Social Media Strategy, Training & Management for Small Business
Personal growth, personal development, work-life balance for small business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs
Are you struggling to get things done in your business? Here is a motivating quote for you:
“Thought is action in rehearsal.”
~ Sigmund Freud
You can apply this quote to your life in several different ways; but for me, it provides insight on taking action instead of getting stuck by overthinking things.
As small business owners, we need to recognize that great thoughts and ideas don’t do us much good if we don’t act upon them.
Continue reading “Move Your Business Forward By Taking Action”
As a small business owner and social media manager for other business owners, I spend a lot of my time online doing a “job”: focusing on social media as it relates to things like reach, ROI, client retention, strategy, and sales.
But it’s nice to be reminded every so often of the human power behind social media, and how it can have such a positive effect on our lives.
My personal story starts with a local Florida friend, Cheri, whom I met many years ago when our children were young, and we were looking for other moms to connect with in our community. We spent several years together as members of a local Moms Club organization. As our kids got older, we stopped attending club events, and sadly, lost touch, as our lives were busy with older kids, jobs and the like.
When I started using Facebook in 2009, it was initially to keep an eye on my teenage daughters. But I soon realized it was also a great way to re-connect with local friends like Cheri, as well as family and friends from my hometown in Maryland.
Through our interaction on Facebook, I noticed another one of Cheri’s friends, Deneil, who lives on the other side of the country in California. Cheri “formally” introduced Deneil and I on Facebook, as she thought we would be a good online friend fit.
So here’s where it gets interesting: Deneil noticed my maiden name (Tracey), and asked where my family was from. When I told her my father’s family was from the Maryland/Pennsylvania area, Deneil did some research (as she is a geneology superstar!), while I took a look at some family tree documents in my files as well…and Deneil informed me that we are 6th cousins! How amazing is that?!
But that’s not the end of my story: my oldest daughter has decided to attend graduate school next Fall. She had been researching schools all over the country for the past year – I thought her top choices were in Colorado, Indiana, and North Carolina. She lives in Ft. Myers, Florida, while I’m in the Tampa area, so I haven’t been around her to know the details of the day-to-day search process.
My daughter applied and was accepted to several schools, and her final decision came down to two schools: one in Boston and one in California. She wanted to attend the student orientation at each one to make a final decision, and asked if my husband and I would like to go along (and of course, we said yes!).
Due to work schedules, we decided it was best to split up the trips: he went to Boston (where it was cold, snowy and rainy), and I went to California (where it was warm – with no humidity, and sunny). I think I got the better trip!
I have never been to California and had no idea where this graduate school was located. But guess what? The school is only 30 minutes from my cousin and friend Deneil! What a small world, in such a big state as California!
So even though we were only in town for a day and a half (which is not what I recommend when travelling across the country), I made sure to leave time to meet Deneil in person.
As we concluded our trip in California, my daughter made her decision, and is planning on attending the grad school out there. As a mom, I’m happy to know that I have a friend and family member close by who my daughter can call if she needs something. And I know my husband and I will be travelling out there at least several more times while my daughter attends school – which means I’ll get to see Deneil again!
Without social media, I may not have re-connected locally with Cheri, and I definitely would not have connected with and gotten to know Deneil. It’s been exciting to work with clients and customers through social media all over the country, and internationally, but it’s really something special to make a connection with a new friend and family member across the country in the same area as my daughter’s grad school!
It wouldn’t have happened without social media, and it’s one of the reasons I’m such a fan of the social networks that have become such a big part of our lives!
Do you have a good social media story to share? I’d love to hear it!
Purpose – Persistence – Presence
Do you make New Year’s resolutions or set yearly goals? I used to make a list of resolutions, but then found that choosing a 3-word “theme” for the direction of the upcoming year worked out better for me. It serves more as a guideline as I work on monthly or quarterly goals (plus, I don’t have the guilt that comes with breaking resolutions anymore!)
Continue reading “Yearly Goals, Resolutions and Themes – Here are Mine”
Are your kids on summer vacation yet? I’d like to say there has been an official “start” to summer in my house, but it’s really been more of a revolving door. With two of my daughters in college and my youngest in high school, we operate on numerous summer schedules.
Colleges finish the end of April here (my oldest actually graduated on May 4th), while high school ends the first week of June. So, as a work at home mom, I’ve been dealing with a summer schedule since May. This means It’s been a challenge to stay focused on business activities for the past month. No matter how old your kids are, when they are home with you, you face time management challenges!
Now that my middle daughter is headed back to college for summer classes and my youngest has started her volunteer work (which means she’s on a semi-regular activity schedule), I feel like I can get back to a more normal schedule!
For any work at home parent, the summer months can be a time of slower business activity if we don’t stay focused. Even though my kids are older now, I still deal with distractions and interruptions. So here are a few summer tips I’ve used over the years to keep a focus on business.
Learn to become a Night Owl or an Early Bird (if you weren’t already). When are the quiet times in your household? After you put your younger children to bed? Early in the morning before your teenagers wake up? Take advantage of those quiet hours and make adjustments to your normal routine if necessary.
Keep special activities or toys in your office that are only taken out when your kids are “working” in the office with you. When my girls were younger I’d keep special pencils, markers, stickers, paper and folders in my office area so they could work with me. I still have some of those decorated folders today and looking at them stirs up a few memories and laughs with my kids.
Swap playdates with other parents or family members. Make arrangements with neighbors, friends or family members to take turns hosting a weekly playdate. That will give each of you a few hours to focus on business with the kids out of the house.
Of course, sending your kids to summer camps and daily events will give you some quiet time in your home office. But I sometimes found summer camps even more exhausting than a regular school schedule when each kid was in a different camp, on a different schedule and I still had to drive them back and forth!
The bottom line for work at home parents and summer home office hours – get creative! Know up front that consistent, business-related focus is going to be a challenge. Put some strategies in place with that in mind and practice being more flexible with your own schedule.
With only one of my daughters home full-time during the next few months of summer (and since she’s 17, she has her own transportation and social schedule), I don’t face as many challenges to stay focused on my business as I once did. Now, some of the biggest interruptions come from our 3 cats, who make it clear when they want attention. And guess what? I hide a few special cat toys in my office to keep them busy too!
