Vered Neta's Blog, page 15

How to Create Your Own Blue Ocean

In my Webinar – “Thinking strategically – 2014”, I mentioned a very powerful tool that could help you in building strategy for your business, which is called Blue Ocean Canvas.

Many of you requested to know more about this tool. If you want to know more go and read the book! It would be probably the most productive hours you will spend, this year, working ON your business.

Having said that, I want to add more by explaining how using this tool would be more than just creating your strategy, but also clarifying and helping you create the most important ingredient in your business, which is adding value to the marketplace.

Doing the “Blue Ocean Canvas” creates totally clarity what is out there in the market. If you wish your business to be successful, you know, by now, that you need to stand out!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face – you were NOT born to fit in you were born to STAND UP! This is true in life AND in business… it is CRUCIAL.

In order to be different you first need to know what is the standard in your industry. This is where Blue Ocean Canvas comes in and helps you.

What is “Blue Ocean Strategy Canvas”?

The canvas consists of the horizontal axis, capturing the range of factors that the industry competes on, and the vertical axis, which illustrates the level of presence of each factor across all competitors.

Have a look at the image on the right – this is how it looks like when analyzing YouTube and ordinary web hosting services.

As you can see, the canvas maps out different factors and how they’re present in the ordinary web hosting provider (red) and how is YouTube different (blue). The line connecting the dots is called the value curve.

How to create a “Blue Ocean Strategy Canvas”?

First, you have to identify the factors that the industry competes on to put them on the horizontal axis. Some of the obvious ones will be: price, specialization, payment terms, etc.

In Balanced Business Women I would put: Live events, online tools, videos, community etc…

Then you look at how other players in the market engage with these factors, from high to low.

For example, if you are a coach you might notice that the majority in your slice of the industry offers long payment terms, or that they’re not really specializing, they treat and work with EVERYONE .

Use one color to mark all the appropriate dots and then connect them with one line (value curve).

Finally, look at your business and how it relates to the value curve of other players. You may find that it runs very closely to everybody else in the market, or that some points in the way you run your business are different (for example, your payment terms are significantly shorter or you focus only on a specific audience or issue).

Mark your dots with another color and connect them to form the value curve.

How to use the Canvas?

The canvas tool can be used in two ways. If you do this exercise as I described above, you’re looking at the “as is” perspective, so you have a clear answer of how you’re positioned in relation to other players.

In my opinion, doing it that way should be your first step. Your next step should be to work on it and create how “it could be” perspective.

In order to do that you look at what you could change in the way you run your business to set yourself apart from the rest of the market.

When you think that way you follow 4 steps that are called ERRC. You are going to ask yourself 4 questions:

What can I ELIMINATE from what is already out there?
What can I REDUCE in my existing canvas?
What can I RAISE (improve) in my existing
What can I CREATE in my canvas, which does not exist in the market?

To help you work this out here is an amazing online tool to help you play around with your own strategy canvas.

Try it out for yourself!

Now I’m curious…

What would you Eliminate, Reduce, Raise or Create to make your business stand out?

Share it with us in the comment box below - What makes YOUR business different?

As a thank-you gift I will send you a video from my seminar of Women Do Business Differently

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

Please share this article with your:



- LinkedIn connections
and blog readers...

Have a magical week! Vered

 

 

 

 

 

10 Commandments for Successful Blogging

OK, by now you probably know that the most powerful tool you can have in your social media arsenal is your Blog.

Nothing will create a strong community and help you turn strangers into friends and into ambassadors (which is the way the way marketing works in the new Economy), like having a strong-based blog community.

The question is – how do you do it without losing your sanity? How do you get readers and build a community that will come back again and again for more?

Like in any of our programs in order to create it, you’ll need to follow the MG-SPI system. Those of you who are not familiar with it, MG-SPI stands for Mindset-Goals-Strategy-Plan-Implementation

So here are 10 rules for a successful blog:

1. Mindset – It’s not a sprint – it’s a Marathon

First and most important mindset that you’ll need to have is the realization that we are not talking about a sprint. If you wish to create a loyal community you have to take a long breathe and think about it as a Marathon run. Do not expect that things will happen within a month or even 3 months.

