WRITING IN THE SHARK TANK

Source: Tina Lawson,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ddfic/1030695200/

On Monday night this past week, my team and I finally passed what's been rumored to be the biggest hurdle in our University of Iowa MBA program: The Venture Capital Fair in the "Capstone" class, Strategic Management and Policy. Over the previous three weeks, my team had worked the hours equivalent to a full time job creating a business plan, complete with a tactical plan and pro forma financial statements. The numbers did not go well and we ended up having to get $750,000 from VC Fast Eddy, but in my world - the Word World - it was a resounding success.

The Friday night before, I watched the TV show Shark Tank for the very first time. I'd been told it was similar to how the VC Fair goes. That's right - I had nightmares. So I turned to what I know to work out the details: Words. Our entire team made sure the written part of the Business Plan flowed smoothly and seemed to be authored by one person rather than four chunks thrown together, which it was in reality. We did the same thing with the slides to go with our presentation.

Since I'm the only one with the flexibility thanks to my work-at-home schedule, I worked on some details the day of the fair. I printed a sign with our logo for the door, reworked a handout that tied directly to key phrases in our presentation (Goal: BE XXX), and created name tags.

My goal with all this was so that at least with the weaknesses in our plan, we would be memorable and give the impression that we tried hard and knew how to handle the "business." And it worked. Though we ended up having to invite Fast Eddy to our investment team, everyone we talked to gave us great reviews on our presentation.

The lesson? When presenting something to potential buyers or investors, don't forget the details that will help you standout. Sure, it would be best to have a stellar plan and a stellar presentation, but when you know you are weak in one area (those numbers killed us from the beginning), at least make sure you don't end up with both a weak plan and a weak presentation.

May the sharks in your tank always be friendly,
-The Wordsy Woman

"JUST PUSH PUBLISH" - Thoughts about #SocialBrand14

Source: My best reminders are on the board in front of me.
"Just Push Publish" ~ Nick Westergaard, Brand Driven Digital

Last week, I attended Social Brand Forum 2014 put on by Nick Westergaard and his team at Brand Driven Digital. And since I am a student in the University of Iowa's MBA for Professionals and Managers program, I got to go for $95. I definitely got my money's worth. Here's a run down of what went on in case you missed it and want to plan on going to #SocialBrand15 October 15-16, 2015.

Because I had to get my son off to school Thursday morning, I missed the pre-conference workshop with Ann Handley and Nick so I arrived shortly before the Welcome at 1:00. Immediately I knew this would be a fun event - there was mention of prizes, hash tag wars, and encouragement to get out and use our technology devices during the event(!).

Ann Handley from Marketing Profs was first to take the stage. When she said, "The future of content is writing," I wanted to stand up and cheer, but I tweeted instead. I was so inspired by her talk on using words in the marketing setting, I bought her book, Everybody Writes, the first thing during the first break - perhaps even before I used the restroom, I don't remember. I was even bold enough to ask her to sign it.

My boldness continued when I stood up in front of the 300 or so people there to ask the next speaker, Joe Chernov, a question. He talked about inbound marketing statistics so I asked him if there was any industry or business for which inbound marketing wouldn't be appropriate. Neither he nor Ann could think of anything. (More good news for me in the content angle.)

At the end of the day, I was planning to skip the Infusionsoft Opening Reception at Backpocket Brewing, but then I decided that a free beer sounded good. So I went, opted for the Blonde, had some snacks, and sat down. Luckily, a friend I knew from Davenport rescued me and invited me to sit around the fire pit with him and some others. I ended up having nice conversations with him and a few ladies sitting nearby.

Friday's edition was sort of a rollercoaster filled with laughter and tears, but it was no less enlightening. The one and a half days gave me tons of information, but the greatest gift it gave me was time to sit and think about nothing other than the Wordsy Woman, taking what I heard and turning it into my own ideas.

My biggest ideas? I need to use the "content" keyword more. And I think where I fit into the whole content/inbound marketing/social brand world is through my creative writing experience. I can use it to help marketers of all kinds, whether working in agencies or marketing for their company, use creative writing techniques to make creative killer content.

