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Sometimes it’s nice for your clients/customers to hear from you other than written words in an email, Facebook, Twitter,  blogging and all the other platforms you use to get your message out there.

How about another method called your voice?  It’s time to let your voice be heard.

I say this because I am guilty of staying with the written form of conveying my message and realized I need to do more using other forms of communication as well.  This year I vow to start utilizing lots of platforms to let my voice be heard.  As a matter of fact, I already did an expert interview using a Teleseminar platform.

With so many options today, you can use social media platforms, mobile phones, Youtube and many other sources, you have many ways to let your audience hear your voice.

Below I have listed some ideas for you if you are interested in getting your message heard through voice.

Youtube - Using video marketing is so powerful.  Youtube is just one video platform.  There are so many others as well and I will be including them in my new ebook that is coming out soon.

Teleseminars - These are very powerful platforms to use.  For those who are on a small budget and are just starting out, I highly recommend this free site called Free Conferencing.

Cinch - This is a powerful tool that allows you to record and share your voice on audio and place it in your social media sites.

Blog Talk Radio - Want to have your own radio show?  This is a great way to get started.

Skype - I love Skype and use it to communicate with clients, friends, family as it allows me to connect via video conferencing, sharing screens and many other options as well.  It’s a great way to connect internationally as well.

Other forms of verbal communication include: 

Use Your computer webcam – Most new computers have a built in webcam. If you computer is an older model, you can purchase a webcam at a very reasonable rate.

Use Your Mobile phone – Many mobile phones include video options where you can record yourself and send it directly to Youtube or your email to edit it.

These are just a few options to use for getting your voice heard.  I don’t want to overwhelm you with so many options at this time.

What are some other forms what you use?  Please let the readers know by leaving a comment below.

Until next time, have a great day,

Cindy

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Today marks the last day of the first 2 weeks in 2012.

What have you accomplished so far this year?

On January 1st I decided to keep a daily journal of how I spend my time to move my business forward.

This is what I did…… Everytime I completed a task on my to do list, I wrote it down on my journal and kept track of how much time it took to do each task.

It’s been a great learning experience as I noticed I wasn’t getting the results I am planning to get.  Resolving those problems early in the year will help me move forward and I would like to share some of my observations with you in this blog post.

I have broken them down by showing you the problems I encountered after reviewing my notes. and then sharing my solution.  You can check it out below..

Problem:

• In reviewing my daily journal, I noticed that I was spending way to much time checking my emails, getting on my social media sites, sending messages and comments, posting blog comments, commenting on others blogs and doing all the necessary but busy work first thing in the morning.  When it was all done, I noticed that I hadn’t spent anytime working on the monetization part of my business.

Solution:

• My solution was to calendar in the first 2 hours of my day for working my business before doing anything else.  This reversal has helped me accomplish so much more now that I am reworking my daily “To Do” list.

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When I first got started in my online journey, I never dreamed how social media would change my life.  I realize now that social media is here to stay and I want to invite you to get social with me.

After I mastered my learning curve and set up Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and all the other social media platforms, I started engaging, networking and meeting others who were also business owners.  But during that time, I also connected with personal friends who I haven’t seen forever and reconnected with high school friends and long lost family friends.

Social media allowed me to find entrepreneurs, just like me, who were newbies.

Social media introduced me to coaches, mentors, trainers and like minded individuals to created wonderful products and offered great services.  Their connections allowed me to get to know them through online connections but it also gave me opportunities to attend live events and make life long friends with those I first met online.

Social Media also connected me with many of my high school friends.  With these connections, we started a Facebook group,  invited all our classmates to join in and we all planned our 40th reunion that took place in September of 2011.  We had a great time, shared photos and videos and continue to stay connected, even after the event is over.  Now we are planning a summer reunion at the beach.

Best of all…. It’s FREE!  

Are you social on any social media platforms?  If not,  I invite you to get on board..  If you are already a part of any social media platforms, please come a join me.  Below I have listed my links to invite you to connect with me.

Facebook profile

Facebook business page

Twitter

Youtube

LinkedIn

Please go to the comments section below and say hello. Then share your social media links and I will be glad to come and socialize with you too.

Looking forward to our social connections.

Until next time, have a great day.

Cindy

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What is your marketing message?  One of the hardest questions you have ever been asked is also one that you probably get asked a lot. It is “what do you do?”

