Hi gang,

John Lawson is a nationally known e-commerce and social media expert.  You can find him speaking at conventions all over the world and on colderice.com and if his name sounds familiar it’s because he was a winner of Startupnation’s own Home Based 100 contest a few years ago.

I’ve known John for a long time and we both thought it was high time we sat down and discussed my new position at BHFO, e-commerce, eBay, Amazon, business books, and of course, stripping.

So grab some coffee, pull up a chair, and enjoy!  Just click the link below to see the full 28 minute video:

Kevin Harmon and John Lawson

Kevin Harmon

Twitter:  twitter.com/imadness

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/YesTHATKevinHarmon

I’ve been working with the creators of StartUpNation since 2001 when I was hired to shoot Rich Sloan doing yoga on the conference room table in the Birmingham Michigan office of the up and coming StartUpNation.  I was recently offered the opportunity to blog about photography if I thought I could contribute to entrepreneurs and start ups. I think I can so I’ll give it a shot.  I’ll be talking about all things photography, from how to do a shoot in the office, to what’s the best stock agency for what your needs are, to rights and usage contracts.  I’ll be answering questions about any thing relating to the business of photography and photography in your business. If I don’t know the answers I’ll look to the vast knowledge base of my peers and will share what I learn with you, so post your questions and comments about you’re photographic quandaries here, and I’ll help you along the image driven super highway of successful businesses.

I should tell you a bit about me.
I began my career as a photographer early in life.  My brother had a darkroom in a closet at our house when I was a sixth grader.  It didn’t take long for my teachers at school to see an opportunity to recruit the next news paper and yearbook photographer.  That’s when I learned that you can have fun and provide a needed service at the same time.  I could get credits for graduation if I work on the year book and news paper staff!  Life was good.  Then one day I was handed a press pass to cover the cheerleaders for a story for the news paper, that was all the motivation I ever needed to pursue my career.  When I was a senior in High School I was introduced to an advertising photographer in my home town of Detroit named Ameen Howrani.  He let me watch him work one day, he was shooting a news crew for the local ABC affiliate.  It was very glamorous, they had food there!  I was face to face with the local anchor man!  That’s when I decided that advertising was where it’s at.  Fast forward 25 years.  I have photographed some really great people, some incredibly beautiful places, and some of the most interesting stuff you’ll ever see.  I picked up a few professional sports teams along the way as well.  Namely the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, and currently Tampa Bay Ray’s as well as the NHL, NFL, MLB and other editorial venues related to sports. I’ve had unprecedented access to closed door behind the scenes events in the NFL, NHL, and MLB to name just a few. I was given the opportunity to shoot a book for the Detroit Red Wings called “48 Hours with the Detroit Red Wings”. Its a chronological documentation of what happens in forty eight hours in the world of the Red Wings Hockey team.  I was able to travel with the team to photograph players, coaches, and staff. We took two days to shoot the book so we could show the travel aspect of how the team lives on the road (and above the clouds).  During that shoot I was given access to coaches meetings that had never been photographed before.  One of the best experiences I had with the Red  Wings was Flying on the team jet to Washington DC to the White House to meet President George W Bush.   I was given an assignment by the Detroit Tigers Baseball team to shoot an eighteen page photo essay of Tiger Stadium during the final home stand ever to be played there.  The parting shot was Al Kaline in his nineteen sixty eight world series uniform (it still fit), pondering his days playing in that historic stadium.  The cover shot was of the stadium from the corner of Michigan and Trumble on a Friday night with fireworks lighting the sky.  I was able to get images never before captured, such as the neon Tiger Stadium sign from the roof of the press elevator.  I’m currently team photographer for the Tampa Bay Ray’s Baseball team, and have a nice client list of local and national companies and agencies as well.  I live in the St Petersburg area of Florida where I’ve lived for the past six years.  Before that I lived mostly in the suburbs of Detroit with a few years in New York city.  Please feel free to see some of the photographs I mention here at www.kovich.com

Great! Now, what do you do?

A.     Sit back and watch who signs up.

B.     Communicate with your new registrants right away.

C.    Send valuable information to your list on a regular basis.

If you answered B and C… Ding, Ding Ding! You are right!

Newsletter Set Up is Just the Beginning.

The whole reason you have an online newsletter registration
is so that you can collect the contact information for potential
customers.

Once you get their names and e-mails, the real work begins…

• Send a thank you.

Immediately after people register for your newsletter, send them
a personalized, e-mail thank-you note. It should include a welcome
message, all the benefits they will be receiving and any kind of
free e-report, survey, white paper, etc. that you agreed to send
them if they registered.

