Sometimes the environment we see pokes at us. We look around, see liars and cheaters getting bailed out, see unscrupulous (or maybe just lazy) business people getting awards & recognition and we feel burned. We think about the high quality work we do (and the amount of it) and wonder why we even try so hard. We think about the employees we treat with respect while others are cutting wages and laying off.  We aren’t doing as well as we’d like to be, as we need to be to support our families, and we want to just give up. As tempting as it might be to give up, we usually don’t, but our happiness quotient definitely takes a beating. Sometimes the whole thing just becomes too much.

But, even if we don’t give up, one thing we may start doing is playing the Blame Game. We start saying the reason why our business is lurching is because of all those other things - the economy, fear, gas prices, foreign outsourcing, the government - those other people. We quit looking at our processes, our customer service, the quality and relevance of our product offerings, and shift to blaming something else beyond our selves, beyond our control.

I’m telling you now, you need to stop that thinking right away - now - this minute! Not only is it probably not the real reason your business is being challenged but it also is not what a leader would do.  Your family and your employees need you to inspire them to get through this time. You need to be their rock, their light in the storm. You need to step up. Being a visionary is your entrepreneurial duty.

There are real impacts from the economy and from circumstances that you are probably experiencing and I don’t mean to minimize those in any way. But, rather than fall into the deep hole of uncontrollable chaos, here are some tips for you to strengthen your business during these economic times.

1.  Improve your customer service

I’ve been receiving extra services from my insurance company lately.  And, the services they are adding are worthwhile and valuable, things I’d wish they’d always done. That activity is definitely contributing to me not going bargain shopping for another insurance company. Even just getting a letter with tips on how to save money has been helpful and well timed. I intend to stay with them.

So, what services could you be providing that are non-cash or low in cost to you that would provide value to your customers? Would maybe just a personal phone call from you expressing appreciation do the trick? If you haven’t tried it, you don’t know the impact that putting a real face on your business can have on the loyalty of your customer base. But, I’ve tried it and it works.

2.  Ask more questions

Challenging times demand more creativity. Ask your employees what you could do better. Ask them what ideas they have to improve sales and encourage them to take action on their ideas. Ask your customers what they need from you. Ask your suppliers how you can be a better customer. Ask where most of your money comes from and focus on the strong products that are working and diminish the focus on the weaker products. Ask what training you or your employees could gain to take your business to the next level. Ask, ask, ask.

And, once the answers start coming in, listen without judgment or a critical reaction. You might have to shift how you’ve been doing things. By being willing to examine everything and being open to change, you will find what works. If an honest examination reveals that you should shut down your business and move on to something else, that is an answer also. The joy and responsibility of being an entrepreneur is to make those choices. Take heart that you have the intelligence, drive, and personal resources to do whatever it takes to succeed. All of this can shake you a bit, but it’s all worth examining. Ask!

3.  Get back in touch with your passionate purpose

To continue to have the energy and focus to work through your challenges, you need to remind yourself why you do what you do. Think about the lives you’ve positively affected, the families you’ve helped, and the contributions you’ve made to your community by being an entrepreneur. Stoke the fires of passion that led you to start a business in the first place. Take a few moments to feel the gratitude of being in a world that allows you to pursue your dream.

Sometimes you need to step back and take a deep breath to gain a new perspective. Try turning off the doomsday news and doing some volunteer work. Listen to music or sit out in Nature. Take a walk. Where it may not seem that these activities are business related, they are focused on your wellness and balance. And, here’s where you can make a difference, where you have full control. Your balance and ability to stay upbeat even in the face of challenges could very well be the turning factor in your business, especially during hard economic times.

Worry does not solve problems and impulsive actions will more likely exacerbate rather than resolve your issues. By taking time to plug back into your purpose, by asking questions, and improving your customer service, you can begin changing the impact of the real and imagined dangers of being an entrepreneur. And, please, know that you have friends here. Speak up if we can help you in any way - we believe in you.

Together, we are stronger!
Vicki Flaugher, the original SmartWoman

follow me on Twitter: SmartWoman

Here is the latest release of stories about amazing female entrepreneurs and the challenges (and rewards) they experience in building and running their business. Enjoy!

