Are you ready for a great 2016?

Planning has never been one of my fortes. I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants, figure it out as I go... "instructions?! No way!" kind of person.

I've owned quite a few businesses over the last 8 + years and over each year it has become increasingly clear that regardless of whether or not I like to plan for a new year, doing it makes my business better, stronger, and (this is the best part) it makes more money!!

I thought I would share a few of my favourite strategies and tools for getting ready for a new year.

1) Three words

Every year I like to choose three words to theme my year on (thanks to a trend started by Chris Brogan quite a few years ago!). These words help guide me in figuring out what I want to do, how I want to be of service and who I want to be in my business.

In previous years I've chosen:  Create, Teach, Help and Focus, Organize, Produce

I like to spend a bit of time every year thinking about what words I want to have guide me and I encourage you to do the same. This year my words are Grow, Inspire, Support - and I look forward to showing you how those are going to be actualized in my business!  Leave your three words in the comments below!

2) Planners and workbooks

There are a lot of great planners out there. Every year I buy Leonie Dawson's Life and Business workbooks because they help me think through all the important pieces of the previous year and the year that's to come. That gets me to the place where I can start to put my new year out on paper as well and into my planner. My favourite planner is the Planner Pad because I love the funnel down system of managing tasks but there are many wonderful planners out there (including one from Leonie Dawson).

I encourage you to pick something and start getting it ready for the new year. It's taken me many years to find systems that work for me, but trying out different ones and experimenting with them was key. If you use a different planner you love, leave a comment and let me know what it is!!

3) My new 2016 Free Planning Challenge

I've been putting together so many resources for my clients on getting ready for 2016 that I decided to put together a free challenge for everyone. Sign up by clicking here and starting December 1 you'll get an email a day for 7 days setting you up for the best year ever. I would really love to have you take part so I look forward to seeing you in the Challenge update posts in the Biz Studio!

Social tools for business

I'm at the cottage and I am thinking about all the online tools out there and how valuable they can be for businesses. Now, more than ever before, business owners can communicate with their clients and potential clients quickly and effectively.

If you are a business owner who continues to struggle with how to make social media work for you then I encourage you to read through five of my favourite blog posts that offer up valuable social media tips on some of my favourite social channels:

1)   Should you be on Instagram?

If you are a business owner who doesn’t understand the value of posting pictures on a regular basis, then read this post to find out if you’re missing out on a tool that could be helping you reach an audience you didn’t even know existed! If you are a visual business, you should most probably be on Instagram. Click here to learn more.

2) The Value of Recommendations and Endorsements

LinkedIn is a professional social channel and is the best place to showcase your accreditations, skills and accomplishments. It is also a place to connect and network with new professional connections and prove that you are worth working with. It is for this reason that you should learn and use the recommendation and endorsement features on LinkedIn. These features allow people to see what you are all about and have to offer without having to connect with you first. To learn more about the value of LinkedIn, click here.

3)   Why should my small business use Facebook?

Believe it or not there are still small businesses who are not on Facebook – or they are on as a personal profile or group and do not have a business page.  There are advantages to being on Facebook as a business and this post goes back to the basics – for those who still need convincing. To read the full post, click here.

4)   The Twitter Rules of Thirds

If you are new to Twitter, or you have an account, but instead of using it for business use it for news updates instead, this blog post will help you understand what you should really be using this conversational social channel for. Twitter is not as time consuming as you may think! Used correctly for about ten minutes a day can help grow your audience substantially. Click here to learn more about Twitter.

5)   Periscope – What is it and why should I care?

This is a new social app and it is taking the world by storm!  Periscope allows you to live stream from your cell phone and it’s free to broadcast and view. There is a lot of potential in this simple app, and I have seen business owners use it to share tips, product reveals and more!  It’s a quick and easy tool that can be used to connect with your audience in real time – from anywhere in the world. Click here to read more on Periscope.

So, as I connect with you miles from my office I hope you find these highlighted posts helpful as you continue to explore the endless possibilities social media brings for small businesses. 

What's the stock music of your business?

I listen to a lot of podcasts and one I have listened to a lot lately is the podcast version of Gary Vaynerchuk's show called #AskGaryVee. As I listen to the intro music to his podcast, I can't help but think how well his music represents him.

If you don't know who Gary Vaynerchuk is, he's an entrepreneur who used social media so successfully to grow his wine business that he is now one of the leading experts on the use of social media in the business world. The thing about Gary is that he has a big personality. A HUGE personality. He's got a big ego, which he has no problems owning, he swears a lot and he disagrees with people a lot. So, as I was listening to the music that intros his show I noticed just how fitting it was for him: edgy and a bit aggressive. Take a listen here - the music starts 9 seconds in:

Here's another video, this time it's Marie Forleo. She's someone who I think of as fashionable, professional, fun and quirky. I think the music fits her, though not as amazingly on point as GaryVee's. Check out her intro music at 9 seconds in:

Here's one last one. Farideh is someone who teaches people about how to create launches for their programs. What's fun about her is that she is also a musician and I imagine recorded the music herself. Her music is the closest to what I picked for myself -  lighthearted and fun. To me it speaks to being approachable and not being so "professional" that you're intimidating. Her music starts 14 seconds in:

Why is figuring out your music important?

