While Your Market for Free…
If youve followed my advice from my earlier blog regarding marketing for free, youve already started planning your marketing. But you also know that your marketing initiatives, while free, are not something you can sit back and watch once you launch. Theres still work to be done, and the work is never done (sorry, but thats the good AND the bad news J). Here are some background marketing strategies to keep in mind while you kick start your free marketing:
1. Set hours of operation for the 24/7 Age.
This does not mean YOU are up 24/7 with no rest. Remember that the whole point of owning a business is FREEDOM. What you DO want to do is set up structures that allow your business to be available to your target market 24/7. This could mean updating your website, or outsourcing 24/7 customer service telemarketing, or even setting up autoresponder emails to reply to your customers needs (check out www.ogandocart.com to learn more about auto responders and online shopping cart). And when you DO set up a 24/7 business, dont keep it a secret. Let others know, so that you can differentiate yourself from competitors by this unique advantage.
2. Barter for profits
I trained for the 2004 Disney Marathon by bartering. I hired a personal trainer, agreed to give him some of my consulting to build his business, and he agreed to train me three times a week at 6 a.m. He would have never been able to afford my services (nor I his) had we not come to a bartering agreement.
Currently there are almost 1,000,000 barter sites online. That means oodles of opportunities for you to get what you want from a business that needs what you have. If you are interested in advertising on radio or television, even in magazines, look into barter. The media are famed for their ability to make fair trades.
3. Greet them with a smile
The most special minority group in the world is made up of those people that call your business. They should all be treated not as interruptions to your business, but as the reason you are in business in the first place. They should be able to sense a smile in your voice as you talk to them. Each phone call is an opportunity for you to intensify your relationship with the caller. You should also answer the phone in the same way every time, to give callers the unmistakable impression that youre professional through and through, and also to give them a sense of consistency and continuity. Believe me, theyll appreciate it. And youll appreciate the growing profits that comes from proper telephone demeanor.
4. Keep appearances neat
Neatness is hardly something youd expect to learn about in a blog about marketing. Yet its part of the marketing plan at both Disney and Nordstrom. Neatness proves that you care, that you take your business seriously. And Im talking about neatness in your office, your store, your car, your delivery vehicles, your service people, your telephone manners, your correspondence, your emails, your windows, your clothes. Theyre all part of your marketing, believe it or not. When people see that you are meticulous, they assume thats the way you do business. If they see you sloppy, theyll assume you do business the same way.
5. Dress for profits
Fashion is a language of signs, according to Alison Lurie, who wrote The Language of Clothes. The vocabulary of dress includes not only clothing, but also accessories, hairstyles, jewelry, and other body decorations. The meaning is clear: every part of your personal presentation and that of your associates has an impact. So keep it sharp! Here are some tips:
If you have a choice, dress affluently.
Always be clean.
Dress more conservatively than your prospects.
Never wear anything that identifies you with a personal belief.
Dress at least as well as the people to whom you are selling or with whom you are meeting.
6. Earn and maintain your credibility
The road to profitability is paved with credibility. It is something you earn by who you are, not so much by what you do. Contribute time and energy to the community. Write articles or give talks to local organizations. Ensure excellence in your quality, your consistency, your service, your attitude of spirit. Ask for testimonials and referrals from clients with whom you have a great relationship. Credibility is enormously powerful. So do all you can to gain it and to never diminish it.
7. Guard your reputation
After youve earned credibility and have continued to deserve it, you develop whats called goodwill or a reputation. Its tough to build a good one and very easy to destroy it. You can spend years building it and in one split second its gone. You get your reputation by continuously doing the right thing over a long period of time. Its not something you can pay for, even if you wanted to. Being predictable adds to your reputation. Knock-their-socks-off customer service adds even more. Customers will do business with you because they know they can count on you. So build it. Guard it. Be proud of it. But be ready to earn it through hard work and excellent customer care.