It took me more than 2 years before I managed to get a true community that supports each other on this blog.

2. Mindset – “So What” Attitude

Make sure that when you write you check your content under the litmus test of “So What”, which means – ask yourself if the content you are sharing your readers can USE today.

Put yourself in their shoes and check if what you offer is relevant to THEM. Help your readers to take action to accomplish their goals faster, better and easier. If it doesn’t – drop it and write something different that is VALUABLE for them

3. Goals – Know and (love) your readers

Your blog is your vehicle to get to know your audience better and create a relationship with them. Make sure that in each blog post you get closer to know better who are your readers? Once you get to know them better (and they know YOU better) start loving them.

Remember – in the New Economy everything is all about RELATIONSHIPS. The more you know and love your readers, the more they will know and love you and become your ambassadors.

4. Goals – Measure your success

From the start, set up the numbers that would allow you to check your success. From analysis of readers, comments, social shares, Google analytics traffic data and sales, you’ll soon start to get a feel for your blog and how popular it is and what it can do for you. As I said in last week’s blog post your numbers is your best friend on your road to success

4. Strategy – Be clear on your strategy

First of all, sit down and define what you are trying to achieve. Why are you blogging and what is the topic or subject that you will blog about? Don’t make the mistake that some businesses do, which is to write on everything and nothing.

A blog is extra value content and NOT a repeat sales message. So repeating old brochures or ‘cutting and pasting’ the marketing part from your business plan is not the way to go. Decide on your content strategy in broad terms and that will be a very solid first step into the world of blogging.

6. Strategy – Do the research about what to write

While there are many ways to come up with new content, here is a couple to start with.

First and most easiest – ASK your target audience what would they like to read on your blog.
Listen to clients. They ask questions every day that you could be answering for them via your blog
Use Google itself and see what suggestions Google gives you when you type in certain phrases your target audience is looking for.
Have a look at what people are asking you on a daily basis and look at the current queries you are dealing with in your inbox every day. Can they be the inspiration for your next blog?
Have a look at other publications/blogs/forums that are targeting your target audience and see what are the recurring topics

7. Plan – Create a content calendar

Sit and plan what topics will you cover when. Know what you will write about and what will you promote in this blog post. Remember that sometimes you will have to create a blog ‘ad-hoc’ depending on what’s happening in your industry. And it depends on the type of blog as to how often you should be blogging.

8. Plan – Be consistent

Create content schedule and stick to it. In your plan make sure that you have consistence. For instance, every first week of the month you write about topic #1. Every 2nd week of the month you do a video blog, third week of the month, you cover a case study and 4th week of the month you recommend a new book/product/video/program etc..

9. Implementation – Your House – Your Rules

Make sure you are managing your blog. Take responsibility for it and create the rules for your blog. What type of comments you wish to have, how should people comment, how often you moderate it (my recommendation – on the day of the blog post, as soon as possible approve the comments).

10. Implementation – Shine – above all… be enthusiastic. Have fun on your blog. Others will have fun too.

Now it’s your turn…

What topics would you like to read on this blog that would help you in your business?

Share it with us in the comment box below - What are your challenges and what would you like to learn about ?

As a thank-you gift I will send you an invitation to my new Webinar in the series of Women Do Business Differently

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

Please share this article with your:



- LinkedIn connections
and blog readers...

Have a magical week! Vered

What’s Your Number?

In my opinion, one of the reasons  women avoided going into business was the idea that business is all about “Bottom Line”, which they thought, meant … MONEY.

I have to admit,  for many years I also had this notion, that business is all about money and I didn’t want to associate myself with such an occupation.

The New Economy has changed the game of business completely and due to that I find myself enjoying business much more. The focus today in business is not one bottom line, but three bottom lines, meaning, the focus is on People, Plant and Profit.

Once you realize that your focus is not anymore just on the money it becomes easier to do business. You realize that you have a bigger reason than just making money, which makes it easier for most women that I know.

This notion of  “business is all about the money” has a side effect, which is going to harm you even when you realize that it isn’t.

