Male:  Preparing Business for Business is on the air.  Join hosts Marcia Hawkins, President of the New York Shop Exchange and Kyle Clouse, Vice President for insightful and creative strategies to prepare your business for business.  Listen in for great guests and great offers from our guests and sponsors, as well as thought-provoking dialogue.  Preparing Business for Business offers usable content, insightful ideas and resources to jumpstart your business in an effective, economical manner and to prepare your business for growth and challenges. And now, your hosts for Preparing Business for Business, Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Marcia Hawkins:  Good evening, everybody, and welcome. Welcome aboard to the Business Preparing for Business radio program on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost, Kyle Clouse. Today is Wednesday, February 29, haven’t said that in a few years, 2012. We’re not going to see this day again for four more years. And quite frankly, given the weather we’re having specifically around the Midwest today, certainly, being prepared is certainly the way to always be.

We sure hope that you check out the other shows on the Preparedness Radio Network. Certainly, we’ll help you prepare in the event of one of these unfortunate natural disasters. We do apologize. Last week, we had a rebroadcast. We had other commitments we had to get to last week. And we do apologize for that.

We also want to let our audience know that we’re going to be doing a workshop coming up pretty soon. We’re going to be rolling out the details about that in the next coming days, which basically is a seminar All About You. It’s going to be a four week program. You will be able to buy it on the rebroadcast if you are unable to make the live program. It’s going to be everything from business, finance, relationships, career advice, you name it. But the common thread, the common denominator with all of the topics that we are going to be touching upon in these seminars, All About You, is we’re going to help you crush your belief system about how you conduct yourself on a daily basis. We really want to investigate this because I particularly find this absolutely fascinating. And we’re going to be rolling out the details for that. If you’d like some information before we roll it out, I invite you to e-mail us at info@newyorkshopexchange.com and one of us will give you a call back. And we can tell you all about the program. I think it’s pretty exciting. And so we can progress here on the program, we’ll give you some more information about that and where you’ll be able to find the rebroadcast and purchased that as well.

So we do welcome you to the Business Preparing for Business radio program. The theme of our show is to provide you with tools, contacts, products and services to best prepare your business for more business or to assist you with any challenges you may be experiencing. We invite guests periodically on the program that through experience, problem solving, they can share some methods that have worked for them, some ideas, some strategies and also allow you to use them and apply them in your business.

Many of our preparedness listeners tune in to hear helpful tips on information on preparedness products. We essentially do the same thing here on Business Preparing for Business, except we apply ours stay business. Whether you are starting up a business or trying to expand or grow your business, we are here to help you with that. So we do invite you to e-mail us with any questions you may have info@newyorkshopexchange.com, and we would love to hear from you. And of course, if you’d like to be a guest, certainly again info@newyorkshopexchange.com and we’d be happy to talk with you and see if we’d be a good fit.

So Kyle, I welcome you to the program. How are you?

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, good. Great, Marcia. Welcome to the program. It’s great to be here. Yeah, excited about this program we’re rolling out about crushing the belief system and overcoming limiting beliefs. And I think the main reason find that fascinating is because you always speak — and the more we talk and work together, we’re both constant students of that.

Marcia Hawkins:  That’s right. And yeah, it’s really funny because I’ve always said regardless whether it’s finance, whether it’s relationships, whether it’s weight-loss, for instance, I think it’s our belief system that we are so marinated in and really have a tough time kind of working through that. And I think unfortunately, it’s so subconscious at this point that it’s really difficult for people to break through that. And I love doing that. You know I love doing that.

So I’m really excited about rolling out this program. And we’ll get that underway here in the next week. So we’ll be sending that information out to various different websites where people can get that information. Of course, they can always e-mail us at info@newyorkshopexchange.com. Would you like to introduce our guest for us tonight?

Kyle Clouse:  Oh, I’d be happy to. I don’t even know where to start. I think the first thing to mention is that we have Deb Clawson on. And first and foremost, she’s a stay-at-home mom with seven children.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh my goodness, you didn’t tell me that!

Kyle Clouse:  And that in and of itself is a huge job. I don’t know how she does that. You know, I have two kids. As you know, you yourself have two children and adding five to that list, I don’t know how she does that. But she is a constant — you know, as we were talking about being a student, she is a constant student of social media. And she actually started up her own social media marketing company and has picked up a couple of clients and has since grown her social media marketing company and is out there helping other business in expanding and growing and evolving and learning and really helping businesses to connect with their clients in utilizing social media.

And she is a — considers herself to be very outgoing, very friendly and social. And that’s what makes her a key component of helping other companies do the same thing through the means of social media like Facebook, twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms. So welcome to the show, Deb.

Deb Clawson:  Thank you very much, Kyle. How are you, Marcia?

Marcia Hawkins:  Welcome, Deb. I’d normally let Kyle take the first question but I’m going to bump him right up. I just hope you’re ready for the first one. You have seven children!

Deb Clawson:  I do. And I get that reaction from everyone.

Marcia Hawkins:  That’s wonderful!

Deb Clawson:  I actually have — there are five at home. My oldest is married, and I’m a grandma. And yeah, it’s really fun. He’s two months old and he’s darling. And then I have a son that’s often out so…

Marcia Hawkins:  The age range is from what the age to what age?

Deb Clawson:  21 down to six.

Marcia Hawkins:  Wow! Good for you. Good for you. Yeah, I actually wanted a very large family and I probably would’ve proceeded, except my second child ended up having special needs. And not quite sure knowing what the challenges were going to be, I didn’t have any more. But like you, I was planning on having half a dozen.

Deb Clawson:  Yeah. Well, there’s really challenges with every child. And it was just a good thing that they came one at a time from me.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah. Oh, good for you! I — Kyle failed to mention that to me prior to the show so definitely…

Deb Clawson:  You don’t want the shock effect?

Marcia Hawkins:  No. Yeah, maybe but no, I think that’s great. I think that’s wonderful so congratulations to you. So why don’t we have you start off by having you tell our audience a little bit about you and what you do and what kind of gets the burn in your belly going?

Deb Clawson:  All right. Well, I think my story, I like to tell it because I think it will help maybe inspire women just like me who hadn’t really been in the workforce or whatever just to know that they can start their own business. They can do what they want. I was a stay-at-home mom for 18 years. And I went to college like a year. Didn’t get a degree or anything then I stayed home and raised my children and I ended up single after 18 years and needed to earn some money.

So I remember the first time my brother-in-law told me that somebody was looking for a bookkeeper. And so I called them up and told me to send me — send him my resume and I hung up the phone and cried. Because I can change diapers, I can wash dishes, I can do this stuff and so I was really, really discouraged thinking that I couldn’t that I had super limited options

So I ended up going to work in a grocery store because that’s what I did when I was 17 and I know I could do that. And so I did that and worked there for a couple years. But in that time, I discovered that I was a people person, that I love interacting with people. And I worked customer service. And it’s just — I loved it because it was a challenge to me when people would come in and they weren’t so happy with the purchase or whatever. I would turn them around it but it was my goal.

And I guess I have reached my potential there and was going to look around for someone — something else. And I had a friend who suggested social media, because I have been on Facebook, and he said “You’re so good at Facebook.” Well just my personal profile so he said, “Check this out.” And so I ran into it and I thought that is perfect for me because it I love technology. I love the computer. I love learning new things. I just awfully love learning. And also, I am very social. So it was perfect for me. And a while I was working at the grocery store, I set up a profile, a fan page, for the grocery store. And it just…

Marcia Hawkins:  They must love you.

Deb Clawson:  Well, I wanted to implement what I learned. So I did it totally for free and started just implementing what I learned everyday. I would study and read. And I did that for about six months and so the manager came to me and said, “People have been asking me who’s been doing our Facebook profile or our Facebook page because it’s so often and all this other stuff.” And he said, “We better start paying you.”

So he did. And after — a few months after that, I started getting more exposure and clients and so I finally quit the grocery store and started doing this on my own.

Marcia Hawkins:  Good for you. I’m so glad I let you really kind of tell your story because I didn’t realize it was that interesting. A lot of people don’t start their own businesses but what a nice twist to that. That’s just a very heartwarming story. Good for you.

Deb Clawson:  Oh, thank you. It’s been fun. It’s just great. It’s so exciting to me. I love this.

Marcia Hawkins:  So did you — it sounds like you started your business by kind of like accident. I mean but looking back now, did you really kind of have that burn in your stomach to do that? I mean did you think it was always there and just by accident it was kind of drawn out? I mean obviously, if you were working, you have a family to support you got to take the safe road, make sure that you pay your bills and put food on the table and whatnot. So that must have been just incredibly exciting for you to be able to leave your job and turn that into your own business.

Deb Clawson:  It was. And when I think about after I found myself single, I don’t know. I have done a lot of changing in the past few years and starting my own business has really boosted my self-esteem — not that I have no self-esteem or anything. But like this program you’re launching to change your outlook or whatever, I had this mindset that there’s no way I could start my own business. I had to work for somebody else. I have to get a job where I can go there, work for someone and make money that way. I never thought that I could start my own thing. And so it progressed. And there were times when it was tough and I thought, “Can I really do this? It’s not really working.”

Marcia Hawkins:  You’re not asking yourself — if you’re self employed and you’re not asking yourself that question on a regular basis, there is something wrong, I’ll tell you. I think everybody has that level of doubt that creeps in from — I just read a great quote this morning from from Warren Buffett that said that “In the business world, the view in their rearview mirror is much clearer than the one in the windshield.” And that is so well said.

Deb Clawson:  It is. That is so true. So I would ask myself that and think, “Okay, should I just go and get a job where I know I’ll make a certain amount of money?” But everytime I think, “Okay, this way I can stay at home with my kids and I know I can do it. I know I can do it. I believe in myself.” And so far so good. Even just this past month, I’ve been getting more and more exposure to where — I get a new client every week. So yes, it’s been going well.

Kyle Clouse:  Very cool. Now, I see this conversation going from social media and to overcoming trials. And three things that are shocking to me, Deb, as we’ve been talking. First, obviously, you have seven children. Secondly, I don’t know if anyone has seen your picture or if they’ve been to the link to the page or anything like that. But you definitely — I’m shocked that your a grandma and where you’re at right now from the challenges that you had to overcome.

And we can talk a little bit about that, about mindset of overcoming challenges in the business. And I definitely — obviously, we want to get into social media and your business and your clientele and things like that. But maybe if you could talk a little bit about some of the mindsets or the shifts that you had to make in to where you are at today.

Deb Clawson:  Well, I think — well, a lot of it has to do with just going out and facing your fears and — there’s been a lot of times when I didn’t dare talk to someone or I didn’t dare because maybe I didn’t know all the answers, or maybe I didn’t — maybe I wouldn’t be too convincing to them or whatever.

And I realized by working at the grocery store that I realized that I was a people person and I love people. And they can feel that from me where they can feel that I’m a genuine person. I am genuinely concerned about them. And so I expounded on that. I just kept thinking, “Okay I’m just going to be myself, and if they don’t like that, then that’s their loss.”

I guess I have that mindset. And that just boosts you even more because when I feel like that, I think I’m okay with who I am. I’m not only okay with who I am, I like who I am. And you can all always improve yourselves. But I’ve been on opposite ends where I — as a teenager I really had — I did have low self-esteem. And I’ve been on the opposite end.

And it’s hard. People say, well, just get out there and talk. It’s not that easy. It’s a long process. But the stepping stones and the overcoming barriers, those obstacles are what helps you grow and helps you. Then you’re proud of yourself. And it just feels good. And you can believe in yourself even more.

Kyle Clouse:  Did you find that you take that same type of approach with growing your business? And as you’re presented potential clients, “This is what I offer, this is what it is.” And you take that same approach, kind of like it or leave it?

Deb Clawson:  Actually, I did. I actually had lunch with — and I’m just a small business just like the ones that I work with, and I have gotten a lot of contacts through Facebook and through LinkedIn. And I actually had a lunch meeting with four men. And I got there. And I might be revealing my insecurities maybe. But I got there with these four men and they were all like owners of companies that have worked for major companies and who have grown. They were telling me how they had grown this company from so many million up to so many million.

And in my mind, I’m thinking what am I doing here? And so I thought, because I was thinking, here’s this little grocery store worker, stay-at-home mom, and I’m meeting with these businessmen. And because they found me on LinkedIn and he was impressed with my profile. And so in my mind that’s what I thought. What am I doing here? And I thought, “I can do this. I’m going to be myself. And if they don’t like it, then that’s their loss.”

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, that’s interesting because you’re talking about being just a small business and just working at a grocery store and whatnot. But look what you’ve parlayed it into. And even though you may have felt, and if I’m boiling this down correctly, that you kind of felt that you weren’t their contemporary, that you weren’t lateral to what they were doing. But the reality of it is I’m sure that they kind of felt that they weren’t in your league.

And sometimes, I think we put so little value on what we do because it comes so naturally to us some times. For example, I think when you tell people that you’ve raised seven children, I’m sure it kind of rolls right off your tongue and you don’t really give it much thought because it’s what you do.

And it’s kind of funny because when I was raising my children and I had started my business and my kids were I think three and four, and during summer vacation when they started school, I would take them to work with me. And it was just funny. One of the things that I used to tell people would be you do? Of the very first thing I would say as well, I have two children that I raised. I’m a proud number. And that was always like the first thing I said. Because I got to tell you, when I see someone put the emphasis on the fact that they have raised two children — because let’s face it, it is not an easy job. Mother or father, it’s not an easy job. It’s a very — nobody can prepare you for motherhood or for parenthood. That’s for sure.

And I think sometimes that in and of itself is quite the resume builder. And I know that when I talk to men that are in business and they say, “Oh, gosh!” And a few weeks ago, we had Kim Flynn on here. And she’s got small kids. And I said to her, how do you balance it all? How do you manage? And she said, “Women that say they can’t do things and that they’re really struggling really only use motherhood as an excuse,” Because you know what? I got to tell you, I agree with her for sure.

Deb Clawson: That’s so true. I mean I think now when I’m trying to balance everything, my business is growing and my children, it’s so weird because they kick in and really help when they need to. I turn all the cooking over to my 15-year-old son because he loves to do it. And I just think as far as my time goes now and my being able to schedule and organize my time and I think well, what do I have to complain about 10 years ago? But it’s just so relative. You do what — people say, how do you do it? Or how do you manage that, having seven children and having your own business? And I say you have to do …

Marcia Hawkins:  You have to be fabulous.

Deb Clawson: Oh, thank you. But yeah, you just — you do what you have to do. And it works.

Kyle Clouse:  What — as the two of you are talking about motherhood, I think just as a sight in a hole, we’ve kind of — that’s not helped to a high esteem like it once was. And secondly, I mean you’re really training and teaching your children going who are going to eventually take your place in the world, you’re teaching them how to be self-reliant and to not let limiting beliefs or limitations hold them back from things that they want to pursue.

Deb Clawson: I actually did think about that the other night because I was thinking the day and everything and I just thought this is good. It’s a good example for my children to see that if they want to do something, they can just go out and do it. They can study hard and they can — they’re not limited. And that’s what I want them to learn. I don’t want them to think that they’re limited in any way.

Kyle Clouse:  Absolutely, absolutely. And honestly the limitations only lie between the space between our ears.

Deb Clawson: That’s so true.

Kyle Clouse:  Anything that we can break, any type of limitations that we can break and you’ve obviously proven that yourself. As you’re going your business and as you learn to schedule your business, can you talk a little bit about prioritizing especially when you have a full-time family and a full-time business? Where do you find the balance on prioritizing your time and putting first things first and letting other things just go to the wayside?

Deb Clawson: Yes. When I started this — I started this business so that I would be able to stay home with my children. And at that time, my little boy was in kindergarten. And kindergarten is just a few hours a day. And so when I started it, I thought okay, I’m just going to work while he’s at school. And then I’m going to be a mom when the kids get home from school. And so that’s what I did. And then this year, he’s in first grade so I have six hours. So I can work during the day. And of course, people call you later on or you have things come up, you have certain things that you need to do. But my focus is on being a mother when they’re home. So I have those six hours to try to get everything done that I can, and be a mom and [ph] and do all that stuff. There are times when I am like sending e-mails while I’m in the bath, working, things like that, which are so great.

Marcia Hawkins:  What I always say, and I’m sure you live by this, is that time management really doesn’t exist. At the end of the day, you’d have gotten done what you deemed important.

Deb Clawson:  That’s true, that’s true.

Marcia Hawkins: Okay. We got to go to a quick break to recognize our fine sponsors. This is the Business Preparing for Business radio show on the Preparedness Radio Network. I am Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost, Kyle Clouse. Please stop by and visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and we’ll be right back.

Marcia Hawkins: All right everybody. Welcome back. Again this is Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost, Kyle Clouse. And tonight we are speaking with Deb Clawson who has been an absolute delight. And I already know I want to rebook her for another show. Great story you have. I’m just so impressed. Mother of seven, working at a grocery store, takes a leap of faith, starts a Facebook page for her employer and does such a great job. They paid her and she’s off and running with her own business. What a great story.

Deb, I just want to ask you real quick if you could kind of dovetail this with some of the seminars that we’re going to be doing. A couple questions that’s kind of rolled into one. But the first one is how did you or how do you continue to do — how do you manage that old belief system that kind of can creep up — like you said, the other day when you were having lunch with the four businessmen and you kind of had that kind of stomach flip that you thought, “Maybe I’m kind of out of my element.” So I kind of want you to touch on that a little bit, how you overcame it while you were there and how it felt after you left. And also, how you kind of keep that in check and how you perservere when you do get challenged. Maybe you do have a time when you’re really kind of doubting your ability, and maybe you don’t. But when you do, how do you work through it?

Deb Clawson: I do, with a lot of prayers. What I do is — I know I can’t believe in myself if I am afraid, or if I let fear creep in and doubt. So what I do is I just look inside myself and think of all the good qualities that I have or the things that I have accomplished and focus on those.

Marcia Hawkins:  When you say fear, what do you think the opposite of fear is?

Deb Clawson: Oh, fear and faith, belief in yourself.

Marcia Hawkins:  I’m not — for me what it means is the opposite of fear is courage. I feel that people that are self-employed are probably some of the most courageous people there are because it is just such an ongoing thing, in much like I’m sure what you felt when you were at that business lunch, correct?

Deb Clawson: Yes, and I hate feeling like that. I don’t like doubting myself because I just feel — I just don’t like that feeling. So I want to do everything I can to get rid of that and it’s not easy. But you just have to focus on your accomplishments or what you believe that you can do, and really, “Think this is me. This is what I do. I’m good at this. And I have something to offer. And if they choose not to hire me or not to go with me, then that’s fine. There are lots of other people out there, there are lots of other businesses.” But it turns out that they did. So it was good.

Marcia Hawkins: Good. So that business meeting went well and you left there and come to find out you were their contemporary?

Deb Clawson: I guess I was, yes.

Marcia Hawkins: Okay. I’m so excited about having you on and dominating the show. Kyle, I’ll bring you back in here.

Kyle Clouse: Well, I was just — one thought that I had that was crushing my mind is how do you overcome — like in those moments where sometimes especially being a mom with seven children having a full-time business, what kind of things do you do to overcome those moments of — if fear starts creeping in, what action steps do you take to combat that and to push through that?

Deb Clawson: Well, I think in my — it just so happens briefly because I don’t have a lot of time but while they’re talking, I’m like “Okay, I am a mother of seven children. That’s not an easy job. And I have good kids.” And then I think of how I got started. And just little things, the obstacles — may seem small to other people but were huge to me that helped me become who I am. And I think I am pretty amazing. I can do this. And I think if you just focus on that and just go through that in your mind and focus on — I think a lot of times we’re too hard on ourselves. I know I am. I am hard on myself.

Like at the end of the day, I think about all the things I didn’t get done instead of the things that I did get done and that’s what we need to do. And that’s what I do, is focus on the things that I have accomplished and that seems to help me take it through that and to think. I’m no different than these men. I mean I haven’t built my business from X million dollars to this amount millions of dollars. But I could.

Kyle Clouse:  When we had Kim Flynn on the show, one of the things that she talked about was especially for the stay-at-home moms who have their own business is sometimes the dishes have to stay in the sink and you just have to leave it there and be okay…

Deb Clawson: Yes, that’s funny because I’m sitting in my kitchen right now and there are dishes in the sink.

Kyle Clouse:   You have to be okay with that. Because it comes down — the break was focusing on first priorities and what needs to be done now and what could be left until later. And make sure that you’re okay with leaving stuff that totally are not as pressing as other tasks or other things you might have to do right now.

Deb Clawson: Yes, yes, because I think if you stress too much about feeling like you need to get everything done, there is a point where I came to and I thought — because I was so hard on myself thinking, “Okay, I need to do all these business stuff. I need to be a mom and I need to take care of the house and now being single, I have to worry about the car and the insurance and bills and all that stuff that I didn’t have to before.”

And so sometimes I think that I’m falling short. And I have to stop and think, “Okay, am I doing the best that I can?” And I think “Yes, I am.” And that’s all that matters. That’s all I can do. So up if the dishes have to — if I’m doing the business, maybe 11:00 at night or I think we can wait till morning. I’ll do that. As long as I’m making my clients happy and getting things done for them and my children are happy, then I’m happy.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, absolutely. One of the things that I find that I struggle with is being able to — and I’m sure that you’ve experienced this as well, Deb, and you still probably do, I think every business owner experiences this, is trying to separate yourself from work when you’re not at work. And I can be in the middle of a group of people and still my mind is on I didn’t think that had to get at work and really try to separate myself from that. And I think any business owner struggles with that to some extent because when you own a business, that’s your baby that you kind of grow and develop.

Deb Clawson: It’s going on in your mind all the time, things that you have to do and get done. And I just drop them down so I can do them later. I mean I’m not saying that I never work when my children are home. But if they have scouts or if they have a basketball game and I went to my son’s basketball game last night and I needed to send an e-mail and I thought I could wait ’till half time, things like that, so that I’m not sending an e-mail while he’s playing so I can — I’m their biggest fan so I’m over there cheering him. I need to do that. And just prioritize like that.

Kyle Clouse:  What’s funny just — I’d mention one thing, is I asked you if you would be on our show a couple weeks ago. And you actually turned me down because your son was having a basketball game. I think that’s what the case was. And so it’s really about prioritizing your time and prioritizing or keeping your priorities straight and very respectable.

Deb Clawson: Yeah, that’s what you have to do. And I hope — I just want my kids to know that having my business is important because I’m able to put food on the table for them. But I do want them to know that they are the most important to me.

Marcia Hawkins: Well, I think the common denominator with the conversation is that anybody listening and even thinking about starting their own business, it’s doable. You can have a family, you can have a career, you can own your own business. It’s doable. And just touching upon like Kim Flynn said, “So what if your house isn’t immaculate, who cares? How many times are people going to come over and actually know that it’s a mess?” It’s not that big of a deal. It’s kind of funny, you interview people when they get older, and I love working with the elderly. And I had this couple that I would take them out to Target and crack a barrel and spend a day with them because they didn’t have anybody to take them out. And it was an all-day event. And I remember getting in a car with them and that they would say — I was running around like a mad woman, trying to get all the stuff down and trying to fit this in and they were just kind of gearing up to get going. And the contrast between what I was worried about and what they were worried about and the reality of it was they were worried about who would be there to take care of the other one should the other one pass? And one of them subsequently did. And it always kind of struck me that as you progress from decade to decade, your level of stress and your level of challenges just completely takes on a whole new meaning.

And what stressed us out in one decade of our life is like oh jeez, you got to be kidding me. Big deal. And so it’s really recognizing that boy if these dirty dishes are what I’m worried about right now, I’ll take it.

Deb Clawson: Yes, no kidding.

Marcia Hawkins: But one thing I’ve noticed is in owning my own business, I’m constantly asked this question — or maybe not asked a question but I get this comment a lot, and I’m sure you do too, is people would say “Oh, I was going to start my own business. I was going to do that.” I mean you laugh because you get that all the time. And I often say to myself “I’m really no different than you. How come you don’t do it?”

So what would you tell somebody if they would stop you on the street and say, “Oh, Deb, I heard about all your fabulous business and I too, I’m personable. And I really want to own my own business, and I’ve been thinking about doing that.” What would you say to somebody like that?

Deb Clawson: I would tell them to go for it. I mean coming from where I came from, anybody can do it. And I would encourage them to go into this business because social media is so limitless. I mean there are businesses everywhere and it’s not limited to a geographic location either. I can have clients all over the world. In fact, I just have signed on  a singer from Australia. And — but what I would say is to just research, study.

If it’s something that — if they want to start a boutique or whatever, they can do it. Anybody can do it. You just have to believe in yourself some. And a lot of times, it helps to have supportive family members or friends that you know — because you can tell yourself you can do it but then that doubt creeps up. You need some people to say “Yes, you’re awesome, you can do this.”

Marcia Hawkins: Right. I think people — I think the old fear factor creeps in and I just think people, if it’s not a sure thing, I don’t know if they have the ability to ride that emotional roller coaster. And I think that, that’s what kind of separates entrepreneurs from people that just want the security of a job. And I say that lightly because in this job market and any job market, lately, when our parents were working, they tended to have one job throughout the course of their lifetime. And that’s just not doable now. That’s just not going to happen.

So I think for people, it’s about that belief system of just saying, you know what — no, my husband’s a perfect example of that. I’ve been begging him for years to go out on his own and start his own construction company. And he kept saying, “I know that I’ve got you and the kids and…

Deb Clawson: Yeah, it’s stressful.

Marcia Hawkins: Yeah, it is. It is very, very stressful.  I keep telling them “You got to do it.” So he started working these side jobs on the weekends and I kept telling him, I said, “I’m going to tell you right now, the only thing that you’re going to regret about doing it is that you didn’t do it sooner.” And so I really pushed him to do it. And I remember…

Deb Clawson: He’s lucky to have you.

Marcia Hawkins: Yeah. He left his job. He gave his notice and within less than 12 hours — and this was back almost 30 years ago, within like less than 12 hours, he had $8000 worth of work, which was a lot.

So it was — and he said to me — and he never looked back and he never wanted for work so it was just one of those things. And I believe, and I’m sure you’re a big proponent of it, that if your desire and your commitment to yourself is to be in business for yourself and that’s all you want, don’t worry about the vehicle. The vehicle will show up. You just get in and drive.

Deb Clawson:  And that goes for everything, not just business.

Marcia Hawkins:  Absolutely, absolutely, which is really the nature of some of the seminars that Kyle and I are going to be doing is really trying to get people to really just say to heck with it. What’s the worst thing that can happen? And I always tell people, always ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” And the reality of it is it very rarely comes to fruition if you commit to your plan and you follow through with it.

Now I’m guessing that when you went off on your own, I know you had mentioned do some studying and whatnot, but I’m just going to go out on a limb here and take a stab at this, and you can correct me if I’m wrong, but I would be willing to bet that you did not get tripped up on the details. I know you know what I’m talking about. People that want to start a business and they get so caught up in the design of this business, kind of what this is going to look like and whoa jeez, what am I going to call my business and stuff like that. I would be willing to bet that the day that the manager of the grocery store approached you and told you “We needed to pay you,” that was all you needed to light that match.

Deb Clawson: Well, yeah. That was so — I can remember how I felt that day. It was like “Yes! I’m so excited.” And it’s true. You don’t have to worry about all the little things. I thought it was just like I’m going to do this.

Marcia Hawkins: Absolutely. I mean your image and everything and all of that stuff is important but some people I think are so hogtied by these details that at the end of the day doesn’t really matter. What matters is is that you’re providing a service for payment and you’ll figure it out as you go. And 99% of the time you end up changing things anyway.

Deb Clawson: Yes, that’s so true. I do have a good friend who has helped me through the whole — the one that introduced me to social media to begin with, he has helped me through the whole thing by — if I ever had a question, I call him or whatever. And he tells me “Don’t sweat that, that doesn’t matter. You’ll be focusing on this and this and this.”

Producer:  Marcia?

Marcia Hawkins: Yeah?

Producer:  We have a — I just got an e-mail and it’s right about what you all are talking about. The e-mail says, “Yes, I overthink things sometimes. I call it Analysis Paralysis.”

Marcia Hawkins: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. That’s just exactly what I was touching upon, Steve. Thank you for cutting in and letting us know that because that’s true. If you’re listening, and that’s exactly what it is, if people get so caught up in this and I’m thrilled that you’ve e-mailed the show because I so many times will mentor someone who is wanting to start their own business and they’ll go “How did you start?” And they get so hung up on that.

And as you said so eloquently, Deb, you refer after people that have been there, done that. If you run into a challenge, there are resources out there. Figure it out.

Deb Clawson: Yes, and it’s true. If you’re so stuck on that, that is so true. It does paralyze you, and you think “I can’t do this, I can go further.”

Marcia Hawkins: If also find those and if you’re listening out there, you’ll definitely e-mail us back if you believe this to be where you’re at. I believe sometimes that getting caught up in those details — at the end of the day really don’t — nobody really cares about your business card. I mean yes, it’s nice to have nice business card. I’m not going to deny that. But you know what I find that the all of this is just an alibi, not to actually — like once I get my logo down and once I get my website perfect. You are laughing because you know what I’m talking about.

Deb Clawson: Yeah. Yes, it’s funny because I do. And that’s overcoming the fear. Like I know that I have this — I know I need to go and talk to or right now I need to go to the seminar and pass this business card or make contacts or things. And so I’ve done this before and I think I don’t need business cards. So I know what I’m going to do. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve printed homemade business cards and taken on that — they just — what I do, I like to meet people in person so that they can see my personality. And that’s my business card.

Marcia Hawkins: Yeah, exactly, exactly. Personality sells. Absolutely.

Kyle Clouse: One thing that Marcia and I talk about is especially talking about the analysis paralysis is that people, especially your clients, they don’t care. They really don’t care about your website. And they don’t care about you. They want to know that you’re taking care of them and that you’re doing what you said you’re going to do. And if you’re overanalyzing your own business, you don’t have any time or energy or focus to really…

Deb Clawson: No, I’m not going to focus on them.

Marcia Hawkins: Exactly.

Kyle Clouse: When you talk about growing your business, Deb, and how your business is growing, you’re bringing in new clients, what are I think — that’s a real key issue that stops a lot of people from starting a business is “Where am I going to find my clients?” or “How am I going to grow my business?” So what things have you implemented that really has helped you in growing your business, gaining new clients, getting referrals and so on?

Deb Clawson: Well, actually I have not had to go out and — I have gotten a lot of contacts, word-of-mouth through LinkedIn and all the social media networks that are used, which is great. I’ve gotten contacts through that way. Like I said, I like to go and meet people in person and I think that helps maybe seal the deal because they can see me talking about social media and what I can do for them. They see the excitement in my eyes and to hear it in my voice. And they know — like I said,  they see my personality.

And you have to be passionate about your business and really believe in it and be excited about it to — I think to succeed and to be good at it. So like today, they can see that when I meet with them in person. And I think that helps. And then I’ve had people say — people talk to each other about having their own business and wanting to implement social media and everything. And so this person tells them about me and — because they’ve talked to me or they’ve hired me so it’s just been mostly word-of-mouth.

Kyle Clouse:  Well, it’s a misconception that you have to spend a lot of money to market or advertise your stuff out, that’s a misconception.

Deb Clawson: Yes, it is. And I have a funny little story. One man, one of the four businessmen that I know is the one that contacted me originally on LinkedIn, he introduced me to the other four men by telling him that he found me on LinkedIn and he had about — I don’t know how many connections he has but he said, “I have about 30 social media managers in my connections. And she stood out to me because her profile, it said Social Media Manager Extraordinaire.” And I threw that word on there so that I could stand out from other people and apparently, it worked.

Kyle Clouse:  And how many times did you second guess putting that on your profile?

Deb Clawson: Yeah, I did. They’re so funny. That was my gut about okay, I’m going to write this. And then sometimes, because I’ve had that gut feeling before to write certain things, and then I think “Oh, no, I’m not going to do that, whatever.” But I’ve learned to just go with that.

Kyle Clouse: Going with your gut and not overanalyzing and falling into that and Analysis Paralysis, go with your gut, taking action, moving forward and letting the rest fall to the wayside.

Deb Clawson: Yeah, that just goes along with believing in yourself and thinking “This is me. This is what I have to offer. I am good at what I do and they’re going to be able to see that. And if they don’t, then move onto the next.”

Kyle Clouse: Yeah, absolutely. If you can tell us just really quickly over where people can get more information about you and the services that you offer, if you had a 32nd elevator pitch, what would that be?

Deb Clawson: Well, you can go find me on my website at DebClawson.com. I have a little page that talks about me and what I offer. I set up Facebook pages. But what I like to do mostly is full Facebook — not Facebook, social media management, maintenance of their page.

Marcia Hawkins: So it’s DebClawson.com, correct?

Deb Clawson: Yes, correct.

Marcia Hawkins: Okay. Make sure you’d stop by and check her out. She’s wonderful. I just can’t wait to rebook this woman. What a fabulous guest. Thank you so much.

And I’m so sorry to say that we are — unfortunately we’re out of time for this evening. Kyle and I wish to thank our guest, Deb Clawson and her insightful ideas and tips and of course, her winning personality; and of course, our sponsors and of course you, our listeners. Please visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and grab your video business channel to advertise your product or service. We would love to host your business video but more importantly, we want to promote it. We will see you here next Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. but until then, I sure hope you have a great week. And of course, Kyle and I want you to have a great night.

Marcia Hawkins:  Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Business Preparing for Business radio program on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost, Kyle Clouse. Today is – can you believe it? Wednesday, February 1. Where the heck did January go? We got a couple of ideas about that but we’ll get to that later. We do welcome you to the Business Preparing for Business radio program. The theme of our show is to provide you with tools, contacts, products and services to best prepare your business for more business or if we can assist you in challenging times. Now from time to time, we invite guests onto our program that through experience in problem solving can share their insight with you and their methods, ideas and strategies that had worked for them in their business and allow you to use them and apply them in your own business. Now many of our preparedness listeners tune in to hear helpful tips or information on the preparedness products that we have on this network. We essentially do the same thing except we apply ours to business. Whether you’re starting a business, you’re trying to expand a business, grow a business or your business just needs a little bit of extra help. So Kyle and I do welcome you to our program, invite you to e-mail us at info@newyorkshopexchange.com. Again that’s info@newyorkshopexchange.com for any questions that you might have for us. Let’s get right to it, bring Kyle in. Hi, Kyle!

Kyle Clouse:  Hey Marcia, how are you doing?

Marcia Hawkins:  I’m pretty good! I’m pretty good. I’m just marveling over where the month of January went.

Kyle Clouse:  No, I was actually – yeah, when you mentioned that I was wondering that myself. I can’t believe I have to remind myself it’s February 1 today. Very, very fast how January went by.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah. You know, it’s funny because as a business owner and I know you know this, January is one of these months that I think psychologically, really has a strong impact on people. Much like it does with a private sector or employees and whatnot,  if you will. People – January is kind of got that hangover effect a little bit. You know, you go through Thanksgiving and you’ve got Christmas and you have New Year’s and you have the New Year’s resolutions and everyone’s just kind of excited for the new year and kind of gets off to a bang and you’re all excited and oh, this is just going to be wonderful, yay, it’s a fresh new start. And then you’ve got the first quarter for business is the toughest quarter and 99% of the time. So much like what people experience on a personal level I think business owners experience on a professional level.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, you see, I got kind of a philosophy behind that because…

Marcia Hawkins:  You do? How?

Kyle Clouse:  The first show we did in January when we talked a lot about goal setting and different things like that. I think the people fall into a trap of – you know, as we talked about, they set these goals that they want to accomplish in their business and mainly, I mean most of these goals, they revolve around marketing because what do people want? They want to increase sales. They want to increase revenue and you have to apply marketing techniques to do that. And I think that they – you know, in the first month of January, people get so busy trying to force this, they want this microwave effect of marketing and tried to force this huge push in January and that’s why at the end of the month, at the end of January, a lot of business owners you’ll find they get – you know, they’re already burned out for the rest of the year and then they – come February and March, they fall back into the same wreck that they were last year and nothing ever improves or changes. And then come January the following year, they’re setting the same goals and expecting different results, which unfortunately, for many cases doesn’t happen.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. And I do want to branch out on that a little bit in a few minutes. But I kind of want to backup just a little bit and talk about what January 1 represents for a lot of business owners as does if people who are employees. And that is tax time. And I’ve often found that in – just in my travels with our business and talking to different business owners about their marketing, there is just this you know, a heightened level of anxiety of all the deadlines. Like for example, as you know, I’m in Massachusetts and you have your sales tax due on a certain day. You’ve got your dues you got to get out, you got your 1099s done. You got to get your estimated tax payments out. So it’s just a conglomerate of different things that you’ve got to do not to mention the fact that you’ve got to start pulling and compiling all your own personal information for your income tax returns. And I think that that just in and of itself starts to create a level of anxiety for people. And one of the helpful hints I want to give to people tonight is that January 1 is not a magical number or you know, a magical date. It’s not like all of a sudden all this stuff does – yes, it does become due but it’s not like you can’t start getting that information together prior to that. And listeners are probably saying, well that sounds great, Marcia but the holidays, I’m very busy at the holidays and I’ve got this going on during the course of the year and so what I kind of want to – and I don’t want to spend too much time on this but in terms of getting people and getting themselves set up for that in trying to much like they do with their New Year’s resolutions, trying to take that first week in January where they’re just kind of that – it’s kind of like a wedding. You know, you have this big beautiful wedding, all the planning and then boom, it’s all over. And then there’s just kind of this letdown,  if you will. And kind of take that week of the letdown to empower yourself to tackle all those problems and get them all done and get the W-2s done and get the 1099s done and get everything, even if you don’t physically filed them at that particular time, get them ready to go. And I think we’ve talked on the phone when I was preparing a lot of the tax documents and I was telling you how I set certain goals for myself to get those done because one thing when they’re done, it’s amazing. Like taking a 50-pound sack off your back because it’s done and you know you’ve taken care of it and it’s complete. So my advice for the listeners is just to really prepare yourself for that first week and really and when you think about it when you get that done, that sets the tone for the rest of the year, knowing that you’ve tackled in the first week the things you probably liked doing the least knowing that frees up the rest of the three weeks to kind of kick back and really focus on your business such as marketing it and trying to get that first quarter out of the gate on the right foot.

Kyle Clouse:  Isn’t that the same case with everything that we do? When you get the things done first that you least like to do, it’s a sense of fulfillment, accomplishment, freedom and then you can really get to work without having baggage per se, holding you back as you’re really trying to accomplish the other aspects of your business.

Marcia Hawkins:  You and I really feed off that philosophy because you and I are exactly alike. In fact, some of the team members often say that you’re the male version of me and I’m the female version of you, which is a really scary thought. But I wear that probably because I do know just in our communication is that we have a lot of common denominators and that happened to be one of them, you and I both like to tackle the things we like to do at least in the morning and enjoy the rest of the day doing the things that we like to do.

Kyle Clouse:  Oh, yeah. Yep, absolutely. And I was going to say I think business owners would find that they accomplish more in the day and they have a better business if they apply that same philosophy because in the morning, that’s when you’re – you’ve just woken up, you’re rested, you have your energy levels are set if you have a good breakfast, there is something to get you moving in a positive direction for the day and then tackle the things that you least like, get those things out of the way. And if you apply that same philosophy every day, you’ll find that I think across-the-board, people will find that their businesses becomes more successful because of that.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah. And that just kind of segues into the next topic I kind of wanted to talk about. And I think sometimes much like talking about setting goals for that first week and getting yourself acclimated to doing that and really sticking to that type of schedule. So one thing that we talked about this earlier that I find really fascinating is people really are so fixated in their belief systems and they’re so fixated in their habits that they really struggled getting out of that. And the kind of want to talk a little bit about that tonight because I think you and I both have identified a common denominator with a lot of our clients. And that is aside from the fact that they’re working so many hours and you and I both believe in working smarter, not harder. And I really believe that in our course of our day and clients that we work with is that a lot of them are working harder and not smarter. And you and I both know a couple of tricks of the trade in terms of marketing that we really love is sharing with business owners because we know we’re going to lighten the load for them. And I just really think that you know, if we can kind of talk about this for a few minutes.

Before we continue though I do want to invite our listeners to call in if they would like to talk with Kyle and I. Our call in number tonight is (347) 326-9604. Again that number is (347) 326-9604. Press one and you’ll be put into the host queue and we’d love to chat with you if you have a question, comment. If you need some information. If we don’t have it, we’ll find it and get back to you so give us a call. (347) 326-9604

So getting back to what I was saying Kyle, I really feel at times when I’m talking with clients and I’m prospecting new clients and we’re talking to even members that we already have on, our video marketing platform, I really started to realize that before one syllable comes out of my mouth or before I send one e-mail over to them, I really feel that the first order of business is to what I call, “clean that chalkboard”.

Kyle Clouse:  Right, yeah.

Marcia Hawkins:  You know, and really getting them to understand that their preconceived notions about marketing I think sometimes, we get so stuck doing the same thing over and over again or even if they venture and kind of change things up just a little bit. Many business owners are very reluctant to try new things. And I know why and we can talk about that too. You know, a lot of people have paid a lot of money to different Internet marketers and marketing outfits in general. And they’re very, very frustrated that they have not seen a return on their money, which is the sole reason we created New York Shop Exchange was to completely solve the problem that I’ve had for years, decades in trying to find an effective way to market my website. Any comments on that?

Kyle Clouse:  Oh, absolutely. You know, it’s funny that over this past weekend as you and I were talking about it, I was a guest presenter at an event. Last week we had Kim Flynn on – you know, definitely take a look at her KimFlynn.com. We had her on last week and she invited me to an event that she was putting on, a marketing event for business owners and one of the things that she – she sent an on e-mail out to all the presenters and she said, “You know, the business owners that are going to be ath this event, they have a level of experience in marketing or business owners, they’ve done a few things and so just keep that in mind as you’re presenting.” And I’m sure she was coming from the perspective of you know, let’s not be so basic that the event is boring, which it wasn’t, it was a great event that she put on. So I went to this event thinking, okay, what I’m going to be offering these people. I was assuming they would have already experienced what I was talking about. I might be regurgitating some of the stuff that was already talked about by some of the other presenters. And I was just hoping that I would be able to add some value to what they already knew. And what I came away from is that I – all I added was value. And that a lot of these people who have – business owners who have marketing experience, a lot of the marketing experience that people have is old, traditional forms of marketing that are no longer working or no longer relevant or cost way too much money and are outside of most budgets. And so – and really, to come back to why we’ve created New York Shop Exchange, it was to solve all of those problems that people are having with marketing their businesses. And so when I presented to this group of business owners, it was refreshing, it was shocking and refreshing to see how much I was able to give to them. And I know that some of them were taking the strategies that we talked about. One person posted on Facebook today that they’ve already started to implement some of the strategies and optimizing different things and it’s good to see them taking action in that direction. And I know that if they are consistent with what we talked about, they will see results.