• Schedule e-mail auto-responders.

What are they?

Well, after you send out your initial thank-you
and welcome e-mail, you need to communicate with your
list on a regular basis.

With e-mail auto-responders, you send e-mails to your
audience to remind them about your business. And these 5-10
e-mails are scheduled for automatic delivery over a matter of weeks.

However, you want to ensure these e-mail messages are personal
and provide value to the readers.

Perhaps, you can share a story about something that happened
to you recently, provide a business tip or talk about a current,
news story?

At the end of your e-mail, you remind your list about
a particular product or service that you are selling.

This way, you communicate with your list in a way that provides value,
reminds them you are around and allows them to get to know you
over time.

It is a fantastic way to build long-term, customer relationships.

• Are you blogging and using social media?

In addition to sending out the e-mail auto-responders mentioned above,
you also want to let your list know when you have a new blog entry,
article, sale, etc. And this is just a simple process of scheduling an
e-mail to go out whenever you have a new entry.

For these services, check out:

http://aweber.com/?324776
www.constantcontact.com
www.icontact.com
www.myemma.com
www.verticalresponse.com

This way, you can easily stay in touch with your list on a regular
basis and keep your products and services top-of-mind while
providing value.

• Monitor e-mail auto-responder results.

Once your newsletter-registration and e-mail auto-responder
process is in place, be sure to monitor it regularly.

By checking your e-mail service, you can see how many people
opened your e-mail, the most popular content and clicks,
the best subject lines and send times, undeliverables, spam notices,
and more.

This is valuable information you can use to get the best results
for your e-mail efforts. Plus, you can use this data to discover key
trends with your list members, conduct follow-up, stop issues before
they become big problems, and create new content to meet their
specific needs.

Take Advantage of This Process.

Having a newsletter registration allows you to create and
grow your own list of customers. But this is just the beginning.

Once you offer your newsletter, it’s important to provide
personalized information  to your list on a regular basis via
an e-mail auto-responder series.

Now, you may think that your customers will turn away if you
send them too many e-mails. And sure, you will get some
unsubscribes. But you do not want these “uninterested” people
on your list anyway.

Just be sure to send valuable information your customers can
use. And note that there is an art to the content and timing of these
e-mails… so I strongly advise that you hire an experienced, SEO
copywriter to help you write and send them.

But it’s well worth the time, cost and effort. With good, e-mail
auto-responders, your list will actually look forward to
receiving  your e-mails.

And this means you can build valuable,
long-term customer relationships that will catapult your business
above the competition and dramatically increase sales.

Do you need assistance setting up your newsletter process and
e-mail auto-responder series? Please write to me here or at
www.rembrandtwrites.com. Your site traffic will increase!

Small Business Public Relations – What Is It?

When many entrepreneurs think of public relations (PR), they
think about sending out a press release.

But PR is so much more…

It entails all of the communications you have with the media,
customers, employees, partners, etc.

Why Do You Need It?

By communicating with your customers and the media, you
can share your message, build word-of-mouth buzz and bring
in new sales and site visitors without paying for advertising.

Yes, obtaining publicity is free, but it will cost you time and
effort.

However, when outside sources talk about your products
and services, you receive third-party credibility you cannot
purchase or obtain anywhere else.

How Do You Start?

Begin your public relations’ efforts by writing down your goals and
action-plan to reach these goals.

What do you want to accomplish and when?

Next, make a list of the people you need to contact.

Which media members will find your story interesting?

Then, call these reporters, editors, bloggers, and producers.

Introduce yourself.

Send them pertinent story ideas and news about your company to create a
working relationship. Let them know you are a resource with valuable information
to share.

You can also start communicating with your customers and
partners with a monthly newsletter, e-mail auto-responder campaigns,
free eReports, social media, and more.

And don’t forget to take advantage of search engine optimization (SEO)
copywriting to gain attention online.

Small Business Public Relations – A Golden Opportunity

Remember, PR is all about communication. It’s
not about sending out a press release to the masses and hoping for the best.

Focus on  providing valuable information and letting customers know
what you have to offer that benefits their needs.

By taking the time to review goals, research, create an action plan, and
communicate your targeted message to a specific audience with SEO, you will boost
sales, awareness and credibility quickly and cost-effectively.

And once things starts to build, you can hire an expert SEO copywriter and
publicist to help you keep the momentum going while you concentrate on
core, business responsibilities.

Public relations and SEO activities are the key to entrepreneurial success on a budget.
Yes, it’s a lot of hard work. But the results are well worth the effort.

