Archives 2011

BIZMix June 24th 12-2pm

June BIZMix
“Social Media”BIZMix: FREE Education and Networking Event

Talan SBS and our social media experts invite you to join us at our June BIZMix! In attendance will be 50+ business professionals, including business owners, leaders, and representatives. We will gather for networking and learn how to begin improving our social media plans today. Lunch will be included in this FREE event designed to help you keep your business in business through education and qualified connections!

85% OF CONSUMERS DON’T KNOW YOU EXIST TODAY!

Consider this…85% of consumers want to use social media to engage with companies. Will they be able to find YOUR company?

•You need to get engaged today before there’s no catching up.
•Companies who use social media effectively know how to improve their brand. •It’s an excellent tool for two-way communication with your customers.
If you’re reading this webpage thinking: “social media is just a temporary fad, it’s too difficult and confusing to navigate. I’m going to wait for it to pass, and then get involved in the next instrumental marketing tool.” You’re wrong and based on statistics you will not be in business 5 years from now. Don’t wait any longer or you’ll be doing a huge disservice to your business:

•Using social media in a strategic, effective way is the number one best opportunity
•It’s inexpensive AND reaches a large audience.
•It’s the only marketing tool out there that effectively serves both purposes of an advertisement.
•Social networks are where people ARE tuned in today.

Register today, to start or improve your social media plan!

Leadership for Positive Change

 

With the Chick-fil-A Leadercast only 10 days away, we’d like to express our thoughts TODAY on what being a leader is (before this much anticipated event).  So here’s what we think, and what inspires us as leaders.

First of all, it’s so important that people realize that a leader isn’t just a manager, or CEO.  This being said, an entry-level employee, or someone who is unemployed can be a leader.  Leadership doesn’t just take place in a work-setting.  There are mothers and fathers who are the leaders of their families, or sports players that are the leaders of their teams.

A leader is someone who has a voice- and wants to make positive change.  As we’ve learned from CFA Leadercast speaker Seth Godin, a manager and a leader are two completely different things!  Leadership is not practical, and it isn’t everyday- leadership means helping someone grow in a vast way.  If you’re a leader you don’t just do what you’re told and wait for change, instead you’re innovative and take action now.  With technology and competition the way it is today, if you aren’t being a time-based industry leader, you will fall behind! 

True leaders don’t just think about how they can make a process run better, or treat friends, family and employees more fairly, they take action.  They demonstrate integrity and receive respect.  They aren’t intimidating and unapproachable, but rather are easy to talk to and hand out meaningful advice.

The thought that we can constantly improve our leadership mindset, working toward a common goal, and motivating employees to reach goals is what inspires us to continue and become better leaders.  We know that our presence in the small business community will help small business owners increase their confidence, expertise and most importantly passion for their companies.  Small businesses are what our country was built on, and we know it’s the root of improving our economy and patriotism for not only the United States, but Michigan made products, companies and ideas.  We need to support and invest in our local small businesses to begin positive change.

We hope to gain more insight as to what defines a leader, and how to be better leaders ourselves after attending this once in a lifetime opportunity.   Being able to hear from the world’s most influential leaders, including: Seth Godin, John Maxwell and Robin Roberts LIVE in one day, we feel extremely lucky and are enthusiastic about all we have to learn and implement in our business.  We will spread this knowledge to our clients, who in-turn can spread this knowledge to others.  After hearing more about the Leadercast from past attendants, we are certain that everyone in attendance will go home with actionable steps to improve their business, and every other aspect of their lives in order to be “a positive voice of change”.

Thank You Chick-fil-A for putting together this incredible event and allowing us to be the host-site for Metro Detroit!

“Your voice is a voice of change, and change creates new possibilities”.  Register now at: http://tinyurl.com/46ndhch

Top 10 Reasons Small Businesses Fail

Top 10 Reasons Small Businesses Fail

We recently received an article from a client outlining the top reasons why small businesses generally fail. This question and the reasons related to the top 10 regularly face us in working with entrepreneurs. While we tend to focus our blog discussions on business success, rather than failure, it is important that we talk about and identify these issues because they are very real obstacles to success. Additionally, and perhaps even more importantly, the precursor to failure is ongoing stagnation and many points listed in this article are happening in your business right now whether you recognize it or not. So the question many ask is “if these are the top 10 reasons small businesses fail how do I avoid failure?” While this may be a valid question, the real question to ask is “how do I identify if my company has any of the traits that create these issues in the first place?” While there is no silver bullet in answering the question… the simple answer comes down to assessment. In your business, for which we recommend this check stub software, you should annually be assessing the organization, asking tough questions about the how and why you do what you do, and consistently measuring the results of your actions. But you shouldn’t do it alone. Bring in an outside resource by way of a mentor or consultant. These individuals should not have a financial interest in the organization or be on its operational leadership team. They should be “outside” resources whose interest is in the overall success of the company, not telling you what you want to hear. Through this process you should look at all areas of your business, giving you a chance to see it from the outside looking in allowing you the opportunity to identify potential problems before they can damage your company. Here is a link to the article-

TOP 10 REASONS SMALL BUSINESSES FAIL- ARTICLE