Tag Archives: Business

6 Success Secrets to Keep Your Business Successful While the Kids Are Out of School for the Summer

Summertime presents unique challenges to working parents. You still need to work, but want to enjoy this precious time with your kids and not be chained to your desk. With a bit of proactivity, you can make sure you prioritize spending time with your family without letting your business suffer.

We all know that work-life balance is hard to find, but summer makes it even more challenging. Here are a few tips to help make it more manageable…and make sure you comment and share your ideas with us!

Create a work schedule. It’s important to designate set uninterrupted work time and set no-work-allowed family time. Try to plan work time around times your kids are occupied, such as when they’re participating in a summer program or regular play dates. Each week you’ll know you’ve got guaranteed time to get work done and guaranteed time to spend with your kids.

Involve your kids with your work. Older kids can be taught complicated projects, but even younger kids can help with tasks like licking envelopes. Getting your kids to help you in the office is a win-win-win. You get to spend time with them, get assistance in your projects, and teach them valuable skills. And don’t forget your kids can teach you too (like how my 9th grade daughter is teaching me more about Snapchat!).

Connect with other work-at-home parents. Find other working parents and coordinate with them “shifts” for watching kids. Each parent can take an afternoon a week, which gives everyone in the group multiple blocks of uninterrupted work time.

Automate as much as possible. If you write a blog, create a batch of several evergreen posts you can use throughout the summer when you’re busier with family time. For social media, use a scheduling service like Hootsuite to plan several days’ worth of posts in one sitting.

Work smarter, not longer. Try to decrease your workload before summer hits or at the beginning of summer. Add a frequently asked questions page to your website to hopefully minimize the time you’ll spend answering the same client question over and over. Plan out goals and projects ahead of time so you don’t spend as much precious summer time brainstorming. Delegate tasks as much as possible to other employees. Consider hiring an intern who can work in exchange for college credit. They gain valuable work experience, and you spend less time working. Work a few less hours, but get back the lost income with these tasks to make money while you sleep.

Outsource. Are you using all your resources? Are you delegating task as you should be? If you have a Virtual Assistant, make sure you are using that service to the full extent, or maybe you need to retain more hours for the summer. If you haven’t tasks that you could outsource to a Virtual Assistant, make sure you hire yours right away.

Summer time is a great opportunity to connect with your kids and make lasting memories. With a few simple strategies you can make sure time with family does not come at the cost of your business. If you want even more help with growing your business over the summer, delegate those tasks to Alpine Small Business Solutions! We’re here to help you with any part of business building. Just reach out with an email or phone call today.

10 Actions You Can Take To Help You Prepared Should The Unexpected Happen

My business is my baby. I nurtured it through many struggles, successes, and interesting times. But what happens when you can’t nurture business? What happens to your business, your clients, etc., when the unexpected happens? Getting a plan in place is so important to the success and legacy of your business.

Let me tell you a couple quick stories about how having a plan for the unexpected saved my sanity and my business.

In 2013 on Halloween morning, my mother passed away from cancer. Like many that lost their battle, her cancer journey was awful and long. Being an only child, I was the only one other than my dad who cared for my mom. All our family lived out of state, so the responsibility of the devastation of her cancer weighed heavy on my father and me. Between doctors’ appointments, meal prep, physical therapies, and other tasks, caring for my mom was almost a full time job (not to mention the time I carved out to just sit and be with her so we could spend quality time together). My time was split very thin between my dying mother, my two young daughters, and my growing business . . . as well as all my other relationships with friends and my father. My mother was constantly in and out of the hospital, and there were countless crazy times that required me to drop everything and rush to her side. During this time, my focus was solely on healing and helping my mother. She was the most important thing to me, so my business had to come second . . . third . . . fourth to the more important things in my life which was my family.

In July of 2015, I was at a peak in my business, but something unthinkable happened. Unlike my mother’s slow and prolonged illness, this tragedy hit me hard, fast and I was completely blindsided. It was a beautiful summer day and like I often did, I went and enjoyed some live bluegrass music with my two daughters and their friends at this quaint outdoor area. The kiddos didn’t want to listen to the entire set list of music and they asked if they could go and record a short movie instead. They are an artistic bunch and often made short films on their cell phones. I said yes as long as they stayed close. They stayed very close, but that didn’t matter because things can happen and change your life in a blink of an eye. My older daughter had an extremely hard fall and experienced a life threatening head injury that required her to be airlifted to Children’s hospital. We spent two days in the ICU and about a week in the hospital, followed by many doctors’ appointments scattered across town. I am happy to report she is okay today, but during those weeks after her injury my focus was on healing and helping my daughter. She was the most important thing to me, so my business again had to come second . . . third . . . fourth to the more important things in my life.