Marcia Hawkins:  Absolutely and you’re right though because there’s so many marketing companies out there that try to blanket the same program for many different types of businesses and they’re just really trying to fit that round circle into a square peg. And it just doesn’t always work. Sometimes it does, sometimes in most cases it doesn’t. And people end up thinking, well jeez, you know. And I just know that from talking to a lot of the clients that I really feel like before I even open my mouth, I’ve got to take this chalk eraser and I’ve got to erase all their preconceived notions about marketing and we talked about this this afternoon. This thing that people and if you take anything from this program tonight, I want you to take this. And that is you have to understand that what used to take 30 days because of the power of the Internet, things now take three seconds. Things that you take 30 days, now you can complete in virtually three seconds on the Internet. The speed in which information is communicated is absolutely astounding and it gets faster and faster, faster and faster even as we are speaking on this program tonight. And I just have noticed that you know, in talking with a client, there – we talked about this one particular client that I’ve been working with and she absolutely thinks she has the world’s best website. And her website is fine but it’s a very, very, very antiquated. And unfortunately, if you think of your business as a brick-and-mortar business and let’s say you have a shoe store and you – at the end of the day, you close out your cash register and what do you do? You walk around, you straighten the store, you may be back in the store, maybe win back some mirrors and the front doors and whatnot. People have been very reluctant to understand that the maintenance that goes into a brick-and-mortar business also needs to go into the tech business side of your website. And people just don’t seem to get that. Once their website is built, they go back to it five years later and in this particular website that I was explaining to you earlier, it is so just complete paragraph after paragraph after paragraph and text and we all know with the love of texting, people do not read complete words. They want their message, they want it delivered in six or seven seconds and you better deliver that. And I know that that is just one frustration that I have in trying to convey to people that they really need to take that eraser and just kind of erase all their preconceived belief systems about traditional marketing and allow the new information to kind of gel within their mind.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah. Well when I was in college and I mean this is a term that is used among the economics, I think it was my macroeconomics class. One thing that we talked about was opportunity costs. And it’s the cost of the business that’s associated with not doing something. And so as we talk to people, some people will say I want to update my website or I want to get a new website but it’s going to cost me money to do that but if you think about it in the long run it’s costing you more money and lost revenues that opportunity costs for not doing anything in updating your website, changing your marketing plan, opening yourself to new ideas and really taking that step and okay, I need to spend money to make this thing work. And I’m not talking as you and I know in building websites in the marketing that we do, I’m not talking about spending gobs and gobs of money because Internet should not be expensive. I’m talking about spending money wisely and in the correct way with your marketing. And if people would – if more business owners would take that step because of they don’t, guarantee their competition will.

Marcia Hawkins:  Absolutely.

Kyle Clouse:  And usually in an economy like we have today, the people that are in business now will not be in business tomorrow if they don’t take those steps but their competition who does take those steps will be in business and will be a stronger business for it.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, very much like you know, if you’re a business owner and let’s say you’re again, selling shoes and you have a shoe salesman show up from the wholesaler saying, “Hey, I just want to show you a couple of new lines. In all likelihood, they’re going to be receptive to what that particular salesperson is telling them about what the new trends are going to be and what they need to inventory for the next season. They’re all over it. “Sure, okay, we’ll take a look at this,” “Yep, this looks good” and ironically, I am amazed at how many times we talk to business owners and they simply – they know that there is new ways to advertise out there. They know that there’s a way that they could update their website and make it look more contemporary, make it more current and relevant and yet they seem to hold back on that sometimes. And I’m baffled by that because if I could really impress upon the listeners tonight to really understand that if you are in business for yourself, you really have to prepare yourself to opening up your mind to new ways of marketing, new ways of running your business. I really believe that if you can really commit to yourself to drop your belief system in terms of marketing, inventory, the way you do things, the way you structure your schedule, you will be more successful in your business because you understand that at times, pain is not something that you’d like to do, it becomes absolutely necessary.

Kyle Clouse:  Exactly. Yep, exactly. You know, it’s funny, I’ve actually got a book that I’ve read, the D&A of Internet Marketing. It’s an okay book, it’s a pretty good book but I like – I mean, I come from the perspective of – let me backup a little bit because we were talking about talking with clients and erasing the white board. If I go to someone and I asked them for advice, I go to them with the assumption that I know nothing. And that I am – I have to be a blind canvas because I don’t know everything and there’s always something that I can learn. So a lot of – you know, I read stuff on marketing or marketing best practices and most of what I read is regurgitated stuff. But there’s always that nugget that’s involved. And that’s what I’m looking for. I’m harvesting or I’m mining for that one nugget that will set me apart than anyone else. And that’s what I’m after.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. Well I just think it’s very important that if you’re a business owner, you’re listening to the program tonight, the next time you have a salesperson that walks in to pitch you maybe a new water cooler or that they want you to put in or they’ve got you know, if you’re selling shoes maybe they’ve got a new display system they want you to look at, the one thing that I would really ask for you to do is to really prepare yourself to understand that if you can leave all your beliefs and all your preconceived notions about what you think your business needs, back of the linen closet or the janitor closet or whatever and really just try to listen to what that person is telling you because they’re coming to bring you the latest and greatest information that they have.

Now there are some sales people out there that perhaps they don’t have your best interests. That’s a given. However, I do believe that if you can just drop your belief system that there isn’t anything that anyone can offer you that you need to do differently because what you’re doing you’ve been doing for 20 years and is going to keep working because you know what, that type of attitude is really going to be very, very costly. Like you said, if you’re sitting down with a meeting with somebody and they’re offering up some information, you do, you have to be a blank canvas and be able to understand that what they’re telling you is probably something that you really need to hear. In addition to that, what I find fascinating is the fact that if you can really take that information and apply it to your business, I mean, really, the worst case scenario about that is it may not be the latest and greatest thing for your business but you’re never going to know unless you try. And I really, truly believe that I think that we get so entrenched in our belief system about what we’re doing the right way and I’m not going to change. Change is very hard for people and we’ll get into that after the break. But people get so caught up in doing things the exact same way it’s kind of that running into the brick wall everyday and getting the same result and it’s just really getting frustrated. I just really hope that our listeners, you’re running the business, try to open up your mind. Expand your thought processes, drop your belief system and really try to digest what the information that people have studies developed and really tried to bring you a great product or service that’s going to help your business. They’re there to help you. And if you can keep that in mind, I guarantee you that you’ll open yourself up for some new business but we do need to take a break.

Okay, we’re going to recognize a couple of our fine sponsors. This is Business Preparing for Business radio show on Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse, please stop by and visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and we’ll be right back.

All right, everybody, welcome back. This is Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse on the Business Preparing for Business radio program. Just a couple of quick notes. You heard on the break we do want to remind our listeners about the Self-Reliance Expo, you can get more information about that at the SelfRelianceExpo.com as well as their Facebook page, that’s going to be going on in Dallas, February 11 through the 12th and we sure hope we’ll see you there. Also if you want to call in on the second half of the program our phone number here is  (347) 326-9604. Again, that’s (347) 326-9604. Press one, you’ll be put on host queue and we’d love to talk with you. Welcome back, Kyle.

Kyle Clouse:  Welcome back, Marcia. Glad to be back from the break and get onto the second part of our show, which I think is going to be the most important part of the show.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, were you a little nervous at the beginning of the break? I was getting a little worried with the diarrhea there at the end. As you know, I am very passionate about helping people and especially helping people that are in business for themselves because I think it is a very isolating thing to be in if you are in it by yourself and you’re working it by yourself and you’re trying to make a go of it. And I just want to reach out to our listeners and say that Kyle and I really, please e-mail us at information at info@newyorkshopexchange.com. Kyle and I absolutely love the challenge of helping people grow their businesses so please, info@newyorkshopexchange.com. Kyle and I would love to chat with you and see what we can do to help you.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, it’s definitely a lonely road to the top.

Marcia Hawkins:  It sure is and you know what? It doesn’t have to be, which I think there’s a lot of reason why some people for a number of reasons and this is another whole program but I think a number of reasons that people get into multilevel marketing programs is because there’s that “support system”. You and I both have our theories about that and that’s another program. But with that said, you know just really trying to work your business and I would guess that there’s people out there right now with their hand in their forehead, on their desks thinking, oh my gosh, how am I just going to get through this next quarter and whatnot next month, next day even and we just want to extend the invitation to people. E-mail us again at info@newyorkshopexchange.com so if there’s anything we can do to help people, we’re there.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, absolutely. We’re definitely an open book.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, we sure are. We sure are. We definitely have I think paved the way for people to really understand that we are passionate about what we do but we’re even more passionate about helping people.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Marcia Hawkins:  So we were talking a little bit before the break, Kyle, about business owners having the ability to kind of take that chalk eraser and kind of erase all their preconceived notions about what they need to do for their business. You and I both know on appointments, phone calls, e-mails that we’d had with different business owners how we get, “Well, I have been doing this for 10 years and this is what I’m doing and I’m just – I’m going to keep doing it this way.” And one of the things that kind of strikes me a little odd is that I’m really scratching my head a lot of times when I leave an office or a place of business where they said to me, “I know that I need to do this and I know that I need to get myself more involved in social networking. And I know I need to update my website. And I know that I need to start marketing with video. And I know that I need to,” fill in the blanks. And yet as any thoughts to why people are so stuck where they can’t do that aside from the financial piece of it because I have my thoughts on that too.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, well think it comes back – I really don’t think it has anything – well it might have something to do with money but I don’t think it has a lot to do with money. It comes back to what we were talking about earlier where people set these goals for January and then they get – they burn themselves out the first month trying to force something.

Marcia Hawkins:  But – I want to stop you there though. Why is that?

Kyle Clouse:  Why do they burn themselves out?

Marcia Hawkins:  For me I think that they – I think for me, there’s a couple things going on. I think analysis is paralysis. I think that they analyze and analyze and analyze but never take the actionto change, number one. But also the fear of change. And what’s the flip side of fear?

Kyle Clouse:  Action, is that what…?

Marcia Hawkins:  Is that what I’m looking for? Kind of. I was leaning more towards courage.

Kyle Clouse:  Oh, sure

Marcia Hawkins:  You know, having the courage to say you know what, I’m going to take a leap of faith here and I am going to change the way I do things. Because I’m baffled. Go ahead.

Kyle Clouse:  Well, when we talk about – let’s talk about this for a second because when we’re talking about courage, the opposite of fear and taking action, we are not talking about blanking action. It’s very specific, decisive, methodical action. Action that produces a result. It’s not just doing something. It’s doing something specific.

Marcia Hawkins:  Exactly. And don’t you find it a little strange that people will go and use – let’s just go with marketing in this particular sector. They will continue using the same form of advertising. How may times have I gone into a place of business and they’ve said to me, “Well I’ve been using this and I’m spending this and I’m not making a dime off it.” And I’m thinking, well why do you keep doing that?  And they continually do it and I just sit there and shake my head and this is where that chalk eraser comes in I was going to say. Just drop all your belief system on this and let me really communicate to you what I know. And let’s just kind of use that as the launchpad to kind of go in a different direction.

And I guess the moral of our show tonight is that whether it’s in business or anything, we just happened to be talking about business but if you can really try to reach inside yourself and understand that you are really tapping into a belief system in and not to what is in your best interest and you’re almost fixated in what you’re doing where you kind of can’t see the forest through the trees there. And I really hope that people can really kind of look at what they’re doing and I’m sure some of them are shaking their heads going, oh my gosh, I do that all the time. I know that I got to change. And how many times have we gotten a bill? I mean there is a charge on there, and it may not be a lot of money. Let’s just say, it’s like $3.99. And I know everybody can relate to this story. But you have that charge on there for $3.99 and maybe it was like a credit card protection thing or something like that. And you wanted to get off the phone with a telemarketer so you said, “Yeah, sure I’ll try it for 30 days and I’ll cancel it,” and you never canceled it. And how many months went by that you didn’t cancel it?

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah. And then you’re wondering what that charge is.

Marcia Hawkins:  And then you call up and you go, “Oh, that’s what it was,” or – and how many months went by before you actually took the action to do it? And I don’t know if that’s sheer laziness or if it’s just the fact that, “Oh yeah, I’ll get around to it. Yeah, I’ll get around to it.” Or it’s just the fact that people, they don’t like confrontation, maybe they didn’t want to call the credit card company because, “Oh, if I try to cancel this for $3.99, they’re going to talk me in for something for $13.99,” or something to that effect but I really – you know, where I’m going with all of this is the fact that I really do think that people they don’t fear change, they resist it. At all costs. Even if it’s expensive. And I just don’t quite understand that. What are your thoughts, Kyle?

Marcia Hawkins:  Yes, let me read this really quickly. This is out of the D&A of Internet Marketing and this is – it’s funny, I just opened to this. First two paragraphs of Chapter One says, “One of the most common questions that I’ve got over the past several years is how do you successfully market or how do you successfully market your business online? Establishing your target market is probably the most important thing that you can do when getting your business started. The reason you want to establish your target market is to zero in on who your customers really are. If you do not know the makeup of your customers and you will be throwing money out the window when it comes to any type of marketing, let me give you an example. A few years ago I had a client, a business partner asked me about a few ways to market his business on the Internet. After showing him exactly what to do and how to get his ads out on the market, they ended up — they decided to take the easy road or so it seemed. Instead of going out and doing the research and doing due diligence on who their target was, they decided to cast a net over the whole ocean and see what they caught.” And ultimately, I’ll just stop there, it goes on to say that ultimately, they failed in their marketing attempts because instead of doing due diligence, taking decisive specific action, people get caught up in the general idea of action brings a result, which action taking action and we had the same conversation as well, just taking actioncan bring  the result of failure. Action can bring the result of failure if it’s just generalized action. If you’re just doing something for the sake of doing something.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. Or something that you think you have a preconceived belief system that is going to work because jeez, the clothing store down the street did it and they had a phenomenal success with it. You really – you obviously want to use a tried-and-true traditional forms of marketing, I get that. Because jeez, I know you put a TV ad on it’s going to work. Well you know, the TV ad goes in front of a blanket audience. It’s not targeted. And I think especially in these economic times you have got to figure out, you have got to zero in on who your customer is. And we’d had conversations about this, Kyle. I think one of our biggest assets in business is the fact that you would I, we talk daily about what’s working and what’s not working. And we make those adjustments. And we keep doing it until we hit it. And then we refine that message.

And I just am so struck by the fact that as I’ve said, I walk into a client’s office and they’ll tell me everything they’re doing and how much they dislike it. And yet they cannot seem to bring themselves at times, not all the time obviously, because we have clients. But it’s just amazing how many times that they will say and I love this, I know I need to do this. I know this is what I need. But I’m doing this and I’ve spent – and this is where I think it gets good. I almost wonder if it’s like you’re at the craps table and you’re playing and you’ve won. And you’re doing great and you’re having a great time and all of a sudden, the tide turns and you’re not doing so hot. And you start giving back some of the money that you’ve won. And now, you get to a point where you keep throwing the money down, keep throwing the money down and you’re saying that it’s going to turn. I wonder sometime psychologically, if they have spent so much money that they’re hoping that if they keep doing it, that it’s going to turn around and they’re going to have that returned and all that money that they’ve dropped and found a return on, that maybe once the tide shifts, the money is going to then kind of flow back in again. I wonder if that’s what it is.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah. Let me give you – you know, I’m tired about this. Let me give you an example because we’re talking about this. So in what I just read, he was talking about finding your target market and first and foremost, we see that same thing taking place. When we’re talking to our clients and they want to go after something that’s general, we kind of take a step back and like, let’s get a little more specific on that because if you want real results and if you want specificity in your business, let’s get more specific and really narrow down who you’re trying to get in front of and where you want your ad placement to be across the Internet. And case in point, when we are talking about one client who wanted to go after the term coffee, which is such a general term to be found for on the Internet, it’s just coffee. And first and foremost, you don’t have the marketing budget to go after that word and the competition is so steep that it is almost ridiculous to even go after that. But what’s funny is they will talk – people looking to target words like that, they will talk to an SEO company and they’ll say, “Okay, I want to target the word coffee,” and they’ll be like, “Oh yeah, we can get you on the first page of Google for the word coffee. It will take us three to six months, no problem.” Then they start doing you know, whatever they’re doing for the SEO, link building, whatever they’re doing, trying to target for them the word coffee. Six months down the road, they’re still not showing up for the term coffee and they’re saying, “Well, what’s going on?” But you know what ends up happening is they say, “Well, I’ve already sunk six months into this. I’ve built six months worth of links to the term coffee, I might as well keep going and hopefully, hopefully it will happen.”

Marcia Hawkins:  Exactly. And I just really – a couple of key points I think that we want the listeners to take away from tonight is again, you’ve got to start remembering that in order to open your mind up for new business and new concepts and new ways of doing your business, that can expand and grow in driver sales, you have got to drop your belief system about what traditionally has worked for you in the past. Because times are changing. Who would’ve thought years ago that there will be a social networking site where people go in and talk about their marital problems, they talk about everything they’re probably shouldn’t be talking about on Facebook and Twitter and yet, businesses understand they can’t be in business without a Facebook or Twitter page. And so, you know, hello! I mean this is just the way it is. And I just think that people have got to understand that they have got to be able to shift and adjust where necessary.

And also in that same – what we were talking about earlier in terms of you know, you’ve got to know when to say enough is enough. I’ve sunk enough money into this campaign and you’re right. I mean it’s like I said, it’s that person standing at the craps table where they think, if they keep throwing more money that the tide will change of if they spent enough money on that ad campaign and themarketing company had said, “Hey, we are going to do this and it’s going to take six months” and then it doesn’t happen, at what point do they say, “Enough is enough?” And so what we want our listeners to really grasp from all of this and take from this is the ability to make the assessment. And look at new ways and open yourself up to new concepts and new ways that you can do things. And new – maybe even new product lines. And I’m all for refining the products you have because there’s a reason that you visualized and you conceptualized what it was that you wanted to bring to market for your customers. And sometimes it really isn’t the product. And in most cases it’s the message is muted or you haven’t refined it enough or you have not targeted the correct audience. And I think that those are some key points that we really wanted to drive home tonight. Kyle, anything anything you want to add to that?

Kyle Clouse:  It was funny that you know – I just had to think about this. We’re talking about Facebook and people will talk about just the most personal crazy things on Facebook. It’s funny how as people, we’ll talk – even Doctor Phil, let’s take Doctor Phil for an example. You get a family member that will go on Doctor Phil and talk about their marital or family problem in the nation yet you can’t get them inside of the room to talk one-on-one with each other about it. And it’s the same with business too because you’ll get people, you open your – if you ask any business owner what should I do with marketing? You’ll get a myriad of different ideas, feedback. Everybody, I mean and everybody here’s what’s even funnier is everyone is an expert just like all of your friends are an expert on your marriage and your marriage problems, all business owners tend to be an expert of marketing.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yep, exactly. Exactly. And I got to say you and I both say – on the stuff that you and I are not good that, we are happy to bring people on to take care of that stuff because we’re not good at it. And that’s another key point is to recognize when you are doing things that you are not good at. And in marketing is usually one of them. No more than us as marketing specialists would we walk into a bakery and tell them how to bake a cake. What do we know about baking a cake? It’s very much the same thing. And you’re right. People – that’s a very good point, people going on national TV and talk about problems and they won’t go and talk one-on-one with each other, which is kind of fascinating and that’s probably another whole show, isn’t it, Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  The psychology of it all. But if you’re a business owner, if someone’s listening to the show and they’re a business owner, if they’re expecting someone to promise them the world and to just pay everything is going to be roses. We’re probably not the right fit for them. Because we give them the truth, we know exactly…

Marcia Hawkins:  We give them the truth and I know and that’s – like I always tell you, I’ve decided today that that’s the first order of business for me when I do talk a client is to really say, “Here is the eraser board and I want you to erase all your preconceived notions about the marketing and what you’ve done in the past because I’m here to show you a different way.” And I think they’re all going to be key moving forward especially if you’re a business owner. If you can kind of adapt that philosophy is that when someone comes in to picture something, just kind of drop your defenses, drop your belief system, drop the fact that maybe you’re really angry that you spent X amount of dollars on an ad campaign that did not work. Certainly, don’t make the next person pay for a debt that they didn’t create, they’re there to help you. In most cases, most people that are running their businesses enjoy what they do, they’re passionate about what they do. I know Kyle and I are very passionate about what we do. We’re very, very excited about being able to offer a marketing solution with video for small to midsize business. And more importantly, we’re excited that we can bring it at a price point that every business can afford. And that’s where I think you and I lose sleep over because we are very excited about it and we know that when people take our marketing vehicle for a test drive, they love it. They absolutely love it. I mean we just had a call from a guy yesterday, could not believe it’s up, taking traffic. So and the bottom line is we always we make good on what we say, we’re going to do but we always, you and I both know this Kyle, we love, love, love to over deliver.

Kyle Clouse:  Oh, yeah. We’re actually talking about that today. In fact, one of our clients who just came on yesterday, you know, he’s asking where we are at so far.

Marcia Hawkins:  Is this the law firm you’re talking about?

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, the law firm exactly. And when I send them over what we’ve already done, what we’ve accomplished, I mean he’s – and this is someone who’s not a newbie to marketing. And is not new to marketing yourself on the Internet but he was shocked with what and surprised with what we’ve done so far.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah. Well, I think you and I are both completely committed to over delivering the results. And that’s I think just one thing that you and I just are –  we have absolutely no wiggle room on that. We love to make the client happy. And it’s just – it’s the way it is. It’s the way business should be. Here’s our service and really try to under promise and over deliver all the time.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, absolutely. absolutely. But you know, what we really get a kick is when we see that what we’re doing for our clients is bringing results and it’s to see the jaw-dropping responses that we get from our clients, that’s pretty – it’s very satisfying.

Marcia Hawkins: It is very satisfying. It is, it really is. I think you and I both agree that – for me, I can say this speaking for myself that I suspect that you’re of the same – but I really feel like it is it’s one of those things were I know that we’re helping people. And I know that that is where my mission in life is, is really help people. And business just happens to be my area of focus right now.

Oh, gosh, I can’t believe we’re already out of time, Kyle. I feel this hour just flew by but unfortunately, we are out of time. So Kyle and I wish to thank you and please remember Kyle and I are very, very passionate about what we do and we love to help small to midsize businesses and we’re problem solvers there’s nothing else. And please swing by and visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and you can e-mail us at info@newyorkshopexchange.com and we do want to thank you our listeners and of course our sponsors, also a reminder about the Self-Reliance Expo. Go to selfrelianceexpo.com and come on over to NewYorkShopExchange.com and grab your video business channel to advertise your product or service. We would love to host your business video but more importantly, we would love to promote you. We will see you here next Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. but until then, Kyle and I sure hope you have week and of course a great night. Thanks a lot and have a good evening.

Male:   You’ve been listening to Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.  Questions or comments?  E-mail the show at info@newyorkshopexchange.com.  Also, find them on the web at NewYorkShopExchange.com.  Until next time for the best tips on how to manage and grow your business, tune in again for Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Male:  Preparing Business for Business is on the air.  Join hosts Marcia Hawkins, President of the New York Shop Exchange and Kyle Clouse, Vice President for insightful and creative strategies to prepare your business for business.  Listen in for great guests and great offers from our guests and sponsors, as well as thought-provoking dialogue.  Preparing Business for Business offers usable content, insightful ideas and resources to jumpstart your business in an effective, economical manner and to prepare your business for growth and challenges. And now, your hosts for Preparing Business for Business, Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Marcia Hawkins:  Business Preparing For Business radio program on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost, Kyle Clouse. 2012 and wow, this whole month of January is just flying by. If you wish to participate in tonight’s show, we are opening up the phone lines, a first on our radio program, we are happy to say so if you have any questions for us or our guests tonight and I’m going to be a little bit of information about that in just a few minutes, you may call into the show. Our number here is (347)326-9604. Again, that number is (347)326-9604. And then you’re going to want to press one to be put into the host queue. Again, that number is (347)326-9604, press one and you’ll be put in queue to either ask a question or leave a comment. We’d love to have you all call in and we’d love to take your questions and comments.

So we do welcome you here tonight and we want to thank you for joining us here every Wednesday evening where we take an informative look at how we can help you prepare your business for business. Most of our preparedness programs aim in providing you with information on preparedness products for natural and man-made disasters. Now we essentially do the same thing here except we apply it to business. We have some great ideas and helpful information for you along with some exciting guests and informative commentary. That is our goal and our focus each week, we want to provide you with thought-provoking dialogues for taking action and helpful resources for you. If you’re looking to either start a business, grow your existing business or we can help find some solutions for you in some of these challenging times that we’re going through right now. Now let’s bring on my cohost, Kyle Clouse. Hi, Kyle.

Kyle Clouse:  Hey, Marcia. Great to be here. How are you doing?

Marcia Hawkins:  I’m doing good. I just felt like I should have had you watch like a week’s worth of Lifetime this week because I realized, this is the first time we had a female guest on our show so now, you’re outnumbered tonight.

Kyle Clouse:  I know it is. It’s the first that I’ve been outnumbered and it’s a – for me, it’s really exciting we’re able to get some new insight into the world of entrepreneurship and business and startups and really excited to have Kim on the show tonight.

Marcia Hawkins:  So you’re not afraid of being outnumbered by the ladies tonight?

Kyle Clouse:  I am not afraid of being outnumbered. It’s not the first time I’ve been outnumbered and it’s probably not the last.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, that’s great. Listen, I’m really excited about our guest tonight. Why don’t you give our audience some information about Kim?

Kyle Clouse:    Okay, sure. To be honest, I don’t need even know where to begin with Kim, she’s got quite an impressive resumé especially for someone talking about women in business.  Kim Flynn is passionate about playing it big as a woman in small business. She is a speaker, trainer, workshop leader and a workshop leader for small business owners. She has like four kids and is the founder of five businesses and the creator of the plug-and-play business system. So really cool things that Kim has accomplished is she was a schoolteacher for three years and, which I’m excited to ask her about because I don’t think it applies necessarily to women but I know in men, most entrepreneur men like to act like a five and 10 -year-old so maybe she can add some insight into how she puts…

Marcia Hawkins:  I’m going to leave that alone.

Kyle Clouse:  Leave that alone for right now but you know it’s true. So do I. But in 2010, she founded Kim Flynn Consulting where she coaches, trains and inspires women to play big, play bold and play bold in their business. Her clients have been featured on the Oprah Winfrey show, the O network and the TLC network. Kim was also recently recruited by one of the Vanguard’s 22 international keynote speakers, which also included Stedman Graham and Stephen R. Covey. So very impressive.

Marcia Hawkins:  Unbelievable. Well, welcome on our program tonight, Kim. Thanks for coming on.

Kim Flynn:  Thank you. I’m so excited to be here and I’m so excited to represent women as the first woman on your show. Awesome. Glad to be here.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, I’d tell you, we – up until now we’ve had men on the show so this is wonderful for me. I really hope that some of our listeners will really seize the opportunity and call in. We – Kyle and I, all week long, have just been talking about just how excited we were to have you on board. So maybe give in a bit of information to our listeners about you, I was just wondering if maybe you could tell us and our listeners a little bit more about yourself in terms of what you would like to impress upon our audience tonight.

Kim Flynn:  Let’s see. Well to all the women who are listening, what I really want to impress is that no one is holding us back. Men are not holding us back. What holds us back is ourselves and the key to growing our business and to taking it to the next level is simply giving ourselves permission and trusting ourselves to take that step in the dark. To get training, to start doing new things in business.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, that’s so true and you know now, with the birth of the Internet, which is of course not an incident anymore by any stretch but for me, I’ve been in business for 20 years and I must say though, I really – I listen to women many, many times say, you know, I was going to do this or I was going to start this type of business. Why do you think freezes – and not just women because we can apply this to men as well but since that’s your niche, what do you think it is that really paralyzes women from taking the action of starting their own business?

Kim Flynn:  Oh, bless their heart. Well, I speak with these women all the time. I’ve worked with most people who have already started in business but so many times I see the mom at home who just feels this need to go out in business. And so she’d just start like a little service, business, a little selling headbands on the Internet and she keeps it so small. And I really just think it’s an intimidation factor. I think men have like, what – is it 7 billion times more testoterone than women do really? But they have this incredible built-in drive that just makes the move and women, we have to be pretty – pretty self propelling, we can’t rely on those hormones. We have to stand up and actually do the work and we are not pulled so much by that drive to compete so we have to stand up and do ourselves.

Marcia Hawkins:  You know I was just – as I was listening to you talk about that and we were talking about the hormone factor I thought Kyle really doesn’t want us to go there, do you Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  No, we can talk about that…

Kim Flynn:  Kyle, you don’t want us to talk about male testosterone, you really don’t?

Marcia Hawkins:  No. I think for me, most of the women in business that I’ve interviewed in talking about starting their own businesses and sometimes it is, it’s like a service-based business, sometimes it’s selling a Mary Kay type product or something along those lines or they’re very, well-versed in a career that they had prior to having children and they have found a way that incorporate that into a home-based business, which is wonderful. But I must say and I know that you’re going to be able to relate to this and I know we could probably spend an hour just on this topic alone but don’t you really find beside the fear factor, the balance factor, how am I going to balance my children, the house? Many women wear many hats within the household in terms of what they’re able to do it especially now with the economy being what it is, many of their spouses have taken on even additional jobs just trying to get the ends to meet, so to speak. So I mean what would you say in terms of the balance piece of it, what would be like you’re best advise you could give to someone who’s either struggling to survive in their business or they want to start their business with that balance part of the business?

Kim Flynn:  Oh Marcia, you’re not going to like my answer. I’m not going to make any friends on this but I’m going to say that women use that balance factor as an excuse to not play. And women more often than not hide behind their children, hide behind their house because of fear. So if there is a will, there’s a way. If you need to figure it out, you will and if you’re using that as an excuse, if you’re using children as an excuse, you are in hiding. And I encourage you just to throw that out of the window and there are 5,000,017 books on how to organize your time and you need to read two of those and you will be on your way. But don’t hide behind children anymore. I’ve got four kids, I love and adore my kids. I work mostly from home and I do travel quite a bit as well and this – it’s relationship. If you have good relationships with your kids, you can manage the balance. Is not about “Okay, if I spent 10 minutes here and then 20 minutes here and then 10 minutes here,” that’s ridiculous. So throw that whole time balancing out the window and just work on the relationship with your kids.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, I’m very glad we brought that up. We were going to get along great and I’ll tell you why.

Producer:  Marcia?

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah?

Producer:  May I break in here? You have a caller on the line, it’s Kelly. And anytime you’re ready, let me know and we’ll mic her up.

Marcia Hawkins:  Okay, I’m just going to follow-up with that question and then I’ll have Kyle introduce our caller. What I was saying Kim is that I told her we subscribe to that because I always feel that you get done in the course of the day is what you prioritize and I completely agree with that. And time management for me is prioritizing exactly what it is that I want to get done. And I must say in addition to raising my kids at this juncture of my life, I’m also taking care of my elderly mom. And that can be a handful and yet I still manage to run my business every day. It’s prioritizing. So I completely subscribe to that. So Kyle…

Kim Flynn:  And if you’re…

Marcia Hawkins:  Yep?

Kim Flynn:  Oh, go ahead. I’ll just say, if you’re house is a disaster, let it be a disaster. But let’s put your effort into your children and your business and everything else can come secondary.

Marcia Hawkins:  Excellent advice. Kyle, I know you’re chomping to get in here. Would you like to come on and then you can introduce our – I believe we have a caller by the name of Kelly, you can bring her on.

Kyle Clouse:  Yep. Yeah, let’s go ahead and bring Kelly on right now but I got something that I want to follow-up with you on what we’ve been talking about with organizations. Let’s bring Kelly on now and see what question she has.

Caller Kelly:  Can you hear me?

Kim Flynn:  Hi, Kelly.

Kyle Clouse:    Yes, we can. We can hear you. Tell us…

Caller Kelly:  Hi, I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure if my volume was on for me. I don’t know. Hi, how are you guys?

Marcia Hawkins:  Good, how are you?

Kim Flynn:  Hey, good.

Caller Kelly:  I’m good. It’s kind of random for me to be calling. I’ve listened to the show online for several weeks now and Kyle and Marcia, I really got to hand it to you, it’s very interesting. I’ve never called into a radio show before. I’m a little bit nervous actually but I’m really very impressed with what I’ve seen each week. And Kim, I’m just very impressed the fact that you have four children and you’ve been able to start five businesses.

Kim Flynn:  Thank you.

Caller Kelly:  And so anyway I guess my question is this. I’m not married and I don’t have children but I do have a full-time job so of course, I don’t have the children excuse or anything like that. But I’m just curious and this is a very general question but I’ve always in the back of my mind really wanted to start my own business kind of on the side but with a full-time job. Of course, it’s kind of hard to just kind of jump in headfirst and I guess, I just kind of want to know what are the first steps I need to take to get things going?

Kim Flynn:  Okay. Well, first of all, do you have a business idea? Something that you’re pulled towards?

Caller Kelly:  Yeah, I do. I’ve created some – I make lampshades, sounds kind of random but..

Kim Flynn:  No, that’s fine.

Caller Kelly:  Artsy and craftsy stuff. I mean, I have sold a few times on eBay, I used to have a store in eBay where I did that and kind of put it aside a couple years ago and haven’t really done it so much but I’ve also sold on FC[ph] but I don’t know. I guess just hearing that somebody who’s a mother of four children, I don’t have any excuse. I don’t have kids and I know I can do it. I just kind of want to know how to actually just get started.

Kim Flynn:  Yeah. So Kelly, you say – I don’t want to jump in headfirst and actually, you wouldn’t be able to jump in headfirst because you don’t even have anything to jump into so…

Caller Kelly:  What I mean is more just – I have a full-time job, I can’t just quit. And…

Kim Flynn:  Got it, yeah. And that would be the worst idea for you to ever quit your job

Kelly:  Exactly, exactly.

Kim Flynn:  So what you’re going to do is you’re just going to put your toe in the water first. So right now, Kelly with everything that you know, what is the next step for you in business? Let’s assume that you know, what’s the next step for you?

Caller Kelly:  I honestly have no idea. I guess maybe speak with people who have done something similar to me, which I guess I’m trying to do with your right now but.

Kim Flynn:  Okay, perfect. You’re asking people around you who had done it before. Now you have sold on FC before, is that right?

Caller Kelly:  Yes.

Kim Flynn:  Okay and are you – currently, do you have any listings on FC right now?

Caller Kelly:   I do not, no. No, I don’t.

Kim Flynn:  So why wouldn’t you go back into FC? Are you – were you not loving that platform?

Caller Kelly:  Oh, I’m not — I kind of always loved the idea working for myself and I know that FC provides that in a way but I guess I kind of want to break out of the – just mail-order thing and Internet sales. I don’t know, I mean ultimately, I would love to have a little shop but I mean that’s obviously – it’s even in strange for me to even be talking about this, it’s more of…

Kim Flynn:  No, I love that.

Caller Kelly:  I mean in the background but…

Kim Flynn:  No, it’s perfect. Okay, so when you say I want a shop and you can probably imagine it in your mind, the shop, the creation and the window, decorations and all that cute stuff and that’s like three miles down the road for you, right?

Caller Kelly:  Right.

Kim Flynn:  And then you say, “Well, I don’t want to do FC because the shop is the goal. And what I want to propose to you is FC is actually a step along the path to get to the big goal. If you don’t take the FC step or another small step like that, you’ll never get to the big shop down there.

Caller Kelly:  Sure because it means I’m creating things and I guess I could…

Kim Flynn:  Yes! And don’t discount that. There’s no at least there. That is absolutely so important to you as a business owner. You have to learn step by step by step. So if you don’t want to go to FC what’s another route you could go to just to get that next step in business?

Caller Kelly:  I guess maybe talk to some people ,friends or anybody else who’s interested in doing the same thing that I do. Yeah…

Kim Flynn:  Okay, so I’m going to stop you right there.

Caller Kelly:  Yeah, in the same area as friends.

Kim Flynn:  So who is that friend you could talk to?

Caller Kelly:  I honestly can’t think of anybody that I would trust, I mean I’m quite a perfectionist when it comes to this kind of thing so it’s kind of I think one of the things that’s held me back in the past is it’s hard for me to want to share the responsibility with somebody.

Kim Flynn:  Okay, I’m going to stop you again there.

Caller Kelly:  I have a vision and…

Kim Flynn:  I got to stop you there, Kelly. We’re not going to go into story, I’m just going to ask you, what is the very next step? And you said, “reach out to someone” and you don’t know who that is right now, how could you find that person to reach out to? What could you do?

Caller Kelly:  Obviously check things out online. Put an ad on paper or something like that.

Kim Flynn:       There you go. So put an ad on the paper that’s a little bit old-school if maybe you’ll get some 75 year old to find – but you said check Google. Is that what you said?

Caller Kelly:  Yeah, exactly.

Kim Flynn:  Okay, so what would you Google?

Caller Kelly:  I guess in my area, which is San Diego, a crossminded somebody looking for another one, I don’t – I’m not sure.

Kim Flynn:  Okay, great. You could do a Google search for crafty business owners or women in craft businesses, anything like that and you’ll probably get quite a few responses. What’s your next step after that, Kelly?

Caller Kelly:  Get in contact with people who respond…

Kim Flynn:  There you go, there you go.

Caller Kelly:  Meet and greet, the whole thing.

Kim Flynn:  Well, you don’t have to know…

Caller Kelly:  It makes a lot of sense when you have it laid out like this, it’s more I guess…

Kim Flynn:  Yeah, just one little step at a time. You don’t have to know the whole path, you need to know the destination which you’ve already got and don’t you dare ridicule yourself for having that goal, I love it. I love that you want to own that shop, but just take one little tiny step at a time and every time you get stuck, just say, assume I knew, what is my next step? Assume I knew, what would it be?

Caller Kelly:    You know, and that’s a very good point like you were saying actually towards the beginning of the show, if your house is a mess, let it be a mess. You know, don’t let – as a perfectionist, it’s hard for me to like, if I don’t have a plan to not actually, you know. I guess I do a lot of thinking as opposed to a lot of doing when it comes to this so…

Kim Flynn:       And I want you to write this on your mirror. You’re going to write, “Fun is better than perfect,” and that is the mantra for all successful small business owners. It’ll never be perfect. Fun better than perfect. Thank you so much, Kelly. You’re wonderful.

Caller Kelly:    Okay, thanks Kim. I really appreciate your time and great job, Marcia and Kyle.

Marcia Hawkins:         Thank you so for calling in.

Caller Kelly:    Sure, thanks a lot.

Marcia Hawkins:         That was great. I liked the fact talking about the not worrying about the house being a mess but I wondered how many women don’t have children and their house is a mess and they’re listening. Go ahead Kyle, I want to get you in here.

Kyle Clouse:    Sure. Now, one thing really quick and if you could – we just had someone, chatted that they’re asking for the name of the two books that you mentioned?

Kim Flynn:       Oh, two books? That you read two books? I was being – but I can give you some books here. Let’s see. How about there’s a Julie Morgenstern book called Organizing from the Inside Out. It’s fantastic. I also have my own training that also happens to be fantastic, of course. You can find that at KimFlynn.com. And you look for the free five video e-course and I believe it’s the second video in that course that talks about time management.

Marcia Hawkins:         And you send them one at a time, correct, Kim?

Kim Flynn:       I do, they come one at a time. Yeah.

Marcia Hawkins:         Yeah. I just got mine today, I’m quite excited about that. I know you can never stop dreaming so I’m really excited about that.

Kyle Clouse:    I actually – Kim, have a question about organization and more so about organizing your time. When I went through your blog, I came across a couple of posts that you’ve put up and I have to say, this really does apply more to women than men but one of your blog posts you have, how to do business hair in three minutes. Number one is how to put on a five-minute makeup and I had to laugh but at the same time you know, it reminded me of – I’m going to drawback here to 2008 during the election period. When I believe it was President Obama and Hillary Clinton, they went to a warehouse early in the morning, 5:00 in the morning to speak to the employees of this warehouse and one thing that Hillary Clinton said was the difference between Senator Obama and myself is that I actually have to get up at 3:00 to get my dress on, get my hair done, get my makeup done and so the effort that is put into something by a woman seems to be much greater than what a man has to do to get business ready per se. So what are some things that women can do or I guess would apply to anyone that business owners can do to organize their time more effectively?

Kim Flynn:       Awesome. So can I first touch on that women getting ready and that women beauty factor that we’ve got going on there? A lot of times people think, oh, it’s a disadvantage to be a woman in business so it’s a disadvantage that we have the extra time to dress ourselves and the people actually notice how we look, things like that. And they want that to be changed, they want us to be androgynous, they want us to turn into men and can I just say, I love being a woman on business. I love walking into an Internet marketing conference and being the only woman. What an incredible advantage. Seriously, what a huge advantage. And so we have such an advantage to be beautiful. We get to spend an extra hour to make ourselves look nice where men are pretty much stuck. I mean if they wake up having a bad skin day, unless they want to go out wearing full makeup, they’re just going to be stuck. And us women get the advantage of making herself beautiful so I love being a woman and taking that extra time.

Marcia Hawkins:         I love that. I know. I know Kyle talks you know, just up in the morning and I’m sure he’s ready to roll and I’m still doing things and I’m talking and it’s so funny. So Kim, we’re going to take a break in a few minutes so I’m just going to have to ask you one quick question. If you had to give me the top three things of advice that you would give to someone thinking about starting their own business, what would those be?

Kim Flynn:       Oh my gosh. The first one would be, just take a first step. Stop the analysis paralysis, stop overthinking things. Just take that first step and don’t think you have to have the full-time like Kelly did. She doesn’t want to take just one step because she wants the whole pie. You have take just one step at a time so that would be my first and probably my only advice right there is just take that first step.

Marcia Hawkins:         That’s so critical too because I think sometimes people get so caught up in what is my logo going to look like and what is going to happen today for me? I really believe you kind of have to plan it as you go because it’s the variable that you cannot forecast that or going to throw that all out the window anyways and I think…

Kim Flynn:       Absolutely and your logo will change three months into business anyway so you might as well just get one and go, hit the ground running.

Marcia Hawkins:         Yeah and in that same vein, if you also find that sometimes people’s perception of what they think their business is going to be like, kind of cements them into that thinking and just kind of shut them down and doesn’t allow them to even think of another option and sometimes that can kind of hurt them as well.

Kim Flynn:       Yeah. People got hurt a lot by mostly what’s in their head. If they would just look at the resources they already have and just ask themselves, what can I do based on the knowledge that I have, and the resources I already have to grow this business without having to wait until, oh I need funding, oh I need a business partner, oh I need a logo, I need all that. Just do the best with what you’ve got and you will move far.

Marcia Hawkins:         Absolutely. I want to remind our listeners if they’d like to call in, if they have a question for Kim or for Kyle or myself, that number again is (347)326-9604 and then you’re going to want to press one to be put into the host queue. Again that number is (347)326-9604 and I’m hoping that was a caller calling in.

Right now, we’re just going to have to take a quick break and then we’ll be right back. Again, this is the Business Preparing for Business radio program on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse. Please stop by and visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and thank you for allowing us to help you prepare your business for business. We’ll be right back.

Alrighty, everybody. Welcome back. Again this is Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse. Our guest for tonight is Kim Flynn, can’t even speak after that break of KimFlynn.com. I certainly want to just take a moment to thank our sponsors, Lehmans.com, thewondermill.com. Just to make sure make sure I get that plugged in for them. I think along with the theme tonight being about women being in business, I think Kim’s resounding message is if you’re thinking about it, stop thinking about it. Just do it. I must say, there’s nothing like taking effective action to get your plan going and get your dream going. It’s just so so important. And also along the way kids, children, dogs, cat, the house, whatever, don’t worry about it. Have a good relationship with your children and get your business going and I just think that’s just really good solid advice. So welcome back, I’m going to bring my cohost back in here because he’s been very quiet. No surprise tonight, Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:    No, I’m a little bit outnumbered and just like third will here is the two women entrepreneurs who are having a great conversation.

Marcia Hawkins:         I’d like you to get in here and get involved.

Kyle Clouse:    Absolutely. I did want to dive in a little bit. We’ve talked a little bit about makeup, hair and being the only woman in…

Marcia Hawkins:         All the important stuff.

Kyle Clouse:    All the important stuff, exactly, yeah, and the woman being the only person in a conference. But I want to expand on that a little bit, Kim, and ask what are some — as you’ve  coached other women and as you’ve been in business for all these years and have had several startups and successful businesses, what are some unique traits that women – that entrepreneur women bring to the business field?