8. Create a tracking plan
Many a marketer has said, I know Im wasting half of my marketing investment, but I dont know which half! Ask your customers where they heard of you, or who referred them to you. Keep track of it so you know where you need to reinvest your marketing efforts.
9. Hold contests
The main reason to have a contest is to get names for your mailing list. Thats it. No other reason. So announce a contest on your website, have people enter their name and email address, and just like that, youve got a mailing list of people who WANT to hear from you.
Should you award a prize to the winner of your contest? NO! Award ten prizes to ten winners, thus rewarding and attracting more customers. Youll discover that many businesses are delighted to furnish free prizes to you in exchange for your mention of their name in your store or website. Remember that contests attract media attention, especially locally, so let your media know. And contact all the entrants to let them know what other goodies you have for them, even the ones who didnt win.
10. Respond quickly and promptly
Speed will become one of your businesss important promises. If you dont say it or live up to it, you can count on a competitor taking that business away, simply because that competitor shows respect for peoples time. You should apply the standard of speedy response to all your contacts, order fulfillments, servicing, delivery time, and especially to your ability to solve problems. Time is not money. So save peoples time whenever you can.
Next, I’ll talk about strategic allies and partners that can help you market for free.
Til next time,
Coach Mo
‘Eight Enticing Ways to Let Your Referrals Toot Your Horn’
‘Eight Enticing Ways to Let Your Referrals Toot Your Horn’
by Monikah J. Ogando, ‘The Entrepreneur’s Explosion Coach’
Growing a small business can be grueling. There is a constant need to fill your ‘sales funnel’ with fresh, qualified prospects on a regular basis. But finding the best qualified leads for your business does not come from heartless cold calls or obnoxious sales tactics. Rather, you grow a business by doing a phenomenal job with your current clients and then having THEM sing your praises.Isn’t that the long way? Why would you want to grow your business through referrals? Well the business of referrals makes sense for most companies for several reasons:
1) Referral business reduces your sales expenses and sales cycle. With less time calling cold prospects, your small business can focus on customers and their circle of influence.
2) Referrals can build your level of satisfied customers. The cycle self-perpetuates with more satisfied customers referring others to your company.
3) Referrals increase your sales revenue. According to world-renowned sales trainer, Tom Hopkins, in ‘Sales Prospecting for Dummies’; your closing ratio for non-qualified leads is 10 percent versus a 60 percent close ratio with referred leads.
To ensure your business is on track to building referrals, follow these 7 tips:
1. Set A Target: In business, measure the results to improve performance. Set a clear goal with a time line. Example, 15% increase in referral business over the next 2 months.
2. Timing:. Give your clients time to experience your service or product before asking for a referral. Ask for the referral at close only if your client is already delighted with your business.
3. Top 20: Not all customers are referral candidates. Find the top 20% that are ecstatic about your business and ask them for referrals. Make sure their network is the type of client you want.
4. Give and You’ll Receive: Give your clients extra service and follow-up support before asking for referrals. When you give willingly to your customers, they will return the favor.
5. Type of Customer: Inform your referring clients of the type of customers you can help. Provide a clear picture of the customer demographics for your small business.
6. Rewards Program: Provide special rewards to your referring customers on a regular basis. If a customer provides you with 5 sales, offer them something special, e.g. discounts, a dinner to their favorite restaurant, etc. Make sure it’s something you KNOW they will appreciate.
7. Affiliate Marketing: Similar to a rewards program for your customers, affiliates reach out to THEIR customers or contact lists and their reward is an affiliate commission. Some split the revenues 50/50 with their affiliates. Others go from 10% to 33%. Find the split that works best for you.
8. Thank-You: Create a basic thank you letter that can be personalized and sent to each referral you receive. Let them know you appreciate them, continue giving them value, and educate them on how to keep sending you referrals. You will not only build a foundation of trust but keep hot prospects coming to your door.
With these simple tips, you can grow your business in a few short weeks. Give it a shot, and let me know how it’s going for you!