You’ve been to networking events where someone asked you this question and you stumbled. But did you know that every day, hundreds of people are indirectly asking you this same question?

Every time they visit your website or social media profile, or watch one of your videos or read one of your articles… that question is going through their mind.

The truth is that they don’t really care what you do. They just want to know how what you do can help them.

And therein lies the secret to creating a Magical Marketing Message that attracts your ideal clients.  It’s not about you at all. It’s about them!

Your marketing message has to grab your ideal client’s attention and spark enough interest in them to want to learn more about you.  Not an easy thing to do when you have seconds (if that).

It’s such a big struggle and such an important piece of your marketing foundation, that I decided to share something really valuable to help you out.

My friend, Cindy Schulson (Founder of AttractYourNiche.com) has put together an easy to use, step-by-step system to help you create your Magical Marketing Message.

Trust me, this is worth checking out. Without a powerful marketing message, you can’t stand out from the crowd or attract your ideal clients. And Cindy has made this program ridiculously affordable, at least for now.

 

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When I first got started with my new online business, I had no clue who to turn to.  Even though I consider myself to be very tech savvy, there was certainly a learning curve when it came to blogging, finding my niche, and all the other technical terms that come with growing an online and offline business.

Then came Social Media.  One of the most amazing aspects of learning Social Media was meeting new friends and connecting with like minded individuals who had already gone through the “Newbie” struggles.   The cool thing is, I have met several of them in person.

These 3 female entrepreneurs have become some of my best mentors, teachers and some are close friends.  Now I would like to introduce them to you.

Cindy Schulson, founder of  “Attract Your Niche,” has become a friend, a mentor and is very successful in growing her business.  Cindy went from corporate america to building her own online business.  I have taken several of her courses and have learned so much from her to help me grow my own business.   Cindy is an expert in Niche Attraction and I highly recommend that you take a look at her site and Grab Your FREE Niche Success Kit!

Jessica Swanson, founder of Shoestring Marketing,  has a story that has inspired me so much.  Jessica has developed a company that helps entrepreneurs who are on a tight budget.  With my recent layoffs and struggles financially, Jessica’s trainings, videos, action guides and continued support really got me up and running.

To introduce you to Jessica, I have included her FREE Marketing Kit just for you.   All you have to do is Download your FREE Shoestring Marketing Kit and take a tour of the Shoestring Marketing Community.

Connie Ragen Green, Former teacher, current author and online expert,  helps her clients build their own online business with her trainings, products, books and services.  I have learned so much from Connie about product creation, autoresponders, teleseminars as well as having purchased several of her training products.   To give you more of an overview about Connie, I am going to send you to her blog for you to see for yourself how awesome she is.

As you can see, these 3 women have become quite successful in their businesses.  If you want to learn from experts, I highly recommend you take the time to request each of their free offers and see for yourself what they can do to help you learn your new entrepreneur path.

To view their books, see below. 

In the meantime, enjoy your day,

Cindy

Founder of Bloomin’ Boomers

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I highly recommend these 5 books for the passionate entrepreneur. They are sitting on my shelf with yellow highlights, written notes, tabbed edges and they go with me everywhere I travel so I can refer back to them. You might say they are attached to my hip.

When I started my home business, I became a sponge.  Soaking up as much training as I could possibly absorb.  I became passionate about online marketing and social media so I sought out some experts who shared their stories, their expertise and their advice on how to build a business.   Each author has their unique story and background. I am so happy that I have met both Connie Ragen Green and Marnie Pehrson in person and it is my hope to meet Gary Vaynerchuk one day as well.

Marnie’s book,  “Trust You Heart: Transform Your Ideas Into Income” highlights 19 stories from 19 entrepreneurs who took their passions and turned them into profit.  It’s a must read for those who have a passion and want to learn from these 19 experts.

Connie’s 2 books I recommend are

1. “Huge Profits With A Tiny List” AND….
2. “Huge Profits With Affiliate Marketing.”

Both books are easy reading and full of great information.

Gary’s 2 books I recommend are

1. “Crush It” AND….
2. “The Thank You Economy.” Each book talks about social media and the trend that our country is going in.  Both of these books are full of ideas and suggestions.

   So tell me, what books have you read lately?

   Until next time, have a great day,

   Cindy

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First of all, I want to wish you a Happy Spring.  Sunday, March 20th marked the first day of spring.  A time for bulbs to grow, flowers to bloom and new beginnings.

