As you may have noticed I’m a big believer in using Social Media as an integrated part of your business marketing approach. I also love coaching people where I can in how to use it effectively for their unique business situation.

Twitter has blown my mind with the ability it has given me to connect with a diverse range of terrific people from all around the world.

I’ve been able to reach people I may never have even discovered or had the chance to contact. In return people have found me completely by random and become fans of my blog thanks to links I’ve shared or retweets I’ve received from others in my community.

For all those people who don’t understand Twitter or bad mouth it – you’re missing out! If you want to know my key tips for using it for business and beyond then get your free copy of my eBook `The Entrepreneur’s Social Media Workout’.

Today I want to focus on profiling a few of the awesome women I’ve had the pleasure to connect with on Twitter. I recommend you follow them and here’s why: I appreciate their advice, their sharing of great information, their support, their style and the unique energy they give to women the world over.

If you enjoy this let me know and I can feature it regularly. There are so many more to mention!

Top 20 Women to Follow on Twitter for Business, Marketing, Technology advice and more

1. Ali Brown @AliBrownLA
   A self-made millionaire entrepreneur and a mentor to women around the world, helping them start and grow businesses and live extraordinary lives.
2. Aliza Sherman @alizasherman
   Strategist, Futurist, Speaker. Co-founder Conversify (social media marketing agency). Founded Cybergrrl/Webgrrls. Alaska-based World Traveler.
3. Kathy Meyer @2cre8
   eMarketing trends and technology enthusiast. She believes in balance and simplicity of design + form + function. She’s a Mompreneur, Foodie, Art, Music and iPhone lover.
4. Maren Kate @MarenKate
   Entrepreneur, start up starter, blogger and all around quirky chick.
5. Carrie Wilkerson @barefoot_exec
   Consultant/Strategist for work at home professionals. She aims to educate, empower, encourage & entertain men & women pursuing biz goals with integrity & passion!
6. Francine Allaire @thedaringwoman
   Founder of The Daring Woman™, Founding Partner of Supreme Social Media, Business Matchmaker, Social Media, Alliance and JV Strategist, Daring Lifestyle Designer
7. Linda Hughes @iempoweru
   Loves entrepreneurs – their inquisitive minds, fighting spirit & that persistence that moves mountains! Totally supportive of them in every way.
8. Anita Campbell @smallbiztrends
   CEO, Small Business Trends, an online small biz community reaching over 250,000 each month. Delivers small business success daily.
9. Simone Brummelhuis @thenextwoman
   Founder of The Next Women Business Magazine which features Female Heroes and News Interviews. Funding Community Founder Entrepreneur CEO TV Pitching Events Speaker – phew!
10. Karmen Reed @kickofftopic
    Provies marketing solutions through social media, online visibility and positive attitude. Loves to travel, cook and read.
11. Melissa Galt @prosperbydesign
    Dream Maker, Profit Architect, Social Media Muse, Life Designer, Tastemaker, Style Visionary, Foodie, Bungee Jumper, Adventurer, Optimist, Speaker, Author (clearly a keyword specialist
12. Anastasia Ashman @Thandelike
    Expat+HAREM neo-culture entertainment writer & producer. A Berkeley native who resides in Istanbul. TEDGlobalist. Hybrid identity adventuress. Seeker of the global niche.
13. Natalia @nakisnakis
    Founder & CEO of Pipeline (@PipelineWomen). Tweets about: #womeninnovators, #socent, @NYWSE, Gen Y, LGBTQ issues, OrgPsych, Healthcare, PopCulture & Gadgets
14. Kristi Colvin @kriscolvin
    Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Fresh ID. Creator of Twitterface. Opinionated user, brand experience designer & customer advocate.
15. Anita Borg @AnitaBorg_org
    Helping technical women connect with each other, resources and opportunities through her work at the nonprofit Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
16. Coles Johnson @IndieBusiness
    Mom. Indie Beauty Network, Indie Business Podcast. One-time practicing attorney. Award-winning smallbiz advocate.
17. Manishka Thakor @ManishaThakor
    Personal Finance Expert for Women.
18. Tina Cook @TinaCook
    Social Media Marketing Mentor and Strategist and Guerrilla Marketing Coach, loves life by the Indian Ocean, photographing and creating inspiring visuals.
19. Elena Verlee @ElenaVerlee
    Loves to Talk About PR, Building a Biz and Living Life Fully. Has built 6 and 7-fig businesses, has 2 kids and lives in 2 countries. Has a great blog called PR in your Pajamas
20. Melinda Emmerson @SmallBizTalk
    Melinda Emerson is Host of #SmallBizChat, author, speaker, and smallbiz coach. Expertise in smallbiz start-up, social media marketing & developing content.

I would LOVE for you to add your own top women to follow in the comments section so we can all benefit and connect.

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Do you ever catch yourself repeating useless behaviors that get you nowhere? For me it’s things like keeping my email open or not prioritising my key task of the day and doing other things instead.

I know you’ve been there too. My question to you is why do we continually exhibit this kind of behavior that jeopardizes our brilliance?

The old saying “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got” couldn’t be any clearer.  There are several rules of business that, if followed, will make you truly successful, whatever your pursuit.

Yet, time and again, we don’t take note. It’s like we almost refuse to listen because, lo and behold, if these wise people are actually right and we achieve beyond our wildest dreams we won’t know what to do with ourselves.

