Archives for February 2012

Essential Tools and Resources For Small Businesses

February 25, 2012 by Louisa Chan Leave a Comment

Small business owners and independent professionals asked me this question a lot and I thought I’ll share what we use so you can also check them out!

Sometimes I test a few similar tools to see which one I prefer. Often times I end up using more than one tool for the same kind of work.

The criteria I choose in using tools include:
– Helping to improve work flow and processes, it’s about productivity
– Ease of Use
– Safe
– Integrate with other applications
– Can be accessed on mobile devices

This is obviously not the complete list. If you come across any that you’ll like to add, feel free to list them at the comment sections!

On Tools And Improving Business Productivity
Evernote – keeping notes in the cloud and scanning bills
Google Calendar – scheduling appointments and booking time for projects
Cool Timer – to alert me so I warp up and move onto the next project scheduled
Boomerang – email assistant, reminder and scheduling mails
Techsmith Jing – image and video capture / production
Roboform – password manager and form filler
LastPass – similar to Roboform and has more advanced options
eNounce – video speed controller for viewing video training
Nuance: Dragon Speaks Naturally – my Voice To Text Assistant
Awesome Screenshot – capturing screen images
Free Video Converter – rending and formatting videos
Windows Movie Maker – very basic and often crashes, but this is free
Cloud Berry Lab – for transferring files to Amazon S3 and backing up in the cloud
Socialoomph -managing social media plaftorms
Hootsuite – I use this more than Social Omph
Ping.fm – very cool for populating to other social media sites
Buffer – experimenting with bufferapp
Google Keyword Tool – for Keyword Research
Market Samurai – Keyword Tool, Competition, Content etc

On Collaborative Work
DropBox – file sharing and backing up in the cloud
Zoho – simple project management, still experimenting
Skype – online coaching/training, meeting, masterminding
Google Docs – online document sharing, backing up in the cloud
Any meeting – free, but crashes; recording not always reliable

I can’t imagine doing what I do without these helpful assistants! They were (still are!) my DA (Digital Assistants) before I have my VA.

Very grateful that most of them are free resources. Good news for small businesses. One or two has upgrade paid version. If you decide to upgrade I may get a few dollars. If you rather not use these links you can go to the resources’ home page and get them there!

Oh and if anyone has used any free online accounting software that works for those in Malaysia, I love to hear from you!

Found these tips helpful? I have lots more tips and training to help you grow your business and make the most of your investment. Sign up below for more regular tips!
Louisa Chan – Make social media work for you!

Resources & Tips: Feb 17 2012

February 20, 2012 by Louisa Chan Leave a Comment

The End of Full Time Salaried Jobs, Global Online Education, Why You Need eMail Marketing

How has your week been?

A whirlwind for me with new clients to attend to, new JV brewing and addition to the team to orientate and train…

This week’s reading list is packed with new trends and inspiration for positivity and progress!

We see MIT shattering barriers to education, the surge in free lancing, misconceptions on emailing, staying inspired and motivated when under appreciated and more…

If you are not already signed on to receive my newsletters or have this forwarded to you by a friend, you can leave your name and email here and never miss an edition of tips and free training.

There is so much happening that I can only include a fraction of what I normally share here. Yet the trends and tips impact your personal and professional life!

Ok, so here’s your list:

On Global Trends Affecting You
MIT launches free online ‘fully automated’ course
The End of the Full-Time Salaried Job

On Marketing
The Social Media Salary Guide [INFOGRAPHIC]
5 Ways to Get Your Entire Company On Board With Social Media
Why Do I Need An eMail Marketing System?
Want People to Return Your Emails? Avoid These Words [INFOGRAPHIC]

On Personal Development
Become More Optimistic: 6 Smart Tricks
10 Lessons Jeremy Lin Can Teach Us

OK, let me know which ones you found most helpful and I love to hear your success stories too. So send them in for all to enjoy.

Louisa Chan – Make Social Media Marketing Work For You

Why Do I Need An eMail Marketing System?

February 17, 2012 by Louisa Chan Leave a Comment

Why Do I Need An eMail Marketing System?

