It’s no secret that we are big fans of Toastmasters.  In my mind–there is nothing more important for a business person to develop, than communication skills.  Up until now there hasn’t been a local club that focused entirely on Small Business.  Up Until Now That Is!

Join us here in Vancouver for an organizational meeting to establish a new Toastmaster Club.  This could well be the single most important thing you can do – to grow your business this year.  Our next meeting is Tuesday, March 27th at 6:50 PM here in Vancouver, WA.  Full details follow.
Warmest Regards, Alexis Mason and Rusty Lee.

SMB Pro Toastmasters
Small Business Professional Toastmasters

What Is It?
A Toastmaster Club for Small Business Professionals

Who Is It For?
Entrepreneurs, CEO’s, Sales and Marketing Professionals, Customer Service and Human Resource Professionals, Business Owners.  Those who are just getting started in business and those who want to take an existing business to the next level.

When and Where Do We Meet?
Next meetings: March 27th, 6:50 PM — April 10th, 6:50 PM
2nd & 4th Tuesdays.  6:50 PM to 8:15 PM
Courtyard Village, 4555 NE 66th Avenue, Vancouver, WA

What’s In It for Me?
This club and program are specifically designed to help build Communication and Leadership skills.  They are the two most critical skills for any business person.  Working as a team, we’ll help you to develop those skills in a professional business environment. Learn how to:

1) Present yourself and your company in a professional way
2) Market your business using the latest technology.  Video, Social Media, etc.
3) Conduct effective meetings
4) Build your Brand
5) Use networking in person and with technology
6) Effectively lead your team

Mission Statement:
The mission of SMB Pro Toastmasters Club is to provide an educational, fun and supportive environment that focuses on building Communication and Leadership Skills for Small Business Professionals.

What to Expect:
Demonstration of the meeting format and discussion about the benefits for your business.  You’ll hear from business owners who understand the value of Toastmasters and learn how it has helped them.  We’ll be accepting membership applications and you can get started right away with your checkbook or credit/debit card information.  Please dress for a professional environment (business casual).

For More Information Contact:
Rusty Lee, (360) 687-2838
Alexis Mason, (360) 314-6463

Visit us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/mybusinesslaunch

Speaking opportunities are public relations and marketing events, not sales opportunities.

If you are the featured speaker at a business or community event, your job is to entertain, motivate, inspire, encourage, or whatever else your contact person wants you to do. Of course, your audience wants to get to know you, so they can learn to like you and to trust you. It is acceptable to list what your business is in a program or have your introducer include that information in your introduction. A little information like that adds to your credibility and that is a big step in forming a relationship with your audience. If the occasion allows, back of the room sales also add to your credibility without being too pushy. Another tip I learned from a professional speaker was one I hadn’t thought of before. He told me about this technique and I saw him use it. At some point during his presentation, he asked for a volunteer from the audience. I was a little surprised when he chose someone from the very back of the room. After the volunteer and he had concluded the exercise, the volunteer returned to his seat. Only then did the speaker say something like he had meant to reward the volunteer with one of his books, or CD’s, or DVD’s, or something. He held up several items, asked the volunteer to choose, and then passed them all back to the volunteer. Of course many people in the audience handled each one. What do you think happened to the back of the room sales? If you guessed that many of the audience members who had seen and touched his materials went back during the break to purchase something you are right. The best part of this scenario was that he was never “salesy”. He merely shared something with a volunteer. It was a terrific example of public relations and marketing.

Have you ever listened to a speaker whose message was diluted or lost in verbal graffiti? Is it only an exhausted athlete being interviewed after a victory who is guilty of saying you know or um again and again and strengthening this habit? Or, could it be a teenager who says “like” anywhere in a sentence? Maybe it was a well known moderator who should know better. Were you distracted? What is verbal graffiti anyway?