If I lacked a plan for the unexpected, my business surely would have failed (and as a result I would have fallen onto even harder times beyond the tragedies that hit my life). Here are 10 actions to take to be prepared should the unexpected happen to you, your family, or friends.

Foster authentic relationships with clients. Always work to create an open and honest relationship with your client. Laying the foundation for solid relationships not only makes it easier to do business, but makes it easier to be transparent with them if a crisis occurs and you need to renegotiate timelines or contracts. I am blessed with amazing clients that understood life happens, and they were super supportive. When you’re authentic with clients, they will often be understanding and supportive in return. People understand life and shit happens, and being real will gain you more flexibility, trust, and respect with your clients in the long run.
Build a crisis team. You’ll want go-to people (or a go-to person, if your business is smaller) that you can confidently delegate to during a time of distress. Make sure your crisis team is equipped with the knowledge, resources, and personality traits to handle being in charge of projects in your absence. Talk over your expectations and their responsibilities to ensure everyone is on the same page long before a crisis occurs.
Create a guide book to your business. Create a business Wiki or process manual that can serve as the “bible” for your business. Clearly outline how to complete various tasks (more detail is always better). When applicable, include screenshots to help visual learners. You’ll want to cover everything anyone might need to do, both the strategic and mundane. Remember it’s much better to put too much information than not enough. Whoever is in your crisis team will need to reference it to accomplish tasks they aren’t used to doing, so make sure they have all the information they need at their fingertips.
Make business passwords easily accessible. Not only does your crisis team need to know how to handle various tasks, they need to know the passwords to access the technology to achieve those tasks. I recommend Lastpass, which allows you to easily share needed passwords with your team in a secure manner.
Invest in a laptop. A laptop offers you incredible flexibility. During my difficult times, I was able to do some work away from the home office. While I wasn’t as productive as I was working in the office, I was still able to work some. It’s important not to allow your work to take you away from precious time with family. However, working some during a crisis can be really helpful. It gives you feelings of control and accomplishment to get work done, and can provide a temporary distraction from what you’re dealing with (which can give your heart and brain a much needed break).
Be organized. Every important document should be in one place to make it easier on your staff. I use Dropbox and give access to my team and clients. That way, my team won’t have to search through multiple online and physical locations to find what they are looking for. You can also be organized with your method of contact. Use your forwarding call feature from your business line to your cell phone or your team.
Do a test run. You can plan a solid strategy, but there’s bound to be kinks and hurdles to overcome. A test run will help you discover what areas need to be fixed to get to the smoothest transition during a crisis as possible. Coordinate with your team a day (or preferably a few days) where you simulate your absence due to a crisis. Remove yourself from the office, and only communicate with your staff as much as you think you would during a crisis. This will help everyone see what needs to be adjusted and improved, which makes you better prepared for an actual crisis.
Invest in disability insurance. Disability insurance is helpful in case you get hurt and can’t work. This will help protect you financially if you are unable to work for any extended period due to an injury.
Add a legacy contact in Facebook. In the event of death, your Facebook account can be memorialized and serve as a place for loved ones to share memories. A legacy contact is a designated person who can write a pinned post for the profile (such as a message on your behalf or memorial service information), respond to new friend requests, and update your profile picture and cover photo. They can also download a copy of what you’ve shared on Facebook. To add a legacy contact (https://www.facebook.com/help/1070665206293088)

Click in the top right of Facebook and select Settings

In the left menu, click Security

Click Legacy Contact

Type in a friend’s name and click Add

To let your friend know they’re now your legacy contact, click Send

Take care of yourself. Exercise consistently, maintain a healthy diet, get regular massages, do what you need to make yourself as healthy as possible. This will prevent illness and improve recovery time in the event you do get sick or injured.

While it’s difficult to think about life crisis and death, it’s important to. Creating a plan to deal with a crisis can make a huge difference in how your business, and you, make it through the crisis. I guarantee it’s worth the time and effort to put a plan in place-it will provide you huge piece of mind for the future.

9 Ways to Deal with Challenging Clients

When you work in the world of online business, dealing with difficult clients comes with the territory. While it can be incredibly frustrating interacting with these individuals, there are some simple proactive and reactive tactics you can use to make things easier on all parties involved.

Proactive Tactics

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure right? Try these ideas to help prevent possible situations before they develop.