I’ve been reading some great articles recently that have given me a good slap in the face to wake up to reality. So listen up. Below are the 10 things to avoid if you want to kick ass in business. Perhaps this time we’ll actually take note and more importantly take action!

No #1. Not solving a real problem

Got a great idea? Oh yeah? Says who? You and your ego or the hundreds of people you’ve heard complaining about this problem that you think you can solve.

You need to evaluate whether or not your business ideas solve a real problem or addresses a real customer need.  Then ask yourself if there are people out there actually looking for what you plan to offer, and how much they would be willing to spend to get it. It’s not rocket science.

Did you hear about how the Americans spent millions back in the day trying to make a pen that worked in space? The Russians gave their astronauts a pencil.

No #2. Lack of Focus

If you are like me you’re already pursuing several projects because it appears that one will not suffice or if you have several then surely one will succeed right?

Wrong. Choose one of them and focus on it. In the words of Obama “Yes we can”. Simple but true. When have you ever focused on several things and done truly well with ALL of them?

Sure test them before you make a decision is fine, but choose one as soon as possible and stick with it.
My best tip – don’t ask your closest friends, parents or people who have never been in business – just trust me on this. Ask your potential customers.

No #3. Always starting something. Never finishing

If I look back on the many `To do’ lists I make and goals I’ve set over the years I see a curious pattern emerge. Although I do actually complete quite a lot of stuff I also have way too many things on my list and therefore take a lot longer to do them.

You need to develop a habit of finishing what you start and work on it daily. The less you pile on your plate (see No #2.) the less you’ll have to finish and that means you’re going to complete it!

Apply this liberally – from large projects to your daily activities. Finishing clearing out your office, enter in your expenses, install the anti-virus software, paint your toe nails, book that trip. JUST DO IT.

No #4. Being Cheap.

It’s easy to not spend money when you don’t have much of it. But you have to invest in the important things. So make a list of basic items that are really necessary to get your idea off the ground such as the right servers or a domain hosting service.

Next list the items that would be worth investing in because they would likely give you a competitive advantage or strengthen your brand such as a professional website designer or a marketing and PR specialist.

No #5. Spending Frivolously

I’ve met many people who keep spending money on creating `stuff’ because they either have too much money for their own good or still have an income to draw on. Stop putting off launching.

You don’t need the fancy website, the awesome promo video, the snazzy business cards. You just need to have a product or service that functions enough to solve a problem. So create a budget for every project you start, and stick to it religiously.

No #6.  Avoiding the Competition

One of the biggest pet peeves Angel Investors have is hearing a pitch from an entrepreneur who says they have no competition. Trust me you want competition as that means there’s a market for your idea.

Unless you’re creating a new market with your product or service, you can pretty much guarantee someone’s doing what you’re planning to do in some shape or form.

Make sure you evaluate the competition you’ll encounter and do this for each of your business ideas and projects so you have a really good understanding of what you’re entering into.

No #7. Not Emulating the Best

I always seek to emulate the best. They set a high standard which can be a little daunting to attempt to reach. What you can do is identify and incorporate the best practices of your market segment.

You can guarantee these smart people will be competing with you, so learn from them before you try to beat them. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, just do it better.

No #8. Thinking you’re Superhuman

As much as I like to have control over what I do, I’ve long since recognized that two heads are better than one. Richard Branson always attributes his success to surrounding himself with the best minds.

So start delegating as soon as possible and focus on the strategic side of the business, because that is

where your time will be more effective.  I’ve recently taken on not 1 but 3 fabulous interns, each with their own strengths. I can now focus on business development and the things I love most.

No #9. Being Inflexible

If anything, I like change too much. However most people, even dynamic entrepreneurs, don’t.

Remember that your vision should be rock solid, but your strategies need to be flexible and reflect the

changes in the market place and your customers and tactics can change weekly if not daily.

No #10. Ignoring the Facts

It’s great to follow your intuition but if you don’t ever weigh in with the facts and do some measuring you will have no idea whether you’re really on track.

Always test and collect facts before making decisions. Why else do you have Google Analytics set up, click through tracking tools and Facebook Insights?

What other things do you think we could avoid as entrepreneurs?

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I don’t often get worked up, but one thing that I value above all other personal and professional values in life is INTEGRITY.

Image Credit to Bolstablog

Either people have less of it these days or I’m hanging around with the wrong people. I admit we all have flaws, we all make mistakes and can’t always be true to our word.

I am aiming this post at those people who fail to turn up to events or appointments, don’t treat deadlines seriously, don’t follow up or get back to you, forget about things all together, hold you up, constantly reschedule or fail to prioritize their own schedules and work at the expense of others’ valuable time.

Stop it. It’s rude, it’s disrespectful and it’s totally unnecessary.

I get that emergencies come up, that software failures caused your online calendar not to sync or an urgent crisis appeared. I will forgive you for that and be understanding because that’s life. So long as you attempt an email or phone call to let me know ahead of time.

I won’t forgive lousy time management, shoddy memories or something that seemed like a more attractive option that you went with instead.

I believe entrepreneurs can be particularly prone to over promising and under-delivering (from my own personal experiences). We aim to please, to be better, to improve the lives of others with the products and services we develop and deliver.

