Tag Archives: business
Social Media Women in Sydney
Social Media Women meet on the second Tuesday of every month and I’m grateful to have found them. How did I come to find them? Well, that’s another social media love story.
You might know that I’m volunteering to help promote Dress for Success‘s Bubbles and Bargains event. The project manager for the Bubbles and Bargains social media campaigns had recommended that I see some fantastic women who make a business out of social media.
Besides meeting some truly inspirational women who’ve become very influential online and in social media consulting, I also learned about crowdfunding, which was something I’d always wanted to explore.
Kate Carruthers’s personal experiences with using crowdfunding to raise funds for her project, Moore’s Cloud, got me thinking about how I could fund my personal project. If you too, have a dream, and are wondering about how you can fund it, you might want to check out her excellent crowdfunding slide presentation.
To be honest, I was a bit nebulous on the Moore’s cloud invention, but then I Googled it and came across some blog articles on how the idea was conceived, it started to make more sense. Moore’s Cloud is a way to use light as if it were a communication device, in that sense it’s a bit like the Morse Alphabet but pretty.
There’s more information available on Moore’s Cloud and the adventures in crowdfunding it, on fund Moore’s Cloud to bring this enlightening project to life.
Over all, the night was filled with learning new concepts, getting inspired about how I could use crowdfunding to bring my book to life, and networking with a very energetic, enthusiastic and passionate group of social media women.
These women have taken multitasking to an artform. There were Instagrams, Tweets, and FB posts flying out in real time as the meeting was progressing. It left me simply stunned that there was such great social media coverage happening live. You can check out #Smwomen on Twitter to see what I’m talking about.
The experience was made all the better by the unbelievable positive energy of the host, Nancy Georges. Her unwavering smile, hospitality and welcoming attitude has me hooked. I will be back to learn and grow together with the Social Media Women.
The gathering was also a great opportunity to catch up with Rosanne Bersten of Tinderspark. It was great to see a familiar face and even better to hear about her growing venture. She is definitely one to watch and one to contact if you’re looking to launch a charitable cause.
I had a great time, but I must say, I totally didn’t get how the Twitter network session works. Please clue me in for next time.
See you then.
5 Must-Knows for Career Women Looking for Advancement
It’s no surprise that women leaders are finally getting the level of success they deserve in the corporate, political and entrepreneurship arenas.
Women are naturally very good at building and nurturing relationships. Good relationships are more important than ever for businesses to thrive.
The world is becoming a more transparent place with the help of social media.
It is certainly no shock that women have embraced social media. Being natural networkers with a passion for sharing information, women are filling essential roles in public relations, corporate communications and other business development roles.
Social media is certainly one of the most effective ways for companies to maintain contact and gauge the strength of a community of suppliers, employees, customers and clients.
In this environment of thriving corporate transparency, anyone who’s looking to be a successful leader and advance in their career, has to appreciate the fact that cooperation is the key.
The first and most important tip I’ve heard from talking to successful women about what brings on success is precisely that cooperation among employees and within a community is essential.
Put competition aside and cooperate with other women
Historically, women’s competitive nature in the workplace was targeted towards other women. It’s a huge relief that many women are embracing cooperation with other women as a success strategy.
This is the key for creating more opportunities for women in the near future.
In your workplace or in your community, there are undoubtedly women in leadership roles whom you admire. Approach them to find out about what their journey might have been like.
Be proactive about approaching potential mentors
Don’t be shy about approaching the women who are accomplishing amazing feats.
Pick up the phone, e-mail them and see if they can schedule some time for a coffee with you.
You will be surprised that many leaders and successful people will take the time to talk with you.
When you meet them, talk about what you are looking to accomplish and take note of advice you receive.
However, it is not enough to listen to advice. You have to also know how to action the advice you are receiving.
Take action based on the advice of those career women you admire
When you talk to your mentors over a cup of coffee, listen carefully to refine what your personal strategy might be like for your to start receiving results in whatever you are looking to accomplish.
If you are unsure about how to take action, ask about what you can do and then just do it.
Have a goal in mind
In order for you to become successful have a goal in mind. What is success for you?
A goal must have a time limit too so map out your strategy for attaining measurable results by a certain date.
Make sure you’re having fun
If you’re not having fun and becoming inspired with every step you take towards your goal, then ask yourself ‘Is this really what I want for me?’. Chances are, if the journey is not being inspiring then it might not be the right path for you.
Good luck, and never give up on your dreams
Persistence is the key. Strive to work harder and if something is not working, then find out what’s missing. Remember, the only people who fail are those who quit.
