Indie Business Blog

My blog will be transferred to Wordpress this weekend!

I wanted to take a moment to tell you that, this weekend, I am transferring the content at this blog from the current blog hosting platform (Typepad) to a WordPress platform that I own and control.

You may recall that things did not work out with my prior attempt to make this change, but this time, I have high hopes.

I would appreciate it if you would report any errors you notice during the transition period. You may email me at donnamaria at carolina dot rr dot com, or leave your comments in the comments section.

Thank you for your patience during this exciting transition!

Do you care about your Twitter follower count?

I've been having some interesting exchanges on Twitter about whether or not small business owners should concern themselves with the number of followers they have. The conversation started when I Tweeted this: "Saying you don't care how many people follow you on Twitter is like saying you don't care how many follow your site, newsletter and blog."

This statement is addressed to professional small business owners, not to obnoxious people who constantly Tweet about themselves all day long. If you own a business, Twitter is one of your websites, and just like all of your other sites, it has to reflect a professional image. Twitter is about sharing things that you think are important, interesting and entertaining. As a small business owner, you want to know that, when you Tweet something, people are listening or have at least chosen to have access to what you are sharing. While obviously not 100% accurate, Twitter follower counts are a measure of the number of people who are listening to what you have to say.

Do you know how many blog subscribers you have? Of course you do! That number doesn't mean that every single subscriber reads your blog each time you update it, but it does provide an indication of the level of interest in what you have to say. Twitter is the same thing. It's just a different kind of blog.

How many of you would publish a newsletter without knowing how many subscribers you have, and the rate at which you either gain new subscribers or lose existing ones? Would you maintain a blog if no one ever commented or subscribed?

What if your Twitter follower count was not automatically publicly displayed, just like your number of newsletter or blog subscribers is not automatically publicly displayed? Would you check the number every now and then to see if anyone was following you? I would, and if no one was following, I'd either close the account or change my strategy in an effort to gain new followers.

Twitter follower numbers are a tangible indication of how many people are interested in what you have to say. As a small business owner, I think that's a number you want to keep track of and maintain.

Question: Do you keep track of how many people subscribe to your blog? Your newsletter? Your Twitter updates? Why or why not? I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments section below.

Bliss, Diss and Kiss: Reflections on marriage on my 9th wedding anniversary

Today is my 9th wedding anniversary and I have a confession to make. I forgot all about it.

I dropped my daughter off at school, went for a morning run and returned home to see my husband and high school sweetheart standing in the middle of the foyer with his arms wide open and a big smile on his face. I immediately wondered what wonderful thing I had done to deserve such a greeting. My high opinion of myself spiraled to the earth when my man exclaimed, “Happy Anniversary!!”

Knowing that pretending like I had remembered would have gotten me into a whole lot of trouble, I simply melted into his arms (well, not so much because I was kinda sweaty from the run), returned the wish and confessed my misdeed.

Indie Business Revolution @ Raleigh: Tickets on Sale Now!

I am pleased to announce the next Indie Business Revolution @ Raleigh, North Carolina!

The event will be held at the John P. "Top" Green Neighborhood Center on Saturday, June 6, 2009, and will include presentations by Chief Executive Indie Donna Maria Coles Johnson (moi) and Lisa Stewart, CREATIVEGoddess of nationally recognized ECStewart Designs. Indie Business Revolution @ Raleigh is presented in cooperation with Penny Arrowood and the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild, an artists enclave dedicated to increasing the awareness of and enthusiasm for mixed media arts and artists.

There are only 100 tickets total and I expect this event to fill up quickly, so please purchase your tickets NOW so you don't miss out!

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OPENING PRESENTATION: THE INDIE BUSINESS REVOLUTION by Donna Maria

As the Chief Executive Indie, dM is an award winning small business advocate and the fearless leader of the Indie Business Revolution. She has been a popular blogger since 2005, hosts the Indie Business Radio Show and is a sought after speaker at business conferences nationwide. She has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, Parents Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Working Mother Magazine, Women's Day Magazine, Ebony Magazine and also in numerous books on topics ranging from small business branding to business startup and planning.

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DISCUSSION

How to Use Social Media to Leverage Your Brand and Attract More Paying Customers For Your Business
Saturday, June 6, 2009

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GUEST SPEAKER

Our special guest is Lisa Stewart, CREATIVEGoddess of ECStewart Designs in Raleigh. She is an award winning designer and illustrator who, along with her husband and business partner, creates an extensive line of sophisticated images that are licensed on all kinds of elegant home accessories and personal products designed to enhance the lifestyle of the sophisticated customer. Lisa is a graduate of Western Michigan University's School of Graphic Design and Fine Arts.

Through the years, Lisa and her husband have become intimately familiar with the challenges artists and crafters face when seeking to make the most of the financial opportunities that flow from their gifts. Lisa and her work have been featured in dozens of magazines and news outlets.

