Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

Every time I attend a networking event it’s as if I start a fresh. I get a new set of people to present my business in front of, and great questions like why I started this business in the first place.

So, why did I start it? Ten years ago when I started my Virtual Assistant practice, I immediately knew I wanted to run a niché business. Having a defined specific target market would help me narrow in on marketing, and keep my costs to a minimum. So with the help of great business coach – Stacy Brice, I worked hard to identify my unique market through my current client base. As it turned out, one of my clients happened to be a volunteer board of directors group. They partnered with me because they could see the value in having a person be dedicated to the administrative needs of the chapter. Light bulbs went off for me, and a new passion was discovered.

Immediately, I started actively seeking similar clients. I grew my practice with clients that ranged from boards of directors of small, medium, and large chapter groups, to boards of directors of charter schools and wellness groups. As my responsibilities increased so did my knowledge of nonprofits. Then my interest in nonprofits grew exponentially.

I took a few nonprofit management classes, helped a few people get nonprofit questions answered, and then decided to launch a business helping individuals create legacy businesses through my consultant services at Nonprofit Connectors (NPC).

The concept behind NPC is to not only help individuals, and/or groups, start nonprofit organizations, but to also help them grow their nonprofit organizations with the assistance of other success nonprofit organizations. We feature nonprofit organizations on our website to encourage and foster cross promotion of nonprofit groups to each other. We are in the process of creating a community space for nonprofit groups to join and connect. These are just few ways for you to share the word about your nonprofit organizations.

If you are interested in learning more about our community space, or you want to share the word about your nonprofit organization on our website, just be in touch with us via email: connection at nonprofitconnectors.com or call: 301-645-6153.

When I started my business over ten years ago, my husband (who is a Federal Government employee) nearly had a fit when he saw my budget for training and leadership conferences. “Why in the world would you need that much money?” He barked. Then I walked him through the training opportunities that his job had provided for him just that year, and he softened.

I believe that every business owner should set aside a generous training budget, and especially for startup business owners. The beginning is usually when you can justify adding in a significant amount of training as you’ll have fewer clients. So, now’s the time to invest in the programs you want to gain a better understanding of such: taxes/accounting for non-accountants, program specific training, business skills training, and grammar refresher. I highly recommend that every year, or two, business owners take a grammar refresher course as things change, and you need to stay on top of the changes.

As a business owner it is your responsibility to manage your continued growth. It makes you more valuable to the community you are supporting. The training and leadership conferences that I have participated in have helped me to stay relevant in my position; they have helped me to meet new people to add to my resource database; and they have added to my knowledge base and repertoire. Also, you should mix it up by taking business and personal improvement classes. Some examples of personal improvement classes could include: learning to cook quick healthy meals, time management housekeeping techniques, personal budgeting…

What other personal improvement classes come to mind for you? Post here.

Just in case it was too much for you to actually call the Nestle Crunch Hotline number yourself, check out the video:

We have lost a little of the fun in business these days. Too many of us are trying so hard to make a dollar in this failing economy that we are forgetting it is about the customers.

Well, Nestle Chocolates’ has made a customer out of me. A friend on FaceBook said call their hotline (800-295-0051), and when it asks you to select English or Spanish option just wait 10 seconds and you’ll smile. (I did!) Then select 4, and listen to the options. (I smiled even harder!) Then I selected 7 as my final option. (Then I laughed out loud!)

In my opinion Nestle’s has come up with a way to drum up attention, get people to remember their number, and to appeal to their clients of all ages. Simply put, they found a way to keep people coming back! I love it! It reminded me to remind you that as you are building, and growing, your nonprofit organizations keep the main reason for doing your nonprofit the main reason. Have fun, and that will attract more participants, funding, and it will keep the community engaged. After all, isn’t that why you started your nonprofit in the first place?

We are definitely a technology driven generation, and we spend a lot of time making the world a smaller sphere. We have conference calls with people all around the world using telebridges and webcams. So, one the ways to make working remotely successful is to use a collaboration tool.  These tools include Skype, GoogleDocs, Project2Mange, and more. However, my favorite is Groove. I use this tool with all my clients so that we can easily share documents and notes as we work through their nonprofit setup.

The Super Bowl is the pinnacle of the football season.
Fans wait to see who will make it to this prestigious spot, teams work hard one
game at a time to get this spot, and then finally two teams make it, and only one
walks away the winner. Congratulations to the city of New Orleans and the New
Orleans Saint!

So how will you know when you’ve made it to the summit of
your business adventure? What milestones have you set down for yourself? We’ve
talked many times about setting goals, and it seems only fitting to do it again
this first quarter of the year. It is time for you to clearly identify what
will mark arrival for you as you travel this business development journey.

Success is very personal, and yours will not look like
someone else’s so please don’t compare. Be specific about what small steps you’ll
need to take to make sure that you stay focus on your stuff.

Here is a great article I read today that I found helpful
in setting goals: Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

Have you decided if you are calling the year twenty-ten
or two thousand ten? Initially I said that I was calling it twenty-ten, but I
find myself unconsciously saying the other. So, I think I will switch and
pledge my allegiance to two thousand ten. With that all figured out, and behind
me, this is going to be a great year, no matter what I call it, and definitely a
fresh beginning for Nonprofit Connectors.

I have several irons in the fire. Let me unveil a few of
them for you now:

Free Office Hours: 
I started off this new year with offering free 15-minute individual
sessions. I call them Free Office Hours. All you have to do is set an appointment
with me for a 15-minute slot between 10am – 11:30am Eastern Time. I will answer
your burning question about getting your nonprofit started. So, what question
do you have about getting started? I am sure I can find you the answer.