Then we realise we’re totally overburdened, stressed out, taken on one too many things and balls start to drop. So why not acknowledge that and do something about it? Here’s my thoughts on the matter:

5 Top Ways to attract more integrity into your life

1. Start with yourself
   You’re brilliant, yes you are. You just need to gain some focus and respect your limitations. People will get it if you say no, sorry I can’t do that, I can’t meet this week or I can’t start that project for another two weeks.

   The minute you set more realistic expectations for yourself you will find you’re able to commit, produce the results and follow through on your word.

2. Demand more of others
   There’s no harm in telling people in your personal and professional life how you like to conduct yourself and the type of behaviour you expect from them in return. You may have different values so you need to let them know what yours are and what you appreciate and like.

   If you don’t tell them how will they know? You do it for your employees why not do the same for your clients and customers?

3. Be selective
   If people don’t respect you or let you down or  then simply don’t deal with them again. This goes for customers, clients and even friends.
   It’s called filtering out the flakes to let in the fantastic people!. You owe it to yourself to surround yourself with brilliant, wonderful people who you respect and admire and know that this feeling is mutual.
4. Set strong policies
   Set clear guidelines for those you interact with, whether it’s your turnaround time for communicating with them, how your week usually looks, when you allot time for meetings vs work clients, team time etc.

   The more upfront you are from the beginning the better it will be for both parties. They’ll know what they can expect and how to deal with you and you won’t have to repeatedly push back each time a boundary is crossed.

5. Just be better This goes for everyone (and most definitely me). Do one small thing every day that makes you a better person. Turn up to that meeting 5 minutes early, send that follow up email you delayed on, call a client just to connect, introduce people that could benefit each other, do a favour for a friend just because, send a thank you card because you can. Just do it.

And please give me your top tip for ensuring that flakiness is banished forever, I could do with some.

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A few months back I was reading a fascinating article in Entrepreneur.com about how few entrepreneurs start a business with the end in mind. The all important exit strategy seems elusive to many of us yet it is so important to have that end goal in mind.

I was so impressed by the points in the article and the level of advice given, plus the fact that she’d just written a book called Show Me The Money that I just decided to email Chia-Li Chien and tell her so.

Chia-Li Chien is the founder and chief strategist of Chien Associates LLC, a strategy and implementation management consulting firm that helps women entrepreneurs to convert their business into meaningful personal wealth.

She’s also one of the most organized and productive women I know that focuses on her priorities and getting results. I was impressed by her prompt, friendly and professional reply, scheduling of our Skype interview and her follow up and her sense of humour.

Chia-Li even shared her incredible calendar with me that is fully colour coded and is planned months in advance with weekly sessions blocked out for marketing, writing, business development, workshops and more.

I knew we all could learn a great deal from her years of experience in time management and business systems, but more importantly her financial prowess and passion in helping women invest in themselves.

Here’s our interview below plus listen to our recorded Skype call where I ask Chia-Li specifically about exit planning, time management tips and more.

Tell me why having an exit plan is so important for women in business?

Creating a business is not just a means of “lifestyle”. As women we often end up taking care of everyone else in the world except for ourselves and we also neglect to view our business as an investment asset.
When you start to view it from this perspective though, you will actually demand an annual return and a certain growth in value over time. Without this end in mind you will not get where you want to be, or achieve financial independence so you can enjoy doing the thing you love the most.

In your opinion, what’s the biggest challenge women face in viewing their business as investment?

They don’t see it as a real investment asset, most view it as “lifestyle” or in reality a job. Let me elaborate, if an owner takes less than $100K salary from the business, she effectively created a job for herself.

If an owner takes less than $250K salary from the business, she created a “lifestyle” for herself.
Until you create 2 to 5 times of the value you’re not creating wealth for yourself at all. The biggest challenge I see women face is “but I am not in the business to make that much money”. My answer is always the same, then work for someone else, it’s a lot easier that way.

What do you love most about helping women achieve financial freedom?

I’ve been there, and can relate to their challenges. We all have family and business to juggle and there is no one formula that fits all. Everyone is unique, and each woman her own set of challenges that I love to help solve.

Most importantly, I am a great connector and can help my clients connect to big customers/clients and stay focused. I love to see them grow and it is the most rewarding thing for me to witness.

You’re a master at time management, what are your top 5 tips for managing your week?

#1. Preview your week: Check your week’s schedule on previous Friday night or early Monday morning so you can familiarise how your week layout looks.

#2. Block Time: Block out time in your calendar such as

• Staff meetings
• Training (for you)
• Green block (making money time)
• Client service/design time
• Marketing/Sales (unless you have staff to do this)
• Review/monitor Company KPI (Key Performance Indicators)
• Paperwork time – something you have to do but make NO money for such as filing, signing contracts, etc. Your staff can do most of this but there are still some things you need to do.
• YOU Time – such as family time, nap time, fitness time, etc.

#3. Be true to yourself: Once you have your own systems down, follow your own rule so your staff can keep you honest.

#3. Put your To Do on your calendar: Block them out into the categories above. So you don’t get side-tracked easily.
#4. Take Care of Yourself. If you need time to nap, put a nap time in your calendar.
I wake up at 5 AM everyday; naturally, I am exhausted by 3 pm. Therefore, I block out 3 to 5 pm for cooking for family or nap time for me. You don’t have to be a super women. Yes, I get home from the office by 3, but continue to work few hours after 6 or 7 pm.