To your social success!
-the Wordsy Woman

PASSION WORK

For a long time now, I've thought periodically about passions, particularly, following them. My number one passion is writing. For a long time, I denied myself that passion because I believed it wasn't worthwhile, valuable, or could support me financially. Now, I see how important it is to follow my passion somehow, some way, every day; if I don't, I'm just not being myself and, in a way, I'm lying to everyone around me.

Recently, I signed up to get a copy of Janet Bray Attwood's and Chris Attwood's new book and, in doing so, I was reminded of their other book, The Passion Test. I had thought I remembered that I actually already owned this book so I sifted through my bookshelves; sure enough, there it was, brand new and never read. I've had it a long time; I think I got it with my joining package for some book club I'd joined years ago.

I took the book out and read it. I started thinking about how sometimes it's difficult to determine if something is truly your passion or just a necessity of life or something you need in order to fulfill all of your other passions. And then I came up with a test to see. When thinking about your passions, ask yourself, "Is this a means to an end or is it the end?" You can come to this answer by asking yourself, "Why?"

Let's take being healthy and in shape. Sure, I want to be healthy and in shape but is it my passion? So I ask myself, "Why do you want to be healthy and in shape?" My answer is so that I'm alive and have the energy to spend time with my family and write. Okay, so why do I want to spend time with my family? This gets kind of tricky because I want to spend time with my family simply because I enjoy it which makes it somewhat of a passion, but I also need the support of my family, their encouragement, and the knowledge of their love to write. So why do I want to write? I love putting words on paper, having people read them, and sharing myself with others in that way. So, for me, writing is an end.

Perhaps your answers would be different. If your answer to why be healthy and in shape is simply because you love feeling what your body can do; it makes you feel alive and connected with the world, then being healthy and in shape is your end. Therefore, it is your passion.

Now, apply your passion to your business. Does at least something about it stir your passion? How can you infuse your passion into your business, even if it isn't directly related? Or maybe you need to follow your passion outside of your work; if so, it's still worthwhile. Likely your work allows you to fulfill your passion, which may help at those times when you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed.

To following your passion!
-The Wordsy Woman

ENTREPRENEURSHIP VS. INNOVATION

Source (Altered): https://www.flickr.com/photos/jnyemb/5200175187/

Last week on Wednesday, I attended our local chamber of commerce's annual meeting. Jim Clifton from Gallop was the keynote speaker. He talked about how he believes encouraging and developing entrepreneurs will be the key to economic health, rather than innovation. He said that locales who push and foster too much innovation are putting their eggs in the wrong basket. His argument has some merit, but as with everything, it seems, I think there needs to be a balance.

When you limit the definition of innovation to just creating new products, services, or widgets, the notion of favoring entrepreneurship is sound. But I think he contradicted himself when he talked about how people he knew developed businesses we all know today, like eBay. It's true that selling used things in a garage sale or via auction is nothing new, but using the Internet to create a monstrous database of auction and garage sale items for sale was. In other words, eBay innovated in how it did business.

I'm a writer and editor; this is nothing new and groundbreaking, but (I'm hoping at least) the way I do my writing and editing and run my business is. Otherwise, I'll just be another in a sea of competitors. So I think the lesson is that we do need entrepreneurs, we do need people who will take risks to create new companies with new jobs doing things that aren't new, but that those entrepreneurs, for their own and the greater community's long term health, need to innovate in how they do business in order to compete.

Happy "entrepreneuring" -- and innovating...!
-The Wordsy Woman

SEEING A BIG CORPORATE PR EVENT IN ACTION

Yesterday, I attended an open house at my husband's workplace. He works for Dow AgriSciences at the Davenport, Iowa, station. Officially, they had the open house to celebrate completing their new office construction project. Part of the celebration was to give a $10,000 donation to Habitat for Humanity. Now, please don't think I'm cynical or pessimistic, because I fully believe that one can simultaneously be giving, altruistic, and charitable while also serving their own business interests. So, yes this was a celebration and a good deed to the community, but it was also a public relations event.