© 2005-2006 Monikah J. Ogando
WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Monikah’s Small Business Blog.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Business Coach Monikah Ogando publishes the award-winning ‘Start It Up!’ weekly ezine with thousands of subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your business, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.ogandoassociates.com
Who Can Help You Market for Free?
You have a lot of potential marketing partners out there, some that you may already recognize. Others are just waiting for you to initiate. Here are top 10 allies you can get into your corner:
1) Word of Mouth. One approach is to ask yourself, “Who else do my prospects patronize?” A local restaurant asked that and came up with an answer: beauty salons. So it offered two free dinners to all the salon owners within a two mile radius of the restaurant. The salon owners sampled the food, loved it and talked it up in their salons — the nerve center of the prospective customers’ community. It didn’t take long for the reservation list to be bursting at the seams. The cost of this breakthrough marketing: two free meals.
2) Viral Marketing. Viral marketing uses the communication networks of your site visitors or customers to spread the word about your own site exponentially. The classic example of guerrilla viral marketing is Hhotmail.com. It includes a theme line about its service at the end of every message sent out. So friends tell friends, who tell more friends, who tell even more friends. Its marketing copy only says “Get yoru free email at hotmail.” That’s it. Every outbound message had a subtly implied endorsement by the sender, so each user now becomes a company salesperson, and the message spreads organically…. like a virus.
3) Fusion Marketing Partners. You see a TV spot for what you think is Coke. Later you think it’s for McDonald’s. And at the end you realize that all along it was for the latest Disney movie. There’s a lot of fusion marketing going on, and most of it is among small businesses. Fusion marketing allows you to spread your marketing word while sharing the costs.
4) Cultivate Publicity Contacts. Being on a first-name basis with members of the media ranks in importance with having significant news for them to publish. Nearly 80 percent of press kits are tossed out before they’re read. But knowing the person to whom you send the kit will keep yours away from the dreaded wastebasket.
5) Establish a Referral Program. To get the most referrals, make it easy for people to give them to you. One technique is to make a call or send an email asking for the names of three people who might benefit from hearing from you. There is a way to FRAME your request for referrals that guarantees to TRIPLE your customer list…I’ll touch on this some other time. Remind me by asking me about it.
6) Solicit Testimonials/Success Stories. The best testimonials state the problem, use real words by real people, and state real numbers, along with real solutions to a problem. And how do you get these testimonials? First of all, EARN them. Then, all it takes is a simple request. You might even suggest a few things for them to say if they’re at a loss for words. Then display them prominently, on your website, as headlines, in special boxes, etc.
7) Publish Your Own Marketing Materials. Some of the marketing materials you can produce without outsourcing are newsletters, flyers, direct-mail letters, postcards, business cards, brochures, catalogs, gift certificates, signs, point of purchase materials, trade show materials, flipcharts, and proposals, just to name a few.
8) Create an Affiliate Program Affiliate marketing is one of the best innovations in the electronic world. It’s free marketing with the potential to attract traffic and generate sales. You offer a viable source of additional revenue to your affiliates, and in turn YOU get an extended reach based on affiliates who advertise/recommend your products and services to their individual audiences.
9) Use PI and PO Advertising. Whether you use PI (per inquiry) or PO (per order) advertising, you pay zilch for the media out front; the media get their payment based on the number of inquiries or orders that you receive.
10) Share Your Tactics with Others. If you tell someone of a tactic that worked for you, chances are very good that person will relate a tactic that worked for her. Eventually you will collect an arsenal of tools and resources to take your marketing and sales to a whole new level. Everyone collaborates with a collaborator.
Next time I’ll talk about WHERE you can market for free.
And listen, let me know how I’m doing. What do you want to hear from you? What topics do you want me to cover? What questions do you want me to answer?
For more detailed (AND FREE) coaching, send an email to subscribe@ogandoassociates.com.
Til next time,
Coach Mo
Happy Birthday Dad!