Create guidelines about communication. One source of conflict is differing expectations about communication, like the client who expects you to respond at odd hours, weekends, or holidays. Sure that’s a reasonable request when dealing with
crisis communication, but not when it’s dealing with subjects that can wait until traditional work hours. In your initial meetings with clients, provide clear “office hours” that they can expect to be able to reach you. This helps ensure all parties involved are on the same page for what’s reasonable to expect when it comes to communication.
Make clients articulate what they expect from you. This can create an open dialect in case there are any clarifications that need made. Conflict can arise when clients claim your finalized work isn’t what they wanted, or when clients demand you deliver more than the scope of your original agreement. Get clients to explicitly state in as much detail as possible what they are envisioning for the project to minimize the possibilities of expectations not being met. Some clients struggle with expressing what they want, and asking them to express what they wouldn’t want can be a helpful exercise to help them better communicate their expectations.
Provide clear timelines. As much as you can, from the beginning, give clients a timeline of the project with checkpoints along the way. Letting clients know upfront how long they can expect a project to take can help prevent clients expecting unreasonable deadlines to be met, and it provides them with peace of mind that you can gauge how long components of the project will take.
Keep careful records. Hopefully you won’t ever need to refer back to them with your client, but easy access to contracts, client emails, and the like will be important in case there is a disagreement on logistical details, such as fees or what you agreed to do for them.
Provide reports to your clients. These can be weekly, monthly, or quarterly depending on the project or client. The report serves as a detailed summary of what you’ve accomplished and what your plans moving forward in the project are, which again provides peace of mind to your client while continually showing all the value you provide.

Reactive Tactics

Alright so now your client is upset. Here are some tips to diffuse the situation.

Make the client feel listened to. Just like in romantic relationships, sometimes it’s less about being right and more about protecting the relationship. Even if your client is overreacting, make sure they walk away from the conversation feeling
heard. You can use phrases like, “I’m sorry you feel that way, that must be frustrating,” or “I can see why that would upset you” to show you empathize with them. After they explain their viewpoint, articulate back to them what you think their viewpoint is to showcase you understand their perspective.
Steer clients toward specifics. When clients get upset, they often start using sweeping statements such as, “it’s always causing me problems” or “it’s never ready when I need it.” Gently encourage clients to articulate the specific problem to help move the focus away from the “always” and “nevers” and to the problem at hand. Then articulate a specific solution and ask them if it addresses his or her concerns.
Distinguish between a situational conflict and personality clash. Sometimes the problem is not an external scenario you can solve. Some people just butt heads. If it’s possible to switch the client to another staff member, consider giving the client to them. You can ask the client who they would rather work with to let them feel like they have control of the situation. This can be hard, but sometimes it is best. Don’t take it personally. Really, not everyone can get along.
Remember cutting ties is an option. Hopefully it will never need to come to this, but in some cases, it is warranted. You have to weigh the benefits of the client against
the stress, emotional exhaustion, time, and so that it takes to deal with a difficult client. If you’ve tried a variety of approaches and nothing works, you can rest easy knowing you did everything you could to make it work but it wasn’t meant to be. Let the relationship go and focus your energy where it should go: the clients who are willing to work with you!

Dealing with difficult clients can be a challenge. If you need help with client communication, or any aspect of online business building, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! Just give us a call or send us an email.

9 Brain Foods That Will Improve Your Productivity at Work

Did you know that the foods you eat could have a significant impact on your brain and motivation? Eating the right foods throughout the day can increase brainpower, motivation and overall productivity by 20%. I know it may not seem like much, but it is a significant increase! If you’ve noticed you’ve been a little more sluggish at work lately, consider adding these superfoods to your daily diet. I’ve also included a couple simple recipes that combines these super foods together!

Eggs

Eggs are one of the best nutritional foods you can eat. Eggs are high in choline, which is a nutrient that studies have shown to improve memory. Eggs sell a variety of vitamins but most notably B5 and B12. These vitamins release energy from food and assist with brain nervous system function. Eggs also have vitamin A which plays a critical role in maintaining healthy vision, neurological function, healthy skin, and more.

As if eggs couldn’t seem more nutritionally rich, they are an excellent source of protein that can help sustain energy levels and stave off hunger throughout the day.

Greek Yogurt

All yogurts are excellent sources of calcium, potassium, protein, zinc, and vitamins B6 and B12. However Greek yogurt contains probiotic cultures and is lower in lactose and has twice the protein content of regular yogurts. Additionally, in a small study, researchers at UCLA found that eating probiotic yogurt twice a day can reduce activity in the part of your brain that registers pain and emotion. Scientists have also begun to draw links between consuming probiotics and thinking fewer sad thoughts

Salmon

Fatty fishes are excellent for promoting productivity! Salmon, however, is the best of them all. Salmon has high omega-3 fatty acids content, which is useful for improving memory and mental performance. These fatty acids can help depression and fatigue, which can both inhibit productivity immensely. Fish has also been proven to improve concentration and your overall mood. Other fatty fish include trout, mackerel, herring, sardines, pilchards, and kipper. Although eating freshly prepared fish is the best method, a fish oil supplement can be taken to achieve a similar result.