Even when you realize that business is done today for a bigger reason than  the money, and you should have a higher purpose for your business, the habit that was developed due to the resistance of doing business for money, will sabotage your business even today.

Do you know what that habit is?

It’s the habit of avoiding looking at numbers!

I don’t know about you, but I had fear of numbers ever since I was a young girl. I believed I’m not good in numbers, due to the fact that I wasn’t that great in Math.

Truth to be told, I sucked in math. Ever since then, any time, you will mention numbers to me my brain will fog and I will be dazed out…

Does that sound familiar to you?

I found out, after writing my book “Financial Independence for Women” that many women have the same experience. I even had a brain specialist explaining to me that women brain “reads” and understand numbers differently than men. Not better, not worse… just different.

Having said this, you need to realize that THIS IS NOT A VALID REASON not to look at numbers. It might sound like a good excuse, but it’s just an excuse not a reason!

As long as you will avoid looking at your numbers or have a resistance to money you do not have a business, you have a hobby! The difference between a business and a hobby is… In hobby money goes OUT, in business money goes IN.

The question is how would you know the direction your money is flowing if you are not focusing on the numbers?

I can hear some of you saying… “I know it intuitively”, or “I have a feeling that it is around…”, all this is avoiding to look at the results.

The hard fact results are the numbers, not feelings, not intuition. As long as you resist looking at them, you will be flying in the dark.

Numbers are the best way to define your goals. Numbers are the best way to measure how far or close you are to your dreams. Numbers are the best way to check where you are compared to where you wish to be.

Numbers are not “good” or “bad”. Numbers do not define whether you are a success or a failure; numbers do not say if what you did was great or lousy.

Numbers only show… numbers, YOU give the interpretation to them.

The numbers will only show – THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE.

Imagine driving your car without a dashboard, would you be able to know haw fast you are driving? Imagine wanting to reach a specific place, which you’ve never been to and trying to get there without a map, road signs or a navigator? Would you be able to do that?

Same thing goes to business. Without numbers it’s like flying a plane in the dark without any dashboard or indicators… That leads to danger and crushing very quickly!

No matter what is your purpose of your business, whether it is helping people, saving the planet or having profits or better all three of them, you need to have numbers that would define for you ARE YOU THERE? Are you fulfilling the potential of your business by reaching those targets?

You need to start defining numbers that would tell you if you are on the right track towards your goal.

You need to start finding our what are those important numbers for you and for each action that you take have a look at the results if they are leading you towards that direction.

Here are a few ideas of important numbers that you should have on your dashboard:

Number of clients,
Number of referrals,
Number of prospects,
Number of clicks on your ad,
Number of phone calls you get,
Number of email requests that you get,
Number of Likes on you FB,
Number of followers on your Twitter account,
Number of expenses account,
Income, turnover, revenue, profits, how much tax you pay etc…

If any of those words you don’t even know what are they and what is the difference between them – YOU ARE FLYING IN THE DARK

Start setting the important numbers for your business and start setting out systems that would track those numbers on a daily, weekly and monthly results – to get you to where you wish to get

Now I’m curious…

What numbers would you focus on in your business?

Share it with us in the comment box below - What would be your success numbers ?

As a thank-you gift I will send you an invitation to my new Webinar in the series of Women Do Business Differently

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

Please share this article with your:



- LinkedIn connections
and blog readers...

Have a magical week! Vered

Take the Challenge!

Time doesn’t stop for anyone. Without knowing it we are already in February.

Research proves, again and again, that most New-Year resolutions die by mid-February.

Those wonderful ideas and goals you set for yourself at the end of 2013, or on January 1 somehow have this tendency of disappearing by Valentine’s Day (February 14).

Just have a look at the gyms. Comes January 1st, there is hardly a machine that is available. All lessons are fully booked and in those trendy popular gyms, you need to book in advance for your specific time slot that you wish to have.

However stroll into the gym in the middle of February you’ll find it half empty and most lessons start later due to the fact that they are still “waiting” for the latecomers…

What happened?

What is the difference between those that DO reach their goals and those that just HOPE for their goals?