So today, my father turns 75. I am his firstborn, and frankly, his favorite (although my brother would probably argue with that).
I know a lot of women have dysfunctional dad issues – I am not one of them. My father is one of the most amazing human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. If he wasn’t my dad, and I met him somewhere, I’d probably be his friend. He can talk my ear off, but frankly it’s good stuff. As I’ve gotten older, it’s more and more fun to listen to my father.
And he’s funny too. His ascerbic wit. His petulantly observant way of digesting the world. He used to be (or I used to perceive him as) a judgmental, closed minded, inflexible, militant, irascible man…. And he probably can still go there. But as I’ve gottne older, I’ve also seen the six year old boy that lost his father (a grandfather I never met), and then lost his mother before he hit puberty, and then his oldest sister and oldest brother….I remember his dogged determination at pursuing a degree while raising a young family (all three of his children were under 10 at the time), and his amazing faith at moving us from the Dominican Republic to this country with NO EVIDENCE that it would work or it would give us the dreams he was so hungrily pursuing for his children. I remember him a degreed, well connected, well heeled professional coming to America to start working second shift at some factory, while his children grew up. We used to say hi and bye as we got home from school around 2: 45 pm and he used to be getting ready to go to work.
I remember once throwing it in his face when he tried to correct me on something: What do you know, you’re hardly ever here, you have no right to say what’s what in this house! I was petulant too, and I knew then that whatever I had to say, by virtue of being his firstborn, would sting more than he would ever let on.
I have always wanted to please my father. Being a tomboy growing up was my way of “making up” for the fact that his firstborn was a girl, and not a boy, as he had so desired. That’s probably why I named my company after his last name, since I couldn’t “carry on the name” in the traditional sense. That’s probably also why when I did get married, I never changed my last name (ominous, I know). When I was a little girl… my dad took me everywhere with him. He taught me to play pool, started to teach me to drive… he played dress up with me (When I was a little girl, it was our secret that I preferred him doing my hair over my mother)… I was his little doll…
So today, I have a daughter of my own, who is absolutely in love with her own dad. And while her father and I are not together anymore, the absolute adoration that my daughter has for her dad reminds me of the adoration I still have for mine.
Recently, at my request, my parents both began a Leadership Development Program that has challenged their beliefs and assumptions about what they’re capable of, who they are as human beings, and what they both have to offer the world… still.. even now that they’re in their “golden years.” As I’ve said, it’s not over til it’s over. I can’t wait to see what my father creates in his life over the next 25 years.
So I sit here reflecting about this man, and I have this to say: In all my father’s soliloquies, he also gives selflessly of his wisdom. He still makes me laugh. He worries about me. He prays for me. He calls me just to tell me he misses me. He still turns my heart into putty when he looks at me like I’m the apple of his eye… And whoever I end up marrying/spending the rest of my life with, has a tough act to follow. If my life partner has HALF the honor, loyalty, devotion, humor and honesty that my father has, I’d be a highly blessed and favored woman.
Happy Birthday, Papi.
Love,
Tu Morena
Need Business but I Hate Selling Myself!
