also knew how important this project was to me. So today I started. I knew WordPress. I knew membership site plugins were available. I just had to find a plugin that could offer the database function I needed. And I had a friend who was helping me with the theme.
So over the next 25 days, I will take a few minutes off from this project to share what I have learned about these new technologies and how they can build a community, a business and most of all a circle of friends. And at the end of the 25 days, I will launch my new website. It is my present to myself. The best gift I can give myself, the gift of satisfaction and accomplishment.

{ 5 comments }

Startup Collaboration in a Weekend

by Marna on November 15, 2009

Post image for Startup Collaboration in a Weekend

Moody TweetsWhile most people think about starting a business, this weekend 120 people gathered at ATDC in Atlanta to actually do just that. http://atlanta.startupweekend.org/ After more than 60 pitches, 14 businesses were voted to move forward and 8 formed teams to launch new business. One of those businesses, pitched by David Cohen, is ours: Moody Tweets. And while many may think this is great, they are right. But it’s also a lot of work. A team of 8 individuals brought together to achieve one goal. Some of us knew each other before this, but never worked together. It’s amazing what happens. No office politics. Just brainstorming and collaborating.

Each group claimed real estate throughout the ATDC complex to quickly work together as a team to launch their business. As the day went on, some ventured into other team’s territories to ask for help with specific tasks. We are all expected to launch our businesses Sunday night. And many of us are still at work on Saturday night at 11:00 pm. Strategizing and putting expectations on paper so that we can hit the ground running on Sunday morning to achieve our goals by the end of the day.

I expect that tonight Atlanta will be proud, and so will Startup Weekend, to have been host to these businesses. After working with my group, I have a better understanding of the work that goes into creating a startup of this magnitude. I can only hope that we are one of the companies that moves forward with our business and continues to build on the application we will launch.

{ 4 comments }

Costly Lessons

by Marna on November 12, 2009

Post image for Costly Lessons

piggybankAs I began to venture online, I did so with no technical knowledge. And over the past year have made my share of costly mistakes. And now that I have regained my composure, I am more than happy to share these lessons learned with anyone that wants to listen.

Lesson 1
Choose a hosting service that offers 24/7 customer support. I would also recommend testing this support before you sign on, because sometimes they’re not very “supportive”. Ask people you trust what service they are using and how they like it. (Personal surveys are usually helpful.) Most hosting services require a minimum 1 year commitment, so if you choose the wrong service, you either wait a year to change to another service or pay double when you switch to another service. (Costly…)

Lesson 2
When you choose a domain name, you should probably see if the name is available on social media sites as well (i.e., Twitter, Facebook Fan Page). If you want to brand your business, the “names” should be consistent. And for this matter, think about the length of your business name. Long business names make Twitter RTs very difficult!

Lesson 3
If you will have more than one website, find out how your hosting service works. Multiple domains can be hosted under one account. So you do not need a separate hosting account for each domain! This lesson is costly (I know!). But since this information is not evident to a non-technical person, I know many that have made this same costly mistake, especially now that I have admitted that I am one of them.

Lesson 4
Ask! I have learned so much just from asking questions. I now know how to save money on my hosting services, my marketing materials, and other business items.

There is no “secret” recipe here, and sharing of ideas and information can only help everyone in the end. If we would just stop and listen, we would all learn so much from each other. I often hear about gratitude journals, daily logs, and other things. How about sharing one cost saving idea with other business owners at each meeting you go to? How about instead of selling something to each other, we all start sharing something. I know that as a business owner, I support those that support me. And as I look to pay for certain services, my first choice are those that pay it forward with their willingness to share. Tis the season, let’s start giving.

{ 1 comment }

Chatting on Cliqset

by Marna on October 21, 2009

chatThere’s a whole lot of chatting happening on Twitter. I participate in a few of the chats, and some I just try to follow. I say “try” because that’s what it is. If someone is participating in the chat and has a great comment, but forgets the chat hashtag, most people following the chat miss it. As I continue to join more chats, this particular problem becomes more frustrating. There has got to be a better way to do this. And I think I found it.

I have been thinking about starting a chat group for a while, but because of the issues stated above, I changed my mind. A few weeks ago, I joined Cliqset. (http://cliqset.com). I am still getting used to this new program, but have quickly learned how fabulous it is many things, including “chatting”. Here is what I l have earned:

  1. Cliqset is real time, so I can chat with people just like I would be if I were having a live conversation, no delay.
  2. My conversation flows in a stream on Cliqset and does not appear on Twitter.
  3. You get 200 characters per comment on Cliqset vs. the 140 in Twitter. And since you are following the conversation on Cliqset, you don’t need the hashtag, which saves even more characters.