Impact of Social Media on Society
Generation C, that is the ‘Connected’ generation, is a term used to define those who have 24/7 internet access.
Generation C prefers to take care of all of their business online, from banking to buying underwear, it’s all done with a push of a button or a touch of the smart phone screen.
I had once heard that all of this connectedness to the internet was starting to signal the end of the traditional media like TV, radio and print.
I would like to think that all of the talented professionals who’ve brought us news and entertainment will not be out of jobs.
I really think that the news and entertainment that’s engaged us for over a century, will continue to touch us, but it will be in the digital form.
In the digital and social media, the engaging stories brought to us will also enable the viewers to comment and take part in the program.
This is one of the primary reasons that Generation C is constantly connected to the internet.
The access to nonstop information, news and entertainment with the ability to engage and express opinions is irresistible.
Another interesting development with social media is that the eliminated need for buying books in print and CDs.
Books and music can now all be accessed via a smart phone. I, for one, love this as anyone with limited living space will attest, space is better than things.
In short, digital revolution is great for the following reasons:
No clutter
Books and CDs are no longer needed. All one needs is a smart phone or a Kindle device. This also saves trees.
No need to buy
Thanks to apps, one can always share cars, swap clothes and other items.
I am all for recycling. In the developed world, nobody needs more things. We are fortunate to have all we need. Software can also be leased and computer space can be borrowed thanks to cloud computing.
Sharing of ideas
Ideas can be shared with ease on social media. The great thing about social media as opposed to broadcast is that the views of many can be expressed. It is the democratic way of sharing experiences.
How many of us have ever wondered what people were thinking during watching films? Now you can find out thanks to social media!
There are people who tweet and watch films simultaneously. Amazing!
Freedom to enlighten
Anyone with a laptop can put together a tutorial on anything at all!
Like a quick make-up tutorial like this one:
The power of being an insider
It’s no secret that for media companies bringing the news from inside an industry has always been a bragging right.
The Wall Street Journal has had a successful run in advertising the fact that they’re always in touch with inside sources.
One of the most successful ads of all time actually plays on the idea that having the powerful inside knowledge provided by The Wall Street Journal can do wonders for the career of an ambitious young male, who is in other ways no different from his peers.
Saturday night, I experienced the power of being on the inside in a completely different sort of setting.
With the beautiful Spring weather in Sydney, the temptations for being out and about are stronger than ever. A few of us found ourselves gathered in the Sydney Opera Bar looking to bask in the sun, enjoy the sights, sounds of live music and observe the mix of dressed up and dressed down crowd.
The lovely warmth of the early Spring sun gave way to the chill of the wind as the afternoon passed and the evening settled.
Our conversations turned from drinks to what to eat.
The historic Rocks district is the host to many exquisite restaurants but when garlic prawn and marinara pizzas are being talked about then there’s only one place to go.
Zia Pina, in the heart of the Rocks district is like many popular restaurants renowned for the excellent food.
There are pictures of celebrity patrons adorning the walls.
There’s the red checkered tablecloths, wait staff running about a maxed out dining room and a line outside of eager would-be diners.
As I mentioned, the weather was so cold that I had to squeeze my way into the restaurant.
It is rude, I admit. But I stayed close to the door and not in the way of diners or wait staff.
From the inside, I could observe the wait staff busily turning tables. I could also spot the opportunity to put together a table for seven for our group of seven.
The wait staff were busily trying to come up with best ways to seat the waiting crowd.
They appreciated the nudge and a suggestion from a representative from our group to form a table for seven.
As this would mean we would be seated before anyone from the group grew impatient and wanted to leave. Some of us were more keen for the pizza than the others in the group.
The faster we were served, the faster we would leave, which suited the wait staff whose goal was to turn tables over as efficiently as possible.
So if you can, without being rude and getting in the way, try to get a peek of the inside scene.
See if there are opportunities in there and if there’s something, don’t be afraid to speak up and guide it along so the opportunity turns into you enjoying a beautiful piece of that pie!
For those of you looking for a lively Italian dining experience on the Rocks, the place I’ve described is Zia Pina.
Despite the rush, the wait staff brought us everything we asked for. I can recommend the service as much as I can recommend the delicious pizzas, especially the Mexican pizza.
The positive “I”s: what Steve Jobs told me…
He told me, intensify these positive ‘I’s,
Integrity, Integration, Inspiration, Inventiveness, Imagination, Iteration, Interdependence, Innovation, Initiative, Investment…
and you build strong ‘We’s.