Raw Almonds

Raw almonds are among the healthiest of tree nuts. Almonds rank highest in protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin E, riboflavin and niacin content. The fiber, protein and fat content of almonds means it only takes a handful to keep you feeling full and satisfied to hold you over until lunch time! Why raw almonds? Both raw and roasted almonds pack a high dose of nutrients and minerals. However, raw almonds have more naturally occurring beneficial fats—which are lost in the roasting process.

Avocado

Avocados are a natural stimulant for promoting blood flow. Consistent blood flow through your heart and brain fires up your brain cells. This is another healthy, fiber packed fat that improves your overall focus. The best part? There’s so many delicious ways to prepare an avocado but their buttery flavor is amazing on their own!

Blueberries

Antioxidant-rich foods are exceptional for increasing memory. Not only will blueberries help your brain function in the workplace today, it will help to prevent Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in the future. The antioxidants in blueberries stimulate the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain – and keeps the mind fresh. Generally, the darker the berry is, the higher antioxidant property it contains, which means more productivity-boosting ingredients.

Matcha Green Tea

Green tea is a natural energy enhancer and it comes without the negative side effects of other energy sources, such as the caffeine crash you get from coffee or energy drinks. However, the best (and more delicious) way to consume green tea is Matcha. Matcha is unique because it’s the entire leaf ground into a fine powder then made into a creamy tea, whereas other teas the leaves are steeped in hot water. By consuming the leaf as a whole, it provides fiber and polyphenols, a family of powerful antioxidants. It’s also a lot tastier—green tea ice cream is made from Matcha and if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it.

Bananas

Glucose turns into energy, and bananas are some of the best resources for that energy-inducing ingredient. A single banana holds the daily amount of glucose your body needs, and it’s a much healthier way to get it than excessive carbs and cane sugars. Bananas are also filling, which means that you’ll be able to focus better between meals if you snack on this rather than something else. Bananas are also a great source of potassium which helps blood pressure, anxiety and stress and helps to enhance muscle strength, metabolism, water balance, electrolytic functions, and nervous system.

Water

Finally, water. Now I know this isn’t a food, but it is important to mention that the amount of water intake significantly influences your health and productivity. Our body is made up of over 70% water and throughout the day, the water in our body slowly depletes. If you don’t drink enough water to replenish the lost liquid, your brain and other functions suffer the consequences. By devoting the energy to ensure you are drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day will give your brain the fuel it needs to be more focused and think more clearly.

Give these foods a go and see if you have noticed an improvement in your productivity. I certainly have! Below are links to a couple of my favorite recipes that combine several of these foods and are super easy to make!

Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, blueberries, and granola (I prefer sliced or slivered almonds)

Avocado toast with sunny side up egg

7 Benefits of LinkedIn Blog Publishing & Why Every Online Business Owner Should be Using it

Sure, you understand the importance of content marketing to build your business, but if you’re not publishing on LinkedIn you’re missing out on major benefits. It’s not just another content publishing tool. It’s one of the best content publishing tools, offering many rich rewards to marketers who are smart enough to take advantage of it. Here are several reasons you need to begin publishing on LinkedIn today:

Easy to reach a tailored audience. Everyone on LinkedIn is either a current professional or aspiring professional seeking out career and industry related content. What other content publishing site offers that degree of audience specialization? You’ll be able to publish content to an audience ready to consume it, giving you a high ROI for the time spent crafting LinkedIn posts.
Reap content marketing rewards of a business blog in a fraction of the time commitment. While it’s usually recommended businesses maintain a blog, it’s not always feasible for every company. In those situations, publishing to LinkedIn is a great alternative. Employees can publish from their LinkedIn pages and then share to the company page to gain benefits of content marketing with less of a time commitment than maintaining a company blog.
Establish your influence in your industry. Consistently publishing quality posts will showcase your knowledge in your industry. Posts will link back to your profile and recent posts will be shown on your profile, which will help connect your professional insights to your LinkedIn profile. It’s a simple way to show, not tell, your expertise.
Humanize your company. Recruit various employees, from the company CEO to entry level staff, to craft blog posts to then share from your company’s page. The different writing styles will not only provide variety, but the different voices will humanize your organization and cause the posts to look less self-serving.
Access to a litmus test for your company blog. Granted, your LinkedIn audience is likely different than your company blog audience. But if a post really resonates with LinkedIn followers, it’s a good indicator the information and/or topic will resonate with followers of your company’s blog.
Gives you something to offer in LinkedIn Groups. Members of LinkedIn Groups are expected to provide value to the group, which can be achieved through offering quality LinkedIn posts. Sharing of great content is an effective way to strengthen your connection with group members.
Move potential audiences to view posts. Some consumers of content hesitate to view a blog post given the high volume of spam posts and not secure websites on the Internet. Posts published on LinkedIn are published on LinkedIn-meaning there is no risk for readers they will end up on a spam site or gain a virus from an insecure website. And since everything people publish is linked back to their account, there’s a lower amount of poor quality work. Consumers can be more likely to view a post on LinkedIn given the spam-free and higher quality nature of its posts.