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Need business, but I hate selling myself! I hear this all the time. Ive been hearing it a lot lately, and I dont know if its because the summer is slow for some industries, but I decided to do something about it. Over the next few blogs, Ill be talking about how you can market your services and products for FREE (notice I didnt say SELLING). If you have to put down even a penny, I wont be talking about it (not in this series, anyway). If you can run a newspaper ad for only five bucks, thats not free either, so you wont be reading about it here. In fact, the only money youll have to spend is the money youve probably invested already. That means youll need a telephone, a computer, a printer, a supply of plain paper, access to the internet and your business cards. If you have those, you can put away your checks, and credit cards, put your cash in a piggy bank, and still market like its nobodys business. Its YOUR business. Are you ready? Ok, before you market for free, set up the stage for success. Heres what to do: 1) Come up with your marketing plan. I got this idea from the marketing guru himself, Jay Conrad Levinson. This marketing plan only has seven sentences, but it packs a punch:
2) Set up a marketing calendar. To get a sample template, click here. 3) Find the right name for your company. If you already have a name, then make sure its available, short, easy to pronounce, descriptive of your offer, and reflects your personality. For example, my company, Ogando Associates, is very deliberately named. I named it that because my personality is the driving force behind our associate coaches and other professionals that serve small businesses. Its also named Associates because everyone on our team (the accountant, the web designer, the lawyer, the bookkeeper, even the assistants) have their own business. Theyre not employees. Theyre associates. Im deeply convicted about business ownership being the best road to wealth, so I empower those around me to grow their businesses as well. 4) Determine your niche. No matter what you do, your business will stand for SOMETHING in the minds of your prospects. Whats the first thing that should enter the minds of your prospects and customers when they hear/read your name? 5) Get a meme. Its the simplest possible way to communicate an idea. It can be visual, such as the international traffic symbol, verbal such as Lean Cuisine, or an action, such as a hitchhiker holding out his thumb. So get your own Pillsbury Doughboy, Energizer Bunny, or Aunt Jemima, and let it spearhead your marketing. Just visualize your main benefit, then distill it, compress it, simplify it, and focus on it. And youre off to a great start. 6) Develop a theme. A theme is a set of words that describes the spirit of your company. If I say, Youre in good hands with you can probably finish that sentence (Allstate). Or if I say, Just do it, you can come up with Nike, the company that made that phrase popular. Youre going to use your theme everywhere: in your advertising, your website, your email, your stationery so make sure its believable (no bragging). 7) Make a why list. List all the reasons why people should be doing business with you. What benefits do they get? Brainstorm a lot. This is no time to be modest. The longer your benefits list, the better stocked your arsenal of marketing firepower. Next time, Ill talk about the things you should be doing WHILE you market for free. Talk to you soon, Coach Mo
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What is the #1 ingredient to business success?
I was talking to a dear friend of mine the other day, discussing what is the absolute, and unequivocal, number one, sine qua non ingredient to small business success.
Of course, if its such a pivotal characteristic, its likely to be the linchpin of ANY kind of success, so we talked about that too. We went back and forth about what it could be. The conversation actually got pretty heated (I love when people take a stand for their convictions!) And we actually came to an agreement. Even though we came to the conversation with different views on what the absolute must for small business success, at the end of the conversation, he won me over.
What do you think it is? What do you think is the NUMBER ONE INGREDIENT for small business success?
Coach Mo
K.I.S.S.
KISS
“Systems run the business and people run the systems.” Michael E. Gerber
You’ve heard of the K.I.S.S. principle, right? Keep It Simple Sweety…Well, here’s the evolved version: Know & Implement Systematic Strategy. Wanna know what’s the key word there? SYSTEMATIC!
Management isn’t about doing things, it’s about getting things done. It’s knowing what has to be done and finding a way to get it done without doing it yourself. Management is not the same as leadership. Leadership focuses on you, your vision, the way you think, the way you communicate, and the image you project to your people. Leadership is about you. But management is about your business. How to get your business to do the things it has to do while leaving you free to do the things you want to do. When you reach the point where your business gets things done the way you want them done, consistently and predictably, without your having to do them, then you can be free of it.
Management in a Nutshell: Think Systems!
The key component of successful business management is systemization. To do it, you have to be able to think systemically as well as systematically. Systematic thinking is methodical, thorough, and pulls diverse information together into an integrated whole. People who think and act systematically can communicate with clarity and inspire confidence. People who don’t think systematically can be perceived as “scattered.”
Systemic management thinking is about viewing a business as a intergrated whole on one level, and groupings of systems on a different level. It means you’re aware that your business is a system, and that it’s composed of systems within systems, dependent on each other to achieve the higher result. It also means you approach your business operations by creating systems to accomplish them and you approach business problems by creating systems to eliminate them.
