How To Rock The First 90 Days Of A Job

Recently I read a blog post by Guy Kawasaki that I think is valuable advice no matter the size of the company you're going to work for.  If you don't know who Guy Kawasaki is, he's worth getting to know.

Who is Guy Kawasaki?  Guy is the chief evangelist of Canva, an online, graphics-design service, and an executive fellow at the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley.  Formerly, he was an advisor to the Motorola business unit of Google and chief evangelist of Apple.  He is the author of The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and ten other books.  He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.  In short, he's someone worth listening to.

According to Guy's blog, "There are two components to getting off to a great start on a new job:  what to avoid and what to accomplish." Even more, "there are four ways to blow a new job, and they form the acronym LAST: Lazy, Arrogant, Stupid & Tacky."

Read Guy's Blog and find out how NOT to blow a new job and better yet - how to be successful!

Read It Here!

Where Will Your Town Be In 10 Years?

By Becky McCray, Small Biz Survival

This article was originally posted on Small Biz Survival and was used with their permission.

Not every small town is going to prosper. Some small towns won't survive in ten years. The question is, can you do anything to influence whether your town survives and prospers?

The future of your town is up to you.

You decide if you'll start your own small business. You decide whether you'll say yes to that other rebellious spirit in town to cooperate. You decide whether you'll find six people to work together on a crazy project.

Your tiny steps will lead to small successes. You’ll fail, too. Other people will squash your best ideas, and the opposition will drive you bananas. That's part of what it takes to succeed. But it will all lead to bigger successes. And successful communities attract more resources.

Ten years from now, your town will be the example everyone talks about. You'll look back, and you'll remember that one tiny step, that one decision, that one moment. That's what it took. That's what kicked it all off. That's why your town is prospering. 

Because you decided to. 

Becky McCray owns a store and cattle ranch in a small town in Oklahoma. Download her 20 Small Business Ideas for Small Towns here http://smallbizsurvival.com/news 

I've been digging through some boxes of pictures up here at the chamber office and found another couple of installments of TBT....Enjoy!  

Let us know if you see anyone you know!

Creating an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy

Creating an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy
"More than 50 percent of American adults use multiple social media sites. How can you reach them without wasting too much time or breaking the bank?"

This is an excellent post by Bruna Martinuzzi on the American Express Open Forum site on which Social Media sites to use and how to use them.  If you thought social media wasn't something you needed to use...think again. EVERY business needs to use Social Media to reach customers!

Read The Post Here

Creating an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy

How To Get Your Storefront Found on Google

I recently found the following blog post sent to my email. It's a great article on how to get your storefront found on Google.This is something EVERY business owner, no matter how big or small, needs to read and use. These tips will help you connect with and drive more customers to your website and, ultimately, through your doors!

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can make all the difference in the ability of potential customers to connect with you online.  Sound complicated?  Not necessarily so.  Simple tips can help your website and how it's ranked by search engine's like Google.

"When you’re a small business owner, no one needs to tell you about the unique challenges of your job. You’re the boss, the bookkeepers, your office’s barista all in one. Being a small business owner is unlike any other job in the world – so it shouldn’t surprise that SMBs have a unique set of rules when it comes to mastering your SEO.

If you’re a small business with a physical storefront, your main marketing goal is to draw more customers through your door, (duh!) So when people conduct a Google search for a business just like yours, it only makes sense that you’ll want your name & address to be the first things they see! This specific strand of search engine optimization for businesses with a storefront is called “local SEO”."

Read The Article Here

Always Great Advice!

Vote For The Gathering on Spring Today!

The Gathering on Spring is asking for your help!  They have been selected as a finalist for a Fed Ex Small Business Grant and they need your votes to win it.  The need your votes to help them win one of ten small business grants, including a $25,000 grand prize.

The Gathering on Spring is located in downtown St Marys and houses multiple businesses under the one roof. Their hope is to win this contest so that they can continue to add treatment rooms, a shower, handicap-accessible restroom, purchase lift-quipped massage bed, and complete electrical and heating work. If they win the grand prize they'd also like to launch a foundation to better serve those on limited incomes.

Vote for their Fed Ex Grant application by clicking on the button to the right. Their short video explains their needs.  You can vote once every 24 hours through March 17th.  Thanks for your support!

VOTE HERE!

Keep Safe Online: 6 Security Steps You Should Take Now

Recently I received an email from the Wix.com blog.  While it references having a Wix website, the information is appropriate for any online web presence, including Social Media and Email.  Internet security can be confusing, but it's a necessary evil if you have a website. It seems like every day we read in the news about a major security breach.  While what we read about is on a very large scale, any security breach of your information is damaging to your business or your personal life. I encourage you all to read this blog post from Wix and see if there are things that you need to be doing to ensure the safety of your online business.

Check out the Wix blog for other online safety articles.  You can never be too safe!

Vote For The Gathering on Spring!

The Gathering on Spring is asking for your help!  They have been selected as a finalist for a Fed Ex Small Business Grant and they need your votes to win it.  The need your votes to help them win one of ten small business grants, including a $25,000 grand prize.

The Gathering on Spring is located in downtown St Marys and houses multiple businesses under the one roof. Their hope is to win this contest so that they can continue to add treatment rooms, a shower, handicap-accessible restroom, purchase lift-quipped massage bed, and complete electrical and heating work. If they win the grand prize they'd also like to launch a foundation to better serve those on limited incomes.

