Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Why Pick One When You Can Pick Five?

by // Leave a Comment

BkBE92PCQAAiMqzOne thing I often do for clients is review content and make suggestions. Sometimes it doesn’t take much, a few minor tweaks here or there. Sometimes we need to make some big changes to ensure that potential clients know WHAT they do and why. And more often than not, we’re cleaning up the content to make it tighter and more efficient. Too often we take five words to say what could be said in one or two.

Take a look at your content, does that giant paragraph LOOK like something you want to read? Does it make sense? Does it use twice as many words as necessary to say the same thing? It may be time for a refresh.

Taking Advantage of Kindness

by // Leave a Comment

IMG_6058Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about offering up your time, and people taking advantage of it. I spoke to a group a couple of months ago, and a few people asked to have coffee and meet with me afterwards. I said yes, and when I met with one person, he chit chatted the time away, and didn’t take much advantage of the opportunity he had to pick my brain. As we were leaving, he mentioned getting together again in a couple of weeks to brainstorm on our businesses. WHAT? Sorry dude, that ship has sailed. We aren’t at the same stage of our companies, and I have people in my life for that. Plus, you aren’t a good use of my time.

Sure it’s harsh, but let’s be honest: it’s true.

About a year ago I met with someone starting a company as a favor to a friend. Cool company, not a lot of use for my business, but I did refer this company to a client of mine. My client had 2 calls with them, and then they asked to meet in person with my client. My client emailed me and said “I’m busy, I understand their business now, and will refer if it makes sense. Is it Ok to say no?” YES, it’s okay to say no!

Folks, if you need something from another business owner, make sure you maximize the time you have with them. Don’t expect that they want to meet with you more than once, and if all they offer is 30 minutes on the phone, TAKE IT. I mentioned this in my blog post on Tuesday as well, this article explains my sentiments probably better than I am today. If you aren’t willing to pay for it, please assume we aren’t willing to give it away.

Now, this doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy learning about new companies and there will be times when I am looking for a specific kind of company to work with. BUT, I’m busy running my business. And unless you want to hire me to help you with your business, I have work to do!

3 Articles You Should Read This Week

by // Leave a Comment

photoOver the past few days, thanks to Twitter, I’ve come across some great articles worth sharing. In case you don’t keep up on my Twitter feed, here’s a couple of articles I think are worth noting…

1. Yelp- those Bastards!– Most of my small business clients use Yelp, and we always talk about how cautious to be, and that they may hold good reviews, and post more negative reviews. Evidently we aren’t all making it up, even if Yelp says it’s not their fault.

2. Stop Giving it Away– this was a great blog post about not giving your time away for free. I’ve been feeling this way for a while, and if you are too, or you are in a position where you need help or to “pick someone’s brain” make sure you’re being respectful.

3. Me Vs. You – a great post about pronouns in your newsletter and website. Good reminders to us all.

Bonus! LinkedIn Business Page Changes– okay, this isn’t at all as sexy, but as a small business owner, it’s good to make sure you know the Services page is going away. LinkedIn continues to not be very helpful or play nice with others, so we’ll see how this goes.