The current reality from many small businesses is either the “bandaid” mentality in which the manager comes up with a quick-fix solution to the problem, or “people dependency” in which the manager looks first for the right person to throw at the problem. In both cases the solution is only temporary. It works until the problem shows up again, at which time the manager once again either “fixes it” or “throws more people at it.” And because the original problem was never really solved in the first place, you can be sure it will show up again.
You can see where this leads, and maybe you’ve lived it yourself. Problem-quick fix. Problem-quick fix. Problem-quick fix. And a cycle of perpetual frustration. Many business owners tell us the experience is like being on a treadmill. But there is a better management process: managing your business by implementing the principle of systemization. In other words, living by the adage “the system is the solution.”
I’ll be talking more about this in the coming weeks, and how you can implement systems in your business RIGHT NOW. If you don’t have a business yet, this is a fantastic place to start. You’ll avoid YEARS of unnecessary grief and frustration.
Til next time,
Coach Mo
Money for women and minority owned businesses
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Money for women and minority owned businesses The Senate’s leading Democrat on small business issues is attempting to revive a moribund government program that would funnel venture capital to minority- and women-owned small businesses in impoverished areas. Congress created the New Markets Venture Capital program in 2000, but Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., (you remember him? The ranking Democrat on the Senate’s Small Business Committee), says the Bush administration has “starved this program for nearly six years.” With the program set to expire in 2006, Kerry this week introduced a bill to reauthorize it for three years. The bill would also expand the program by creating the Office of New Markets Venture Capital within the Small Business Administration. The bill encourages the SBA to establish at least one company in each of the SBA’s 10 geographic regions and calls for a study after one year to gauge the effectiveness of the program. So what does this mean to you? If Kerry’s bill goes through, it means more SBA sponsored money, more government contracting opportunities and funding assistance for women- and minority-owned businesses. What can you do to make sure this happens? Write, call, email your senator or House representative. Let them know you fully support this bill. It could mean the difference between having to go bankrupt because you don’t have access to SBA-backed funding, and the health and wealth of your business. Til next time, Coach Mo |
These Three Little Words
Dear Friend,There are 3 words that are so deadly, that if you are using them, it almost guarantees you will not be nearly as successful as you want to be.
In fact, I dare say if you use these 3 words it practically prevents you from being successful.
And I bet you use them all the time and don’t even realize it. Now that makes them super deadly.What are they?“I know that.”As I am typing this next sentence, I can already feel all the people saying to themselves, “I already know all about this, why are talking about it, give me the ‘good stuff’.” WOOO, that is deadly times 10!
You are using the deadly 3 words to justify your use of the 3 words.Why are they the 3 most deadly?Because as soon as you start to think you know everything it closes off your mind, even to the things you don’t know.And it makes it practically impossible to learn new things, grow your awareness, achieve greater successes and breakthroughs.It keeps you stuck where you are currently at in life, holds you back and may even cause your failure.And it is a completely ego based mindset. You would rather think you are smart and know everything rather than be open to learning and growing, risking being wrong or weak.I see this in person ALL the time at my seminars and in my coaching practice. People with any level of success will go thinking there is nothing new they can learn there. They don’t even bother gracing the seminar room with their presence because that would be “a waste of time”, instead hang outside “networking” with the same people they already know.Interesting, those same people are getting the same results year after year… because they never learn and grow. They let their ego keep them trapped.I was talking to a friend who has a million dollar plus a year online business and he went to his first Internet marketing seminar this year.He said the only reason he was going to go was because it would be a good way to meet new marketing partners. He was right and he did.He also thought he wouldn’t get much if anything from the people speaking and what they had to teach. He was wrong. Luckily he sat in and listened to them speak and he walked away with just as much value from what he learned as from the people he met.The approach I take…I used to be that way for a long time. I always wanted to think I knew everything. And I always looked for ways to justify that viewpoint I had.It made my ego feel good, but it sure didn’t benefit me or my business. I was always “right” but I wasn’t growing or learning. Then I heard my coach say, “You can be right, or you can be left.” (referring to relationships, but it applies in business too)
