According to anthropologist Edward T. Hall, up to 60 percent of all human communication is non-verbal. Understanding this fact will help you learn how you can demonstrate respect to others without ever opening your mouth. This is a great skill to learn because the more you listen and the less you speak, the more people respect you and perceive you as intelligent, helpful and creative. Make Eye Contact Eye contact is really tricky. You want to make eye contact but you don’t want to stare crazily at people and make them feel uncomfortable. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul and it is true that you…

When you create a new product or services, do you do it by committee or do you simply create it without any input from others such as your colleagues, contractors, and current followers and customers? It can be fun to be in creation mode. You’re making what you think will be a product or service that will revolutionize your industry and bring a lot of value to your clients. However, there is a danger of being so far into your own bubble that you can’t see outside your own opinion. Get Out of Your Bubble Everyone has their own opinion about what is a good product, what looks good, and…

Before you create a digital magazine it’s important to understand why you are creating it. A digital magazine is good for some businesses but not for everyone. There are a few reasons to create a magazine and you’ll need to choose which reason – or maybe you’ll have more than one reason. 1. To Increase Ad Revenue – Magazines are a great way to get more advertising revenue. Brands love putting ads in beautiful digital magazines because their advertisements can be interactive and more than just visual. They can also track their results easily due to the nature of how a digital magazine works. 2. To Increase Brand Awareness –…

Starting a new business can often feel like something you’re doing in a vacuum alone. This is most especially true if your business is online, but it can feel like that if you’re starting any type of business. But, the truth is, you’re never alone – you will just have to seek out the relationships and network rather than having them built in for you like they are at a job. Here are ten ways to build your network when you’re just starting your business. 1. Online Forums – You can meet a lot of interesting people in online forums. Find forums consisting of people you want to start networking…

People often ask about what is the best time of year for email marketing. However, the answer is never what they expect because like most things marketing, the answer completely depends on the products and/or services you’re promoting plus your audience. It may get old hearing that answer – but the fact is, your audience and your product matters greatly. 1. Off-Time Sales – If you have a shop that is mostly frequented in the summertime, then you want to create an email series for the off time. An example often used is the tanning shop. Sending out email marketing campaigns to tanners during the winter can help bring those…

Many small business owners have jumped on the Facebook Page bandwagon. Some are even abandoning the idea of having web pages and blogs in favor of a Facebook Page. It seems so much easier than the other options. However, this is a huge mistake. Facebook is not enough in the world of online marketing to make a difference. Here’s why. Your Online Presence Needs Many Entry Points To attract your audience today you need several places in which they can find you. You need social media like Facebook, along with your website. Your website should be considered the main source for all your social media sharing. Your entire focus with…

Throughout the lifetime of your business you will be making many decisions about many different issues. As your business grows and you mature as a business owner, the objectives you develop today might appear vastly different than the objectives you had when you first started. When that happens it’s very important to consider a commission restructure. 1) Study Your Audience – It’s important that you continually study your audience to enable you to continue to put out products that resonate with them, providing solutions for their pain points. If you don’t really know who your audience is, down to their sex, income, hopes, dreams, desires and fears, you can’t create…

Being a business owner carries a lot of responsibility and risk. It may feel like if you’re not there, nothing will get done, and you’ll lose money. That is likely true if you’ve not created and established systems to work for you so that you can work on your business instead of at your business. After all, wasn’t the entire point of starting your own business to have more freedom? Money is great, but it only goes so far to creating happiness if you’re always at work. Create and Establish Systems Every successful business has something in common with another successful business. That’s organization. Every business from a restaurant to…

Learning how to price products for your Etsy store front can be challenging. Pricing your products is a very important part of starting a successful Etsy business. If you under price you will not make a profit, and if you over price you may not sell anything. It is a real balancing act to come up with the right price point and can take some trial and error. In general prices should: * Follow Etsy’s Terms of Service – It’s important, no matter what service you use to sell your items, that you read their terms of service and all updates. You do not want to accidentally break rules when…

The internet is used by just about everyone these days and by now you’ve probably realized it has a language all of its own. There a few basics that everybody knows but it’s always good to educate yourself to make sure your information is secure. You’ve most likely surfed quite a few websites in your time and noticed that all of them either start with “HTTP” or “HTTPS.” Do you know what these acronyms stand for? You may not think there’s much of a difference between the two, but the difference is actually quite significant. What Exactly Is the Difference? For those of you that don’t know, “HTTP” stands for…