This may be the time for you to ask yourself if your business has sprung over the past year.  Have you been working and working at your business, struggling to get it off the ground so that you can quit your day job?

Or maybe you are a newbie, thinking about taking a passion and turning it into profit eventually but you need the tools to begin.

As you can see from the photo to your left, spring has sprung.  But now I ask you, has your business sprung into action?

Part of my mission on this Bloomin’ Boomer’s blog is to help baby boomers go from passion to profit.  In order to do that, there are some essential steps you need to take before you even begin that journey.

Over the weekend, I created a new FREE giveaway called “5 Easy Action Steps For The New Baby Boomer Entrepreneur.” I wanted to give you newbies a chance to do some research before you even take the entrepreneur path.  Without these essential first steps, you will do what I did and get lost in the maze of overwhelm and information overload and I don’t want to see you do that.

In this free report you will learn how to

• Discover the very first piece of the puzzle before you begin your journey.   This piece is the key to your success and a must do before you can determine your strategy.
• Define your solution.
• Develop your strategy.
• Determine your free giveaway.
• Deliver your marketing message.

How do you get this report? Look over to the right of my blog here at the top of the page and put in your name and email address when you see the image like the one here.

Within minutes, you will have access to my free report where you can begin the process to see if you will go from a new baby boomer entrepreneur to an entrepreneur who turns passions to profit.

See you on the inside.

Until next time, here’s to your success.

Cindy

Your Marketing Solutions Coach

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Do you know the difference between offline and online marketing?  The purpose of this blog post is to discover the difference and to show you ways that you can use both methods in your business.

First, let’s explore offline marketing. Offline marketing is the traditional face to face and visual marketing tools that people use in their local market.  The examples below will show you what I mean.

• Did you know you can be a guest on your local radio station? It doesn’t cost anything to be a guest and it gives you great exposure.  Maybe you have a local business or you have a product or service that will help others in your community.  Why not call you local station and inquire?
• Did you know that you can be a guest on your local TV station? The other day I was listening to my local radio jazz station and I heard them talk about a guest coming on their local TV station to talk about her new book.  Why not call your local TV station and ask to be a guest and share your expertise.
• Direct Mail does wonders. Sending a thank you card or an invitation is a great way to stand out in this world of emails and social media. When was the last time you sent a note to a customer or a prospect?  Why not try it out this week.
• Pick up the phone. How many times do you meet someone, take their business cards and never follow up or call them again?  How would it feel to actually call them, tell them how much you enjoyed meeting them and inviting them for a cup of coffee and a one on one conversation as you discuss each others businesses.
• Go to your local Chamber of Commerce and see if you can be a guest speaker to share your expertise with other business owners.  Also, most Chambers offer an annual fee to join their community and to have the ability to network and attend other local events to market your business.
• Don’t forget the Yellow Pages, although I think they are becoming a lost form of marketing.  But they are still being delivered so why not consider that as an option.
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Banners and Signs
• Your Custom Designed business cards
  
• What did I leave out? Maybe you know another resource or offline marketing tool that I haven’t mentioned here.

Now let’s take a look at online marketing. The term “Online Marketing” refers to marketing on the internet using various platforms and tools to get the word out about your business.  Unlike offline marketing, the online world reaches a larger audience and the cost is minimal.

• Social media - Facebook, Twitter, Youtube are the 3 most popular platforms and they offer 2 different ways to market your business.  Facebook is for networking, Twitter is microblogging and Youtube is great for video marketing and sharing with your audience as they watch you and get to know you.
• Blogging - I have participated in several blog challenges since last October and it has been a great way to engage in conversation by commenting on others blog posts.  In doing so, you get more exposure to your own blog.  Also, if you add the right plugins, you can retweet, share on Facebook and comment on their comments.
• Online teleseminars and webinars are a great way to promote your business by sharing your expertise and offering educational resouces and value.
• Networking sites like LinkedIn, are great places to hang out and meet other professionals and business owners.
• Social forums such as Ning, are great ways to engage in conversations through forums and forming groups.
• Article Marketing like EzineArticles get your content in front of your audience and you can also earn points and recognition as well.
• Email campaigns are where you send your list autoresponders and updates so that you can always stay in touch with your clients/customers.