Lisa will share from her experience and answer your questions about everything from maximizing online sales to achieving favorable publicity. If you want to learn how to use free and low cost social media tools to entrench your brand in your niche market, you need to follow Lisa's lead! She can help you turn your artistic talent into a vehicle that will help you enjoy your craft while also living a lifestyle you have always dreamed of.

Attendance is limited to 100 because of the size of the venue. Reserve your ticket now. Tickets are non-refundable.

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LOCATION

John P. "Top" Green Neighborhood Center, 401 Martin Luther King Blvd., Raleigh, NC 27061

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SCHEDULE

* 9:00-10:00 :: Eat, Meet, Greet; Open Networking
* 10:00-10:15 :: Indie Business Revolution
* 10:15-11:15 :: Q&A and Discussion
* 11:15 - noon :: Open Networking

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MENU

Mini quiches
Sausage pinwheels
Ham and cheese biscuits with Dijon mustard, raspberry preserves and marmalade
Sweet and savory muffins
Fresh fruit tray with French vanilla amaretto dip
Yogurt
Coffee and fresh juices

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PRICING & REGISTRATION

$20 in advance (register here) or $25 at the door (space permitting)

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ABOUT INDIE BUSINESS

Indie Business is where independent business owners connect, collaborate and succeed. We share tips and how-tos, and use the latest branded new media tools to create new relationships and expand our spheres of influence.

Indie Business Revolution is hosted by Donna Maria Coles Johnson, founder and president of the Indie Beauty Network and Indie Business Media. Known as the Chief Executive Indie and the Original Lifestyle CEO, Donna Maria is passionate about empowering people to maximize their potential through small business ownership. You can follow Donna Maria’s entrepreneurial journey at her blog. You can also connect with her on Twitter and you can join the Indie Business Revolution on Facebook.

ABOUT CAROLINA MIXED MEDIA ART GUILD

Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild is an artistic enclave dedicated to increasing the awareness of and enthusiasm for mixed media arts and artists. Regular meetings are held the 2nd Thursday of the month at Jerry's Artarama, 3060 Wake  Forest Road, Raleigh, NC at 7:00pm. For more information and on the Guild and its members, visit their website.

Twitter is the icing, not the cake

Tonight, I'm the invited Twitter expert for an E-Commerce Diva private teleseminar entitled, "Powerful Twitter Strategies for Small Business Owners." I 'm honored to present on this topic because Twitter is without question one of the most powerful tools small business owners have.

But as good as Twitter is, it is not a panacea. Twitter will not swoop into your business and fix problems that are already there. For example, if you do not already have a blog, Twitter will be of little use to you. If you do not have or do not want to have genuine relationships with other small business owners, Twitter will be no use to you. And if your website is a messy collection of blurry photos and spelling and grammatical errors, Twitter will not only be useless to you, but it could also actually hurt your business.

Neither Twitter nor any other social media tool owned by a third party should form the platform for your marketing outreach. The core of your marketing strategy should be supported by content that you own and control: your e-commerce site, business card, email newsletter, brochures, blog, podcasts, etc.

In other words, Twitter should supplement a machine that already works reasonably well on its own.

While Twitter is no substitute for an innovative, attention grabbing, system that markets a fabulous product, it does a heckuva job at supplementing a system that is already getting results. Twitter is like cake frosting. It's useless unless there's a cake to frost. But put it on top of a rich and scrumptious slice of cake and it's hmm hmm good for you and your customers.

Question: Are you perplexed by Twitter and how it can possibly work for your business? If so, check for holes in your existing marketing armor and plug them up. Chances are that, when you do, Twitter will take on a whole new meaning for your business. What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments, experiences and even questions on this topic in the comments section below.

2009 Conference of Handcrafted SoapMakers

Click on the collage to open this week's newsletter with a recap and some more fantastic photos. Enjoy!

 

Pictured in the collage here:

Top left: me pictured with Tammy Doering, The Mud Queen, as she holds court at the Dead Sea Bulk Materials spa party. Top right: Typography soap made by Debbie Chialtas of Soapylove. Bottom right: me and Lorrie Beach of Canterbury Cabin. Bottom left, front row: Kelly Bloom of Southern Soapers, Sindy Anderson of Sinfully Sweet Soap, Lela Barker of Bella Lucce; back row: moi, Alana Rivera of Etta + Billie, Lela Barker's beautiful mother and of Sandi Garrett of In a Tizzie.

3 Quick Twitter Tips For Small Business Owners

Last week after speaking on social media at the Soap Guild conference, I answered lots of questions about Twitter. Here are 3 tips any small business owner can use to Twitter efficiently and cost effectively.

First, use Tweetdeck, which allows you to create columns on your desktop so you can scan Tweets by people you add to those columns. Tweetdeck automatically separatesTweets according to people you identify as belonging to the various columns so you can easily scan, reply and direct message. You can also quickly "favorite" Tweets to your Favorites page. Another option to check out is Tweetgrid. It works similarly to Tweetdeck, but with more bells and whistles.