You put aside 25% of your time for marketing your business, what’s your key focus?

My key focus on marketing is to land speaking engagements and interviews. In professional services, the most effective way to generate qualified leads is to get in front of qualified suspects (they may not be prospects yet).
Often it will lead to another speaking engagement or prospective meeting.

This can include “center of influence” or COI, those business entities that have the same target clients as you do, and they refer clients to you. I also call them Market Makers and I cover this in more detail in my book.

What are some of the top books you’ve read that have made a personal difference to you and influenced you and why?

Most of Dr. Wayne Dyers’ books – very much aligned with spiritual, purpose and passion and John Maxwell’s books

– great leadership books.
I believe that we all have to do what we’ve been called to do, that which is truly aligned to our passion, purpose and core talents to thrive in our lives. Finding the passion and purpose is not easy.

To recognize them and align them with your core talents is even harder because at the end of the day, you have to make money out of that. So these books have greatly influenced me.

But to be honest, there are many more Chinese books that I read that influenced me as I was growing up. Those are the ones built my foundation, integrity and value in life. Mostly Tao or Lao Tzu related.

What’s the most exciting thing that’s happening in your world right now?

I’d say it’s getting requests from people that I don’t know about my Show Me The Money – Run Your Business Like A Prosperous Investor book. I’ve received many requests for consultations or sometimes just simple one or two quick questions.

Because of that, I am planning to launch “Ask Jolly” for women entrepreneurs to call in for a live show. I am the Suze Orman version for Women Entrepreneurs.

What is your key piece of advice to any female considering becoming an entrepreneur?

I hate to tell you to read my book, but in chapter one, I reveal an ancient Chinese secret for success. Sorry, ladies, there is really no secret here, but some smart hard work as I mention this previously published article “Secrets of a Successful Exit”.

If you can get the first and 2nd set right, you’ll have a great start. You ultimately have to be honest to yourself whether it is worth that much effort to create a business.

To win a signed copy of `Show Me The Money’ just tweet this message:
I want to win a copy of `Show Me The Money! and learn how to treat my business as an investment  via @womanzworld

Chia-Li is also a columnist for WomenEntrepreneur.com & Fox Business online and her interviews appear in the New York Times “You’re the Boss” Blog.  Chi-Li also serves on several womens’ boards and provides pro bono services to the community. You can reach her at jolly@chialichien.com

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Women all over the world are uniting right now with the launch of the much anticipated sequel – Sex and the City 2.

Image Credit to Style Bakery

It’s a time when girlfriends come together to dress up, drink cocktails and have some serious fun while living vicariously through the adventures of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte.

Despite the lousy reviews it’s received I’m still going to see it with my girlfriends – it’s like a rite of passage every woman has to take.

It struck me that if you were to view your business personality as one of these four fabulous characters you might actually have a clearer understanding of your style. So which character do you most resemble?

Carrie Bradshaw – The Iconic Neurotic

Love her or hate her, Carrie is notoriously led by her emotions and wears her heart on her sleeve. She’s constantly craving acceptance and needs reassurance. Sometimes selfish and definitely self involved she does exhibit self-deprecating humour with which she tackles stereotypical issues.

I’m sure we can all relate, both personally and as entrepreneurs to being a little self involved. When we’re trying to juggle so many hats and call on an array of skills on a daily basis, it’s easy to get wrapped up in your own world, your struggles and successes and think it’s all about you.

It’s also common to doubt yourself, be overly critical of your abilities and to stress out at all the things you have to achieve. This is the time when humour can be a life saver, as can a great group of girlfriends to call on and tell you to get grounded at the same time as acknowledging your fabulousness.

Key Takeaway:
No matter what be true to your own unique self and always remember that if all else fails and you’re feeling it’s all too much then put on a fabulous pair of high heels and a bold outfit and stride out into the world.

Samantha Jones – The PR Extraordinaire

Outspoken and a self-proclaimed “try-sexual” (meaning she’ll try anything at least once), Samantha is  my favourite character. Her candor and honesty endear her to me and her sexual exploits just blow me away.

I’m not sure if I should be proud or worried that my friends labeled me as Samantha the other day, but I’m certain that if I wanted a PR specialist on my side, she’d be it.

Her dynamism and open-minded attitude, plus her ability to take life by the horns and embrace is something we should look to emulate much more often.

Especially when we are focused too much in the day to day running of our business and want to step away and look at our business from a fresh perspective. Learn to view your business from a PR standpoint, how would you best like to be represented?

Key Takeaway:

If life is throwing you more challenges than you care to deal with, take a leaf out of Samantha’s book and embrace them with a go-getter attitude, use them to your advantage and make sure you enjoy yourself along the way! What have you got to lose?

Miranda Hobbes – The Brazen Careerist

A career-minded lawyer with extremely cynical views on men and relationship, Miranda represents that woman who feels she has to act more masculine in order to be taken seriously in her work.

She’s a workaholic but eventually finds a way to balance career, being single, and motherhood – something to admire.

She also exhibits a softer side and is an amazing confidante. One of those solid, reliable and honest friends you need at your side when taking the entrepreneurial path. Smart, logical and ambitious, she’s definitely got it going on in her own unique way.

Key Takeaway:

A determined and ambitious attitude can get you far and life so long as you balance it with your softer side and don’t forget about your feminine needs.