Kim Flynn:       The first time I went to a high-end networking group with a bunch of a millionaire men business owners, and I was the only woman, I was amazed as they went around the table introducing themselves and it was “I am so good at this, I am so good at this, I am so good at this.”And women tend to not do that so much. I kind of wish they would a little bit but that’s one of the main differences is women downplay their successes and men upplay it, if that’s a word. They take a little of grain of something they’re great about and they make it into a very big deal. And they do that strategically to their advantage, which is great. But women can pretty much – you can count on them for being honest and their resumes so that’s the first difference, a little bit more honest and less bluffing in our resumés.

Marcia Hawkins:         Kyle, did we lose Kim?

Kyle Clouse:    I think we might’ve lost her.

Marcia Hawkins:         Well, that was – that’s too bad because that was very good.

Producer:        Yes, you did lose her. So I’ll get her back on just as soon as she calls back in.

Marcia Hawkins:         Okay, sure. Well, Kyle, I think we could probably spend a few minutes while waiting for her to get back on where we can talk about hair and makeup. Is that okay with you?

Kyle Clouse:    Oh, absolutely, yeah. In fact, I need to figure out how to get my hair and my makeup done a lot faster in mornings too, so…

Marcia Hawkins:         Well, I was thinking, we talked earlier today on the phone and we were talking about how getting you out here on the Boston area the Monday after the Super Bowl so we could canvas the Boston area together and meet with some clients and I was thinking to myself, maybe I should just set the first couple of hours up where we could get manicures and pedicures and couple episodes of lifetime and then we can take it from there. How does that sound?

Kyle Clouse:    Absolutely. I’m not above a good pedicure.

Marcia Hawkins:         Well, we’re getting back to what Kim was saying. I do want to talk about it a little bit because I know, after the show tonight, I know you and I are going to have a lot to talk about. I think where Kim was going with that was of men upplaying their resumés and women downplaying the resumes. I mean you’ve been in business for quite a while. Have you found that to be true?

Kyle Clouse:    Oh, yeah, absolutely. In fact, when I look at someone’s resume, like Kim mentioned, you have to look at that with a grain of salt. And do the research on your end and because a lot could be – a person can say a lot of stuff, half truths or untruths, on a resume and – especially when you been in business a long time. Everyone, whenever you ask most people about their business, what do they say? Business is going great. And especially in today’s economy and environment, that’s not always the case.

Marcia Hawkins:         You know, interestingly enough, I found this really remarkable when she was talking about it. She said that they say it and they’re able to use it to their advantage. In other words, she wasn’t insinuating that it was as an egotistical type thing that they were like, “Oh, I’m so good at this and I’m so good at that.” They’re really…

Producer:        Marcia? Excuse me for interrupting. Kim’s back online. You want me to mic her up?

Marcia Hawkins:         Okay, sure. Kim?

Producer:        All right, here she goes.

Kim Flynn:       Sorry about that. I’m not sure what happened.

Marcia Hawkins:         That’s fine. Kyle and I were just – we were happy to fill in the spot here with – we were talking about when he comes out, we’re going to go for manicures and pedicures and get our hair done. But the last thing I said to him before we were able to bring you back on was the fact that I was struck by the fact that you were talking that when men really play up their accomplishments, they’re not doing it to be egotistical, they’re really doing it because that’s what they’re good at.

Kim Flynn:       Yes, yes, it’s completely strategic and it serves them. It absolutely serves them. So I keep trying to tell women I coach, my clients, to talk good about themselves and take that one little thing that they think is insignificant and blow it up and show the world how great that is.

Marcia Hawkins:         Oh, I got to tell you, of everything you said tonight, I think that that’s one of the things I will really take away from this conversation, because I really – looking back at conversations that I’ve had with other women and even men, you are spot on with that. So Kyle, let’s bring you back in again before we get geared off track again with the manicures and pedicures.

Kyle Clouse:    Marcia, you and I have been working together for I guess going on a year now. We’re coming close to a year. And when your partners with someone in business, you get to know them very – on a different level, on a very business-rigid level so I understand your personality when it comes to business. I understand your personality when it comes work ethic. And what I’m hearing from Kim is the same things that I would be hearing from you as well. There’s parallels between the two. One thing that I did want to also talk about is when you’re hiring employees and especially when you’re in the first stages of your business when you’re on the start -up stage, maybe you’re getting funding or trying to really bootstrap your business, how do you hire employees when you can’t – if you can’t afford to hire employees?

Kim Flynn:       Got it. So that’s one of the big things that I teach is you organize and systematize your business. And then as soon as you can, you hire out every little piece that you can, hold on to just leadership on your own. I grew my biggest business that I sold earlier this year that employed about 30 people. I grew it to the point where – or I organized it to the point where it really did run itself. So I was running that business on two hours a week. And a lot of people don’t believe me on that but it really is possible if you just organize it and then hire all those pieces out.

So that’s one of the first questions I usually get on that is well, I’m running this business and it’s taking all of my time. And the only way I can see to the grow it is to work more hours. What can I possibly do? And of course the answer is you have to hire out. And then of course, the reaction is I don’t have any money to hire out. And there’s the principle. When you started out in business, you had no money coming in and yet you invested to start your business. And it’s the same thing when you’re going to grow your business, you don’t have money coming in beyond what would keep your business going but you need to grow it. The same principle applies. You’re going to  have to take that step in the dark and you’re going to have to invest even though you don’t have the money to.

Kyle Clouse:    Yes absolutely. What are some – obviously there’s different niches of business and different structures of business but I’m sure that there are some universal laws to business organization to get to that point where your business was running itself and only required a couple of hours on your end of management. So what are some universal laws that a person can use to organize their business and structure it that way?

Kim Flynn:       I’m going to point you to a very common book that’s known in the business  world, and that is the e-Myth, so it’s the letter E – M Y T H, the e-Myth, and it talks about how to structure and organize your business and pretty much sums it up like a franchise. And as soon as I found that book, I did that to my business. I structured it all out and I had it all out and it worked like a charm.

So the basic principle is you just organize your business, you break it up into five different chunks, five different pieces. And those pieces are number one is finance, so what you would do is on a piece of paper, you would write down all of the things that you do on a regular weekly basis in  finance, whether that’s recording expenses, paying bills, whatever it is that you do for finances. That’s your first piece.

Second piece is customer service, and again you write down everything that you do on a daily or weekly basis to keep up with customer service. This is answering your e-mails, answering the phone, anything like that so deals with customers that are already working with you. And again you just line item that out, write everything down that you do with customer service.

Third piece is product development. And I work with a lot of coaches and speakers and trainers also, and for some reason, we love to create more and more and more products as a comment I see in women and so you’re going to write down product development, everything you do on a daily-weekly basis to create or keep up with your products.

And then two more pieces here, the next one is marketing. This should be, and I put should in emphasis, it should be your most busy center of your business. You should spend most of your time in marketing.

Marcia Hawkins:         We know a thing about, don’t we, Kyle?

Producer:        Excuse me, Kyle and Marcia. We have a caller on the line. It’s Michelle. When you’re ready, if you would like to talk to her, just let me know and I’ll mic her up.

Marcia Hawkins:         Okay, thanks, Larry. Go ahead, Kim. Let’s finish that last piece. That sounds important.

Kim Flynn:       Yes,  absolutely. So marketing is number four and then last one is leadership. And leadership is the only piece you cannot hire out. I see a lot of people trying to hire this out when they’re like “Well, I’m stuck, I don’t know how to do marketing, I don’t know how to set up auto responders. I’m really – I don’t know enough about marketing.” So therefore, hire a VA and they will know how to do it. And that is hiring out leadership. That’s something you cannot do. You can’t hire out leadership.

So once you get those five pieces all ironed out, your whole business down on paper, you just have written everything that you do on a daily-weekly basis in those five areas, then you simply pick which one you like the least, and that’s usually finance, and put an up on Craigslist or Facebook or wherever you want to put it and say I’m looking for a finance person, and then you get rid of that piece. You then take the time that you want to spend on that finance and you don’t invest that into TV watching time. You don’t invest that into I don’t know, whatever it is that you want to do, play on Facebook. What you do invest that into is marketing. All of your time should go into marketing and leadership. That’s where you want to spend your time.

Marcia Hawkins:         It looks like we got that nailed, Kyle, huh?

Kyle Clouse:    Yeah, absolutely.

Marcia Hawkins:         Well, let’s bring the caller in, Kyle.

Kyle Clouse:    Okay, let’s go ahead and do that real quick. I want to follow up on your product development in a little bit as well, Kim. Now let’s go ahead and bring the caller on right now, Larry.

Producer:        Yes, she’s on the line. Go ahead.

Marcia Hawkins:         I think her name was Michelle.

Caller Michelle:  Hi there, how are you?

Marcia Hawkins:  Hi, Michele. Welcome to the program.

Caller Michelle:  Hi, Marcia. Thanks so much. And Kyle and Kim, how are you this evening.

Kyle Clouse:    Oh, great.

Kim Flynn:       Hi, Michelle.

Caller Michelle:  Hi. My question, Kim, it was just – I had a question with regard to time management. There’s truly not enough time in the day. And I wanted to find out what is – I wanted to know what is important staying focused on that task to follow through to completion and then going from creating that list per se?

Kim Flynn: I’m sorry, what was your question? You want to know how to…

Caller Michelle:  About time management and how to find out what is most important staying focused on that task.

Kim Flynn:       Oh, my goodness! Well, I have a whole program for that so I can’t cover that in one second. Let’s see, how could I answer that in a nutshell in sort of a two-day training? Let’s see. Well, a lot of people do the pick your one thing that you want to get accomplished that day and focus on that and then as far as finishing that one task, I see a lot of people write on their to-do list. They write goals instead of tasks. So a goal would be like grow my Facebook following or something like that. And that’s the result that they want but that’s not the task to actually get them there.

And so when you pick your accomplishments for the day, choose a very small task. For example, if you wanted to grow your Facebook following, you would reach out to five friends and seriously, that is the task. So pay attention to goals versus tasks and then also I would never ever, ever, ever write anything on a to-do list that takes me longer 30 minutes to an hour to do. If you have a big project and you just put it on your to-do list as this one giant project, build website, it will never happen because it’s so scary and huge. So you really are just going to take one little bite at a time. You’re going to eat that elephant one little bite at a time.

Kyle Clouse:    Can I ask you real quick? On the tasks portion, if you pick a task in the day, isn’t it – especially when you’re running a business because if you’re not generating income, your business is dead. You’re going out of business. And so when you’re picking a test to focus on in a day,  shouldn’t your most important task be an income-generating task and not something that is not directly tied to generating income?

Kim Flynn:  Yes, I love that you said that. I have my own spin if you know Steven Covey’s quadrant system. But I have my own quadrant system, it’s the Kim Flynn quadrant system. And the Q1 tasks are things that need to be done now and make you money. And if you evaluate your marketing, just I’m talking to any business owner in general, if you evaluate the things that you do for marketing on a day-to-day basis, a lot of those marketing tasks do not immediately generate income. So if you’re in a state in your business where you need income now, focus on only those Q1 tasks, things that bring you money right now.

And those marketing tasks that are Q1 are often the ones that people do not want to do. Taking that perspective client out to lunch, knocking on doors, whatever it takes, it’s usually those face-to-face a little bit harder things to do to close those sales to get the money coming in now.

Kyle Clouse:    Well, that’s – that actually works to our advantage because Marcia loves the face-to-face contacts.

Marcia Hawkins:         I do, I do, I just love telling people about my business and sometimes probably to their dismay.

Kim Flynn:       And that’s something only another business owner could enjoy, right? I love that you got articles in businesses as well. We can talk about it all day long.

Marcia Hawkins:         Yup, exactly, exactly. Well, I just find that my enthusiasm for the business cannot come through a phone call or an e-mail. I know that every appointment I go on – just a couple appointments I was on today they were saying “Oh my gosh, I can just see how excited you are about this!” And I really am because I’m very passionate about what I do so – and I know it comes through on the skin-to-skin contact as opposed to on e-mail where they just certainly can’t – I can’t generate the enthusiasm that I can in person. So…

Kim Flynn:       Yeah and that’s actually the emotion that sells the best. So happiness, security, love, peace, all those are wonderful. But excitement, enthusiasm is the emotion of sales. That’s what makes it go by.

Marcia Hawkins:         Yeah and I think conviction. I have a lot of conviction about what I do and I completely 150% believe in what I do. And I think that, that comes through in person and it just really cannot penetrate via an e-mail or a phone call for sure.

Kim Flynn:       I love it, I love it.

Marcia Hawkins:         Yeah. Kyle, you all set?

Kyle Clouse:    Yeah, one thing that I want to talk on Kim was just – or actually bring up, it’s not necessarily a question. But you talk about how you and other women business owners that you know your – you like product development, you’re into product development and to me that’s an income generating task is developing a product. And there’s a good book out by MJ DeMarco called the Millionaire Fast Lane, and don’t let the title fool you. The title of the book is a ploy off of marketing to the masses. But he talks about product development and there’s two types of people in general in the world. We have producers and consumers. And the consumers are the ones spending the money. The producers are the ones making money. And so product development falls right in line with being a producer, that was very interesting.

Kim Flynn:       I love that, I love that. Just a little quick comment on that. I see a lot of my clients get stuck in the trap of having a lot of products or different products to sell and they haven’t produced marketing plans to sell those products that they already have and so they move on to develop more more and more products. And so product development is wonderful but let’s sell what we got first.

Marcia Hawkins:         Oh, amen.

Kyle Clouse:    Sure, yeah.

Producer:        Kyle, Marcia, you have – this is Larry again. Marcia, this – we have a caller. Bethany has a question for Kim.

Kyle Clouse:    Oh sure, bring her on

Marcia Hawkins:         Welcome on, Bethany.

Producer:        Just a second, I’ll put her on right now. There she is.

Marcia Hawkins:         Okay. Hi, Bethany.

Caller Bethany:  Hello. Hi. I’m excited to call in and ask Kim a question. I’ve actually been taking the very first videos in her site’s free video course and they’re wonderful. They’re very inspiring. I have online business called fit2b studio and it offers online yoga workouts and Pilates workouts to stay-at-home moms. And what I’m caught up in right now is I’ve had this business for a year, we launched it and we’re in the black. But we’re not really making the time and we are not in the place where we need to because we’ve been able to do everything ourselves. What I’m running into right now is that it’s just scary playing big because there’s a lot of big names in fitness that I’m up against. And they teach very differently than I do. And some of them are very anti-mom. They just don’t know how to train moms. And I get a lot of flack and sometimes some outright criticism. And what I want to ask Kim is do you have any encouragement for somebody that’s in my shoes that I just often, and I left this in the chatbox too, I just kind of feel like a mouse among lions. Like have something I want to do, I’m different than all of you but people assume I’m the same. How do I show I’m different but not put you down? How do I play with the big people but not be like them? That’s probably 12 questions all at once, but…

Kim Flynn:   I’m loving you right now. You are darling. First of all, I want to congratulate you for plugging your business. Good job. Can you plug it again? Again, tell us your website again.

Caller Bethany:  Oh, it’s fit2b studio and the website is fit2b.us. And yeah, it’s mom-friendly, family-friendly modest home workouts that are on videos, streaming HD videos for the family. So but it’s just really different. We don’t dance around in our skivvies. And we don’t do – but we do a lot of other stuff and I get a lot of criticism for that.

Kim Flynn:  Awesome. Okay and criticizing you? The big guys are criticizing you?

Caller Bethany:  Actually, no. It’s the everyday mom that just isn’t there – well, you know you’re different. Well, wait. But I haven’t seen your sixpack, I mean not  literally, like well,  I haven’t seen you naked, are you – do you really have something – literally how does – what are we messing?

Kim Flynn:       I love it. So Bethany you just hit on a phenomenon that astounds me almost every day. And that is when another woman stands up to play big, it is not the men that is – that pulls her down. And it is the other women. It’s also not your competitors that usually pull you down, especially the ones that are playing big, they want to help you, encourage you. It’s the normal everyday women that for some reason, we see another woman playing big and we want to yank them down into that crowd bucket.

What advice I have for you, all I can say is I totally relate. I completely relate to that. It’s just one of those things where you have to – I just went to a training last week and this guy said, “Haters are hurters,” you know that kind of thing. And so whenever some woman stands up to criticize me and I get criticism from all over the place as well, I just have to think, bless them, they must be hurting, and then do everything in your power to never pull that other woman who’s trying to play big.

Marcia Hawkins:         Oh, Bethany, we’re going to be running out of time here for a moment so we do want to thank you for calling and website again real quick?

Caller Bethany: fit2b.us.

Marcia Hawkins:  Okay. All right, Bethany, thanks so much for calling in. Call back in on another show. I’m sure we’ve got more stuff we can talk to you with. And again, we are unfortunately out of time, but I got to say, Kim, please, please, please tell us you’ll come back.

Kim Flynn:  Yes, I’d love to. Can I also put in a free training call tips for all the listeners here today? I’m doing this call next week. It’s called – you can go to FreeTrainingForWomen.com. Men are invited too, you just have to be extra brave to be on a call that’s entitled Free Training For Women. We’re going through some rockstar content on that and that’s next week again.

Marcia Hawkins:  Perfect and we’ll post that on our Facebook page as well. So I do promise we will be back next week, Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. We want to thank you so much for listening. We also want to of course thank our sponsors and of course our guest tonight, Kim Flynn at KimFlynn.com. And of course to you, our listeners and our callers tonight, please be sure to check out her website. She’s got lots of great stuff there. This certainly was an uplifting and informative and preparative show. We sure hope you’ll visit our site, NewYorkShopExchange.com, and get your business moving with video on your very own Video Business channel. We look forward to sharing an hour with you all next Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and again, thanks so much. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost, Kyle Clouse. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.

Male:   You’ve been listening to Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.  Questions or comments?  Email the show at info@newyorkshopexchange.com.  Also, find them on the web at NewYorkShopExchange.com.  Until next time for the best tips on how to manage and grow your business, tune in again for Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

David Foster is the CEO and Founder of the Fan Page Engine, which provides business owners an easy to use tool to help them in the custom creation of Facebook Fan Pages.  The Fan Page Engine also specializes in fan page design and the build out of some highly customized fan pages.  So you can either do it yourself or higher them to build it for you.  Dave is also the co-founder of the Social Media Engine which teaches the small business owner how to use Social Media effectively.  Dave is also the Co-Founder of the Hubze which is an informative site for business owners on providing them with the most up to date social media and online marketing services.

Male:   Preparing Business for Business is on the air.  Join hosts Marcia Hawkins, President of the New York Shop Exchange and Kyle Clouse, Vice President for insightful and creative strategies to prepare your business for business.  Listen in for great guests and great offers from our guests and sponsors, as well as thought-provoking dialogue.  Preparing Business for Business offers usable content, insightful ideas and resources to jumpstart your business in an effective, economical manner and to prepare your business for growth and challenges. And now, your hosts for Preparing Business for Business, Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Marcia Hawkins:  Good evening, everybody. Welcome, welcome aboard to this Business Preparing For Business radio program on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost Kyle Clouse. Today is Wednesday, January 11, 2012. That just sounds like just crazy. Seeing like we were just on the Internet this Christmas. But here we are in — smack dab in the center of the week, second week of January. Wow, I just don’t understand where time goes. So we do welcome you to the Business Preparing For Business radio program. The theme of our show is to provide you with the tools, contacts, products and services to best prepare your business for more business. Or if we can assist you in what we all know how really challenging times right now.

Periodically, we have guests on our program that through experience, problem-solving, different methodologies that they’ve developed and implemented into their own business some ideas, strategies that have really worked for them and if you can take that information and use it and apply them either to your own business or business that you’re going to be starting, well, then our job has been completed. Many of the preparedness listeners tune in to hear helpful tips or information and find out resources for preparedness products. So we essentially do the exact same thing except we apply ours to business.

Now whether you’re going to be starting business in 2012 or you’re trying to expand your business, grow your business or again if you just need some resources to help you overcome some challenges that you may encounter, then again, that’s where we come in.

So Kyle and I welcome you to our program and we invite you to e-mail us at info@newyorkshopexchange.com. That’s what we do for our business. We do video marketing. If you have any questions, if there’s any – if you’re listening and you think you’ d make a great guest for us, by all means, please make sure to e-mail us at info@newyorkshopexchange.com. Any questions, comments or if you’d like to be in the show. Now let’s bring Kyle in. Kyle, how are you?

Kyle Clouse:  Hey, I’m doing very well, Marcia. How are you doing?

Marcia Hawkins:  I’m good. I’m really excited. Last time we had our guest on we had quite an entertaining show. I enjoyed David so I would like you to introduce our guest tonight for us.

Kyle Clouse:  Absolutely. Well, David Foster, he’s the CEO and founder of the Fan Page Engine and what the Fan Page Engine is is they provide business owners an easy-to-use tool that helps them in the custom creation of Facebook fan pages. And the Fan Page Engine also specializes themselves in fan page, Facebook fan page creation and the buildout of some highly customized customizable fan pages and so the site serves as dual purpose, you can either do it yourself or hire them to do it for you.

David also is the Co-Founder of the Social Media Engine, which teaches a small business owner how to effectively market their business using mediums like social media,  and David is also the Co-Founder of The Hubs, which is an informative site for business owners that provides them with the most up-to-date social media and online marketing services, so David is a very busy guy. He’s just been recently brought on by the Ron Paul campaign to help them with their social media or whatever they got involved with them. He’s been recently brought with them so very sought-after expert with social media, Facebook fan pages and so on so on. So we’re really excited to have him on our show tonight.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah. Welcome, Dave.

David Foster:  Thank you for that awesome introduction. Wow.

Marcia Hawkins:  Some of those – when I was being introduced on another radio show, I think, do they have the right guest? Everything we said about you is the truth so you were …

David Foster:  Well, thank you. And yes, I remember the last time I was on, I was sitting in my car. I believe Thanksgiving,wasn’t it?

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, welcome back, yeah, we really we have so much to go over. We clearly did not cover everything that we wanted to cover so we absolutely had to bring you back. And I’m just going to jump right in here. And we’ve got so much going on this year given the fact that it’s an election year. And you told us right before we went on the air how you had been tapped to help with the Ron Paul campaign. So how exciting is that?

David Foster:  Well, that is so exciting. I mean when we first got involved, I reached out to the campaign because I noticed some things they were not doing on Twitter and not doing on Facebook and just bugged them and bugged them until I actually got a meeting with one of the – Matt Collins, the social guy for the campaign. And then they contacted me and asked me about their pages, so I more or less first went in and worked on the coalition pages and then I had them contacting me personally and asking me to more or lock out and logging into all their personal profiles to lock them down so people couldn’t find them when doing searches when they’re doing press releases and stuff. So it was interesting being logged in to their personal Facebook accounts and making them private for them because they have no idea what they were doing there. So it’s been a very successful social campaign. I mean we had an article on all Facebook showing that Ron Paul’s social campaign is actually performing better than any of the others’ so that’s pretty cool.

Marcia Hawkins:  Good for you. I love that. You noticed that they were doing something wrong and you were like “I can fix this.” Got to love that. Got to love that.

David Foster:  Yup, exactly. Well, and I was relentless. I did not stop until somebody contacted me because I know how this is a crucial election year. I mean I think this is the most important election of our lifetime and so I just feel like I wanted to do my part and this is what I do so I want – and now I’m doing it.

Marcia Hawkins:  Good for you. I love that. I think the theme there is the persistence factor.

David Foster:  Yup, exactly.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yup, absolutely. It definitely is. This year, I mean the fact that we are really – we are kicking into high gear of the 2012 election. So with that said, do you see or what do you forecast is really going to dominate the political arena in terms of social media?

David Foster:  Well, I was – I just feel that it’s a completely different game from 2008 when the election happened last and – but if you look at Obama, how he more or less one because of social media and because of the younger voters he was actually able to bring out and Ron is closing out universities when you goes to speak because there’s people reaching out. I mean we have grown by about 400 and some thousand fans on his fan page since we really started engaging. And so I think that it’s going to play a part. But unfortunately, the most money wins it seems, so we’re giving it all we’ve got but unfortunately I just don’t – you know what I mean? That it’s like the person with the most money is who they look at the most. And that’s sad.

Marcia Hawkins:  Exactly. Yeah.

Kyle Clouse:  One of the things you mentioned, Dave, and the way I see it, social media, it doesn’t matter if you’re running a campaign or if you’re running a business. There’s a lot of universals involved and everything is basically –can be transferred from one niche or a company or your just to another and they can use the same processes and procedures. And one of the things that you mentioned was you noticed some things that the Ron Paul campaign was not doing on Facebook and Twitter and I don’t want to say what they’re not doing or what they were not doing, we don’t want to give any insider secrets out, but what should they have been doing that you stepped in and help them to do? And maybe we can apply that into someone’s business, what they could be doing as well?

David Foster:  Well, first of all, spending a little bit more money or spending money, period, on Facebook ads instead of that TV ads is much. I mean you’re looking at – most of the time, I mean people still think old school. They want to run – they want to rent billboards, they want to get magazine ads, they want to do radio and TV, which is effective but in social media right now, I got to say it’s a completely different animal than it was in 2008 because you’ve got many, many active users logging on every day and when they’re on that website you’ve got their attention. They’re not – I mean I know sometimes some people are doing other things but for the most part, they’re there, they’re engaged, they’re out looking for things so you got them on they’re really open to click stuff.

So running some ads on there and also just engaging the page a lot more, sharing photos when he was going to be on Jay Leno, sharing photos of Joe Rogan with a picture of him and a picture with Vince Vaughn and just different things to get people “Oh, this is cool!” and then commenting so just more or less showing – like I told you guys last time, to just be more personal. Yeah, you’re a politician but reach out and show personal pictures, show pictures – we have pictures of him with his iPad showing like how the fundraising was going and people just love that stuff because they feel so personally connected to him that way.

Marcia Hawkins:  That’s interesting because you’re right. I mean the radio, the TV, the print ads, they are effective, obviously. And they need that. But to drop the ball in social media would, in my opinion, cause them the election, and I’m sure you can agree with that.

David Foster:  Oh, I agree.

Marcia Hawkins:  Absolutely. And that’s true because it’s really funny when they get into like a town hall debate or they’re doing one of the debates with the other candidates or they’re in a – they’re stumping in a particular city right before a caucus or a primary, they really – everything is very, very scripted. And I really believe that seeing the personal side of the candidate is really I believe what sways the voter. And segueing that into a business owner, they really have to have the ability to kind of show their fun side as well. And I really — I completely understand, how can somebody, in addition to some of the social media – is there another angle that they can at onto social media pages that will allow them to kind of expand upon that?

David Foster:  Well, I mean one thing that we have always had a lot of success with is videos. I mean people just love videos. They like to take the time, sit down and do those. And another thing that we – we had no idea, we just started doing –we were doing the blog talk radio and we decided you know, we’re trying to get on a schedule and be in somewhere at 3 o’clock, every single day was just hard for me because I’m so – I mean I got so many things going on. So Scott ended up doing the shows by himself.

So I started doing a podcast. And we must’ve just landed on a niche of some kind because our subscriber rate has just skyrocketed. And so the podcast, something that you can actually – they can hear you, they can see you, like images, like pictures, something that they can see that there’s a personal side to your business. Because like I was saying the last time, if you’re just all stiff and just promoting and just talking in business language, people don’t talk like that. It’s like talking to a robot. And you don’t want to come across as a robot so video, I mean video is awesome. If you own a restaurant, put a video of your menu. You should go back and show your chef cooking your special for the night and say “Come and get this,” “Does it not look good?” or something like that. Just little things like that, the people are like “Oh, Wow! Look at this video of what they are making here. This looks really good. We should go try this place out.”

And so we actually just merged with another company that does social media management like full service. And so we’ve been seeing different things that they’re doing for local businesses that’s really helping them with their fan page like the things that they’re engaging, like how they’re asking questions, how they’re promoting their specials, how they’re running little deals, and it makes all the difference. I mean weve got a local restaurant here, and we are in Tallahassee, it’s not a very big place, it is the state capital but when the college kids are here, I think I want to say 150,000 or something. So they got 5,000 fans on this restaurant page and they are engaged. I mean you got people sharing their deals, sharing images and it’s to see that much action going on just because they’re involved, just because they’re making videos, just because they’re sharing images of their menu, just because they’re giving to college kids because we all know college kids are broke and love to eat. So if you can tap into that, your home free.

Marcia Hawkins:  Exactly.

Kyle Clouse:  Right.

Marcia Hawkins:  And the fact that you mentioned video, Dave, is it too premature to tell you that I love you?

David Foster:  Oh, no, that’s fine.

Marcia Hawkins:  Go ahead, go ahead, Kyle.

Kyle Clouse:  I was just going to say it’s interesting that Dave brought up video and also that you brought on a social media marketing company that manages campaigns, because as you know, we do video marketing and we do video promotion. We use video as a means of promotion. And we also do the management end of that as far as the video creation. We see that a lot of businesses, they want to be able to focus on what they do best, which is running the business and have someone else take over the marketing end of that, so very interesting. One of the thoughts that I had, Dave, was as we’re talking about that – social media and how social social media is becoming a means of communication, one thing that I thought about was even with television and with the news, breaking news will hit social media before it hits the TV, as you can really see where this trend is moving as far as engagement with social media and it really being able to stay in front of your customers and clients and being engaged with them and creating that relationship with them.

David Foster:  Well, you know why that is. That’s because most of these news people are getting their news from tweets. So the tweets are just ahead of the news because they’re like “OK, where’s the big stories? Well, let’s go to Twitter.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, you always hear people talking within the social media saying “Oh, I thought on Facebook,” or  “Someone tweeted me on that.” That’s very true.

David Foster:  Yup.

Kyle Clouse:  Yup, absolutely. One thing that I saw when we were talking about trends, where trends are moving, I’m – if I look back, as we’re talking about the elections, kind of get back in 2008, I see President Obama when he won the election, I think it was I mean largely due the fact that he was utilizing social media. And so as we see this trend coming now with 2012, we see that businesses, politicians, everyone are taking social media more seriously, they’re really looking at it and looking at ways in which they can engage their customers and their client and their client bases. As you guys have brought on this social media company that manages these different accounts, tell us a little bit about that service and what benefits that has for a business owner?

David Foster:  Well, one thing that has really helped, and I’ll just use the Ron Paul campaign for an example because we’ve been working closely with that, is we can target keywords, we can target Ron Paul or whatever, and find out anything good or bad that anybody’s saying and then actually if its bad, it  flags it and lets us know that it’s bad. And I don’t know if it picks up keywords, how it does it, but there‘s some kind of algorithm in the program that they use so we can go out and nab those faster and talk to people and try to figure out what issues they have and then always ends up being about foreign policy or whatever.

So it’s just what they can basically do is brand awareness and then going out and doing like brand repair, reputation management. Reputation management and social media is huge because if you start out and you do a couple of things wrong and you end up getting a bad reputation, sometimes it’s hard to repair because it can go so viral so fast. So you really want to be careful with your reputation and you want to know if people are out there talking about you, good or bad. So what they do is they put you in the system, they look at the keywords and put in your company name and all that and then they can see like alle these sites, Yelp, Citysearch, all these different places that people have done reviews on urban spoon of you, it all comes back and then they can go and they can reply to those comments and they guaranty to do it within 24 hours so that people, even if they have a bad experience, and they leave it all public if they had a bad experience, if you deal with the right way and people see that publicly that you dealt with that issue, They’re like “Oh, these people, I went and got ice cream and it was melted by the time I got it. Okay, well they reached out to me, they gave me a free ice cream and guaranteed that it wouldn’t happen again.” So the customer, even though they may have had one bad experience, ends up – the total experience ends up being good. So that to me is one of the most important things they do.

And then also as just knowing the industry enough to know what – if a restaurant needs to run kind of promotion, a hormone therapist needs to run this kind of promotion, a lawyer or attorney needs to run this kind of promotion so they’re really understand how to get the likes and fan engagement for your niche and not just any fan, because quality is so much better than quantity on social media as well. Everybody seems to think well, the more fans you have, the better, the more successful you’ll look to people. But if you go to a page that has 10,000 fans and nobody’s liking comments, nobody’s posting anything, nobody’s sharing anything, that really to me speaks bigger volumes because that tells me that that page is not engaging the correct way.

And so if you go to any page they manage, they’re engaging you the right way, they’re engaging at the right times like there are certain restaurants that close at 5 o’clock so they’re not posting a deal at 4 o’clock for that company. They’re doing it the day before when they close early and then they know that the people for this company are more – they have more conversations in the evening so somebody manages that page in the evening where one page might be people are going to eat breakfast at this place because that’s what they’re famous for, so there’s more people engaging in the morning so they are there in the morning.

So they really get to know the brand on a personal level, even the menu and all that so – because knowledge is power, if somebody’s asking a question about a crêpe or something, they need to know what’s in, which one or whatever for a restaurant. So it’s just about they understand how to engage, they understand how to get likes for that specific kind of niche and how to keep your reputation under control.

Kyle Clouse:  Right. One thing that you mentioned that I think is very personal, I’ve actually spoken to business owners who they get mad about it but they shy away from it, they don’t know how to overcome it or how to attack with that, and that is negative comments. A lot of business attacks just they get it a negative comment on Google places or Yelp for any of the other platforms, they’re almost – a,  they want to figure out first “How do I delete that?” which they can delete that but they’re afraid to reply to that or a combat that in anyway and they almost want to ignore it, which I think is a huge no no.

David Foster:  Yeah, no, that is huge. Because if you – the thing that I learned on social media is the bad news travels much faster than the good news. So if you really make it a point to handle those things, to go out there and just it could be very, very – it could be the worst review you’ve ever read, it could make you sick to your stomach, but if you at least deal with it and just do what you have to do to make that customer happy – I mean there’s a reason most of us get in business and that’s because we have a service that we want people to enjoy enough to not only tell other people but to just have a good overall experience. So if you really care about that overall experience, that carries through good or bad. Because you can always take something bad and make something good of it if you do it the right way.

So I never judge anybody by their mistakes. I judge them by a how they deal with that mistake. So most people in social media, if you reach out and you handle the mistake in a good way, then they’re still going to be spreading a positive message. “Yeah, I went to this place and their food was horrible but they reached out, they asked me exactly what was wrong, why I had that bad experience and this was my reason and so they took this thing off the menu and then they gave me a coupon to come in. I went back in and it was a great experience.” And so they just publicly turned that around. So that two-star review could be changed into – because the consumer can change the review. So they could say “I reviewed this two stars before but now it’s five because of the way they handled my problem.”

Kyle Clouse:  Interest, interesting. What are some – I know there’s a lot of talk with tracking social media or tracking the return on investment with social media. What are some things that business owners can do to track their efforts, see if what they’re doing is actually working for them?

David Foster:  Well, I’d like to call it return on relationships rather than return on investment because with – the deeper the relationship you get with your customers, the more you’re going to get out of it as far as return and as return sharing as turn them out a happy customer praising you out in public, that’s a bigger return to me than the investment anyway because I find that – I mean I have not advertised on Facebook or anywhere for six months. And I have no ad budget, period. And that’s because when you have so many happy customers and you’re putting out a good service, people are talking about it and they’re just coming based on that, that’s a return on a relationship for me for having such good relationships with our customers that they want to go out and talk about us obviously because that’s the only way we are making sales.

Marcia Hawkins:  You can’t put a price on that either.

David Foster:  No, you can’t. And it took us a year and a half to get there. I mean I ran – I was running $300, $400 a day in Facebook ads and I just started phasing them out. And for a couple weeks I’m like I’m just going to try not running them. And our sales stayed steady and I’m like oh my gosh, I was probably not even getting many sales from the ads anyway. So six months of no ads and sales still coming in, that’s obvious to me that it’s just our social media, just being on the blog, just engaging our fans, just helping people create their pages and going out of our way – I mean our support team, if somebody has an issue they can’t get through, our support team actually makes a custom video for them walking them through their back-office showing them exactly what they have to do to fix it. I mean we go out a way to make sure people are happy. That’s basically all you have to do.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, I can actually attest to that because I’ve used your fan page engine. I think I became a member of it a year and a half ago when it first began or has been longer than that? I know it’s been a while. But whenever I’ve had an issue, it’s been resolved.

Right now we have to take a quick break and run through our sponsors but we’ll come right back and again, we have David Foster, CEO and Co-Founder of the fan page engine.

Marcia Hawkins:  All right, everybody. Welcome back. This is Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse with NewYorkShopExchange.com on the Business Preparing For Business radio program. Our guest this evening is David Foster. He is the CEO and Founder of the Fan Page Engine and he’s just an awesome guess. I’m sure you guys have been enjoying the show. We went to break, had to pay a few bills and we were talking a little bit about – not a little bit, a lot about online management of your reputation.

And I’m curious if you have any insight. I just find this fascinating that in the line of work but Kyle and I do, we’re – I’m always direct line and I know when I leave an appointment, I call Kyle and say “Jeez, I can’t believe this guy said this.” Why do you think people are so reluctant to really recognize? I even sometimes when I go into an appointment, 99% of the time I’m very well-received but once in a while you just get this real ordinary businessperson and they’ll just “I’ve been doing my form of advertising the way I’ve been doing it,” and just really not wanting to just be receptive to possibly doing advertising or marketing or even conducting business in a different manner and trying to keep up with the trends. I mean I don’t know how old you are, David, but in my generation, growing up, things that used to take 30 days now literally take 30 seconds with the Internet. And so I’m really struck by the fact that there are so many people that are so reluctant to A, manage their online reputation, even utilize the Internet for what it is, and more importantly, they don’t see the importance of it. Do you have any insight as to why that is? Because I got to tell you, that’s something that really puzzles me.

David Foster:  Well, and it puzzles me too, and I’m actually – I’m 41 so I remember those days as well, and I think it’s – there’s some people whose business model has worked so well for them and they’re so – like me, myself, three, four years ago, I swore I would never be on Facebook. I swore I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I was doing web design and stuff and I was getting enough clients for MySpace that I thought I’d never need it. And then as soon as MySpace just completely went into the pot with all the spam and everything, I mean I just got so sick to even go on that website, that I had some friends say, “Oh, you need to go and check out Facebook.” So I reluctantly started an account, then my high school buddies started finding me and then got into the business side of it.

And so I think people just have a fear of the unknown and the thing is it’s hard to show. It’s like me walking into their office and saying, “Hey, I have this pen. It’s a really nice pen and it writes yellow ink but believe it or not, you can see it on white paper,” and they’re like “Well, let me see.” “Well, I can’t show you, you’re just going to have to trust me because I don’t have it with me.” It’s like they’re so reluctant because they’ve never seen it work for them. They’ve never seen it happen but how they don’t see how it’s happening for other people, I don’t get. But I think it’s just they get so comfortable, just like anything else it’s like people become so complacent and so comfortable with where they’ve been and where they are, they’re almost scared to jump into something that they don’t understand because with social media, it’s really hard to show a return. I mean you have to at least be in the game for a few months before you start to see a considerable return in my opinion.

I mean there are some people who if you have something that’s specialized enough, like we have an ice cream shop here in town called Lofty Pursuits and they also sell like discs, crispy discs and tops and arcade – well, not arcade but the puzzle games and stuff and they have a really fifties-type atmosphere so you go in there and they’ve got the soda jerks and they dress with the old bowties and stuff so it’s very specialized. And they do very well on Facebook. But if you have an attorney, they’ve got all these regulations, they’re like “Well, we can’t say this,” they try to make every post about the legalities and you know and so it’s like it almost doesn’t fit for them.

But I still think that there’s a way where they could utilize it but in most cases, they’re just not open to it and that kind of baffles me too. But I think that what – if there’s enough people as you build your portfolio that you can say “Well, here I have another attorney that’s doing this and he’s had a lot of success,” and then maybe even have a video testimony or something of that attorney talking about that success, which is something we’re doing, we’re reaching out to the local restaurants that we’ve been working on and getting video tests, really nicely done video testimonial, so that we can show clients locally and say “Hey, this is what we’ve done, this is what they’re saying,” like when we run a deal, their place is just packed all day and it’s awesome. They love it. So other customers are like “Well, I want some of that, and you guys doing mobile marketing?” “Yeah.” “Oh, I want some of that.” So as soon as they start to see the success of their friends or their competitors, then they’ll listen little bit more. But if you don’t have that going in, you’d probably be on deaf ears. Plus I think it’s the older generation that have the biggest issue where you can get young guys who will just jump on it, they’ll drop whatever. I need to be on – yeah, I will do it.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, it is a little bit frustrating though I do, I find that when I’m talking with a client that – and like I said, Kyle will tell you we’ve really – have started to really make some headway with our message and people are really starting to resonate with people. But I’m still struck by the fact that people say you know – I mean you can sell them the numbers and you can sell them everything and they still – they just – I think it goes back to what you said. People become so comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s what they know. They know – “I’m so uncomfortable I’m spending so much money with no return but this is what I know and this is what I’m going to do and I don’t know, that it’s foreign to me. It really is. It’s just completely – I don’t get it.” When I’m uncomfortable, the only thing to get comfortable…

David Foster:  As I’m saying I find myself doing that with like my iPhone. Like I was thinking about getting a droid because I wanted to try the Google market and everything but then I started thinking about not having my iPhone and I seriously started getting sick to my stomach because I could run my entire business from this phone so it’s like it’s my business partner. So it would be like turning in my business partner. So I can understand where they’re coming from but…

Marcia Hawkins:  Yup. When I refer to phonedesk I always find it funny when you see people in bars and restaurants by themselves and their phone is like their date.

David Foster:  Yeah. Well, mine’s been my date many a night.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, exactly, exactly. But I just – I really – it’s frustrating but – I – that eventually, they do come around. But it’s kind of funny, it’s like you said when you get people that are really, really excited about what you’re offering them and they jump on, you get the video testimonials, the written testimonials and then you’re able to show like returns for other clients and that’s where it really starts to go. And then of course people , and I guess this is going to segue into my next question – is don’t you find that mentality with social media that even if the resistance like you were like I was in the beginning with Facebook and whatnot, that the eventuality is they do it even like almost subconsciously, because they want to belong? Like you didn’t want to tell someone right now “What’s Facebook?” or “I don’t have – I’m not on Facebook.” “What do you mean you’re not on Facebook? Everyone’s on Facebook.” So do you see that that mentality is what ends up winning out?

David Foster:  Well, I think so. And just a comment on a strategy that you could use to contact or to maybe get them a little bit more interested is go in there with case studies from one of their biggest competitors if you haven’t, one of their biggest competitors or somebody that competes in the exact same market they view and say “This is what they’re doing. So if you want to have – see this kind of success, this is what you need to be doing.” Because – like if somebody came in to me and they’re saying, “Well, this 50s diner is doing this but I’m a guy in a college as well. I can’t – you know…” I mean that’s going to be completely different. So I’ve another guy in the colleges that I work with and this is what he did and this is his results, so you could show that, you know what I mean? Having kind of the same – which that’s a bad example because that’s kind of – that’s one of those you’re going to have a have a big name in an area pretty much to have a kind of a local fan base anyway to build something like that. But because uniqueness does – I mean that does pretty much matter.

But I do think that what you’re saying about eventually feeling like you’re not fitting in, it makes sense. I mean people, it’s almost as like getting on the Internet. I mean people fought it for a while, they’re still sending mail, still sending invoices by mail and still not online in their business. But it’s like they had to bite the bullet because they just started to fall farther and farther behind. And social media is that next medium where they’ll just start to fall farther and farther behind if they’re not on there because I mean I – there’s – I don’t buy anything off-line anymore. I mean I’ll go to Best Buy if I need something like right now or Home Depot or something but most of the time, I’m on Amazon. That is my store. If they sell groceries on there, I’d be buying my groceries.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, I hear you. I just found out a local groceries store now will let you just pull up – you put your order online and you just pull up and they’ll bring your groceries out to you, it doesn’t get any easier than that.

David Foster:  Well, when I lived in Portland, Oregon, we had an organic food – nature market or something, I can’t remember the exact name and I would just get online, fill my cart and then a truck would bring my food right into my home.