What makes one person more successful than the other?

The difference lies in their habits.

In the last 20 years I had the good fortune and the privilege to meet and work with many successful people in many different areas of life.

From the entrepreneur that became a billionaire from his kitchen table lost it all and then became a billionaire for the second time.

From loving couples in their 40th and 50th anniversary to the single mother that raises her 3 kids in freedom I didn’t know exists.

From top models to bestselling authors.

From the martial art world champion to the inventor of a viable technology to harness solar energy from space.

From the man that dedicated his life to help Uganda’s poorest children to the woman that overcame cancer and made it her calling to help other women overcome it too…

And although each and every one of them is different and unique in his or her personality, challenges and way of life, they all have something in common…

They all developed and mastered what I call “success habits”. 

Success habit is this supporting behavior that when repeated regularly often enough becomes a habit, which requires very little effort or awareness, resulting in almost automatic life-long success.

I’m sure you’re not surprised. Somehow you all know this to be true – either from experience, or from just common sense.

Then why is it that you’re not developing more success habits? 

Because it seems that developing a new habit ‘forever’ is really, really hard. Because doing something ‘forever’ seems like, well…forever.

If you wanted to quit smoking, it’s really hard to say you’ll NEVER have another cigarette. But with the 30 Day Success Habit Builder, you don’t talk about forever.

Instead, you make the commitment to develop (or change) a habit for only one month. That’s it.

After the month is over, you evaluate this habit and decide either to:

Continue evaluating it for another 30 days; or
Drop it, if it doesn’t support you; or
Make it permanent

I’ve used this 30-day Success Habit Builder countless times in my life. From keeping up my promises to myself, to eating healthy, meditating every day for an hour, or even stop watching TV.

So, here is my challenge for you.

For the next 30 days commit yourself to practicing one new success habit that you know would make a difference in your life.

It can be anything. Like…

Getting up earlier every morning
Writing in your journal every day
Reading for an hour a day
Meditating every day
Going for a long walk every day
Stop watching TV
Meeting someone new every day
Giving up cigarettes, meat, sweets, junk food, coffee, or other unhealthy addictions
Smiling, flossing, exercising, listening to music, listening to your children, talking with your partner (really talking)…
Etc…

And I promise you one thing. After 30 days, it will be so much easier to extend the experiment for another 30 days, and again… until it becomes… ‘forever’.

Now I’m curious…

What success habit would you take on yourself for the coming 30 days?

Share it with us in the comment box below - What would be your new Success Habit?

Sharing your commitment will make it stronger, thus helping you keep your new habit, and will inspire others to make their own commitment to their success. TOGETHER we can make it.

As a thank-you gift for your comment I will send you an invitation to my new Webinar in the series of Women Do Business Differently

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

Please share this article with your:



- LinkedIn connections
and blog readers...

Have a magical week! Vered

7 Tips to Energize Yourself

“Everything is energy” is not anymore some kind of New-Age motto, neither has it got to do with physics (maybe yes…).

Today we know that all high performers have one thing in common – they all have high levels of energies and they know how to tap to it and raise it when they need to.

If you are a morning person, like me, getting up early in the morning and having high energy is not that difficult. The challenge, for me, I found is raising it up, when I need, in evening sessions that I need to give.

If you are more like my husband, meaning, breakfast time should be between 1:30-2:30 pm, then getting up in the morning and having a lot of energy in those hours is a challenge.

As you can see we all need to learn how to tap to our energies and how to recharge and raise our energies when we need them.

Here are 7 tips how to raise your energy when you need it:

1. Energize your body.

As you start your day realize that when you’re sleeping, your muscles become sore so that waking leaves you a bit sleepy in your body.

Instead of going through the motions do some stretching exercises (even in your bed); or just as you stand up shake your body and take deep breaths

2. Inspire your mind.

Have a list of your life goals ready on your bed-table. After you’ve inspired your body, read your goals aloud, with real feeling and get excited by them. Imagine as vividly as you can how you’ll feel when you achieve each goal.

3. Ignore emails and messages.

If you’re like most people, you’ll be tempted to check your phone to see what’s happened while you were sleeping. Bad move.