Charlotte York – The Eternal Optimist

As the most conservative and traditional of the group, Charlotte places more emphasis on true love and family values. I love Charlotte’s eternal optimism on life and love although she’s the character I relate least too, giving up on her career as an art dealer for her first marriage is not something I’d personally consider.

A family woman at heart she presents a straight forward attitude and caring nature. Dependable and courteous, Charlotte strikes me as the type of person who’d go over and above with professionalism in any aspect of business. Something we can all aim for.

Credit New Line Cinema

And let’s face it, sometimes conservatism is a trait that some entrepreneurs would do well to take in small doses.

Key Takeaway: Stay true to your core values, know that there is strength in some traditions that can be translated to the quality of your work and the integrity of your business.

If you were hoping there’d be some fashion, flair and shopping to this post then can I suggest you check out Social Shopper, a fantastic, soon to be launched service that offers 50-90% off daily deals in your city.

Right now they have a $500 shopping spree as a gift to one lucky new member and 5 double passes to Sex and the City 2 (Vancouver only but watch for their expansion!)

Disclaimer: This is a shameless plug for my awesome new client Social Shopper who I’m delighted to be working with on their launch and social media integration.

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This is a Guest Post from Stella Fayman who knows her stuff on an area I’ve recently had frustrations with – credit card processors. I think you’ll find her tips very valuable.

Image from MBDA Minority Biz Blog

If you have your own business, you most likely have gone through the annoying and frustrating process of choosing a credit card processor (also called a merchant account provider) in order to accept credit cards.

Since there is not a lot of information out there on how to choose a processor, a lot of business owners get ripped off with tricky rates, confusing salespeople, and contracts that are impossible to understand.

Here are some tips to help guide you in your search:

1)   No cancellation fees allowed

Make sure to read the fine print from your credit card processing contract. You may be surprised to find a cancellation fee from at least $250 to several thousand dollars.  This fee is a way of guaranteeing your loyalty to the processor, regardless of your satisfaction with their service.

The good news is that getting rid of this fee should not be a problem: most salespeople have the authority to waive it. To avoid this problem, talk to the salesperson and make sure the fee is waived in writing either in the contract or as an amendment.

For a beginning business, making sure to have the no cancellation fee clause is a great hedge in case anything goes wrong.

2)    Only interchange plus pricing

The bulk of the processing fee goes to Visa and Mastercard—this fee is called “interchange” and is set in stone. Interchange-plus pricing is the fairest form of pricing structure for your business, meaning that you pay the interchange fee plus a constant markup which goes to theprocessor as a service charge. Having this structure ensures there are no tricky fees or hidden costs, unlike tiered pricing structures.

3)    Comparison shop

Research shows that the best deal can be found by comparison shopping for credit card processors–at least five. However, make sure to compare on an apples-to-apples basis, and be sure each processor knows that you are actively shopping. You can easily make your bids more competitive by leveraging the power of comparison.

4) What about PayPal?

If you’re in ecommerce, PayPal seems to be the no brainer chose for a processor.  It’s an ok choice in the beginning when credit card revenues are low and your service is growing.

However, as revenue gets in the thousands it’s time to reevaluate since PayPal may be taking more of a cut for their service than a traditional merchant account provider.

5) Don’t Rent of Lease Equipment

For the most part credit card processing equipment is quite cheap now.  Those little black terminals that you see in small retail stores usually cost $100 – $300 and a full-fledged POS system is a little more than a desktop computer, less than $2000.

If you own your own equipment there is less chance for processors to sneak in extra profit by padding your lease payments and it also makes it easier to switch if something goes wrong in the relationship.

Bio: Stella Fayman blogs about credit card processing at the TransFS Blog.  Just like getting multiple quotes for airfare using Expedia, TransFS lets business owners compare top quality processors on an apples-to-apples basis and makes sure they get the best deal by not having any cancellation or hidden fees, and only interchange plus pricing. Feel free to email Stella with specific questions at stella@transfs.com.

This is by no means a paid advertisement! I think this is just very handy for business owners to know about.

If you have 30 seconds to spare I’d appreciate your vote on my one click poll in my previous article on what solutions you’d like to see from WomanzWorld to help you and your business

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Over a month back I put out a survey that was comprised of just two questions with multi-choice answers. I made it as easy as possible for you busy entrepreneurs to give me answers.

I was intrigued to find out if the key challenges that I struggle with in business were the same as my fellow entrepreneurs or whether there significant differences.

I also wanted to know the main methods entrepreneurs looked to in order to solve their challenges with a `general’ lack of time and money at our disposal.

I was definitely interested to see what you considered a wise return on investment and the following is what came out of the 60 responses I received. As Eric Ries of the Lean Startup said at Web 2.0, if you have five customers telling you your product sucks then that’s statistically significant.

I figured this response was more than significant enough to draw conclusions from. I’d like to thank the many people who helped me spread the message to their networks so that the survey reached a broader audience.

Q1. What are the top three areas of running your business that you find most challenging and need help with?

The top three areas were marketing, customer growth and pricing and revenue modeling, the results are shown below.

I really appreciated the people who took time to fill out the `Other’ category and the responses ranged from help with `technical web stuff’ such ass CSS and websites to Human Resources – when making the leap from 1, 3, 7, 12 employees.