Second, regularly Tweet informational blog posts and news articles. This a quick way to start a conversation and shows that you are in the know about issues affecting your industry. People share such Tweets days or even weeks later, giving you credit for initiating the conversation. It only takes seconds to do this. Remember to shorten links using TinyURL or SnipURL.

Third, share your informative blog posts, newsletter articles and photos on Twitter. This creates an interesting stream of content that is attributed to you and is picked up by search engines. When a new person visits your Twitter page, they see frequently updated entries that point to you as an active and knowledgeable person in your field.

Treat your Twitter page like any other professional website. Limited space is no excuse for messy spelling and grammatical errors. If a Tweet is too long to share in 140 characters, use Twitwall so you can add photos, video and as much text as you like.

Quesiton: What are some of the simple ways you use Twitter to professionally connect with customers, clients and other stakeholders? Share your Twitter tips in the comments section below.

Capitalist Cats Copy Small Business Owners

Earlier this week, the Frito-Lay company announced the launch of its new "chip tracker," which allows people to log onto their website and enter their zip code to find out where their newly purchased potato chips were made.

According to Frito Lay, the idea is to support American farmers. According to critics, the idea is to fool consumers into thinking that Frito Lay chips are "locally grown," which is not true since their potatoes are grown and harvested on industrial farms. But regardless of the nuances of Frito Lay's new "chip tracker" program, it's clear that the company is trying to capitalize on a trend that only real small businesses can create and project as an authentic part of their brand's personality.

As statistics continue to show that people want to buy locally made products from people in their own communities, I predict that over the course of the next decade, the most successful participants in just about any industry will be companies with a strong local presence that demonstrate a sincere commitment to support agriculture, family and industry of all kinds right in their own back yards. Frito Lay and other capitalist copy cats can say and do what they want, but consumers can spot a capitalist copy cat a mile away.

If you are a small business owner who makes products in the local community where some of the ingredients in those products are created, you have a hugely important and appealing story to share with the world.

Question: Does your small business stand strong in support of your local community? How do you convey that commitment to your customers and other stakeholders in support of your business goals to be a good corporate citizen while sustaining a healthy profit margin? Share your "locally made" story in the comments section below.

Pizzazz, presence and punch

Does the way some people describe their business put you to sleep? Seriously! You ask someone to share a little about their business and they offer a bland description that's just like the other bland descriptions used by millions of other people who do what they do.

Compare those bland descriptions to a business overview with pizzazz, presence and punch. Take Tammy Doering for example. Tammy owns Dead Sea Bulk Materials in Anniston, Alabama, where she makes spa products from salts and muds from the Dead Sea. Tammy calls herself the Mud Queen and if you want to know how to use mud to beautify your face and body, you need to talk to Tammy.

To go along with her Mud Queen personality, Tammy hosts (and teaches others how to host) spa parties where they can use her products to make mud masks for face, feet, hands and body and have a good old girls spa party! If Tammy hosts a spa party, as she did here at the conference last night, she arrives decked out in full Mud Queen regalia, complete with a scepter, a floor length velvet robe and a crown. Her bright smile, upbeat personality and down home southern accent combine to create a memorable concept of Tammy's business and brand as the Mud Queen.

You don't have to wear a crown or be the "queen" of anything to create a business with personality and flair, but you do have to convey an excited attitude about what you do in order to help people feel your enthusiasm and want to share it with you and with their friends.

Question: What strategies do you use to convey pizzazz, presence and punch when it comes to your business? Share your ideas and what works for you in the comments section below.

Getting out of my own way

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to blame other people or circumstances for your own failures?

Take me, for example. The event planners here at the conference took me up on my offer to lead a fitness walk every morning at 6:30. This is no small offer for me because while I'm trying very hard to up my fitness game, the truth is that it's an extremely difficult mountain to climb. After speaking yesterday and being out very late last night at the fabulous party sponsored by Essential Wholesale, when my 6:15 wake-up call came this morning, I just rolled over and blamed the jet lag, stress and late night partying on my decision to skip this morning's walk.

Then, the phone rang. It was Anne-Marie Faiola of Brambleberry, one of my fitness inspirations. I told her I just couldn't make it. We hung up and off they went. The tape in my head said I couldn't do it. But as I rolled over, I decided to think just for a moment about how I would feel if I changed the "I can't" to "I will." That brief thought was all I needed to propel myself out of bed, get dressed in record time and run a mile to catch up with the other walkers.

Somehow, I managed to get out of my own way, reverse the negative tape in my head, and I'm just back from the best walk of my life! Also joining me and Anne-Marie were Lorrie Beach of Canterbury Cabin, Delores Harris of Daisy May Natural Soap, Valerie Rice of Piper Tate and Susan Ryhanen of Saipua.

Question: Have you ever had to change the tape in your head from "can't" to "can," even when you had legitimate excuses to stay stuck in park? I'd love to hear how you manage to drag yourself forward, even when it just seems like you can't do it. Please share your motivating stories here so we can all benefit!