Unless you’ve got something that’s is truly urgent, postpone the electronic paperwork until you’ve done your most important task for that day.

4. Drink at least 2-4 liter of clean water

Water is a known way to fight tiredness. I drink anywhere between 2.5 – 4 liter of water a day to maintain my energy. There are plenty of other good reasons to drink more water, but it was the energy lift that changed my behavior.

5. Fuel your body.

Breakfast defines your physical condition for the day. Fruit, vegetables and lean protein will sustain you for hours.  By contrast, refined sugar creates a false high then a corresponding low, while greasy meat is difficult to digest.  Avoid them.

Eat better, whenever you can:  There is a reason why they say, “You are what you eat”. What you eat is what is fueling your body, so make sure that the food that you eat is nourishing and comes from a healthy source of food.

You may not always eat well, but you probably know already, which eating choices you should change.

The trick is to avoid the “all or none” mental trap. If you can’t sustain an eating regiment for the rest of your life, then by default it is a trend diet for you. Better to make better choices that you can make forever.

6. Fuel your mind.

During your commute, listen to motivational audio or inspirational music rather than the news or (worst of all) talk radio.

Make a point to emerge from your car after your commute with even more enthusiasm that when you entered it.

7. Set your priorities

You’re a leader; you know how to get things done. So decide what your real priorities are, and then make sure you make time for those and skip the less important stuff.

When you sit down at your desk, don’t jump into the trivia of your job.  Instead, decide what’s the most important thing you can do today based upon your life goals. Then do it. This creates momentum that keeps you energized all day.

Now I’m curious….

How do you energize yourself?

Share it with us in the comment box below - when do you need a boost of energy and how do you do it?

As a thank-you gift for your comment I will send you a video from  ”Mistakes Women Make in Business” seminar

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

Please share this article with your:



- LinkedIn connections
and blog readers...

Have a magical week! Vered

Are You a Superwoman?

I’m known to say things, as they are, no fluff or making it “nice”.

So let me be blunt with you – running a business on your own and being a solopreneur sucks and it is challenging.

Even though you don’t have to deal with many aspects such as payrolls or employees benefits, you still need to cover pretty much everything else – customer service, sales, marketing, PR, bookkeeping, invoicing, collections, strategy, planning and even making coffee…

All those things and more need to be done to keep your business alive – and you are the one doing it… see what I mean with my question at the top of the page?

Are you a Superwoman? Do you really think you can do all that on your own, without paying a price for it?

No wonder many women entrepreneurs, at one point or another, feel lonely, become creatively dry, lose confidence in their abilities or their business (especially when things are not moving as fast as they want), have narrow perspective (as there is no one to give them feedback) or… simple overwhelmed and ending up giving up on their dream and vision.

Does this ring a bell?

If so,  it is time to lay down that Superwoman cap and stop doing things on your own!

Here are a couple of tips how to do it, without having to hire personnel:

1. Start socializing

You are so good at relationships and socializing use this to your advantage. Connect face-to-face and build relationships with other entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Join your local Chamber of Commerce, a networking group, or a professional group.

Actively participate and interact, and you’ll likely find that your fellow members will be happy to offer insights and advice to help you in tough decisions and situations.

2. Use LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn lets you connect not only with clients, prospective clients, and business colleagues, but it also provides you the opportunity to join online entrepreneurial-minded groups.

Got a problem you don’t know how to solve? Need advice on how to handle a particular situation?

Post your question as a “discussion” on the page of a group that has members who are knowledgeable about the topic or your area of business.

Group members are generally very willing to share their thoughts and guide you to additional resources to help you with your challenges. Just be sure to reciprocate and occasionally check discussions to see how you might be of assistance.

3. Get a partner

I can tell you from my own experience. Nothing is as exciting and as energizing as having a partner for your business. It doesn’t have to be a full-time 50-50 partnership.

Do you have someone that energizes you, stimulates your creativity and can challenge you? Do you have someone that has a big network and is willing to open their network for you and connect you with influencers?