The event had a good turnout - over 50 attended including one of the television news stations. And I speculated why that was so; here's what I came up with:

• Free food - a delicious lunch catered from a local restaurant, including dessert (peach cobbler - Yum!)
• Personal Invitations - several stakeholders in the company and community were personally invited and they were each invited to invite an additional guest
• Pre-printed name tags - they made it feel official and that you were truly an invited guest
• Promotional Swag - booklets and pamphlets about products plus pencils and notepads (which are pictured and I had to text my husband to grab me some because I forgot to do it)
• Charitable Donation - the above-mentioned check to Habitat, a large check was presented and pictures were taken

It was a nice event and, luckily for my husband and his colleagues (and probably the attendees), it was planned and attended by three employees from the corporate office who I assume were from the marketing (or at least a related) department. So, what's the lesson small businesses, particularly small service businesses, can take away from this big, corporate event?

First, if you're kind of an in-the-background company (my husband's company develops seed corn for farmers, not exactly something "out there" in the world too blatantly), you might need to get creative to find something to celebrate. My husband's work happened to have built a new building for the sole purpose of advancing the business - but it did create jobs for local construction professionals, has the potential to create new jobs for the company itself, and it added to the local economy - something valuable and worth celebrating. So, if you have a new development in your company, don't be afraid to brag about it a little. Even if you don't hold a party, you can send a press release and see if the media will cover it.

The second lesson is to partner. In essence, Dow AgriSciences partnered with Habitat for Humanity for the event by donating a check. But, it wasn't just a random donation - Habitat for Humanity is an organization which the employees (corporate and local) value and support so they could combine this genuine desire to help a worthy organization with having another organization help promote the event and give another reason for the media to cover it. So, if you have an organization or cause about which you feel strongly and want to help, do it under your business persona and let people know (again, it doesn't have to be an event but simply a press release or announcements on social media).

As a small business, you can learn from corporate America - it just takes some creativity. And if you are genuine and authentic in everything you do, you don't have to worry about feeling guilty because it helps your bottom line as well.

Happy Celebrating!
-the Wordsy Woman

RECONSIDER OUTSOURCING IF YOU'RE A SERVICE BUSINESS

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/44313045@N08/6290270129/

As a service business owner, especially a solo, micro, or small service business owner, you are busy. Swamped. You barely have enough time to perform your service, let alone do your own clerical tasks and marketing. So you hire someone to do it for you. Outsourcing work that drains you or is a weakness for you is a great idea in almost every aspect of your business, except for at least one: writing your social media posts.

There are so many different ways for small service businesses to get involved in social media, it can be overwhelming. You may find yourself thinking that there is no way on this Earth you could possibly have enough time to do all of this social media marketing adequately. And you'd be right. So don't. Don't try to be active on every social media platform. Instead, pick a few on which to focus. If you're totally new to social media for your business, pick one to start with, get really good at it, and then add another outlet.

You may be tempted to outsource your social media marketing; although it might be a good idea to get some help with your planning and strategizing for social media, I believe it is not a good idea to outsource the actual posting or writing. If you are a service business, your business is essentially all you. To attract, gain, and keep clients, you need to build a relationship with them through trust and mutual connections. To do this, you need to be genuine and authentic; i.e. you need to be yourself. If someone else is posting on your social media outlets for you, you are not being yourself, so any trust or connection you build will be false. Besides, how embarrassing would it be to have someone comment on something you posted when they see you in person, but you have no idea what they're talking about?

Outsource your taxes, your bookkeeping, your office cleaning, and even your website building, but try to avoid outsourcing writing your social media posts. It's better to be small and authentic in social media than to be prolific but fake.

Happy Socializing!
-The Wordsy Woman

HOW I WRITE - SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS (Updated)

I originally posted this over a year ago in March, 2013. Since I'm currently enrolled  in a social media marketing class (hello #6M215 on Twitter) and because the Internet world is always changing, I thought I'd revisit this post to see if I've changed (note: new parts are in bold).

As someone who has always been much more comfortable with the written than the spoken word, I love social media. And email is one of the best inventions of my time (the other being MP3). The social media world in the realm of marketing is exciting because it is ever-evolving with nearly limitless opportunities to create new ways to use it. At this time, I use Good Reads, Twitter, Pinterest, Linked In, Instagram and Facebook. Just like when writing anything, when deciding what to post on these various outlets, I consider my audience. Regardless of which outlet I'm working in, however, my goal is always the same: to provide value through information, entertainment, or insight. Here is a breakdown of how I approach each:

Good Reads:

The audience, of course, for Good Reads is readers. I have an author account so I can link my blog, provide free giveaways, and track my reviews. But Good Reads users don't want to see only my books, so I make sure to periodically update my reading list, rate books I've read, and find new books to add to my "to read" shelf. This allows my Good Reads friends and others to get to know me as a reader and book lover.