Do you need help with your publicity and SEO copywriting activities to boost sales,
awareness and credibility fast? Please visit http://bit.ly/FREEReports for free
information or contact me at www.rembrandtwrites.com.

Here are 12 of my favorite tips for using YouTube to promote your business.

Copy What Works
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Generally, the videos that do well are funny, weird, or useful. Spend an afternoon watching YouTube videos and learn what works. Find out what videos in your market have the most views, high ratings, most comments or most subscribers. What are they doing right?

Put Keywords Everywhere
The best way to help people find your videos is by including your keywords in the title, description, and tags. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find variations of the keyword for additional tags.

Example Keyword: “Plant Tomatoes”

TITLE- How to Plant Tomatoes
DESCRIPTION- http://www.YourSite.com/blog - Do you want to know how to plant tomatoes?
Watch this tutorial NOW!!
TAGS- plant tomatoes, how to plant tomatoes, planting tomatoes, grow your own tomatoes

Steal Keywords from Popular Videos
Search for the most popular videos in your market and then copy the tags they have listed. This will increase the likelihood your video will be listed under “suggestions” when someone views that video.

Choose the Best Thumbnail Image
1. Go to My Account > My Videos > Edit
2. Select the thumbnail that will get you the most attention

Customize Your Channel
Before uploading your videos, customize your channel (profile) and make it look nice. Include some info about you and a link to your site.

Add Your URL to the Description
Add the “http://” version of your URL to the beginning of your video description so people can click on your link and visit your site.

Use Multiple Calls to Action
These are my favorite calls to action to use on YouTube:

• Please rate this video.
• Follow me on Twitter.
• Find me on Facebook.
• Subscribe to my videos.
• Visit my blog for more great videos.
• Embed this on your site.
• Please post your comments.
• Send this video to your friends.
• Check out my channel.

YouTube allows you to add overlay text in your videos. Use them for your calls to action.

Soft-Sell
You shouldn’t ask people to buy your stuff after watching your videos. Most people aren’t ready for this. Plan your marketing funnel and you’ll see a much better response. This is a example:

Watch YouTube Video > Go to My Blog to Watch More Videos > Sign Up to Get My Exclusive Videos (You Capture Email Addresses Here) > Try to Sell Them a Low-Ticket Item > Try to Sell a High-Ticket Item to Those Who Bought from You Before

Video Responses
Look for videos related to yours and whenever it’s appropriate post your videos as video responses to them (don’t spam). This will allow you to piggyback a lot of the traffic that these videos get.


Create Playlists
Playlists are a great way to get your videos watched by a lot of people.

Here’s how:
1. Add your video to a new playlist
2. Add great videos on the same topic (from other people)
3. Choose a smart name for the playlist (think about your keywords. i.e. “Dog Training Tips”)

It’s a Social Network!
YouTube isn’t just a video sharing site; it’s a social network. You can add friends, message them, join groups, create your own group and use the bulletin board to interact with the YouTube community.

Promote Your Videos
Uploading videos to YouTube isn’t enough. You need to promote them. These are some ideas:

• Embed your videos in your blog.
• Email your YouTube link to your friends and contacts.
• Ask people you know to tell their lists and contacts.
• Write an article about your video and post it to article directories and forums.
• Post your video to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and your other social networks.
• ASK PEOPLE TO SHARE – When posting on social networks including “Please Retweet” or “Share this with your friends” really helps.

Employees want to do a good job. And what the boss often needs to do is get out of the way and let them perform. Of course, when I became a business owner, I fell prey to the kind of thinking that trips up so many entrepreneurs: You have to work endless hours, you have to micromanage every aspect of the business, you have to make every decision. Ack!

I don’t know if my businesses would have survived if I hadn’t come up with what I call Go Theory. (”Go” as in “just go away”.) Go Theory is not about where you go or what you do while you go away from the office. Go Theory is all about what you don’t do:

• Don’t send your employees lots of little reminders by email.
• Don’t keep checking your smart phone.
• Don’t miss the spectacular view or the interesting presentation or the quality time with friends because you were stressing out about what might be going on back at the office.

Instead, enjoy your time away. Because you’ve got great people taking care of the business while you’re gone. If that last sentence just sent a chill up your spine (“But…no one can possibly take care of my business except me!”), read on.

The first element of Go theory, its absolute essence, is hiring great people to work in your business:

• Fire quick and hire slow. Invest the time and money required to make the best choices. I don’t rely on just myself to spot the right person — I make sure that at least two other people whose opinions I respect interview the candidates.
• Hire smart. I hire people who are smarter than me.
• Pick people with a track record for doing their tasks and accomplishing their goals. You don’t want to deal with excuses.