Free Resource:  I
have created a free resource for anyone looking to start a nonprofit. This
resource is a collection of my most popular articles all related to the startup
of a nonprofit. You just need to complete the “Sign Up” for this blog and the
articles will be emailed to you.

NPC Resource Guide: For a few years I’ve been compiling
resources for starting a nonprofit organization. This resource guide contains
over 200 resources categorized for novice nonprofit executives, and grouped by medium
type. Each resource contains bibliographical information which makes it that
much easier to do additional research. This resource guide will be available
for sale in a few short weeks.

There are more things coming to answer the needs of those
wanting to start a nonprofit. So, sign up today to receive this blog in your
email, check out the website, and ask questions. I want to help you make your
nonprofit dream a reality!

Every business needs a plan; therefore, you are encouraged
to create a business plan. Then you need a way to ensure that that plan is
implemented, this is where strategic planning comes into play. Strategic
planning, in simplest terms, is the process of taking your business plan and
making it into action items. Identifying what you’ll spend time accomplishing
in order to meet your business plan objectives.

You need a few tools as you start to create your strategic
plan, they are:

·        
Personnel roster – know who is on your team and
what their skillsets include. You’ll create jobs for personnel, and need to
know what job is best suited for that individual.

·        
Calendars – make measurable milestones. At the
end of this process there should be a timeline with clear milestones as ways
for you to measure the success of the process.

·        
Time – allow yourself, and your staff, time to
develop this plan. Many organizations make an event out of strategic planning
by having an office retreat, or conference, and spend at least 8 full hours
working on it.

·        
Creativity hat – this is an opportunity to think
outside the box. If you’ve had an idea that you’ve wanted to try, now is the
time to share and brainstorm more innovative ways to reach your target market.

·        
Open mind – this goes hand in hand with being
creative. All ideas should be considered as this fosters sharing.

·        
Physical tools – there are some actual tools you
should have around the room during a retreat, such as: paper, pens, poster
pages, markers, tape, and the mission statement should be posted everywhere.

·      
Your mission statement is a key element to
accomplishing anything for your organization. Every staff person should clearly
know the mission statement. It should be reiterated in every activity. So, have
it posted clearly.

While it isn’t mentioned as an essential component, it
should be, there should be a facilitator present. The facilitator should be a
non-staff person as they will be the most objective. Their job will be to keep
the conversation moving forward. They are not there to control the
conversation, but to ensure that everyone gets an opportunity to join in and
share. It should be a safe place for people.

Strategic planning can happen whenever you deem it
necessary. If you take time to do this before you start looking at next year’s
budget, then you can perhaps add new ideas into your funding process. This will
give your strategic planning more of a business development approach, and your
creativity and new business strategies will really come into play. Now, if you
decide to do your strategic planning at the beginning of a new fiscal year, you
may not have the opportunity to manipulate the budget; therefore, you’ll have
to make sure your new business development stays within your allotted budget for
each department. As you can see there is no right or wrong time to do strategic
planning, and no one will say you can only do it once a year. However, as I’ve
already mentioned, it is imperative that you 
keep in mind that strategic planning is directly tied into your budget.

Here’s
a resource that I found that may be helpful as you are walking through this
process. If you need a referral for a facilitator, please contact me as I
know several.

 

 

I saw this timely tip in my December issue of Women Business Owners of Prince George's County.

A Friendly Communication
Reminder to Women Business Owners

How many times have you attended an event, only to run into
someone whose face you remember but name you couldn't?  What do you
do?  Do you call them Honey, Sweetie, Girlfriend, or nothing at all? 
Suffice it to say, it's embarrassing.  So let's help each other out. 
If we're not wearing a name tag and we've drawn a blank, here's what we
can do:

• If you're with someone, tell them
  this, "If I don't
  introduce you to the person with whom I'm speaking, introduce
  yourself",
• Re-introduce yourself and give
  the other person an opportunity to introduce themselves; or
• Graciously ask for forgiveness
  and admit you can't remember their name.

Have you ever been on the other side and felt that the
person you're talking with doesn't remember you?

• Do not say, "You probably don't remember
  me." (You're right they don't, that's why we're writing
  this).  Just say, "Hi,
  I'm Jane.  My company is XYZ.  It's good to see you." 
  (Make conversation). 

We
all have full plates.  It's the overload factor.  We are trying to remember
the laundry list of things we have to do to keep the business going.  We
don't need one more thing to add stress.

Let's start practicing now so
we'll be flawless in 2010!

 -Doris McMillon,
Sponsorship Director

Do you shut down at all for the holiday season? Do you
take any time toward the beginning of the year to regroup?

Some of you may be thinking, “How foolish to have your
office closed to “regroup.” Yet, you should! Every organization should take
some time to retreat, re-evaluation, and rejuvenate for the upcoming year.
Perhaps your year starts in April, July, October, or like mine in January, time
off is essential.

This weekend I took time away from my normal routine to
retreat at the Wilderness Presidential Resort with my friend, Angela Dion,
owner of Dion Communications. We not only had fun laughing, but we also got a
lot of work done. We did lots of collaborating and forward thinking about our individual
businesses. We took the time to create our 2010 goals, list of tasks, and
opportunities we want to seek out. We spent time running new business ideas
past one another, and that was most helpful to me. 

Retreating to consider how your business is growing,
going, and getting along is crucial, especially if you are a solopreneur, and don’t have a board to guide you. Make an event out of this business retreat, like my friend and I did. Take a like-minded business pal
along to help you think through your business hurdles and brainstorm solutions to
combat them. The best thing is you’ll walk away with a detailed plan for the upcoming year along with a full first
quarter of calendar events. I guarantee it!