The life of a consultant and business owner is a busy one.

This week I will be hosting a webinar (sponsored by Meetings Media Magazine) to help industry professionals to take the leap from being a planner to a business owner.

Although the topic is intended for those of you in the hospitality industry, there will be great takeaways for anyone interested in starting his/her own business.

What You’ll Learn:

You’ve been planning meetings for quite some time now, and know all about ROI, logistics, site selection, contracts and all of the other details required to be successful in the organization you represent. Why not strike out on your own? A scary proposition, for sure, as meeting planners who go independent have to adopt the discipline—and risk—of a small business owner. I will detail the risks and rewards of proclaiming your independence. Some key points covered in this webinar will include the following:

• Challenges and opportunities for independent planners in today’s marketplac
• Key elements of a successful small business
• Effective and affordable ways to market yourself
• Strategic partnerships and networking: ways to grow your company without increasing your overhead
• Re-creation: When things dry up, where do you go from here

If you think any of these topics could help you, I’d love for you to sign up and open your mind to the possibility of owning your own business.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
10 a.m. PST • 11 a.m. MST • Noon CST • 1 p.m. EST
This webinar event is one-hour long.

Register now!

If you are not able to join the webinar, but would be interested in receiving the content, please contact me at 310.771.0665 or lcoote@pick-my-brain.com

Slideshare.net makes sharing with others is so much fun.

I’m online a lot. Between research for clients, looking up information for my blog, compiling data for my students or checking my email, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, you can sometimes find me online for hours at a time.

And from time to time throughout my online journeys, I come across a website that I am really impressed with. Slideshare.net is one such site.

Slideshare.net not only provides its users with a wealth of information and inspiration for putting together amazing slideshow presentations, it also allows visitors to download these presentation, contact the creator and comment on what they like about the content and design. You can even add your own presentations to the site to share with other users.

Once I started sifting through the content, I was instantly hooked. Each slideshow presented its themes in a unique and different way. Some presenters used color, fonts and pictures so effectively it made me reconsider my own presentation format.

Now don’t get me wrong, not everything on Slideshare.net is a uniquely designed, wildly original, engaging presentation; but I think you’ll find it to definitely be worth taking a look at. Enjoy!

No way! How leaving comments on corporate blogs can benefit your business.

For some time now, I’ve been updating this blog — sharing my business insights and giving readers a little piece of myself each week. This is great fun, but seriously, this blog is not a monologue. Blogging is a group activity, and nothing makes me more excited than when people let me know they are reading and are engaged in the topic I present, or in what I have to say.

You might wonder: what’s the point of leaving comments and what is the benefit to my own business?

Well, comments do a couple of things:

1. They can introduce you to a blog or community you are interested in becoming a part of. Maybe you’d like to offer to write a guest post, or maybe you’d like to work with the blogger. The best way to build a relationship is to comment.
2. They can introduce people interested in a particular topic to you. By posting comments on blogs that share similar topics, you can gain exposure to others who are interested in the same information.
3. Comments can provide a link back to your own company blog or website. Leave a genuine response to a post (don’t turn it into an sales pitch) and be sure to include a way for people to find you if they’re interested in what you have to say. Some blogs enjoy very high readership, so gaining exposure on their sites can help drive traffic to yours.
4. They provide inbound links to your website, which is a good way to build search engine optimization for your own company URL.
5. A good comment can be a gateway to a great discussion and can help you get some of your challenging questions answered.

Whatever your reason for commenting, it’s always appreciated by the blogger. The web 2.0 world would cease to exist if people no longer participated in online discussion. So go ahead, leave us a comment and tell us what you really think!

If you’d like more information on how you can build an online presence for your company, contact Pick My Brain at 310.771.0665.

How to ensure stress doesn’t rule your life in the workplace.

Forty eight percent of Americans say their stress has increased in the last five years. And given the current economic outlook, that stress is likely to continue to increase in the foreseeable future.

Although a certain level of stress is an unavoidable part of being human, it is important not to let this pressure get out of control and dictate your wellbeing. Knowing ways to manage stress (especially in the workplace) will keep you sane and focused on your tasks.

Reader’s Digest has compiled a great list of “37 Stress Management Tips.” Here are a few that work at work.

• Be proactive. At the first sign of “Why me…” turn it around. Don’t sit in silence and wallow in self-pity, get up and do something about it.
• Don’t bite off more than you can chew. If a request comes your way and you don’t know if you can handle it, it’s OK to say no.
• Speak your stress. When you feel like the pressure is mounting, say it out loud. We’ve all been there. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how many people are willing to come to your aid. No one around? Pull out a pocket recorder and start dumping that to do list – you’ll have a record and can free yourself to focus on the moment.
• Breathe in, breathe out. Just taking a moment to sit quietly and take deep breaths can help stop a freak-out before it starts.
• Take a walk. Ten minute away from your desk/office will relax your body and free your mind.

By ignoring what your mind and body are telling you, you are opening yourself to feeling overburdened and stressed. Taking the time to recognize and remedy stress will increase your productivity in the long run.

How business can thrive in a Web 2.0 world.

Informal conversation is probably the oldest mechanism by which opinions on products and brands are developed, expressed, and spread.

Professor Johan Arndt

When Johan Arndt, a famed marketing professor, penned these words over 25 years ago, I’m sure he was not referring to the Internet. But in this world of Web 2.0 and instant feedback, his words have never been so relevant. Social networking sites, review boards, blogs and wikis make it easy for companies to connect with potential clients. And clients are finding ways to influence the products and services they want.
So how can your company use the web 2.0 environment to its advantage? And how do you overcome the pitfalls of instant access?

According to Tim O’Reilly, who is credited with coining the term, Web 2.0 is “the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.”

Basically, customers have gone digital and companies are scrambling to embrace these new (and ever-changing) technologies to attract more business. But why would companies have difficulty embracing the Internet and it communicative capabilities?

Think about it – you’re a major corporation and you’ve just kicked off a multi-million dollar advertising/public relations campaign. In the early days of the Internet, consumption was still a spectator sport. Consumers would see your ads in print, on TV or even on your website. They’d hear about your public relations on television, in the newspaper or on the radio. Customers didn’t really have the chance to challenge you and life was grand.

Today, things are very different. If consumers want to challenge your appeals they have infinite outlets to do so. They are taking to their blogs and podcasts. They are creating You Tube videos that mock your advertising concepts. Your wikipedia page is updated in a matter of seconds.

But maybe you’re not a multi-million dollar company – how does this affect you? Web 2.0 affects all businesses – big and small – in good ways and bad. Your customers are able to go online and post reviews of your products/services. They can recommend or blast you on their blog or link to your website from theirs.

There is nothing we can do to change this rapid dissemination of information. So why not embrace it? Ask customers if they can write a review about you on a certain site. Befriend bloggers and ask them to rate your product/services. Join online groups and communities of people who can use what you have.

Tim O’Reilly calls it a revolution. I think it’s simply an evolution and an opportunity for small businesses to get their voice heard over the yells of the competition.

If you’d like more information on how to build your company’s online presence contact Pick My Brain at 310.771.0665.