End the Office? Students Want Right to Work From Home [INFOGRAPHIC]

“69% of all workers say the office is unnecessary, a figure that has grown from 60% last year.” from Mashable

I have done both & I agree, I get more work done working from a home-based office. There are less distractions from co-workers and no small talk that takes away from getting the task done effectively and promptly. I take a hour for lunch to watch CNN in spanish & I cook dinner too from 12-1pm. I go back to the task more refreshed and up-to-date with the news. 

Check out the info graphic below from Cisco:

Get Inspired to start your small biz along with Tips

Searching ways to get more inspired to pursue your dream about starting your own biz? I know I got inspired to strive to achieve even more by watching this video (below) plus I attached an infographic with cool apps to help manage your small biz venture (found at Alltop.com)

How to Enchant your Customers and Leads

This information below is based on the presentation & Enchantment book by Guy Kawaski. I wanted to learn more about this Enchanting individual after watching the InBound Marketing (through HubSpot) presentation (you can see below). Then I read the book it really changed my perspective about understanding people and their needs. There are so many tips from the book and the presentation but here a couple of things I got out of it:

Visit your site and make sure you have: a mission & value statement, “Who We Are”, FAQ’s, Sitemap

Reduce # of choices, people buy more when there are less to choose from.

Present the big option, then the small choices, then it seems reasonable by contrast.

Enchant everyone that influences, businesses tend to influence the father of the household but in Guy’s household, the daughter is the decision-maker.

“Competition:-

1. Know them,
2. Analyze them through three lists of features & capabilities such as:

• What we both can do
• What we can do but they cannot do
• What we cannot do but they can do

3. Finally frame thy competition”

Endure Enchantment through Internalizing Values: conformity, identification, internalization

Think twice before using money (i.e. Encarta vs. Wikipedia)

Achieve trustworthiness: give with joy, give early, give unexpectedly, ask for reciprocation!

“Provide value:

• pointers to useful, inspiring, entertaining content (try to add links when doing this on Twitter)
• Personal insights, observations, or content
• Advice & Assistance” (Also keep it positive!)

….on Youtube:

Provide Intrinsic Value (IEEE): Inspiration, Entertainment, Enlightenment, Education

According to the book, 19.4% of viewers abandon a video with in the first ten seconds of a video

By 60 seconds, 44% have stopped watching!

Make videos short and start fast! Include brand name last on title.

I really suggest you read the book to know how to enchant employees/volunteers, don’t forget to see the presentation in case you can’t read the book:

4 Ways to Protect the Reputation of Your Small Business Online

Social Media Madness

I found this post on Mashable. Before I offer some suggestions to small-businesses, I like to have a reference in case there are any questions that may remain. Therefore please click and see original post on this topic.

I’m a believer that some business owners have bigger fish to fry when it comes to running a business. Hence there is a tendency to rush into social media and get it done when they discover the value it creates (more leads, customers calling for service, etc). Most of the time, small-biz owners start a Twitter & Facebook page to promote a product or a upcoming event and then months later there are no tweets or updates. The excuse is that they don’t have time to continue doing social media or they don’t think anyone cares what about they had for lunch.

Please follow these four steps to protect your online reputation:

1. Research & Planning: what are your goals/objectives, channels (Foursquare, Twitter, FB), time investment?
2. Monitoring & Listening: Google Analytics, HootSuite, Tweetdeck, & Mashable
3. Joining the Convo: planning (use your calendar), consistency (as in daily/weekly), being honest!
4. When the Convo becomes Negative: What to do?

Again, I just wanted you to get a taste of social media, I believe the Mashable covers more details: Click here