There are two reasons I think figuring out the music that best represents you and/or your business is important:

1) Understand how you come across and how you want to come across

Having a clear idea about what you want people to think when they think of you can help you connect with your audience. When I get new photos done I come prepared with a list of words I want people to think when they see them. They include works like approachable, fun, easy to talk to - the same words I would use to pick music.

Spend a few minutes making a list of words you think fit you and how you want people to view you. If you're having a hard time thinking of what those words should be then you might want to think about what theme music you would pick for yourself - it's a different way of coming at the same topic.

2) Video

Video is becoming more and more important and you'll see a lot more content with regards to video over the coming months here on the blog. Video is a great way to connect with your audience and share information in short and fun to watch bites. 

When you do use video, you'll want that theme music to set the tone and feeling to your content. It also adds an extra level of professionalism to your product, which is more and more expected in the online world.

Where do I start?

There are lots of great sites to find stock music. It's often not cheap (though I think the two times I bought music I spent under $10) but spending some time thinking about the music you would use could be a lot of fun. I like ukuleles in mine because they're so happy and fun :). One small tip is to look for a loopable clip so that you can buy something shorter.

Two sites to check out are istock.com and www.stockmusic.net/. There are also options for finding royalty free or indie bands who are happy to let you use their music.

Leave me a comment and let me know what your music would sound like, or even better - link to it!

Change in life (and business) is inevitable

December 2014 - The Ottawa Women's Business Network's holiday party. 

When I met Lara Wellman in July of 2010, I had no idea - no inkling at all - that it would be such a life-altering event. We started working together from practically the moment we met and it went really well. It didn't take long for us to realize we enjoyed working together a great deal. Over time, we went from working together on a community blog, to starting a conference together, then I bought into Kids in the Capital, and ultimately we joined forces to start Wellman Wilson. All in less than 5 years!

We've always complemented each other well - her strengths are not mine. Mine are not hers. On so many levels, our partnership has worked really well. Until it didn't. 

Lara is an entrepreneur. Without a doubt, she has the drive, passion, personality, and love of what she does to be very successful.

I am not an entrepreneur and I never will be. The things I love to do that motivate and inspire me don't work as well in the role of "business owner". 

This one difference between us has lead to our mutual decision to take different paths that suit each of us best. It means that I can take the step of going back into the workforce full time, which will simplify life for me and my family. Lara is going to continue doing what we've been doing together and she's going to be amazing. I'll be right there cheering her on and helping whenever I can, because I honestly can't imagine not continuing to work with Lara in some capacity.

Over the next few weeks, there will be a lot of changes with all the Wellman Wilson digital properties. We'll be working to transition from working together to Lara taking it all on by herself. I'm excited and optimistic about the next phase in my journey and I know Lara is as well.

I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the many clients I've been able to help over the past three years. And to those of you who have followed us, thank you for your support. I hope to continue seeing you online.

~ Karen

Business Resources: Toastmasters

I’m always looking to learn more skills to make me a better businessperson and I love sharing them with you guys! 

Speaking on stage and creating video is something that I have been doing in the last couple of years and it turns out, I really love it! I enjoy sharing my knowledge and I like the personal connection that happens when people get to see me speak instead of just reading the words that I type (though I like to think you can hear my voice in my written words too!).

Toastmasters has been on my to do list for a long time and this past fall a couple of friends decided to join, so I went along for the ride. My goal? To improve my speaking skills.

But aren’t you already comfortable speaking in front of a crowd?

So, the short answer is yes. And, um, I’ve been getting better and better. But, um, I can’t seem to stop using a lot of filler words when I speak – um, so, LOTS of “so". 

I wanted to clean up my speaking so that it sounded more professional and polished.  Originally I told people it was because I wanted my speaking to be more formal, but that’s really the wrong word.  I just want it to be cleaner and more concise without my mouth constantly sounding like it’s trying to keep up with my brain.

What am I learning?

Toastmasters gives you a lot of opportunities to get up in front of a crowd in a lot of different ways. You can give the toast for the evening, you can be the Toastmaster for the evening, which is like being the emcee, you can tell a joke, or you can be the timekeeper.

I'm looking forward to being pushed out of my comfort zone because that's when you really get the opportunity to learn things. I gave my first speech and I was more nervous than I've been in a long time speaking in front of a crowd, simply because it was so different. I gave a 5 minute speech that was about myself and that I had planned from start to finish.

I spent hours preparing and it paid off because the crowd enjoyed it, I got great feedback, and I now feel more confident going forward towards my next speech, both for Toastmasters and in my business.

Tell me in the comments, are you comfortable with public speaking? What helped you? And if you aren't, have you ever considered Toastmasters?