Time management came up often along with day-to-day “bite-sized” steps forward, battling against feeling overwhelmed, and fitting it all in with a full-time job.

“Being an over ambitious entrepreneur, I tend to feel a bit overwhelmed. Maybe help in managing this so it does not cause me to become stuck.”
For others it was managing business/service/supplier relationships across various cultures (different business and cultural rules and customs apply), legal set up and growing the company.

Q2. What type of solutions do you invest in to solve your business challenges?

Book and eBooks were the top choice at 67% followed by using online tools and business coaching. This was great to see as this is what I was hoping for.

I truly believe that bite-sized chunks of learning and information are the best way for entrepreneurs to increase our skills base and knowledge. It allows us to still juggle the many hats we wear and do so in  our own time in manageable chunks.

This was why I designed the WomanzWorld Academy Startup Success program that started on Monday – so that people could take the time over two week modules to work on 3-4 activities that would drive them and their business along but not seem overwhelming.

I combined it with the expert business coaching skills of Felicia Lee to ensure there was the guidance and understanding behind the exercises first in a group coaching call. That way our members of the program are armed with the ability to understand the tools first and then to put them into action.

I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone progresses and the results that they see. It’s an exciting journey and I hope to share their stories at the end of the two months.

Entrepreneurs responses

Once again many of you were good enough to take the time to reply to the `other’ category and here are some of the responses:

• None really yet! We are still in the very beginning stages and primarily relying on social media and our own backgrounds in advertising/marketing and consumer experiences
• Courses like $100 Biz Forum (note from Natalie – I did this and loved the concept so much that it sparked the format behind the Startup Success program!)
• Peer advice
• Don’t know! Lost!
• I ask friends for help, but that doesn’t really work and now I plan on using fiverr.com
• Brainstorming with other business people & business owners.
• Tips from online blogs
• Trial and error. Although if I could do it again, coaching, books, outsourcing and consultants would be a good choice
• SCORE counselor and SBA workshops (traditional but great info)

I decided not to summarise the above as I really liked the candid answers that show we’re all in the same boat, we just struggle with different areas depending on the stage of our business.

So with these insights in mind I would like to throw another quick survey at you based around some ideas I’ve had that I’d love to launch to help entrepreneurs achieve success and overcome their challenges.

I’d like your opinion on what you’d be most excited about me launching in the next few months:

Social Media Bootcamp
A complete personal training program with daily exercises to get you in top Social Media Shape including short `How to’ videos, bite-sized eBook Guides on using each of the major social media tools effectively, tracking your return on investment and generating more traffic and leads for your business.

The Ultimate Entrepreneurial Toolkit
A bible of the top tools and services for small businesses that will help you run your business more effectively and save you time and money.

The Complete Guide To Setting Up Your Business In One Week
An eBook that covers every aspect of setting up business systems so that you can be up and running with confidence in no time – phones, servers, IT, HR, Marketing, Legal, Sales CRM, Outsourcing and even office setup.

To take the 5 second poll  click here

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It’s not every day that you make the gutsy move to take a leap of faith into the world of full entrepreneurship.

But last week I decided to do just that and left the business I cofounded on an amicable note. I walked away from the blood, sweat and tears I’d invested into it to pursue my passion.

I figured I loved WomanzWorld too much to not focus on it full time and turn it into a real business – a movement.

What’s more I could hardly tell women entrepreneurs that this is the place to come `to court bolder dreams and turn them into reality’ if I wasn’t prepared to follow my own advice.

So here I am before you. Feeling scared, excited, daunted, overwhelmed, free and expectant of all that lies before me.

The Linchpin Lies Within

It’s been a tough 2010 by all accounts and one I’ve learned my best lessons from. I was hanging on to one business when I knew deep down I was passionate about developing this one, and at the same time growing others – yours.

It all clicked though last week, when Seth Godin told me (through his audio book LinchPin), that I owed it to the world to be indispensable. And so I decided then and there to do just that.

But how had I come to this point? Why had it taken me 33 years of my life to really become an entrepreneur?

The Real Story

I’d had the opportunity of a lifetime when I arrived on Vancouver’s shores in August 2008 to compete at the World Club Ultimate Frisbee Championships and start over in yet another new country.

I left behind a very well paid, high level job in London , my amazing friends and a house I’d just co-invested in to come to Canada.

It was all worth it when I met my business partner at a networking event and told him I was “a homeless, unemployed bum who wanted to start my own business”. In what was to become the best marketing line ever, I ended up as a co-founder of a tech start-up and the best 18 months of education that money could never buy.

Baptism by Fire

In no particular order I am honoured to have learned how to:

• Take an idea from concept to launch and build a team and a product
• Create a 1 page business summary, a 2 page investor teaser and a full business plan
• Develop a positioning statement (and change it again and again)
• Create a pitch deck and pitch to investors informally and formally
• Build a financial model based on assumptions and market research
• Help design, develop and launch an application in an ever changing social network platform
• Run a PR campaign on no money and combine that with a major business launch competition
• Work an integrated marketing launch plan into a dynamic development schedule
• Understand the mind of software developers and the art of agile development and much more.

More importantly I learned that:

• Feeling like you owned the world in the morning and were failing miserably by the afternoon is not abnormal
• Customers sometimes just don’t respond no matter how many times you reach out
• Product testing with customers is crucial to shaping your offering
• People don’t invest in the company they invest in you
• There needs to be more women owned technology startups and women investors
• Once you think you know everything about something you realise you know nothing
• Surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs and mentors is a natural survival mechanism that works wonders
• Anyone who starts their own business deserves a lifetime award for sheer guts, tenacity and vision.