These platforms and marketing ideas for offline and online are just a few of the many choices you have to market your business.  With so much talk about the online world today and how the internet is changing the way we do business, your marketing is endless.

What offline and online tools and resources can you recommend to the readers here?  Please share your ideas and comments below in the comments section.

Until next time, happy marketing,

Cindy

Your Marketing Solutions Coach

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Are you a baby boomer wanting to start your own business?  Are you stuck by making excuses instead of finding solutions?  These excuses will stop you dead in your tracks, just like a red light at a stop light.  But the green signal suggests you are good to go and can keep moving.

This post will discuss some of the most common excuses that I hear when my clients tell me they want to start a business.  After we explore those excuses, we discuss ways to  find solutions to move you forward.

Excuse - “I don’t have time to start a business.” Ask yourself What are you doing on your “off-time” that is preventing you from taking the first steps to start your own business?   Are you watching TV or vegging on the sofa?  Are you to tired?

Solution – Keep a time journal - Make a list of those times when you aren’t committed to a responsibility or a “must do” task where you could have been spending time researching, training or working with a coach to move you forward.  I suggest keeping a small memo pad with you so you can use it all day long.  When you start monitoring your off times, you will see that there are lots of opportunities in your day that you can take time to build your business.  Remember, if you want something bad enough, there are solutions.

Excuse - “I don’t have anything to offer.”  – As baby boomers, we have lots to offer.  Think about a hobby or a skill that you have that you can teach others.  Maybe you spent many years in one career but you always had a dream to turn a passion into profit.

Solution – My friend, Cindy Schulson, is a Niche expert who offers a FREE report called “10 Steps to Finding and Attracting Your Ideal Niche“  I highly recommend you request her report and learn the techniques and tips to help you identify your niche.  So go ahead and request your copy here ==> “10 Steps to Finding and Attracting Your Ideal Niche.”

Excuse - “I’m To Old.” – This one astounds me.  I was 55 years old when I got laid off twice in one year.  I had no money, very little savings and got rejected over and over again from job interviews.  If I had used this excuse, I would have hidden under a rock and just not come out.  Instead I found a solution.

Solution – Turn to Social Media and start your Facebook profile, a Twitter Profile and find other baby boomers who are just like you who are starting their own businesses.  Google key word phrases about baby boomers and baby boomer entrepreneurs and see what you come up with.  I bet you will be amazed at the number of baby boomers finding solutions to their retirement by starting their own business.

Excuse - “I don’t know where to begin.”  There are so many places to research and sometimes that can lead to information overload, making it harder to focus and get started.

Solution – Hire a Solutions Coach – When you hire a solutions coach, you have the opportunity to work one on one with a mentor who will hold you accountable for your goals and success.  Someone who will take you through the journey in a step by step process leading you to accomplish your goals to help you avoid overwhelm and gain confidence.

I hope these tips helped you see that baby boomers have so much to offer through their years of expertise and experience.  So take some of these solutions and get started.

What excuses do you have for not getting started in building your own business?

Until next time,

Have a great day and please leave a comment below.  I love hearing from my readers.

Cindy

Your Marketing Solutions Coach

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Have you heard that Facebook was attacked by hackers recently?  Yes, it can happen. I have put together these tips to help you make sure your Facebook is more secure in the future.  With these steps, you can better protect yourself and your computer.

Are you aware,  when you go into a public place with your laptop, many local hot spots are not secure.  One way to find out if they are secure or not is when you look on your address bar.  Do you see “http://” or do you see “https://” When you see the “S” at the end of http, you can be more certain that there is a secure hot spot or WiFi connection.

There are 2 ways to fix the security with Facebook.

First of all, you can actually add it manually by clicking the cursor to the right of the “p” in http:// and actually type in the “s” at the end so that it looks like this – https://

Secondly, you can actually change a setting  from your Account Settings on Facebook.  Below you will find the steps to take.

1. Click “Account” on the upper right hand side of your wall
2. Click “Account Settings“
3. Scroll down to “Account Security” and click “change“
4. Click in the box where you see “Secure Browsing (https)“
5. Now click “Save”

When you have completed the steps, you will notice on your address bar that the http now reads https.

I hope this helps.  Please leave a comment below in the comment section to let me know how it worked for you.

Also, please pass this along to others who may benefit by retweeting or FB sharing from the top or bottom of this post.

Until next time, have a great day.

Cindy

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