More Than WE Know

 

An interesting week at the carnival with lots of outstanding lessons for Women Entrepreneurs.

At the top of the list is the Carnival of Small Business Issues hosted this week by E-Biz Booster Blog.  Lots of good reads, but my top choice is an article by Nikole Gipps.  She provides inspiring and practical tips on how to keep your business moving forward during challenging times in Be Your Own CEO posted at Small Business Essentials: News, Tips and Advice.

This issue of All Woman Blogging Carnival  is hosted at Barmus.  An interesting read for Women Entrepreneurs is I Was a Bratz Doll in a Barbie World, Lessons from My Failed Broadcasting Career posted at The Frugal Duchess. This article describes the lessons that the author learned from failure and the subsequent success she found when she learned to value who she was and stopped trying to be someone she wasn’t. 

The December issue of  Mothers in Business Carnival has a good round-up. Among other great articles, Donna-Marie asks the provocative question Should WAHMs pretend they don’t work from home? posted at Small Business Diva.

The Working at Home Carnival has a wide variety.   Sagar presents a lot of practical advice and a huge collection of links in  No More Filing Cabinet: 25 Online Filing Systms for Web Workers posted at Bootstrapper. 

 E3 Carnival of Success Principles is jam-packed with good articles. The one that caused me to add a resolution to my New Year’s list is Charles H. Green’s  The Single Fastest Thing You Can Do to Increase Trust posted at Trust Matters. His advice is simple, cheap, effective and very rarely done. 

That’s it for this week. Enjoy your Sunday reading. Let me know which articles were your favorites!

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This week’s carnival review starts with the Sixty-second edition of Working at Home Blog Carnival . There are lots of good articles to read. However, the don’t-miss article for Women Entrepreneurs is Six Time Management Tips for the Self-Employed During the Holidays posted at ask the CareerCounselor. 

According to the Career Counselor,  “Home workers and small business owners typically encounter a tricky balancing act during the holidays. You work from home, at least in part, in order to spend more time with your family, but during the holiday season self-employed folks just can’t drop everything to make way for family events and school plays. And, particularly for one-income households, holiday shopping may actually demand an increase in earnings amid all the distractions. Obviously, organization and planning are critical to making sure you meet deadlines and still have a merry holiday spirit at home. Read  for tips and ideas to help small business owners make the most, personally and professionally, out of the holidays.”

In the Carnival of Small Business Issues #29 I picked two must-reads for Women Entrepreneurs out of the many good ones there:

Michelle Cramer’s  article  The Psychology of Pricing posted at GreatFX Business Cards.

Michelle says, “There is more to deciding what to charge for your product/service than simply picking a price that covers your overhead and makes a little profit. You have to take into consideration the thought process of your average customer and the psychology of pricing.”

And Yaro Starak presents some unusual ideas for improving your productivity in    4 Tips For Becoming A More Productive Entrepreneur posted at Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak.

Elsewhere on the web, Wendy Piersall from emomsathome  writes about Top 10 Internet Home Business Ideas You Can Start and Run in Your Underwear.

And lastly, for all online retail entrepreneurs, an update on onine holiday spending.  Comscore is predicting a 20% increase in U.S. online retail purchases this holiday season. 

Spending in the first 32 days of the season (Nov. 1st through Dec. 2nd) was up 17%, surpassing $14 billion total.  The heaviest day was “Cyber Monday“, Nov. 26th, the first Monday after the U.S. Thanksgiving.  Online retail (non-travel) spend on that day reached $730,000.

If you aren’t feeling the increased revenue, it could be due to your product niche.  By far, the heaviest increase was seen in video games and consoles.

• up 145% - video games, consoles and accessories    

• up 45% - furniture, appliances and equipment      

• up 30% - sports and fitness

• up 17% - toys

                                                       

• up 17% - consumer electronics

• up 17% - books and magazines

• up 16% - apparel and accessories

• up 15% - computer hardware

• up 14% - music, movies and videos

• up 14% - home and garden

There were several lively carnivals this week, as well as several interesting articles appearing around the blogosphere:   

The All Woman Blogging Carnival was published this week at Country Stitchin. Be sure to check out Why We’re Stressed as Women in Business Part II   posted at  Business & a Cup of Tea

Carnival of Small Business Issues at Atlantic Canada’s Small Business Blog. Be sure to bookmark this useful reference How to use this Blog to help you Start your own Business posted by David at Gaizer.com, saying, “This blog was written to help entrepreneurs find the “technical” information to help them start their own business. This post will be the index of this blog, and it will be updated as I add more information.”

Mothers in Business Carnival published at My Day Off. The don’t miss article is  Tiffany Colter ’s  Is Fear Blocking you? posted at Writing Career Coach.  Tiffany writes about the importance of facing our fears.

And for a wonderful video of “looking fear in the face” - check out April Grove’s article Going Big, Generosity and Living Fearlessly  posted on Making Life Work for You.

