You want customers but can’t spare the time to communicate or converse with them?  Are you serious?

I was speaking to a group of small business owners and although they think online marketing is an excellent way to gain more customers, they tell me they have no time for it.

Business owners are busy, no one can dispute that.  But I often wonder if they want customers.  I presume they have enough and are not looking for more.  When I asked them if they want more customers, their answer was a big YES!

How To Find Time To Engage

You can’t find time – you make time.  There is 24 hours in a day.    Time is there and is available for you.  The  way to make time is to prioritize your activities and make time for certain actions that can contribute to more customers.

But you must first decide if talking and engaging with your customers  is part of your business strategy to gain more customers.  If it is, then consider adding CUSTOMER ATTRACTION into your activities.

Here’s how it can be done:

1.  Join and use Facebook correctly.  I say correctly because some people  join Facebook without a strategy or plan on how to use it for business.

2. Join Twitter and use it correctly.  Again, have a strategy.

3. Join Linkedin  to connect.

Set-aside 5 hours per week at the very least to converse, update and connect with your pears or people unknown to you.

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The other day, while I was thinking what to do to inspire my Telfund group members, I was reminded of the Daffodil Principle.   It was shared to me by a woman with a big vision.  I believe it was written by a woman name Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards.

As a woman,  balancing life, family and business can be overwhelming.  But if you dream BIG, THINK BIG, and take action every day, one step at a time – you will eventually reach your goal.

I am sharing this with you specially because today is the International Woman’s Day:)

The Daffodil Principle

think big and your deeds will grow

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say “Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over.”  I wanted to go, but it was a two hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

“I’ll come next Tuesday.” I promised (a little reluctantly) on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy.  Still… I had promised, and so I drove.

When finally, I walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog and there’s nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!”

My daughter smiled calmly and said “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”

“Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears and then I’m heading for home” I assured her. “I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.”   “How far is the drive?”"Just a flew blocks,” Corolyn said. “I’ll drive Mom.  I’m used to this weather.”

After several minutes, I had to ask, “Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the car garage!”  “We’re going to my garage the long way.” Carolyn grinned, “by way of the daffodils.”  “Carolyn,” I said sternly, “please turn around.” “It’s all right Mother, I promise. You’ll never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

After twenty minutes, we turned onto a narrow gravel road and I saw a small country church.  On the far side of the church, I saw and hand lettered sign that read, “DAFFODIL GARDEN.”

We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand.  I followed Carolyn down the path.  Then we turned a corner and I looked up and gasped.  Right before me lay the most glorious sight! It  looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the  mountain peak and slops.  The flowers were planted in majestic swirling patterns, great ribbons ad swaths of deep orange..white….lemon..yellow..salmon  pink…saffron…and butter yellow.

Each different colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like it’s own river with it’s own unique hue. Altogether, there were five acres of daffodils.

“But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn.  “It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered.  “She lives on the properly and that’s home. “  Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory.  We walked up to the house.

On the patio we saw a large poster.  It read:

“Answer to the questions I know you are asking.”

“50,000 bulbs.”

“One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain.”

“Began in 1958.”

There it was… THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE!

For me that moment was a life changing experience.  I thought about this woman who I had never met.  More than forty years ago she had begun (one bulb at a time) to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top.

The principle her Daffodil Garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.  That is: learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time…often just one baby step at a time… and learning to love the doing.  When we multiple tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things.  WE can change the world!

“It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn.  “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years.  Just think of what I might have been able to achieve.”

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way “Start tomorrow,” she said.  It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterday.  The most desirable way to make learning ‘a lesson of celebration’ … instead of a cause for regret is simply to ask, “How can I put this to use today?”.

It’s not too late, we can start something magnificent – today!

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Training

I woke up early on Saturday to attend the Telfund International Field Sales Training at the Holiday Inn, Woodbine  in Toronto.

Was it worth it?

Definitely!  Not only did I finally meet the company’s CEO Jayme Amirie, I also learned how to ensure proper documents are signed by costumers who wish to use our low fee – high exchange rate money sending service.

Mr. Amirie also gave us a glimpse of what’s in store for Telfund members which got everyone off the seat! The future is bright and it gets  exciting every month.

The most exciting news was the announcement of 10% commission that can be earned by alll FREE members who refer others to Telfund.  They don’t have to be distributors to earn the 10%.

Here’s some photos of my team.

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I often hear from parents that their computer is dead or is out of commission because it’s been infected with viruses.

