Episode 15: Developing Your Compelling Business Offer With Nailah Blades

An important part of being an entrepreneur is learning from your peers. “Unstoppable Entrepreneur” profiles entrepreneurs just like yourselves who have taken the leap to follow their passion and create their own work & lifestyle. They share their expertise: tips for success, tools they use and valuable things they have learned along the way.

This week I had the pleasure of speaking to Nailah Blades of Polka Dot Coaching. Nailah discusses the importance of having a strong business foundation before focusing on the ‘glitz and glamour’ aspects of your business like branding, website and biz cards.

Watch/Listen to the video below and share your feedback!

Key Takeaways

  • The importance of building your business foundation before you start working on your website, business cards and branding
  • Getting clear on your offering
  • Listening to your target market and adapting
  • Not ignoring your ‘calendar of freedom’ as an entrepreneur and WHY you started a business

Click to Tweet Have a solid offer before you focus on the glitz and glamour part of your business  @NailahBlades

Resources Mentioned

The $100 Startup

About Nailah Blades

Nailah is the founder of Polka Dot Coaching where she helps her clients create lucrative businesses they are passionate about and that are aligned with their core values—by breaking down queen-sized dreams into bite-sized goals. 

 

 

 

{Launch It} 3 Tips To Surviving Your First Product Launch

I don’t know Murphy personally but he sure seems to show up when I least expect it, like a few days ago in the middle of a product launch I was supporting.

Case in point- this giant distorted Paypal button:

Doesn’t look right, does it?

I’ve only added PayPal buttons to websites hundreds of times..so why would this time be any different?

Well, turns out Murphy was right.

“When anything can go wrong, it will.”

I was a little dumbfounded as to why this particular button was acting up.

WordPress site, Paypal button..shouldn’t be too complicated, right?

I double checked the code just to make sure nothing had happened between my copy and paste and sure enough it didn’t…so what’s the deal?

I quickly turned to my BFF, Google and did a search with PayPal buttons and the Thesis theme (which this particular WordPress site was running) because I suspected that there was probably an issue with the theme.

What do you know: there’s a known issue with Thesis and PayPal buttons!

Argggh! Hair-pulling out moment. I mean, seriously?!

This was the last thing I needed right then.

It was a pretty quick fix with a line of code added to the custom.css file but all this to say is that you can plan for everything  during your launch but often it’s the things that you least expect that don’t end up working.

Are you about to embark on a product launch or thinking about one in the near future?

My advice:

Stay Cool

When things are getting sticky and you don’t seem to be moving forward: step away from the problem and give it some distance. The brain has a way of working on things even when you are not actively working on them and when you come back things are clearer and you are more likely to solve the problem! #win

Thing Big. Start Small

Especially, when it’s your first  product launch.

Product launches are super involved and have a lot of moving pieces beyond just creating the actual product. There’s the nuts and bolts involved behind the scenes from setting up your shopping cart, sales page, affiliates, and auto-responders, just to name a few. My suggestion: take that big idea you have and try to release it in smaller parts rather than taking on something huge for the first time around.

Have A Buffer

You can plan all you want but unexpected things like giant PayPal buttons can and will happen.  In your case, it might not be that exactly but it could be an unexpected delay from your graphic designer, audio missing in your video recording (<–it’s happened)and so on.

Give your product launch plan buffer to account for these last-minute glitches.

Have anything to add? Have you ever experienced something like the case of the distorted PayPal button? Let me know in the comments!

From Stuck to Unstoppable program early bird special ends November 1st. Get that idea out of your head and out into the world! Sign up here today!

Episode 14: From Stuck To Unstoppable: Benny Hsu’s $30K app launch success story!

An important part of being an entrepreneur is learning from your peers. “Unstoppable Entrepreneur” profiles entrepreneurs just like yourselves who have taken the leap to follow their passion and create their own work & lifestyle. They share their expertise: tips for success, tools they use and valuable things they have learned along the way.

This week I had the pleasure of speaking to Benny Hsu of Get Busy Living. Benny shares how he moved from being stuck and fed up of constantly ‘hoping’ for things to change to finally taking action and making things happen. He talks about how he launched his first app without having any programming knowledge but the desire to learn and find resources that could help him.

Watch/Listen to the video below and share your feedback!

Key Takeaways

  • How he launched an app that made $30 000 in the first month-without any programming knowledge
  • Consistency is important and beats out trying hard in short bursts and burning out
  • Model someone’s success: see how they did it, how you can learn from them and reach out!
  • It’s never too late to get started
  • You don’t have to have all the skills: figure out what you are good at and get help with the rest using outsourcing

Click to Tweet:  Hope is not a strategy. You have to take action to move forward -@Benny_Hsu  http://bit.ly/R4OkZp

Click to Tweet: Appreneur @Benny_Hsu shares how he got unstuck and took the leap to launch his first app  http://bit.ly/R4OkZp #entrepreneur

About Benny Hsu

Benny Hsu is an appreneur and blogs at Get Busy Living where he shares insights about pursuing your passions and having financial freedom to be your own boss in life. He has developed two apps and is launching the AppAcademy this fall.


 

Get the first chapter of ‘From Stuck to Unstoppable: How To Go From Idea To Launch‘ and learn more about Benny’s story and how he moved from being stuck to launching an awesome app!

 

 

Get Your Tweet On: Getting Started With Twitter Chats

Getting started on Twitter can be a lonely and awkward experience. All these conversations are happening around you, and yet it can feel like you are tweeting all by your lonesome.