I believe, and this is my opinion, that verbal graffiti is defined as all the extra words and sounds that we make when we are speaking. For example, there is nothing wrong with the word “like”. However, when someone says, “It was like we were like on a date and someone like said to us like what are you kids doing here? We were like so embarrassed.” You get the idea. Other common examples are “you know”, “uh or um”, and so on. Verbal graffiti  includes connecting sentences again and  again with the word “and”, ending sentences with “so”, and starting most sentences with “well” or “now”, or addressing the audience as “you guys”. The list goes on and on.

What causes this habit and what can make it disappear? I think habits such as this develop over time, when we are nervous, self conscious, or ill prepared to answer questions or speak in public. The thing is, we don’t usually notice this practice in ourselves. When we do notice or it is called to our attention, we can work to overcome the habit. Again, however, this takes time and diligent attention to it. Some people will tell you to join an organization such as Toastmasters because “They will make your you knows and ums go away.” That is not true. Toastmasters and the friendly environment you experience will call your attention to what you are doing. You will make it go away yourself. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.

Rusty’s previous post spoke about the value of Toastmasters. We are starting a specialized club in Vancouver, Washington, specifically designed to meet the needs of entrepreneurs and small business owners. It will meet the second and fourth Tuesday evenings, after business hours. Check out the details in Rusty’s blogpost. We hope you will join us to develop and celebrate your communication skills. If you are already an experienced speaker, please consider joining us to serve as a mentor.

Change  is hard!  When you are used to doing something in a certain way—it’s hard to change and do it differently.  Seems like the entire free world is up in arms about the recent Facebook changes.  I’m not sure if we should be or not.  For the most part, I’m liking the new changes—maybe  that’s because, as a geek–I have to deal with change everyday.

I have a few thoughts that should ease your mind and let you take back mental control of your Facebook Situation:

1) You are always in charge of your security–you always have been.  I’ve always said:  “If you don’t want the whole world to see it—then don’t post it online!”  — especially in an open format like Facebook.  This is Really Important when change takes place.  Understand and  apply this rule, then take comfort in knowing that everything you posted is OK for the world to see.  Then you won’t have to worry about who has what security settings on their profiles and who will see what you posted.

2) Don’t expect me or anyone else to change my settings to protect your privacy.  I’m telling you right now–I won’t do it.  It’s not that I don’t care about our privacy—I really do care.  But it’s not the right thing to do for either of us.  If you see someone that says please change this, or do that for me—remind them of rule number #1.  Then you are both protected and a whole bunch of wasted effort didn’t take place.

3) If you want only one person to see a message and nobody else—just send it directly to them and nobody else.  Did you know that every time you post to a friend’s wall, that every person who shares the same contact sees that post?  They always have.  Again back to rule #1!  Facebook is not a place for private conversations–it’s a place to share.  Yes you can send a private message on Facebook and it’s convenient because almost everyone you know is there.  Use this feature to be more careful with your privacy and theirs.  If you want some privacy–don’t share it on their wall or yours.

4) It’s not your sandbox.  When you were a kid in school and played in a friend’s sandbox–you played by their rules.  Especially if they were bigger than you were.  When you started your profile on Facebook or any other social media site–you agreed to their terms.  Their terms always say it’s their sandbox and they can do whatever they want.  You can play in their sandbox as long as you abide by their rules.  So stop asking Facebook to change things—or not to change things.  It’s their sandbox and you have to play by their rules.  If you don’t like it—find another sandbox.

5) Major changes take time to implement.  First it will take time for you to become familiar with what has changed, and then to deal it with it internally.  That’s OK because change is hard.  Just say the Serenity Prayer a couple times per day.  Also recognize that it’s hard for Facebook to implement all this stuff exactly as described.  There are a number of places I’ve seen, where they said it works one way—but it really doesn’t.  That’s the nature of technology.  Give it some time on your end to accept the changes—because one thing is for sure—it’s going to change again soon.  Then it starts all over again.  Say that Serenity Prayer again……

Before you run off and start changing all those settings again—just remember Rusty’s rule #1.  “If you don’t want the whole world to see it—then don’t post it online!”

