Posts Tagged "entrepreneur"

Jaded: Adventures in Business Ownership

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Apr 8, 2011 in Business Tips | 10 comments

Author’s note –> This post has a fore-story (is that even a word?!) but I promise it gets to a good business lesson a little later on… just bear with me because this is a post I’ve been meaning to write for awhile.

Another author’s note –> If you like the posts that are all frilly, fun and filled with “success tips”, skip this one and wait until I’m inspired to do that kind of post.  This one is more focused on the darker side of business ownership.

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In the past few months, I’ve been on a maternity hiatus.  Waking up every day and getting to spend the entire day playing with my daughter, teaching her things and getting drooled on has made my life feel complete.

It has also made me begin to look at other things completely differently because once you step back from something long enough, you can really look at it objectively.

Take business ownership, for example.

Seven years ago, I launched my first company at the age of 21.  I was young, eager, excited and inspired to do great things in the world.  I had professional goals and I had revenue goals.  I had a vision of what success looked like.  I had years and years stretched out before me.

My start into this land of business was an amazing one.  I had excellent clients who appreciated my work, I had people searching me out (instead of having to market to them) and the economy, at the time, was booming.  It felt fabulous and I felt like I was on top of the world.

(Even writing this I feel like I am spouting off the beginning of a sales page and really, I want to punch myself in the face.)

The clients I was working with were people I had admired.  People whose sites I had previously stumbled upon or been referred to and I looked at them and thought, “Oh man… I need to work with them some day!”  Their business models were those that I wanted to emulate and setup so I could see how they ticked inside.

Business ownership and being an entrepreneur seemed all too good to be true… until the layers of the entrepreneur onion began to peel off in a way that truly did make my eyes water.

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I began to have behind the scenes access to these businesses I had so admired in the past.  I began to see that they didn’t walk their talk at all.  A lot of it was smoke and mirrors.

There was the business and marketing coach who couldn’t fill their own programs which therefore led to internal team issues as the blame of failure had to be placed somewhere (and it certainly wasn’t going to fall on their own lap)…

The millionaire coach who was struggling to pay her mortgage on her newly purchased mansion and was in tears about it nearly every day.

There was the business coach for women who had to dip into her children’s education fund to pay for things in the business and who decided to let me go after I told her it wasn’t a good idea…

There were the law of attraction coaches who were super negative behind the scenes… the relationship experts who had rocky marriages and who treated their team poorly… and there were the money coaches who never paid their bills on time.

Not only were some of the entrepreneurs not who they claimed to be, they were also making claims and doing things that caused my jaw to drop…

People who claimed to be earning a certain amount weren’t.

People who said their programs were nearly full or who claimed to have only “x” number of seats left weren’t telling the truth.

People would rack up hours with their virtual assistants (us) and stiff them with the bill claiming that they, “Never really liked the work anyway and doesn’t that justify non-payment of services and if not, I’m going to go and tell all of my friends stories of how shitty your services were because don’t you know how social media works?!”

Sigh.

Now, you might be sitting there thinking, “Well Erin… seriously?!  Did you REALLY think that everyone in marketing was telling the truth?  Did you REALLY think the cobbler’s children had pretty little shoes?”  Well… yeah.  I kind of did.

I thought that people were still human… even when separated by computer screens.  Humans who had compassion, respect, were polite, told the truth and were who they said they were.

Needless to say, seven years in and I find myself a bit jaded about business ownership.

I’m not saying that I’m going to up and close my business tomorrow — that is not the case.  We are lucky to have a handful of really, really amazing clients.  Clients that stand by us through the “new client learning curve” and clients who totally get how to delegate and work with a team and clients who respect our work.

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But, in a post that might seem just downright depressing, here is the silver lining:

We all have the ability to do better and build businesses doing the most authentic thing(s) we can do for ourselves.

It’s just going to take a bit of creativity and a pair of nice, sturdy blinders.  We are all born with the ability to be successful.  You just need to figure out what success looks like to YOU and use that as the guide to get you where you want to be.

So, I challenge you to the following:

• Ditch the comparison vortex… you know what I’m talking about… the hours you spend looking at everybody else’s business but your own.
• Realize that while you might wish you were so-and-so or have a business like them, YOU are amazing and the other person just might be sugar coating a wee bit to help make that next sale.
• Stop using the methods and tactics and NEXT-BEST-THINGS! that everyone out there is telling you to… if you hate sending spammy e-mails all the time, don’t!  Instead, send messages of value and heartfelt outreach so you can CONNECT instead of SELL.
• Be authentic.  Be authentic.  Be authentic. Yep, I realize you might be sick and tired of the idea and of the word “authentic” but seriously, be your awesome self because no one else can.
• Get really, really clear on who you want to work with so you can find clients that PAY you for what you are worth and for your services, so that you get work that you LOVE to do and so you can stand behind their businesses 100%.
• Don’t buy into everything out there and get sidetracked from reaching YOUR goals. I promise you that the most successful companies out there did not become successful by reading a $47 e-book or buying into a $100,000 coaching program.  I PROMISE.