Fione Tan in the Top 10 National Women Entrepreneurs Award 2008
PressZoom (press release) - Amsterdam,Netherlands
Fione Tan, President and CEO of eOneNet, is among the top 10 women entrepreneurs in the inaugural National Women Entrepreneurs Award 2008, …
See all stories on this topic

Minister Guergis Congratulates Women Entrepreneurs
Canada NewsWire (press release) - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
9 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Helena Guergis, Minister of State (Status of Women) congratulates the recipients of the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur …
See all stories on this topic

2008’s big buzzword in giving: Micro
Marketplace - Los Angeles,CA,USA
Bernholz: So, a microconsignment program, such as that which is run by Living Goods in Uganda, helps individual women become entrepreneurs, self-sustaining …
See all stories on this topic

Women locked out of Sh700m loans
Standard - Nairobi,Kenya
By Benson Kathuri Women entrepreneurs cannot access more than Sh700 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) due to unfriendly lending procedures by …
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Number of Female Farmers on the Rise
WQOW TV News 18 - Eau Claire,USA
Some women inherit farms or are partners with spouses or others, but a growing number are entrepreneurs. Jane Eckert is chief executive of Eckert …
See all stories on this topic

Kashf awards for 10 women entrepreneurs
The News International - Karachi,Pakistan
By By Our Correspondent KASHF Foundation on Sunday presented ‘Kashf Micro Entrepreneurship Award 2008’ to ten women entrepreneurs from its portfolio at a …
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Finance trust eyes microfinace status next year
Daily Nation - Nairobi,Kenya
She said that by the end of this year, KWFT will have disbursed Sh9 billion in loans to female entrepreneurs countrywide. Ms Riria said the money will be …
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Guatemala’s Mayan Entrepreneur Women and Christian Children’s Fund …
The Guatemala Times - Guatemala,Guatemala,Guatemala
4, 2008 - The Actively Engaged Mayan Women, or Mujeres Emprendedoras Mayas in the rural area of Tecpan, Guatemala, have accepted a mission. …
See all stories on this topic

Nigeria: NGO Harps On Poverty Reduction Through Micro-Credit
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
According to her, “The entrepreneur has all it takes and can make a significant difference to Nigeria’s economic development. Microfinance brings the power …
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“India needs game changers In microfinance” Nancy Bar Nancy Barry …
By Lokesh(Abhay)
Enterprise Solutions to Poverty has engaged leading companies in India—including Tata, Reliance, ITC and Mahindra—as well as some emerging entrepreneurs— such as FabIndia, ICICI Foundation and SELCO. These companies are paving the way …
India Microfinance - http://www.indiamicrofinance.com/

As you can see from the stories, microfinancing is a big issue. Be thankful for the opportunities you have and try to help another. Kiva is my favorite microfinancing organization, but there are many ways to get involved. It’s a great way to change lives!

Together, we are stronger!
Vicki Flaugher, the original SmartWoman

The age of the mega-hit is over. In music, in movies, and in our business product offerings. So forwards the 2004 book by Chris Anderson, The Long Tail. And, based on not only the mountain of factual evidence that Anderson offers, but also the anecdotal observations in my own life, I believe it.

The Long Tail has me thinking I have to change my approach to my business. I come from the era of the mega hit, although fading from its heyday, but an expectation just the same. It feels almost ingrained in me, from the social triggers and the cultural programming, to “Go big or go home”.

But the essence of the Long Tail is this: the market available for niche products, when you combine them together, is larger (and growing rather than diminishing) by far than the mega hit market. A niche product is one that is focused on a small group of devoted fans rather than attempting to appeal to the masses. You can see niche products in the indie music and movie markets, the gourmet chocolate and food business, and even now in sodas. Instead of attempting to make a product that everyone will buy, like Coke or Pepsi has, instead niche marketers look to appeal to a focused, more customized group, like the lovers of ginger tumeric rootbeer. The marketing tactics are different and the approach to growing your business is different.