I was asked this question so many times this week I thought this is a topic that needs another blog post.
So let us look at some misconceptions about eMailing in general.
I) I can use free eMail accounts to send out mails to all my contacts.
Yes, but your emails may not reach all your contacts (we refer to it as deliverability rate), especially if you send out the same mail to many people at the same time.
eMail providers will flag you as attempting to spam and may not deliver mails coming from your account. That is why mails sometimes end up in spam or junk folders, or they are just lost in cyber space – in no man’s land.
In some cases, your account may be frozen to prevent your from further spamming others.
Pressing the send button using free email providers does not guarantee that your emails will be received.
II) I only have 100 contacts and I do not need an Mail Marketing System.
You use your eMail Marketing System to grow new contacts in your email database and build relationship with existing prospects and clients.
III) I have hundreds of name cards collected from various networking events I can just email them.
Having a stack of name cards of prospects or clients does not give you permission to send them regular updates or promotional emails. As an ethical business, I highly recommend permission-based marketing.
By that I mean you will only send regular updates or newsletters to your contacts with their explicit permission while guarding their email privacy. That includes not sharing their addresses with others or displaying a bunch of email addresses in bulk emails.
You will also need to provide an option for your contacts to opt out of this email arrangement anytime. That is putting power back into their hands.
IV) Most of my business comes from referrals, I do not need an eMail Marketing System.
You need to keep front of mind with your contacts and continue to deepen your relationship with your prospects and clients. Using regular newsletter is a very effective and efficient way to achieve this.
V) I can use social media platforms to send emails to my contacts, I don’t need to invest in an eMail Marketing System.
These social media platforms can stop your communication anytime. And strictly speaking, these contacts are not your asset, they are not in your database.
Also do note that people who accept your connection on social media platform have not given their consent to you to continually email them about your products or services.
Without an email marketing system, you are greatly handicapped. You will be missing out on visitors who do not contact or buy from you on their first visit. These online visitors may never come back to your site and you would have just lost precious targeted traffic (which you may have paid for to obtain).
Visitors do not buy from you the first time they visit your site. eMail Marketing helps businesses build relationships. You need to give them something enticing and inviting in exchange for their permission to continue to communicate with them.
Then you build and deepen that relationship and continue to provide value before you make them an offer that solves their problem. And then you wait to see if they take you up on your offer …
Whether you are an online or offline business. I highly recommend businesses build their own email database. That is the only way you can continue to send your contacts emails and build a “long distance” or long-term relationship.
If you also want an online presence, then you will need to establish a prominent and optimized presence as well as build your email list.
As I have said else where: your only online equity is your domain name and your email database. You really cannot afford NOT to have an eMail Marketing System. In another post we will discuss critical factors in using eMail Marketing System,
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Resources & Tips: Feb 10 2012

February 11, 2012 by Louisa Chan Leave a Comment

Of Market Professional Brand, Attract More Clients, Get More Traffic, Free Online Meeting resources And More

Hello, And it’s another weekend already! This has been a short-ish week in Malaysia. 2 more public holiday yet so much took place!

Singed up new clients, new and exciting Joint Venture opportunities and seeing results when my audience implements what I presented (like getting to Page 1 of LinkedIn search after following my free tips).

All Good Stuff!

And those questions raised by you last week helped me understand your challenges – with that we bade farewell to the International Coaching Week!

Have you checked out my article that was published at the International Association Of Coaching yet?

LINESPACE

Putting these tips to use alone will get you ahead of many others. I know because those who have used it are happily sharing results with me!

I am putting finishing touches to my training on how to gain prominent presence for your branding – and I am looking forward to sharing this with you shortly.

If you are not already signed on to my newsletter, you can leave your name and email at the registration form here or at the bottom of this post and never miss an edition of tips and free training.

There is so much happening in the online marketing scene that we need to keep up because the strategy you learned last year may not work .

On Marketing
5 Ways to Market Your Brand on LinkedIn
Five Ways to Attract More Coaching Clients with Your LinkedIn Profile
One Sure Way To Drive Traffic and Gain New Customers
6 Tips to Start Your Mobile Marketing
Build a Killer Website: 19 Dos and Don’ts

Business Productivity Resources
Get More Done In Less Time – And Feel Sane
Free Online Meeting Resources

“No matter how many social media accounts you have out there, you will still want to own your own blog site – that’s your only online equity – beside your email database.” ~ Louisa Chan.