Marcia Hawkins:  Got to love that. I really do believe that what we’re talking about earlier and I think that the common denominator with all of this is the fact that people resist change at all cost even if it’s going to save them money, and I don’t understand it. I’m not like that. I would not consider myself in that category. I embrace it. I always find if there is an easier, cheaper, more fun, more dynamic way to do things, I’m all about that. But I just – I think business owners, I think – I don’t know, maybe it’s the fact that we’re dealing with the egos. Sometimes people really want to believe that the way that they mapped it out in their mind and I just find that if you can just accept the fact that what you’ve envisioned in your mind may not be the way it translates out but if you figure it out and it works, who cares?

David Foster:  Exactly.

Marcia Hawkins:  Who cares? What do you think about that, Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Oh, absolutely. I was thinking, as we’ve been talking about – and I’ll use your term, Dave, return on relationship, one of the things you mentioned earlier was taking three to four months to see a return on a relationship and I think there’s two – there can be two problems with that is A, the business owner isn’t seeing a return where we live in a microwave society and they’re not seeing a return within the first day of the first week and I think other social media stuff doesn’t work and then they quit. And secondly, why do you think it does take three to four months to see that return on a relationship? Is that because we’ve been so innovated with advertisements that we’re – as a people, we are more cautious before we purchase something? And we want to see kind of the relationship build before we make that step?

David Foster:  That’s almost like trying to figure out how I can walk a mile in one step. It’s like you can’t – like if I came up to you and you didn’t know me – I mean this is the way people need to think. People need to think of the old school face-to-face, meet and greet, I come up to Kyle Clouse, I shake your hand and I get to know you. I’m not going to say “Hey Kyle, come on over here and like my fan page because I have all these specials and everything.” I’m going to want to build – “Hi, how you doing? Nice to meet you. So what do you do, where are you from?” It’s kind of like you have to build that little relationship. Will some people move faster? Yes. Some people just – it’s like the difference between dragging a stubborn donkey to water or guiding it to water, letting it to go to water on its own. If you try to drag, you are going to drag and it’s going to fight you the whole way.

But if you just set your expectations to just get to know people and build relationships the way that we used to, then that’s a more realistic expectation. But if – we’re so spoiled with the fast-food mentality that everything has to happen so quick because we can go online and order something and have it delivered the next day. We can go to McDonald’s and have food ready in a minute and a half, not that I don’t eat there so that anybody that listen to this, please – anybody that I know, I don’t eat McDonald’s. But you know what I mean? We just had that mentality, and people need to understand that social media is about being social. And you just don’t go blast an ad in somebody’s face and expect to build a relationship off that because the relationship starts off on the wrong foot right from the beginning.

Kyle Clouse:  Right, right. Yeah, yeah. I don’t know, just a segue from what you said, I don’t know very many people from Oregon who order their groceries online through an organic store that eats in McDonald’s.

David Foster:  Yes. And biodiesel crops delivered by the way.

Kyle Clouse:  I would think that I want to get into, Dave, as well is kind of we’ve been talking for about 45 minutes about why a business needs social media and why the need to engage? Let’s talk a little bit about what the Fan Page Engine and the Social Media Engine, what can they do for a business in helping the business? Like if I’m the business owner, I’m listening and saying to myself, “OK, I’ve already got a fan page. I have a fan page on Facebook. So why do I need the Fan Page Engine? What would be your response to that?

David Foster:  Well, to me, it’s important to be taken seriously from the beginning. If you went to – like if I went to your page, to the New York Shop Exchange, and it went directly to your wall, OK, and there’s nothing there that shows me who you are, there’s no branding, I don’t see – even though you might have your logo over on the left-hand side but it looks like you just uploaded your logo and you didn’t take any time to use that real estate, you don’t have any images at the top – because branding, branding is important. It’s very important. And it’s not superficial because when you look at branding, that’s how people get to know you right. So that’s like their first impression and you get one chance to make a really good first impression. So branding at that moment for that very first visit is crucial to the whole rest of that relationship.

So if you impressed them from the beginning because you’ve got a custom-designed fan page that shows your brand, shows what you’re about, it’s easy to maneuver, easy for them to click through to get information, they can look over on the left-hand side and see like ours, we put no monthly fees on there so that people know right from the beginning no matter where they are that that’s our thing. And so they get to know us in that little bit of time where we’ve got that time to either have them stay and like it or walk away. And you’ll still get people to walk away but more people are going to walk away if it goes to my info page in my wall, which I’ve seen a lot of people do.

And then what we really focus on is OK, now we’ve got their attention, they like our branding, they’ve liked our page, now they decide that they’re going to use our builder to customize their page so they do that. Now what do I do? Well, answer’s Social Media Engine? Social Media Engine goes through and we’ll show them how to use that page after it’s branded because it’s important. And one thing that I did, this is how I learned and what was pretty much what created the Social Media Engine is I just went to the top social media marketers’ pages and look what they were doing and emulated it. Because if they’re having success, well then this is what they’re doing, so this is what I need to do.

So if you want to know how to engage a page, come to our page. Look what we’re doing. Go to somebody like Mario Smith’s page who’s in social media, look what she’s doing and emulate it. Look at how she’s engaging. Look at what she’s posting to get shared. She’s doing training information. If you’re – and it varies by niche but it still is the same concept. I mean if you have a lot of local people and they like your restaurants and are putting pictures of your food and – or you’re sharing pictures of your customers and they know somebody, they’re going to share that because they want their family to see that they were at that restaurant or that their picture is actually on the Internet.

So that’s basically – we not only help you brand yourself very well, we help you know what to do with it afterwards because it’s very important that you understand that it takes a commitment. It’s not something you can do willy-nilly like “I’m going to post this every other day and I might get on Saturday and kind of look and see if anybody has commented and follow up with them.” “And here’s the picture that I took like six months ago. Let me see what that will do and upload that and just be like lackadaisical about it.” You can’t do that. You have to be consistent. You have to be there when people are commenting because it’s almost like they’re walking in your store. So you don’t want to be out walking around trying to get new customers in your store when you got somebody at the register. So…

Kyle Clouse:  I like how you put that, it’s as if someone is walking into your store when they visit your fan page. One thing, let me come across as someone that knows absolutely nothing. And one of the things that you mentioned was when someone got to your fan page, if they go in straight to your wall or straight to your info page. And if I’m someone that knows nothing, my – I guess response would be you mean I have a choice, where I can have them land. Explain what that choice is and how the Fan Page Engine helps the part – we’ve already talked about utilizing that but what is that choice? And also we can talk about a reveal and how someone uses a reveal and what those are because you hear a lot of buzz about that.

David Foster:  Yeah. Well, basically on Facebook, you can set your default landing tab so – in your admin section under edit page in your settings, you can set that when somebody comes to your page that has not liked it, this is the tab that they will see. So when you set that tab what you would do is you’d customize your page with the Fan Page Engine, and one thing I want to mention is you don’t need to know any code, you don’t need to know anything, you don’t have to be a web person, you just have to get some images, build your page the way you want to publish it. It goes right your Facebook page. You don’t have to do anything. Then you just go in, you rename the tab to “Welcome Home” or whatever you want and then you set that as your default page so that if somebody is coming from – they see a post on somebody’s newsfeed that they had posted on your wall and they click it and go to your page then they’re going to see your branded page that could be and what Kyle mentioned the reveal tab, people call it a light gate or you know, there’s other terminology but what that is it’s what somebody sees before they like your page. So I could say like this page and save 35% right now so then they like the page and then all of a sudden that image goes away and boom, there’s a coupon under there.

So it’s basically – a light gate means you now have something they see before they click Like and then something that they see after they click Like. And a lot of people use it for like click Like and watch this video and they have the video like there but it’s kind of blurred out and then they click Like and then the videos are there for them to watch. So there’s all kinds of uses you can to do that. But – and a lot of people use that and some people don’t. You don’t have to. But the point is you can set your default landing tab and just brand your business, more or less have your website inside Facebook.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, like there was a lot of talk about 1-800-FLOWERS. They really used that reveal tab with that reveal function to their benefit where  on this fan page they have their branded page and then there was the box that would blink built with a coupon code it was supposed to be  in and when you click like, it takes you to the second page and then that coupon code was revealed to use when ordering flowers. And so there was a lot of buzz that I remember seeing across the Internet about how they were using that to really grow their fan base.

David Foster:  Yeah and I’ll tell you, when we started to review the reveal tab, back when the reveal tab was really hot, our fan base just exploded. I mean it increased by – we weren’t using it before and then we started using it, it increased by about 80%.

Kyle Clouse:   Right. And when you’re offering an incentive for someone to become a fan of your fan page and that’s all – I mean people want something in return. And so if I’m a business owner and I’d come to the Fan Page Engine, I’d create my custom fan page, I came to do it myself, hire you to do it for me, if my branding changes down the road or if I decide to change down the road, am I still able to – can I do that? Can I go back to the Fan Page Engine and do that? And is there an additional charge for doing that?

David Foster:  No, we have – we pride ourselves on being a one-time fee and the reason I do that is because I, too, am a small business. And I understand to try to come out with monthly fees, everybody charges monthly fees, and I looked at our server costs, I looked at our hosting site, like how much space we have and how many users we have and where we were percentagewise. And like get this, we don’t have to charge a monthly fee. So that – I think that’s why we’ve become one of the biggest ones out there is because we are the go to for the people who are just getting started and they can come get their fan page one-time fee and then you can go back and edit at any time. If you happen to get a new logo design then you want to change it, you just log in to your back office, you add your logo, you hit publish and you’re done.

And we do have extra training where we will charge a monthly fee but for the Fan Page Engine product, it is just a one-time fee, and that has been what helped us reach such a large fan base over some of our competition. If you look, they have smaller fan bases. And some people come just for that alone.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, I’m sure you heard that tone. We are unfortunately out of time, Dave, and I can’t thank you enough for coming back and joining us on our program. You are just an absolute fabulous guest. And everytime you answer a question, it segues into about five or six more questions, I haven’t asked but we’re out of time. So we’ll have to have you back again for sure. So Kyle…

David Foster:  Well, I have a question for you next time.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh absolutely, absolutely. I look forward to it. So Kyle and I of course want to thank our guest, David Foster, of FanPageEngine.com and our sponsors of course and of course, our listeners. Please visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and grab your video business channel to advertise your product or service. We would love to host your business video but more importantly, we want to promote your product or service. We will see you next Wednesday evening here, 7:00 p.m. on the Preparedness Radio Network. But until then, you have a great evening.

Male:   You’ve been listening to Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.  Questions or comments?  Email the show at info@newyorkshopexchange.com.  Also, find them on the web at NewYorkShopExchange.com.  Until next time for the best tips on how to manage and grow your business, tune in again for Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Male:   Preparing Business for Business is on the air.  Join hosts Marcia Hawkins, President of the New York Shop Exchange and Kyle Clouse, Vice President for insightful and creative strategies to prepare your business for business.  Listen in for great guests and great offers from our guests and sponsors, as well as thought-provoking dialogue.  Preparing Business for Business offers usable content, insightful ideas and resources to jumpstart your business in an effective, economical manner and to prepare your business for growth and challenges. And now, your hosts for Preparing Business for Business, Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Marcia Hawkins:  Alrighty, everybody. Good evening and welcome to the Business Preparing for Business radio program on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with my co-host, Kyle Clouse. Today is Wednesday, January 4 – oh, it just sounds like just so cold to me because it’s really cold in the northeast tonight, in the year of 2012. We are heading into the new year, 2012 is upon us. And we have some great shows lined up for you this year, we’re very, very excited about some exciting guests.

So we welcome you to the Business Preparing for Business radio program. The theme of our show is to provide you tools, contact information, products and services, you know, some really good resources to best prepare your business for more business or if we can assist you in any way in these challenging times, we want to be able to be there for you and provide that type of information or resources for you.

Now, we invite guests on our program that through their experiences and problem-solving can really share some of the methodologies and ideas and strategies that have worked for them and that will allow you to use and apply them in your business. So this is – you know, we really try to strategize and really think outside the box when we’re trying to get our guest list together for you because we know when we can find a really effective guest and somebody who’s really made their mark in the business community, we know that there’s something, some little nugget of information in there that they’re going to be able to share with you that you’re going to be able to apply to your business.

Now many of our Preparedness listeners tune in to hear helpful tips on information on Preparedness products. Now we essentially do the same thing, the difference is, we apply ours to business. Now whether you’re starting a business, you’re trying to expand your business, grow your business or your business really needs some strategy and you know, some really problem-solving tools, that’s where we come in. And again, based on some of our knowledge and our experiences and our services that we provide along with our guests that we invite on, we’re hoping that we can really kind of create a cooperative group here for you so that we can really pull those resources out and really try to help you with your business. We’re really passionate about that and I’m sure you hear that in my voice.

So, Kyle and I do welcome you to our program and invite you to email us at info@newyorkshopexchange.com. Again, that’s info@newyorkshopexchange.com for any questions or you know, any helpful hints that you might have that you can share with our listeners or if you’d like to be a guest in our program. info@newyorkshopexchange.com.

So now, let’s not wait another minute and bring my little co-host in here Mr. Kyle Clouse. How are you Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Hey, I’m doing great Marcia. Glad to be to be the little co-host.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well I was going to say my little cohort but I decided to clean that up so…

Kyle Clouse:  Be more accurate.

Marcia Hawkins:  My accomplice, my accomplice I should say. How are you tonight?

Kyle Clouse:  Oh, great. Doing great. You know, really, two things – well, first and foremost, I’m excited about 2012, glad that we’re starting off the new year ready to get back in the saddle with our local search marketing strategies and get things moving after the holidays. As much as I enjoy the holidays, I’m glad to be back in the saddle really pushing out a great year but secondly, where did 2011 go?

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, I know. It seems just like it flew by and I’m – you know it’s really funny, I was thinking about this as I was driving tonight and I’ve been thinking about a lot over the last couple of days and I kind of want to segue into our program with this, we held off on having a guest on tonight for several reasons. We thought it would be kind of neat to kind of jumpstart the new year with just a couple of different tools for the listeners so we’re really going to kind of get into that, in the meat of that in a few minutes. But as I was driving today, I was really thinking about how – when you’re you know, the build up of a new year, you know, new year’s eve, the new year’s resolutions and all this, you know, the things that people really think about. I’m sure most people don’t realize but gym memberships, fitness memberships catapults, just absolutely skyrocket in the first week of January right after the holidays. And the reason for that is people really feel commited to change, you know. They really want to try to lose that extra 10 pounds where they – you know, just – people tend to get you know, write goal sheets and do all sorts of new things but I’m really struck by the fact that a lot of people have joined fitness clubs and they did make new year’s resolutions and such but they don’t stick to it.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah.

Marcia Hawkins:  And that’s kind of too bad because for – being able to really, how do I want to word this? Really being able to establish goals, being able to establish changes that they want in their life, changes they want to make in their business and being really commited to that. So I kind of want to talk a little bit about that and how people can really try to change their framing and their belief system to really kind of adapt that philosophy that they not only want to change but their able to take the action to make those changes. I want to talk a little bit about that and kind of segue into where we’re going, about what are becoming the new norms of business so we can kind of go off on a couple of different avenues on that but I know we’re going to specifically talk about marketing.

So it is, it’s 2012 and everybody is just excited to about the new year, we’re in a full blown election year at this point and of course that, in and of itself, everybody is you know, everybody’s talking about changes that they want and things that they want to have happen and I really do believe that you and I are very passionate about one thing and I really want to get in to this. We really believe that small business really need to have an avenue to be able to have a fighting chance of survival. Two-thirds of the workforce is made up by small business and I know you and I are very passionate about finding an avenue and tools and resources for small businesses to be able to not only survive in these challenging times but thrive.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah. You know it’s important, just to kind of bring back to what you’re talking about and we can then segue into this, is you know, businesses have to start – you know, you talked a little bit about mindset and the business owner, especially in 2012, I’m sure that the small business owner is looking, okay, this is the year that I’m going to thrive. And there has to be a shift in the mindset of that person, in the mind of that business owner. As you were talking about the gym memberships and the new year and people starting off something new and really commiting themselves for the first couple of weeks or the first couple of months. You know, I’m a – I have a regular, I attend the gym regularly. And it’s been interesting the past month, you know, everyday that I’m there – 11 months out of the year I’m not – I don’t see the cleaning crew at the gym. I literally do not see the cleaning crew at the gym and for the past month, every single day, they have five – they have a full staff of cleaners at that gym constantly cleaning and I think they’re preparing or trying to get the word out that hey, we’re a clean gym to get those sign ups come January or you know, for this month. And you know, along with that, you and I talk about a book, The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco. Great book, highly recommended. And really, it’s kind of a spin on words when he says in The Millionaire Fastlane, “There’s really no true fastlane unless you want to try your luck on the lottery and live big time.” But he uses that terminology as kind of a selling point to sell his book and he’s a bestseller. But one thing that he posted when we’re talking about mindset, changing lifestyle, changing habits, he said you know – he put up on I think it was Facebook. He put up there that he has a – you know, he was getting his green smoothie ready for his morning breakfast and got a list of the ingredients and he’s putting in that spinach and some other green stuff and you know, just really you know, stuff that people will turn their heads at. And one of the things that he said, he said, “Show me what you have for breakfast and I will tell you how successful you are in your business.”

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh yes, I remember seeing that post.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah. And I think that’s so true. You know, what our daily habits as a business owner, what are we doing to think outside the box, to look at new things and what are our daily, hourly, and minutes habits and do those dictate, are those taking us on a path that’d make 2012 a successful year and will bank?

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, exactly. It really is true. I really believe that people, if they could just map out, you know they do their goal sheet but it’s so easy to write a goal sheet. It’s very, very easy. I think if everybody sat down and made a goal sheet, they would be able to say, yup, this is what I want to do, I want to lose 10 pounds, I want to start a business, I want to grow my business, I want to get my roof done in my house, I want to get my house painted on, get my yard reeling, whatever. But the problem is, what are they doing to take the action to execute that plan? You know, that’s it. Are they executing it? A lot of people, that’s what they struggle with. Very easy to make a list and very easy to really come up with a million and one things that you want to get done but it’s the execution of those plans and those goals that I think really are why usually, by the third or fourth week of January, many of these goals have already been – and resolutions have already been abandoned.

Kyle Clouse:  I think the people are looking for – you know, we live in a microwave society. Instant result…

Marcia Hawkins:  Magic bullet? Is that what’s you’re going to…

Kyle Clouse:  Magic bullet. And people are looking for, they set a goal in a business and they – for the first week or two weeks, third, gung ho on that goal and they’re doing anything possible to make – they’re almost trying to force that goal to happen. And when it doesn’t, when it doesn’t take place or they’d go, it doesn’t work and they give up and stop or get frustrated or whatever and there’s a book out that I read – yeah. Funny thing is, it just slipped my mind.

Marcia Hawkins:  I hate it when that happens.

Kyle Clouse:  One of the things that he talks about, it will come to me, one of the things that he talks about is he says, you know, if you look at someone who’s obese and overweight and you look at them, that wasn’t a one-time event. And it’s the same thing with people who are very successful, we look at those people and we think, oh they just got lucky. They got lucky or they did something right and that…

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, that is such a good point. I hope you do remember what book that is so I can read it.

Kyle Clouse:  Yes. Well, what he’s saying is is that it’s not right. They made decisions every single day and they were serious about their decisions and they were methodical about their decisions and the accumulation of those decisions over a long period of time is – you’re basically seeing the end result of that.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right.

Kyle Clouse:  And that’s the same with people and we’ll get back to that, it’s because it’s kind of an easy thing to draw the analogy from. If you look at someone eating a salad for lunch, that one salad is not going to make that person healthy. And the same thing is true for someone if someone is eating a slice of pizza for lunch. That one slice of pizza is not going to make that person unhealthy or is not going to make that unhealthy.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right

Kyle Clouse:  But the relation of that over time, over months and years will make the difference.

Marcia Hawkins:  You know they say, sum total all of your decisions, that’s so true.

Kyle Clouse:  Exactly.

Marcia Hawkins:  Very, very true. And that’s really true when you apply it to preparing your business, I think that sometimes I get a little frustrated because I feel that people sometimes – even though the fine details are so critical, very, very critical, I find people try to micromanage those details that actually prevent them from actually getting the job done. It’s kind of a pet peeve of mine.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah. I just remembered the name of the book. We’ll come back…

Marcia Hawkins:  What is it?

Kyle Clouse:  It’s Slight Edge. And it’s almost kind of like you know, the name of the book, The Slight Edge, it’s like people that are successful or that make the certain decisions, it’s almost as if they’re walking a razor’s edge of necessity for the success in whatever they set out to do in life.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right.

Kyle Clouse:  They have this you know, the path is – in religious terms the straight and narrow path and it’s the same way in life. It’s a same way in life. If you want to be successful in your business, in life and in family, society, whatever it is, there’s a path to take that is narrow and it’s a slight edge. And every single day, making decisions towards that, the accumulation of that is what get you to your goal.

Marcia Hawkins:  That’s exactly right and I do believe that you know, getting back to the details and execution of goals, you know, it’s really funny when you look at a goal sheet and you really have to take that goal and say, okay, what type of decisions or what type of action plan do I need to instigate in order for this goal to happen? And I’m just struck by the fact that people don’t realize that that writing a goal doesn’t accomplish it. It just doesn’t do that. And I really want our listeners to really look at that and really look at their – I’m a big fan of writing them, don’t misunderstand me. I really believe it’s really your road map. We are our own vehicles to get us to where we need to be, whether it’s in our relationships, whether it’s in our business, our personal goals, whatever. We are our own vehicles. And I use the term a lot that some people are really comfortable hitchhiking and jumping in the backseat and then these other people that are get-out-of-my-way-I’m-going-to-drive-this-vehicle and I think you and I are drivers for sure. But you know, getting – it’s funny they get caught up in the fine details that – I was just having a conversation with one of our team members the other day about how they will spend all this time organizing what their logo’s going to look like and what their business card is going to look like and they get so caught up in all these details that they forget the big picture of actually having a business.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah

Marcia Hawkins:  It just absolutely drives me crazy.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, there’s that – it’s easy to get caught up in things that don’t really matter. And too many people, far too many business owners spend the majority of their time on activities that do not bring in the income, that don’t have an income end result. And then they wonder why they struggle financially in their business.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, and you really don’t have a business without the financial piece of it. You know, without the profitability, you really don’t have a business. And so let’s kind of segue into what we – what the theme of the show is going to be about. You know, starting your business off on the right foot this year. And I again, not to be redundant, I really, really believe that you need a goal sheet. I’m a big proponent of a 30 day, 60 day, 90 day, 120 day goal program. And then one year, where do you want to be one year from now? And really utilizing that as your roadmap to where you want to go, whatever your destination is. You know, you can’t get there if you don’t know where it is that you want to go. So I’m a big proponent of that. And then of course, the action piece of it. You really have to boil those goals down and those objectives or benchmarks, whatever your calling them, to how you’re going to achieve them. You know, if it means you want to grow the business by 25%, 20%, whatever it is, what action are you taking in order to grow that business?

Kyle Clouse:  Yes. There’s no guarantee.

Marcia Hawkins:  And it’s interesting – go ahead.

Kyle Clouse:  A guarantee that people have as they’re setting their business goals for the year, how much growth they want to have, what certain things they want to accomplish within their business. Guarantees and goals you can guarantee there’s going to be obstacles with each goal. And the key is spending about 10% of the obstacle and 90% on the solution.

Marcia Hawkins:  Absolutely. That’s great advice, Kyle. Absolutely right. We talked about this on our team meeting today about how when you join a gym, you know, if you’re – you know, let’s just say you got 50 pounds you want to lose and you sign up for a gym membership and the first week you go and you lose five pounds. You’re working out, you got a trainer scheduled, you go in, you work out, you’re watching what you’re eating and the next week, you’re like, you only make it there one day. And by the first week, you’ve actually put on those five pounds, you’ve gained them back maybe even with a little bit of interest and now all of a sudden you know, you’re not so much liking the gym anymore. When the reality of it, it’s not the gym. It’s the decisions that you made about not committing.

So in commiting to those goals and commiting to what you want for your business and how you – let’s just say for example, you know, growing your business is going to be part of it. You’re looking to increase your revenue by 20 – you know, your gross revenue by 25%. Many people and I would guess that most of our listeners would say, oh I totally would love to grow my business by 25%, 30%, whatever. That’s kind of a slam dunk I think for everybody listening. And I completely agree with that. However, I don’t think that people realistically sit down and figure out what steps they need to take in order for that to happen. And would you not agree, I’m of the belief that 2012 that there’s going to be some breakaway trends? And you and I both know when our business for example, we believe that video marketing is the way that people are going to be spending a lot of their advertising dollars. And of course, we’re happy to say we’re not expensive and there’s a reason for that. Would you like to get in to our philosophy of why we don’t believe it needs to be expensive?

Kyle Clouse:  Well, you know, if you think about it, if you build this system and you’re able to allow someone to plug in to that system or that vehicle or machine that you’ve built and basically automate the process so that it simplifies it, it happens, it’s effective, that should not be expensive.

Marcia Hawkins:  Exactly, exactly. When you can build a product that is superior or provide a service that’s superior and you can make it affordable to the masses, you will be successful. And I believe, Kyle and I are beyond compassionate about that. We truly believe that the product and service that we’ve built for small business, two-thirds of the workforce is small business and we really believe that there has to be a vehicle provided to small business in order for them to survive. Let’s face it, the Internet, where it’s at, you know, phone books, traditional forms of print advertising are really starting to fall to the wayside. And I know just in a lot of the business conversations that I’ve had with a lot of our new clients, they are all about 2012 being the year of change for their advertising and marketing platforms because they’re recognizing that 2011, the traditional forms that they were utilizing were just simply not effective.

So I really believe – I don’t believe, I am commited and I know without a shadow of a doubt that video is going to have a very, very prominent place in the Internet this year. And so what’s become the new norm, Kyle? I mean, let’s go, let’s take a step back historically, what typically has then you know, the number one, maybe the top five advertising avenues for small business?

Kyle Clouse:  I think the number one – well, you know, if you look historically and let’s talk about the last decade or last 20 years, number one has been the yellow pages.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yes.

Kyle Clouse:  Number one, a big advertisement in the yellow pages and you know, where that’s moved now is you can do a search online and most of the time, the yellow pages end up – they’re used for one of two things: they’re just taken immediately from the doorstep into the recycle bin or they’re used as a booster seat for someone with a new child.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. So that’s one.

Kyle Clouse:  Secondly, you know you’ve seen television. Television is another really popular means of advertising. If you look at television and you know, we talked about the switch effect, an advertising switch effect. And what I mean by that is – you know, you talked about this being an election year and this sparked something that I heard on the news last night. As you’re talking about as the GOP, these people running for the GOP as they’re going in to New Hampshire, they were talking about the television advertising spots that the television stations have set aside for political advertisements. And they were saying that Mitt Romney had purchased most of those and that there wasn’t a whole lot left. And so, for anyone who had been sitting on the sidelines, they come in. Now they’re not able to purchase any television advertisement.

But secondly, it also has what we call a switch effect where you pay for the advertisement, you’re on the TV, you hope you get in front of the right audience and when they see your ad the first time, you probably got to run seven different ads for that to really sink in for them to pick up the phone and make that call to your business or walk in your door. But once that advertisement, once that campaign is over, it’s over and it turns off.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right.

Kyle Clouse:  And the only way to turn it back on, you know, pull out the paycheck, pull out your checkbook, write another check to the media station and go through it again. That’s not even including the actors of the television ad or anything that you have to put together just to be on the TV.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. So we’ve yellow book, we have TV, I’m sure you’re going to segue in to radio. Specifically, can you talk about traditional forms of marketing for the Internet? Which is where we usually go in and…

Kyle Clouse:  Traditional forms of marketing, again, it comes back to the light switch effect. I mean, it’s obvious that there’s pay per click, everyone’s under you know, they do the pay per click and they built a search engine and the reason they built a search engine was to get people to use it so that they can sell advertising spots to get in front of the people that are using the search engine. The problem with pay per click is that the click goes to the highest bidder and if you don’t have the pocket for it – well, let’s go ahead and we’ll get back into that after the break, Marcia.

Marcia Hawkins:  Okay. Yeah, we’re going to take a quick break to recognize our fine sponsors. This is the Business Preparing for Business radio show on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse, please stop by and visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and we’ll be right back.

Alrighty, welcome back. Again, this is Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse, this is the Business Preparing for Business radio show and tonight we’re speaking about jumpstarting 2012 off on the right foot for your business. And we’re talking about many things from your goalsetting, to execution of those goals and ways to kind of grow your business to really get this year off to the right start.

Welcome back, Kyle.

Kyle Clouse:  Hey, glad to be back, Marcia. Listening to the sponsors for the night, I’ve actually met the Freeze Dry Guy. So, super nice guy.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, terrific. I know, we’ve got some pretty nice guests on this program, this radio network for sure. Prior to the break, we were talking a little bit about the traditional forms of marketing. We talked about radio, we talked about TV, yellow pages, obviously, the one that comes to mind is newspaper. Let’s talk a little bit about the avenues for small business to advertise online.

Kyle Clouse:  Well, as far as several avenues, you know there’s obviously you know, you hear people talk about setting up a blog, making sure that blog is on your website. What we see far too many times is that someone has a website and they start blogging somewhere else on a completely different platform and what they don’t realize is that Google loves your website to have rows of fresh, new content that is, you know, cause an increase and expanding. And when you’re going on another platform that’s not a part of your website, you’re building up someone else’s platform and putting the content there and not on your website. So can be really detrimental. Well, not detrimental, but just you’re not getting the result that you had hoped to get because of that.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. I think that we’ve talked amongst ourselves and of course we have mentioned it on the program before especially when we had Paul Koenig the week before regarding the affiliate marketing. That affiliate marketing can be very effective for your business especially you’re selling online or selling the service online but I think we can all agree that traditional forms of online marketing typically has been banner ads and pay per click which we all know, people can click themselves right out a business. The thing that I think disturbs me about pay per click ads is the fact that you really have to control over that. People can click on those until the cows come home and the unfortunate thing is, that doesn’t necessarily instigate a sale for you.

Kyle Clouse:  Right. Right. Yes, absolutely. Another form too that we’ve seen a lot of, that we continue to see a lot of and a lot of these companies out there, I mean, there’s a lot of kind of a dime a dozen and you’re kind of wondering as well. A lot of terms of what you’re actually getting for your money, that is a search engine optimization or SEO companies, link building companies, people that do that.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. And the search engine optimization is very, very critical but I think most people do not understand it. And more importantly, they can spend tens of thousands of dollars on this particular service without actually knowing what it’s supposed to do.

So I think – you know, one of the things that I was thinking about today, we really, and what we’ve built with New York Shop Exchange which is – for those of you listening don’t understand what we do, we do video marketing. We have provided a video Internet billboard if you will, a video Internet channel for small businesses and online sellers to actually create an ongoing ad campaign that they can change anytime they wish. We have a couple of different programs but I’ll talk about the one that – well, we’ll talk about the two most popular. One being valued for $497.00 a year, you can purchase a channel and you can manage it. You can create your videos.

Can you talk a little bit to our listeners about specifically what an annual membership looks like for a small business or online seller on New York Shop Exchange?

Kyle Clouse:  Sure. So what an annual membership, you know, someone creates their own video for their business and they upload it to New York Shop Exchange and then our engine on the backend of New York Shop Exchange grabs that video and that channel on New York Shop Exchange and distributes it out across the Internet, everything according to the title of the video and the description of the video so that whatever they’re looking to target on the Internet, that’s what our engine – we’ll just call it an engine, for layman’s terms, that’s what our engine does. Grabs that according to those terms and distributes it out across the Internet.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. And will you talk about titling and tagging? Can you explain to our listeners specifically what we’re referencing?

Kyle Clouse:  Sure. So if you think about – I was actually having this conversation with someone today. They have a video out on the Internet and the video is of a testimonial of one of their clients. And I’ll give you one guess what they titled this video. They titled it “Client Testimonial” and we were talking about this and I was telling him, that video’s doing absolutely nothing for you because when a search engine looks at that, when Google or other search engines look at that, they’re looking at that like, oh, okay, this video is about a client testimonial. But it has nothing to do with their product or service that that business is about. That’s what they’re getting for that ad in. That’s what it does, actually, it’s no good, it does nothing for them as far as getting in front of you know, allowing the search engine to get that index, to cache it and get it in front of the audience that is searching for their products and services.

And so someone title the video and put a description behind that, put a tag behind that. We want that to be about the product or service. We don’t want it – you know, they can put their business name on it but we don’t want it to be about their business name because the only people that are searching for you, for your business name are people that already know about you.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right.

Kyle Clouse:  We want to expand that market.

Marcia Hawkins:  Your title of your video is essentially what you believe and you want your customers to find you for. We really – you rang my bell on something when you said, “guess what the customer titled their video”. And I just want to really drive that point home that we really want to assist our members with their channels, to make sure that they can maximize the results. So once they’ve paid their $497.00 for their channel for an entire year, they have full control over that. And I really believe that – like, we were talking with one of our clients the other day and he was talking about having websites that you can actually access and change up and he said, guess what? 99% didn’t do it. And I believe the reason for that is because they didn’t know how. And you know, Kyle and I are really passionate about making sure that when you buy a video channel on New York Shop Exchange, we want to be able to show you and teach you how to effectively manage that channel to maximize the results. You buy a pay per click ad, nobody’s going to call you up and say, let me give you some pointers on that. You can e-mail or call us at anytime and we’re happy to go over it. We want you to be successful, that’s why we built the platform. And more importantly, there are clients we have that simply say, this is great, I can completely use this service.

Video marketing is going to be the next revolutionary thing on the Internet for not only small business but for large business but we’re specifically targeting small business and online sellers. We created a search engine specifically for you. And I believe that there are many people that would love to have the time to do that but they’re too busy running their businesses. So can you get in and explain a little bit about what our monthly management program is involved?

Kyle Clouse:  So most people don’t have the time, the resource, the know-how to create their own video, manage their channel research the keywords that they want to target, make sure that everything is titled correctly, that the descriptions correct, the tags or title, they just don’t have the time, they don’t want to educate themselves to do that. They want to focus on what they do best and that’s handling the business end of their business. So the monthly and we do that for them. We create two videos per month and obviously can’t pay them to be expanded and grown but the most basic portion of that is we create two videos per month, we manage the channel for them, we upload those new videos, append them to their current channel so that we’re basically beefing that up, increasing that. And then making sure that the syndication, everything like that takes place as well, the distribution of the video.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. And so we really, we’ve broken it down for the small business that really does have a few minutes here and there to manage their channel and of course we have businessses that say, you know, this is great, we definitely want this service but we really don’t have the time to manage it. And that’s where a more comprehensive, a more aggressive marketing plan comes in.

So Kyle, what about – yeah, go ahead.

Kyle Clouse:  I was going to say, you know, one of the things that I want to hit upon too is, why video marketing? What makes video marketing so effective? And why businesses are looking at video or should be if they’re not, they should be looking at video marketing as a portion of their marketing portfolio or platform if they’re not already doing that?

Marcia Hawkins:  Right, I know video is definitely where it’s at. You don’t need to look any further than the popularity of YouTube to understand how powerful it is. So let’s – while we’re talking about YouTube, let’s explain the fundamental difference of YouTube and our video marketing platform.

Kyle Clouse:  Okay.  So on YouTube,  the thing is basically, you know, your one video in a sea of other videos, some about business, some not about business…

Marcia Hawkins:  That’s my favorite catch phrase about that, Kyle. I always say it when we’re talking about having and hosting your video on YouTube is great, I mean it’s perfect as it’s got a lot of advantages but you have the – you have everything from Ed the plumber to grandma doing the chicken dance. So you have hundreds – I think there’s over a hundred million videos on YouTube alone, so anyways, I’m sorry. You can keep going.

Kyle Clouse:  No, yeah, exactly. Yeah, but I – and so on New York Shop Exchange, it’s strictly a platform for business owners about business. And that’s what separates us.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right, it’s specifically directed at small to mid size businesses and online sellers. It’s a search engine to host your video specifically to drive traffic over to your website and have customers come to your door exactly. And I think that, you know, a lot of people – we get this a lot, say I have a video on YouTube, and that’s great. But it doesn’t mean that anyone’s ever going to find that video. What we’ve developed with New York Shop Exchange and our software programs that actually grab your listing, we take those listings and actually market them. We want to make sure.

We had one customer say, “Geez, you know, New York Shop Exchange, I have heard of it, but I don’t know how many other people have heard of it.” And no, are we a household name yet? No, we’re not. However, that’s not our mission. Our mission is to make your business a household name. I always say we’re like traffic cops on the Internet saying, “No, no, no, this is where you want to go, this is where this traffic is going. Here you go.” It’s like I always feel like I’ve got a whistle and a blue suit on and I’m directing traffic into the – in over to their websites into their businesses. And, you know, it’s – a lot of times when businesses sign on for a particular service, they advertise on a particular website, what they’re essentially doing is they’re paying that particular website for their traffic saying “Okay, you’re a very heavily-trafficked site.” And although New York Shop Exchange is a very heavily-trafficked site, we take our traffic and say we don’t care about people finding New York Shop Exchange, the only thing we care about is making sure that your customers can find you, we’re just a very powerful traffic portal. So Kyle, you know, in that same vein, can you explain to people why the effectiveness of what we’ve created and how impactful it can be on their business?

Kyle Clouse:  Well, yes. I think it comes back to the service end and why video marketing, like someone has asked the question, “Why should I do video marketing? Why should I do that for my business and include that in my marketing platform?” And there’s a few key fundamentals on why someone should do video marketing. First and foremost is that videos are indexed within hours and days, not – sometimes, hours. They’re indexed and cached by Google and ranking on Google and other search engines. This is a typical website which takes weeks, months to rank for specific keywords that you’re looking to rank for, the fundamental difference of why someone should do video marketing, fundamental difference. Secondly is that have you ever done a search on Google or other search engines and you see a video from Nell’s? And a video from Nell’s, someone’s going to click through, studies have been shown 80% higher click-through rates on videos from Nell’s and just a text-based website, you get more eyeballs with a video from Nell. And thirdly, as people – well, let me – I think I’ll take it a step further than just three points, but people learn. With a video, they’re learning both visually and they’re learning audibly. So you’re getting in front of them and you’re able to captivate them and capture their attention far more than if they have to sit behind something with text and just read that. You’re able to captivate them, you’re able to put impulse to actions, you’re able to get to them emotionally, those emotional drivers within people that motivate to pick up the phone and make the phone call to your business or take an action towards your product offering. You’re able to get them emotionally.

And then for us, we’re able to – we have several of our clients who are on monthly programs and we’re able to expand their local markets. Case in point, just as an example, we have a business who is in – located in city A, but surrounding those, you know, surrounding city A, your have several other cities, B, C, D, E and F. I’ll just keep it as general as possible. What we’re able to do is specifically target those additional cities and key through them, then get in front of their niche market  in their demographic area and expand their local market reach, very very key and very fundamental to them expanding their base. Because typically, wherever business  is located, they were restricted to the demographics or, you know, how far other leads they have in that area.

And well, you hear a lot about local search marketing and getting on Google Places, which is great and a business absolutely should do that, if not on Google Places, they should do that absolutely. But within that, you’re also restricted to that city that you’re listed in on the Google Places. We’re able to expand that quickly and effectively using video. And that’s why someone – that’s why a business should take a long hard look at incorporating vide marketing into their marketing plan.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, and you were hacking about being able to, you know, get their potential customers or clients, whatever they’re calling them, engaged, get them emotionally engaged to their business. And I think the one thing that I’ve really – has really struck me about utilizing video is the ability to actually interview somebody before you ever pick up the phone and call them. It’s powerful, very very powerful, being able to watch a video and say – for me, I really – I want to stress this to the listeners so – video, it doesn’t need to be professionally done. If that’s your deal and you want something very professionally done, hire a professional videographer. That of course is completely fine. But you and I both know, Kyle, it’s not a  necessity. With the ability to grab your smartphone, the ability to grab a flipcam, whatever it is, whatever your ability is to make that video. I am stunned by the quality of the smartphones. We’ve done several of them just to prove  our point how effective and how the quality is perfect. You grab the smartphone, you shoot the video, you upload it and boom, you’re done.

I mean having the ability to have a 4-minute video and jump in front of your clients, customers, whatever it is you’re calling them, can be so powerful. You’re able to really drive home your keypoints of what the benefit is for them to pick up the phone and call you. I also like the fact that we have so many avenues within their channels, their Internet video billboards, if you will, where we drive those people over to their website. If you don’t have a website, we have – some of our members are using their New York Shop Exchange panel as their website. The ability to keep their content current and relevant, they just change that video, the tags – when we talk about tags, I know we keep mentioning that word and let’s just for the sake of understanding, let’s assume that the listeners don’t know what we mean by that. Could you just talk briefly about what tags are?

Kyle Clouse:  Well, tags are the same thing as the tag on a description. If the title of your video is about makeup, you’re not going to tag it for something that’s about a bakery. So yeah…

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. Well, I think as far as the tags go, I think the one thing I’d like to drive home about that is the fact that those tags of keywords actually have two functions on New York Shop Exhange. You can actually tag the video so that people can actually jump to that portion of the video where that particular tag is. For example, if you were selling skin care products and you had an anti-ageing cream, if you tagged it with anti-ageing it would automatically then jump to that portion of the video, so if you didn’t happen to want to watch the entire video, you could do that. But also, you’re going to tag that video with keywords and phrases that you know you want your customers to type into the search engine to actually find you.

Kyle Clouse:  Let’s talk about – let’s kind of incorporate that so that we’re talking about businesses being sound so that’s what – in the end, the business just wants to be found. They want to be found, they want to be found credibly. So if we talk about, you know – through a video, someone’s able to interview a business owner or interview that business or – and whatever they’re about, get a feel for them before they even do business with them, that’s what a video allows us to do. Another step of credibility is, you know, what we’ve been able to do as far as placements, paid one place in front of Google for some of these businesses. Some of our businesses that are on a monthly plan, they have five, six, seven placements on page 1 of Google and this is through our distribution process. And so when someone is searching for them and they come across and they do a search on Google or other search engines for this business and they’re coming across five, six, seven placements on page 1 of Google, A, that gets – I mean they’re really dominating that and really getting in front of their customer, but B, that lends – and studies have been shown that lends credibility to the business. And especially in today’s world where we have so much lack of credibility and politics and business and so on and so forth, for someone to find a business and be able to come across in a credible way and really get their attention, that’s how business is won.

Marcia Hawkins:  They really do. You know, I’m just looking at the clock and I know that we are winding down the hour and I really just kind of want to really get into that and just really drive that – you know, just that whole goal setting, the execution of the goals and really trying to figure out a way to really make your mark this year. And we really believe that we’ve created a platform just for that alone and being able to provide small business. We’re very very passionate about the fact that we understand that small business do have a nominal marketing budget sometimes and they really have got to be able to find an effective, credible, affordable manner to market their business. And we really truly believe that we have designed that, we’ve created it and we are really wanting to share it with small businesses and online sellers and just basically be able to provide them with that vehicle to really help them and assist them with their business and really prepare them. If you’ve never gone into business or run a business and you’re thinking about doing it, boy I got to tell you, the marketing end of it and the online marketing more specifically is probably one of those hard lessons you have to learn early on because there’s nothing worse than calling on a client. And I know, Kyle, you can relate to this in terms of people you’ve spoken to, when you call people and you speak with them or you run into someone that you know that has a business and you mention things like pay-per-click or banner ads or whatever and they just shrug their shoulders like aw, I don’t want to tell you how much money I spent on that. And I just think it’s just very really disheartening to have people to have to understand and learn that the hard way, that their marketing budgets are really being stacked up against, you know, the much larger companies on the Internet and at that point, there’s really no way to compete. Do you agree with that, Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Absolutely

Marcia Hawkins:  So in wrapping, as I said, I know that we’re closing out the hour and I almost wish that we could just stay for another hour because I know there’s just so much more content that Kyle and I simply could not get to but unfortunately, we are out of time. And we will make a point to bring this subject back of marketing for your business to get 2012 off to a right start. But again, we are out of time. So Kyle and I wish to thank you and of course, our sponsors and of course, our listeners. We invite you to visit us at NewYorkShopExhange.com where you can get some more information about what we’re talking about. And we can grab your video business channel and help you advertise your product or service. We would welcome and love the opportunity to host your business video. But more importantly, we want to promote you. We will see you back here next week, Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. but until then, I sure hope you have a wonderful, happy and productive New Year and of course, have a great night.