Then why not offer him or her a small ownership in your business? What you get is someone that stimulates you or that connects you to opportunities and has an interest to do it on a regular basis with you and supports you in driving your business to success.

4. Find a mentor

Another option is to approach an entrepreneur you admire and ask them to mentor you.

Obviously these people may well be busy with their own businesses, so either look for a retired business owner or be willing to pay for their time. When you get a mentor on board you can get tremendously valuable advice and connections.

5. Find a ‘buddy’

A cheaper option would be to find a buddy, somebody else in a similar situation to you. The two of you can agree to talk regularly and share the challenges you face as business owners.

You can hold each other accountable as well as brainstorm different approaches and ideas.

6. Join a mastermind group

The final option is not to look for a single consultant, mentor or buddy but to find or organize a supportive mastermind group instead.

This is what you can achieve when you join our community of Balanced Business Women, whether here on this Blog or on our Facebook group.

You can see there how women are interacting and supporting each other with their own challenges and questions.

Now… it’s up to you!

How you choose to do it is entirely up to you.

But if you want to stay happy, healthy, wealthy and wise AND fulfill your business potential – then don’t do it alone!

What do you think?

Share with us in the comment box below what are  your experiences with working alone vs. working together…

Also, if you need some help getting a sleeping partner, finding a mentor, a ‘buddy’ or a mastermind group – why don’t you ask for help in the comment box below…

As a thank-you gift for your comment I will send you a video from the seminar “Women Do Business Differently”

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

Please share this article with your:



- LinkedIn connections
and blog readers...

Have a magical week! Vered

5 Steps for Marketing Storytelling

Here is a question to you – Are you communicating with your audience on a personal level or as a professional?

A few weeks ago I posted my New-Year blessings to my audience. We were filming this video during our Christmas vacation in Bonaire. The photographer and editor of this movie was Thom, our teenager daughter.

In previous years she used to take part in this fun video. This year she refused. She said she doesn’t want to be part of this corny and “schmaltz” concept of a video. That was her opinion about our concept for that video… she’s entitled to it… after all.., she is a teenager…

But what hit me was when she said that it isn’t professional.

I was astonished to hear from someone as young as her and who is involved in social media, as her, that she still believes that when it comes to business your communication with your audience needs to be kept professional and cold.

You see many of you might be still trapped also in this concept that it might not be professional or “right” to communicate with your target audience on a personal level.

This is one of the biggest mistakes that I see women make in their marketing communication. Are you making that mistake?

Do you still believe that the way to communicate with your audience is by giving them hard-core information and talking TO them instead of talking WITH them?

The truth is that today the only way to market is by telling a story. Storytelling is the new marketing. The more you become personal with your audience the better your marketing and selling is.

Pushy, interruptive, self-centered marketing no longer works the way it once did, and its effectiveness will only continue to diminish in the social age. The reason is that people do not care about you, your product or your service. Your audience only cares about themselves.

The only way that you can reach them is when you create affinity and ignite some emotions and the easiest way to do it is – stories.”

Story is the answer for two reasons, both of them backed by compelling science.

First, because people are naturally greedy for stories, they have a unique ability to seize and rivet our attention.

Second, stories aren’t just fun escapism–they have an almost spooky ability to mold our thinking and behavior. Stories engage our mind more than anything and in today’s “Age of Interruption” the only way to get people to listen to you are by sharing a story.

Following are five secrets that storytellers understand and use to intrigue, engage, and connect emotionally with audience. These secrets include a mix of marketing fundamentals and fiction writing basics.

1. Speak truthfully.

Honesty and transparency are important in storytelling. Yes, you’re crafting “stories,” but they need to be based in reality of your products, and industry.

In other words, you must stick to the three primary steps of marketing: consistency, persistence, and control. Be creative but don’t loose your promise. Confusion is the number one marketing killer.

2. Be Personal

Even though you are using your story to market your product or service it’s not an ad or a sale pitch. You should put out who you are in those stories (or your Ideal Customer’s profile) and be as vulnerable and transparent as possible.

3. Create characters your audience could identify with.

Like in any good story you should have the “Good guys” and the “Bad guys”. You want to create characters that your audience will be able to connect with. Either that they will cheer for them or they would love to “hate” them. Like any good story there should be the hero and the villain. People love going against someone….