Ok, have fun implementing these tips and if you like to receive more free and useful tips just register here and we will be sure to send you your very own copy of Friday Read.

Louisa Chan

Business Productivity Tips – Focus And Get One Thing Done

February 10, 2012 by Louisa Chan Leave a Comment

Business Productivity Tips – Are You Mono or Multi-Tasking?

‎Want to get more done in less time? Try doing one thingat a time, it works – even better!

Any musician would have great motor co-ordination.
You need to do different things with each hand (fingers even) and your legs could be playing to a completely different rhythm.
And you could be singing or blowing an instrument at the same time too.

Just for fun, try this – draw a circle with your left hand and a triangle with your right at the same time – that’s conducting 101 … Music is fun and I love it!

Multi-tasking is not new. In fact many of us have been trained to multi-task. Working moms in general are really good at multi-tasking (dads too), and many times one wears more hats.

And small business owners! They multi-task all day long! They need to tend to everything from sales and marketing to production and operations. The number of balls they juggle in the air amazingly stay in the air – kudos.

But watch it, this multi-tasking will soon take a toll and burn out can easily happen. There is a price to pay. You need to balance and harmonize those balls yet relax and re-charge whenever you can because your family and your business needs you for the long haul.

For years I have been doing simultaneous translations for speakers at live events while manning the electric keyboard at the back of the hall and I could never understand why I felt so drained after wards. Now I know that I have not been using my talents in the most effective way!

Granted that some sort of multi-tasking is unavoidable, the best way to achieve your objective and goals is to focus on one thing at a time. Whether they are big longer term goals or smaller daily tasks. Your brain works better this way and you accomplish more. Try it.

Try working on one thing at a time, complete it and move onto the next than do 2 things at the same time and check your results as well as your experience of the work. Multi-tasking drains you of resources, and it actually slows your work down.

You take more time to get the same amount of work done – if you don’t also mess it up somehow since you were not able to fully concentrate and give your full attention.

Stay single, stay focus. Attempting to do too many things at one time will force you to divide your attention and you will feel pulled in different directions and become quite scattered and ineffective.

Trust me, I know that feeling. So prune and trim your activities, don’t be busy and be productive and keep life simple.

Find this helpful? I have more tips like this to help you be more productive in your personal and professional life. Sign up for our free newsletter below and never miss an edition!

Resources & Tips: Feb 3 2012

February 4, 2012 by Louisa Chan Leave a Comment

[Friday Read]: Of Enjoyable Work, Social Media Strategy, Company Culture, Getting More Clients and more..

This is the first day of spring and it is officially the first day of the Year of the Dragon! We are having one last FEAST tonight with the clan to bring Chinese New Year celebration to a close… before we welcome Spring!

In this edition of our Newsletters, we have great articles on crafting social media strategy, building company culture as well as making your work more enjoyable. And 5 practical ways to make your profile stand out from the crowd on social media platforms.

Before you jump onto reading those articles (not all are by me), here’s a special offer to you as I celebrate the International Coaching Week – which is from 5th to 11th Feb 2012.

I will be giving away 4 free coaching sessions of 15-minutes each on Feb 7th and Feb 9th. If you want to book my time for a 15-min free laser coaching sessions please send an email to support@SynergyMarketingPro.com and we will be in touch.

First-come-first-served and please come to the call on time and prepared with your most important question that will make a difference to your business or personal life.

I spend a lot of time and resources learning and keeping in touch with development in business and technology. I enjoy the process of learning, experimenting, implementing and sharing with you what works. I am especially inspired when what I share makes a difference to you!

So here are some great reading for the weekend:

14 Way to Make Work More Enjoyable
Culture Eats Strategy
The 3 Phases of Social Media Strategy
5 Ways To Attract More Coaching Clients Through LinkedIn
Why You Need Your Own OnLine Space

“No matter how many social media accounts you have out there, you will still want to own your own blog site – that’s your only online equity – beside your email database.” ~ me.