This week, Pam Slim at Escape from Cubicle Nation had one of her fears turn into an unpleasant reality when she unintentionally offended a consultant in her blog.  Read her article 4 Lessons on Learning from Your Mistakes  to see how she faced up to the consequences of her goof - and how she grew from it.

DJ at AllDivaMedia shares 20 Posts that All Women Should Read, including at #5 one of my posts - Women Entrepreneurs Changing the World.   

As opposed to asking us to face our fears, DJ challenges us to come face-to-face with our most comforting beliefs: about our bodies, our relationships, and our world. 

If you missed this week’s Carnival of Small Business Issues, right here on MoreThanWEKnow - check it out. With more than 40 articles in one place - there’s something for everyone.

I also found some exceptionally interesting reads this week:

Pam Slim at EscapeFromCubicleNation writes about the Networking techniques she learned from a new boy on her children’s playground.

Christine O’Kelly at SelfMadeChick writes the unvarnished truth about her experience becoming an entrepreneur.

And Barbara Stanny is asked Ten Money Questions by Nina Smith at BlogHer. If you missed it, be sure to read my article Are You Earning All That You Could? for more about Barbara Stanny’s new book Overcoming Underearning(R): A Five-Step Plan to a Richer Life

I asked to host the Carnival of Small Business Issues because I wanted to provide a great reference for Women Entrepreneurs to find information and inspiration for their business.

This idea turned out to be an overwhelming success as I received and published more than 40 submissions for this week’s carnival - many more than in the past few weeks!

I am thrilled to share a lot of great content with you. I have read each and every one of these articles, some more than once, in an effort to sort them out and provide some context for them, rather than just a laundry list of sites.

I hope that the result is helpful and entertaining. Take some time to read the articles: visit with some old friends and make some new ones.

If you like what you read or even if you dislike what you read - leave comments for the authors, and for me - comments are what bloggers write for - so don’t be shy!!

It wasn’t easy but I did manage to find some favorites among all these fantastic articles. I would have liked to mark them all as my favorites - but that wouldn’t have been very helpful to you.

TOP PICKS

Operations - David B. Bohl presents Success: It’s all in the Follow-through posted at Slow Down Fast Today! David says, “I believe if we’re honest with ourselves, the reason we don’t follow through on so many things that would insure our success is that we’re so accustomed to not succeeding. We’re afraid of what might happen if we succeed.”

Marketing - Kenton Newby presents The Biggest Mistakes People Make When Starting Their Online Business posted at Kenton Newby.com

Misc. - Tupelo Kenyon presents Inspire Yourself on Purpose - Inspiration from Inside Out posted at Tupelo Kenyon dot com. Tupelo says, ” Here are twelve common sense reminders on how to inspire yourself. The word “inspire” derives from root words that mean “in spirit” or “spirit within.” Although there’s always another step to take, these points are a natural result of recognizing and identifying with this realization of who we are. (Enjoy soothing instrumental music as you read plus songs with lyrics related to each article - all free.) “

Don’t Miss these Stories:

If you read my blog regularly, you know that I love it when a story illustrates a business point. The following two stories are moving examples of customer service - one will leave you outraged and the other will leave your heart warmed. They both serve to remind us to keep our focus on building long-term relationships rather than short-term gains.

Joshua C. Karlin presents Missed Marketing Opportunities - Israel’s El Al Airlines & Your Business posted at Marketing & Fundraising Ideas.

Charles H. Green presents Case Study #17, Trust-based Selling in the Real World posted at Trust Matters.

HR

There were a couple of unusual perspectives in the HR section this week - from high tech to low tech - Tim questions the use of technology to monitor employee activities and Alvaro reminds us of our innate ability to read emotions through our facial expressions.

Anita Campbell presents Big Brother in Small Business at SmallBizTrends. Anita says, “In this guest post, Tim Berry, the founder of Palo Alto Software, speaks about the folly of spying on your employees.”

Alvaro Fernandez presents Emotional Intelligence and Faces posted at SharpBrains. He says, “What do our faces say?”

FINANCE

Finance can be a rather dry subject. But these authors have made it informative and entertaining.

American Entrepreneur prevents some practical strategies for balancing your current job and a budding small business, David provides a step by step plan for setting up your own e-commerce site including a lot of helpful resources, and Christine makes e-commerce a reality by sharing her story as an international e-commerce business owner living in France and being impacted by the US exchange rate.

American Entrepreneur presents How to Start a Business without Quitting your Day Job posted at American Entrepreneurship.

David presents a Quick Guide to Create an e-commerce Website posted at Gaizer.com.

Christine presents The Exchange Rate - The Euro vs the Dollar - The Declining Dollar posted at Me, My Kid and Life. Christine says, “Living in France off the steadily declining dollar. One woman’s experience with earning an income online via US dollars while living in France and paying in euros. ”

MARKETING

Marketing was the largest section this week and there are a variety of perspectives.