The second element of Go theory involves what you do with those great employees once you have them:

• Give people a great place to work, including real benefits.
• Trust them to handle problems and give them room to succeed or fail.
• Get in the habit of throwing issues back to employees — otherwise, you’ll be chained to your business 24/7.
• Make your business a vibrant and healthy system and you’ll find that employees work better when you’re gone.

The third element of Go theory is at once the easiest — and the hardest:

• Give employees clear directions or goals, and leave them alone to do their jobs. A quick check-in early in the project to make sure they are on track is OK, but then…go away!

The idea is for you to work on your business instead of in your business. This forces you and your staff to create good systems that can run without you. As the CEO, you want to be useless in the day-to-day business activities so you can be proactive and reactive to markets and opportunities. Keep in mind that what puts your business ahead of the competition is not logging lots of hours at the office — it’s creativity. Ask yourself: How can you be creative if you’re spending all your time making sales calls?

Go Theory provides a lot of rewards, including a “real life” for the CEO and a stronger, healthier bottom line for the company. I find that in my absence my business thrives. Projects move forward, problems get solved, and new ideas emerge. All this — just because I learned to get out of the way and work from a beachside cafe two hours a day.

1. Make A List. Check It Twice.

Look through all of your contacts and review the people you’ve met in your industry or at various conferences, local business meetings, presentations, etc. Then, make a list.

Research each of these people and see what they are doing and the status of their business:

• Are they working with partners you’d like to meet? 
• Do they have new products and services that work well with yours? 
• Are they involved in one of your favorite charities? 
• How can you help each of these people with your unique, products and services?

Write down all of the information you discover on your list.

2. Ask For Business.

Next, contact the top five people on your list via phone, e-mail, Twitter, www.twitter.com, Facebook, www.facebook.com, etc. and arrange a time to talk.

Ask them how things are going and what their needs are right now. Let them know what you have to offer and how you can help them. Then, ask for their business. You can also ask to refer you to their business associates.

If they are interested in your products and services, provide the information they need to make a decision and arrange a follow-up call. Keep in touch until you seal the deal.

3. Move On.

If you are not getting anywhere with a particular contact, try to get a “Yes” or “No” answer, and move on. Make a note in your database about their status and a reminder to follow up on a certain date. But if they are not interested, stop wasting your time, and move on to the next contact on your list.

If you don’t have any luck with your list of contacts, don’t worry. At least you’ve reminded them about your business and what you have to offer that is unique. And this is just a healthy reminder that you need to start networking and promote your business.

It’s time to attend industry events, join your local Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, get involved, and meet new people. Also, take a look at your Web site, public-relations activities and marketing materials.

Maybe it’s time to update your information or hire a professional publicist or search engine optimization copywriter to help you?

Obtaining new customers is not always an easy process, and it takes work. But once you get the momentum going and have a marketing and referral process in place, things will get easier and you’ll see sales grow.

These are just a few tips to help you take action and bring in new customers now. If you need more help boosting sales with SEO copywriting for your Web site, public relations and other marketing consultation, please let me know here or at Rembrandt Communications®, www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’m here to help!

We are women. Watch us Manage!

I have people ask me, usually men, how do you do it all? How do you take care of the family, and your business, and be so management oriented?  Did you study business management in college, get an MBA? No sir, I did not even finish high school. I even worked at McDonalds as the French fry girl 10 years ago, now I run a multi-million dollar company.

Shhh, my Secret!  I had to work really hard, re-train myself, be willing to admit failure, be willing to change what was not working,  and develop skills that I never knew I had.

 It is not easy! Let me tell you, however, once you have the skill set, anything is possible. Here are my 5 tips and secrets that I use EVERYDAY, to do it!

 1) Make sure you have a very clear to do list. I cannot function without it jotted down, even on a scrap paper.

2) Enlist people to can help you do these items, or that can do them for you.

3) Do not overload your schedule. I know that after I drop my kids at school, I have from 9 AM to 3:30 PM to get my things done. Because as you know, once the kids get home there is a host of activities going down i.e. dinner, homework, chores, and don’t forget you and daddy time! That is a whole other blog to write about. I have been successfully married for 20+ years, so I guess I can claim to be an authority on how to make it all work.

4) Keep your office, or home office clutter free. GET organized!

5) Set a daily schedule of the 1-2-3 + things you need to do every day. Example, take calls from 12-2PM. Make your calls form 4-5 PM, answer e-mails first thing in the morning etc…and stick to it daily. Training and conditioning ourselves is probably the hardest things to do.