Male:   You’ve been listening to Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.  Questions or comments?  Email the show at info@newyorkshopexchange.com.  Also, find them on the web at NewYorkShopExchange.com.  Until next time, for the best tips on how to manage and grow your business, tune in again for Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Understanding the difference between Pyramid Schemes, Muli-Level Marketing or MLM’s, and Affiliate Marketing is crucial for anyone wanting to add an additional income stream or starting their own business.

In this weeks show we cover:

1. The Alternative Business Model

2. Starting a Business

1. How to start a business without large investment capitol or grow new revenue streams for your existing business.

3. Pyramid Schemes

1. We’re covering this first so you can recognize them, stay clear of them, or make sure you are not creating one.
2. What is a Pyramid Scheme?
3. Why are they illegal?
4. Warning signs to stay clear and questions to ask.

4. MLM, Multi Level Marketing

1. What is the difference between a Pyramid Scheme and an MLM organization?
2. The idea behind MLMs
3. How bad MLMs are run
4. The problem no personal reputation control
5. How good MLMs are run
6. What to watch out for if you start you’re own MLM
7. The principle I disagree agree

5. Affiliate Marketing

1. What is the difference between Affiliate Marketing and an MLM organization?
2. What really is Affiliate Marketing?
3. What to watch out for.
4. What to look for.
5. The best service to market
6. How to establish and grow your portfolio.

6. New York Shop Exchange Affiliate Program

1. We  just launched our affiliate marketing program.  We want to give our listeners an edge to build recurring revenue streams for the New Year.
2. Payouts
3. Material
4. Signup at: nysepromo.com

Male:   Preparing Business for Business is on the air.  Join hosts Marcia Hawkins, President of the New York Shop Exchange and Kyle Clouse, Vice President for insightful and creative strategies to prepare your business for business.  Listen in for great guests and great offers from our guests and sponsors, as well as thought-provoking dialogue.  Preparing Business for Business offers usable content, insightful ideas and resources to jumpstart your business in an effective, economical manner and to prepare your business for growth and challenges. And now, your hosts for Preparing Business for Business, Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Marcia Hawkins:  Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Business Preparing for Business program on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with my co-host, Kyle Clouse. Today is Wednesday, December 21, 2011 heading in to the last weeks of December and rounding the corner into the final weeks of 2011. On this week of holiday celebration, lots going on this week for sure.

I want to welcome you to the Business Preparing for Business radio program tonight. The theme of our show is to provide you tools, contacts, products and services to best prepare your business for more business or to assist you in challenging times.

Now we invite hosts on our program that through experience, problem-solving, they can share with you their methods or ideas and their strategies that have worked for them and allow you to apply them in your business. Now, many preparedness listers tune in to hear helpful tips on natural disasters and so forth and information on Preparedness products. We essentially do the same thing, the difference is we apply ours to business. Whether you’re starting a business or trying to expand and grow your business. Our needs – are helpful needs during challenging times with running the business.

So Kyle and I do welcome you to our program and invite you to e-mail us at info@newyorkshopexchange.com if you have any questions or comments or if you want to share some ideas with us, we’d love to hear from you. Again,  info@newyorkshopexchange.com. Now, without further ado, let’s bring in Mr. Clouse. Hi, Mr. Clouse. How are you?

Kyle Clouse:   Hi. I’m doing great, Marcia. How about yourself?

Marcia Hawkins:  I’m pretty good. Now, I’m going to have you tell the listeners about our guest tonight, would you like to introduce…?

Kyle Clouse:    Well, first I want to start off by saying that you did not mention and probably don’t want to be the star on a tree  but you did not mention that your son is home for the holidays, he’s been away for a couple of years. And I just want to recognize you as a military mom, you did serve a couple of tours in Iraq, and how is that having him home?

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, unbelievable! I was so excited, I was squealing. And yes, I was very, very excited. It’s been too long and he looks great and yes it is, it is wonderful to have him home so thank you for mentioning it.

Steve Mistretta:   Marcia?

Marcia Hawkins:  Yes?

Steve Mistretta:  This is Steve. I’m just checking in on the show and I would also like to say thank you to your son. I did fours years active duty army and it’s people like your son that give us – well, quite frankly, that protect us and allow us to have the freedoms that we have. So a warm welcome home to him and safe travels.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, Steve, thank you so much. I’m glad that you came on to the program to say that, that means a lot to me. I thank you and I will make sure I pass it along to him. Quite an exciting hour, he showed up about an hour before the show. It’s been emotional to see him so thank you, thank you both.

So Kyle, let’s move on to tonight’s guest, we have Paul Koenig who’s been on our show before. Would you like to give the listeners a little background about Paul?

Kyle Clouse:    Paul Koenig, he is a co-founder of GoMarketer, one of the co-owners and on the last show that we had him on it was back on November 9. We went over exposure Marketing, self management and coaching. And you know, people are also welcome to look at our past shows, I mean, if you will go to PreparingBusinessforBusiness.com, we have an archive of our past shows. He was on November 9, we went over exposure Marketing, self management and coaching. Paul, he has a very keen understanding of branding and you know, that’s powerful impact on a plants customer base. And especially in today’s business environment, every company needs to drive more customers to their business and Paul is very proficient at attraction Marketing, driving new – sales to new customers and making sure that businesses succeed in what they do.

Marcia Hawkins:  That’s so important to – you know, people do need many avenues in which to grow their business and you know, just service a business. And I think Paul, after we had him on our show last time, I was just so impressed with the level of tools that he was able to download for listeners and things that they – just useful, useful tools.

So let’s bring him on. Hi, Paul! How are you tonight?

Paul Koenig:    Oh yeah, I’m doing great. How are you guys? And thank you again, Marcia and Kyle for having me on the show again.

Marcia Hawkins: Absolutely, absolutely. So I know Kyle’s got a laundry list of questions that we prepared for you so I’m going to let Kyle take his first crack.

Kyle Clouse:    Well, tonight’s show you know, we’re going to be talking about alternative business models that I think that especially today in economic times and we’re seeing kind of the crunch of the economic market right now, it’s important that we recognize – that people recognize the alternative business models but more so, you know, when the economy is in a slump like it is, people start looking for additional ways to earn additional income or to supplement their income.  Maybe they’re only able to work a part-time job at this point so they have to supplement that. And they start – you know, they hit the path on looking for other means of income and how to generate additional income and kind of fill in those gaps. And along with that comes you know, there’s people out there and companies out there that kind of don’t practice – don’t have the best ethical business practices and they prey on the weak and so it’s important that we expose some of that and talk about what people should ask or looking for to increase their income and to supplement their income, that they understand the different models, the negative of some of the models and can really make an educated decision as they look for ways to  which they can supplement their income. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about with Paul.

So Paul, if you’d like to first off, let’s get into the first area of topic that we have down which is pyramid schemes.

Paul Koenig:  Oh yeah, absolutely. Now, pyramid schemes as everyone know is a very negative way for a business, it’s also very a big thorn of almost every single country in the world and it’s something especially economic times like this, you know, they tend to crop up and one other thing that we’re going to do is find that for you so you can look to stay clear of it.

Now the definition of a pyramid scheme is a business that’s based off of recruiting other people for that business. So by definition, what it means is say, you got a ABC pyramid scheme and you’re showed to talk about oh, you got a great business opportunity, you can make a lot of money and you came on it to join up in the promise that you can eventually get a lot of money promoting it. But filing a claim with them in the – what actually is a kind of self-destructive is business model itself and what a pyramid scheme is a business that is set up where the only way to make money or the primary method is to recruit other people to promote the business rather than an actual product or service.

Marcia Hawkins:  It’s so funny because I’ve been approached many times, people wanting me to get involved in these types of programs and what has struck me about it and I think that most people really don’t – really identify with is when they’re pitching it to you. What I find interesting and I’m sure you can expand upon this, is the fact that they want you to pay them to sell their products.

Paul Koenig:  Exactly. And what’s even worse with the pyramid scheme is usually they’ll try to mask exactly what it is you’re doing. You know, they’ll try to make it into like oh yeah, you’ll be selling this product or this service, it’s just so much to sign up, so much a month and then you can end up making a lot of money and they try to really get around the fact that you’re paying money, a, to be able to sell the service or product, b, you’re paying it every month and then c, the only real way to make money in it is to recruit other people and of course the big problem with that is eventually, you run out of people and then it collapses upon itself. And the unfortunate thing for people that realized that when they get in to one of those or involved in one of those is that everybody ends up really getting hurt by it. Even the people that is running it almost everytime that happens, they get caught. There’s a collaborative effort with all the countries or the majority of the countries around the world where one of those is identified, they will go after the people who were running it, whatever country they were from.

But not only that, if you’re in business, if you’re a marketer and you start promoting your scheme and then it ends up being exposed as such, it’s really, really detrimental to your own reputation as a business professional. And on top of that, all the lives that they can hurt and that’s one of the reasons why it’s really important to stay clear on those and I would not ever recommend getting involved. And again the main thing is if you’re looking at a business model and somebody approaches you with this, hey, you can make a lot of money doing this, you know, costs money upfront and if you look at it, the only way to make money is really by recruiting other people, chances are it’s a pyramid scheme and I would stay clear of it.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. And I do know that there are several companies out there that their business model may mimic these types of organizations and I do want to stress and I’m sure you’ll chime in and let me know if I’m off base here but I really do believe that there are some bonafide businesses that are set up very similar but the difference is in my opinion, and I’m sure you can clarify this, that most of those businesses that we’re referencing are the ones that are looking for a rags-to-riches type thing where they’re telling you you’re going to go from making nothing to making $10,000 a day or whatever and they always say that they’re not supposed to talk about how much money they make but they’re quick to photocopy checks and show you them. As opposed to a slow growth company where it may be modeled that way but they’re actually pushing the products, not the people.

Paul Koenig:  Yes, exactly and yet – the difference is that, and similar – and this brings me to the second alternative business model. And this one is a legal business model, would be MLM which stands for Multi Level Marketing. Now with this business model, it is similar in the fact that you can recruit people and if you recruit people, those people can sell the product, you get a percentage of what they make, if they recruit more, you get a small cut on that. And the idea behind it, with that structure is set up like – a sales structure that you may see in some organizations like in the cellular industry and other types of marketing we have like a regional manager, district manager, you know, manager of the territory and it kind of filters down to the levels. But you know, again, it is based in a pyramid type of build which is why sometimes those are mistaken for – but sometimes they also disguise them as well. But with the MLM, you still are going to be paying money upfront to build a product or service unlike a pyramid scheme though, you can make money and build a living by selling the product or service exclusively and not recruiting other people.

Now one of the things I wanted to mention is the idea behind Multi Level Marketing is a good, genuine idea and we’ll get into this more a little bit, but the main idea behind it is that say I’m subscribed to a service or maybe this is a product that I get and maybe I have an honorship that come in or something, you know, every month. A lot of times it could be like a health product, you know, vitamins, something like that or maybe an interesting service or something to help with like financial stability, something like that.

Now the idea is that – okay, I’m a customer, I’m really happy with it and you know, I’ve talked to other people by word of mouth but wouldn’t it be nice if I could make a little bit of money by referring my friends and family to it? And that’s the idea. What I’ve seen happen a lot with those types of organizations though, and don’t get me wrong, there are good ones but a lot of them still focus on the recruiting and not actually the product selling. They’ll say, oh yeah, you can sell this product but you know, the real way to really make it big in this is to grow a team, recruit other people – and they try to you know, instead of saying recruit, they usually paraphrase that with, you know, team building and team growth but what it really – what a lot of them really try to teach is growing a team. And I’m sure, Kyle and Marcia, you’ve had experiences with that. Somebody coming to try to recruit you to one of those in the past.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, yes.

Kyle Clouse:  I wanted to jump back really quick, Paul. And you know, we’re going into Multi Level Marketing right now but I wanted to step back and one of the questions that I had on pyramid schemes and maybe this will help differentiate the two between a pyramid scheme and an MLM. But what, specifically, what are some key indicators or some warning signs that people should watch for and what makes a pyramid scheme illegal?

Paul Koenig:  The precise thing that makes a pyramid scheme illegal is that you can only make money by recruiting other people. And in the United States – in the U.S., there actually is a doctrine where – and this is applicable to an MLM but it relates as that at MLM, you have to have more customers sales that sales from recruits. And if you don’t meet that then you could be classified as a pyramid scheme. And the warning signs with a pyramid schemer, if it’s an offer that seems too good to be true or if there’s really outrageous bonuses for recruiting people like if you recruit five people, you get $1,000, stuff like that are usually a red flag.

It doesn’t always necessarily mean that that in fact is a pyramid scheme but if you hear something like that, chances are you want to stay away from it especially if it’s based on recruiting other people to sell it. And that’s the main distinguishing factor.

Kyle Clouse:  Right. So one of the things that you mentioned on that as well, I guess on that same vein is that you know, as it grows, it eventually ends up collapsing or falling apart and so it sounds like it has some of the appearance of a Ponzi scheme as well.

Paul Koenig:  Yes, exactly. It can very well have and there – many times they are very similar as well or can be one and the same depending on the definition. But yeah, that is the main thing, the main thing with the pyramid scheme is usually, you’re really not selling a product at all and/or it’s a product or service that’s really useless and it’s – everything is really about recruiting to make money and that’s it. And you know, as you stated, that business model isn’t going to last, once it gets recognized it just falls apart from the bottom up.

Kyle Clouse:  Well, I think that’s very important information to get out to the people as they’re looking to supplement their income, you know, scaling any loose gaps or – that they might have on their income portfolio that they’re aware of these types of danger that are definitely out there.

Let’s go back a little bit to Multi Level Marketing and the MLM. Now, what is it necessarily behind the idea of MLM?

Paul Koenig:  The idea behind an MLM is that say, if I’m subscribed or have been buying a product for a while rather than just promoting from word of mouth, I can get an incentive to encourage friends of mine, encourage relatives you know, word of mouth people, to purchase or subscribe to a product based off of my recommendation from having used it and being satisfied as a customer. And so that’s what the idea is. The idea is an incentive-based Marketing, cater to the word of mouth to people that you know, people that you’re kind of in league of and that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, a lot of people miss MLM’s tend to kind of disguise what it is exactly you’re doing. And that’s why things look for in a bad Multi Level Marketing organization if that’s somthing that you’re looking to pursue is that a lot of bad ones, they’re still going to focus on like a team building and the recruiting other people, you can still make money selling the product but they’re not going to really tell you that you’re in sales. Multi Level Marketing is always 100% about sales and Marketing but a lot of them will say, oh yeah, you don’t have to do any cold calling you know, you don’t have to do any prospecting or any Marketing, all you have to do is tell some friends and family, get them to sign up and then kind of filter them. They try to make it sound so easy to make a lot of money and they also try to promote to people that they’re kind of lazy and not really aggressive in Marketing. They’ll say, hey, you know, you sign up a couple of people and then if one person signed up a thousand, you’ll make a lot of money which can very well happen but the thing is if you’re signing somebody up on the idea that you’re not going to have to do a lot of work to get a lot of sales – well, sales as everyone knows, you know, sales and Marketing is a ton of work and you’re not going to get those results, those are really very unheard of and very rare expectations.

Kyle Clouse:   Now, this is too funny that we’re talking about this because Marcia and myself, we were actually looking at a company that’s an MLM company or a network Marketing company and they offer a Marketing product. So it’s a product that markets that’s supposed to market businesses. But what we’ve noticed is that their – I want to say the members of that network Marketing company, from what we’ve been able to gather, all of them are more focused on recruiting other people versus selling the actual product or service. And as I look at that, I have to ask myself, okay, so these members of this company, if they actually sign on a business, that’s their reputation.

Whenever I help someone with Marketing, I’m putting my personal reputation on the line and I want to make sure that I’m fulfilling what I said to that client that we were going to fulfill. Though as I look at this other model, their focused on simply recruiting other people to do the same thing that they’re doing  and they happen to bring on business for the products and services in the interim, how easily that business can get lost or pushed to the wayside and the fulfillment never really happens.

Paul Koenig:   Oh, absolutely and that is a problem with those types of organizations that run quarterlies that people focus so much on recruiting they put the actual sale of the product or service on the wayside. And that has a detrimental effect because a, your customer base isn’t going to be happy if they’re not getting support that they believe they should be getting and b, it’s also not good for the MLM organization as a whole because if you do have more people recruiting, then you have actual customers. Again, you can be classified as a pyramid.

And I want to dig in into a little bit on what to watch out for with someone that’s actually interested in starting an MLM organization. I’ve had people asking about that sometime and what I find is a lot of people that want to start an organization like that thinks it’s really good because a, other people will sell my product who could recruit other people to sell my products so it’s really good way to really push it out really fast and make a lot of money really fast. Well here’s the big three problems with that. The first problem is that everybody can smell and just has like a sense that you know that this person is recruiting just to make money or to recruit as a people if that’s the setup. Sales and Marketing it’s a very difficult thing and it’s really, really rare to have somebody that’s experienced in sales and Marketing joining an organization and really exploding a lot of sales growth. You’re not going to have the same level of benefit as you would if you hired a professional or a career salesman. And the second thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that because of how close MLM can be sometimes to pyramid schemes and pyramid schemes is disguising themselves as MLM’s especially in the U.S., the Federal Government will actually do multiple audits throughout the year and usually once or at least once every other year, they’ll actually send the Feds to the headquarters of the organization to investigate and make sure that everything is done the legal way. And I believe a lot of people aren’t aware of that when they go in.

And I – you know, how I ended up learning about that is a good friend of mine, his cousin owns the MLM organization, a financial destination and he was telling me about that. He used to work for them for a time and they’re actually an example of a good one and then because they help, they had some useful services, useful products, generally they do things the right way. But even if you’re doing everything by the book, you’re still going to have to deal with unnecessary audit. I mean typically, a regular business, you might get audited once every three years, once every seven years. If your doing an MLM organization, you can expect that at least once a year if not more frequently and you get checked out by the Feds too, which is quite a lot of pressure for a business.

Kyle Clouse:  So one thing that people can look for is to make sure that they’ve passed through some type of FTC audit?

Marcia Hawkins:  Why don’t we actually take our quick break and then we’ll get back to that question? As I said we’re going to take a quick break from our fine sponsors. This is the Business Preparing for Business radio show on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse. Please stop by and visit us at newyorkshopexchange.com and we’ll be right back.

Alright, everybody. Welcome back. We have Paul Koenig of GoMarketers and we’re talking about Multi Level Marketing tonight as well as pyramid schemes and we’re going to be segueing into a couple of different aspects of a business. Before the break Paul, you were answering a question, we had to take a quick break. Would you like to follow up with that?

Paul Koenig:  Yes, absolutely. And mainly with the question in audit is the main thing with Multi Level Marketing if you’re starting a business is it’s generally not a good idea to start one that way because you’re going to end up with a lot of extra work. If you are starting a business, your financial situation might be a little bit tight in terms of your budget for the business and you may not have the resources necessary to have a really good accountant and that sort of thing, which is a very big necessity when starting a Multi Level Marketing organization because a, you’re going to have that audit at least once a year if not more often than that and you will be periodically investigated by the Feds just to make sure everything’s running legally.

Now to segue from this to our next topic, one thing that I find that people are drawn into with Multi Level Marketing is that a, you can start a business or start a business selling, making sales to make money usually for a pretty low cost compared to actually starting a franchise, starting a retail center or starting your own business and developing your own products from scratch. Now there is the idea that is the one thing that I really disagree with with those types of organizations and again there are good ones like Financial Destination, Market America and others and I’m sure everyone’s heard of MYMOS. But my main problem is the principle behind it. If you’re Marketing somebody else’s product, you shouldn’t have to pay to market their product. They should either be paying you if you’re an employee on salary or you should work out a deal with the commission structure where you get a percentage or so much money for every sale that’s generated. And I think you might agree.

Marcia Hawkins:  Can I just ask you a quick question before I forget? I’m really – and I know you’re going to be able to really jump on this. What I find interesting about it and it really kind of just rubs me the wrong way is that you have to order a minimum amount every month in order to get your check and that’s what makes me step back and say, wait a minute because I do know that there are very reputable companies that are set up to be paid on word-of-mouth distribution by you Marketing them and you receive a check from that for that. But can you just talk a little bit about that? And to me that’s the fundamental difference, it’s paying them to sell their products and then having to pay and buy their products in order to get paid by them.

Paul Koenig:  Yeah, absolutely and with almost every single Multi Level Marketing organization, what really builds the foundation of it is what Marcia just mentioned is that in order to be able to sell it, in addition to a one-time fee, which is sometimes yearly, you also had to either subscribe to the service and pay so much a month or you have to be ordering auto shipment of the product every month. And the problem with that is if you don’t have a lot of money and you’re looking to add another revenue stream, this is an immediate deficit for you and especially with the auto shipment of products. You know, if you Google on the Internet, you can find videos of people that have full rooms and warehouses of products that they weren’t able to push. And you shouldn’t have too get in my opinion, if you’re selling a product yes, it’s great to have samples of it if it’s a physical product. But you’re not going to want to have samples to that, so to speak. You shouldn’t be forced to have to get them every single month. It should be something that can be ordered when it’s needed. You go to – say you’re selling to a retail store or a gas station, you’re trying to market a new widget. You should be able to go in, the order goes through the main company and then you got a cut of the sale, it shouldn’t be that you have to buy all the products ahead of time and the market to it. Of course that would be different if you are a distributor but that’s a whole different type of ballgame if you’re like a fuel distributor, something like that.

Kyle Clouse:  What I’ve seen is what – Paul, you have someone that will end up with a garage full of product and an empty bank account. And it’s just important that people take a hard look at the entire business model, the commission structure and make sure that what they are getting into is going to be something that they can turn a buck at and not be stuck with a bunch of product and an empty bank account.

Paul Koenig:  Yes, absolutely. And to segue, the better option is what if they take a product or service that you want to sell and either pay one little time fee for like exclusive Marketing rights for a region or not pay anything up front at all and be able to sell it to whoever you want without necessarily a rigid structure of how you sell it. A lot of MLM organizations are really stringent on how you’re able to market and they want you to do it a certain way.

And this segues into what’s called Affiliate Marketing. So what Affiliate Marketing is and how it’s different with an MLM organization is you’re still Marketing a product or service but you’re not focused at all on recruiting anybody to also sell it. All you’re doing is selling it to customers be it business, businesses, business owners, retail or people that you know or individuals. And there’s a lot of different ways you can do it and with Affiliate Marketing, the great thing about it is you don’t need to pay monthly to be able to sell it and it’s one thing – if somebody joins an MLM organization, one thing they’ll be able to, if they’re looking for another product to sell my question to them is well, why don’t you find a similar product that you don’t have to pay money for to be able to sell? And I’ve stumped a lot of people with that question in the past because it’s like what Marcia was saying, the main principle behind it is you shouldn’t have to pay monthly to be able to sell a product. You should just be able to sell the product and get money for it.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh no, it’s great because it’s true. Imagine using a product and I’m telling you when I love something, you won’t shut me up about it. And it’s so great that you would be able to have an avenue that you’ve either used a product or service, you love it and you know you’re going to be telling everybody about it, why not receive a commission for that?

Paul Koenig:  Exactly and that is what Affiliate Marketing is. Affiliate Marketing and generally there’s two types of programs, they can be a close program or an open program. A close program would be only a select few have the privilege or are allowed to sell it then an open program would be anybody who’s interested in selling and Marketing it, can give it a shot and go in and get some sales even if it’s not a huge volume of sales, you can get yourself some more revenue.

Now with Affiliate Marketing, again with any type of other sales product, organization that you’re starting, there are good ways and bad ways to go about it. And the first important thing is to check the reputation of the company, whose product or service you are selling.

One big example of that and I’m going to use this as an example, just through personal experience. There’s a – well, I’m not going to mention the name of the company but there’s a company, it’s not GoDaddy, it’s another one that does web hosting and you can buy domain names from it. My organization purchased a domain for about $5 on a sale, way really early in the year. And then out of nowhere in the middle of the summer, we got hit with a $70 charge that happened again in the next month. And I had no idea where that was coming from. I ended up having to call, dispute it, go through all that effort, stop payments from the bank and that sort of thing, which is a real hassle. Well, what I discovered is that that particular company does things in unethical manner and they would just subscribe customers to services that they didn’t even asked, which isn’t a good way to run the business. But had I checked the ranking on a Better Business Bureau or checked around on the Internet, I would’ve discovered all the components and this particular business have an F ranking on the Better Business Bureau, which is all an achievement but not in a good way.

But the reason I mention this is that that company did have an Affiliate program and imagine if I had been promoting that company. Imagine if I had put my reputation on the line and sold that to 50 or 10,000 customers and they all ended up with that same issue. That would’ve completely destroyed my company’s reputation and not only that, they might have been coming after me for the money or just angrily if they were getting put off from that original one.

So the one thing that’s really important is to check out the reputation of the company, do your homework. If it seems like it’s good or a great service or product, that’s awesome but just make sure that the company’s doing things the right way, check in, make sure they have good customer support, they’re willing to answer questions when you call in, you can even fake calling in that you have a concern with something, see how they handle you. And the one big distinguishing fact with the company is what happens when you sign up if you have a question or an issue, how good is the customer service? How good is the bottom line? And that you know, that’s something that applies to all business as a whole. If you’re starting a business and not just looking for an extra revenue stream, you want to make sure that you put your customers ahead of yourself because that’s going to build a great word-of-mouth reputation for you and people are going to talk about it. And if you’re not doing a good thing, if you blow people off, ring people out of the phone, so on and so forth. They won’t beat to it but it has the same effect, only in the opposite way because people are going to say, oh I had this, you know oh, I had to go to this dispute, I had to go to the Attorney General over to this charge and they didn’t help me on this. What happens is it destroys your company reputation if it’s set up that way, which will have a negative impact on customer growth and retention.

Marcia Hawkins:  I’m so avoiding that.

Kyle Clouse:  I’d just like to comment, Paul, that I know the company you’re talking about. They have two numbers on the ends of an ampersand sign and they look like the Eiffel Tower so I just think it’s important to put that out there and people can watch for that because we definitely don’t want people getting into business with an organization that takes advantage.

Paul Koenig:  Oh yeah, absolutely. And then now that we’ve gone over – well, the first thing to look for, so the first thing to look for is the company itself, the reputation, are they in good standing, do they treat their customers well? The second thing is to make sure that you’re selling a really good product or a good service because I don’t know about you but if I’m promoting something, I want to promote the best thing that’s on the market for whatever niche it is that you are selling, the best project, the best widget, the best service. And the secondary thing to look for is if it really is a good service, if it is the best, how much is it going to make you? Are you going to get a certain percentage per sale? Or is it something that if it’s a product, you’ll get that percentage if the customer reorders? I don’t want to sell a product to a customer where they’re going to probably reorder where I just get a cut the first time and then I don’t get anything continuing because I’d like to build a revenue stream, not a one-time sale.

And then the part of Affiliate Marketing, if you own a business and you’re looking to create more revenue growth for yourself or if you do own the business and you’re looking to build another revenue stream, a revenue stream is going to be recurring income after a sale. Now the best type of product or service is a service with recurring billing. So if you’re looking to Affiliate market the company’s product, if they have a service that charges may be monthly, may be quarterly, may be yearly depending on how they’re set up, that’s the best type of service to market. You want to look at something anywhere from – payout might be 5% to 15% or so but if it’s residual and you’re going to get a percentage every time the billing gets processed for that customer, you saw the 10 customers this month and the next month and the next month, by the end of the year, you’re getting paid every month for 120 customers, not just the 10 that you sold for the current month. And that’s the big thing to look for because you can really build an extra revenue stream so you have more money for the holidays, for next Christmas or to kickstart the new year with growth.

And one of the things and this is something that I got some really good news for you guys. So what if you want to promote a really good product that you know, they’re really knowledgeable about their industry and it is residual income, would you guys want to promote it? And the answer is probably going to be yes. And I want to be as a holiday present for you guys, let you know that New York Stock Exchange we recently started our Affiliate program. We just launched within a few weeks and it’s something that we’ll be putting a link on so if you want to sign up on it and promote it, you can earn 10% for the lifetime of a customer that subscribes to New York Stock Exchange services. And I’ve been working a lot with back-and-forth with Kyle, with Marcia, with her team and I came on – I first, a back story. I met Marcia during the summer, I had some really good meetings with her, really good meetings with Kyle and I was really blown away with just the level of exceptional with their service they provide. There’s a lot of other companies that do business directory, none do a video. I haven’t seen one do the geo targeting, the local SEO, the guarantee that you have a really good ranking on Google and have really good feedback from customers.

Marcia Hawkins:  And we’re very passionate about that, Paul. Kyle and I really pioneered what we do and by offering up our Affiliate program, it’s a way of us being able to have everybody be compensated for helping us grow the company. And that’s really, really important. And my sole mission and my whole desire in starting this search engine if you will, for small business is just finally being able to take back – the small businesses, 2/3 of the workforce and yet the economy being what it is, it’s just so difficult for a small business to spend or have the budget to spend their weight in the first page of Google. We said, you know what, if we all cooperatively band together, we can do it on our own. And that’s essentially what we’ve done. And I got to tell you, Kyle and I are all about the service.

Paul Koenig:  Yeah, absolutely. And that’s one of the immediate things that blew me away with New York Shop Exchange and I approached them and was interested in working with them and as you may have known of what I’m doing is managing their Affiliate program form so I’m creating Marketing material, that includes e-mail – if you have an e-mail list with a lot of customers, maybe a membership site where people subscribed to you, you could shoot out a quick e-mail to them informing them of New York Shop Exchange’ great, exceptional service. If they click a link and buy it, it automatically gets tracked to you and you get credit for the sale. Likewise there’s about 25 to 35 images and banners that you can use and what I want to wrap up on is different ways that you can promote Affiliate Marketing.

So I’m like the typical business where you’re demanded, this is how you have to market, there’s so many ways you can promote it and a lot of them don’t take a lot of time. You could set it up in just a couple of hours really if you wanted to. The first thing is that if you own a website, all you need to do is put a banner up. Put a banner of New York Shop Exchange, describe what they do a little bit and if anybody clicks on that link, if they end up purchasing and subscribing to their service, then you’re going to get that checked, you’re going to get a cut every single time the billing cycle goes through.

The other thing is again, you know, e-mail, you don’t necessarily even have to have a full e-mail about it. You can just mention that that the end of the newsletter if you have one like, hey, here’s a great service that can help jumpstart your business, get you to the first page of Google, have a link that will be provided for you when you set up for the Affiliate Marketing program. If somebody clicks it and they sign up, you get a cut of the sale.

The other thing that was – this can also work really well in the business environment. Say you’re with the company and you do business to business sales and promotions or maybe you own a business and a lot of your business comes from other businesses, you have a pretty good network. New York Shop Exchange is a great cross sell. Say you provide like a CRM system, maybe cell phones for businesses. You can say, oh hey, you know, by the way, we’ve got this great service that we can offer to you guys right now. It’s New York Shop Exchange and it’s going to drive traffic to your website and get you more exposure and you can even include video in the listing which no other directory really does. And the great thing about it is those are all different avenues that you can promote and you can still promote the old-school word-of-mouth, cold calling, however it is that you prefer to do business.

And that’s the great thing with Affiliate Marketing is you can really choose how much you want to work it and how you want to work it you know, if you just want to throw in – maybe you read a couple of articles online, through a banner on a website, yeah, you can do that. But if you want to be really aggressive, do calling, Marketing, do business-to-business presentations, pay for advertisements, you have advertising on Facebook and stuff that link to your Affiliate link, you can do that too.

Marcia Hawkins:  And there are many Affiliate programs out there that are just a great way for other businesses to augment their income.

Paul Koenig:  Exactly, absolutely and that’s one of the things too. If you’re looking for an Affiliate program, you want to make sure that a, we’re wrapping everything up. It’s a good business, it’s reputable business, it’s a reputable company, b, the customer service is excellent and again one big sign of that is customer testimonials. If you’re on a company’s site, if you’re looking at a company, if they have regular customers, they should have spent some money some of those customers and with New York Shop Exchange, if you go on, you can see that they got some of their customers were so happy with the service that they actually shot a brief video to send over that they’ve got on their site including countless, I believe there is dozens of written ones as well.

Kyle Clouse:  Let me ask you something really quick, Paul. The difference between Affiliate Marketing and Multi Level Marketing, now isn’t it historically, the commission payout on Affiliate Marketing much larger because with Multi Level Marketing, whatever payment or percentages left over to go to the marketer, it’s basically spread off – you know, spread out over a downline or upline or however else they have that structured?

Paul Koenig:  Yes absolutely and that’s a great point that I had missed earlier and that’s true. With Multi Level Marketing, it’s the commission of the sale is broken down. However many levels the organization goes, so the same percentage may be going out to seven people or could be going out to 50 people.

With Affiliate Marketing, you get the full percentage and that’s the biggest difference. With Affiliate Marketing, you don’t have to worry about okay, I got to recruit a lot of people before I can really be making money from sales and just hey, I can just sell this, build that up, even a couple sales a month or more, you’re going to see a steady income increase for your portfolio and it really lets you build a customer relations portfolio.

And the other thing is that they can bring more business for your business itself, say you end up having somebody, they read an article that you wrote or they heard that you’re promoting New York Shop Exchange, they see the link, they’ll buy it, they’re really, really happy with the service, they’re going to think really highly of your business for referring you to your excellent service and that will be more likely to purchase your products as well.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well Paul, I must say, we’ve had you on the show twice now and I think the common denominator that I absolutely love about you is the integrity that you have. You really do your homework, you have a very simple business model that you run your business by and I just so appreciate that. And I know why we get along because Kyle and I are of the same clock. We keep it simple and keep the integrity into the business and I just love that about you.

But unfortunately we are out of time and Kyle and I wish to thank our guest, Paul Koenig of GoMarketers and of course, you, our listeners. Please visit us at newyorkshopexchange.com and grab your video business channel to advertise your product or service. We would love to host your business video but more importantly, we promote you. We’re on a holiday next week but we will return the following week in the new year. But until then, I sure hope you have a wonderful, happy, healthy holiday season and of course, a great night.

Male:   You’ve been listening to Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.  Questions or comments?  Email the show at info@newyorkshopexchange.com.  Also, find them on the web at NewYorkShopExchange.com.  Until next time for the best tips on how to manage and grow your business, tune in again for Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

After having success in his first business in college, Brandt Page, now 28, continued to hone his entrepreneurial skill in his two businesses that followed. His latest, Launch Leads, began in his living room around a card table and has seen 200% growth annually since then. Following the advice of trusted mentors, he sold first:  the service of cold-calling on behalf of clients and setting their sales appointments for them, filling their sales pipeline. After selling the idea, he then built Launch whose customized approach to B2B lead generation and appointment setting has earned them multiple awards in the world of sales and marketing including being recognized in the top 25 under 5 by the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum this year.

Contact Info: Brandt Page – www.launchleads.com, brandt@launchleads.com

Male:   Preparing Business for Business is on the air.  Join hosts Marcia Hawkins, President of the New York Shop Exchange and Kyle Clouse, Vice President for insightful and creative strategies to prepare your business for business.  Listen in for great guests and great offers from our guests and sponsors, as well as thought-provoking dialogue.  Preparing Business for Business offers usable content, insightful ideas and resources to jumpstart your business in an effective, economical manner and to prepare your business for growth and challenges. And now, your hosts for Preparing Business for Business, Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Marcia Hawkins:  Good evening, everybody and welcome to the Business Preparing for Business radio program on the Preparedness Radio Network. I am Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost Kyle Clouse.

Today is Wednesday, December 14, 2011. Heading into the last few weeks of December and rounding the corner into the final weeks of 2011. Kyle and I do welcome you and want to thank you for joining us here every Wednesday evening where you take an informative look at how we can help you prepare your business for business. I think we have some great ideas and helpful information for you along with some exciting guests and informative commentary.

Now our true focus and goal each week, we really want to provide you with some mind expanding thoughts and some helpful resources you need to either start a business, grow your existing business or offer up solutions for you, you know, for some challenges you might be experiencing. Now I’d like to bring on my cohost Kyle Clouse. Hello there, Mr. Clouse.

Kyle Clouse:  Hey, how you doing Marcia? It’s really good to be here.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah. How are you today?

Kyle Clouse:  Oh, very good. You know, I was actually just going over our list of hosts, the past hosts that we’ve had including the one that we have on the show with us tonight and really blown away and impressed by the caliber of guests we’ve had on our show as well as the content that’s been provided.

Marcia Hawkins:  Absolutely. I know we’ve had some great guests on as well as some of the resources that we’ve been able to download to our listeners has been fantastic from inspirational speakers to resources for capital for your business and of course now we’ve got someone who’s going to give us another little slant on business, which is great. Our guest this evening is Mr. Brandt Page and I’m going to have Kyle do a little intro about our guest tonight. Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Well, sure. Who says you have to be a certain age before you’re successful? Just for the listeners out there, Brandt Page, he is 28 years old and very successful. In fact, he started his first business in college and I believe, if I remember correctly that was a furniture business. Started that in college, ended up selling that and then started Launch Leads out of his living room and then since he started Launch Leads out of his living you know, couple of guys getting around a coffee table, they’ve experienced the 200% annual growth since that time. And this year, Brandt was actually named within the top 25 under 30 entrepreneurs in the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum this year. And so Brandt has some great insight on to what it takes to make a business successful and exactly how to make that happen.

Marcia Hawkins:  Perfect, so let’s without further ado, bring him on. Hello Brandt, how are you tonight?

Brandt Page:  Hey, I’m doing great Marcia. Thanks again Kyle for the intro.

Kyle Clouse:  Absolutely. We’re really excited to have you on and you know, more excited about the content that I know we’re going to be covering because what we are covering is what – I think for most businesses, it’s a shy point. It’s something that a lot of people don’t like to really get into and target and so tonight, we’re going to really be hitting some key resources and key points and hopefully shorten that learning curve.

Marcia Hawkins:  First things first, Kyle. I need to know how he got his nickname Bubba.

Brandt Page:  I am so glad you bring that up. You know, it’s about time that we get that name out and circulated, right?

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, so for the rest of this show, you’re going to be known to the listeners as Bubba Brandt, so I need to know. I want to know where you got the name and how long you’ve had it.

Brandt Page:  You got it. Well you know, if you go to LinkedIn, it says Brandt Page but if you go to Facebook, it says Brandt Bubba Page. The reason I have to do that was that if I didn’t put Bubba on there, half the people I know wouldn’t have ever found me there. And the real reason behind it honestly, the real reason behind it, as a baby, I was a fat baby. I was one of those huge chubby babies, mom, 5’3” and you know, almost 10-pound baby. And literally from that time, I have been called Bubba. And so anyway, it’s just interesting as I started my very first business in college, like he said, the imported office furniture and then set a distribution here in the United States. And I honestly felt – you know, 21 at the time, I felt like no one would take me seriously if I went by my nickname so that when I started the business with my partners, I didn’t think I would gain – have any credibility saying you know, meeting these people in the business world and saying my name is Bubba. Especially since we’re doing a lot of the work over the phone, and I’m introing a call with hey, I’m Bubba and no, I’m not from the South and no, I don’t weigh 300 pounds and I’m not wearing overalls right now, sometimes that’s a perspective. So anyway, Brandt kind of took off in the business penning but I’m glad you bring it up. Bubba has stuck with me. Unfortunately, I’m not as – I guess you could say I don’t have as much weight on me as I did when I’m a baby anymore but that’s okay.

Marcia Hawkins: But you’re not a square anymore?

Brandt Page:  Right.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, that’s great. I had to get to the bottom of that right off the bat. So my first question is now –not even so much a question but more of a comment. I’m kind of thinking about listening to you, talk about where your name came from and how you didn’t think it would be very professional to go by Bubba and I know that part of your business is being able to help the cold calling process along and make it very successful for businesses. Now I got to tell you, if I was on the other end of the phone and someone by the name of Bubba called me, I would take that call. So maybe we ought to rethink that.

Brandt Page:  Good point! Honestly, I should switch this around.

Marcia Hawkins:  Seriously. I really believe if someone called up and said hi, this is Bubba and I do want to see if I can set up an appointment for you, I probably would, for no other reason than being curious about it. So on that same vein I want to ask you, what makes your cold calling process so successful and if you could be prep us that by just telling us a little bit about what Launch Leads does?

Brandt Page:  Absolutely. So just to kind of give you a heads-up, launchleads.com is obviously the best place for resource. But what our company does, what we focus in is we fill our clients sales’ pipelines with qualified leads and scheduled sales appointments. So what all that jargon basically mean is we do the heavy lifting of cold calling, prospecting, lead qualification on behalf of our B2B client so that their sales team can focus on closing more business and not necessarily having to do all the hard work of cold call prospects lead call. And so we’re based on pay-per-performance model so our clients are truly paying only for qualified opportunities, these appointments and so therefore really no risk to the clients. But what helps me to I guess gain value for this call with what I can share with everyone is what we’ve learned. We’ve help now many clients in a B2B world that are trying to get in touch with a potential client, a potential prospect. And we are the ones that are doing all that work in getting in the door, talking through gatekeepers, getting to the decision-maker and getting that interested so hopefully, I can share some of that secret sauce and allow everybody to gain from it.

Marcia Hawkins:  Perfect. Because in that same vein that I’m going to do a follow-up question to that, that I think has got to be probably the hardest part, the hardest obstacle for anybody in business to overcome. What – and without giving away all your trade secrets and if you wanted, that’s great too but what would you identify as the ability for somebody to overcome those, I don’t know, was it fear? Is it just they’re not articulating correctly? What is it that a, is hard for people to cold call? Why does it make it so difficult for them and more importantly, how do they overcome that?

Brandt Page:  Well, that’s a lot of questions in one but I’ll try to start with one and you can help me along if I forget to answer the other one.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, I’m good at that, don’t worry.

Brandt Page:  So cold calling obviously is not the favorite job of anybody out there. I mean there’s very few people who have fallen in love with the job of cold calling. Therefore you know, why we have a business. But here’s – the key thing is I think a lot of people forget. Now I’m a huge marketing fan. I mean you’re talking SCO, PPC, anything web-based, anything webinars, any trade shows, all marketing is good. And nobody should throw any of it away. They should do all of it but I think a lot of people forget that people still communicate by the phone. People still are at their desk the majority of the day and they will pick up phone calls. And so I think this whole cold calling efforts people put on their bottom priority and so it never gets done. And what happens is salespeople get lower than expected performance and they’re not as happy with their own sales because they’re not closing up deals.

Cold calling is just a necessary evil, to be totally honest. Now some of the reasons why people don’t do it obviously is they hate rejection. It’s a lot easier to deal with an inbound lead that comes off of the website than to cold call into somebody and try to convince them of your value proposition. So number one, the rejection is just painful for most people to take. For any experienced sales person out there, obviously you’re going to be used to that rejection. So it might not be as hard but – and so rejection is one.

Number two is how people approach cold call and really what they try to do most of the time is they try and close the sale on the very first conversation. And at least in the B2B world, that just doesn’t happen. Most sales calls or more sales cycles are more than a one phone call approach and people need to understand when you make a cold call, you’re not trying to sell that person and collect a credit card or a payment right then and there on the phone. Now, obviously there are some exceptions at certain industries but for the most part out there for B2B, prospecting and cold calling, that’s not the case.