He went on and said ‘break these negative ‘I’s':
Isolation, Insularity, Idiocy (from Greek meaning ‘private and on one’s own’)
and you attract the right company.
Just wanted to share this with you.
If you’re interested, I’m presenting on September 5th at the Girl Geeks dinner at the Atlassian Office.
My talk centers on applying principles of SEO as defined by Google to become the answer that employers seek. I don’t know if there’s much argument to whether Google has become the unofficial governing body of the internet.
The good news is, if you have a read of Google’s 10 self-evident truths and do right by them, you will not need anything further EVER in terms of SEO tweaks and other hocus pocus aiming to dupe people.
E-mail me for further details at exutku@gmail.com.
If you come along, you can observe my magnetic force field in action and it’s not just skin deep. I believe you will get much value out of the meeting and from my speech.
I hope to hear from you.
Mentorship: Those who CAN do, teach; and SHOULD
Lately I’m starting to notice this trend in the IT, marketing and PR circles where business leaders are offering to educate and mentor people either within the traditional setting of universities or in their homegrown training programs.
Why all this interest in education and training?
Firstly, providing education is time spent in the community and is an excellent way to give back to the community and to gain supporters and recruits.
As everyone who’s attempted teaching knows that as the teacher, you end up learning quite a bit yourself.
For some conservative industries like the pharmaceutical and the financial industry, it might be of utmost value to get involved in university level teaching to find out what the arising trends are within a generation that’s coming of age.
Lastly, providing training is a great way to leverage your marketing efforts as those who are actively involved in the training will spread your message. You will also get a chance to pinpoint those in your extended community who are particularly interested in your business to either gain valuable partners or employees.
Putting on mentorship programs and training classes gives you an opportunity to ask for feedback on how relevant you are to your market.
Instead of trying to put on focus groups and surveys, by being proactive and offering tips and advice of value and asking for feedback in return, you will get much more honest and targeted responses to those things you are dying to know about.
For example, through hosting training sessions in your community, you can find out all about how your business is viewed, how you can become more relevant and how you can improve your services.
Getting involved in education is totally worthwhile and automatically increases the prestige of a business. Google recognizes this fact as well. Their search engine results give better Page ranking to those companies that are pointed from .edu or educational domains.
If this isn’t enough of a reason to get into education, then consider the power of youth and their ability to shape the future.
Unfortunately, teaching as a profession has long had this stigma surrounded around it that ‘those who can’t do, teach’. Perhaps because of this, public education has become a place where dreams go to die. This is an argument for another article, however.
It would be infinitely beneficial to have entrepreneurs and business leaders teach and mentor students to apply the basics they learn in school to real life scenarios. I can’t think of more of a win-win and giving back to the community than going the extra mile to offer training and mentorship.
Matt Barrie of Freelancer and Garry Ng are E-Web Marketing are two entrepreneurial businessmen who take time off from conquering new frontiers in their businesses to reach out to the youth by teaching classes in the universities in Australia.
This is an extremely beneficial trend that I hope will continue to gain momentum.
Intro to Marketing for Online Business Owners
Have you attended any online marketing seminars?
If you’re like me, you must have attended half a dozen of them this year alone.
OK, let me ask you if you got anything of value from your typical online marketing seminar?
All I got out of all the previous online marketing seminars was all sizzle and no steak.
This was in no way the case with the E-Web Marketing’s ‘Online Business Mastery’ seminar where the meat and potatoes dominated.
I learned great stuff and had fun along the way. I was also way impressed by the presentations given by E-Web Marketing’s clients at Macquarie University, Yellow Brick Road and Bed Buys.
It really drives the point across when you see marketing managers talking about joint strategies they concocted along with E-Web Marketing. There were also plenty of real-life experiences by real-life marketers working in real-life companies we all know and love to see online.
Jeff Yang, the director of education at E-Web Marketing had the daunting task of being the ever energetic and enthusiastic MC of the event. His presence, as put by Eli Badel of Bed Buys is one that ‘requires you to wear sunnies’.
Jeff’s masterful presentation skills and delivery got the audience all energised to hear about ways to improve their online business by tenfold. Also Jeff did a great job of accentuating each session by getting the audience to actively recite the lessons learned.
Active audience participation played a big role throughout the seminar. The energy and responses from the audience got everyone to think through some real world problems with getting through obstacles to reach target audiences.
Annalisa from Yellow Brick Road did a great presentation where she demonstrated the behind the scenes of online sweepstakes contests.