When you share your computer with your kids, they can unknowingly click a link that contains viruses.  That’s why they are kids!

To avoid becoming a victim of such virus,  it’s best to have a computer just for the kids or educate your kids on how to avoid computer problems.

But even adults can fall victim to malicious virus.

Here are some tips to help you avoid the most vicious malware (spyware, adware, and viruses are lumped in this group):

1. Do not click on a  link from friends unless you are absolutely sure this e-mail is sent by your friend.  If your friends’ e-mail address has been hijacked, the virus then spread to all her/his contact list.

2.  Pictures and names of celebrities or a big recent event can be used by criminals to spread the virus.  “Britney Spear’s naked picture” is tempting but can be deadly.   Another example is when Cora Aquino died;  people searching for news on her became infected with malicious malware.   So if you search for a news related topic, make sure to click trusted news sites only.

3. Facebook, twitter, myspace and any other networking sites can also spread viruses.  So again, take precaution.

4. Update your current operating system; if you are using a PC, you should have your windows set on automatic update. Updates contains patches or fix for known problems.

5. Never assume that a link or an image is safe.  When you get a warning that says you need to download a certain software to remove the virus, DON’T.

6. Never open an attachment unless you are absolutely sure.

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Perhaps one of the most asked question in any business is “how can I get more clients or customers”? If you ask this question to a room full of people, you might get a hundred different answers, but all the answers will only mean and head on to one single idea – marketing.

Marketing is the process of introducing your potential customers and clients to your products and or services that you offer.  The key word here is the word “process”.  A process is a series of actions, changes, or functions bringing about a result.

Target Market Marketing

Marketing also involves determining your specific target market, or target customer. You have to determine their general profile, social strata, buying habits, preferences, trends, etc. Then find out where they hang  out online and offline.  For example, if you are targeting moms; there are mom forums,  and twittermoms is also a popular online water cooler.

Your products or services should then cater according to these parameters to capture a much larger target market. These involve research, tests, advertising, continuous evaluation, networking and of course, sales. This is why marketing is considered as a process.

Marketing Your Business Online

Luckily, with the advent of the internet, this process has been simplified. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you might know that online marketing is the most cost effective marketing strategy these days. Did you know that with the internet, you can actually find out about your potential customer or client? In fact, you can even monitor the number of visitors who browses through your site, their place of origin, and even their browsing history which will give you an idea on what they are looking for. You can capitalize on this information to help you in modifying your marketing strategy. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter or Myspace can even increase your clientele by tenfold. Years and even decades ago, this was just a dream.  Now it is a reality and business people are reaping the benefits regularly.

If you operate a small business, home-based or otherwise, you should at least have the following in place:

1. A website that will convert website visitors into buying customers.  If your site is not doing that, you need it reviewed.   It’s worth the time and money and it should be done first before anything else.  A good site can be your research machine, sales team, and your marketing arm.

2. E-mail marketing is one of the most important customer retention actions that is not being used as often as it should.  Again, it is very cost effective.  Once it’s set up, it’s dirt cheap to maintain.  People who have bought from you are the easiest people to sell to unless you gave them lousy service.  Some people using this strategy are satisfied with their customers who keep in coming back that they don’t need new ones.

3. Online Marketing is not just your website although it’s a big part. It should include articles  marketing ,  online advertising, press release, and the utilization of social media networks.

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Content is defined by Wikipedia as,  “information and experiences created for an audience.”
“Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

Content marketing in many forms:

•    Print and online newsletter
•    Custom magazine (creating and sending your company magazine)
•    Digital content (video, mp3 clips, audio presentations)
•    Websites and Blogs
•    Social networks including forums
•    White papers
•    Webcast, web seminars, web conferences, podcast
•    E-mail blast
•    Events
In essence, if you create a message that is valuable, and relevant to your target audience in order  to attract, acquire and engage them into action, then you are involve in content marketing.  You are also a publisher by the virtue of your published content.

Do this well and your customers will see you as the leader in your industry.

You become an expert, a giver of information, and a problem solver.  Soon, they’ll  come to you for solutions.  That is called inbound marketing-where people come looking for you, instead of you chasing them.

Can you see how this can help you bring in more sales and expand your business? Tell me what you think:)

Related Articles:

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I received an excellent newsletter today from Jim Cannolly entitled the Marketing Power of Attraction. I’ve been reading his tips since I started following him on twitter and I have to say, he is one of the few people that don’t preach.  He just practice what he does which is marketing and tells people what he does for free. Simple but very effective judging by the number of people that reads his blog.