Okay, so now you’re ready to take advantage of LinkedIn blog publishing. But how do you generate ideas? Try one of these strategies:

Read posts from top influencers in your industry. As you read articles, ask questions such as, “What important pieces of information did they leave out?” or “What’s a unique perspective I can take on the same topic?” Translate the answers into posts of your own.
Analyze your post metrics to see what topics most resonate with audience. Generate more posts on those topics. People love stats. Use this to your advantage.
Do an old fashioned brainstorm. Start with a broad topic (such as social media) and spend five to ten minutes writing anything that comes to mind. Set the paper aside and look at it again later with fresh eyes. Pick the best ideas and turn them into posts.
Repurpose old company content. Use what you’ve already created, such as website blog posts or newsletters, and tailor it to LinkedIn blog publishing.

Ready to take advantage of LinkedIn Blog Publishing, but don’t have the time or knowledge necessary to write posts consistently? Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! We’d love to help you with this, or any aspect of small business building. Just give us a call or shoot us an email today.

The Dirty Truths Nobody Told You About Hosting a Virtual Summit

All this talk about hosting a virtual summit has you excited. What you don’t know are the dirty truths most people fail to mention. If you dive into a virtual summit without being prepared, you will end up in over your head. Virtual Summits take months of planning and organizing to successfully execute. I can’t stress enough that you won’t be able to complete a virtual summit by yourself. You will drive yourself crazy without some additional support!

Here are a few areas that we know from experience it is great to bring in another set of eyes on.

#1 Test Equipment in Advance

This seems like a no-brainer but as a small business owner, it’s easy to put the equipment aside, forget about it and worry about all the other things on your to-do list. Then when push comes to shove, you set up last minute only to find out– %$#@! Technical difficulties! Please get your video, microphone, and programs all set-up well in advance and practice using them with friends and coworkers! That way if you come across any issues you can call over your techie friends to help you set it up and you’ll know how everything works before the big day comes. It is best to make sure you are super confident in the technology. You don’t want technology to be a stressor when you are trying to rock it!

#2 Customer Support

Summits aren’t an evening task. They take time. You will be out of office for a good period of time so who is going to hold down the fort and answer to those emails while you’re away? What all the offers or details you are selling? The people trying to connect but are having trouble? Someone needs to be on call for customer support. Your people want answers! Have help with your customer service, and make sure that person is in the loop of the product/service so they can best help your audience. Your customer support team is the first touch to the business. Make it great! Be sure to plan for this well in advance so you can relax during your summit and not worry whether your business will still be there when you get back!

#3 Design/Marketing Campaign & Promotion

Let’s face it, you’re not a jack of all trades, and you are definitely not a designer! Designing and digital marketing are really in-depth processes, and when they are done right, it is very successful! Leave this to the pros to help promote your virtual summit. This will be the face of your summit and you want to look professional and have eye-catching branding and design.

#4 Website & eCommerce

You will be busy planning content for your upcoming interviews and you’re not about to dive into all that code jumble! It is important that your summit/membership website and ecommerce for both are all set up and running correctly well in advance. Find a developer who can support you and execute this correctly. The last thing you need is frustrated customers who can’t buy your All-Access Pass which means lost revenue for you!

#5 Schedule Planning and Organizer

Different States, Countries, and Time zones – Oh my! The number of guests you will be interviewing during your summit may be shocking. Four to Five speakers will not suffice. Expect to be interviewing around 25-30 people in your industry. Trying to schedule and plan interviews with this number of people from all around the world is no task for you! Let someone else take this lead and set up these meetings for you.

#6 The Aftermath

Congrats you successfully made it through your summit, which means you get to jump right back into your normal routine. WRONG! You still need to consider sending out thank you notes to all the speakers and make sure your all-access pass members have sufficient customer support. Did they get their log-in information? Can they log-in? Can they access the content? This is where a customer support specialist will aid you otherwise you will lose your mind trying to answer all the tickets. Not to mention the thank-you letters…that’s 30 letters you need to write! Maybe that is best handed off to an assistant who can help execute those letters.

