Spreading Sunshine~
By: Lisa Manyon www.writeoncreative.com
With the onset of warmer weather, things look sunnier all the way around.
Spring kicked off with the honor of being a featured writer by the National Association of Women Writers in April. Not only was I featured with a Q & A interview, an article I penned, Nine Ways to Network More Effectively, was published in the NAWW e-zine. The article garnered response from as far away as Germany. Another NAWW member requested use of the article for a corporate training in Los Angeles, California. Plus, the article gave me the great pleasure of being introduced to a young writer who created a foundation for fledgling writers called Write On! (Just between us, I really like the name of her organization) Check her out at http://writeon.zest.net/397.html. This is only a small sampling of how effective networking, in all forms, can be.
As I said earlier, it’s looks sunnier all the way around. The series of training seminars I developed and conducted for the Idaho Small Business Development Center were quite rewarding for me and for the attendees. I am so excited to have the opportunity to share my expertise with fellow small business owners and entrepreneurs. My intent is that each attendee takeaway at least one idea they will implement immediately to improve their own business success. Feedback indicates that participants got more than just one key point out of the training and I look forward to hearing about the progress they’ve made. Plus, the ISBDC has asked me to repeat the series this Fall and I plan to incorporate the training into a format that can be shared nationally (more on that later….)
I extend a HUGE thank you to everyone who supported me in my initial efforts and especially those who attended and took the time to invest in their own business.
The national support proved to be invaluable and attendees of the SBDC classes were thrilled. I encourage you to visit the following websites and learn more about what these awesome gurus have to offer…..(and check out the People Talk section of this site to see what they have to say about the trainings). I am honored to have the support of such high calibur professionals.
Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone of Why BrandU www.whybrandu.com contributed great information to the Image is Everything segment and Kim has recently revamped her ezine.
Vickie Sullivan www.sullivanspeaker.com and Adam Urbanski www.themarketingmentors.com provided tips and tactics for the strategic planning portion ( You must check out Adam’s comment in the People Talk section of this site. He uses one of my ultimate favorite quotes.)
Peter Bowerman author of the Well Fed Writer, Back for Seconds and a new book on self-publishing to be released soon www.wellfedwriter.com ,Lorrie Morgan- Ferrero of Red Hot Copy www.red-hot-copy.com and Bob Bly, freelance copywriter and the author of 60 books including The Copywriters Handbook www.bly.com contributed sage wisdom for the copywriting section. Bowerman’s advice about the most important element of copy was well received, Ferrero’s features and benefits excercise got the wheels turning and everyone loved Bly’s take on word choice and the “dentitition story”. If you haven’t read it, visit his site and access his archieved articles.
Joan Stewart aka the Publicity Houndwww.publicityhound.com provided a checklist of what is and isn’t newsworthy for the publicity portion. Plus, Jill Lublin, www.promisingpromotion.com, author and publicity specialist contributed Guerilla Publicity information on what the media loves and hates. Andy Sernovitz , CEO of Word of Mouth Marketing Association, www.womma.org, shared wisdom about conducting Ethical WOM Campaigns. A local spin on working with the media was provided by Elaine Williams of the Lewiston Tribune and Bert Sahlberg, Director of Communications at Lewis-Clark State College.
I’m excited to have the opportunity to share the training series again in the Fall. If you, or anyone you know is thinking of starting a business, I highly recommend attending. Plus, I’ll be including some new information. Visit www.idahosbdc.org for upcomming training schedules.
On another note, I’m heading for more sun at the 2006 Small Biz Games in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is a program that recognizes small and micro businesses via an awards ceremony and training seminars. The keynote speaker is none other than Jay Conrad Levinson of Guerilla Marketing fame. I am excited to meet Mr. Levinson and learn new information to share with you. Stay tuned for an update in June.
Because it’s so sunny, I’ll save my savvy thoughts on marketing for next month. I’m going to take advantage of this fabulous weather to garden and golf. All work and no play makes for a very dull existence. Wishing you fun in the sun and of course continued success.