Andrew outlines some timely holiday advice. Ed, Ian, James, Mark, Robert, Tiffany, and Woody all offer some high tech insights and David reminds us that branding solutions don’t have to be high tech to be effective. Ron, Gavin and Stephen provide sales motivation and Teamorr shares some inspiration.

Andrew Erikson presents 7 Ways to Screw Up Your Sales this Holiday Season posted at Website Werx.

Ed Rivas presents Ethical Internet Espionage posted at Ed Rivas.com

Ian Richardson presents What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? posted at Make Everything EzyAs123

James D Brausch presents Some Competition from the Ranks posted at James Brausch.com

Mark Riffey presents Competitors: How to Easily Keep an Eye on Them. Free. posted at Business is Personal.

Robert Phillips presents More than 123% Increase in Opt-ins posted at CYBERCA$HOLOGY.

Tiffany Colter presents Reaching More People With Your Blog posted at Writing Career Coach.

Woody Maxim presents What’ s Making Me Money? Right Now posted at Woody Maxim dot com.

David Kam presents Color Dress Code for Your Business posted at Marketing Deviant.

Ron Ruiz presents One Roll of Stamps= $45000 in Sales posted at The Business Ideas - Making Money Blog.

Gavin Ingham presents What’s your SI (Sales Intensity) rating? posted at Gavin Ingham.com

Stephen Dean presents Copywriting Technique: Blow it Up posted at Stephen Dean’s Copywriting and Internet Advertising Blog - Copywriter

Teamorr presents Mindful Marketing: Marketing without Selling your Soul posted at Create a Thriving Business.

OPERATIONS

Lots of practical advice: C. Worrall shares tips on leasing office space for your employees, while Chris gives advice on determining when to hire virtual employees (and thereby reducing the need for office space!) while Doris shares some personal experiences with hiring the wrong employees.

Mitch and Richard provide complementary articles with Mitch extolling the need for a marketing plan and Richard pointing out that a plan is useless without a regular review.

And lastly, John reminds us what it is we are all here for - building relationships with our customers.

C. Worrall presents Leasing Your Office Space at CFOYourself. C. says “This gives some insight to the leasing newbie on finding, leasing and building out an office space.”

Chris Harris presents When should your small business outsource? posted at New Venture Outsourcing Blog

Doris Chua presents Ranting posted at Home Office Women.

Mitch McDonald presents Marketing Plan: A Business Necessity posted at FYI About

Richard Lee presents Tools of the Successful: Reviewing posted at Richard Lee.com.

John W. Furst presents Key Success Factor: Listen to Your Customers at E-Biz Booster Blog. John says, “Online business or not, you should build a relationship to your customers and listen to them. Who would know any better than your customers about what they want? Use various forms of starting a dialog. Stand out by not treating your customer as an anonymous number. “

MISCELLANEOUS

We finish the carnival with a potpourri of good advice.

Carol Bentley presents Here’s 8 elements for a powerful sales letter… posted at Copywriting Tips for Your Business.

Edith presents 9 Essential Tips to Get the Most out of Trade shows, Conferences and Seminars posted at EdithYeung.com: Dream. Think. Act.

Jim Sansi presents Eliminate Waste, Increase Profit posted at The Kaizen Business

Michelle Cramer presents Communicating Competence at GreatFx Business Cards. Michelle says, “Though your personality has a lot to do with it, people often judge by what they see first rather than what they hear. So it’s important that you portray competence in your business industry not only in your knowledge and performance, but also in how you convey yourself.”

Samir Bharadwaj presents The Face that Launched a Thousand Ships posted at Samir Bharadwaj dot com. Samir says, “Is your website layout or blog template remarkable, and why it should be.”

Tash presents Polite emails at Word Constructions.

Teresa presents Another Business Lesson from a Child at Key Business Partners.

Tracy Coenen presents Starbucks Thinks They Own the Green Circle posted at FRAUDfiles.

Wilson Ng presents SME#4 - Gut Feel posted at Reflections of a BizDrivenLife. Wilson says, “Many entrepreneurs I know are proud about their gut feel. Many of them have become successful in their chosen industry even as they continue to spurn formal business management practices, like having a proper budget. Many even proudly wear their business illiteracy like a badge of honor. “

Wanda Grindstaff presents Success Through Service, The Most Important Component posted at Creating Abundant Lifestyles.

ArtThailand presents Warehouse Bangkok A Slow Rumble posted at artThailand.

Oh! And I almost forgot - my own submission to this week’s carnival -

Every Day is Take Your Child to Work Day for Work at Home Mom’s

Wow! That’s it for this week! Hope you found some information and some inspiration.

If you want to be part of the Small Business Issues Carnival:

Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Carnival of Small Business Issues using the carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.

Next week’s carnival will be back home at the Atlantic Canada’s Small Business Blog.

Click here if you would be interested in hosting the Carnival