Whew! Exhausted yet? This is what I am saying, you need to enlist help to make sure the overall summit is outstanding and you look amazing. Make sure you have the right team in place to manage that-you can always contact us at Alpine Small Business Solutions.

7 Essential Tools You Need to Launch a Virtual Summit

Now that you are convinced why a virtual summit is a great idea for your business, here is a rundown of the tools you will need. Running a virtual summit doesn’t need to be expensive, but keep in mind the outcome will be equal to what you put into it. You don’t need to buy a professional several-thousand-dollar video and microphone set-up, but you don’t want to buy a $20 one either. Let’s meet somewhere in the middle and here’s a few of our favorites:

#1 Webcam

Unlike podcasts, a virtual summit requires a webcam. High quality helps to engage and keep your viewers interested. While most laptops, desktops and phones do have a webcam built in, they are usually not the best quality. Some smart phones do have a great camera, but lack in microphone quality. Besides, it’s much easier to manage broadcasting when you have a set-up at your computer station. Trying to do it all mobile proves to be a challenge.

You do not want to purchase a webcam that is less than 1080P since most services like YouTube often compress your videos. You can combat this by starting out by recording at higher quality.

The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 is a great middle-of-the-road USB option! It has a 73% 5-star rating on Amazon with a substantial amount of written customer reviews, which make this camera a very promising one. It offers widescreen video calling, automatic low-light correction, and works on all computers.

#2 Microphone

Webcams almost always come with a built-in microphone, but again the quality will never be as good than if you invest in a separate USB microphone. A microphone is just as important as your video; what good is a virtual summit if nobody can understand a word you are saying? You do not need to dive into professional recording equipment for this. Just look for a microphone that is recommended for podcasts and gaming with noise cancellation.

The CAD GXL2400 US Microphone is a great option that won’t break the bank. It promises to produce studio-quality output and a shock mount that will allow for it to sit at a comfortable height at your desk. It has 4/5-star review with great customer reviews and the best part is it’s only $30!

#3 Video Recording Software

You need software that allows you to see, hear and interview your guest speakers. You have two ways you can approach a virtual seminar:

If you want to do live broadcasting, I recommend using YouTube.

If you want to record the interview so you can broadcast at a later time, we highly recommend Zoom. It’s a web-based webinar program that’s free for up to 2 attendees.

#4 Video Editing Software

It doesn’t matter what video editing software you use. It is up to you to use whatever tool you feel most comfortable working in. There are complex video editing software costs hundreds of dollars, but there are many free options as well. If you have a Mac computer your computer already comes with iMovie which is simple and easy to edit your videos. Another great option is Camtasia where you can create a screencast, add callouts, and more. You can even edit your videos inside of YouTube for free!

#5 Video Host

YouTube is the largest video hosting platform out there. It’s great if you want to broadcast live or later date. Vimeo is another good choice. Both work great and both can embed the video on your own website or create an easily shareable link.

#6 eCommerce & Membership Site

Shopify is hands-down the best ecommerce plugin for your website. Eventbrite is another option to sell tickets for your event if you don’t sell or plan to sell products from your website. Both are secure and easy to use.

You might have to get creative in how you sell your all-access pass because your customers will need a way to log-in to the membership site. An example could include adding these customers to a separate mailing list and giving them a log-in and password to the membership site. This same mailing list could be used to market a new product/service as mentioned in the last article.

Shopify is good if you want to do implement order add-ons or physical products supporting your virtual summit and brand like t-shirts, hats, pens, etc.

However, Eventbrite is free and extremely user friendly. You can link it to social media and has several different customization options such as making it a public or private, set a limited quantity of tickets available, reserved seating, free/paid/donation ticket, and more!

#7 Backdrop

This is optional, but you want to consider a backdrop for your recording area so you look professional. This could be something as simple as a plain sheet or blanket pinned up on your wall. If you opt-out of a backdrop be aware of potential distractions or items in the background of your video.

There you have it…all the basics without breaking the bank. If you need more help in setting all this up or tips from our pro, contact us at Alpine Small Business Solutions today!

5 Ways A Virtual Summit Can Increase Your Income in 90 Days or Less

Your small business has been going great: steady income, returning clients, your email list is now considerable, you have an interactive and large social media following. Great! However, in the last few months you noticed a decrease in growth. You’re not losing, but you’re not gaining either. Everything was growing rapidly. So, what gives?

It’s not uncommon for businesses to hit a plateau. The good news is, there’s a few things you can do to get out of this rut! One of the best ways I’ve found is to host a virtual summit. If you don’t know what a virtual summit is, it’s essentially an online conference. The host is the one who organizes and brings experts together for interviews. The catch, however, is that the summit is only broadcasted for a certain period for online attendees to watch and learn from.