I have to wonder, why wouldn’t everyone want to move their chat conversations to Cliqset? In order to participate in the chat, you would need to be registered on Cliqset. Not very difficult, and well worth it. You would have to be following the person holding the chat on Cliqset. Again, not very difficult and well worth it.

Social media is about engaging with others. And building a community is critical to the success of your business. Since the internet is every changing, new services are constantly evolving to help make tasks easier. Through the use of a service, like Cliqset, your community can start to form and become active, without you having to spend too much time on upkeep. The user-friendly features of this program will help you enhance your current social media program.

So now, I have decided to launch my #partychat. It’s the holiday season and we are all thinking about social events. What better way than to share our ideas through social media. I hope you agree, because this is your official invitation to follow me @eventperfect and join me on Cliqset for #partychat on Monday night at 8pm EST.

{ 0 comments }

Protecting Yourself and Your Business

by Marna on October 20, 2009

credit card fraud, identity theft

I recently attended a conference to learn more about new technologies and how I can adapt them to my business. While I did learn some new things, I also became aware of some others. Many of the presenters were selling their information products and programs at the event. This typically does not bother me since I often look forward to learning more about things that I find interesting. The part that bothered me was how these sales were being taken.
Each speaker offered a product and after their presentation you were given an opportunity to purchase. At this point, you were given an order form to write your information on (some in triplicate), including your credit card and CCV number. The transaction would be completed at a later date. Now there were a few things about this system that bothered me.

  1. I am not at all comfortable with writing my credit card information down for fear of identity theft.

  2. All of these programs were fairly high priced, and as stated before, already available for purchase online. An efficient method would have been to process the transaction online with a discount code and send me an e-mail confirmation.
  3. They could have rented a wireless credit card machine for the day and processed all orders immediately. They also could have accepted cash or checks to eliminate any possibility of credit card fraud.
  4. Phone lines, electricity and wifi were all available in the room where the conference took place. Since I accept credit cards for my business, I am aware that all of these components would be necessary in order to process credit cards onsite.

While I was interested in a few of the programs, I had severe reservations about this system and its security. You see, they would have all of my information readily available to anyone who picked up any of this paperwork. All of these presenters seemed honest and trustworthy, but there were many people helping with the order taking. Yet since they frequently speak throughout the country, why would they not have merchant services that offer them the latest technologies to offer their customers a secure transaction?
As a business owner, you need to consider your audience first. If you offer a product for sale, how is it made available to the consumer? If you are intending to sell your products off-site, you should ensure the security of your customer’s information. Most merchant services offer portable systems that can be attached to a laptop computer and use wifi to process transactions. If your business is already an online business, you should have e-commerce software on your website, which also enables you to process transactions anywhere you have access to wifi. If you do need a telephone line, ensure that one is available and bring the proper cords/cables to make your “shopping cart” and merchant services available to your customer. By failing to consider their audience, these businesses lost potential customers. And as conference coordinator, what steps are you taking to ensure that your exhibitors/presenters are considering your audience? Is this how you want to run your business?

{ 0 comments }

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by Marna on October 13, 2009

j0309664It so amazes me how quickly time flies after Labor Day. We are now into October and the end of the year is fast approaching. So I need to alert the media…party season is here. We have moved inside now that the weather has become colder, and in order to feed our party appetites, we need reasons to gather together. So here are some:

Football
Halloween
Thanksgiving
Chanukah
Christmas
Kwanzaa
New Years

Not to mention business holiday events. And then there are the other reasons …. birthdays, anniversaries, family events, and the list goes on. And while I offer many options in my book, EVENTually Perfect, it just didn’t seem like enough. There are still questions!

Solution: I will be offering event planning services to small businesses this holiday season and put social media to good use by offering a Party Chat.

Small Business Event Planning
I will be your event planner for your holiday parties. I offer a variety of event planning services that meet your needs and budgets. You can contact me at marna@eventuallyperfect.com.

Party Chat
With the help of http://www.twitter.com and http://www.cliqset.com I will be offering an open dialogue on event planning every other week throughout the fall season. Drop in and share, or just listen. We will talk about party ideas, party decorations, menu options, specialty drinks, and more. I will also be adding some twitpics to the conversation and possibly some videos for you to see how things are done. After all, we all want our parties to be “perfect”.

What do you have to do to chat?
Sign up for a twitter account and follow me @eventperfect and http://cliqset.com/user/eventperfect so that you can be updated on what is going on.

Then sign up for a cliqset account (http://www.cliqset.com) so that you can be part of the Chat!

