It’s been a HECK of a year, well 18 months. Some businesses exploded because of the Covid 19 Pandemic and some completely shut down.

Can we predict any of it? Some, but it’s always tough—it’s all about buyer behaviour, what they are used to and what reason they have to consider something new.

A few years before the pandemic, I was burning out but lucky enough to travel and take a break. My sister lives in Singapore and I had wanted to visit ever since she moved, but as a business owner, it’s not easy to get away or even mentally start the process of getting away. I was working late one night, which is early morning in Singapore and I stumbled on a cheap flight, about $750 return. I messaged my sister to ask if it was a good price, her response was much like that IKEA commercial, “Start the car!”. Apparently, that was an unheard-of price! So I whipped out my well-used credit card and booked my flight.

Not even realizing I had never left North America before, I really wasn’t prepared for much of anything. But big sis knew that and took good care of me. I landed with no way to reach her or call a car, so she met me at the Airport and scooped me up. After a nice nap, I was feeling right at home. I did have the worst cold I’ve probably ever had in my life. I don’t get sick easily or often but the combination of being overworked, overtired and on multiple planes over the last 24 hours did it.

Interesting things that I was gradually exposed to that week were fascinating!

First, very few people drive or own vehicles there, unlike Alberta where many households have a car for each adult. Most people use Grab Car, their version of Uber and it is ridiculously organized and well priced. Strange for me not to have wheels, but I rarely rent one when away anyhow.

Second, the cell phone data and connectivity are insane. I bought a 100GB data card for only about $30 – yes Canadian and spent an entire month, only running out my second last day! I took a ton of photos and uploaded them to social media quickly and I was always online when we were out.

Because no one drives, EVERYTHING can be delivered — and I do mean everything! So there is an app for everything there… groceries are ordered by most, alcohol, furniture, you name it. While this is no big deal now, this was early 2018 and pretty much no one in Alberta would even think of ordering groceries and you could not order alcohol readily if you tried!

Fast forward to the 3rd quarter of 2021 and this all seems normal after being stuck at home for over a year. Is there something to be said for looking to the way the east does things? They didn’t really have to leave the house outside of work for years before we even thought about it and only because we couldn’t!

Delivery industries exploded here; food and beverage delivery, curbside pick up at all retail stores, online shopping of all kinds — I’m still fascinated at who was buying clothes when there was nowhere to go…

Even businesses that traditionally could NOT do operate unless in person had to convert; real estate and other legal transactions and even medical appointments were suddenly done online.

If you believe the way you do things now is the only way it can be done or that technology ‘is stupid’ and ageist, think again. We were all catapulted into using technology whether we liked it or not. Some have resisted and have been left behind.

I have a colleague who still thinks Facebook is evil and should be wiped off the planet. Never mind all the good social media can do, it’s evil and should be put down. Last I recall, social media is just software people use. It doesn’t do anything much without humans dictating it. And for all the stupid posts there are, there are 10x more that is informative and useful.

My point is, as a business owner, you must stay open-minded and innovative! The world is constantly changing around you regardless of if you like it or are ready. I would consider myself fairly tech-savvy for someone who is not a software developer and I often feel left behind. So, it’s understandable that you might as well.

Let’s learn together, let’s support one another and educate each other. Sometimes the most simple tip can change the way someone operates in a great way. Share what you can in the kindest way you know-how.

I’m working on building a library of courses for small businesses owners and I would love to hear what you want to learn most!

If there is something I can help you with; social media, how online advertising works, or how some other tools work,

Send me a message and let me know here!

If content is King in your online world, then creating it cannot happen with out the help of the Queen. There are so many strategies out there, it’s hard to know what is right for you in your business. There are blanket strategies to get new people started and there are more specific strategies that work best industry to industry. So what do you do? How do you know who to trust and what advice is right. Well…you don’t do you?

And what’s worse is, you’re the boss, you have no one to blame for hiring a bad contractor but yourself. I always say to my business students, never listen to any expert – blindly. Yes you must always extract the information that makes sense for you. If you listen to just about anyone on any thing, you cannot say it’s a total one size fits all solution. So then if you’re still figuring things out, what do you do?