Live streaming and limited-time broadcasting is a great tool to add to your marketing tool box. The limited aspect of these brings urgency amongst your potential attendees which make them more likely to act on it. Television has been using this tactic for ages! How often have you heard someone say, “I have to be home by 8pm to catch the season finale of -insert tv show here-!”

Here’s five ways you can use a virtual summit to increase your income in under 90 days!

#1 All-Access Pass

An all-access pass is to your virtual summit as Netflix is to tv shows. This is the most popular way you can increase your revenue via virtual summits. Some people will not able to attend your virtual summit during your limited broadcasting event due to a busy schedule, sickness, or anything else life throws their way. However, these customers still crave the information!

Free ticket holders can view the broadcast for a limited time, which in turn peaks interest in an all-access pass, which is a membership area containing all the video content, so that they do not miss a single interview! Another tip is to use price-increases for all-access passes. By increasing the price when your summit starts and when it ends, you can encourage more people to buy.

To further increase urgency and to encourage purchases, you can try offering a limited quantity of all-access passes.

#2 Order Add-Ons

An order add-on is an offer asking the customer if they would like to add an item to their cart prior to check-out. Another wonderful way to increase your income with virtual summits are add-ons. This can be a product you already have that is relevant to their interests, or a product exclusive to the virtual summit. You might want to consider offering a small discount for orders over a specified dollar amount to encourage order add-ons!

#3 Sponsorships

In essence, your virtual summit is an event. This is an amazing opportunity for companies to financially support you in exchange for publicity. There’s a few ways in which you can implement this, either by displaying their logo on your home page or making mention during your interviews.

#4 Physical Products

I can’t express enough how important branding is! Branding your virtual summit and producing and selling items like t-shirts, pens, hats, or other merchandise will help build brand awareness for both your business and virtual summit. Loyal customers will be happy to rock your swag which doubles as free advertisement!

#5 New Product/Service

After your summit is done broadcasting, you will have a shiny, new, email list of followers! They will be enthusiastic to learn more about your topic and seek more of the content you offer. This is absolutely a great opportunity to influence this email list and launch a new product or service for them. A great idea is to create your virtual summit around new products or services you wish to incorporate so that you continue to build interest and grow your audience!

Ready to try a summit? Give us a call and we will be happy to help.

Back to School Organization for the Entrepreneur

Number 2 pencils are being sharpened, school buses are traversing through the city, kindergarteners are waddling around wearing backpacks as big as they are – it’s back to school time once again!

The start of the school year is a natural fresh start in our calendars, regardless if you are sending children off to classes (or heading off to class yourself). It’s a time to shift gears from hopping aboard the boat at the lake to hitting the books. Back to school organization is just as important for entrepreneurs as it is for students.

Get ready to start the year strong with our back to school organization guide for the entrepreneur.

Get Your Schedule Sorted Out

Students rely on a schedule to be where and when. Sure, you may not have to report to geometry in room A203 anymore. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow a schedule.

It’s the paradox of the entrepreneur life. You hold autonomy over your schedule, but you should use that autonomy to set restrictions. Ask any successful entrepreneur and they will tell you a schedule is key (not convinced? Check out this post on why you need to set your work hours when you work from home).

Take some time to develop a work schedule that will work for you. Maybe your peak productivity hours are early morning and late afternoon. Schedule your workout for the midday slump. Maybe at 3 you need to shuttle your kiddos around to after school activities. Start your workday a bit earlier. Making a schedule sets you up to be organized and ready to rock this year.

Stock Up on Supplies

Most stores host back to school sales for supplies like paper, pens, post-it notes, and even electronics. Conveniently, all tools you use to run your business! Take advantage of these sales and stock up on anything you will need throughout the year.

If you are lucky enough to have a storage area, pack it to the brim with discount supplies. If you haven’t already, make sure your supplies are organized and easily accessible.

Get Ready to Learn

Students everywhere are getting ready to learn and so should you! Plan out a duoable learning schedule you can follow throughout the school year.

Maybe you take an online course through Udemy where you dedicate one hour Tuesday evenings to. Maybe it’s reading a business development book for twenty minutes a day (try this list of top books every entrepreneur should read). Always be learning. It’ll make you a better entrepreneur (and more well-rounded person).

Gather Up the Timelined Checklists

Checklists are a great organizational tool. They help you remember those dozens of small tasks you need to do without letting something fall through the cracks. Checklists are your friend. At the start of the school year, collect ones you will rely on the following months.