So how is The Long Tail affecting you? For me, I have readjusted my product development to include more affordable, more focused, and just plain more in quantity offerings. Next week I will be launching the first of these easy to consume snipits. Rather than focusing on that one big mega product, I am developing a really long tail - a library of specialty topic, widely varied mini products. It still feels a little foreign to me, but the idea of offering specific enough topics that people can pick and choose what part of it they need now rather than forcing them to buy it all even if they don’t need a particular part does make sense.

So, what about you? Do you buy into the idea of this? Or, are you still chasing the big hit? Do you think The  Long Tail is a fad or is it actually a cultural shift as Anderson suggests? I’m curious to hear your answers.

Together,  we are stronger!
Vicki Flaugher, the original SmartWoman

follow me on Twiter: SmartWoman

I have a confession to make - I am a clutter bunny. A pack rat. A really, really questionable housekeeper, to be more than polite. I like being organized and all, it just presents as a challenge for me. That, in and of itself, would be okay, I could live with a personality glitch, but in my heart of hearts I know that it makes my entrepreneur’s life harder. So, I’ve decided to focus on improving it.

Along with some very brave women on Twitter, my favorite social media tool, #CleanUp09, a “Just Say No to Clutter” campaign, is kicking off.

Are you a candidate for this campaign? If you have any of the following symptoms of clutter creep, you are:

• Do you have to search for your keys because you don’t have a regular, easy to find place for them?
• Do you have cars parked in the driveway because you can’t fit your cars into your garage?
• Are your office files (or email box) in shambles, preventing you from  easily and quickly retrieving whatever information you desire at a moment’s notice?
• Do you miss appointments or double book because your schedule isn’t pulled together and organized?
• Do you not invite people over because you don’t want them to see the mess?
• Do you have multiple sized sets of clothing (none of which fit you and all that are outdated) in your closet?
• Do you have any eBooks (yes, even the free ones) on your computer that you can’t retrieve because you don’t remember where the files are?
• Do you have any drawers, closets, or rooms that are not functional due to overflowing stuff?

You don’t have to confess it to me, but at least confess it to yourself.

How, you might be asking, does this have anything to do with being a female entrepreneur? In my travels and conversations with hundreds of female entrepreneurs, one thing has stood out as a problem for all of them - overwhelm. Clutter can come in many areas - physical, emotional, mental, etc. When you’re trying to do so many things in a day, spending your time doing things over, or not finding the tools you need, or having chaos rule your environment, is counterproductive to your success. You lose energy, you are scattered and unfocused, and you are working harder to get less done. And, frankly, it’s no fun, so you aren’t going to enjoy your passionate work. Not cool.

The action starts officially Jan. 1, 2009, but you can start anytime. DON’T clean up anything before you take a picture of it. I  will do my best to get us some prizes too, but at this point, it’s a matter of personal improvement and that has its own rewards. Don’t let your New Year’s Resolution power push come and go without creating a better world for yourself. And always remember, we are together in this - you have friends.

The contest requires some commitment, but the idea is to make it light and fun. So, to be part of Cleanup 09, here is what you agree to do:

• You will be patient with yourself
• You will reward yourself when you do the right thing (especially small steps!)
• You will start small and finish small (break big projects down)
• You will take action.
• You will support each of us as we improve our environments and ourselves.
• You  will remain tolerant, of yourself and others.
• You will be forgiving of your past mishaps and make a new day.
• You will talk about your experience (and post your pictures) so others can learn from your journey.
• You will release your shame and self-flagellation and just get on with it.

Want to play? If so, take a picture of your trouble spot. I recommend you choose a small one (like maybe your kitchen junk drawer). Then, organize it. Throw out the old trash, let go of the “I will need to use this someday” stuff, and set up a system that you can maintain. I have some resources listed below that might be of assistance in deciding what stuff to keep and how to go about doing this.

Next, get on Twitter and tweet out to your followers to invite them to join. Use #Cleanup09 in all of your tweets related to the cleanup so they will be grouped together and we can all find them easily. You can email me your pictures and I’ll post them here, you can post them on your own site, or you can post them on photo sharing sites like Flickr.

