Ambitious Entrepreneur Archives - WebTalkRadio.net

You’ve just been invited to introduce yourself to a group of business owners.
So what do you say? How do you introduce yourself and your business?
Perhaps, like many other entrepreneurs you state your name, your company name, and your job title – after all that’s what you do. So it makes sense. Right?
Or perhaps your nerves get the better of you and you end up stammering and stuttering through your introduction.

Subscribe with your favorite podcast player

According to today’s guest – neither of those ways will leave a memorable impression and you could be missing out on numerous business opportunities.

Today, Annemarie Cross is joined by Katy Tafoya, founder of Success for Solopreneurs and Katy is an expert when it comes to developing powerful, memorable introductions.

Learn Katy’s 4-step process so that next time someone asks you to attend a networking event, or meet someone for the very first time – you can introduce yourself like a pro!

Listen to Katy as she shares insights on:
– Why it’s so important to be able to tell people what you do in a clear and concise way
– What to do if you do more than one thing in your business so that you don’t end up sounding like a walking infomercial, and
– What to do if you struggle to keep your introduction simple and therefore end up confusing everyone, and so much more

Katy’s strategies are simple, however don’t let the simplicity of these steps fool you. They are powerful. And, if you follow these steps when you attend your next networking event, you’re bound to be impressive and memorable.
So, what is it that you do? Listen to Katy’s tips and you’ll be able to answer that confidently, concisely and powerfully!

The post Ambitious Entrepreneur – Powerful Business Introductions appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Google+ is one of latest social media tools to enter the marketplace and is certainly starting to make itself known with 100 million users within only 7 months of launching.

Subscribe with your favorite podcast player

While it’s tempting to roll your eyes and sigh “Not another social media tool,” – you may just want to listen to today’s show before you decide not to incorporate Google+ within your social media marketing and relationship building strategies.

Annemarie Cross is joined by Janet Fouts – social media coach, nationally recognized speaker on online marketing and social media, and author of 4 books on the subject of social media, including her recent book, “Google+ for Business Tweet”. All of the tips and strategies that Janet shares in the book are written in 140-character posts/tweets.

As an ambitious entrepreneur find out why Janet believes it’s important to at least get your personal profile set up on Google+, even if you don’t plan on actively sharing content and building your network just yet. “From a search engine viewpoint – having your personal profile setup on Google+, is gold” states Fouts.

What you may not realise is that Google (the world’s number one search engine) no longer indexes Twitter posts as quickly anymore, often taking up to 3 days for your content to be indexed. Nor does Google index Facebook posts, which means the content you are sharing and posting on both Twitter and Facebook may never be found. This alone should be reason why you want to start sharing your content on Google+.

Not sure what to post on Google+? Don’t be tempted to share the same information as everyone else. That’s just dull and boring. Instead, Janet recommends you share unique, fresh content, especially if you want to build your reputation as a go-to resource.

Tempted to follow everyone back? This is not the best strategy when it comes to Google+. Janet shares her thoughts on who you should be following and why.

Google Hangout is a unique feature of Google+ and allows you to hold video meetings, share documents and chat with up to 10 people. Find out how you can leverage Google Hangouts in your business.

Janet also has a special offer especially for you, giving you access her ebook on how to leverage Google+ for business. Find out how you can get your copy.

The post Ambitious Entrepreneur – Google Plus for Business Tweet appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Are you an ambitious entrepreneur working alongside your spouse/partner and while you love them dearly, at times they drive you crazy? You can’t agree on the business’s direction or how best to manage your finances/money? Or they’re just not pulling their weight?

Subscribe with your favorite podcast player

If that sounds familiar, this week’s show is a must listen.

Annemarie Cross is joined by Erika Forbes principal of The CouplePreneur. Erika is passionate about helping entrepreneurial couples and families develop and maintain passion and love while creating and building the business of their dreams.

Erika speaks about the common problems that many couples/families struggle with – recognise any?

Listen as Erika shows you how you can work through these issues so that you don’t sacrifice your personal relationship in order to build a thriving business.

Many CouplePreneurs believe that keeping their business and their personal lives completely separate is the best approach; however Erika doesn’t think so. In fact, Erika believes that “separating your work and the rest of your life just doesn’t work. It’s important to be able to recognise and agree that you have a shared passion for your business.”

“Is your business built on the foundation of love?” asks Erika? “From there you can develop the skills you need; the job description, the duties and responsibilities. This is not just a business for business sake. There is a far deeper bond that’s beyond your contract and your work.”