Twitter:

Most of the people I follow and who follow me on Twitter are also writers or people in the publishing industry. Therefore, they are not going to be impressed with anything "instructional" I might post. So I try to limit my tweets to insights, thoughts, and feelings about the writing life, including things going well, challenges, and what I'm doing in my writing life like holding a book signing.

I now have two Twitter personas: my Wordsy Woman persona and my Literary Author persona. My goal with posting on Twitter for Wordsy Woman is essentially the same but with more of a slant toward business and marketing issues. For @AuthorJodieT, I'm connecting more with other poets, novelists, and those in the publishing industry, trying to attract readers. My posts, then, are related to books and what it is like being a poetry and fiction author.

Pinterest:

Pinterest is completely image-based which can be challenging for people working strictly with words. Most of my Pinterest followers are other writers or aspiring writers so I try to pin items that might interest them. Of course, I have my own products but I also have several other boards that writers may find helpful, including writing-related quotes, books about the writing business, reference books, and funny pictures of writing mistakes.

Linked In:

Because Linked In strikes me as more formal, I keep it all business and, frankly, I forget to post updates there. Mostly, it is a place where people can view my resume, peruse my work experience, and see what endorsements I have. I am beginning to use Linked In more by joining a few groups and trying to participate in them more. 

Facebook:

In order to gain "likes" for my Facebook pages beyond my friends, I ran an ad and now have around 350 likes for my Wordsy Woman page. I'm not sure of the characteristics of my following, but I suspect, like with Pinterest, it includes people interested in writing but who may not be as entrenched in the business as in Twitter. Therefore, I can be a bit more instructional. Every Wednesday, I post a writing-related quote and whenever I think of it, I post a link to my blog. I also use it to post insights about the writing life, lessons I've learned, and what I have going on. I have stopped posting the writing-related quote on Facebook as I intend to start putting these on Twitter and/or Instagram. I've also separated my personas with a Wordsy Woman page, a Jodie Toohey Author page, and pages for each of my books: Melody Madson - May It Please the Court?, Other Side of Crazy, Missing Emily: Croatian Life Letters, and Crush and Other Love Poems for Girls. I admit I'm behind on using this platform.

Instagram:

I recently opened an Instagram account, inspired by my social media marketing class. At first, I wasn't sure how to translate my "word" business into visuals, but the class gave me a few ideas. I have only one persona on Instagram: my author persona. I thought the platform would be a better fit for an author of poetry and fiction. I have only a few followers so far, but hope to connect with readers and other writers. Types of posts I've published so far and plan to publish include lines from my and other books over my original photographs, writing quotes and insights over my original photographs, updates on my own work through photographs, and fun writing or book related pictures (I'm thinking of a way to create a "Tale of Two Cities" photo collage). Thanks to the Over app, I don't have to abandon words for Instagram, but can incorporate them.


Social Media is powerful and, like others, I am still learning how to best use it. In addition to adding value, another rule I follow regardless of which social media outlet I'm using is to reciprocate when I can. On Twitter and Pinterest, I follow anyone who follows me unless their interests are not related to writing at all. On Good Reads, I try to add books written by other local authors to my book shelves, and on Linked In, I endorse people who endorse my skills if, in fact, I can attest to their skills. And on Facebook, I "like" the business pages of my friends who like mine. I guess this is the whole "network" part of social networking. Regardless of which sites you use, social media is here to stay and I, personally, am anxious to see what the future holds.

Once thing I've learned in my class and using social media over this past year or so is that it is extremely hard to be consistently active on each one. And knowing I can't afford to outsource the work (and wouldn't want to being a service business), I just have to accept that I can only do so much. I focus on sharing quality content that I hope my followers will find value in, and keep keeping on.

Do you have any insights about or tips for the power of social media? Feel free to share in the comments section.

Happy socializing!
-The Wordsy Woman