Not all online sweepstakes hit the mark. Whenever something flops, it gives you a hint on what to do next time to get it right. So through working out what was wrong, she was able to run a series of contests around ‘The Apprentice’ to generate leads and followers for the business.
Eli Badel of Bed Buys was an entertaining speaker with all the behind the scenes on what some online appliance retailers were doing to get the vote of confidence from the Australian consumers.
The insight into the mind of the average Australian consumer is priceless on its own, I think everyone looking to sell merchandise online would agree.
Real quickly, I will just go over my top 5 great hings I learned at the E-Web Marketing’s Online Business Mastery Seminar:
1. Google Webmaster Tools. If you don’t have them Google them now and get them and be on it. What am I waiting for? As soon as I’m done writng this I will be on it.
2. Retargeting. Always have primary and secondary target audiences.
3. There are websites that let you split test your copy. I have a list of them but will not share them here. For more info get in touch with the E-Web Marketing guys and start quadrupling your conversion rates today.
4. Whatever you do, create your own original content. This includes IMAGES. Take your own photos and stop stealing them from other websites.
5. Remarketing is a new and awesome tool that works great with Google Adwords campaigns. This stuff is insanely sticky and you will know what I mean if you just look it up.
In short, I’m simply overwhelmed by the amount of marketing and internet tools that were discussed during this session. It was of incredible value to me personally.
I will be applying the marketing tools and strategies once it all settles down in my head.
Thank you E-Web Marketing for giving me lots to consider and apply. Great work put in by everyone in the E-Web Marketing team to this seminar and I would like to see a repeat sometime real soon.
How to negotiate your salary: What are you really worth?
As a business-minded individual with career aspirations, you may have heard that you have to provide a value that’s roughly four times your salary.
For example if your salary is $50,000 then you should be creating $200,000 for your employer.
You may wonder, ‘well how do I calculate my net value to the company?’
Much of a person’s or for that matter a company’s worth, seems based on a perception of how much you can trust and expect from the person or the institution.
If, in the end, it all comes down to others’ perception of how likely you are to deliver the goods then we can simplify and say that confidence is everything.
This very point was raised by a dear friend of mine, Dick Lam, who works as a job finding consultant. He also coaches job seekers on how they can become worthy of higher salaries.
He sent out an e-mail last week that got my attention and got me thinking. I wanted to share it with the job hunters in my circle in hopes that it will be inspiring in your searches.
In a gist, Dick Lam states that when people are asking for how to negotiate higher salaries they are looking for the ‘trick answer’ to sell themselves.
General advice includes: prepare, think positively and imagine yourself in the job. Advice from friends & family will tell you to ‘be yourself’.
In general however – the $50K a year employee will give a $50K answer, the $100K manager will give a $100K answer and the $200K executive a $200K answer.
Dick Lam also mentions that mostly, in order to move up, people will trade in $50K friends for $75K, $100K and $200K friends.
This is just a reality of things. Pepole looking to advance will always need others in higher rungs of the ladder to look up to.
The old, unsupportive friends will drift away and others will come up the ladder with the development oriented person. Everyone has the choice to determine how high they would like to go.
Once the person has made up his mind to climb the ladder then it comes down to figuring out way to impress this on a potential employer.
So there are three ways to sell yourself:
1. Your resume and cover letter.
3. After you start the job.
To achieve skills in selling yourself, Dick’s main tip is this:
Don’t ask people who don’t know how to do this for advice.
There are lots of experts who do know. They are cheap.
In fact they can give you hours and hours of advice for $30.
It is called a book – written by an expert.
Sometimes though, the problem is that they are cheap and not a lot of time is devoted to learning what they say. This is where a book is not quite the same as a coach.
These are available as well.
As it so happens, Dick Lam has years of personal experience in trading up his jobs. He’s also brilliant when it comes to making a point to impress upon others. I know this because I was fortunate enough to be in the audience for one of his speeches.
He can take complex issues and make them so simple that a six year old can understand. This is the true test of complete mastery of material.
I hope this helps you visualise what sort of salary and job you want
Can E-Web Marketing cure the chronic hate job syndrome?
Can you go on and on about hating your boss or your job?
Hey I don’t hate neither one, but then again, I haven’t got a job or a boss!
No, I’m not going to be writing about unemployment and how you should be darn grateful to have that pay check.
But seriously, consider this, you are getting a steady income if you’re employed.
This is more than what a huge percentage of the world’s population gets. So by world standards, you are one of the lucky few.