It’s that simple. Oh, and watch for the bi-weekly topic so that you can have your questions ready.

{ 0 comments }

What Price Reciprocity

by Marna on October 1, 2009

What Price Reciprocity?

Networking, online or in person, has become even more prevalent in business today. We look at social media as a norm of online networking, and attend “in person” networking meetings at an amazing rate. New meetup (http://www.meetup.com) and ning (http://www.ning.com) networking communities pop up daily. Traditional networking groups now have competition for our time and efforts as we all work together to help each other through this economy.

But what price reciprocity? As you recommend a fellow networker, do you have expectations that they will return the favor? After all, if you don’t have that expectation, what is it that you hope to gain from networking other than meeting new people? While many established businesses have been networking for a while, they are much more proficient in their methods of garnering referrals. Perhaps the reciprocity could be as basic as showing you the ropes and helping you learn how to garner referrals.

As you follow people on Twitter, are they following you back? Do they see value in your message? What did you see that made you follow them? Have they delivered on that value? Sometimes we go to tweetups and other networking events and quickly follow people we meet. Once we have time to review their profiles and reflect on their message, we realize that they really aren’t part of our community. We don’t share the same values. Do you unfollow them? Only you can answer this. But if they are not following you, the answer is evident.

A community, in person or on-line, is built on reciprocity. We all help each other. We are building relationships and sharing ideas. A member of the community who doesn’t join in and reciprocate is not adding any value to your community. Their authenticity is questionable and they have chosen to be an outsider. But as your community continues to build, they may decide to be a part of it. Now the choice of reciprocity is yours.

{ 1 comment }

Are You Listening?

by Marna on September 30, 2009

Sometimes we spend so much time clicking away at our keyboards, we don’t stop to listen. If you are a court reporter, this may be fine. But at a conference, or while taking notes at a meeting, this can be a mistake. And don’t forget that even though you can’t hear someone speak their message, their words can speak volumes. As you read their blog posts, are you listening to what they are saying?

At a recent conference, I reflected on a comment made by Jeff Turner (http://www.jeffturner.info/) He spoke about Twitter and gaining more followers through four things: listen, ask, reciprocate, comment/comment back. His comment caused me to analyze the authenticity of Twitter followers. I look at the people I follow, and the ones following me, and think about the value. If I am following someone that I respect and admire, but they are not following me, are they listening to my message? But if I am not following them, then how I am I listening to what they are saying? A true conundrum! So what can I do? I follow them because I want to listen to what they have to say. I believe that when I have something to say of value to them, they will hear it. Until then, I need to make sure their message is heard.

But now we reflect on the other side. Some people use social media to broadcast, they do not need me to follow them and retweet their message. Their message is loud enough and those that want to listen can hear it themselves. Their blog posts are usually longer broadcasts of the same message. And while they are broadcasting, many of them are not listening. So are their followers listening? Is their value and authenticity to their broadcast? It does not matter to me how many followers you have, what matters is the value of your message.

And when you do have something to say, hopefully people will be moved enough by it to add their own thoughts. Their comments become part of your message and add to its authenticity. And if you do receive a comment, treat it like a conversation. Does it require a response? We are all listening to each other. And as we build relationships and community, we need to continue to communicate. This open dialogue strengthens our bonds and validates our messages.

{ 4 comments }

Building a Community

by Marna on September 28, 2009

Until recently, I had never heard of co-working space. Co-working space is a new concept for entrepreneurs that works on a membership system similar to health clubs. You pay a monthly membership fee for the level of service you require for your business. If you only need to work outside your home a little bit, you can typically purchase a membership on a daily basis. Regular use requires more of a financial commitment.

I recently visited Ignition Alley (http://ignitionalley.com) in Atlanta. Mike Schinkel and Tim Dorr worked hard to bring their vision of co-working space to life for the many start-ups in our community. A converted storefront, the space offers two options. One side of the space is more social and noisy, while the other side is quieter. Reminiscent of my college days, I quickly dubbed them the study dorm (quiet and a place to contemplate) and party dorm (much more social, to share ideas).

So why do I think co-working space helps to build a community? Unlike traditional or virtual office space, co-working spaces tend to be open and sociable, giving you the ability to interact with others while building relationships and sharing ideas. There are quiet spaces for when you need to think or host meetings, but the name itself speaks volume for its value. The long hours of self-employment can prove to be lonely and sometimes difficult. A co-working space offers an alternative as an affordable option.

For more information on co-working space:

http://blog.coworking.info/

http://coworking.pbworks.com/

http://ignitionalley.com

{ 0 comments }