Vote for their Fed Ex Grant application by clicking on the button to the right. Their short video explains their needs.  You can vote once every 24 hours through March 17th.  Thanks for your support!

VOTE HERE!

Is Your HR and Benefits Department Ready to Take On the ACA?

While some HR and benefits staff may feel like they have baseline knowledge of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it is expected that this law will continue to change over the next several months and years. Because employees rely on their HR and benefits departments for guidance on the ACA, it’s important that companies hire professionals who are knowledgeable about the law and comfortable with an increasing level of regulatory complexity. HR and benefits departments also should rethink their communications strategies and tactics around the ACA and work with other internal groups to remain one step ahead as new mandates and requirements become effective.

Visit ADP’s Compliance Insights blog to read this full post and for other weekly posts on regulatory compliance.

Color Psychology and Marketing

Market researchers have long understood that colors affect our emotions. In one study, researchers found that 85% of shoppers say color is a primary reason for buying a particular product.  Design companies, such as The Logo Company, have outlined how different colors affect our emotions and use this knowledge for branding.

Academic research suggests colors do more than just affect our emotions or encourage us to buy one product over another. In a study from the University of British Columbia, the effects of color on cognitive task performance were analyzed. Participants were asked to complete a series of tasks on a computer, some with a red background, some with blue, and others with a neutral screen. They found that red increased performance on detail-oriented tasks while blue increased creativity. Co-author of the study, Juliet Zhu, suggests that red stimulates attention to detail because people associate red with danger, making them more cautious. However, “blue is the color of the sky, the ocean, safety; when their environment is safe, people are more explorative,” and therefore more creative. In another study, from The University of Minnesota, researchers asked participants to allocate a given budget such that their combined profits were maximized. They found that in a 5 minute trial, “over 70% of the subjects with multicolor reports obtained a close to optimum solution compared to only 33% of the subjects with mono-chromatic reports”.

Corporate researchers have also chimed in – in one experiment, HubSpot created two webpages that included a “Get Started Now” button. The two webpages were identical in all ways, except for the color of the button (one was green and one was red). Surprisingly, the red button outperformed the green button by 21%. Subtle changes, such as which colors are used, can make a big difference on how a company, a website, or a presenter is perceived.

When it comes to presenting, the understanding that colors effect how people feel and react has dramatic implications for your visual communications. What colors are best to use for your slides? According to our research, along with other sources, blue is often used in the corporate world because it is conservative and tranquil. People wishing to create a discussion around their presentation should consider green backgrounds, as they promote interaction. Yellow is great for grabbing the audience’s attention, or to highlight key points on a slide. Some studies even suggest yellow enhances memory as it stimulates mental activity. Red can be used to display passion for a topic and get an audience excited about a message. Because purple does not often appear in nature, it is considered to be exotic. It also stimulates creativity. Avoid using too many colors at one time, as they will distract the audience from your message. When creating visuals for a presentation, consider how the colors you choose will affect the audience’s emotions; will they complement your message or take away from it instead.

What colors are best to wear when presenting on stage or leading a meeting?  Our research shows that darker colors are perceived as being “heavier”. Professionals and organizations wanting to come across as authoritative should consider wearing black, while companies wishing to inspire optimism should lean towards yellow. Grey is the most neutral and won’t grab any attention. Red has been shown to increase heart rates, and can therefore be used to help excite an audience. Blue is often calming and associated with trust.

However, deciding what to wear is a different process for online presentations, as the camera effects how colors will appear to an audience. For example, while red may come across as exciting in person, it often “bleeds” into other parts of the picture on camera and becomes distracting. Avoid wearing white, as it will appear to “glow” and overpower the face. Black colors often require more light to show up on camera and will wash out the face or other objects in the picture. Research shows that in general, the best colors to wear are cool blues, purples, pastels and natural hues. Both men and women should choose a solid color that complements their skin tone. Also, it’s important to find out what your background on screen will be, and avoid colors that might clash with it.

While the color of your slides and your shirt may seem like subtle or unnecessary distractions, the data demonstrates that first impressions and likeability are driven more by visual cues than by auditory ones…color matters.

- See more at: http://www.quantifiedcommunications.com/color-psychology-what-colors-make-great-presentations/#sthash.HJ7PZMaW.dpuf

The Importance of Networking

Networking:

The exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically :  the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business.

© 2014 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Success in the modern business world involves the effort of going out and meeting new people, forming alliances, or simply making friends in the industry. You may think this requires a willingness to leave your hometown or country to go on fact-finding missions abroad, but more likely, you will only be required to travel across town. We often ignore the fact that the best contacts are typically right in our own backyard. A major benefit of your membership in the St. Marys Area Chamber of Commerce is the opportunity for networking. Members meet other members at business luncheons, breakfast briefing, banquets, Business-After-Hours events, etc. There are also frequent opportunities to make contact with key local and state Government leaders. The opportunities to expand your business through the Chamber network are limitless.

As a growth strategy, meeting other enterprising individuals will help your business prosper. Business friends are crucial, not only as potential sources of opportunities but to help in times of crisis. Consumer demands, trends, economies, governments, and laws are always in flux. Networking and meeting with peers or more established business owners can provide valuable insights into current happenings in the marketplace. Your chances of “catching a break” or “getting that big opportunity” can be vastly improved with help from the right people. It is vital that your business develop these types of relationships, sometimes with complete strangers, sometimes with your neighbor; it is how opportunities are discovered.

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.

Demosthenes, Athenian statesman, 384 or (383) BC–322 BC