I have 4 very, very busy boys, and I am a single parent during the week (hubby commutes M-F), and a life that I must maintain, outside of my business. If I cannot do that, my business will suffer. If I do not bring in money, my family will suffer! So, it is a tedious balance act between the two. You have to simplify things, do what works for you and roll with it.

If you cannot seem to get organized, hire someone to help you. Be careful who you hire however. Make sure they are credible and can really help you. You want to make sure they can listen to your wants, and needs, and can help develop a system that works for you. I once hired a gal who wanted to bring in her trademark system and make me adjust to it. It was stringent and non-flexible. Not going to happen!  Work with someone who will devise a plan and system for you, not them…

Just remember, you can do whatever you organize yourself to do!

Always Dream BIG!

Kim Babjak

The nonprofit organization was founded in 1945 by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and his wife, Ruth Stafford Peale. GUIDEPOSTS is involved in a number of activities including award-winning magazines, best-selling books, websites and outreach services such as free distribution of GUIDEPOSTS materials to hospitals, the military and families in need; comfort kits for children in hospitals; and coordination of the Knit for Kids project that has sent over 600,000 sweaters to needy children abroad.

Primarily a print medium, GUIDEPOSTS is enjoying their foray into technology and social media, which has expanded its audience and enabled direct dialogue with their customers.  

Being able to build a site that truly can and does inspire people is a great part of my job. — Philip Charles-Pierre, VP Digital Media

The biggest challenge their VP of digital media is dealing with right now is incorporating all the new technologies. Having roots in print and adding in new things (online publishing, social media can be quite the cold shower for many organizations). Charles-Pierre says that social media and online initiatives have allowed his publication to reach a broader audience.

“There are still a lot of people in our target audience that don’t quite understand why Guideposts and Guideposts.com are relevant to them. We are merely using the tools they use to let them know about relevant content,” Charles-Pierre says, including such tools as Facebook, Twitter, and widgets.

He adds that it is important to reach readers wherever they are gathering online.

Charles-Pierre enjoys the challenge of helping to reshape the business at a time when publishers are struggling. Guideposts continues to adapt its approach to ensure it is serving key audiences while attracting new pockets of readers. “We fundamentally believe our content appeals to both the devout and those who do not consider themselves spiritual, in nature. Good advice and guidance – as well as compelling content – appeals to all people, and we strive to make that case to the public at large.” 

 A little bit about the original founders: 

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

One of the foremost motivational speakers of the 20th century, Dr. Peale wrote 46 books, including the inspirational best-seller The Power of Positive Thinking, which was on the New York Times best-seller list for 186 consecutive weeks. Still available today, the book has sold more than 20 million copies in 42 languages.

For more than five decades, Dr. Peale was the pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. He spoke to an average of 100 groups a year until he was 93, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.

Books by Vincent Peale

Ruth Stafford Peale

The daughter of a minister, Ruth Stafford graduated from Syracuse University and taught mathematics before her marriage in 1930. Although she worked closely with her husband in all aspects of his ministry, she also established a separate identity as a religious leader, public speaker and author. She was cofounder, publisher and chairman of the board of GUIDEPOSTS and a member of the board of directors of American Bible Society, Interchurch Center, Blanton-Peale Institute and Laymen’s National Bible Committee.

A new project by California eco-urban design firm LJ Urban aims to make giving more concrete—quite literally—by matching its sales of homes domestically with funds to build homes in the impoverished African nation of Burkina Faso.

Urban has designed a new eco-urban community of 35 LEED ND Certified homes in the urban core of Sacramento, its home town. The community is suggestively named Good, and for each home within it that gets sold, LJ Urban has committed to funding the complete training of a West African mason to build sustainable homes for families in Burkina Faso. By partnering with the Association La Voûte Nubienne (AVN), which has already trained about 60 local masons to build durable homes out of earth bricks and mortar, LJ Urban aims to go beyond just providing homes to impart enduring skills and jobs to the local community. Taking the notion a step further, LJ Urban has also opted to skip the expensive marketing campaign to promote its Good community, and to use that money to train more African masons instead. So, for every 100,000 people who visit LJ Urban’s new, dedicated website by July 1st, the company will fund the complete training of another local Burkina Faso mason—up to 20 in all through this viral approach.

The Good project was inspired by Toms Shoes, a project that donates a pair of shoes for every one it sells. “[That] approach captivated us because it broke through the ‘charity fatigue’ all of us have felt at one time or another,” LJ Urban’s team explains. “The question then became: ‘What if we could do something like that with our houses?’…” The project is also reminiscent of One Laptop Per Child’s (OLPC’s) “Give One Get One” campaign last year through which consumers could donate a laptop and get one for their own use at the same time.