• Gather enough of the same opinions from experts to give you confidence you are going in the right direction.
• Find someone in your industry who has tried applying that strategy and ask them what worked and what didn’t. You can always look for someone in a different, but similar city to avoid them thinking you’re stealing their ideas.
• Ask yourself why it’s right for your business growth and why.

If you’ve been wondering about social media content writing strategies and don’t know where to start. Join me on my next webinar coming in February. It’s free, fun and most importantly informative!

http://webinarjam.net/webinar/go/13655/d05995c428

Do you know a business owner looking for ideas on creating great content? Invite them along, they’ll thank you for it!

Trina Lo is a certified business coach with a specialty in marketing and social media. She has operated FreshInk Communications for 15 years and is now taking online training by storm!

 

Have you been panicking about what the new Facebook rules for 2015 are?

Well you’re not alone. Most people just don’t understand them, but it’s likely because they aren’t in the right mindset when reading the new rules and are also listening to too much gossip versus just doing the research.

We all need to be cautious with our online presence – well online everything really. But I am always shocked at how much attention Facebook gets over everything else. I believe Facebook privacy gets talked about 10x more than when a major retailer gets hacked and our credit information is exposed. Again, why?

If you are following the basic safety steps for your online presence, you’ll be just fine!

1. Never post anything that would harm you or others if the public saw it.
   1. Nudity of any kind
   2. Financial information
   3. Personal information like credit card or SIN numbers
   4. Home address
   5. Full birthdate
2. Avoid touchy topics like sexual orientation of others and religion.
3. Never post pictures of your children that are available to the public.
4. Never post when you are angry – your opinion is always valued, but slamming anyone can be bad for business.

DO take the time to read over privacy policy changes, but ask yourself  this when fear rears its ugly head.

• How secure are my passwords?
• How often to I change them?
• How is the security on my website – is it kept up to date?

Most people who fear privacy are also not taking the necessary measures to ensure safety in other places, that’s usually why they are terrified by this ‘online safety stuff’. Educate yourself on proper online safety and take the time to read things thoroughly yourself. Don’t just rely on the opinions of ‘experts’, you’re still the one that makes the final decision!

One of my biggest “beefs” is when people make things hard for others which ultimately can stop a sale dead in its tracks.

Here’s what I mean…

So I am asking one of my suppliers how I am supposed to connect in order to know which products I can choose from, I’m already a sale at this point, I just need to pick the specific product. So the answer is, “Just go to the website and shop there, then call this person and let them know you spoke with me.”

Ok that doesn’t sound so hard right? But what IS the website? What is her phone number?

So I scroll back through our email conversation and yes her number is there, with an email address. There is no link to the website. I’m not an idiot, I can Google it or figure it out by her email, but WHY would you make me do that? When you already HAVE the information at your fingers tips and are trying to close this sale, give it to me!

Unless it’s a personal friend who’s bugging you for info when you know darn well then can look it up, ALWAYS supply the information in the current reply. ALWAYS have your phone number and links in every email and ALWAYS leave your phone number in a voicemail, ALWAYS.

We live in a fast-paced world and we’re all short on time and sometimes have short fuses too. So go ensure you have a proper email signature with all your contact info in it and on your phone too – you won’t have to do this more than once. And leave your self a sticky for when you leave voicemails. These super simple habits can actually increase closed sales. I can tell you that for sure, because I’m so irritated by this right now, I’m writing this blog…

~ Trina

Social Media isn’t really about Social Media… That probably sounded pretty confusing. But what I mean is, you don’t use Social Media because it’s the best marketing tool. You use it because it is a direct connection with your past, present and future clients. You are quite literally able to reach people all day using that cool little device called a smart phone. I’m guessing you’ve heard of those…

The smart phone changed everything, especially how connected we are and how available we are. Social Media is about staying connected and building a relationship with people. Yes a real relationship. Just like online dating, eventually you need to meet to make it real. BUT if you’re looking for business, you might not need to.

We developed 2 large relationships out of country because we were found on LinkedIn. 1 of the companies I never met with and the other did have a local contact that I connected with.

Both are great referral sources for us and have increased our reach.

So if you still think social media is about this:

Think again…