Now, I am always looking to learn from anybody or any situation. For example, when I go to seminars I have no preconceived notions of what I already know… the words “I know that” are not even in my vocabulary.And I always end up leaving with stacks of amazing ideas. Not only from what was presented, but all the ideas that are triggered from what they say. By having that open mind it not only allows me to learn new things, but also allows me to think of new ways to use what they are talking about with my business. Or completely new ideas in general.So what about the things you do already know?Great question. Let me use an actual example.Recently the online movie The Secret came out. When I started to watch it, you learn early on it is about the Law of Attraction. I already know a lot about that and I could use the 3 Deadly Words and continue to watch it with that closed mindset.Instead I had the mindset of, “what new things can I learn from this?” They might not be life changing discoveries I make, but even just small subtle enhancements can produce amazing results over the long term.And I did learn a lot of great new things. I ended up with several pages of notes.And you know what… that feels great to walk away from something knowing more than you did before. Having new discoveries.It feels considerably better than walking away thinking I already knew what he was going to be talking about.Different Effects For Different PeopleThis shows itself in several different ways.On the positive… look at anybody who is very successful over the long term, a constant with all of them is their desire to always be learning. They definitely don’t have the “I Know That” mindset.On the negative… First with people who have not had any or little success with their business. But they have studied everything. They can recite all the lingo and sound like they know everything — and they do think they know it all and are completely closed off to anything that sounds remotely like something they have hard before. But yet they have little or no success.Their mindset is ALWAYS going to hold them back until they give it up. Knowing something also means doing it. Second are the people who have success and see the world as a competition, us versus them. Who is better.The idea of learning from somebody who you perceive to be less successful you is impossible from your ego based standpoint.Does that way of thinking really serve you? Anything can be a learning experience if you choose it to be. Anything can trigger new ideas for you.P.S.
There is a second deadly pair of words that deserve their own article… the “Yeah, but..”The people who always have reasons why their situation is different. Or why something doesn’t apply to them. Or an excuse why something isn’t possible or can’t happen.Who wants to go through life being a but?
Til next time,
Coach Mo
Win $50K for Your Business
The Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Series Business Plan Competition
Also entering its sixth year, the Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Series Business Plan Competition has gotten bigger and better. For 2005, we have added a $50,000 top business grant. Now, that’s taking it to the next level! The Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Series is offering adults 21 to 35 years old an opportunity to win $50,000, $20,000 or $2,500 grants by entering our Business Plan Competition.
It doesn’t matter if your business has been in existence two years, two days or has not yet started, Miller wants you to have the opportunity to take control of your destiny.
This is how it works:
This year, Miller is offering entrepreneurs the chance to vie for one $50,000 grant, one of four $20,000 grants and one of ten $2,500 business grants, by submitting their business plans in the Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Business Plan Competition. A team of local and national judges will select grant awardees based upon the business plans developed and submitted by adult entrepreneurs (21-35 years old).
Interested applicants may call (877) 493-4400 for more information or to request an official Business Plan Application Form, Rules and Requirements.
Judges include individuals from the business community, college/university business schools, and local business owners. Applicants must submit their business plan along with an official Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Series Business Plan Application by November 10, 2006. Applicants are not required to attend the seminar in order to enter the Business Plan Competition. Official Rules and Requirements apply. Must be a legal U.S. resident 21-35 years of age to enter the Business Plan Competition. The business plan competition is announced at the seminar and is locally and nationally publicized.
For More Information
To request an Official Rules and Application Form for the Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Series Business Plan Competition, call (877) 493-4400 or click here for a PDF version. To receive an application via mail, all requests must be submitted via the toll-free line or via mail by midnight October 31, 2006.
All inquires via mail:
Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Series
c/o Flowers Communications Group
542 S. Dearborn, Suite 1150
Chicago, IL 60605
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