4. Include a beginning, middle, and end.

Fiction stories follow a structure that includes a beginning, middle, and an end. Your stories should follow a similar structure.

In the beginning, you need to open strong and establish your story setting and the characters.

The middle should set up your main character’s problem and present conflicts that get in his or her (or its) way before he or she (or it) can find resolution in the end.

You need to take your reader along for the ride. If they enjoy the ride, they’ll stick around, tell other people about it, and come back again and again. Make sure that ride is memorable!

5. Keep them anticipating for more.

Make sure your stories are page-turners by focusing on the use of long-lasting marketing in your efforts where one piece feeds off of the next.

Leave your audience wanting more, and they’ll come back again and again.

Now I’m curious….

How do you communicate with your audience ?

Share it with us in the comment box below - your tips, experience and ideas of creating communication which is engaging?

As a thank-you gift for your comment I will send you a video from  ”Mistakes Women Make in Business” about Telling your Story and an invitation to my new Webinar series of Women Do Business Differently

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

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10 Questions to Improve Your Strategic Thinking

It’s the first week of 2014! – Are you ready for 2014?

I love new beginnings when everything is fresh and you know that you now have a chance to start all over again, smarter and wiser and do those things that you didn’t do the year before.

However, there are certain mistakes you keep doing year after year just because you don’t even know you are making that mistake.

One of the biggest mistakes I found business owners, and especially women business owners do, is thinking tactics instead of thinking strategically about their business.

As a woman I know you are a great organizer and I know you solve many things at the same time, however, due to this you always focus only on what is needed NOW.

You are probably great in putting fires down on a daily basis, but business should be dealt on a long-term not a short term. When I am talking long-term I am talking speaking about Vision and big ideas.

You tend to think in tactics – meaning looking at this month or maybe the season and thinking what should I DO to get me to where I need to get – but you don’t look at the overall picture of what you need to achieve.

So you send an email, or you call a few clients, or you put some tweets out there, or you post a few posts on FB, LinkedIn etc.. but this is not thinking strategically.

You might even have learned that it is all about Value creation – so you spend days and weeks creating a new report, video, CD and even an E-book – but have you thought where does it need to lead you?

Worse, you might have created products and services without even thinking how am I going to market it – hoping that just because you set up your website people would buy it from you – have you thought what would be the marketing campaign that you would use to drive people to buy that product?

Does that sound familiar to you?

So you want to change it? Right? You want to start thinking strategically, but the question is – do you KNOW what strategic thinking means?

Strategic thinking is working ON your business. Planning, analyzing the market, adjusting course, etc. Working within your business is essentially keeping the systems running.

For a business to be successful, both levels of engagement are important.

Unfortunately, most small business owners spend virtually all of their time operating their business, and no time thinking strategically about it.

This year – you want to do it differently. You want to start thinking strategically from the start of the year.

Here are a 10 questions you can ask yourself to start training yourself in thinking strategically about your business:

The most important question in Strategy thinking is:

“What are you trying to achieve?”

What is it that you wish to accomplish in the world?

What is your WHY for your business?

Once you have that in place here are a few more questions that you want to devote time to think about. If you don’t have answers to it… GREAT! That means you need to go out and make a research in order to get the answers for them.

• What does your brand stand for?

• How would you describe your best, most valuable customers?

• Who don’t you want to do business with?

• Who do you win the most business from and why?

• Who do you lose the most business to and why?

• What is your biggest expense in your business?

• What things would be most devastating (or most embarrassing) if your customers knew about them?

• What’s the biggest unknown in our market?

• What are the best opportunities available to you?

Now I’m curious….

What is your WHY for your business?

Share it with us in the comment box below - What are you trying to achieve in 2014?

As a thank-you gift for your comment I will send you an invitation to my new Webinar which is all about thinking strategically in the series of Women Do Business Differently

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It’s the first day of 2014!

Everything is so promising you have a clean slate in front of you, to start creating the life  you wish for.

So what would you wish for yourself, your loved ones and your business in 2014?