So that key being a one – I guess, piece of secret sauce that people can take with them is that if you take the approach to cold call as just set an appointment with that decision-maker, to then at a later date talk about the details and their need, you’re going to have a much better success rate of closing a sale. Now there’s many reasons behind that as number one, nobody wants to talk to you on a cold call, right? They pick up the phone, they realize it’s a cold call and they try to get you off the phone as fast as possible. Some other piece of our process and our methodologies that number one, you try and diffuse some of the concerns that these people have. Diffusing these concerns, what that means? I’m a huge fan of – when I’m on the phone and it’s a cold call that I’m going to upfront you know, after I tell them my name and the company, I’m going to say Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so, Mr. Decision-maker, I know you’re busy. Now for most of you guys listening out there you’re going to think, gee, that’s ridiculous. Why would I say I know you’re busy? That’s cheesy. But the real reason to do that is so that people, the person on the other end of the phone, they know that you recognize that you’re not going to take forever. And you actually have to be honest with them and not take forever to do that. And so the key piece with that is just simply to say hey, I know you’re busy, I’m not going to take forever and so let me help you out there.

So that’s just one piece of the pie. Then basically, what you’re able to do is just give the brief value proposition of what your company offers on the phone. And once you’ve given the value proposition, the hope is that that decision-maker will then ask the question of how can that value proposition help my company? Once you’ve gotten that question, then you’re able to then set up an appointment to then talk about the details. The sales cycle for most people, you need to do a needs analysis or a needs audit, you want to ask that decision-maker what their true needs are before you just fly into a sales pitch and give them something that they might not even want. So hopefully, that wasn’t too much all upfront but.

Marcia Hawkins:  No, not at all. I just want to follow up a little bit and then I want to get of course, Kyle in here but I guess for me, one of the things that I’m starting to recognize is that with the explosion of the Internet, as good as it is and it’s great, I’m not discounting that. But I do believe to a certain extent that we have become a business minded community where we do not feel that we need to communicate unless we really want to. With e-mail, texting, Skyping, whatever. We’ve really become just kind of disassociated with communicating with people the way that we used to. And I think that that’s kind of fed into a person’s fear of cold calling because everybody is so used to doing everything electronically now. Do you find that that’s probably you know, ramped it up a little bit for people?

Brandt Page:  Absolutely. I think a lot of people are so used to the 140 characters that they’re not thinking of having a true conversation with somebody. And I think a lot of it comes back to most of us, want to get things done as efficiently and as quickly as possible and some people think that a cold call is not going to be that efficient and effective. And the reality of it is that in sales, it’s just a must do. You just have to do it. If you have thousands of inbound leads coming in everyday and you can’t possibly have anyone in your – on your company to make outbound calls because you’re too busy with inbound, then that’s awesome. But the reality of it is most companies don’t have that problem.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. When I was with my team, I always tell them it’s all about sharing. Share the information, find out what issues they have. Just identify how you can help them because then the conversation starts to flow much more naturally, that’s my opinion. But I do know that cold calling is just such a huge thing for people, I was very interested to get your insight on that but let’s grab Kyle because I know he’s chomping to get in here with some questions. Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  One thing I think I want to bring back Brandt was you talked about the value proposition. And you know, I know I’m sure that there’s universal laws, doesn’t matter what industry or niche or your business is in. Getting that value proposition in front of the right people is key. But how do you do that in a way where you’re not – you know, you’re already making a cold call. You’re trying to diffuse the situation by mentioning that you understand that their time is valuable but how do you get your value proposition?

First of all, can you explain in more detail like what a value proposition is or the definition of that? And then secondly, how do you get that in front of someone without you know, like if I called you the on the phone and I said, I know what your concerns are without me really knowing what your concerns are or what your struggles are in business. How do you get that value proposition in front of someone in a methodical way so that they don’t – so that it doesn’t put them back on their heels as though I know what your problems are. Does that make sense?

Brandt Page:  Absolutely. And honestly so my view, my opinion on what a value proposition is it’s a very, very simple factual statement of what your company’s product or service can do for that potential client. So and you know, for every company, they’re going to have a unique value proposition. Hopefully that value proposition either differentiate yourself from your competition or it allows the person on the other end to be interested in how that could affect their business.

So to give you an example, we drink our own Kool-Aid. So how we’ve grown Launch 200% year-over-year is that we do our own prospecting and cold calling, we set up our own appointment and we close our deals, right? Just like we do for our clients, we’re doing the outbound calling, we are setting up the appointments, doing the qualifications so that they can close their own deals. So also that gives you at least a base of what a value proposition is, it’s going to be what your product and/or service could – can or could do for that potential client.

And an example we would use is something like, hey, Mr. Decision-maker, my name is Brandt Page with launchleads and I know that you’re busy so I don’t want to take too much of your time but I’m calling to set up an appointment with you, talk about how our company can increase your sale by 50%. And that – I am giving that as a basic example.

Another thing would be by giving a mini case study but the reality is you got about one sentence of your value proposition but before that person hangs up the phone, we typically talk about it in a seven second situation. You’ve got seven seconds on a cold call before someone is going to hang up on you or have some excuse to get you off the phone if they’re not interested. So if I were to say something like I can increase your sales 50%, somebody might say to you, that’s too broad, I don’t want to talk to you, right? So if you can narrow down your demographic of who you’re calling and know they’re typical of maybe what their pain is, maybe understanding who you’re calling into is going to be a huge help.

I always break it down to three things. There’s a three step process that I use to find out what your value proposition is so hopefully, this helps the listeners. The three-step process is just understanding the core values of what business owners want to hear. So number one, they want to hear if they’re going to make money. If you’re going to help them make money. That would be step number one. If your product or service can help them make money, you better tell them. And you should have some staff to assist in that.

Number two is that if you can help them to save money, if you can help them save money in some way, a business owner is going to want to know that before a senior-level Executive. So number one, make money. Number two, save money and the third one is somewhat unique but – you know, everybody should know this is – number three is if it makes their life easier. Now there is plenty of technology out there today that you and I and everyone that’s listening is using just because it makes our lives easier not because it’s less expensive or because it made us money but because it made made our life easier.

So if you can break down your product or service to fit into either one or two or all three of these pieces either make money, save money or make your life – make your clients life easier, then you can create a value proposition today, right now. And your value proposition needs to be built around one of those three things. So that at least gives you a structure as to base how you can get that value proposition created. The more factual information you can give like a statistic, the more engaging that decision-maker might be on the phone.

So, for example, my cheesy statement of how you can increase your sales by 50%, if I can get more specific light saying, something to the effect of, you know – well, depending on the business and maybe I should give an exact example but looking at the different industries that are out there, pick a statistic that you can use to help that business owner or senior-level Executive be more interested on what you have to say.

So those are the three pieces and then the step-by-step process that we use here at Launch is number one, knowing that you have seven seconds to introduce your name, your company and your value proposition. So when you do write your value proposition and make sure it’s barely a sentence. It gives enough crunch to be able to turn that seven seconds into 30 seconds.

Now here’s kind of the magic that we use internally. Once you can get past that seven seconds and the 30, the 30 seconds allows you to have a little bit of a dialogue. Now we train our staff and our entire team to never necessarily have a pitch. Don’t just have something that sounds like a robot talking. Obviously and especially in today’s environment where social media is king, the comfort conversation and engagement aspect of marketing sales is huge. So when you can get past the seven second intro and you have a 30 second mini dialogue of just finding out to see if that person is interested or not, then you can turn that 30 seconds into three minutes. And this is a beautiful thing that I’d love to share with everybody is this is a really fast step-by-step process of how to turn 30 seconds into three minutes and this is a huge piece of our secret sauce if you will, on what we do at Launch Leads.

Kyle Clouse:  Hey and maybe we should do this…

Brandt Page:  – in a break and I’ll share that secret sauce.

Marcia Hawkins:  Sure. Yeah, let’s do that. Okay we are going to take a quick break to recognize our fine sponsors. This is the Business Preparing for Business radio show on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse. Please stop by and visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and we’ll be right back.

Alrighty, welcome back. This is Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse and our guest this evening on the Preparing Business for Business radio network is Brandt Page, also known as Bubba with launchleads.com. That’s launchleads.com, that’s where you can find him or you can e-mail him at Brandt@launchleads.com.

Welcome back, everybody. Now right before the break, we heard something about saving money, helping somebody, 30 seconds and special sauce and I don’t know where the heck this is all going but I know you’re going to clarify that for us.

Brandt Page:  You got it. Well thanks, Marcia. So just before the break, we talked about – and what I’m trying to do is help walk through some key industry best practices for prospecting, specifically in a business-to-business setting where anybody out there, if you take these key principles, you can increase your success rate immediately. It really is a fairly simple process to be able to increase your success. So we talked about some key pieces of being able to build your own value proposition and understanding how to build that value proposition by having your product or service either helping people, make money, save money or make their life easier.

And once you can get past that initial seven seconds of the cold call, which is the intro, your name and the company you’re calling from and your value proposition and you’re able to have a 30 second dialogue, what I wanted to share was how to take that 30 seconds into three minutes. And the 30 seconds into three minutes, the purpose of this is to schedule an appointment. Again just like we talked about before the break, the purpose of the initial cold call is not to necessarily sell and collect the credit card of your product. In most business-to-business cases, it’s going to take a few conversations. So just looking at that piece at least, give you some of the background for those who are just joining in.

So the secret sauce of going from 30 seconds into three minutes, most who have ever prospected before have always been faced with objection. And there are many, many types of objections. They all mean the same thing, they all mean I basically want you off the phone. Now most at the time, when people give you an objection, it’s not because they are not interested in your product or service, they probably don’t even understand what you’re offering yet but they’re giving you an the objection because they just don’t want to talk to you. Now a very, very common objection that everyone receives, most likely is, Mr. So-and-so, thanks for calling but I’m really busy right now. Can you just send me an e-mail? Now, everybody has gotten that before and most people think, oh great, this guy wants to hang up the phone, and they answer, sure, sure, I’ll send you an e-mail and they will go into a blackhole and they will be deleted.

Well, our secret sauce is very simple. But what we do to take that 30 second dialogue into a three-minute conversations to schedule an appointment is that when they say hey, will you just send me an e-mail, you respond, absolutely. And the reason for that is that you’re – number one, going to say well perfect, what is the best e-mail address for me to send it to you? Most people are going to give you their accurate e-mail address and for those who have been prospecting in the past or who are thinking they need to do it again, most of the time you don’t have an e-mail address when you’re cold calling somebody.  So if you’re able to gather the information, it’s critical. You can use it for your nurturing, you can use it for next contacts, for newsletters, whatever it is because they’ve given it to you offhand when they give you their e-mail address.

So number one: they say, yeah, why don’t you just send me an e-mail you know, in quote, person gets info, you know, I’m going to get this person off the phone.And you agree with them and say, absolutely, Mr. Decision-maker, I will be happy to send you an e-mail. What is the best e-mail address? Once they give it to you, you repeat it back to them and make sure you have it spelled correctly and then here’s a little piece that most people don’t do. Most people do not have a template, an e-mail template created already with your key value proposition and intro right in the e-mail.

Now in the e-mail template, you should have your name, you should have your company name and the value proposition with maybe three bullet points, three very specific bullet points of why your value proposition can help them. Now it should be in a template so it’s already created and after those three bullet points and that you know, you should have a link. No attachments anymore guys and gals. People don’t like to open attachments. They would rather see a link. Now, you if you attach that or have that link right below the three bullet points, you have a very high success rate of getting some of them to click on the link, and here’s the reason why. When that person says, send me an email you say, absolutely, what’s the best e-mail address? When they give it to you, you type it into your e-mail template that you already have open on your screen and you hit send. You hit send before you get off the phone. And the piece that’s so important is you say, Mr. or Ms. Decision-maker, I just sent you the e-mail with our information. And sometimes, that e-mail goes to junk or spam. Would you mind checking to see if it got to your inbox?

Now you guys might laugh at how simple this process is but they are going to stay on the phone, you can most likely hear them click on their e-mail and say oh, yes, it actually showed up. It says, this is Brandt Page from launchleads.com. And the simple process is if they’re not on their computer obviously you can’t do that. But most people will be and if you just ask and say you know, Mr. Decision-maker, I have a link in the e-mail, I just want to make sure the link works properly. Now again, I’ll let you off the phone here but if you could, just open the e-mail and click on the link that you see. Now again, you guys might be laughing at this at how simple the process.

Marcia Hawkins:  I love simple.

Brandt Page:  Most people are going to actually open the e-mail and click on your dang link. Now this is what’s amazing. In a business-to-business world, that guy or gal just thought that they’re getting you off the phone and you committed to them that you are going to get off the phone, you’re just asking them the simple and harmless questions of number one, did you get the e-mail because sometimes it goes to spam. Number two, again, I know you’re busy and I just – last thing again, just make sure that you open the e-mail and click on the link so that you at least make sure that it works.

Now you’ve done a couple things here. Number one, they’ve opened your e-mail so you know that it didn’t hit spam because how many times if you just send it blindly, you don’t even know if they received it or not. Number two, if they do click on the link, they’re going to let you know, so yeah, the link is right here, the website opened up, that whatever landing page or PDF that you gave me, yeah, yeah, whatever it is, case study, I’m looking at it right now. You have got them looking at exactly what you wanted them to look at in the first place. Even if they only look at it for a matter of five or 10 seconds, your branding is there, they now know your name, they know your company name and they probably have read your value proposition again in that e-mail or on that landing page or PDF or whatever you have linked. And obviously at that point you can say to the decision-maker, yeah, thanks for clicking on that link. Again I’m going to let you go, I know you’re extremely busy but what I thought I would do is follow up with you about XYZ value proposition, right, restate the value proposition, on Wednesday at 2:00. Would 2:00 or 4:00 be better for you?

Now, the reason I did that very specifically was you gave them two options. You did not ask then, when are you available? That question will say, well I’m not, no thanks and hang up the phone. And you don’t say, well, let me give you a ring next week to follow up because then they are not expecting you to call and they’re going to be bugged when you do call next week. But if you give them an exact date and time, that decision-maker will expect you to call them and by all means you better dang – you better be able to call as you stated. But it allows you to set up this process so that the decision-maker is expecting you to call, they’ve seen your message because they’ve opened the link, they’ve opened the e-mail so they know your e-mail is nondeliverable and they probably understand who you are and what are value prop is.

Now of course, you hang up the phone once they’ve confirmed their appointment. In my opinion, if you can send a calendar invite right then and there that would be critical so then they can click yes on attending that appointment and it automatically goes to their calendar. If you’re not familiar with a calendar invite whether you are using outlook or Google apps or whatever it is, get to know appointment calendar invites because they’re very critical. But that will turn your 30 second dialogue into about a three minute conversation. It is very harmless, they do not feel threatened, they don’t feel like you’re selling them something because you’re truly just trying to set that appointment and the crazy part is, this actually works.

Marcia Hawkins:  That’s wonderful.

Brandt Page:  The amazing thing is I’ve trained and talked in many circumstances with just 100 of different entrepreneurs and businesses, I always tell them, if you’re going to try this, you have to do it 100 times before you quit, before your quit and say it doesn’t work, you need at least try it 100 times before you come and e-mail me or send me a message saying it doesn’t work because 99% of the time, this will increase your current production and what you’ve done in the past.

Marcia Hawkins:  The keyword, the operative word there, simple. Simple always works. It always works. Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Yes, I wanted to – the timing about this Brandt is great, this is very key content but I want to kind of step back and dissect that a little bit because as I’ve listened to what you’re saying, it seems that there is a level of pressure, there’s a two-sided level of pressure when a cold call is being made. You have a level of pressure of the person making the call and thinking, oh, I’ve got to try and close this sale. And secondly, you got the pressure on the decision-maker’s shoulder thinking, this guy wants me to make a decision now. And so they’re scheduling the appointment, you’re actually removing the pressure from that and still getting the key information in front of them. So if they can look at that for the scheduled appointment when the decision will be made.

Brandt Page:  Absolutely, absolutely. You hit the nail on the head. And it’s all about diffusing those concerns or pressure. I love how you use that terminology as a pressure. You’re right, I mean people just – you’re nervous if you’re cold calling and the decision-maker is nervous trying to be polite and get you off phone and you’ve done – if you use this step-by-step process, you’ve not only diffused the pressure, you’ve released some of that pressure, you’re allowing them to have a true conversation with you. And obviously, the appointment is where you’re going to truly sell – there’s no product and service that cannot be explained in a five minute phone call. You need to have some time to build rapport, build a relationship and an appointment allows you to do that. So anyway, hopefully that’s helpful.

Kyle Clouse:  Absolutely. Let’s go back because I’m sure there’s people listening that you know, would say, gosh, I hope I can just stay on the phone for 30 seconds, let alone the short seven second window, which – it’s about the time that it takes me to blink my eyes a couple of times and I have seven seconds to make a first impression and that first impression is coming over the phone and through a cold call.

So what are some key things that people can do within that first seven seconds that they can do – turn that seven seconds into 30 seconds as far as you know, what is their posture in on the phone, how do they sound on the phone, what are some things that you guys at Launch Leads had found to be very successful?

Brandt Page:  Great question, honestly. Great question. There are definitely some simple steps again – cold calling is not necessarily rocket science, right? But it takes determination and it takes some great you know – hard work into it and there of course, you have some of these secret principle or step to get in there so everybody’s probably heard out there, “Smile and Dial”. And I’m sure there’s some smirks on people’s faces as they hear that. Smile and dial is so critical, it’s even more critical than most people are saying.

When you’re talking on the phone, you only have your voice for people to understand who you are. They can’t see your face, they can’t see your body language, they can only hear your voice and the inflection in your voice. It’s very critical that when you do get on the phone especially when you’re talking to a gatekeeper and a decision-maker to have a huge smile on your face. And now what’s so funny is obviously they can’t see your face but they can feel your intonation and your voice that allows them to know that you’re number one, a positive person. Some of them probably even want to talk to you. It’s a lot easier for a gatekeeper to be nice to you if you’re nice to them and you treat them like a friend, treat them like they are valued. And then when you talk to the decision-maker, being positive on the phone shows that you truly care about your product or service and that you want to help them. And that – you know what, you’re not a smart aleck and you’re not going to be telling them that they’re not smart for not listening to you, you’re going to be a nice person.

So honestly, number one, smile and dial. It is a crucial component with anything that has to do with sales, phone sales. Number two is going to be confidence. You are absolutely got to be confident. If you’re not a naturally confident person, you got to fake it till you make it, you know what I mean? That is something where you just got to show that confidence – and no, confidence is not arrogance, it’s not being cocky. Confidence is knowing what you’re talking about and who you are talking to and showing that through the phone. Confidence is critical because a decision-maker does not want to hear somebody say, um, ah, let me see, you know – they don’t want to hear those filler words, they want to hear and cut down to the chase of what your value prop is so have that confidence.

And then what I would say is number three that helps – number one, smile and dial, number two, confidence, number three is assume the sale. Now obviously when you’re prospecting and it’s initial cold call, you’re assuming the appointment, not a sale but you’re assuming the appointment. You’re assuming that they’re going to want to take an appointment with you because your product or service is just that good. So when you’re smiling and you’re confident and you’re assuming that they’re going to want to take the appointment, a lot of times you’re going to get some success. Now if you’re further along in the sales process and you’re – you know, you’ve already had your initial call, you’ve already had the media analysis call, you need to assume the sale in order to close the deal. I’m sure a lot of people out there heard that before but it’s so critical. The person on the other line on the phone does not want to think that you’re not confident. They don’t want to ever not have that assurance that your product or service is going to be the key for them to succeed.

And so being able to assume that sale again, not being cocky or arrogant but assuming in conversations such as at the end of a phone call saying well, Mr. Decision-maker, why don’t we do a follow-up call at Tuesday at 4:00 so we can discuss more details? Even something as simple as that is assuming sales instead of saying hey, decision-maker, would you like to talk to me again? That is obviously not portraying confidence nor assuming anything other than they don’t want to talk to you. So make sure that you set up follow up calls on every call but hopefully, those three steps, give people some ammo when you do hop on a phone to help out.

Kyle Clouse:  No, absolutely. So I’m going to put myself in someone’s shoes that is doing the cold calling. So I’m smiling and dialing, I’m maintaining my posture or my confidence, I’m assuming the sale and I get past the seven-second mark. I’m in the 30 second window. Now I know that there’s a lot of people who, within that 30 second window – I mean, you’ll do everything 110% to the first seven seconds and then somehow kill the deal in the next 30 seconds or overanalyze or overthink the situation, what are some things that people when they are cold calling, what are some things that they should avoid or some things that they should avoid saying that can cost them to kill setting the appointment or killing the deal?

Brandt Page:  Great question, Kyle. So what we do at Launch Leads is we always try and get questions to be asked. So instead of what I would say that the not do or don’t do is don’t – once you get past the seven seconds and the person says, well, how are you going to get that value proposition X to work for my company? Instead of going into a full-blown speed pitch where you just vomit all of your information all over that decision-maker, what we always train our staff to do is ask some simple questions.

The reason for that is the number one, you’re going to show some humility on the phone by not trying to – one, you can assume the sale but don’t assume you know everything about their business. The truth is, you just don’t. And the decision-maker does not want to ever think that you think you know everything about their business either. But you know everything about your business and why your product or service is going to help them. So if you can ask some key questions that will help you to tailor your sales pitch to exactly their need, that will allow some success. So let’s take an example of a software company and let’s say we are calling on behalf of one of the clients which is a software company. They might ask a simple question once they get past the intro and the value proposition out to the decision-maker. Hey, decision-maker are you currently using a software like this or are you currently using the software to do XYZ? All of this is a simple question, it’s non threatening, the person can say yes, no or yes, we are and this is who we’re using or no, we haven’t but we’re looking, you know what I mean? Something to engage in that conversation. But it also allows that salesperson to know if they are using somebody and the follow up question would be, what/who are you currently using?

So that way, you can find out and you’re prepared to tailor your appointment when you set that appointment. So anyway, not to go on for too long but I would have two or three questions to ask them that will help solidify your value proposition in their minds. You will also engage in a little bit of conversation to allow that 30 seconds to go to three minutes, to be able to get that e-mail sent and get an appointment scheduled.

Marcia Hawkins:  I think one of the things that you’ve alluded to but really haven’t stated right out there is the fact that when you’re calling another business to tell them about a service or a product that you have and you want to get that all-important appointment, I think that it’s implied with what you’re saying that really, knowing your product and knowing that it’s going to help that person on the other end of the phone and believing in what you do is also part of the puzzle.

Brandt Page:  Oh, absolutely. And that part of assuming, assuming a sale, right? If you don’t have confidence in your product or service you’re offering, it’s going to be really hard for you to assume that that person is going to want to buy your product or service. So you absolutely have to have confidence in your own product and service and if you’re not, if somebody’s listening that’s a salesperson or a marketing person, go find another company to work with or help your current company change a product or service to be something that you are absolutely confident if they would – whatever prospect they’d want to buy.

Marcia Hawkins:  Very key, very, very key. I know when – I’ve always told people when I believe in something and it’s really, really the foundation of business because a product that you’ve purchased or the service that you’ve utilized and you have experienced, had a wonderful experience with that, what are you going to do? You’re going to tell everybody about it.

Brandt Page:  Absolutely.

Marcia Hawkins:  Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, absolutely. We’ve gone over some really key information, Brandt. Let’s talk a little bit now about Launch Leads and what makes Launch different from other companies or other prospecting companies. What makes you guys different and why should someone look at your company versus another prospecting company?

Brandt Page:  That’s a great question. Well, before I even dived into you know, maybe some of our competitors and to be honest, our biggest competitor is our clients doing it in-house. And of course I’ve been teaching everyone now on how to do it in-house, right? And hopefully, these key information will allow a lot of people listening to do the majority of this in-house. So when it comes down to the point of should we build it or should we outsource it? That’s really where it comes down to,  to how we can help. I know you might need to take a quick – so maybe I’ll come back and talk specifically about our differentiators here.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, I’m going to tell you right now, I’m so sorry that we’re out of time and I got to tell you, we have got to rebook you for another hour because this has been beyond fantastic and entertaining all in the same time but we just so enjoyed having you, Bubba. I really want to make sure that we reschedule this and have you back on.

Brandt Page:  I’d love to be a part of that.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yes and I just really enjoyed speaking with you tonight and I just want to make sure that we schedule that. But again, I do need to close out for the evening and I first of all, want to of course, say thank you to our fine sponsors, Healthy Harvest, Sun Oven, The Berkey Guy and Lehmans.com but again we are out of time and we want to thank our guest, Brandt Page of launchleads.com. That’s launchleads.com. And of course to you, our listeners, please visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and grab your video business channel to advertise your product or service and we would love to host you. You can tune in every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time for Business Preparing for Business radio show and we look forward to meeting you here next week. But until then, you have a great night.

Male:  You’ve been listening to Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.  Questions or comments?  Email the show at info@newyorkshopexchange.com.  Also, find them on the web at NewYorkShopExchange.com.  Until next time for the best tips on how to manage and grow your business, tune in again for Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Ty Bennett is the founder of Leadership Inc, a speaking and training company dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations. He is a gifted communicator who has a unique ability to make the complex simple and to teach and inspire.

When Ty was 21 years old he started a business with his brother Scott, which they built to over $20 million in revenue while still in their twenties. Because of this experience and success Ty has been able to speak to more than 100,000 people in 7 countries.

Ty’s early entrepreneurial success led New York Times Bestselling Author Bob Burg to say, “I wish I could get back to Tys age and know what Ty knows. He will amaze you!”

Ty is the author of The Power of Influence, which has been described as “How To Win Friends & Influence People for our day.”

Contact Info: Ty Bennett – www.leadershipinc.com, ty@leadershipinc.com

Male:  Preparing business for business is on the air.  Join hosts Marcia Hawkins, president of the New York Shop Exchange and Kyle Clouse, vice president for insightful and creative strategies to prepare your business for business.  Listen in for great guests and great offers from our guests and sponsors, as well thought-provoking dialogue.  Preparing Business for Business offers usable content, insightful ideas and resources to jumpstart your business in an effective, economical manner and to prepare your business for growth and challenges. And now, your hosts for Preparing Business for Business, Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Marcia Hawkins:  Good evening and welcome to the Business Preparing for Business radio program on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost Kyle Clouse. Today is Wednesday, December 7, 2011 and we wish to recognize that today is Pearl Harbor Day and we’d like to thank our vets and active military on this somber anniversary yet commemorative day in our country’s history.

We welcome you and want to thank you for joining us here every Wednesday evening where we take an informative look at how we can help you prepare your business for business. We have great ideas and helpful information for you along with exciting guests and informative commentary. Now our true focus and our goal each week, we wish to provide you with mind expanding thoughts and helpful resources you need to either start a business, grow your existing business or to offer up solutions for you in these challenging times that we’re all facing.

So now let’s bring on my cohost, Kyle Clouse. How are you doing, Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Good, very good. I am very excited to be here with you Marcia and I mean, as we’ve evolved this show, Preparing Business for Business, it’s really great to see the quality of guests we’ve had on the show and the content that we’ve been able to provide. It’s really exciting.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, it sure is and I’m excited that we were able to do a back-to-back with Ty Bennett who is the founder of Leadership Inc. I invite all our listeners to go over to his website, it’s quite interesting. Last week our topic of conversation was The Power of Influence and again you can get his book, The Power of Influence at LeadershipInc.com. That’s LeadershipInc.com.

But this week, we’ve decided to take a new slant, a little different direction and we’re going to talk about storytelling which is I must say, I don’t think that anybody can truly appreciate the art of storytelling until you’ve been asked to public speak. And I know for many people that I’ve interviewed, a lot of people that I’ve spoken to, they will say that that’s probably one of their number one fear and a lot of people don’t even recognize the fear of public speaking until they’re thrown into it. And they get taken by surprise because people, I don’t think understand about standing up in front of an audience and all of a sudden it’s like,  “Oh well, this isn’t what I bargained for!” But it’s very interesting because I do believe storytelling, you know, it takes on a couple of different twists and turns and a lot of people really don’t recognize the art of storytelling.

So, can you just give our listeners a nice, little background update on Ty? And then we’ll get started and bring him on board.

Kyle Clouse:  Yes. So I’ve actually been to a couple of events where Ty has spoken and he’s very eloquent. In fact I’ll start off – let me start off with a quote by Olympic gold medalist Peter Vidmar and this is what he said about Ty and this really epitomizes Ty Bennett and his ability to connect and just his ability as a public speaker. But Peter Vidmar said, “It is rare to find a speaker that has built a multimillion dollar business at such a young age. Ty has energy, experience and wisdom beyond his years and he is a great speaker, one you won’t forget.” And I just really think that that epitomizes Ty Bennett and who he is. Now Ty…

Marcia Hawkins:  What did I tell you last week about him? I said you don’t hear his words, you feel them.

Kyle Clouse:  Exactly and he is able to make that connection with people. I have another – well, we both have his audio CD, The Power of Belief and that’s when I first came in contact with Ty but he is really able to make that connection with his audience and definitely something we’re going to be talking about tonight and getting some great insights from Ty on how he’s able to make those connections and things that we can do to also make those connections with our audience.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, it’s really funny because I must say, as I said on last week’s program that I keep his CDs in my car all the time and I listen to them all the time. I’ve always, always – I’m  going to wear them out actually but what’s interesting about them is I always – I can be in the worst mood and I could turn on his program and listen to it and I instantly feel lifted. And I believe that that correlates exactly with the topic of tonight’s show which is the power of storytelling. Because his intent is to make you feel better for listening to his CDs and mission accomplished.

So without further ado let’s say hello to Ty. Good evening, Ty!

Ty Bennett:  Good evening. Thanks so much for having me back. It was fun last week and I’m excited to be here again.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, terrific. I know we got lots of questions we want to talk with you about. So let’s really get right into it because I know last time we probably could’ve kept going on and on and on and I want to make sure we cover everything tonight. Can you give us a little background on your feelings about storytelling and why you feel compelled to get this message out?

Ty Bennett:  Absolutely. I think it’s great what you said, Marcia, in the introduction as you start to talk about it because it’s true as a speaker if you’re ever in a – being put in front of a group or whether that’s small or large, it really doesn’t make a difference. When it comes to public speaking, for sure, storytelling is a big piece but I want you to recognize the fact that we are all in the people business and we are all communicators and we are involved in selling as entrepreneurs as many people are on the phone, you are involved in leadership where you need to communicate your vision and your company and your direction, your mission, what you’re doing whether that be with your employees or the potential clients, vendors whoever it may be.

If you are involved in any teaching capacity even if that’s just as a parent, I mean, think about the best way to teach your kids lessons are through stories. I believe that storytelling is the most influential form of communication and I believe it is for several reasons but the biggest of which is that we’re all emotional creatures. I mean we’ve heard the saying and we all probably understand that people buy based on emotion and when you think about that, people take – the truth is people take action on emotion. And so if you are communicating a message that you want to – you want them to take action on whether that’s a vision as a leader or that’s a product you want them to buy or it’s a concept that you want them to learn and to implement, in any of those capacities, storytelling and being able to communicate your message more clearly, more concisely and more persuasively, storytelling, the art of it when you can master that is a huge technique and skill set that really will make you more influential.

Marcia Hawkins:  Absolutely. I’m going to kind of ask you a trick question. I hope it’s okay but I know you are – but I’ve always said, whether it’s in a business relationship, whether it’s with your husband or your wife, sister, brother, whatever, I’ve always found that sometimes the direct message is not as well received as the ones that you kind of knock at the back door with. And what I mean by that is sometimes when you pound on the front door and, “I’ve got something to tell you” and “This is what I need to tell you right now,” unfortunately, it is not absorbed. And I’ve always found that at times you can communicate better by kind of slipping in the side door or quietly in the back door.

And so, my trick question for you is do you ever feel you can storytell without words?

Ty Bennett:  Yes, I think that you can. I mean, I think your example tells a great story. You think about the leadership capacity, your actions tell a great story. There’s a great quote, kind of famous quote that says, “Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it,” and that kind of placed to what you were just saying in the fact that you don’t necessarily have to spell it out intentionally.

When you think about just last week, we talked about being influential and one of the ways that you do that in reaching out in service to other people, when people see you serving they see those actions, they can definitely see your story in action. So yeah, I think you can definitely tell a story without having to physically tell it. But I think – it’s kind of an interesting question because I’m trying to think of specific examples. But regardless of whether you tell a story or you live a story, I think that it does bring that emotion that really engages people.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah. I really subscribe to that because sometimes, I think my actions and my demonstrations and just certain ways that I carry my life, I really feel that I do try to influence people that way. And sometimes I feel that it’s better received than you know, one-on-one conversations.

So let’s bring Kyle in here. I know he’s got some questions for you, too. Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Oh yeah, absolutely. Great conversation going on. Ty, I think that it’s important that we go back to last week a little bit when we talked about the power of influence and being an influencer. Now can you just touch upon what an influencer is and how that applies to being a storyteller?

Ty Bennett:  Yeah, I believe with the people that I work with as I speak and as I’ve written books and come out with different programs and things, I kind of classify the people I speak to as influencers and I define that as anyone involved in speaking, selling, leading or teaching. In essence, if you’re in business, in the people business, you’re an influencer because you want to or are influencing people around you.

And so in the last week we talked about it and the underlying principle behind influence, which is also the underlying principle behind storytelling, is that it’s not about you, it’s about the other person. If you want to be influential, you need to figure out how to make it about the other person and not about your own agenda because people act in their own self-interest and so we need to be able to help them move in the direction that they’re looking for.

Now as it pertains to storytelling and communication, the same principle holds true. It’s not about you as the storyteller, it’s about your audience who’s hearing the story, whether that’s an audience of one or an audience of 1000, people really don’t care about your story because that’s just focused on you trying to look great. But if you can show them how your story impacts them and how it pertains to their life, then it can be extremely influential. So I think the same principle holds true and if we are to tie that together, last week we talked about some real practical ways to be influential and today, we’ll dive into the practical tool of communication that you can be influential with.

Kyle Clouse:  Oh, very good. Very good. You know, in follow-up to that, if you turn on the TV and you see a lot of what’s going on especially since we are in this political arena right now, there’s a lot of people out there that everyone’s looking at the credibility and if someone’s credible or not. So how can we use storytelling to build credibility?

Ty Bennett:  Well, I think that – a couple things. Number one, when you approach telling a story or communicating and I don’t want it to be – sound like you know, you’re going to tell those great, elaborate stories. Sometimes it’s just a simple thing that you’re bringing a little bit of human nature into your message, you’re humanizing your message with a story so that it’s not just facts and figures that people don’t engage with. Because your goal if it’s about your audience, you need to engage them which means that you need to involve them, you need to make them part, you need to get them to buy into what you are saying and that really hangs on a balance.

What I teach is that credibility is important. It’s one half of the equation because it’s a balance. You have to balance credibility and relatability. If you can tell great stories, if you can communicate a great message, you can build up your own credibility because of the way that you communicate. But you also have to be relatable, you have to connect with the people that you’re talking to. When you take a look at that from that standpoint, I mean, you just mentioned politics, that is one of the key balances that every politician is trained to find. You have to see them as credible because if you don’t see them as credible, you’re not going to care about their message. You’re not going to look at it and say, “You know, that’s somebody I could really vote for.” But if you don’t seem as relatable, if you don’t connect in some way, then you don’t – they struggle to get that connection and therefore win you over as a candidate as well.

I mean, take for example, the Republican race that’s going on, one of the knocks against Mitt Romney has always been that he’s very credible but he’s not very relatable. He comes across a little bit too perfect. You know, it sounds funny to say but that’s in the knock on Mitt Romney. In fact, I have a friend who was helped with his campaign from that standpoint and helping some of his speechwriting to make him a little bit more relatable to the U.S. population.

So when you look at that balance, if you can communicate in a way where you can find credibility and relatability then you can really be influential.

Kyle Clouse:  So storytelling helps us or – let me rephrase that, storytelling helps our audience to relate to us?

Ty Bennett:  Relate to us and to our message. You know, you think about the oldest form of learning, the oldest form of communication that exists in the world is storytelling. And so over time before the written word, people told stories through oral narrative and because of that, over time our minds have been genetically programmed to learn through stories. And storytelling, when you tell a great story, it engages both sides of the brain. It’s not just talking about facts and figures and those things that engages the emotional, creative side of the brain on the right side of the brain and so it gets people’s full engagement in that regard. But there are studies that show that people remember stories much longer than they remember facts and figures. They’re – it increases the emotional engagement which increases the motivation and the willingness to take action and so storytelling allows us to connect to and influence anybody that we’re talking to on a much more powerful way.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, that’s interesting when you started to veer off the cliff with politics, I thought, “Oh boy, were going to need a couple of hours for this.” And when you started to talk about a politician talking and their story and if you can connect with them, you may not care what they’re saying I’m like, “Wow, is this applicable sometimes.” But yeah, yeah. It’s really funny…

Ty Bennett:  Yeah, that’s for sure. If you’re watching the debates I mean, you look at it and go – and really, you can look at it from one side and there’s some people I would look at and say, “You know what, he’s got some bright ideas but I really don’t like him,” you know. So incredibly,  he’s not relatable. There’s some people that I’m like, “You know, he’s kind of fun to be with but he is a dufus when it comes to his political standpoint so I just don’t agree with him.” You have to find that balance.

Marcia Hawkins:  That is so important and it’s going to lead me, it’s going to segue me in to another question but a little bit of commentary on that. What is so interesting about that is, as you are saying, I was going to bring up the debates because they really say that in a debate, they look for that defining moment that everybody remembers.

And I’ll – just a couple off the top of my head, when Ronald Reagan was debating Walter Mondale and he asked him about – the moderator asked him whether or not he believed that his age was going to be a factor in the election and Ronald Reagan quipped right back so fast, “I am not going to make his youth and inexperience part of this campaign,” which is of course the place was up for grabs after that. And that is one that I will never ever forget.

It’s really funny because I almost feel as though that they – you know, the debates have a couple of different agendas on them but I really do think that it is a way of kind of allowing the voters to see how they handle the pressure when questions get fired at them. And it’s really interesting to watch the ones that can really rise to the occasion and really stand on their principles and get their message across and other ones where you might see them on a one-on-one interview and they articulate very, very well. But when it comes down to the debates they do terrible. I mean look at Rick Perry, I mean, he just completely.

Ty Bennett:  Rick Perry has been quoted because of that, yeah.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But what that segues into my next question is do you feel that – and it kind of wraps into public speaking but do you feel that one’s self-confidence really allows their ability to storytell, good or bad?

Ty Bennett:  I think it definitely has a huge factor in that and so I think that that’s an underlying principle that it makes the difference because it comes across in the way that you communicate. I mean, you think about sometimes, you’ve heard people communicate and they come across as strong and confident and other times they come across as unsure and timid and not – they just don’t present in a powerful way.

Now when I say that, there’s a caveat to that because I think that authenticity comes across in storytelling more than just being bold and confident in that regard. And so the fact that you don’t have to sound like this powerful, you know, Martin Luther King giving a speech. That’s not what I’m saying because everybody has a different voice. But you do need to have a confidence in the way that you say things. Now the way that you might say things Marcia and your confidence is going to sound different than I do or Rick Perry or anybody else. But yeah, confidence definitely plays a difference because people can feel that and they buy into it.

Marcia Hawkins:  Absolutely.

Kyle Clouse:  Absolutely. As I’m listening to you speak about storytelling, it reminds me of a couple things: campfires, my grandpa and really – you know, experiences in my life where I’ve had the opportunity to connect with someone on a heart-to-heart level. And it sounds like that that’s the message you’re trying to get across is that through storytelling, where it will really connect on a deeper level, otherwise – that we otherwise would not have been able to and it also just to relate to the audience or the listeners of the show. You know, I think about if I’m in church and I’m listening to the speaker, or the person giving the talk at church, or whoever that is, if someone is just – I’ll use the frame you know, something – the Bible, you know, it really doesn’t connect with me but when someone tells life experiences, life stories and then relates that into what their message is, that’s what’s really connects with me.

Ty Bennett:  And I’ll add to that, Kyle, I think that’s true and I like to say that stories humanize your message. And I think this is a good thing to think about. Marcia, you brought up earlier that people are afraid of public speaking which you know, it’s – Jerry Seinfeld has that great quote that it’s the number one fear. And even more so than death so people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy at that funeral. And the truth is, there are a lot of people who are afraid of it but here is something that I think has really helped people that I’ve talked to. If you buy into the idea that your focus is on your audience so it’s really not about you and you’re focused on them and how you can help them.

Marcia Hawkins:  Is this where we imagine them with no clothes on?

Ty Bennett:  No, no. I think that hurts your cause, that’s my own personal opinion – but I think one thing that helps is the problem that most people have is their goal for a presentation is perfection and here’s the truth. No, perfection does not happen. I have given speeches to audiences of 15,000 people. I’ve given speeches to Fortune 500 companies. I’ve sold to people one-on-one, I’ve done radio shows like this all over the place. Perfection never happens. But if you change your goal from perfection to connection, then you can really achieve something because regardless of if it’s perfect, if you make a connection, if you make it about them, that it makes up for all the imperfections that take place.

Marcia Hawkins:  That’s a good point because when you think about the debates and I had to keep going back to politics but that’s very true and that relates to what Kyle said earlier in terms of being able to connect with the church sermon if you will, when Kyle said, when it’s authentic and it’s a story, he tends to engage and listen in as opposed to someone just up there and you’re not able to connect with that person.

And in a debate it’s the same thing, they are so focused on being perfect that they really – they micromanage it in their minds almost and it doesn’t allow for your authenticity to come through when you’re conveying your message, that’s very, very true.

Kyle Clouse:  And you can see…

Marcia Hawkins:  Go ahead.

Kyle Clouse:  I was just going to say while you’re on that vein, Marcia, and you can notice that, not to beat the politics but you can recognize that. You know that Michelle Bachmann talking about how many children she’s raised and the foster children and just trying to connect to the mothers on that level and trying to tell that story of her life, I guess that’s what she believes in politics.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, like in the debates if you watch, like certain people when you hit a chord with them, you know.  You got John McCain talking about his military service, he shines. He shines. It’s the conviction in him. And I think it goes back to exactly what Ty said. And I know the first time that I had to do public speaking it was actually – it was kind of ironic because we have Ty on but I did Nu Skin several, several decades ago when Nu Skin first got going. And I just thought that the products were the best products I’d ever used in my entire life. And I would get in and be able to stand up and I could talk a blue streak about those products because I just love them.

So well, I got to take quick break here, just going to be a quick break. We got to highlight our sponsors, we want to make sure we mention the Berkey Guy and Lehmans.com.

This is Business Preparing you for Business on the Preparedness Radio Network. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with the Kyle Clouse. Please stop by and visit us at newyorkshopexchange.com and thank you for allowing us to help your business prepare for business. We’ll be right back.

Alrighty, everybody. Welcome back and thank you for our sponsors, we got to pay a couple of bills there and now, we’re going to get back to our program. We are on with the Ty Bennett. This is a Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse on the Business Preparing for Business Radio Network.

So before our break we were talking about public speaking and being authentic and being able to connect with your audience and I must say, I was giving you a brief overview about my first experience with public speaking and I must say that I think one of the things that really, really helps is that when you have a passion I guess, that’s my buzzword this week but when you have the passion for what you’re trying to communicate about, what you’re – the story you’re trying to tell, if you will, when you have that passion woven into your being, if you will, public speaking comes so much easier.

I mean, you could find people that may have a little trepidation about public speaking but you get them on something. I mean, talk about a mother talking about her children. I mean, I could go on for days about that ad nauseam but it’s very – in my opinion, it’s very, very one of the integral parts of the storytelling is to really have a complete knowledge of what you’re talking about and a complete passion for what you’re talking about. Would you agree with that, Ty?

