Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Evan Carmichael Top Header
Share for a Cause









Marketing Your Business

Written by: Lee Meadows

Article Overview: This article provides tips and techniques on how to market your small business

Free Download - Trailblazing By Lee Meadows
Name: Email:

Marketing Your Business

Marketing Your Business
The literal jump from the corporate arena into the world of business ownership often times has the skill chilling awakening that comes from a dive into Lake Superior in mid February. One of the advantages to being employed under someone else’s corporate logo is the infrequent, but essential mental relief that comes from being able to leave the job and go home. The physical and mental separation provides the psychological comfort of distance and the charm of being able to unravel the corporate threads, if only for a short amount of time. The role of business employee is, at minimum, to do no harm to the organization, sustain its existence and contribute to its growth and success. The same holds true for the new business owner engaged in building their business while trying to define its distinctive competitive edge. However, there is one important difference that is rarely known to new business owners until they attempt to find the psychological distance between their business life and their personal life.

“I have yet to find that distance,” laments Akilah Rashidi owner of Digital Marketing. “Most of my waking time is spent actively managing, promoting, marketing and selling my business service. Sometimes I don’t bother to ask what day it is because everyday is devoted to getting my business off the ground.”

As many of her contemporaries have discovered, the path to business ownership is a 24/7@365 energy consuming activity that makes little distinction between mid day and mid night. The comfort and security of a highly structured work life is replaced by a seemingly random series of unrelated activities dedicated to amplifying your voice in a chorus of good singers. The real challenge lies in identifying as many viable business and social networks as possible for marketing your business and establishing contacts.

“It’s not something that a painfully shy or moderate social recluse should take up as a career move,” says Akilah “There is rarely a moment when the business owner is not on center stage trying to engage as much of the audience as possible. Bill Gates still attends tekkie conferences even though he could probably buy up most of them. He understands that you can never stop selling the business and the business has to be about what you can do for others.”

The toolkit.com website provides a downloadable Strengths and Weaknesses Checklist for small business owners as a way of assessing interest and skill level. 5 of the 8 skill categories specifically address the outward social networking aspect of business ownership. The willingness to take on the responsibility of running a business is the hallmark of most of the entrepreneurs abandoning the corporate ranks. The ability to engage in an unparalleled form of marketing savvy is one of the primary reasons why so many fail to get past the first year of operation. The checklist provides a quick assessment for determining the degree of help you may need in the social interaction area.

Akilah has spent a large amount of time making sure her business is known directly by people she’s met and by others who’ve heard of the business. “Sometimes I feel like Uncle Martin from that 60’s television show ‘My Favorite Martian’. He would raise his antennas every time he was ready to disappear. My antenna is raised higher and tuned into a broader frequency in order to pick up on networking opportunities.”

Websites:
http://www.toolkit.cch.com/

http://www.whatifind.com/business/small-business.php

http://www.myownbusiness.org/course_sba.html

http://www.inc.com/guides/write_biz_plan/20660.html

Related Articles
  Geek Marketing 101
  Future Marketing kicks out the ancient marketing
  Real Estate Marketing Strategies - Tips for Creating Success
  Is PR Marketing? Is Marketing PR?
  How to fix sputtering marketing

Home > Small-Business-Consulting > Lee Meadows > Marketing Your Business
Article Tags: small business

About the Author: Lee Meadows
RSS for Lee's articles - Visit Lee's website

Lee Meadows is an award winning Professor of Management and sought after keynote and motivational speaker. He has spent 30 years working, teaching, consulting and writing about the field of Leadership and Management. His best selling book, 'Take the Lull By the Horns! Closing the Leadership Gap' is required reading within management curriculums at several institutions of higher learning and a favorite among corporate and non-profit organizations. His corporate presentations are entertaining, thought provoking and well received. Check out snippets of his presentations on YouTube under 'the Lull Doctor', visit his Facebook page on 'Meadows Consult' and go to his website at http://www.leemeadows.biz. Book him for your upcoming corporate speaking engagements and come to his public forums in a city near you.

Click here to visit Lee's website
Dashed Line

More from Lee Meadows
SelfDevelopment
Picking the Right People
Generating Ideas
Sculpting Your Business Focus
Nonlinear Career Progression


Related Forum Posts
Re: Fill in the blank: The best decision I ever made with my bus Re: Fill in the blank: The best decision I ever made with my bus - Focusing on my Internet Marketing Business
My entry My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
New Small Business Topic New Small Business Topic - Hello everyone, I'm on the lookout for new topics to add to my site. We just launched a Franchising section and are planning Human Resources section. Do you have any thoughts for a new section? Here's a list of what we currently have: Angel Investors Branding Bank Loans Business Coaching Business Plan Franchises (New) Insurance Legal Marketing Public Relations Sales Small Biz Loans Venture Capital
Re: How many mambers of this forum are also member of WF? Re: How many mambers of this forum are also member of WF? - Hi Kevin, I have to agree with Tanny. All forums are unique in their own way, but doesn't mean that one is better than the other. What you might get out of one forum, you may not get from another. For instance, the WF focuses on Internet Marketing, while this forum focuses on Entrepreneurship. Each has their own set of benefits. I don't think you can really compare one to the other, unless of course they focused on the same topic. I have learned a lot from this forum, stuff I would never have gotten from the WF. With that being said, I've learned a lot from the WF, specifically since I need to know about Internet Marketing and running an online business. The addition of the Online Business forum here will help, and Jeff is doing a great job as moderator.
Network Marketing Business Network Marketing Business - Hello all, Recently, I had join a Network Marketing Business on a part-time basis. Does anyone here who has some knowledge on this type of business? I want to learn as fast as I can from all the gurus here


Recommended Article for You close

  Geek Marketing 101

Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.



Featured Article


Bottom Footer
Share for a Cause












Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

Is the iPad useful? One CEO tells all ....

The Substance Abusing Employee

The Biggest Domain Name Myth

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.