Then you may decide to let it ride and enjoy the sharing you have with friends online.

Have a Great Day,
Rusty Lee

We’ll be talking about Social Security!  No–No—Not “that” kind of Social Security.  The kind you need if you or your business are online and using the Social Media Sites.  Join us for a free call hosted by Alexis Mason and Rusty Lee at My Business Launch.  Our special guest will be security expert Jeff Ferdinand.  We’re starting early so we don’t interrupt your work day.

In this Highly Interactive Program You’ll learn:

• The most important “Must Have” for safety on the social media sites.
• What to expect about Privacy.  What Privacy you have and don’t have.
• How to overcome the “Fear Factor” when you are working online.
• How to build a profile that supports your needs and avoids exposure to unnecessary risks.

The session will be recorded so you can download and listen later.  We’ll also have an online webinar component available for those visual learners.

To Attend:  (we don’t mind if you come in your jammies)

1. Call (218) 844-0850 just a bit before 7 AM PDT
2. Enter Access Code: 648810#
3. Announce yourself and enjoy the call.
4. For the webinar component (not required) go to: http://www.freescreensharing.com
5. Under Join a Meeting
• Enter your name and email address
• Enter Meeting ID: 716-687-078
• Follow along as we chat
6. Make sure you have your toughest questions ready and we’ll get them answered!
7. Enjoy the call and plan to be actively involved–this call is for you and we encourage your participation!

Jeff is definitely an expert in online security.  He  has taught Network Security for the last two years at a local college and has worked in the field for over ten years. As a certified technical trainer (CompTIA Security+), Jeff can translate highly technical information into something you can understand and use.  For the full details on his credentials: Visit His Website.

It’s fun to share your life on Social Media—but it’s hard to stop sharing and easy to share too much!  Jeff often asks, “You’re network is technically secured, how are your people?”  Minimize the risk to your security and privacy by learning more.  We hope to chat with you on Wednesday morning August 10th at 7 AM!

Registration is Not Required, but if you get us your email address we’ll make sure you have access to the recording and slide deck for later review.  Please let us know you plan to attend at our Facebook Event Page:  https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=245665992121998

Last week we asked the question:  Is it Marketing or is it Networking.  Here’s the second part of that post…..

How do you build such a network?  How have I built my network?  There’s no better way to build a relationship of trust, no faster way than to  do it in person.  Yes you can do that online with the social network sites–but it takes much longer, and it’s not nearly as powerful or effective.  Here are a few tips to help build your marketing network:

• Approach everyone with an attitude of service.  Regardless of the situation,  whether it’s a client, a prospect or someone you’ve met in a networking situation:  Always let them know directly that you first want to help them in some way.  Listen to them,  Really listen!!  If nothing else, they’ll come away thinking you are a marvelous person because you  listened to their needs before you tried to sell them or tell them about yourself.
• When you are in your business environment always let them know that your first objective is to help solve their problem.   Even if it means less business for you.
• Always deliver more than you promise and more than they expect.  There’s no better way to get  more business than to increase sales to your existing clients.  If they always get more than they expected–they’ll come back for more.
• Customers who are so satisfied with your work want to tell their friends.  Not because they want to help you, but because they want to help their friends.  Good people have a desire to help others.  Very satisfied customers are your best marketing tool.  And instead of costing you money for marketing — they pay you for your services and send you more business.
• Once you’ve made contact with someone in person and started to develop the relationship, then use technology to keep in touch with them.  But don’t forget it’s all about communication.  It’s all about being of service to them first–offering value to them in every contact you make.  Based upon your time and business situation, you should keep in touch with them using the following methods: 1) Meeting in person, 2) By telephone, 3) A personal note or card, 4) Email–personally, 5) Bulk email or newsletter, 6) Social networking.  A good contact database is very important and I’ll discuss that in another article.