Are you relying too much on your own efforts while forgetting to tap into the resources of others around you? Erika believes this is yet another problem that can surface for CouplePreneurs. “Trying to do everything on your own is unwise, as you limit the possibilities and opportunities to grow your business.”

Erika believes it’s important to reach out and develop a network of other entrepreneurial couples for support. In fact, she encourages CouplePreneurs to set an intention for this year to reach out and meet other couples that are doing the same work. Meeting regularly with these couples will allow you to gain fresh insights to keep your creative juices flowing.

Not sure how to bring up a difficult conversation with your spouse? Erika’s suggestion on how to begin a difficult discussion is a great approach and will certainly allow you to maintain your love and passion no matter how difficult the topic/discussion.

Also on the show Annemarie Cross catches up with sales guru Meridith Elliott Powell – Author of 42 Rules to Turn Prospects into Customers. Meridith speaks about Rule 22, which explains the importance of solving the right problem to help you get past selling ‘price’. If your prospect is focused on price, it’s because you haven’t shown them that you have the solution to their problems.

Don’t get stuck in selling your products/services on price, but rather sell risk and value so that you can charge what you are worth – and get it! Meridith shows you how.

The post Ambitious Entrepreneur – Entrepreneurial Couples: How to maintain love and passion while create the business of your dreams appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Cash flow, finances in general and how to access funding from third parties to help ease cash flow is something that many small business owners continue to struggle with.

Subscribe with your favorite podcast player

On today’s show, Annemarie Cross is joined by Charles H Green, a recovering Banker with 30-year career in finance and author of Get Financing Now: How to navigate through bankers, investors and alternative sources for the capital your business needs.

According to Charles many ambitious entrepreneurs aren’t aware of the market place and therefore don’t necessarily know the most appropriate or the best source of funding. Because of this they start to negotiate with the first party that comes along, leaving themselves wide open to predatory people working in the banking industry.

Don’t be fooled into thinking you need to take the first deal that comes along. And, don’t feel that you have to accept conditions that just don’t make sense for you. Do your homework first.

Listen to just a few of the many tips and strategies Charles writes about in his book, including:

• The Best Sources for Start-up Capital:
o Why it’s important for startup businesses to be financially independent before involving a third party. Consider going into business more moderately. You don’t need a large office or the best equipment/motor vehicle, or even to take prospects out for expensive lunches.
o Why you need to speak loudly even if you have a small stick: you can be as big as you want to be by leveraging online and social media technologies.
o How to get someone to pay you to develop (a product/program/system) and then sell it to everyone else: Charles shares his personal success story where he was paid to develop a comprehensive spreadsheet, which he is now going to leverage and sell to other clients.
o Approaching a potential partner to collaborate and contribute capital to your business.
o How to create cash out of thin air.
• What to prepare and what to expect when approaching a bank and/or investor.
• Getting to the bottom of no: what to do if your request for funding/capital has been declined.
• And much more.

Need to ease your cash flow and get more funding into your business? Charles will show you how.

The post Ambitious Entrepreneur – Get Financing Now: How to navigate through bankers, investors and alternative sources for the capital your business needs appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Do you have a business plan that you regularly refer to? If not, you could be jeopardizing your ability to reach your business goals.

Subscribe with your favorite podcast player

In fact, we’ve all heard the saying: “Fail to Plan – then Plan to Fail,” which is exactly what today’s guest believes will happen if you don’t have a solid business plan in place to guide you.

On today’s show Annemarie Cross interviews Fran McCully – Virtual Bookkeeper and Principal from Your Administration Solutions who believes that your business plan is the roadmap to building a successful business. And without one, it’s impossible to run your business effectively.

Fran talks about:

• the key elements you should include in your business plan
• why performing a comprehensive market analysis is so important, especially it you want to identify how you can distinguish yourself from your competitors; as well as
• steps you need to take to ensure you can achieve your business goals.

Fran also draw on her 30 years combined experience as an executive assistant in finance and budgeting to talk about why having a virtual bookkeeper (to help you keep track of your expenses and finances) is so important if you want to maximize your overall profitability. That means more money in your pocket!

If you haven’t created a business plan, or the one you’ve put together previously is outdated and sitting at the bottom of your filing cabinet, then grab a pen and paper and make sure you write down the practical steps that Fran shares to help you create a strategic business plan that will help you grow your business in 2012.

The post Ambitious Entrepreneur – Business Planning: Creating your roadmap to success appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.