Ok, Enjoy the last 2 days of Chinese New Year and I am ready to embrace Spring!
Stay tuned for great things coming next week! To make sure you don’t miss any editions of our newsletters, you can register here and we will be sure to send you your very own copy of Friday Read.

Louisa Chan – Make Social Media Marketing Work For You

5 Ways to Attract More Coaching Clients with LinkedIn

February 3, 2012 by Louisa Chan 5 Comments

You can promote your coaching service by placing advertisements, direct mail or using flyers, yet these can be costly. So how can you attract clients to you?
Did you know that 330 million professionals are networking on LinkedIn right now?
Many of these are decision makers and executive-level professionals from all kinds of industries. They are on LinkedIn to promote their brand and to look for solutions to their problems.
If you are an executive, financial, wellness or life coach and you are looking for more clients, you will definitely want to set up an optimized LinkedIn Profile. Optimizing your profile has two key benefits:
First, you will increase the chance of being found when a prospective client does a search.
Second, you will make a more positive first impression when this person views your profile.
Five Ways to Attract More Coaching Clients with an Optimized LinkedIn Profile
1. Fill up every field so your profile is 100% complete
Make use of every field to highlight your unique solution. Be sure to upload a professionally taken and friendly-looking photo. First impressions count and profiles without photos do not impress prospects.
You can also put in relevant keywords to highlight your niche, or the segment market you serve. These make you unique and relevant to your prospects. Just be careful not to stuff your profile artificially with keywords.
2. Brand yourself by claiming a meaningful “vanity name” in your public profile

LinkedIn automatically generates a web address for your public profile, but with a string of meaningless numbers. Associating yourself with numbers does not show you up as a person who is serious about your professional image or branding.
Can you imagine saying, “Connect with me on www.LinkedIn.com/pub/your-name/1/14b/43v6754e3”? It is much easier to say, “Connect with me on LinkedIn.com/in/yourvanityname.”
To change the URL of your LinkedIn profile, simply log into your LinkedIn account, select “Profile” and then, “Edit Profile.” At the bottom of the overview box you will see the URL of your public profile. Click on the “Edit” button. Next, look for the link that says, “Customize your public profile URL.”
3. Choose A Powerful Headline

LinkedIn allows you to enter a short Headline after your name (as shown in the diagram). This is where you will enter your 140-character elevator pitch. Craft this tag-line to be customer centric and appeal to your prospective clients.
For example, you can make use of location and indicate that you serve people in a certain area. Or you can indicate that you serve a certain segment market. Remember: If you try to serve the whole wide world as a “catch-all” coach that will not set you part from the other coaches. It is being the #1 in your niche area that will set you apart.
I suggest you draft a few versions of headline and ask for opinions. You can also do some testing by using different headlines and monitor the response. Once you have decided on the tagline try not to change it too frequently or you will lose your branding.
4. Make Use Of Sections

This is a new improvement on LinkedIn that allows you to highlight skills, expertise and languages to make you very relevant to your prospects. If you have publications and white papers you will also want to highlight those. That will instantly set you apart from the masses. You can find sections under the “More” menu.
5. Join Relevant Groups
Join groups that your prospects are likely to join—not to sell or share but to listen and observe. Listen in on their conversation so you understand their problems, pains, fears and frustrations.
As a coach you already understand the importance of listening. When you give your full attention to understand others they are drawn to you magnetically. They want to know you more. People like to do business with people they like.
So before you ask for anything (favor or a sale) listen, observe and contribute first. Once you have earned the right, then you can offer your solution as a way of adding value to the conversation.
Apply these tips and start attracting your prospects!
This article originally appeared in VOICE, the newsletter and blog of the International Association of Coaching (www.certifiedcoach.org) in Jan/Feb 2012, and is reprinted with permission.
photo credit: Chiara Vianello

Essential Tools and Resources For Small Businesses

Resources & Tips: Feb 17 2012

Resources & Tips: Feb 10 2012

Business Productivity Tips – Focus And Get One Thing Done

About Louisa Chan

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Archives for February 2012

Why Do I Need An eMail Marketing System?

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About Louisa Chan

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