What now Natalie?

Why I’m glad you asked. I’ve been doing a ton of work on the future of my business and I’d love to share it with you. If you’ve heard of the 4 Ps of marketing – product, price, promotion and place, well I’ve come up with the 4 Ps of WomanzWorld Global Services Co.

Here’s my vision:

1. Publishing
   WomanzWorld.com is the Ultimate Resource for Female Entrepreneurs. It’s a blog that produces three to four quality articles every week covering the topics of business planning, marketing, social media, entrepreneurship and interviews profiling fantastic women in business.

   It also offers a tools and resources section that covers top websites, blogs and books that women in business will find extremely helpful on their entrepreneurial journey.

2. Products
   WomanzWorld produces a series of eBooks designed to provide women in business with bite sized chunks of knowledge to help them grow their business and their entrepreneurial skills.

   WomanzWorld also recommends and promotes the best products and services that cater to entrepreneurs.

3. Partnership
   WomanzWorld offers aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to become partners in achieving their business goals.

   The exclusive WomanzWorld Academy offers monthly programs to ensure aspiring entrepreneurs succeed in every aspect of starting a business and then growing it through a strategic integrated marketing approach. These courses include daily online learning modules, access to an exclusive community of women in business and motivating group coaching calls.

4. Promotion
   Natalie (that’s me!), Founder of WomanzWorld is an integrated marketer that offers consulting services to help aspiring entrepreneurs with their personal and business branding using social media and online tools. I’ll then be profiling their success on my site.

   Check out my freshly updated `About‘ page for more info and huge thanks to my first client on my first day of business.

There you have it. What do you think? I’d love your support. I’d adore your support.

You can spread the word to all your friends, you can sign up and receive this by RSS or email. Better yet you can sign up to my exclusive monthly newsletter. I want to build this into the most amazing online movement of kick-ass women entrepreneurs the world has ever seen.

Let’s get this party started, one step at a time.

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There were 3 key things I learned at the F5 Expo held in Vancouver yesterday

1. Always charge your iPhone and camera.
2. Not having an iPhone to multi-task on while watching speakers is saving me from brain damage
3. Malcolm Gladwell is a passionate intellectual who knows that online communities will not cause offline revolutions.

F5 Expo `Refreshing Business Strategies’ was a day for those wanting to know more about social media use for small business. I found it a little  101 in terms of information disseminated, and it seems I wasn’t alone – one of my 4 tweets was quoted here.

However there were some gems of information and I’ll share them with you below.

Tod Maffin – Taking Crazy Back

In some ways it was a blessing in disguise that my iPhone died 1 hour in, especially after listening to an excellent presentation from a lively and humorous Tod Maffin encouraging us to gain balance and stop multi-tasking. I found myself being present, listening and writing notes instead.

Work/Life Balance

Tod was an entrepreneurial wonder kid who took a napkin idea to launch and then public.

Overnight success for partners? $10Million.
Lifetime damage from 20 hour days and spreading yourself too thin by doing too much? Priceless.

Tod suffered a complete breakdown the day after they went public and went on to suffer depression and alcoholism and has been left with permanent damage.

He urged us to look at our actions and habits and lead less stressful lives for the sake of our health and sanity. As he said `Society rewards busy-ness, not working smarter or harder’. As a result depression is now the leading cause of short term disability in the workplace.

You are not an energizer bunny (aside from Winnie Lai), multi-tasking is not productive and creates short-term brain functionality as opposed to long term memory.

How to change?

We need to create a culture where asking for help is rewarded and mentorship and job shadowing is encouraged. We need to build `gut feeling’ into our decision making.

Normally we run a business on ability, reputation and price. He challenged us to

1. Trust your instincts
2. Abolish presenteeism – i.e “I’m having a shite week so I’m not coming in today”
3. Be crazy – unique, bold and brave.

Social Media Metrics

As this area grows people are rightly focused on ROI. But how do you track that?

Firstly you need to employ Darren Barefoot’s acronym of POST – People, objectives, strategy, tactics.

Identify where the people are, then focus on your business objectives, define the metrics that show your success – you’re most interested in the number of clicks – on your tweet links, on your ads, on your call to action buttons.

Then build your own social media monitoring dashboard. Throw stuff against the wall and measure it. Try things out – Google Ads, Facebook Ads, competitions and track it via Google Analytics, Bit.ly, Facebook Insights.

Best free tool to bring all this tracking info together is Netvibes.com – quick way to scan and report on qualitative and quantitative data.

Search Engine Marketing =

Pay Per Click (advertising)   +     Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)   +    Social Media Optimisation (SMO)

Someone searching for what your business offers is 25% more likely to click through if they see you in both paid and organic search – a culmination of the above.

Search engines sites all look for relevant and fresh content that’s being searched for by people. So use keywords and especially longtail keywords – phrases like `Internet marketing for small business’ that are relevant but receive less searches so are less competitive.

PPC and SEO work best if you’re descriptive about your product or service.

Video for Business Use

Look at your target market. Have a creative idea, make it quirky, interesting and address a problem.
Surround your video with more text so search engines find it first – it’s useful to embed it in your blog as well as post it on YouTube.