In the meantime, I’m going to work on becoming un-jaded about business.

I’m going to work really, really hard to attract in only those clients that my team and I are inspired to work alongside.

I’m going to say YES to the things I love to do and want to do and say NO to the things I don’t want to do because my time is valuable and I need to respect that.

I’m also going to search out more business owners who are doing what they love and who are walking their talk both in the public and behind the scenes.  When I meet them, I’m going to connect with them and surround myself with other awesome and inspiring business owners.

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If you are reading this post and have ideas on how I can turn my jademobile around and be reminded of those early days in business ownership, lemme know in the comments below!

Lastly… if you find yourself also jaded or overwhelmed by what you thought business was and what it really is, make a list of ways you’re going to try to change your outlook on it.  Want to be even braver?  Share the list below.

Podcast: Stacy Karacostas on the Best Marketing Tactics for Business (Ep. 14)

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Dec 30, 2010 in Marketing, Podcast | 0 comments

We’re pleased to announce that we will be hosting a weekly podcast via iTunes!  Each week, we’ll be bringing you a five-minute or less podcast focused on a variety of topics: social media, Internet marketing, entrepreneurship, general business tips and more.

Episode 14: Stacy Karacostas & Erin Blaskie on Choosing the Best Marketing Tactics for Your Business

In this episode of the podcast, I interview Stacy Karacostas on the subject of choosing the best marketing tactics for your business. In the interview, Stacy shares a few of her tips for choosing the best marketing tactics for your business.

These days, especially with the advent of social networking and online marketing, the options for marketing your business are practically endless. It can be really hard to know where you spend your time and money to get the best results. In this interview, Stacy shares a few tips to make marketing easier!

Listen to this episode here in the blog post or download it via iTunes.

Subscribe Via iTunes

Click on the icon to the left and you will be taken to iTunes where you can subscribe and download this episode along with all other episodes.  Once added to iTunes, you can add the podcast to an MP3 player or simply listen to it from your iTunes account.

Subscribe via iTunes now.

Listen from Our Website

You can also listen to the podcast right from this post!  To listen, simply click play on the player below.  You will not be able to stop and come back to the recording so keep that in mind before starting the podcast.  If you have any comments that stem from the podcast, please leave them as a comment here!

Podcast: Stacy Karacostas on Copywriting (Ep. 6)

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Nov 4, 2010 in Marketing, Podcast | 1 comment

We’re pleased to announce that we will be hosting a weekly podcast via iTunes!  Each week, we’ll be bringing you a five-minute or less podcast focused on a variety of topics: social media, Internet marketing, entrepreneurship, general business tips and more.

Episode 6: Stacy Karacostas & Erin Blaskie on Copywriting

In this episode of the podcast, I interview Stacy Karacostas on the subject of copywriting. In the interview, Stacy shares a few of her tips for making all of your marketing WAY more effective!

It seems a lot of entrepreneurs really struggle with communicating not just what they do or sell, but also the value of their products or services. That makes it really hard to land clients. Stacy has spent many years as a professional copywriter, writing marketing materials for large and small businesses. In this podcast, she shares a few tips to make marketing easier.

Listen to this episode here in the blog post or download it via iTunes.

Subscribe Via iTunes

Click on the icon to the left and you will be taken to iTunes where you can subscribe and download this episode along with all other episodes.  Once added to iTunes, you can add the podcast to an MP3 player or simply listen to it from your iTunes account.

Subscribe via iTunes now.

Listen from Our Website

You can also listen to the podcast right from this post!  To listen, simply click play on the player below.  You will not be able to stop and come back to the recording so keep that in mind before starting the podcast.  If you have any comments that stem from the podcast, please leave them as a comment here!

Podcast: Avoiding Overwhelm in Your Online Business (Ep. 3)

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Oct 8, 2010 in Business Tips, Podcast | 0 comments

Are You a Reactive or Proactive Business Owner?

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Sep 24, 2010 in Business Tips | 4 comments

Reactive: adjective; 1. tending to react. 2. pertaining to or characterized by reaction.

Proactive: adjective; serving to prepare for, intervene in, or control an expected occurrence or situation, esp. a negative or difficult one; anticipatory: proactive measures against crime.

Entrepreneur A (Proactive):

• Plans ahead with a marketing calendar, events calendar, etc.
• Has both short term and long term goals clearly defined
• Has systems in place for their business
• Schedules regular calls with their team

Entrepreneur B (Reactive):

• Jumps at new opportunities and advice weekly
• Changes his / her mind often
• Has few systems in place and changes those systems often
• Sends new tasks and projects to their team nearly daily and almost always on a rush basis

In the book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People“, Stephen Covey outlines habit #1 as being proactive. He writes, “Taking initiative does not mean being pushy, obnoxious, or aggressive.  It does mean recognizing our responsibility to make things happen.”  Later, he also writes, “Many people wait for something to happen or someone to take care of them.  But people who end up with the good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves, who seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary, consistent with correct principles, to get the job done.”