Ty Bennett:  Absolutely. You know, in fact, the word passion actually originated at the time of Christ and it means being willing to suffer for something you love and you know, I think it’s interesting when you think of the fact that so many people have a fear of public speaking. It’s like suffering to them but they’re willing to overcome it if they’re really passionate about something, they don’t really think about it.

And for passion, it drives you. It makes you takes action and you eliminate fear or any stumbling block that may be in your way and you have a message that you want to share. So for sure, passion definitely helps you get your message out.

Kyle Clouse:  Oh, it’s interesting that you bring up passion coming back from the days of Christ and suffering for something that you love because it’s been my experience that being passionate about something has always come at the expense and I say expense but actuall,y it’s a benefit of suffering for something you’re having to go through something and then that event or that – or what I’m passionate about becomes a part of me.

Ty Bennett:  That’s for sure, it molds you for sure.

Kyle Clouse:  Ty, now you referred to this a little bit earlier in the show about the mindset of an influencer. Can you describe a little bit about the mindset of an influencer?

Ty Bennett:  I think we touched on this but you know, the focus is always on your audience. And if you’re focused on the audience then your purpose as influencer, your purpose is to engage that audience. And I want you to think about what that means to engage.

You know really, if you look it up, the word engagement means to grab their attention and to make them part, to bring them into it. And so I know that there’s a lot of people, as business people who are involved in a sales process of some sort and I think all too often we don’t recognize that we’re involved in the sales process that we’re involved in speaking or teaching or something but we are always selling some kind of message. And I believe that for engagement to happen, we need to move away from giving presentations and having conversations.

And what I mean by that is that you know, presentation by definition is a monologue, it’s one person talking. And a lot of times a sales presentation would go something like me talking over and over and over and Kyle, at the end I would say, “You have any questions?” And there is no engagement in that, it doesn’t really bring you in, it doesn’t make you part and because of that, I very rarely get you to take action. But if I can create engagement and I don’t just mean through conversation because that can be part of it. You know, you may have a question answered but when I have an audience of 1000 people I can’t have a conversation with every individual but I can have engagement. I can ask questions to give them to think. I can cause them to laugh. Humor’s a great form of engagement if you can cause somebody to respond. If you can cause somebody to react just through shock or amazement or anything to your message, if you can bring a motion into it, you can cause engagement.

So ultimately we want to engage those people. We want to balance that credibility and relability and that’s what I really mean with the mindset is the approach to your communication really determines whether that’s going to be influential or not.

Kyle Clouse:  Very good. As you’re actually talking about presentations to conversations, I was going to ask a question. I noticed on – you have some free online courses at influencethroughstories.com or some free online video tutorials and I was going over those and watching those and I was watching you as you’re – in my mind you were telling a story. And as you were telling the story, you would pause and then ask a question. Now even though you’re talking to an audience that cannot respond to you because it’s all via the web and through video, you were still asking a question and trying to get that engagement with your listening audience or getting us to ask the questions of ourself that you were asking. And I thought that was a very, very powerful.

Where do you find the happy medium? Like when you’re asking an audience a – and I guess it depends on what you are talking about but when you’re asking an audience a question, where do you find that happy medium? How many questions do you ask or when do you ask those questions? Or is it just kind of a natural flow in the cycle of your storytelling?

Ty Bennett:  Well, I think that a couple of things: number one, overall, you need to develop a conversational voice. And that for me is part of my conversational voice. When I speak, I ask questions. Whether they’re rhetorical or actually want an answer depends more on the side of my audience than anything else but I want people to stop and think. I want to get people to engage in the content of what I’m sharing and so I’m going to ask some questions. Ultimately, they’re a tool to bring people into the story as it is storytelling, and there’s a couple of tools that I teach. Asking questions, specifically you-focused questions is a great way to do that. I’ll tell you one way to get start that process because you asked about that technique, is instead of just starting a story, if I were to start a story and I were to just say, “Let me tell you about my experience with goalsetting,” for example. You know, the truth is, in your mind and everyone’s mind, they don’t care about your experience. They really don’t care about your story unless they know how it pertains to them. So a great way to bring the audience into that communication, into that story and engage them is to ask a you-focused question on the front end of the story.

So Kyle, let me ask you something like you know, “Kyle, what stops you from achieving your goal? I mean, and really Kyle, just think, what comes to mind when asked you that question? What stops you from achieving your goal?”

Kyle Clouse:  I feel like I’m on..

Marcia Hawkins:  Want me to talk about that? No, I’m just kidding.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, Marcia can answer that. No, I think for myself, what stops me from achieving my goal is that I’m a very – I like to have a control of a lot of things and I juggle a lot of things at the same time and I think sometimes it gets in the way of that.

Ty Bennett:  So, you’re juggling too many things and sometimes a matter of focus is that what you’re saying?

Kyle Clouse:  Right.

Ty Bennett:  Okay, I know. I totally get that. I mean for me when I was 21 years old and boom, I just had a perfect segue to tell you a story that brought you into it because it was about you and what you were going through. Does that make sense? If you can ask a question and make it conversational, even if you didn’t respond to that if I would ask that question, it kind of intrigues you, engages you and then I can bring into the story. That’s just a simple technique but it’s turning that presentation into a conversation and really making the audience part.

Kyle Clouse:  So even though the story is about you, you’re making the story about me?

Ty Bennett:  Well, if my goal is to make it about my audience, then my story has to be about you and if you learn how to tell a great story and you tell it the right way, in the end, the audience doesn’t feel like your story is about me and my experience or about whoever I’m telling the story about, they are going, “That story is about me. That was – I mean, that story was – he was describing me and my situation and I feel empowered by that.” That’s what you want. That’s when you know that your story really hit home and know that it’s influential.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well that’s interesting but I do need to interject and tell you that Kyle does accomplish a lot of things.

Ty Bennett:  Oh, I know.

Marcia Hawkins:  He has laser focus. I’m probably the reason he gets off-track sometimes because I’ll call him up and I’ll be downloading on him, “Kyle, help me with this!” And we – because Kyle and I work so closely together, we are in constant communication and we troubleshoot so much between ourselves and we try to problem solve,  if you will. But just to set the record straight. What’s that?

Kyle Clouse:  I know. I would just…

Ty Bennett:  Kyle, I know that you are very productive. I know you’re very productive and I was just using that as a general example but you’re a go-getter for sure.

Kyle Clouse:  I was just going to say if my – my biggest challenge is that my pen does not move as fast as Marcia’s mind does. If I could just speed that up, I would be in good standing.

Marcia Hawkins:  No kidding, Ty. I will call him and say, “Okay. Well, how about if I shoot 50 videos, do the intros,” and I’ll bet he’s like, I know he’s just scratching his head thinking, “Oh please, where is her downshift?” You know? That’s too funny, I know that’s too funny.

Ty Bennett:  There are worse problems to have for sure.

Marcia Hawkins:  Exactly. But I do want to engage our listeners a little bit here and how we can apply this to preparing your business. And one of the things that I want to talk about is the storytelling between a business owner and their customer and their employees. And how much of their personal story and how much of their personal mission for their business should be really out there for either their employees or their customers? Do you find that it helps the business owner? Or maybe it kind of sets the wrong tone? Any comment on that?

Ty Bennett:  Let me address that in a couple of ways: number one, there are several ways that you’re going to tell that story. Obviously, you’re going to communicate that over the phone and in person as you have meetings. You’re going to communicate that through text and video in your website and so you have to find the balance in some of those things.

When you’re telling a story especially, there is a specific model that I teach that an influential story has a struggle to solution model. And the struggle to solution model really is the fact that your business exists to solve a problem. Your business exists to create a solution, right? And so part of that is identifying what those problems are and being able to tell your story in the way where you connect with the person because the struggle is relatable. And if the struggle is relatable, than the solution will become credible.

Marcia Hawkins:  I’m going to have you call everyone on my team because I have really – I talk about that all the time. I didn’t mean to interrupt you, I just had to – really, I’m completely relating to what you’re saying.

Ty Bennett:  And so the problem that most of us have in communicating our business, our products or whatever it is, is that we are not really – we’re just trying to sell just the product and the feature, not the benefits of it. And we are not relating to the individual. And so if we cannot be real and identify what the problems or the struggles were, whether they’re for ourselves as a leader or they are for a problem that we saw in other people and we created the products for it or that’s why we started the business or whatever it is, if you can craft that struggle to solution story in a way that connects with your employees, that connects with your prospects and shows the benefits of what you give to the market then absolutely, that story needs to be told over and over and over again because that’s what’s going to influence people in your direction.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, that is such a great point. I know that when you go to any website or mostly websites just because it’s more applicable here, but when you go to someone’s website, one of the first things I do is I click on the “About Us” and they really give you their story. And how their website and their business evolved and it’s really interesting, some people let’s face it, are better storytellers than others and I think sometimes – and I think you really struck a chord with me when you talked about really making the story connectable with that audience, so to speak.

And being able to really get your message across and I really find sometimes that – Kyle, you know we’ve had this conversation how many times and I’ve said, if my team could convey the three fundamental challenges of why I built New York Shop Exchange, I know that their audience is going to respond because I know that I’m not unique in terms of business. The challenges that I experience, I know for a fact that every other small business out there was experiencing the same kinds of problem.

And it’s so funny sometimes I’ll get these e-mails and I’ll get these phone calls or I’ll be talking with a potential client and you listen to them and I think, “Oh you know what, it’s all the same.” Everybody struggles with the same challenges and it’s just amazing to me that really, you could read the About Us and really, the common denominator with most businesses is that they identified that problem and found a way to solve it so that’s such a great point to make, Ty. I’m really happy that you brought that up.

Ty Bennett:  And so to add to that Marcia and your particular situation, if you’ve identified three main challenges or problems, if your people who are out there talking to other business owners can develop that conversational tone and can ask those people, you know, “Do you ever face this issue? Is this something that you ever struggle with?” And they can learn to tell that story and that person connects with it and say, “Marcia Hawkins, the reason she came up with this concept is really because she was facing those same issues and they can learn to tell that story.” Boom, that’s magic because you connect with that struggle.

I like to say you hook them with a struggle and you help them with a solution.

Marcia Hawkins:  I love that.

Ty Bennett:  If they can really buy into that, if it hooks them and be strong enough and they feel like that’s relatable to them and you help them with that solution it becomes credible and that’s exactly what they’re looking for.

Marcia Hawkins:  Two points on that. I love your comments on it. One of the things that I wonder sometimes is because they were my struggles and not my team’s struggle that maybe it’s not a little relatable,  if you will. And on the flip side to that, I often wonder if the challenges – the three quick challenges are that website building is great but it’s really difficult and I know people listening would say, “Oh yeah, don’t tell me about someone building my website.” It’s very difficult sometimes to get –somebody build you a website in a short amount of time. And even if you are able to accomplish that and somebody builds you a beautiful website, it costs a lot of money.

And the worst part about it is that by the time to get that website done, most of the information because the Internet everything happens in a – you know, what used to take 30 days now takes 30 seconds, a lot of that information is obsolete at that point. So now you have that challenge, which is of course where the video comes in. And then the third piece of that is, “Well great, I have this big beautiful site that I paid gobs and gobs of money for, how do I market it?” Just because you’re a web designer doesn’t make you a marketer. And so hence, that’s what evolved New York Shop Exchange.

But as I said, it’s been my challenges, it’s not necessarily my team’s challenge. That’s one little fly swimming in the ointment and the second piece of that is, is that I wonder sometimes and maybe you can you know, and this is a little off track but I’d love your insight on it. Do you feel sometimes that sometimes people don’t want to admit what their challenges are?

Ty Bennett:  Yes, so I will address that in a couple of ways. First, the last question you asked. Yes. People are afraid to talk about a struggle. I’ll tell you how you make them feel like they can, is you have to talk about yours. That’s what most people don’t do, is when we share our stories, we don’t share our struggle to solution story. We share a solution story, we share triumph, we talk about how great we are and we’re not ever real about some of the challenges that we face and the things that we had to overcome. And when we are real and we’re vulnerable and we’re authentic a little bit, it allows other people to be the exact same thing.

And so I think that becomes part of – that sounds, that flies in the face of maybe everything that most salespeople has ever learned. But you have to realize that you are trying to make a human connection. You’re not trying to sell a product, you’re trying to make a human connection. If you buy into the idea that business is about relationship, which I really do, then people buy from you because they know like, they trust you and so you have to open up so they can know you and begin to like you and trust you. And so that becomes a piece of it.

Number two, you can share other people’s stories but you have to learn how to personalize it. So yes, there are some of your salespeople who are sharing your story in terms of how you developed the company because you faced some of those issues. But they have to personalize it and they can personalize it through their client’s experience. You know, if they start to tell your story and they can make that connection just giving the example we were using before of maybe some of the challenges you faced, if they can share some of the triumphs that they’ve had with other clients and what you’ve been able to do for them, it’s more personal to them because they were involved in that process. And so they can share that a little bit easier from that standpoint.

But you can share other people’s experiences in a powerful way, you just have to make it as personal as possible because the more personal your experience becomes, the more powerful it is because you bring that passion piece into what you talked about earlier.

Marcia Hawkins:  Right. That’s great, Ty. Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, absolutely. What I was thinking about Ty, was as we talked about storytelling and how powerful they can be and how they help us to connect with our audience, you know, somebody listening in on this call, where do we start.

Ty Bennett:  Well, I’ll give you a great resource that you can start with and you mentioned it earlier, if you go to the website influencethroughstories.com. You just put in your name and e-mail, I have a three free videos, they’re all I don’t know, 20 or so minutes of great content. I have a more in-depth video training program that you can purchase if you really want to dive into it. But you can start there with those three videos and really start to learn the art of it. But ultimately as a communicator, you have to go out and practice. And as you learn some of these techniques you have to go out and start communicating, maybe you roleplay with your husband or wife and then you take it out to a prospect or your employer, whoever it may be. But I don’t know of a way to make you an incredible communicator other than to work on your communication through doing it.

Kyle Clouse:  One thing, Ty and this was, gosh, this had to be two years ago and you may or may not remember. But the first time that I listened to your CD, The Power Of Belief, I reached out and I sent you an e-mail and I asked you. I said, “What if I want to become a better speaker or communicator, where do I go? How do I do that? How do I find opportunities to speak out?” And you mentioned, I can’t remember off the top of my head what it is but I think that they have these meetings or these events nationwide. Does that ring a bell for you?

Ty Bennett:  Yeah, it was the place to learn public speaking, I believe I referred to this as toastmasters, Toastmasters International. It’s a very nominal fee but you get a chance to go in a safe environment and to learn the art of public speaking. That’s a great way you can do it in a very affordable way.

There’s a lot of other organizations that teach public speaking. I coach speakers and things like that and there’s a lot of people out there who do it and have video and audio programs that teach the same process. But it came from that same reason. I’ve had several people just like you, Kyle, who have asked me, how do you learn this and/or have people come to me and say can you teach me how you learn how to speak? And so that’s just evolved from that standpoint for me to really personalize and define the specifics on how you tell a great story, how you communicate a powerful message.

Kyle Clouse:  So is this – has this been natural for you to be an effective communicator? Or have you gone through some learning curves and some struggles to get to the point where you’re at now?

Ty Bennett:  I think I was inclined to it but I have definitely gone through my fair share of struggles and failures to learn the process just like everybody else does.

Marcia Hawkins:  Unfortunately, we are out of time but I do want to make sure that I give a huge heartfelt thanks to Ty Bennett for being with us the last two weeks. Please visit him at leadershipinc.com and also you can access three free videos that teach storytelling at influencethroughstories.com and if you need a public speaker, inspirational speaker, I highly recommend you grab Ty for that event. Your audience will feel Ty’s words, not hear them.

So as I said we are out of time. Unfortunate but we will be back next week. We are here every Wednesday evening from 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. We want to thank you so much for listening and we also of course want to thank our sponsors and of course our guest, Ty Bennett.

This was an uplifting and informative preparative show. We sure hope you’ll visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and get your business moving with the power of video with your own video business channel. We look forward to sharing an hour of you next Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and again, thank you so much. I’m Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse. Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Male:   You’ve been listening to Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.  Questions or comments?  Email the show at info@newyorkshopexchange.com.  Also, find them on the web at NewYorkShopExchange.com.  Until next time for the best tips on how to manage and grow your business, tune in again for Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Ty Bennett is the founder of Leadership Inc, a speaking and training company dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations. He is a gifted communicator who has a unique ability to make the complex simple and to teach and inspire.

When Ty was 21 years old he started a business with his brother Scott, which they built to over $20 million in revenue while still in their twenties. Because of this experience and success Ty has been able to speak to more than 100,000 people in 7 countries.

Ty’s early entrepreneurial success led New York Times Bestselling Author Bob Burg to say, “I wish I could get back to Tys age and know what Ty knows. He will amaze you!”

Ty is the author of The Power of Influence, which has been described as “How To Win Friends & Influence People for our day.”

Contact Info: Ty Bennett – www.leadershipinc.com, ty@leadershipinc.com

Male:   Preparing business for business is on the air. Join hosts, president of the New York Shop Exchange and Kyle Clouse, vice president for insightful and creative strategies to prepare your business for business.  Listen in for great guests and great offers from our guests and sponsors, as well thought-provoking dialogue.  Preparing Business for Business offers usable content, insightful ideas and the resources to jumpstart your business in an effective, economical manner and to prepare your business for growth and challenges and now, your hosts for Preparing Business for Business, Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Marcia Hawkins:        Good evening, everybody and I do welcome you to the Business Preparing for Business radio program on the business network preparedness radio network and this is a Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost, Kyle Clause. Today is November 29, 2011 at 7 p.m. on Eastern Standard time zone. On this last day of November, which is showing us some pretty warm temperatures here in the Northeast.

We do welcome you here and thank you for joining us here every Wednesday evening to take an informative look at how we can help you prepare your business for more business. We have a treasure trove of ideas and some great information for you along with some pretty exciting guests and informative commentary.

Our true intention and our goal each week is really quite simple. We want to provide you with the tools that you need to either start a business, grow your existing business or offer up solutions and some challenging times that we’re all facing right now. But I’ve got to get my cohost in here really fast tonight because I’m very, very excited about the guest we have on tonight.

Hi, Kyle!

Kyle Clouse:  Hey, how you doing, Marcia?

Marcia Hawkins:        I’m pretty good. So I am just so excited that you are able to secure your our guest for this evening. Without further ado, let’s enlighten our guest as to who we have on tonight.

Kyle Clouse:  Yeah, we’ve got – you know it’s really exciting because we have a two-part series with our guest. Our guest is it Ty Bennett, he is the founder of Leadership Inc. and tonight we’re going to be talking about the power of influence. Next week will be the power of stories and Ty Bennett being the federal of leadership, what that is is speaking and training company that is dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations.

And Ty, I’ve actually been to a few of the Ty’s events and he is a very gifted communicator and speaker and have unique ability to inspire people and to teach and to make the complex very simple.

Marcia Hawkins:        I just want to interject something really quick though of my perception of Ty. I’ve never met Ty. I’ve only briefly spoke to him on the phone prior to us going live but one thing that came across and the audio set that you sent me as a gift was that I didn’t hear Ty’s words, I felt them. And that to me was pretty powerful.

So let’s bring our guest on because I just think that the audience is going to be quite excited to listen to Ty tonight. Good evening, Ty. How are you?

Ty Bennett:     I am great. Thanks so much for having me and Marcia, I have to tell you, that’s a great compliment to hear that coming through in the audio program that you heard and I hope that tonight we can share some great insights that are going to help the people who are listening.

Marcia Hawkins:        Yeah, you know I just wanted to tell our listeners to really kind of relax their minds a little bit, you know, try to really absorb you know, some of the information that you’re going to be able to download to them tonight because it’s really amazing.

I have your audio set in my car and I’m probably wearing the CD out because I listened to it all the time. And it’s just amazing how many times I listen to it and every time I listen to it, I pick up one new thing, you know, another new thing and I can just can never stop learning from these audios.

So I got to say in some of the dialogue on your CDs and some of your thought processes are so powerful, can you give our listeners just a little bit of insight as to where you developed that?

Ty Bennett:     Well, I think that overall, I owe a lot to my parents. I was born to really good – great parents who have taught me tremendous amount and who have been amazing examples to me.

But I’m a fairly young guy, I’m 30 years old but in my ’20s I’ve had quite a bit of experience probably much more than most people have had in their ’20s. My brother and I started a business when I was 21 and he was 22. And you know, we struggled at first but we kind of made our way through those struggles and actually built that business over $20 million in revenue while still in our ’20s on an annual basis.

And I – in the process of doing that, really discovered my love for teaching and inspiring and we built a very large sales organization so I did a lot of speaking in the process of that. And so I wrote a book called The Power of Influence and have put out a couple of audio programs, a new video training program and had a chance to speak all over the world in more than a dozen countries in the Fortune 500 companies and all sorts of different organizations.

And for me I would think more than anything I guess it really comes down to me being a constant learner myself. I’m always studying and learning and reading and just trying to fine tune myself. I think that life is really about growth and if we adopt that philosophy of constantly learning and growing and becoming a better person, then we’re –we always have something to look forward to.

Marcia Hawkins:        Absolutely. So can you tell us what was your inspiration to write The Power of Influence?

Ty Bennett:     You know, I believe that every business, every entity if you will, every family, every organization, you name it, I think that it all really boils down to leadership. I think that if you want to survive and to thrive personally it comes down to your own personal leadership I think that if you look at any organization, the level of leadership that they have of the people who are involved is really what moves people forward. And when you boil it down what leadership is because it’s one of those nebulous terms that you can find 5 million definitions for.

I think influence is the best tangible idea of what leadership really is. Because if you have the ability to move people, if you have the ability to inspire people, to influence people in the direction that you want them to go, whether that’s in the sales process, you’re influencing them to buy your products in a leadership capacity, you are helping them to buy into your vision and to take action on that. Maybe it’s in the teaching capacity and you’re helping to influence the way that they learn and the amount of effort that they’re willing to put into something, it could be in the mentoring capacity, it could be in a speaking capacity, being able to influence people from stage, whatever area that is, influence is really the tangible action item of leadership. And the thing about influence that I love there is that it’s very practical. You can learn it step-by-step. You can learn the techniques and the tools of it but it’s also very profitable when you do learn those things and begin to apply them.

Kyle Clouse:  Ty, one of the things – let me just sneek in on a couple of points here because one thing that I thought of when Marcia earlier was talking about she was able to feel your words, one of the things that came to mind as I was speaking because I’ve experienced that too. I’ve listened to your CD, The Power of Belief. I know we’re not talking about that, you have – the word that came to mind was “connect”. And you have the ability to connect with your audience. And just wondering, how does that sit in to influence, being able to connect with your audience or if it’s someone you were speaking to over the phone?

Ty Bennett:     Well, I think the connection is really key to influence in a huge way. Next week, we’ll dive into this even more as we talk about the power of stories and how to communicate your story and your message because I think one of the things that people need to recognize is when it comes to communication, any leader, any influencer is a communicator.

By nature, we’re all in the people business. We all interact with people everyday whether it’s at work, at home, at play, in whatever capacity it may be and the way that we connect and move within the people business is through communication. So we need to just face that fact and work on becoming better communicators. But I think people miss the mark in communication because most people are aiming after perfection.

I mean, you think about it. You’re trying to – when you ask somebody, “How did your presentation go?” they’d go, “Oh, it was perfect.” Or you know, I don’t know. I could’ve been better in this capacity and their aim, their goal is perfection but the goal of communication is not perfection, it really is connection.

You see, the truth is with communication it never goes perfect. I mean this radio show is going to be great but there’ll be things when you go back and you listen to it and you say, “I could’ve said that better,” or you know, “I could’ve done this better,” “this transition could’ve been smoother.”

I mean that happens in anything. There’s never perfect communication. But if you can make a connection with somebody, that perfection can be made, that lack of perfection can be made up for and people will still take action even though it’s not perfect.

So for me, my goal is really connection whether that’s with an individual or with an audience. I think that that comes down to a couple things. Number one, you need to be authentic.

People can read if you are true and real or not. If you’re trying to be something that you’re not, it comes across to people in the conviction in your voice and the look in your eyes and the way that you say things. And so for me, one of the things I’ve – I know for me I don’t just write about anything, I don’t just speak on any subject. I want to speak on subjects that I feel like I have a lot of experience and a lot of know-how and can talk about it in an authentic way and feel like I am an expert in that area because I’ve had success there.

Otherwise I don’t feel authentic and I don’t feel like I can connect and the right way. So authenticity is a huge piece. Just the simple focus of designing your concept and making it about the listener, making it about the other person as opposed to making it about yourself and we’ll talk about that a little bit when it comes to influence. But those simple little things really change the connection that you have with people.

And I agree Kyle, I think it’s a good point that especially when it comes to communication, don’t focus on perfection. Focus on connection.

Kyle Clouse:  So very, very good, Ty. Very good. What – one thing, it’s funny as you mentioned being authentic, I actually wrote a note. I was writing as you were talking and I wrote a note from earlier when you were talking about you and your brother’s business and talking about you know, how you generated $20 million in revenue before you reach the age I think, it was 28 if I remember correctly.

But one of the things that I wrote down was when you were saying that, you weren’t saying that in a manner that was bragging, you were saying that in a way that was showing what’s possible. And when we think about in the terms of the world today when we think of a lot of money, we see it as fast cars and fancy clothes and expensive jewelry but you don’t come across that way. You come across very authentic and that’s something that I wrote down is how you apply authenticity into the power of influence and you really hit that on the – you really nailed that.

One thing that I would like to hear about Ty, is how and maybe you can explain this because I’ve heard you speak and so I can ask this question and if you can explain this. The plan really – you talk a lot about the platinum rule and how does that apply to influence?

Ty Bennett:     Yeah. I want to give a little bit of context in – as we lead up to that. Just from a simple standpoint that I really believe as an influencer, the idea that you need to come away with it, if you were to take anything away from this call and you were to say, “Okay, what is Ty’s main message? What is – how do I become more influential?” And the way you become more influential is that it’s not about you, it’s about them. It’s never about you.

I mean, think about it from a standpoint. If you’re a leader, if you don’t have followers, then you, by definition, are not a leader. And so you don’t exist without the people that you’re leading. And so it has to be about the people that you’re leading and not about you. If you’re a speaker and you don’t have an audience, well your message isn’t impacting anybody and so it has to be about them. The same thing if you’re a teacher, the same thing if you’re in sales and whatever capacity you are influencing someone or trying to influence someone, it’s always about them. It’s always about your audience.

Well, the platinum rule is a great application of that principle. Now we’ve heard of the Golden rule before and the golden rule I think is a great rule. I mean, I remember learning it in Sunday school when I was a kid and my parents were reinforcing that and I’ve reinforced that with my kids as I’ve said, you know, “You treat other people the way that you would want to be treated” and what’s that teaching is more of an ethics. It’s teaching that you’re not going to hurt somebody because you don’t want to be hurt. You’re not going to do something mean to somebody or you want to treat people in a manner in which they would love – you would love to be treated, with respect and kindness.

But when it comes to communication and influence, the thing that I think we don’t recognize is that being as a people business, we need to recognize the difference within people and we need to be willing to give that extra effort to connect with people individually as opposed to as a whole.

And the Platinum Rule is a step above the Golden Rule and it’s to treat other people the way they want to be treated. Not the way you want to be treated, the way that they want to be treated and that sounds like just a little nuance and you might say, “Yeah, what’s the difference?” Well, the difference is huge. When you think about the fact that each of us, you know, the three of us on the phone, if we were to talk about the difference and our likes, what motivates us, what drives us, the pet peeves that we have, our favorite things, the things that we’re really going after in terms of our goals, we are all very different people.

And so if I can learn those things enough about each of you, you know, Kyle, I’m going to treat you differently in some ways that I’m going to treat Marcia because of the simple fact that you are two different people. And if I care enough to try and influence you individually then I’m going to practice the platinum rule. So the platinum rule I think is a such a great rule of thumb when you start to really try and influence people but it’s based on the whole idea that influence is always about the other person.

Marcia Hawkins:        Absolutely. I could not agree with that more. That is for sure. I just want to do a quick backup a little bit. As you were talking with Kyle and talking about influence, do you find that you’re so good at communicating with influence because you have been so heavily influenced?

Ty Bennett:     I think that has a lot to do with it. I mean, you definitely learn from role models in that regard and I learned a lot from the people that had influenced me. And you know, I – people ask me all the time, “Who are your mentors?” And the truth is I learned from so many different people and I learned different things. I don’t know that I have one mentor for everything but I can take great qualities and great experiences and great things from everybody I meet but absolutely, I know for me, I don’t believe people are self-made at all. I don’t believe in that concept.  I think that there’s a lot of influences that affect each of us and I think then if you’ll buy into that principle then it becomes our responsibility to be that positive influence for the people that you are around as well.

Marcia Hawkins:        I’m going to veer off track a little bit and I hope it’s okay but I’m just very curious to pick your brain about this one particular subject because this one stumps me a lot. For me, I have absolutely no problem instigating change. When I see something –I’m great at making a decision, I don’t need to vacillate on it for very long. When I see something that needs to be done, I do it. And yet I find sometimes that many people really stuggle with instigating change in their life. Any thoughts on that?

Ty Bennett:     I think people struggle with change quite a bit. I think that, you know, we hate the word change, we almost look at it like a four letter word. I think number one we need to change your mindset about the word change. I don’t personally like to use the word change not because I personally see it as having a negative connotation but most people do. What I want you to – just listen to the difference of how that sounds. If I were to change the word change to the word growth, what’s the difference that that makes in your mind?

Marcia Hawkins:        Oh, a completely different mindset.

Ty Bennett:     Okay, so – can you name that change that you make in your life where it doesn’t cause you to grow? I mean, every change causes you to grow, every new experience causes you to grow. And you know, I think if you want to be successful, the truth, that we fear change because it’s uncomfortable. We fear change because it’s unknown. You know, it feels a little bit risky, it doesn’t feel you know, and we are creatures of pleasure and comfort and so we don’t like to step into the unknown but the truth is if you want to be successful, you have to get really comfortable with being uncomfortable because in the world we live in today, everything is changing.

I mean think about it. Five years ago if I would’ve said, “We’re going to promote this. We’re going to have a radio show on the Internet and we’re going to promote it over Facebook,” you’re going to go, “What are you talking about?” I mean, everything is changing. Just even the platform, the business that you and Kyle operate, that platform didn’t exist a year ago, the ability to do what you’re doing. And so we have to be willing to adapt and grow I think it starts with our mindset. I’d change – I would switch out the word change for growth and recognize that we need to be uncomfortable and that’s okay because that growth process requires a little bit of being uncomfortable but that’s what sets us apart from most people who aren’t willing to do that.

Marcia Hawkins:        I often say that people get very comfortable, uncomfortably. They are very uncomfortable and yet you have to be very comfortable with it,  I talk about that quite a bit. So I know Kyle’s chomping at the bit to ask you another question. So, Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Oh no – yeah, absolutely. Well in your book, Ty, since we’re to tie it up on The Power of Influence, your book on chapter three you talked about developing outward taking and one of the things that I love about your book is that each chapter begins with a quote that you put in there. I just want to quickly read the quote that you have there by Napoleon Hill that says, “Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don’t control what you think, you can’t control what you do. Simply, self-discipline enables you to think first and act afterward.”

So can you tell us a little bit about what you mean by developing outward thinking?

Ty Bennett:     Well, Kyle I alluded to that a little bit earlier. When – to change your thought process from a me focused thought process, to a you focused thought process, meaning the other person, to go from inner directed to outer directed from a selfish state to a selfless state, that’s not a natural thought process.

Our natural thought process is for us to be selfish, to thrust to take our own needs, wants and desires and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s basic human nature. But if we can change that, if we can make that shift, that really comes across the people in a genuine way and a way that for you care about them first.

If you think about it in the sales position. There’s the old saying that “nobody wants to be sold but everybody wants to buy.” Well, what does that really mean? You’ve probably all felt a salesperson who you know cares way more about the commission they’re going to make than they do about whether or not you make the right choice. We’ve all felt that before. But you’ve also probably felt somebody who cares way more about you as an individual than they do about the money they’re going to make from the transaction.

That’s what I’m talking about. It’s being able to place the other person first being an outward thinker because that thought process just like Napoleon Hill just said that thought, it starts there and if we get our thought process right, that comes across in the right way to people that we’re interacting with.

Kyle Clouse:  Very, very good. Absolutely. Tell us a little bit about – and the story that goes along with this. Tell us about the elephant mindset.

Ty Bennett:     Well I used that analogy in the book because to me – I had a mentor when I was 19 years old who really drove home the power of our thinking in my mind and he did it with this analogy. When he talked about when a baby elephant is born into captivity, the captors will take that baby elephant and they’ll take a big heavy chain and they’ll drive a huge stake into the ground and they’ll chain that baby elephant’s leg to the stake and that elephant will pull and pull and pull and to no avail. He won’t be able to pull away from it, he’ll be stuck.

The reason they do that when he’s young is because then he develops the mindset that it’s not possible to escape. Well they have to do that when he’s young because the elephant will grow in size and stature to the point where he can rip that stake right out of the ground but because he doesn’t think it’s possible, as he grows and becomes a bigger elephant, they actually can hold the elephant there with a shoelace, not because it’s not possible but just because he doesn’t think it’s possible.

And you know, I know that elephants don’t have the same brains that we do but the truth is that analogy holds true with humans as well. We often don’t do things not because they are possible but just because we don’t think they’re possible and if we understand how powerful our thought processes are and as it pertains to influence the conversation we are having, thinking selfishly is a powerful thought process that drives even subconscious actions that will impact whether or not you influence people. And so changing that to think outwardly and to place other people first will really have an impact on the way you interact with people.

Kyle Clouse:  Absolutely. You know, it’s just an interactions with people. And Marcia and I, we talked about this as well is there’s a lot of people out there that don’t feel like they have any control whatsoever with their circumstances. You know, everything happens to them and they feel like they don’t have any control and you know, as soon as – it’s in the elephant story. There comes a pull, the elephant doesn’t feel like he has any control over his surroundings or what’s chaining him back.

In your book, you offer a litmus test. And for anyone listening, how to recommend the book, The Power of Influence, you can pick up at LeadershipInc.com. But in the litmus test you gave some indicators that what a person can ask himself whether at – you know, with the power of influence and with the platinum rule in developing an outward mindset.

If you had a – if you just rattle off on a couple of words and key to – actually Ty, we have  to get to this after the break. Marcia?

Marcia Hawkins:        Yes, sure. Okay, we’re going to take a quick break to highlight our sponsors. This is the Business Preparing You for Business program on the Preparedness radio network. I am Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse inviting you here each week to join us for an informative dialogue on everything about business preparation. Also please stop by and visit us at NewYorkShopExchange.com and thank you for allowing us to your business prepare for business. We’ll be right back.

Okay, welcome back. Again, this is Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse. Our guest this evening is Ty Bennett of Leadership Inc and you can also get his book, The Power of Influence at www.LeadershipInc.com.  Again, the power of influence at Leadership Inc.

So Kyle, why don’t you go ahead and ask Ty that follow-up question you had right before the break? I think – did we lose Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  I’m sorry, Marcia. I’m here. I’m sort of having a technical difficulty.

Marcia Hawkins:        Okay.

Kyle Clouse:  We were talking about outward thinking and putting others first and at the end of Ty’s – at the end of the chapter, Ty has a litmus test. And just curious, Ty, what are some of the main key points that someone can ask themself to see how they’re doing on outward thinking?

Ty Bennett:     Well number one, I think a lot of people who are listening are probably involved in sales and if you are, I really want you to think about in the process of getting through a sales conversion, as you are talking to a perspective client, are you really concerned more or thinking about more the commission you’re going to make or about the client themselves? And really, what’s going through your mind? Because that subtle difference will come across to the person you’re talking to.

Another idea is, as you think about it, we’re all involved in personal relationships. And how do we react to things? When things are brought up, do we get defensive and do we place blame in other areas or do we take personal responsibility? I think some of those things will really telltale signs on how you’re doing with your thought process. And trust me Kyle, when I say it for me, I think that that wasn’t assessed as something that you could take on a weekly, monthly, daily basis because it’s something I think you always have to keep in check and something I know I’m constantly working on.

Marcia Hawkins:        Well, I think that segues nicely into – about investing in people. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Ty Bennett:     Yeah. One of my key strategy is I believe that as I watched other influencers and that I teach in my book is to start to invest in people. I learned this from a mentor that I came across when I was a senior in high school and he taught me the importance of investing in people when he told me he wanted to invest in me. And when I heard the word invest I thought he just meant money and I was like I don’t know what to do with it, am I going to start a business or anything right now.

And then he said, “You know, Ty, I have almost found that I get my highest return on investment when I invest in people.” And that always stuck with me because what I’ve come to realize in my leadership capacity than those I’ve watched other great influencers is that people invest in people with time, with care, with understanding. It’s that little difference that makes such a huge impact in people’s lives.

And so it’s little things like reaching out just to say hello instead of having something that you want to get out of the situation. Maybe just making it about them and then when was the last time that you just called somebody just to check in and see how they’re doing? Or when was the last time that you wrote a thank you note, like a physical a thank you note, put a stamp on it, put it in the mail and sent it to somebody?

I know for me,  I got a thank you note from somebody in the mail a couple weeks ago. I spoke at our church and somebody sent me a thank you note and just said, “You know what? What you said today I think was just perfect for me to hear.” I kept that card, it means something to me. It’s a little investment that they made in me. I feel more connected to that person. I honestly don’t know that person very well. But that meant something to me and those little investments, they’re like deposits in an emotional bank account so they really do pay dividends over time.

And so if you can adopt this philosophy of everyday as a leader, say, whom I going to invest in? Who am I going to make a little bit of extra effort? Who’s somebody on my team that I can do something extra for today or who’s one of my clients or customers that I can reach out to a make a little investment in? That investment is going to pay huge in the long run.

Marcia Hawkins:        Absolutely.

Kyle Clouse:  Now – that’s perfect. As we’re talking about investing in other people, Ty, I’m going to ask you a yes or no question but please follow-up with an explanation. But when it comes to investing in people, do little things matter?

Ty Bennett:     I think they absolutely matter. I mean, I gave you that example of the thank you card but I mean, just little things. For example,, if you Kyle were just to offer you know, come out and say, you and I ran into each other and you were to offer or we work together and you were to offer me a treat or something, you have a candy bar in the office, that would be great.

But if you want a little bit over, a little bit extra and you knew what my favorite candy bar was, that’s a really little thing, right? But that would stick out to me. If you were to say, “Hey, Ty, I got you a milky way,” because it happens to be my favorite candy bar. Just the fact that you cared enough to know that, that would make a difference for me. I mean that’s just a little thing but it’s those little things that really make a huge difference. There’s a lot of analogies for that but when it comes to interacting with people they do for sure.

Marcia Hawkins:        Yeah, it’s all about the impression, too. Absolutely. And I’ve always said that when you invest in people, it’s the gift that keeps on getting good or bad.

Ty Bennett:     Yeah.

Marcia Hawkins:        And I often said when I look at relationships that we have whether they are of business nature, whether they are of a mother-child, a brother-sister, mother-father and you kind of segued into that in the beginning of the show when you talked about your parents being such a strong influence on you. And think a lot of times, people forget the littlest of gestures can go a long way. Good or bad. I definitely think that that’s something we all need to look at especially as you related it to the sales process.

If somebody were, you know, one of our listeners was thinking about, whether they were in the business, they’re going to start a business, they’re thinking about what they should do, what type of mindset would you recommend for somebody who is about to say hire employees and what their mindset should be and how they can invest in their employees?

Ty Bennett:     Well, if they’re looking to hire people, I mean, number one I think, you need to be really clear on the type of person that you are looking for and uncover ways that you can discern in the interview process the qualities of those people. But once those people are part of your team, I believe that it’s a leader’s job to invest in their people on a daily basis. I don’t think you can just do this now and again. If you do wait too long and to invest in your people and you don’t do it often enough, you lose traction in terms of the influence that you have with those people.

It’s your opportunity when you are in a leadership role to grow or decline your influence on a daily basis and if you’ll make that investment part of your daily practice, you’ll continue to grow that. Because by nature, if you own the business, you have some influence over those people but there’s three types of influence. There’s situational influence where people follow because they have to and that situational influence may be because you provide their checks so they have to listen to you. But the difference that that makes is really when somebody follows because they have to, they’ll do things that they won’t fully give their self to things, they won’t fully commit to those things.

And commitment makes a huge difference in terms of the quality of work that they do and all that. But what we’re looking for is what I call lasting influence, which means that people follow you because of who you are and how you treat them and that’s a huge difference.

It has nothing to do with your title, has nothing to do with whether or not you pay their check or anything, it has everything to do with the way you interact with them and whether they choose to follow you or not.

Marcia Hawkins:        So if – along that vein, is there a time where all the positive influence you can shower upon somebody, are there times – if the audience so to speak, is not hearing you, I’m sure in all your public speaking that you’ve done at times, did you ever feel like maybe and I guess this goes back to what you talked about earlier that connection, being able to connect with them I mean and as you also so eloquently put at times, you will be communicating and might just be a little off, you’re not able to convey your message. And I think sometimes, we kind of second-guess ourselves and think what did I do wrong, what could I have done differently, any suggestions about that when your audience isn’t as receptive as you’d like them to be?

Ty Bennett:     Well, if you have the ability to, one of those other ways to really increase connection is to be real. And real is different than authentic. Authentic means that you are practicing what you preach and you’re not doing like – but being real, if you can go back, I have had so many conversations when I’ll go back to people and say, “You know, I don’t know what I’ve done wrong but for whatever reason it feels like we’re butting heads and we’re not connecting.” I mean, from your perspective, how do you see it? And really learn how to listen and learn how to let that – open that person up and be real and be open to their feedback and their ideas especially if it’s somebody that you worked with closely.

I’ve done that with clients. I’ve gone back and I’ve said, “You know, I don’t know where I missed the boat but for some reason you are not seeing this the same way I am and explain it to me, help me to understand what I did wrong,” and if you can have that genuine, real conversation, that can create that connection as well.

Marcia Hawkins:        Great advice.

Kyle Clouse:  We’d love to stay on this but in fact, Ty, this really segues into something that you talked a lot about and that’s about being interested and not interesting. Can you explain what you mean by that and how can we do that?

Ty Bennett:     Well, I think the funny thing– I mean, remember my rule isn’t always about them. Okay, so think about it. If we focus about being interesting, that’s all about us. Like, how can I look cool? I mean, Kyle, I’m going to drive a flashy car so that people would go, “Wow! That’s somebody I got to talk to.” Well, you mentioned that earlier, if I came home with an expensive car, my wife would probably make me take it back but that’s a good thing of having a wife, it keeps you humble.

But if I’m interested in other people, Dale Carnegie had a great quote where he said, “You can make more friends in three months than you can in three years by being interested rather than interesting.” And what do I mean by that? Well here’s a couple of practical things. Number one, learn how to ask really good questions. Questions that open people up and questions – not only being able to ask them like word those questions the right way but also relay those questions in a way where the person feels comfortable and is willing to open up, so that they’re willing to talk. Then if you can get them to open up and really feel like you are genuinely interested, then really listen. And not listen to respond where you’re listening to the question and thinking in your head, “Okay, how am I going to rebuttal this? What am I going to say in response to this? But listen to understand so that you validate that person.

Another really practical way that you can do this is to be present in conversations. I mean, how often are you talking to somebody nowadays and they’re looking at their cell phone, they’re texting or checking their e-mail or something and either half listening so they’re not really hearing what you’re saying, it’s annoying. And I know, I’ve done that to people. I’ve done that to my wife probably today and it’s something I need to do better at, being  fully present so that people know that you care. Some of those simple things, if you can be focused on being interested, it’s going to take you so much further with people than just being interesting.

Marcia Hawkins:        Kyle, I hope you heard that. Kyle is constantly reading his email when he’s talking to me, Ty, so I’m glad you brought that up.