What are your goals for your business in 2014?

I’m spending my yearly retreat in Bonaire, enjoying sun, blue skies and daily diving into this amazing coral world

that is under the sea here.

Perfect setting for inspiration and ideas for the things I wish to do, have and be in 2014.

I always say that the best ideas are coming when you take the time for… vacation

Business is changing, and one of the major changes that I see, where women can lead the way, is the way you treat your clients, customers, students.

It’s not anymore me telling you what to do or what is good for you, it is about co-creation and cooperation with your target audience.

It’s about knowing your clients and customer so well that you CARE and LOVE them so you can give them better service and create better products for them

So in this spirit I have this important message to you:

Now I’m curious….

What are  YOUR BUSINESS goals for 2014?

Share it with us in the comment box below - What would you like to achieve in 2014?

As a thank-you gift for your comment I will send you an invitation to my new Webinar series of Women Do Business Differently

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

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Do you Have Followers or a Community?

What made Apple the most successful company in its industry (and maybe in the world)?

No, it’s not their products, although they are terrific, it’s not the genius of Steve Jobs (R.I.P), it’s not even his powerful and enchanting presentations…. It is the community that Apple managed to create around their products.

Speak to any Apple user and you will hear an evangelist. If you show them your mobile phone and it is not the latest IPhone they will start convincing you why you MUST have the latest one.

Apple managed to create a community that is so enthusiastic about their products they do not need (or almost don’t need) any marketing and even customer care department as their community loves to do it on their own volition.

Today we know that the most powerful tool you have in marketing will be your community.

The question is – how do you build a community that would be thrilled to talk about you and your products without even feeling that they are a the marketing tool?

How do you build a community where your relationship with them is so strong that it has nothing to do with the product or service you have to offer them?

First let’s make clear that there is a difference between having large followers and having a community.

Most organizations really want big following, not a community. A following is an audience that interacts with you. A community is an audience that interacts with each other.

The difference between having followers and a community is the direction of the communication.

With large followers the direction will be from the source to the followers, while in a community the conversation will be between the members of the community.

Coca-cola is a great example for a company that has huge following, but no community. Coca-Cola initiates the conversation but the conversation is always directed back to them, not between the members.

Likewise nearly all bloggers have followings, not communities. Many pop-stars, authors, salespeople have great followings. Big followings are built by engaging with as many people as possible, creating great content, promotions/discounts, coverage in top blogs etc…

A community suits organizations and people who are offering sociable and highly engaging products/services. Communities are highly engaging and exclusive. The conversations will be ABOUT what the company and organization is doing, or about the purpose and mission of that company and organization. The interaction will take place between the members

Communities are built by interacting with people, initiating events and discussions that foster interactions between this group and soliciting time and emotional investments from members.

You only need a community when your audience has a desire to talk to each other and when there is a benefit (to the audience!) from talking to each other.

The most important ingredient in a community is that the members would be able to gain one or all of the following benefits by joining your community:

A sense of belonging. Members get to feel they are somewhere where they belong. The real irony of communities is they don’t change members. They’re simply places where members can finally be themselves – more individualistic. They have security and the feeling of being included as a member of a group.

Mutual support. They can receive support from others with the power to give such support. They help people handle major life problems or open up new opportunities such as jobs and provide resources those members otherwise wouldn’t have access to.

Greater influence. Knowing they are participating in a group that has a bigger influence than they alone could have. High levels of self-efficacy and self-worth. Communities also allow members to have more influencer over other people.

Exploration. They allow members to explore things with each other they previously wouldn’t have been able to.  New ideas, resources, experiences are shared and discussed leading to crowd accelerated innovation.

My goal is to create a community of business women who are  empowering each other to take the lead in life and business and make a difference in their world.

Now I’m curious….

What would you like to see and read in this community that would make you an active member?

Share it with us in the comment box below - What topics and issues would you like us to cover in this community ?

As a thank-you gift for your comment I will send you a video about  ”Mistakes Women Make in Business” from the last seminar of “Women Do Business Differently”

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

Please share this article with your:



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Have a magical week! Vered