Here are a few we recommend:

Beginning of the Year Checklist
Summer Slump Checklist
End of Year Checklist
Linkedin Personal Branding Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly Checklist

Test Out Productivity Hacks

Productivity hacks are great. They let you work smarter, not harder. Pick a few new productivity tricks to try out this school year. You can even pick a new trick each month to continually make yourself more effective.

Here’s a round-up of some great tips to get you started:

Streamline your business with these free tools
Keep your to-do list short (a few items or less)
Test out the pomodoro method of time management
Try batching your tasks
Plan your day the evening before

Use these organization tips to start your school year off right. Don’t forget, Alpine Small Business Solution is always here to lend a helping hand. We can assist with any aspect of business building. Let us help your company grow this school year. Reach out today with a quick call or email to get started.

Your LinkedIn Personal Branding Strategy Guide

For many of us, LinkedIn is a heck of a lot like eating enough vegetables or reducing the sugar in your diet.

You know you’re supposed to do it. You know you can benefit from it. But in the hustle and bustle of life, making and implementing a LinkedIn strategy consistently falls down to the bottom of your to-do list. And it never gets done.

Luckily, effective LinkedIn practices really do not take much time at all. A few minutes each day, week, month, and quarter can make a world of difference developing your personal branding.

Below is our recommended LinkedIn personal branding strategy guide. Commit to a few extra minutes and watch your online presence become stronger!

Daily LinkedIn Practices

As an entrepreneur, you are already stretched pretty thin. I get it! The last thing you want is another item on your to-do list. Fortunately, this one really does only take a few minutes a day. If you need to, download the LinkedIn app on your phone so you can update it while waiting in line at the grocery store or during your commute.

Post content. Like any social media channel, LinkedIn requires consistent quality posting to be effective. Aim to post every day Monday through Friday. Regular posting showcases your industry knowledge, since it shows you know enough to identify then read content from top industry players. When you add in your own commentary, it showcases your witty and intelligent analysis. To save time, you can batch posts with Hootsuite and curate posts by plugging your favorite blogs into Feedly.
Interact with others. Social media needs to be social. Take the time to do something every day. Support others’ career efforts by “liking” their job anniversaries or new gigs (or, even better, shoot off a personal message). Comment on articles posted by others to add your intelligent voice into the world.

Weekly LinkedIn Practices

At some point each week, make sure you are completing the following tasks.

Look for new contacts. Your network should always be growing. Attending networking events is a huge asset for this, but even just looking for people you know each week can massively grow your community. LinkedIn will suggest contacts for you in the “My Network” section, making it easy to continually be connecting. You can also look through profiles of those you know to see if you have mutual contacts.
Interact in LinkedIn groups. LinkedIn groups are a valuable networking tool that gather like-minded professionals together. Aim for a smaller number of groups that you interact with frequently. You can search for groups here. Once you find groups, check out our post for best group practices.

Monthly LinkedIn Practices

Each month, take the time to accomplish the following tasks.

Add in portfolio content. Ideally, each month you will be doing several projects that can be showcased in a portfolio. LinkedIn allows you to add in these pieces to display your amazing work. Take advantage of it! Adding in one or two projects a month can really round out your profile.
Promote your profile elsewhere. If you maintain a personal branded Facebook or Twitter, create a few posts directing those audiences to your LinkedIn. Mention your profile in blog posts or a newsletter. Do a little bit of marketing each month to draw more people to your profile.
Write blog posts. Well-written articles really help showcase your expertise. Taking the time to whip up one or two 500 word articles a month helps build your brand as a knowledgeable player in your industry.

Quarterly LinkedIn Practices

Each quarter, take time to comb over your profile and make any necessary tweaks.

Examine your keywords. Your LinkedIn profile should be search engine optimized of course. But as your career develops, so might your career aspirations. Maybe last quarter you were more focused on general virtual assistant services, but recently you’ve delved into the world of social media marketing and love it. Adjusting your keywords can help make your profile appealing to different job recruiters. Use Word Cloud Generator to paste your LinkedIn text to see which keywords are most common (and adjust if they do not match your targeted industry keywords).
Add in any new developments. Did you take a marketing class that you forgot to add in? Did your role shift at your current position and now you need a new description? It’s easy for these changes to happen without remembering to make adjustments on our LinkedIn. Going thoroughly through your profile each quarter helps make sure nothing important falls through the cracks.

When you take the time to build up your LinkedIn profile, it really can make a difference to your personal branding. Regular use helps paint you as an industry expert and someone others will really want to work with. It also serves as a self-reflection. Are you where you want to be in your career? What areas are you lacking experience? How can you re-adjust your strategy? Use your LinkedIn time to reflect on your career.

If you want assistance on setting up or building your LinkedIn profile, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! Just give us a call or shoot us an email to get started.