Here is my first hot spot - 2 “before” views of my desk area:

I am committed to posting pictures of my messes, before and after, and then celebrating the end of them when I clean them  up. The picture thing scares the devil out of me, as I am fairly certain that the embarrassment will be nearly unbearable, but I am not going to let shame stand in my way of a better life - and neither should you.

Here are the resources I promised. If you know a clutter counselor, invite them here to post their recommendations for helping. All are welcome and the more the merrier!

• ClutterDiet.com - @clutterdiet on Twitter - Lorie Marrero, awesome clutter counselor
• Peter Walsh, Oprah’s clutter expert
• FlyLady.net - @flyladykelly on Twitter - fun and easy tips to spend 15 a day and have a clean, organized envirnoment.

Post below in comments what area you are going to start with and what it would mean to you to be more organized.

Together, we are stronger!
Vicki Flaugher, the original SmartWoman

follow me on Twitter: SmartWoman

Yesterday’s Part 1 SEO post got us started, so let’s pick up where we left off and finish out. Here are a few more cornerstone search engine optimization (SEO) concepts for you to understand about helping people find your website via organic search, such as through a search engine like Google.

• Link Building Works

Creating live links that direct back to your site is a great way to promote your site and get more traffic. If you leave comments on other blogs, especially high traffic, relevant ones, you will likely get traffic, and those comments will likely get indexed.  The thing to remember is to engage in the conversation, contribute to the point being discussed, and reveal your personality and purpose in your post comments. Don’t just pitch yourself - Use subtle, keyword rich comments that intrigue people enough to visit you at your site. (I use the free software package  CommentKahuna to find these high ranking relevant blogs. ) You can also trade links, provide articles, guest blog, and do many more things to get links. Get creative and reach out to the meeting places where your target audience hangs out.

• Spiders Don’t Have Credit Cards or Opinions
  

As much as it’s important to implement the suggestions in both Part 1 & 2, it’s even more important to remember that search engine spiders can’t buy anything - nada, nothing, zilch. Regardless of how many keywords you stuff into your copy,  how many links you have coming in, and how many meta-tags you have, it ultimately comes down to reaching people. You have to use full sentences, you have to appeal to human emotion, and you have to be likeable, or at least very compelling. You have to have something to sell, if you’re selling, or have a story to share if you’re working to educate or simply communicate. Don’t forget that the whole purpose of getting more traffic is to affect human beings.

• Traffic Doesn’t Equal Conversion

Another aspect of spiders not having credit cards or opinions is this -Just because you get visitors coming to your site doesn’t mean anything further will happen. You can perfectly design your site to rank #1 in Google for every pertinent word that someone might be using to search for you, but once a person gets to your site, what’s next? Do they sign up? Do they buy? Do they even stay long enough to read anything? Or, do you bore them, make it hard to navigate and click through, or maybe worse still, don’t provide targeted, relevant information that they were expecting to get when they searched in the first place? Become conscious of the limitations of the traffic trap - don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s a “numbers game”. It’s not - it’s an emotions game. Compelling and specific calls to action, moving stories that engage and encourage response, and reasons to return and stay loyal are going to make more of the traffic you do get more likely to benefit you.

• Nobody’s Perfect - Keep Trying!

SEO leads to authority in your marketplace, a great platform, and a solid foundation for your continuing success. It will take time and effort. This two part series is just the beginning. I am an internet marketing fanatic, so we will discuss this again, but there’s so much more to learn. You will find mistakes everywhere, you will find even big players and big companies not doing SEO right, and that’s ok.  Learn what you can and start chipping away at it. You will be in the top percentage if you do and that will set you and your business apart from the people who aren’t doing anything at all. Be patient, keep curious, and get help if you need it. These are some of our articles of faith as smart women and good entrepreneurs, so that’s what we’re going to do. I’ll be with you every step of the way, ok?

As a side note, just wanted to let you know that I am about to launch a SmartWomanRadio talk show, starting December 8th at 2 pm CT.  I’d love to have you join in. Come on over and call into the show!

Together, we are stronger!
Vicki Flaugher, the original SmartWoman