So excited! I just received some marketing material that I designed and ordered online. Watch and I will explain where I ordered them from as well as some tips.

​If you are not tech savvy... it's OK. There's some info for you too!

At first I considered this to be a set back. Initially I was ecstatic that more leads were coming my way. Unfortunately, many of them were falling through. Not once have I ever felt like giving up. I was just at a loss as to what I was doing wrong.

I discovered the problem. I was thinking small. I came across a podcast featuring Sales Coach Melinda Chen. She helps female entrepreneurs sell to big clients.

Melinda shared a conversation she had with an executive who noticed she was always contacting smaller clients. He asked her, "... How are you ever going to sell to big clients if you're surrounding yourself with small clients?"
Light bulb! Honestly, I know my fees are extremely competitive, but as long as I only focused on the start-up business owner my prices would be considered too high.

This week my strategy has changed. My mantra is now "Think Big". I have been following Melinda's blog and here are some positive and uplifting facts I've learned:

- Big companies are actually easier to deal with than small companies. They have the ability to maintain long-term relationships with you.

- You don't have to be a conglomerate before selling to larger companies.

- You don't have to have big bucks to advertise your business. Some of the ways you can market your company? Content Creation, social media, PPC to name a few.

This week I have started a Business Page on LinkedIn. Research says that in terms of business social media, this is one of the better platforms to be on. Also I will be investing in ads on LinkedIn and in order to do so you have to have a business page.

I have developed a routine to blog at least once per week, and then share my content. I have created an ad budget and changed who I now market to.I have timelines and goals. I want to to work smarter not harder. It's time to think big.

Are you a small business thinking big? How did you change your strategy?

I have joined the fairly new social media platform Alignable.com. It is a B2B site strictly for local business owners to connect and network. A member had a question: How Do We Remake Or Re-brand Ourselves? Here are the tips I shared:

Re-branding yourself is a bit of a process, but well worth it.
- Define your goals ( I would like $$ sales by this date, increase website visits by 18%, collect a total of __ email addresses by this date).
- Research... how does your competitor brand themselves? Are they successful? What makes you different from your competitor?
- Research... Have you tested your product on others? what are they saying? What do they like about it? Can you incorporate those feelings as you promote your brand?
- Define Your Niche Market. Not that you have to list it in your profile, but have you determined male / female, age, income, where are they online (fb, twitter..), what are their pain points, how can your product help them?
- Besides social media, how do you convey yourself? How does your site look? Is your information up to date with consistent brand colours and brand voice? Are you managing your brand throughout all your platforms (online and off) consistently?
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"The process includes defining your brand and brand attributes, positioning your brand in a different way than your competitors and then managing all aspects of your personal brand." forbes.com