{"id":1182,"date":"2015-11-03T14:32:49","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T22:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/?p=1182"},"modified":"2015-11-03T14:50:06","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T22:50:06","slug":"qb-connect-by-rhonda-abrams-5-key-lessons-for-every-entrepreneur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/?p=1182","title":{"rendered":"QB Connect &#8211; Rhonda Abrams &#8220;5 Key Lessons for Every Entrepreneur\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Attended a great session today at QB Connect by\u00a0Rhonda Abrams <strong>&#8220;5 Key Lessons for Every Entrepreneur\u201d<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">About Rhonda &#8211; USA Today columnist and entrepreneurship expert, Rhonda Abrams shares common issues for small businesses and advises on do-it-now action items to set your business up for success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.planningshop.com\/rhonda-abrams\/\">http:\/\/www.planningshop.com\/rhonda-abrams\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Key issue: Good business plan \u00a0&#8220;<\/b><\/span><span class=\"s1\">You can\u2019t reach a goal you haven\u2019t set it&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Overall business plan<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Annual business planning<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Quantifiable, specific goals<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Estimate resources \u2013 time, money, people<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Set deadline<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Get real<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Have a <b>BIG IDEA<\/b> journal (when you get an idea), write it down, then overtime review and assess.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">The most important piece of planning is what NOT to do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Key issue: Marketing &#8220;<\/b><\/span><span class=\"s1\">Repetition, repetition, repetition&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Market<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Message<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Method<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Major methods, think of it as creating leads for you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Social media, pick the one that works for you.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Online SEM\/ads<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">E-Newsletter, has about a 20% rate, which is way better than direct mail (which is 2%). It has to be relatable and thoughtful content.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Networking\/word-of-mouth, critical. Nothing beats face to face marketing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Traditional (meh!)<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Collateral (e.g. business card \u201cwhat you do and a call to action)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Key Issue: Team\u00a0<\/b><\/span><span class=\"s1\">&#8220;You can\u2019t grow alone.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Determine your needs. &#8220;They don\u2019t need to be on your payroll to be a team member.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Figure out a budget, \u201cAre you growing a job or growing a business.\u201d Make a choice. A business requires scale (e.g. Employees, contractors, etc)<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Start slowly, \u201cis hiring employees really the best first start.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Make the mental learning &#8220;What are the job you are doing now, that are keeping you growing. Is it something you can outsource. (e.g. Administrative things)\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Key Issue: Mobile <\/b><\/span><span class=\"s1\">&#8220;Go mobile or go home.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">94% own a cell phone.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">64% access internet on phone:<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> 34% primary internet access<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> 10% only internet access<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">What does this mean for you:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Mobile enabled websites<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Get found<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Accept mobile payments<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Run your business in the cloud<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Great list for a HOMEWORK assignment<\/b>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">List one or two niches you can \/do serve<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">List your <b>specific goals<\/b> for the coming year<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Define or refine your core message<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Identify skills you need to grow your business.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Attended a great session today at QB Connect by\u00a0Rhonda Abrams &#8220;5 Key Lessons for Every Entrepreneur\u201d.\u00a0 About Rhonda &#8211; USA Today columnist and entrepreneurship expert, Rhonda Abrams shares common issues for small businesses and advises on do-it-now action items to set your business up for success. http:\/\/www.planningshop.com\/rhonda-abrams\/ Key issue: Good&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,1,13,5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-conference","8":"category-uncategorized","9":"category-innovation","10":"category-mobile","11":"category-service-design"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/qblogo_large.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iJZ9-j4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1187,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions\/1187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephengay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}