Although attracting clients is not a new concept – creative entrepreneaurs have found ways to put a little twist on this old concept and make it work.

The biggest question that most of us entrepreneur

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Web designers are not marketers

Some web designers specialize in designs, while some simply do coding or programming, and some do both.  My favourite site was created by a programmer working with a designer.   The design and aesthetic elements were created by the designer while the programmer made sure everything functioned properly.

A site should have:

1. Clarity. A simple, clean and easy to understand website is attractive.  Fonts that are too small and light is an assault to the eye.  A busy website with all kinds of distractions makes it difficult for people to decide what to do.

2. Accessibility. Your site might look good with Internet Explorer but it might not show well on Firefox.  Your site should read well on all browsers.  Download time is also a factor and sites made of flash takes longer to load.

Now what if your potential customer doesn’t know the exact address to your website, how will he or she search for and arrive at your website without that information?     The answer to this is “keywords”.  People use words or sets of words to search or “google” for something.  Determining and incorporating keywords relevant to your site will help your site to be on google and other search engines.  But some keywords are competitive, meaning it is being used by so many other websites, so simply using it is not going to help. That’s when you need a search engine optimizer (SEO) or a specialist who can help your website improve its rankings on search engines.   Be careful when people say they know SEO.  Search for their products and/or services online (not their website address or business name) and see if they come up.  For example, if they are in Car Advertising – then they should come up when you type Car Advertising on google.

3. Good Fresh Content. Some sites are so stale it looks like it was done by a neighbour’s kid back in the 90’s.   Every site needs a face lift once in a while to stay up to date.
More importantly, the content should be current. It’s been said that “content is king”. The most amazing site that catches people’s attention will lose its potential customers if it doesn’t have good contents to keep them interested.   Having a blog (where you regularly write updates) incorporated on your site will keep it fresh and your customers will keep coming back for more.

4. Easy Navigation and Flow. Have you ever been to a site where you got lost and don’t know how to get back to the “homepage”?  Part of an easy to navigate website includes having the key links to other pages of your site kept under the fold (right under your header).

5. Widgets. Widgets are what keeps your site interactive and allow your customer to come back for more until they decide to buy.

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New Year’s Resolution

At this time each year, millions of people on earth make their New Years Resolution.  Some fail miserably and swear not to attempt making these resolutions ever again. But some achieves them, and some achieve only half of what they set out to do.

I made mine last year and posted it on a forum.  When I went to look at it this week, I was surprise to see that I’ve accomplished about 60% of it. It felt good!

Acknowledging Your Accomplishments – Big or Small

Now I am thinking – what did I do differently that resulted in me accomplishing some of these resolutions?

Sure I did not accomplish all the things I wanted done, but hey, an improvement is worth acknowledging.  I have to pat myself on the back because I know no one will. Giving yourself credit when it’s due will motivate you to do more. To keep the pace, to go further, to give it your absolute best.

Midyear last year, I realized that getting big things done requires the accomplishment of the smaller things.  Big plan requires small projects. So breaking your big plans into smaller projects will make it easier to accomplish them. These smaller projects when done can boast your confidence to keep going.

New Year’s Resolution or Vision Board?

Writing your resolutions on a piece of paper or on a page is part and parcel of the “resolution” action.  Your mind deciding to do certain things, and the body motion of writing it down is an act of agreement between the body and the mind making that resolution more solid and firm.

So whether you call it “vision board”, “New Year’s Resolution” or “Action Plan” it must be written.

My resolution for 2009.

1. Continue growing my social network, helping and connecting with my social community.

2. Improve my sites and make it more profitable.

3.  Become better at doing the things I do by planning and relentlessly following it through.

4. Continue eating healthy, walking or exercising daily and regularly meeting people offline.  I mostly work online, and I find it refreshing to meet people offline on a regular basis.

5. Start something awesome to help people in need around the world…

Have you written yours?

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Hard to believe fall has arrived!

While I love the beautiful colours the fall season brings, it saddens me to know that winter is coming and the blissful summer we have enjoyed so immensely is over.

But fall brings a different kind of beauty and wonder. My family have always enjoyed walking through the woods when the colours of the trees are changing. Letting the children gather their favourite leaves, sticks and whatever items they can find in the woods.

Last week, my family went to Crawford lake.  It was glorious! It was unusually warm and we enjoyed walking on the board walks surrounding the lake, occasionally stopping to gaze at the breathtaking colours of the various trees and vines.

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