You know you should get in there and engage and chat with people but aren’t the type to just walk up to a stranger and tap them on the shoulder and say, “Hey..so you like stuff?” #awkwardmoment.

Enter Twitter Chats.

Now for the unfamiliar, Twitter chats are chats that happen using the hashtag functionality. This massive Google doc has a list and description of the different chats and you can find a chat related to every topic under the sun.

On Twitter, when you click on a particular hashtag, you will see all the tweets related to it and people who are talking about it.

What Are The Chats About?

You can find chats about pretty much everything from books, entrepreneurship to blogging advice.

Why Should I Participate?

While tweeting content regularly is great, Twitter chats let you maximize your time on Twitter and participate in existing conversations. Instead of tweeting 1-1 you are now engaged in a conversation with many people around a particular topic. Your tweets can be seen by hundreds as well as those who are lurking :P.

Think about it: your peeps are right there, gathered around discussing a topic related to your niche/industry/expertise. You don’t have to go searching for them..they are all there!

Not to mention all the knowledge sharing that goes on!

How Much Time Do I Have To Invest?

Most Twitter chats are one hour long and happen on a specific time and day of the week or on a bi-monthly basis.  You can pop in and see if the topic that week is relevant to you and decide to participate or not. A lot of these chats have regulars so it’s a great way to build strong connections that can help your business. Like anything, what you put in is what you get out!

How Can I Get Started?

  1. Find Your Chats: Check out the Google doc listing the various Twitter chats and identify a few that may interest you. Mark them in your calendar so you don’t forget.
  2. Research: If you use a tool like Hootsuite (or Tweetdeck) add a column and filter by the hashtag for the chat(s) that you are interested in. This way you can start to observe and see how people interact in the chat, what type of crowd it attracts and so on.
  3. Game Day: Once you’re ready to participate in a chat, I would highly recommend using a site like TweetChat so that you can focus on the chat and block out all the other Twitter noise. Most chats follow a Q&A format where the host will ask a question e.g Q1: Which Twitter chats do you recommend? and people will respond with a1)#yfechat, #shenowchat, #blogchat…  and so on. Note: many spin-off conversations start as well-don’t be afraid to jump-in!
  4. Post-Chat: Connect with people you’ve chatted with and keep the conversations going!
why you should participate in twitter chats to grow your business

Tweet Chat: An Easy Way To Follow And Participate in Twitter Chats

Recommended Chats

If you’re looking to connect with other entrepreneurial women who are starting their business (and further along), I would recommend:

#yfechat: Hosted by  Young Female Entrepreneurs that occurs every two weeks where entrepreneurial women in their 20s/30s go to discuss topics related to owning a business as a young female.

#shenowchat Led by She Now Org these chats happen on a weekly basis serving a community of women that believes in pursuing their careers and dreams, having adventures, and living their own lives first!

and the soon to be launched

#bootstrapchat by the lovely ladies over at Kicksart Kitchen on Wednesday October 17th at 6pm PST/9PM EST where they will discuss getting the resources you need to build a thriving business on a shoestring budget.

Save the Date

October 9th: I’ll be the hostess on the upcoming #yfechat where we will be chatting about “Perfecting the Pitch”. I’ll be there to welcome people to the chat, and helping with the Q&A. Hope to see you there.

November 5th: I’ll be asking the questions over at #SheNowChat. Topic to come shortly..hope to see you there!

So ready to take the plunge? Which Twitter chats will you explore? Already chatting? What are some of your faves?

Episode 13: Why Your Business Needs Systems With Shelia Butler + Giveaway!

An important part of being an entrepreneur is learning from your peers. “Unstoppable Entrepreneur” profiles entrepreneurs just like yourselves who have taken the leap to follow their passion and create their own work & lifestyle. They share their expertise: tips for success, tools they use and valuable things they have learned along the way.

This week I had the pleasure of speaking to Shelia Butler of Successful Women Talk. Shelia has successfully grown (and sold) a business from zero to 7 million dollars, has launched a new children’s line called MeGiant and in her free time runs Successful Women Talk. In this interview, Shelia shares the importance of having systems in your business even if you are just one person and the traits of successful women entrepreneurs.

Watch/Listen to the video below and check out the giveaway below!

(Due to a slight tech-fail the video did not get recorded so it is only the audio portion of our interview).

Here are some

Key Takeaways

  • The importance of having mentors early on
  • While you do need the big picture for your business you also need to be agile, change course & correct. If it’s not working, fix it. Fix it quickly.
  • Create processes even if you are just one person in your business whether they are checklists, templates for your posts or short videos to explain things to your clients.

Treating people well and having good customer service goes a long way.  http://bit.ly/RYdnz7 via @SuccessfulWT   Click to Tweet

As a business owner, if you become a technician and do all the work you are never going to grow. via @successfulWT  http://bit.ly/RYdnz7 Click to Tweet

People & Resources Mentioned In This Interview:

Giveaway!

I’m giving away a (physical) copy of E-Myth Revisited.

To enter simply leave a comment below sharing an insight you had from the interview.

Bonus entries:

I’ll pick a winner on Thursday October 4th, 12pm EST.

About Shelia Butler

Shelia Butler is the founder of SuccessfulWomenTalk where she interviews successful business women and shares their stories to help you level up in your business.  She is ridiculously passionate about small business and her goal is to help you get the business, customers and life you deserve. She is also the founder of MeGiant, a children’s clothing line.