Your best Marketing Effort will be to build a network of people who know you, people who like you and people who trust you!!  Building that trust is all about your relationship with them.  It’s all about being of service to them first.  Then they will want to be of service to their friends and to you.  Start today and never stop building your network.  Build your circle of influence–like ripples from a drop of water in a pond.  Marketing is all about the network!  It’s all about your network.

Now it’s your turn.  What are your thoughts about the question, Marketing or Networking?  Let us know here or on Facebook.  Next time we’ll talk about using Social Media to aid in your Marketing and Networking efforts.

For Your Success,

Rusty Lee

Marketing your small business these days is more important than ever.  With today’s economy, if you don’t have new business coming in, your survival is in great peril.  Many of us are spending time, often far too much time, working on the Social Networking sites.  It is an effective way to build contacts.  It seems like Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter are all you hear about when a small business owner talks about marketing for their business.  One of my newest favorites is Biznik.  They are great tools to communicate with lots of people.  They are usually inexpensive or free.  That is — if you don’t count the amount of time it takes to effectively use them.

Don’t forget, never forget, that people do business with other people that they know, like and trust.  For small business, your small business, there’s nothing more important than building quality relationships.  Earning their trust, getting to know them!  They must have trust in who you are and what you do.  My business has been built entirely by referral.  I’ve developed a network.  Not the kind of network you might expect from a computer geek.  But a network of people who know me, who like me and who trust me.  When I get a phone call or email from someone—even if it’s someone I’ve never met, they contact me because they heard about me or my work from someone they know, someone they like and someone they trust.

You see — all of my clients come fully ready to purchase my services.  Sometimes they call and aren’t sure if I will work with them — but they already know that I’ll do my best to help with their problem.  I’ll help, even if it means connecting them with someone else.  With any other form of marketing — the client or potential client comes to you with a certain amount of apprehension.  They don’t know you — they must first come to trust you before doing business.  Even if I don’t know them; they’ve learned about me from someone who does know me, who does trust me and probably has used my services.  They are ready to do business because of my marketing network.  It’s often said that you need to ask for referrals.  While I place extreme value on referrals — I don’t normally ask for referrals because it puts the client in a bad spot and under pressure.

It’s all about the network — my marketing network — your marketing network.  An ever growing network of very satisfied clients who are happy to tell others about me.  Not because they’ve been asked to promote me — but because they want to do a good thing for someone else.  An ever growing network of people who know that I can be trusted to do the right thing — even though they may have never used my services.  They want to help their friends and they feel compelled to spread the word on my behalf.  Because they know that I will help their friends.

Look for the conclusion to this article in a few days.  Until then…..

Have a Great Day,

Rusty Lee

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Do people recognize your website and print materials as belonging to you? It will help your market visibility a great deal if anyone can tell the material and the website are yours because of the theme, the palette, the layout and any number of subtle identifiers. Your success in the marketplace depends a great deal on your visibility and your memorability. Don’t send a mixed message by a lack of consistency. A mixed message may result in a perceived lack of your professional image and ultimately, your professionalism.

Create a consistent look and feel as a template for all your materials. Consistency is an important aspect of your brand. If people recognize your business name, tagline, website header, blog style, branded email, and other published materials as all belonging to you without having to be told, you have effectively branded your image in the minds of the business community. Within the overall look, of course, you will want to have some variety. Perhaps you will have a distinctly seasonal look that enhances your primary image. Perhaps you will have a distinctly branded newsletter that people have no doubt is yours because of the branded images and content. Creating such a  consistent, congruent look will take some planning on your part. Consider color, background texture, photography and/or digital imagery, graphic style, font style, bolding of text and many other features. If you include a photo of yourself, be aware of your wardrobe choice to be sure it is in keeping with the overall image you are trying to project. Two of the websites I would recommend you look at to see the consistency of color palette and so forth are http://www.onlinemarketingwithdotty.com and http://www.marketingtraditionalbusinesses.com . Notice how these two sites complement each other. They both belong to Dotty Scott who owns a marketing and website building business. Dotty even has a laptop skin and a cell phone skin that are congruent with her overall colors and professional image. She obtained those through a photographer whose website is http://www.joditripp.com.  Jodi has done something brilliant by having her photo galleries on a scroll timer, so each time you visit her website you are likely to see new images.

