Nicole's Commentary 16 March 2009

If you have been keeping up on my book that is featured in the Notes section of my Facebook profile, you know two of my friends own small businesses (though neither of them advertise on DiversePhilly - friends are the hardest to work with). Just the other day, I ran into one of my friends, let's call her Sue, at her business and she said I should stop speaking to her. I asked her "What is the problem?" She said, I was disloyal to her by taking my daughter to her ex-employee's competing business. She also said, "If I am her friend and she does not like someone, then I should not like someone."

There are a few problems with this scenario. As we move the company to the business owner stage, these are the lessons I take with me:

1) Employees are not your friends. Sue thought her employee was her friend and that is why she was upset when she no longer chose to work for her. You can be friendly with your employees but they are not your friends. The employees can become resentful if you hold a paycheck over their head. Always treat your employees with respect (they generate your profit margin) and create an environment conducive to friendly relations.

2) Loyalty - As a customer I am known to be hard to satisfy. Treat your customers as you want to be treated. I stopped going to Sue's business because they have been known to smoke inside of the business and use foul language. Instead of asking why I did not use her services and use that as a learning experience, she used the guilt tactic of loyalty.

My loyalty exists in servicing my clients to bring them information, relationships and success stories they can use to be inspired and grow their business. Though we are friends, loyalty will not keep me as a customer. I left my children's day care center (which is owned by another close friend) on three separate occasions (and I still manage to come back) because my philosophy has been yes, we are friends, but when it comes to exchanging money for services, it is strictly business. My friend who owns the day care center was able to take me back (after some begging) because she shares the same philosophy. Creating a business relationship should not enhance or deter a friendship. I recently found a LinkedIn profile that had 58 recommendations. That is my new goal to reach this year. I only have 50% of that number and am looking to find ways to add more value to my clients and garner more recommendations of a job well done. I want to create an environment where the standard is excellence (see success stories above). Though excellence is not obtainable, it can still be a goal. I am already planning what it takes to win the Greater Philadelphia Chamber's Excellence Awards. Will you join me?

Nicole's Commentary 27 February 2009

My personal and business philosophy is to make everyone that I come in contact with better by creating relationships that will enhance their business. The niche market that we serve are business owners. Most people can tell when we meet them that my company is about working and building together but there was a need to find a way to translate that message utilizing technology. This would allow us to connect with more people than we could ever meet in a person. My facebook profile has 954 friends and business associates half of which I don't know (YET!). It has been the use of technology (sites such as DiversePhilly, linkedin and facebook) that allowed my company to improve our productivity and now we are using videography services (Thanks Red Sun Multimedia and Beckett Concepts) to spread the message across the internet and reach more business owners. The internet can be used to connect but if you are only using it to promote your business, the internet will also be used to disconnect. I recently found out that my e-mail address was in put in a clients spam folder :-)

Does your philosophy show that you value others by sharing information in your newsletter or does your philosophy show that you are using the internet to promote your business?

Feast or Famine!

One of the newsletters I read is from the go big network. This week’s article is titled "Go Big or Go Home". A downsized economy will sort out business owners who create opportunity from those who disengage and eventually perish. The retail sector will hurt this holiday season as sales are predicted to slump with the unemployment rate steadily increasing (168,000 people lost their jobs last month) and a credit crunch that continues to limit capacity for businesses. It is your network of resources that will keep your business afloat and even thriving. As we learned at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce networking event, to survive in this economy, utilize your network (Diversephilly, the various chambers, your associations – Michael, I will make an appointment for TEC’s Capital Corporation) and diversify your customer base. Think creatively about how to generate revenue from small businesses, corporate businesses, non-profit agencies and government clients.

ClearPoint Technology and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber emphasized that the businesses who are not operating on the Internet (see Gypsy Lane Technologies, Universal Concept), and do not have a professional email addresses are not even considered being in business (www.godaddy.com). When your business is properly incorporated (Real World Law, Athena Dooley Esquire) , has business assets separated from personal assets (see Sovereign Bank), has financial statements for the last 3 years (Goldflam and Associates, Williams Accounting) and has a course level understanding of the intricate operations for your business plan(See Enon Tabernacle Capital Fund's IE3 Institute for Entrepreneurship), then your business can go from a start-up business to an established business.

What I learned from the MED Week Conference was that we need to be entered into the CCR.gov database to be considered for corporate and government clients and have a profile in the Dun and Bradstreet reporting agency. I will continue to advance my business by learning what it takes to build an enterprise and share that information with the businesses on DiversePhilly. Newman Networks operates with corporate clients (Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania), small businesses and non-profit organizations (The Enterprise Center). Government clients are the missing piece for a diversified client list. It is time to add the City of Philadelphia’s, newly created Office of Economic Opportunity to my appointment book and learn what is necessary to work with the City of Brotherly Love.