FITbiz

I went to a business mixer last night. I was in a pretty good mood and I ran into a few folks I hadn’t seen in awhile. As is the norm – many asked, “How’s Business?” What used to be an ice breaker now carries a notable edge to it. Times are tough.

One long time acquaintance launched into a doom and gloom discourse. I excused myself. I am not typically a head in the sand kinda guy, but I can’t spend a lot of energy on how bad can might possible get. Especially, since I have little or no power to affect the state of the economy over the next few months. But for my own personal sanity, I just can’t wallow in it.

So I weather on . . .

When business is slow, I work on stuff I don’t have time for during busier times – I network, I update our marketing collateral, I pitch new projects. Am I being naive? Maybe. Or maybe (this is my more positive spin) I am preparing for a time when business returns. Some of our competitors have fallen away and we have an opportunity to competitively position ourselves for the recovery.

It’s your choice . . .

A long, long time ago – at least in Internet years – the way to drive traffic to your site was write a blog. Check. Then we sent you a newsletter – opt in of course. You read it once or twice and you stopped reading. Don’t you love us? We linked to our business contacts on LinkedIn. Seems you already knew us. Then we were supposed to join MySpace. Check – met lot of twenty somethings, but not a lot of marketing bang for the buck. Then it was Facebook. Check – now we spend unthinkable amount of time trying to make what we are doing now sound interesting – do you really care that I am staring at my computer? Now, the rage is to Tweet on Twitter, really?

What works and what doesn’t? I guess it depends on your audience. Our blogs and newsletter are content we create, which tend to get read and drive traffic. The other sites tend be popular until the next shiny object come along. Right now, we get a fair am amount of visibility from Facebook and Twitter – but that will likely change in six months.

A very long time ago – especially in Internet years – I belonged to a business exchange group. We met twice a month and actually at down face to face. I still get business from that group. Call it doing business the old fashion way, but it works. Sure, online social networking can drive traffic to your site, but in the long run it’s the people that you do business with. So, back away from the laptop and go out and talk to a real live body – you may be surprised – you might even get some business!

When I launched my business, I had a “office” in a walk-in closet off my living room. The view wasn’t so great. Back then my “enterprise” consisted of me and the cat. I would often venture out to Starbucks for a little human interaction. I knew all the baristas on a first name basis.

Studies have shown that we are more likely to stick with exercise program if we have a workout partner. Someone to be accountable to, to encourage you, someone to share goals with, or simply someone to laugh with over the misfortune of the day.

And yet many of us go it alone when we launch our businesses? Why not find another business owner to be your workout buddy – you don’t have to walk into networking events alone – you can tag team the room. Someone to share with – what technology worked, what was the work around to that Internet gliche or simply share a cup of coffee occasionally. The baristas tend to get busy!!

And matching tracksuits is completely up to you . . .