This idea is an aspect of the consistent feel I mentioned earlier. It is more subtle than the look, but is equally important as part of your branding process. The feel is what makes someone recognize that you are someone who is professional, who has integrity, and who can be trusted. Remember, people do business with those they know, like, and trust. People who view your materials and don’t know you personally can come away with a sense that you are someone they would like and who they would trust, even before they know you. Guard this idea. Be careful about any images or photos that are posted of you on any of the social media sites. Anything inappropriate can damage the consistency of the look and feel you want. Your image, what the world sees about you and what they ultimately think about you is the subject of another post.

Are you ready when you attend a business meeting or event?  It’s an often overlooked skill that can help establish you as an expert and professional.  Entire books have been written on the concept of meeting new people and developing relationships that can lead to a healthy and productive professional image.  Don’t be intimidated by the power of effective networking and the risks of doing it poorly.  Also, don’t underestimate the benefit of being seen as a professional when you network for your business.

Here are four suggestions that can be implemented immediately.  This post is designed for two main groups of people.  If you are new to the networking scene, the tips here will help you develop your confidence as you continue to attend business events.  If you are an old pro, we hope you will find these tips affirming.  It is always nice to be affirmed in what we do well.

The first suggestion is to get organized before you arrive at the event. Plan what you want to take in to the event with you.  You will want your business cards, of course.  You may also want a folder or portfolio to take notes and hold information you receive.  If the event has opportunities for announcements, you may want to take some of your material.  Having it in a folder adds to your professional image.  Place the items where they are easily accessible before and during the meeting.  You don’t want to dig around in the back of your car, either the backseat or the trunk, after you arrive at the event.  Someone may be watching and will form an instant impression of you as not being ready for the event.

Keeping good records:  Do it right away. You’ll need to keep records of income, expenses and most importantly your clients and prospects.  The most important information you’ll receive at any event is the contact details of the people you meet.  Make sure to get them recorded in your contact database right away, and have a follow up mechanism that works.  On the expense side, keep a journal or notebook in your vehicle to record your mileage.  The secret is to do it right then and there—otherwise you’ll forget and will waste time trying to fill in the blanks later.  You might consider using your smart phone to record this information on the spot and then sync it to your computer when you get back to the office.  Future posts will cover how and what to record in much greater detail.

Get off the phone before you leave your vehicle. Of course, you haven’t been on the phone while driving.  Even if you have a hands-free capability, the person you are talking to deserves your undivided attention, not what you have left over after watching the traffic, the pedestrians, the cyclists, the weather and all the other potential distractions.  If you must make a call, do so in your car.  I have seen too many people use their “walking in time” to carry on an important conversation.  Better yet, call before you ever start for the event.  That simple technique allows you to take notes, to record contact information, and gives you many additional benefits.  Avoid the distractions of any kind that steal from you and your professional image.

Plan to meet just a few new people at any event. Networking events are not sales opportunities.  Analyze the reasons you attend business events, and I think you will find, as I do, that attendance allows me to make personal connections with others in the business community.   People do business with those they know, those they like, and those they trust.  That is the ultimate purpose of networking events.  It is also the ultimate reward.  Make your professional image better by building quality relationships.  Don’t be seen as the pushy sales type who hands them a card and then asks what they want to buy from you.  Take your time, get to know them and learn how you might be able to help them.  Your rewards will come over time.  Become known as an expert in your field who really cares about people.

What examples of bad networking skills have you recently seen?  Have you met a networking pro who attracts business by building relationships?  Let us know your thoughts and questions.

For Your Success,

Alexis & Rusty