Kyle Clouse:  It’s actually – one of the things I was thinking, Ty, is that it’s so important that instead of constantly thinking about what our responses are going to be, we should be focused on understanding what’s being asked of us. And even a step further, not necessarily what’s being asked of us but we’re also trying to put ourselves in their shoes, from their point of view and their experience to understand that question even at a deeper level.

Ty Bennett:     For sure. You think about that, what you’re alluding to is empathy. And empathy is being able to place yourself in somebody’s shoes. I mean, have you ever had an experience where somebody asked you a question where you just felt like, “Wow, they understand me,” where it’s not just repeating what you just said that they are going, “Wow, you know what, they totally get what I’m saying, they’ve been there.” And you feel validated in that.

If you can help people have that feeling – because in a world we are in today, I think we don’t have that feeling enough. We don’t have those connections enough. And in our world that we’ve increased the ability to communicate but because of that, we’ve downgraded our ability to connect a lot of ways and it still comes down to human connections.

Kyle Clouse:  So how does someone become a good – well in trying to connect and really understand someone, how are we – what are some things that we can do to focus on becoming a good listener?

Ty Bennett:     Well, number one, it takes practice. You have to have the desire to do it. And I think it takes I mean, it takes effort. I find listening is like a very active – it requires a lot of energy-type of process. It’s not just sit back and take it in, just listen but you are listening because you are paying attention to a lot of subtle things. I mean, what’s the body language tell you? Try to put it in context. What else do you know about this person? Are there infractions you’ve had with a person? Try to lead read between the lines. What are they really saying as they’re saying this? Is there something that they are not fully saying or that I’m missing out on? All of those little things you’re trying to fully understand that person.

And so it’s an active process. I think it takes a lot of practice and it takes a lot of effort and in the process you can learn through that and I talked a little bit about it in my book and some of the things that you can do to become a more active listener. There’s a lot of books and things out there on it but ultimately I think it’s just comes down to you and I going out and practicing as we’re interacting with people.

Marcia Hawkins:        So your message is very clear. To be a great communicator, you really must be an incredible listener.

Ty Bennett:     Absolutely. I think you know, you’re a listener first because you need to understand the people that you’re communicating with and make sure that your message is something that can hit home but understand that we’re on the people business so every single day we get to practice in that business and that’s the fun part.

Marcia Hawkins:        I know. It’s really funny because I’ve been self-employed for 20 years and it’s just amazing in terms of how you communicate with your customer whether you’re selling something, whether you’re just dealing with the customer service issue, regardless of what that is, you really – it just astounds me sometimes when people come in with their guns loaded and I’ve seen it a million times.

You go in to the mall at the holidays and people go in and they just immediately are on edge with the sales clerk and they started packing them and they’re trying to return something or whatever it is. And what’s amazing to me is that I just don’t understand why they would put that out there first. When you’re trying to accomplish a goal and yet they immediately put that person on the defense and I just have never been able to quite understand that.

So how do you handle when you’re in a situation where somebody has really ticked you off and how do you kind of boil that down and recover in that conversation?

Ty Bennett:     Well, that’s a hard thing to do being that we’re all human and we get caught up in our emotion and we look of those things. I think I do a pretty good job of keeping my cool in most situations. I hope I do because I teach people to focus on being interested first and Stephen Covey said, “Seek first to understand and then to be understood.” I think that’s a good rule of thumb. But I was trying to step out of the situation a little bit and look at it from a different angle. Maybe that’s a visual that makes sense. But I try and step out of it and go, “All right, what are they really trying to say and what am I trying to say? Where is the disconnect here?” Because somewhere – if people are having a disagreement, somewhere between where I am and where they are is where we can come together and where we can find an answer to that. The problem is that we just get caught up in our own way of seeing something and it’s really hard to change that mindset. It’s hard to see things from somebody else’s perspective and then even harder to bring two different prospectives together in a place that synergistic and not just one person bows down and says, “Okay you’re completely right and I was completely wrong,” because human nature doesn’t let that happen that often. So I don’t know that I have the perfect way to deal with that. Maybe read crucial conversations or something step-by-step.

Marcia Hawkins:        I just wanted to get your perspective on that because I kind of have my own perspective on that and I’ve always said when I’m in a relationship and having a conversation with somebody, if after the third or fourth time that I’ve communicated my feelings, I realize I’m the problem, not them. And I’m very good at identifying when I’m not getting my message across and I can look at myself and really kind of replay that conversation over and over again and try to extract what it is that I’m not conveying or conveying incorrectly. So Kyle is just itching at me to ask you.

Ty Bennett:     One thought on that because I think this is such a good take away for so many people. I love the fact that you just put an application to the old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different result.

Marcia Hawkins:        Amen.

Ty Bennett:     That is a perfect situation where you go, if you try and say something 3x one way that doesn’t work, maybe the other person isn’t the problem. Maybe you don’t just keep hitting the door the same way to actually step back and let’s try a new approach. So yeah, we’ll go to Kyle but I just wanted to make that point because we do that in so many areas of our life and that’s a great application to that.

Marcia Hawkins: Oh yeah, it’s like I’m going to back this car and drive into the cement wall once again. I love this. But Kyle has been – he’s been skyping me and he’s been itching for me to ask you to share the plane story.

Ty Bennett:     Okay, so maybe this isn’t the best example of what we are just talking about because this is the story about when I probably didn’t keep my cool the same way. I was thinking levelheadedly but I fly a lot because I’m the speaker I travel all over the world and speak and I’m based in Salt Lake City and Delta has a hub here so I fly on Delta virtually every time I fly and I get upgraded to first-class because of that.

So I was flying from Salt Lake City to Oakland, not too long ago and it’s pretty quite a painless flight and I got upgraded to first-class I was seated in seat 4B and I sat down, I think I was the first person on the plane and I wasn’t paying attention as people are coming on the plane and all of a sudden this gentleman stopped next to me and he said, “Get up, you’re in my seat,”and he said it like a jerk. He said, “Get up! You’re in my seat.” I looked at him and thought wow I mean, “I’m sorry, what seat are you in?”

And he said, “This is my seat. Do you realize this is first-class? You’re in my seat.”

I mean, I don’t know if you ever run into people like this, Marcia but I said, “I realize this is first-class, I’m also in first-class. What seat are you in?”

And he said – then he asked this question I still view as the dumbest question I’ve ever heard. He said, “Did you pay to sit in first-class or did you just get upgraded because I paid for my first-class seat?”

And so I answered him, I said, “I got upgraded, which really stinks for you because that means I paid a lot less money for the exact same seat. What seat are you in?”

And he said, “I’m in 4C,” and I was like, “Ah, you’ve got to be kidding me. I’m sitting in 4B,” and I said, “your seat is 4C, it’s right across the aisle.”

And he just turned without any apology – anything. He just turned and sat down on his seat and I kind of lost my cool with this guy I was like, this guy ticked me off and so I looked across the alley and I said, “You know what, you would suck at what I do.” He was totally flabbergasted.  He said, “What do you mean?” and I said, “You’re not good with people. You’re horrible with people.” I said, “Just be nice, it’s not that hard.” And I kind of lost my cool with the guy but the truth is, the point rings true in the fact that winning the people is really not that hard if we’re just genuinely nice people and we focus on that interaction, we make it about them, we can be very influential in that process.

Marcia Hawkins:        Again the moral of my story, the gift that keeps on giving, good or bad so you – that sums it all up.

I am so sorry that we have to go but I’m so excited to tell our listeners the Ty’s going to be back with us next week on December 7 at the same time so unfortunately we do have to sign off and we do have to say goodbye for tonight as we are out of time but we promise we’ll be back next week, Wednesday evening with Ty.

We want to thank you so much for listening and we also of course, want to our sponsors and of course our guest, Ty Bennett. Make sure you stop by at LeadershipInc.com and get a copy of this book, you’ll love it.

This is Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse. This is a very uplifting and informative preparative show. We sure hope you’ll visit us. Our site, NewYorkShopExchange.com and get your business moving with video on your very own video business channel. We look forward to chatting with you next week. Again, I’m Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse. Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Male:    You’ve been listening to Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.  Questions or comments?  Email the show at info@newyorkshopexchage.com.  Also, find them on the web at NewYorkShopExchange.com.  Until next time. For the best tips on how to manage and grow your busines,s tune in again for Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse of New York Shop Exchange  will be interviewing David Foster CEO of Hubze, Inc. and Co-founder of the Fan Page Engine.

Dave Foster has been in social media marketer going on 3 years and has been an Internet marketer for over 14.  Dave was a spammer back when that meant entrepreneur.  He has always worked hard for what he has and never went to college; he did however tour some colleges just out of high school playing music.  Dave never liked working for other people and always knew that someone else was making a fortune from his hard labor.

Dave decided to get into web design, but only ever really learned to edit HTML. So as the top internet marketers say…outsource what you do not like to do yourself, so he did and that is where he met the co-founder of the FanPageEngine, Valik Rudd. He and Valik had a great working relationship that has turned into a great friendship. They launched the FanPageEngine product in May of 2010 and have not looked back. They are proud to help small business in a down economy to create very nice do-it-yourself Facebook pages for very little out of pocket. This thinking has made them one of the largest providers of custom Facebook pages online today.

Male:   Preparing business for business is on the air.  Join hosts Marcia Hawkins, president of the New York Shop Exchange and Kyle Clouse, vice president for insightful and creative strategies to prepare your business for business.  Listen in for great guests and great offers from our guests and sponsors, as well thought-provoking dialogue.  Preparing Business for Business offers usable content, insightful ideas and the resources to jumpstart your business in an effective, economical manner and to prepare your business for growth and challenges and now, your hosts for Preparing Business for Business, Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.

Marcia Hawkins: Good evening, everybody and I do welcome you to the Business Preparing for Business radio program on the Preparedness Radio Network. This is Marcia Hawkins along with my cohost, Kyle Clouse.

Today is November 23, 2011, 7 p.m. Eastern Standard time on this eve of Thanksgiving. I can almost smell the pumpkin pie baking from here. In fact, I think I have gained about 10 pounds just thinking about all the food tomorrow.

But more importantly, I also want to say a heartfelt thank you to our troops active and retired as a former military mom, I completely understand the sacrifice made especially around the holiday so I want to make sure that we give a nice heartfelt thanks out to our troops.

So I do welcome you here and thank you for joining us here every Wednesday evening to take an informative look at how we can help you prepare your business for business. We have an abundance of ideas and information for you along with exciting guests and informative commentary.

Now our intention each week is really quite simple. We want to provide you with the tools you need to either start a business, grow an existing business and offer up solutions that you may encounter during challenging times. And I think our guest tonight is going to be quite exciting and helpful on this.

So now, tonight, we’re very excited to bring Dave Foster who is the CEO of hubze.com and I’d like to –first, before we bring Dave on, I would like to welcome my cohost Kyle.

How are you tonight, Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  Hey, great to be here, Marcia. Just wanted to touch really quickly on what you just mentioned where you spoke about abundance and being grateful especially during the Thanksgiving holiday.

When I was at the networking event this morning, those were the two key points that we actually honed in on which was abundance and gratitude and coming from those places and as you come from those –from the place of gratitude and the place of abundance, you’ll see huge transformations in your business as you and I are seeing in ours and we always try to stay focused in those areas and we are definitely seeing the fruits of that

Marcia Hawkins: Absolutely. That’s a very key point, Kyle. And so I would love to – I’m really exciting to bring our guest on, he is definitely my kind of person. That is for sure. I was reading over his bio and learning a little bit about him and I’m quite excited to bring him on. He sounds very entertaining as well. Kyle, you want to tell our listening audience a little bit about David Foster.

Kyle Clouse:    David Foster, he is the co-founder of FanPageEngine.com. They’ve got a Facebook Fan Page. If you type in FanPageEngine, keep everything together without any spaces, you will come across a fan page that are close to 50,000 fans grown organically and Dave is proud to tell us that. They have done a phenomenal job in branding themselves on Facebook and on other social media platforms. And Dave is also the founder of hubze – if you go to hubze.com, they build professional Facebook fan pages, landing pages for businesses, fan page or personal profile fan page and we’ll talk a little bit about that. But they’ve done a really good job of branding themselves and really working into this niche market of Facebook marketing and social media marketing and even keeping people up-to-date on what the latest trends are within the social media arena and what businesses can do to effectively get themselves out across the social media networks and build the relationships with trust with the potential clients using social media.

So we’re really excited to have Dave on the show today. He’s been an entrepreneur for the last 20 years – going on 20 years and has – with an intrepenuerial when that meant spamming. We were laughing about it earlier and he has transformed that into Internet marketing, which he’s been doing for the past 17 years and now, social media has really taken a foothold especially in business, he has really niched himself into this market.

Marcia Hawkins:  Awesome! Well, without further ado, let’s bring Dave on. Hi, Dave!

David Foster:  Hello! Hi, Marcia. Hi, Kyle.

Marcia Hawkins:  How are you?

David Foster:   I’m great. I’m actually visiting Indiana from Tallahassee, Florida so I left 80-degree weather to come up in the 30 – well actually, it gets about 45 today but still that’s about 30 to me.

Marcia Hawkins: Oh, I’ve got to ask you, what part of Indiana are you in?

David Foster:   I am in Goshen, which is about – that’s where I was born and raised, Goshen, Indiana which is about 10 minutes from South Bend. We went up to Notre Dame campus today and walked around and just been out enjoying the – I guess it’s fall.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah. Well I have a sister just South of Indy. She’s in Greenwood, Indiana so happy Thanksgiving out to my sister out there. So I know Indiana quite well, I love the Hoosiers.

David Foster:   Oh, yeah. I kind of miss it because in Florida we only get two seasons where you know, here we have four and fall was always my favorite because the leaves’ changing and that always meant that Thanksgiving is coming and that meant turkey and mashed potatoes. My grandmother would make me my own batch of mashed potatoes because I ate so much of them.

Marcia Hawkins:  I have to grab that recipe from you at some point. So anyways I just – when I read your bio and Kyle have been telling me a little bit about you, I was really excited to get you on the show because I think you’ve got an edgy personality, a little bit of an edge of humor to you and I love that. I think every entrepreneur kind of needs it, I think that’s part of a survival tools but everybody knows that the popularity of Facebook and social media. What drove you into that particular sector? And can you talk a little bit about exactly what you do?

David Foster:   Well, you know, to be honest, I was on MySpace for the longest time and I swore that I would never touch Facebook. I was one of those people that said you know, I just don’t get it, I don’t want anything to do with it and on the advice of a friend I decided to start a profile and so got involved, made a profile, started having a bunch of high school friends add me and I was able to reconnect and then I thought, you know, this is pretty cool.

And MySpace, it had just become more or less an ad farm. Every time you went on there, all you saw were ads and I was getting tired of that and my business really wasn’t doing as well and I was at the time doing web design so I wasn’t getting many clients from it anymore. And so pretty much joined Facebook as a personal reason at first. And then in about – this was back in ’07 I believe and then I kind of dabbled around on there, had done some marketing stuff on Twitter, tested that out.

But then in March of 2010, my developer Valik Rudd who’s the co-founder of FanPageEngine, he sent me a link and what he had done is he had customized his Facebook page to look just like his website. And I looked at it, I thought, “I didn’t know you could do that,” and so my eyes just – when I see things like that, I’m just like, “Aha!”, you know, and that “Aha!” moment being the entrepreneur, you’re kind of always looking for that.

Marcia Hawkins: Oh, yeah.

David Foster:   And so I asked him, I said, “Do you think there’s a way that we can automate this so that people could easily create their own pages?” Because most people aren’t designers, they don’t have time to learn code and it’s kind of like I’m always reminded of the Gold Rush. It wasn’t the people that were out there mining for the gold that made the most money, it was the people selling the picks and the hammers and all that stuff.

So I always look to try to be the pick and a hammer to help people make – do what they’re doing so that I can just provide the tools for them to get there so that they don’t have to learn a whole new skill because it takes time to learn a skill, I bet.

So about two- three days after I asked him if he could do that, he sent me a link and I went in and he had created a tool where I can actually grab images and create my own page and then just grab the code and at the time, all you did was grab the code and copy and paste it in the Facebook and boom your website or whatever images or lead capture forms or whatever that you had on there ended up on Facebook.

So that was – and we’re actually called Glow Themes at the time, it wasn’t even called the FanPageEngine because I just took in an existing name that he had. And so that was pretty much what happened. And then we ended up calling it the FanPageEngine, we launched our – March 31 of 2010 was our first week and that first week we did $7000 in sales and I knew we were onto something. And the rest is kind of history. So we pretty much now just are one of the leaders in fan page creater tools for Facebook.

Marcia Hawkins:  Oh, that’s great. That’s awesome. It’s kind of funny that you kind of got forced into it. I love that. So I know everybody pretty much is on Facebook at this point and if they’re not, a lot of people set up their Facebook profile and they never do a whole lot with it and that’s fine too. But can you talk a little bit about just how important it is for a business to have a presence on Facebook?

David Foster:   Oh, sure. I mean, at first I really didn’t think it was and it was funny because between March and May of 2010, we got to around 600 fans on our page and I didn’t really engage the page, and by that, I’m going to use terms that might – people might not know what I’m talking about so to tell you what that is, engagement is just you know, when somebody posts on my page and if you have a Facebook profile, which most people do, a page is very similar in where I post as a business, I post an update just like you would a status update and then you would get replies. Well it’s just like if your friends were commenting on your profile, you go and you respond on your friends’. Well it’s the same on a business page, only very potential customers.

So what I mean by engagement is if somebody were to post on my page, I respond to every single post. Well once I started doing that, and I was at about 650 or so fans, 630 or whatever, once I start started responding to every single comment and I started posting every single day, educational stuff like how people can use Facebook or just simple things like showing people how to change their privacy settings in a video, our fan base just shut up to 30,000 fans in like no time.

I mean, it’s probably a good four, five months and by the time we got the 30,000 fans, I was the only one managing the page, I was doing all of our customer service, I was trying to make sure people’s accounts were getting set up and all that stuff so it just got overwhelming. So then I was able to bring more people on and now we’ve got three people that manage the pages that we have. I’ve got three developers, I’ve got a customer service guy, I’ve got a Twitter guy so you know, it just kind of exploded at that moment.

And that’s when I realized, this is a way for – and I was able to do that with my own capital. I never had to get an investor. I never had to take on any loans, I didn’t go to the bank, I did nothing. I just simply launched the product and just used the money that I made to reinvest in my company and so – the only thing that I spent money on was my marketing budget, which was Facebook advertisements because you do those and lead people to your page and I started out with what I could afford, which was $20 a day and got up until I was spending between $300 and $400 a day and that’s pretty much where I was.

And now, we’re to the point where we’re such a high on the search engine on Google, I don’t even pay for advertising anymore. So you know, it’s such a great way to get out there and connect with your customers in a way that we’ve not been able to for a year. I mean, if you look at like, how customers used to connect with the business owner in the ’50s, you know, you’d walk into the soda shop and everybody knew the jerks that were in there making the sodas and they knew their customers by name because they were regulars and it’s away for – I don’t know if everybody remembers but in the ‘80s, customer service was all press one for this, press two for that and you could never get a human person and so that whole interaction was a completely taken away from the process and it was just like the big company and the customer and there was no connection. So you didn’t have any loyalty so why would I be loyal to a brand if I couldn’t connect with that brand?

And so in doing this you are able to engage with your customers, find out what they really want and create that community and create that loyalty because that loyalty is very important and there’s days you know – if there’s ever somebody that comes to our page and was slammed after saying anything like there’s a couple people that have been in the past said negative things about us, our customer stepp up and respond to those and answer people’s questions because of how loyal they’ve become. So it’s just a game changer for business in my opinion.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah. So just to be really clear on your message because I’m completely picking up what you’re laying down. It sounds to me like you really identified something that a lot of businesses are forgetting to hone in on and that is the customer service aspect. And so you’re suggesting that they utilize their Facebook fan Page as a way of keeping that interaction with their customer base?

David Foster:  Exactly, yeah and that’s the thing. You can use it for your customer service, you can use it to you know, once a day throw out a deal or a special of some kind and then – because there is different businesses and business types of course that are going to be on there. I mean, a restaurant probably is not going to gain fans like we did posting information about how to use Facebook.

But they could talk about things that make their restaurant unique or offer a coupon or maybe do recipes or something, you know, share recipes of things that they actually have in there that they’re making. I mean, there’s different things that you can do for each niche or each industry that you are in. But it is the key, the engagement and getting to know your customers is the key.

Marcia Hawkins:  Great advice. Kyle, I know you’re chomping at the bit to ask him.

Kyle Clouse:  Absolutely. There’s a lot of good information that we can cover here and unfortunately we don’t have the time to go over everything. I mean I’ve been a member of the FanPageEngine for probably a year now and I’ve also bought your course of the social media engine. And just a fantastic course with a wealth of knowledge and walk a business owner through, learning how to engage their audiences, using social media and how to use social media for business.

So let’s talk a little bit about engagement, Dave. What are some good ways to engage your audience? And what are some negative ways that you’ve seen businesses engage their audiences so we can see the difference and get the listeners on the show can you know, really focus on positive engagement?

David Foster:  Well I always focus on what I call the 90-10 rule and I would say for us it’s more of a 95-5 rule and what I mean by that is 95% engagement and conversation, 5% marketing. So I’m not blasting a marketing status update. I mean, we’re sharing blog posts with free information on things that are going on in Twitter and Google+ and the war back and forth with Facebook and Google+ and just covering social media things.

And we find personally, that when we post an image like if you have a restaurant and you have like some kind of gathering that goes on to take an image and post that on your page and then tell people to tag themselves in it, our pictures get the most shares. They get the most comments. And then just asking simple questions I mean, like today, our question that we just posted probably 15 minutes ago was Thanksgiving, do you prefer turkey or ham? And then I’ll get 50, 60 comments.

So it’s just about being social. So you know, the positive way to engage is to just be social because that’s first and foremost it is a social network. Second to that, it is a way to market. So I’ve always looked at it as a marketing tool second.

Kyle Clouse:  So a business owner listening to this – now, a lot of people view Facebook simply as a social platform or they keep up with their high school buddies, so on and so forth. And so transitioning them into our Facebook Fan Page might be a little intimidating for them. When you’re talking about posting images and updates to someone it might seem like a lot of work and distracting from what they usually do throughout the day to keep their business going. How often, have you – in your experience, how often should someone be posting to Facebook to get the most engagement and to also they’re not spending their wallet if I can say that, what’s the happy medium there?

David Foster:  Well, we always kind of tried to stay below five posts because with the content that we got going on in – we’ve got 50,000 fans so it’s a little bit different. If you got you know – if you’re a local restaurant and you’ve got a good 400, 500 fans and those are all local people, all potential customers, you’re not going to want to post 5x a day.

And the one thing that I highly, highly recommend people do not do is try to go sign up for every social network and then start these feeds that feed out a certain post from one to all of them and then not monitor the comments that are going on. If you really want to use social media, the best way to look at it in my opinion is that’s like somebody’s walking into your store and the last thing you don’t want to do is be there for them when they ask a question.

And up until when we had 30,000 fans, I was still doing it by myself and I could you know – I mean, I would get on there various times of the day and I bet you it was not even an hour total with 30,000 fans. So somebody could dedicate – what I would do and how I do it is I have my daily activities and it’s very important that you have those. If you don’t have a plan and you feel like you have to go out and join every social network in existence just because it’s there, I highly recommend you don’t do that because what happens is you end up getting overwhelmed and then you end up spending no time on any of them when if you could just say, you know,  “Okay, I’m going to do Facebook, I’m going to do Twitter and I’m going to do a Google plus.” Those are going to be my three and then so every morning what I’m going to do is I’m going to get my cup of coffee first then I’m going to sit down and answer my e-mails and then I’m going to go check out my social networks and see if I have any comments from the night before and I’m going to respond to those and then I’m going to post a status update and just kind of monitor that for a while because a lot of times you’ll get comments initially right when you post and you can almost start a conversation right there with the speed of Facebook right now the same as Twitter. Well and G Plus.

Everything is instant now. We’re in this instant age. So you can have a conversation and then go on around your business. It does not take that much time to go in the afternoon, go in for about five minutes looking through the comments if there’s anything that needs a response, go ahead and respond or get the person the information that they need to contact somebody that you know – if you have another person that could help with that, that would be cool.

But it’s just about being there but it does not – you don’t have to be intimidated because it doesn’t take the time that people think it does. Like I was saying, the smaller your fan base, really the less – you want to at least post once a day but I would say three to 5x is the max. So if you’re one of those people that you know – and I’ve seen businesses actually do this were in the back making gravy or whatever, there are just posting all these status updates all day long and what happens in that case, people see those posts and they’re just like they’re not relevant to them, they don’t want to engage because it’s not really engaging, it’s not really asking a question and they end up hiding that business.

Well, you’ve got the fans showing on the page but then they’re not – they’ve hidden your update so they’re not going to see them and that’s the last thing you want to do. So you just want to really focus on keeping it so that it’s not spamming, you don’t want to spam the wall.

Marcia Hawkins:  It also sounds like you’ve gone after quality fans as opposed to just generalize traffic. And a follow-up question to what you said, it sounds as though when you talk I think, 30,000 fans you had mentioned that you were posting about 4x per day. Quick question, are you changing up those posts and are you strategic in what you’re posting in terms of are you going after – one is like a question, is one a poll that you’re taking? Can you talk a little bit about the quality of your post and your fans?

David Foster:  Sure. About three of those posts everyday our blog posts. We post roughly 3x a day so there was a time when we were posting more but we were selective on which blogs and that’s one thing we don’t automate that. We have one fan page where we have all of our news from our blog go  automatically and that’s like a news aggragate so people who want to get all of our blog posts via Facebook may go to that page and they like it and then they see a new post.

But as far as our main page, we will post three blog posts, which ever ones we feel are the best ones for the day and then we might ask two different questions like again, one today was about the Thanksgiving turkey or ham  and then we might post an image of a dog that we can say finish this caption and have people finish what the dog may have been thinking or something like that, something fun.

So we just kind of keep it loose and be real. That’s one thing that I really see a lot of businesses, it’s like they feel like they have to be businessy, like you have to have your tie and jacket on the whole time you’re on there but you don’t. Loosen your tie, be a real person and really connect with people because you’re not connecting with robots. You’re connecting with real people. So you have to always remember that.

Marcia Hawkins:  I must say in just looking at what we’ve done in our fan page, I definitely – I know Kyle and I will have quite a bit of a dialogue about this. Isn’t that right, Kyle?

Kyle Clouse:  That’s absolutely right.

Marcia Hawkins:  We’ve had this conversation about keeping it real on the Facebook page and how – you are so right when people get in there, they want to feel like they’re communicating with you you’re not doing a business transaction and when you really think about Facebook and you think about you know, the fact that people are there really, let’s call it what it is. It’s entertainment.

David Foster:  Exactly.

Marcia Hawkins:  It’s a source of entertainment, exactly.

David Foster:   Think back to the day when you had the call customer service and you press buttons to get somewhere and never got to where you want to be, you never connected with a real person, you know how frustrating that was.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, I know. And I’m really glad and I want to make sure that – we got to take a quick break but I would do want to get back to that when we come back after the break.

So as I said we got to take a quick break to highlight our sponsors. We want to say thank you to the Freeze Dry Guy and of course thewondermill.com. This is the Business Preparing Your Business for Business program on the Preparedness Radio Network. I am Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse inviting you here each week to join us for an informative dialogue on everything about business preparation and please also visit us on NewYorkShopExchange.com.

Thank you so much for allowing us to help your business prepare for business and we’ll be right back.

Alrighty, everybody. Welcome back. I’m just so excited to get back. We just kind of left a little bit of a cliffhanger there with – talking about the kind of the rules of engagement for Facebook.

Again I want to remind everyone that we are speaking with David Foster and Kyle Clouse and we’re talking all about the importance of the Facebook integration for your business. And I want to just get back to what we were talking to a little bit before the break and how being able to keep it real on Facebook and being able to interact with your fan base and very interesting thing you said about back in the 1980s when you would call and press one and that really as we all know, irritates people.

But you think about it when people actually physically come in to your business you wouldn’t be a stiff and robotic person in communicating with them. You would want to keep it real for them. And I got to tell you, if I take anything away from this radio show tonight, I can definitely reassure you that Kyle and I will be having a conversation about our own fan page and really making some changes because I believe you completely hit the nail on the head with that in terms of keeping it real.

So when you’re grabbing content for your blog post again, is there any little secret to that that you’re grabbing and posting?

David Foster:   Well, we just really keep our finger on the pulse of social media so we try to see what the latest trends are, we have some people that do some really cool infographics for us and then they do a post or something and we just really keep everything – and I mean we’re constantly looking at what’s going on because social media is our world, that’s how I feed my family so it’s very important to us but that information we keep completely free and so we’re just looking for things that if Facebook makes changes in the privacy settings we want people to know right away if it affects them or we see that they’re getting ready to change the news feed, which they have several times we can kind of let people know just how they can go in and make it the way they still use it or things like that. So we just keep our finger on the pulse of social media and that’s the content that we provide there.

Marcia Hawkins:  Great.

Kyle Clouse:  So let me ask you real quick, Dave and kind of follow-up on that just so we can see what might be a little bit more effective or can you guys see the difference and you might not even be a difference but when you’re posting on Facebook or grabbing a link from your blog and then putting it onto Facebook, is more effective to copy and paste that link in? Or are you just as good using the share button to do that for you?

David Foster:  Well, what we do personally is we actually copy the link and then we go and we paste in a link where it says put the link and then we put a status update next to it and the reason we do that is because for the longest time, Facebook was actually grouping automated stuff like network blogs and stuff like that together. The share button, if you share that, that’s going to go on to your personal profile so it’s like when we put the like button or the share button or anything that on the post that will automatically – now there are some ways you can choose the page you want to post to but you’re not going to get the engagement when it looks like it comes from a third party and you don’t get the news feed activity that you get when you just go in there and take the time to hand post it on your wall and make the comment that you put and specific to that post because a lot of times if you’re sharing it, it will already have an explanation description and all that stuff there. And you can just if you just want to keep it like I said to keep it real.

Kyle Clouse:  So you’re not spellchecking your posts or anything like that? Are you also grabbing the same link and posting it to your personal profile and to your fan page?

David Foster:  I very rarely post my blog posts in my personal profile. I used to but I have so many friends that just – they’re not into social networking the way that I am but so I pretty much stopped doing that. I will like posts sometimes but I don’t go and put every single one on my profile now.

Kyle Clouse:  So now there’s a difference between a Facebook fan page you and we’ve been talking about fan pages, Facebook fan pages and there’s also groups and they’ve recently changed that from what I understand, they’ve recently changed up their events pages where you can create an event. Now as a business or should the business create a group page, a fan page and how should they use events page and events page so that they can really get the interaction of their audience like we’ve been talking about?

David Foster:  Well personally, I mean a group is kind of what we would create if we wanted to put a mastermind group together. And the reason a group doesn’t work in my opinion for a business, I mean, I think certain businesses you know, depending on what they’re trying to accomplist, you probably could use a group but the first thing is you cannot customize it so there’d be no branding which we have found – if you’re going to run any kind of apps, I highly recommend you run some Facebook ad because if you really get in there and you could laser target your demographic, you’re going to save money.

But you can send people right to a custom tab on a page which means you can have your ad, say something and then when they go there, that landing tab can be specific to that ad so they’re getting exactly what they clicked on and the information is there. Where you can’t do that in a group and also in a group, if I go there as a business owner and I post something that I want people to see, if somebody else comes in there and they post something, my post moves down the page. And then if somebody comments on a post that was from two weeks ago that post is going to automatically move back to the top so your initial post can just get completely lost in the shuffle.

And so on a page, I can set it up so that the page post stay on top all the time and that people can comment on it but it stays kind of what I call sticky, it stays right there. So if there’s information that I really like – we have server maintenance coming up, that we have a server issue that’s going on, I want that right at the top so that when people come to complain about it you know, they let us know that we have an outage, they see that right there and they don’t have to you know – because if that was a group there’d be no way for them to find it if other people have posted.

So a group is good for like, I’d say a small number of people but I’m in a couple of groups that are upwards of 1000 people and you just cannot keep up with it. I mean, I get so many e-mails I have to shut it off. And the comments. If you see a comment come across your notifications and you go to the group, by the time you’re there you cannot find the comment. And Facebook notifications don’t take you directly to that comment, they just take you to that group. So I personally don’t like groups for business. I like groups for personal.

And in the event page, I haven’t got to play with the events page as of yet so I don’t really have much to talk about on that. However, I do know as a business page, we’re able to create events and link them right to our page and then as we can post the event right to our page from the event. That’s the way we do it if we do have events. But I have played with the new event stuff yet.

David Foster:   Kyle, I was talking about customer service robots earlier and you really sound like one right now. You’re on Skype, correct?

Kyle Clouse:    Yes.

David Foster:   Yeah, you’re breaking up pretty bad. Can you call back in real quick?

Kyle Clouse:    Yeah.

David Foster:   Okay, thanks. Well, I think I caught he was talking about landing tabs.

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, he was.

David Foster:  So I’ll talk a little bit about landing tabs until he gets on, I can maybe answer the question but the cool thing about Facebook pages is you can create landing tabs and so you can have you know, like we’ve got a landing tab that have videos for training, we have a landing tab that has our customer service so people can connect live to our live support right from Facebook, they can push the button and they’ll be connected to our support team and be able to have the conversation right there on Facebook.

We have a tab for our products so we can customize that and people can look at our products and actually but them right from Facebook. Click the BUY NOW button and it goes to our shopping cart. So it’s a way for you to create a whole website experience right inside your Facebook page and it’s the only place you can do that. You can’t do it in a group or anything like that and then like I was saying earlier about that, that’s a very, very important because if you can really target your ads, you can get down to where you are spending very little money on advertisement but you’re going to get a lot of bang for your buck because when people go to that ad they click on it and it’s very relevant because as we all know Google always likes relevant. If you can keep your ads relevant to your content, people are more receptive.

So it’s a real cool way because you can – each ad can land them on a completely different tab. So it’s been a game changer for us because we used to try to run Google ads and you have to be a bit – more or less rocket scientist just to try to figure out the algorithms.

Facebook, you just pick who you want to target, the age group, whether they’re in college, some of their interests and boom, you’ve raised, you’ve target them and we were spending sometimes $0.60, $0.70 per click and we’ve always made more than we spent as long as you know how to target.

Marcia Hawkins:  And hence, why we started NewYorkShopExchange.com for the same reason being able to take your video and update it any time, re-tag it because yes, you can’t figure out what Google – and when you think you figured it out, just then of course they change the algorithm. So it’s really hard.

David Foster:  And all of a sudden they don’t accept this niche or they don’t accept this, you know.

Marcia Hawkins:  Exactly. I do want to ask you, I’m sure a lot of our listeners are probably thinking this question so I’m going to be the one to come out and ask it. So what are your thoughts on Facebook versus Google+?

David Foster:  Well, you know personally, I am just so into Facebook because I feel like it’s more stable and the demographic on there in my opinion is more geared towards what I’m dealing, more towards business. Where Google+ right now seems to be a very techie crowd, I do get into some conversations on there once in a while but I still have not made the complete move because I just feel like it’s a little bit more techie.

Now I see them doing some things that have some potential with the hangouts, which is where you can create a room and go in and have a video conversation with multiple people and they’re coming out with a version where as a business owner I would actually be able to go in there and stream video that people can watch so it could be like a webinar or something like that and have as many viewers as I wanted so they do have some potential but right now with the numbers, Facebook still is the fastest growing, their’s are most stable and just have a better reputation.

And because of Google+ was created because they want to figure out a way to give our data to advertisers where Facebook was created to create the college experience online so you know, the motives were a little bit different which I can appreciate because I look at Facebook and people get so upset because of the ads here and there but they have to pay for that platform. I think they’re really out of the way and I love the fact that they’re geared towards me. If I have an interest, I see an ad on that interest and I have made a lot of purchases from Facebook where a Google+, it doesn’t have it yet but you know…

Marcia Hawkins:  No, they don’t.

David Foster:  I know they will, it’s coming. Look at YouTube. I get so frustrated now because I got an extra ad I was in the middle of my videos but it’s coming. But if you watch the conversations on Google+, it’s more of a Twitter type thing because it’s fast. It’s like such a fast conversation that if you’re not there to keep up with it, you’ll miss it. So…

Marcia Hawkins:  Yeah, it goes back to what you said earlier too though, it’s customer loyalty and you know people, look what happens when Facebook makes one minor change, people are all over the place. You know, “Why did you that for?!” And they’re very quick to let you know their dissatisfaction with something. But you never see people deleting their page because Facebook made a change.

David Foster:  Right, exactly.

Marica Hawkins:  Well, we got Kyle back and I know Kyle chomping at the bit to ask you another question. Go ahead, Kyle.

Kyle Clouse:  Sorry about that. We went into some technical difficulty. I was bringing up the landing tabs and so if you can talk about what, you know, as a business owner coming to Facebook and starting their fan page, what does FanPageEngine.com do for them in creating most the landing tabs and how easy is it for them to integrate a professional landing tab into their fan page?

David Foster:  When I came out with the system and the whole time I was in communication with Valik, I got – told those guys to make sure that my dad could do it. So if my dad can to do it, that means anybody can do it. So it’s just very easy to understand and it used to be copy and paste where now Facebook has Facebook Connect so you’re actually – what you do is you create your page and it can be an already existing page, doesn’t matter.

You just go to our system, you click on Connect, it automatically connects with Facebook and then it pulls down a list of your pages, you select the page that you want to work on and as soon as you do that it pulls up a tool, you’re able to upload graphics, you’re able to add videos, lead capture forms, Facebook comments and just basically build from scratch from the ground up. It’s a complete webpage right inside Facebook and then you click publish and if you go back to your Facebook Page it will be there.

Kyle Clouse:  A miracle. Now I noticed that there’s – you know, I’ll go to a business’ fan page and there’s some business fan pages, you land on their info tab, others you land on the welcome tab then you go to those that have like the fan page engine, you have a custom build tab. What kind of difference does that equate into for someone quickly like and become a member of your fan page?

David Foster:  Well, it makes a huge difference because people become loyal to a brand and so you always want your – I mean we all know the importance of branding. Branding is very important for people to recognize you. So if you just send people to your info tab, that’s not really going to – I mean it’s not pleasing to the eye because it’s just information and people have to read and they don’t like to read as much anymore. They’d rather look at something that’s pleasing to the eye and watch a video or something like that. So what we have is what’s called a fan gate, I guess it’s what they call it now. I used to call the reveal tab but more people have called it the light gate, which means I can show information on a tab before somebody likes it. So I can say, “Like this page to learn how you can customize your Facebook fan page,” and then as soon as they like it, it reveals a video that shows our product and prices and stuff like that.

So it’s just a more – we all know how much a better experience of sending a customer to a website than calling in to a sales department. They can do that eventually to get their questions answered but most people want to see the information, they want to read, they want to get informed and that’s the way for them to do that without ever having to talk to people because we like to get information, we just don’t really like to talk to people on the phone or anything so it’s kind of like your 24/7 salesperson then if they want to go deeper you know, some people have a phone number or an e-mail address they can get more info or whatever.

Kyle Clouse:  So you’re basically using your cliffhanger to get them to take the next step which is liking your page and then giving them the information that you promised to give them.

David Foster: Yeah, exactly. And it can work for any guy I mean, if you happen to have an ebook that you wanted to give away and I noticed you know, with the Preparedness, if you wanted to give people information on food or something, you could say, “Like this to receive a 10% coupon on your next purchase of freeze dried food” or whatever and then they like it and then there’s the coupon.

Kyle Clouse:  Very cool.

David Foster:  So it’s like building a list because back in the old days when I first got started and entered marketing, the most important thing you can do was build your e-mail list. Well, now the most important thing in my opinion that you can do is build your fan base and your e-mail list. So you get the like first and then you give them something for getting that like and then you can have a lead capture form there as well to capture their e-mail after the fact and you actually get a lot better results when you do both in my opinion.

Kyle Clouse:  So can someone use a fan – I mean a fan page essentially is like building an e-mail list in a lot of aspects.

David Foster:  Oh completely. And some of the things that Facebook is kind of leaning towards that is coming is a better way for pages to communicate on a mass scale with their fans and that’s something we’ve been looking for for a long time. I mean, they had it so you could send a message to all your fans but it was always going into what is called the other box, not the regular inbox of your messages so they would get overlooked. And so they’ve been testing it out with groups with e-mailing and everything and then they’re looking to roll out some kind of communication for pages where we can communicate with our fans better than just a post because there’s some times when you have information that people are not going to see the post but they always check their e-mail.

Kyle Clouse:  Right. So what is the best way for – if you have to choose one method to drive targeted traffic to your fan page and really engage your audience and give the audience that is niched to your business, what’s the best way to do that?

David Foster:  Well, initially out of the gate, it’s Facebook ads because you can – you know, if you’re a restaurant owner and you live in Tallahassee, Florida, I can go in there and I can target people 25 miles outside and inside and outside of Tallahassee who like coffee and you know, who are entrepreneurs or whatever and so anybody that fits that demographic will see my ad.

So I just increased my likelihood of a click in doing that and then for us it’s just become about engagement because people are seeing people engaged on our page and then they’re coming and liking us. Well, when we they first get there, they’re of course going to see our sales page so they become a potential new customer. Because I have not run Facebook ads probably in four months and our sales have not slowed at all. So you just get to that point where you can stop spending the money because just the engagement alone is driving traffic.

Kyle Clouse:  Absolutely. So on the Facebook ads, let’s talk about those for a second. How difficult is it for a business owner to set up an ad campaign through Facebook and what kind of cost are they looking to incur when they run a campaign?

David Foster:  Well, you know, it’s really going to vary and how deep you can dig in to your demographic and how local you can make it. If you’re an international business, it can be kind of expensive depending on your niche. Our niche was Internet marketer so of course we can be international but we also – our biggest demographic actually is real estate agents.

So we’re going to pay a little bit higher click because we’re targeting such a wide range of people but if I like I said, if I were the coffeehouse and I were able to really laser target my demographic like let’s say, I want to target kids that are 18 to 23 that like live music, that are 15 miles within Tallahassee and even be in specific bands if I wanted to because there’s a difference between somebody who likes John Mayer and somebody who likes rap music or something.

So you can figure out – okay, who is my best customer? And once you establish who your best customer is, you can go in and very easily create your ads and you know, the hardest part of it is the graphic in my opinion because you really have to figure out a graphic to use the call for action. So…

Kyle Clouse:  Is there a way that people can get in contact with you if you have additional questions regarding Facebook like an e-mail address?

David Foster:   Yes, they can e-mail us at support@hubze.com and the reason I give out that e-mail is because it actually creates a ticket and then Chase is going to find it to me to make sure I stay on it because I am one of those – my e-mail box right now has 8900 e-mails and I can’t wait to see what it’s like after Friday.

Marcia Hawkins:  Well, we do have to wrap up. I’ve got a big dislike button here but we do have to say goodbye for tonight as we are unfortunately out of time. But I promise we’ll be back next week, Wednesday evening at 7 pm.

We want to thank you so much for listening and we also want of course to thank our sponsors and of course our guest, David Foster, CEO of FanPageEngine and Hubze.com.

This was an extremely, an informative preparative show and we sure hope you’ll visit us at our site, NewYorkShopExchange.com and get your business moving with video on your very own Video Business Channel.  We look forward to chatting with you next week, Wednesday evening, 7 p.m.  And again, thanks so much.  I’m Marcia Hawkins along with Kyle Clouse.  Enjoy the rest of your evening and of course, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Goodnight!

Male:  You’ve been listening to Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.  Questions or comments?  Email the show at info@newyorkshopexchage.com.  Also, find them on the web at newyorkshopexchange.com.  Until next time for the best tips on how to manage and grow your business, tune in again for Preparing Business for Business with your hosts Marcia Hawkins and Kyle Clouse.