Video doesn’t need to go viral to be effective – needs to educate, engage and enlighten your customers.

When is it not useful to use video? When you’re providing a deep analysis of something, it’s better to use text then as it’s cheaper and faster to write an article and better for SEO.

Creating Revolutions in Social Media

Malcolm Gladwell’s a respected thought leader, intellectual and best-selling author of Outliers, Tipping Point and Blink.

He spoke about innovation and limitations. In his presentation he played devil’s advocate to the use of Social Media and stated why it can’t start revolutions. My takeaway notes are below plus the video intro of his speech.

1. The Internet exploits Weak Ties, but Revolutions are Built of Strong Ties. Social Media is excellent for allowing you to build weak ties but you must ensure you strengthen them by creating real relationships. Revolutions are caused by committed friends willing to risk their lives.
2. The Internet draws value from anonymity by creating freedom of expression, but revolutions are built of trust and if someone’s anonymous you won’t trust them.  Trust is built from lots of high contact interactions and physical proximity – something that is undermined by the internet.
3. Internet favors spontaneous activity but revolutions are always organized and built brick by brick over a long period of time. Social Media tools may provide instantaneous, cheap and easy to build momentum, but they can be just as easily dismantled. We need to build permanent infrastructure.

It was controversial, entertaining and filled with excellent historical examples. A great way to end the day. I’m looking forward to reading his new book.

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LinkedIn is the perfect tool to meet like-minded business people and cultivate relationships.

It’s also an amazing way to gain an international audience for your business. With over 50 million users and growing rapidly, LinkedIn is a valuable social network where you can create and manage your professional identities online and reach an educated, wealthy and uber networked bunch of people.

Depending on your business this is an audience that could be very lucrative to you both in terms of connections and potential sales.

I have to admit to have only recently discovering the incredible value of LinkedIn. It’s allowed me to connect with a variety of business professionals and investors in a way that is collaborative and professional as opposed to intrusive.

It’s also allowed me to build a network of trusted and engaged individuals. Every day professionals use LinkedIn to define themselves —and their businesses — to the world. You should be too, especially as LinkedIn has some of the most entrepreneurial people in the world.

Tryout these top exercises to get your business in LinkedIn Shape

Exercise 1: Increase your visibility.

Once you’ve set up your profile, added your career history and core skills and written a compelling bio, then you want to add connections. The more you have the more you increase the likelihood that people will see your profile first when they’re searching for someone to hire or do business with. In addition to appearing at the top of search results, people would much rather work with people who their friends know and trust.

Exercise 2: Improve your connectability.

What I like about LinkedIn is your ability to create an excellent profile that defines who you are as a brand and your skills and experience. You should fill out your profile like it’s an executive bio, so include past companies, education, affiliations, and activities so that people have more to search on.

As with your other social networks you should include a link to your profile as part of an email signature. The added benefit is that the link enables people to see all your credentials

Exercise 3: Improve your Influence.

LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to index and this is a good way to influence what people see when they search for you and improve your Google PageRank.

To do this, create a public profile and select “Full View.” Also, instead of using the default URL, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name. To strengthen the visibility of this page in search engines, use this link when you comment in a blog.

Exercise 4: Enhance your Assets.

In addition to your name, your LinkedIn profile lets you promote your blog, website and twitter account to search engines like Google. You can choose the existing categories like My Company.

However if you’re smart you’ll select “Other” to modify the name of the link, i.e. if you’re linking to your personal blog, include your name or descriptive terms in the link and you’ve achieved instant search-engine optimization for your site. To make this work, be sure your public profile setting is set to “Full View.”

Exercise 5: Get a regular health check up.

If you’re about to do business with a client, hire an employee or do a background check to see if an investor is legit, then LinkedIn has a ton of data to search on. It’s also an excellent way to see who’s linked to the person you want to connect with and ask them for an introduction – this is where 6 degrees of separation really comes into play. There’s nothing better than getting your foot in the door thanks to a personal introduction.
Exercise 6: Ask for advice.

LinkedIn Answers allows you to broadcast your business-related questions to both your network and the greater LinkedIn network. The quality of high-value responses is impressive because it’s coming from people in your network rather than open forums.

Exercise 7: Become an authority

I love being able to help people by answering their questions. Turns out I should have been doing more of this on LinkedIn. Hundreds of people have success for their personal brand and business by proving their values as `Experts’ on LinkedIn.

How? By answering several questions on a daily basis on their area of expertise. This gives them more visibility, credibility and naturally more customers and clients who turn to them as someone they trust who provides value on a regular basis.

Exercise 8: Content is king

LinkedIn allows you to submit articles with useful information to your groups and connections. It’s a valuable activity to conduct each week especially if you pick your audience right. I’ve been regularly posting my latest blog articles to the key entrepreneurial groups I’m a member of.

Example of a discussion I started

Simply go to Submit Article and enter your URL link and it will pre-populate it with an intro paragraph that you can customize to your intended audience.

Not only has it driven traffic back to WomanzWorld.com but it’s also created a vibrant community of comments. It’s taken a while to get this engagement and I love it.

I do see many articles every day that have no discussion activity attributed to them, but this doesn’t mean they’re not being read or appreciated. You’ll notice the difference when people start connecting with you based on an article of yours they read or a discussion thread you started.

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