Can’t stand the boss? Hate what you do for your dollar?
Then consider for a few minutes that maybe you had no idea what you wanted to be and took whatever was available because at some point you had to get a job. This is how many of us get into our employment, isn’t it?
Whatever happens to the childhood dreams is that they get taken away by people who are ‘realistic’ and love to rain on parades.
Those people rain on parades because somebody rained on their parade and then the cycle continues until that one special day.
That day is when the camel’s back breaks. Once you’ve had enough, you can break through the chains to go after whatever it is that motivates you.
I know because it happened to me.
I also know many people who are visionaries and went after their dreams. I’m sure there were people who must have told them that what they were looking to do was impossible. But they didn’t listen to those party poopers.
I’m glad Garry Ng didn’t listen. If he had, E-Web Marketing wouldn’t be around. His message of providing ‘Happiness, Success and Fun’ would not be spreading rapidly through his employers, clients and anyone they come into contact with.
I had an opportunity to hear what Garry Ng had to say about providing a fun workplace yesterday at E-Web Marketing’s info day.
In fact, the employees love the company so much that everyone looks forward to a day at work and some can’t get enough of the work atmosphere that they practically live in the office (Jeff, you know who you are).
Are you wondering what I learned about making a workplace fun? It comes down to the ideals of the founders and leaders within the workplace. If a company or workplace is found on solid principles of providing quality and putting the people first then it will attract such employees who want to provide value.
People who put making a profit first will attract money hungry employees and clients who will be looking to grab as much money as they can while trying to offer as little as possible in return.
It’s the law of attraction at work and I’ve become a complete believer that one attracts what one puts out.
It is a bit like SEO, isn’t it? The magic of words at work. You advertise ‘unbeatable prices, lowest of the low’ and you may attract people who want to pay the bare minimum and perhaps use it once and return it the next day to get a refund.
You advertise ‘lowest of the low’, you get ‘lowest of the low’. Seems like basic common sense to me.
Garry’s principles are summed up by three words ‘happiness’ , ‘success’ and ‘fun’. It’s wise because these three words feed into each other.
If you are happy, chances are you will not quit and by not quitting you will be successful. Success further feeds into happiness. Getting good at a skill and enjoying success is fun.
I really hope E-Web Marketing’s message starts taking over the world. It would be refreshing to see people having a chance to do what they love and make a sustainable living at it.
I may be a dreamer but it seems I’m not the only one.
A world where everyone loves their job, their boss and their workplace might not be that far away since E-Web Marketing and companies with a similar vision are expanding and taking over.
Establish authority and master your domain
One thing that’s always talked about in SEO and internet marketing circles is this need to establish authority.
From the SEO/SEM guru perspective, authority is had when you rank #1 for Google for a specific keyword.
Most SEO focused people easily get tunnel visioned in activities such as offpage link building and using keyword density tools to get Google to drive their traffic.
However, ultimately, what Google wants is not keyword density or links pointing to your page. Google wants to give users a better experience.
So I’m sorry if you’ve been focusing on giving Google what it wants. Google is just a rating device and not the sole determinating factor in how popular your website or products might be.
So when it comes to giving your target audience a great user experience, say if your market is Justin Bieber fans, your page does not need to contain AAA content. You gotta know your audience first. Justin Bieber is a guy who uses text talk and as such you might provide great user experience using poor English and grammar.
So instead of relying Google for traffic, how about using a little common sense and your expertise to drive traffic to your business website?
What is the #1 time tested method of establishing author-ity? Did you say authoring a book?
When it comes to making money, writing books are definitely not the way to go. Writing a book gives you something more than money. It establishes you as an authority and gives you a platform.
After having written a book, it’s then simple to start writing news releases and trying to plug yourself into conversation that involves your field of expertise.
How simple is butting into conversation? Well for me, it’s something I was born for! Sometimes popular, shall we say ‘trending’ topics can be used to bring you and your area of expertise into the conversation.
An author of self-help books I know used the news of Kim Kardashian’s pre-wedding nervous breakdowns to talk about how people can de-stress before important events. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how you can jump into the conversation.
Television and newspapers are offline media that are open to commenting. I know a marketing oriented financial wizard who uses the business media on a routine basis to get free exposure for his company and in return the news makers get to fill in some air time with interviews. That’s a definite win-win.
Wouldn’t you find it meaningful to join the offline media to get free exposure for your company so that people go on Google looking specifically for you and not because you happen to come up for some keywords?
Think about it.
