Obama’s promises are simply more rhetoric that lacks substance and is designed to placate media and the American people.

A White House small-business forum is being criticized by the American Small Business League as “a sham” because the group says the Obama administration has failed to honor its promises to small businesses.

The forum held Wednesday included Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills; Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner; U.S. Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship; and other policymakers, lenders and small-business owners.

“This is a sham small business forum intended to mislead the media, and the people of the United States with PR as opposed to action,” ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said in a prepared statement.

He also said the topic of diverting money was not discussed.

“As we predicted, President Obama’s forum ignored what the SBA inspector general has referred to as the SBA’s No. 1 challenge for five consecutive years,” Chapman said. “We need to quit listening to what he says, and look at what he does.

“Despite the commotion and rhetoric the Obama administration has stirred up regarding its small-businesses forum, it looks like it was just another publicity stunt.

“I’d love to see someone from the mainstream media ask President Obama on national television why he is continuing to give billions of dollars a month in federal small-business contracts to Fortune 500 firms.”

Via http://www.al.com/business/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/business/1258712117267650.xml&coll=1

More commentary from Reuters

With his plan outlined, Geithner emphasized the most important step is to get bipartisan support for The Administration’s measures.

“It’s very important that members of Congress work with us to create the conditions that make it more likely that small banks are willing to come take advantage of these programs,” said Geithner. “That means they have to have confidence that if they take capital from the government they will not have to face a change in the rules of the game tomorrow. They need to be confident that if they participate in these programs they’re not going to face conditions in the future that will lead them to regret participating.”

A comment from a small business owner…

Prove It!! That’s what I want, solid proof examples they’re serious about helping small business. I don’t need 2 million…I need $150,000.00. I’m afraid to even talk to a bank as they would probably turn me down. We paid off the mortgage on the business three years ago and just need to restructure some debt, a new roof, new equipment. With ten employees, I’ve put off spending any extra funds to keep all of my employees rather than lay them off. We’re lucky, our sales are steady even though down a very small amount. We’ll see if anything comes of all these promises.  

 Via Reuters http://blogs.reuters.com/small-business/2009/11/19/small-talk-parsing-geithners-speech-to-small-business/

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I don’t suggest that I know everything about Blogging for Business. My friends Michael Martine and Grant Griffiths know a lot more than I ever will. This is my home grown attempt at understanding what I need to do to be more consistent and genuine with my efforts as I blog for business. Feedback appreciated. 

I’ve been online since 1998 and for six years I wrote daily articles for my newsletter. I never had a plan for what I’ve do write about, I just shared what I was learning every day as I was going about my business coaching business owners and entrepreneurs.

That seemed to serve me pretty well actually. The newsletter brought people back to the website and I made sure to include something about my products or services for sale in addition to fresh content newsletter.

When I began blogging I felt pretty much at home with the process. What’s interesting is that as I’ve gone further and further down the business development road so to speak-I found it increasingly difficult to “blog for business”.

Part of the challenge was that I was feeling like I had a conflict of interest. When I was writing my newsletter I was just sharing what I was learning every day and letting people know what it was I was promoting her what services I have to offer. It was very much a soft sell.

It’s hard to explain, but somehow the process of blogging and promoting myself and my products and services became increasingly complex and confusing to me.

Yesterday, I came across a very interesting blog post and it really needn’t stop and think. In fact, I would say that I had one of those “lightbulb” moments. What I developed as a result was a graphic that I created to help myself understand what I need to do on a daily basis to promote myself on my blog while cultivating relationships and future customers.

http://smallbusinesssherpa.com/BloggingforBusinessStoryFunnel.pdf

So the graphic that you see here on this page is the first iteration of what I “think” I have learned. I’d be very interested in your feedback. Please note that I’ve marked this as commercial creative Commons and invite you to iterate and share alike.

I plan on sharing what I’m learning as I try to apply this model in my business. And I’d be very interested to get your feedback and active participation so that we can together be more elaborate intentional in our blogging efforts.

So, what you think and what you see is missing or could be added?

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I was happy to come across this post from Anthony Tjan (CEO of Cue Ball) on the Harvard Business publishing site. Vulnerability is not a trait that naturally comes to mind when you think of an entrepreneur. We think of risk taking, renegade behaviour, and wild creativity. Anthony says there’s a difference between passive and active vulnerability…

The nuance lies in the type of vulnerability that they have and their recognition and comfort with it. Let’s be clear: there is a vital difference between what I call passive and active vulnerability. Passive vulnerability refers to the condition of being vulnerable without choosing to be. Active vulnerability comes from engaging in a contemplated risk that considers and hopes for the payoff, financial or otherwise will be worth the effort. Active vulnerability is in essence proactive and informed risk-taking. Passive vulnerability is reactive and submissive exposure.

Living with failure is part of being actively vulnerable. We have heard of Edison’s famous quote “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work“.

I’ve always thought of that type of mindset as gutsy and visionary. Reading this post by Anthony Tjan (Twitter link) I’ve learned it also involves active vulnerability.

The story of how inventor James Dyson went through 5127 prototypes and 5126 “failures” to get his massively successful vacuum cleaner “right” is the stuff of entrepreneurial legend. Dyson was fond of saying that the inventor and entrepreneur’s life is one of failure. Embracing vulnerability and its rewards — whether those are lessons from failed efforts or life-changing (even world-changing) success — that’s the stuff of great entrepreneurs.

How does this idea of active vulnerability make you feel? 

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The house bill plans to require employers with more than $500,000 in revenue will be required to offer coverage to their employees AND contribute t least 72.5% of the premium cost for singles and 65 for family coverage.

If they fail to comply businesses would pay a penalty of 2 percent to 8 percent.

“Right now, health care costs me $750,000 a year,” Prybutok said. “I’d be miles ahead paying the 8 percent penalty and letting all my employees go into the public option.” Delaware Online

Or I could see some business owners intentionally keeping their revenues under $500,000 so they do not have to pay premiums or the penalties.

What do you think?

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Tonight I decided to dop by StartUps.com to see if there were any questions I could answer, when I was pleasantly surprised to find a former coaching client sharing his experience working with me.

I am undergoing a similar transformation, moving from a 100% consulting biz to 100% product sales biz. I knew I hated consulting, but wasn’t sure what the next step was or how to get out of it. I give you kudos for the 20% of your time you already put into the product business.

I worked with a professional business coach for about 18 months, and would strongly recommend it. The trick is to find one, though. It is not as easy as it may sound.

I spoke to a lot of “life coaches” that seem to think if you balance your life, then your work will be better. That is all fine and dandy, but if I want to brainstorm about marketing strategies, create personas, talk about organizing the books, or doing market research could they help me? I always got the impression that they could not.

A life coach with no business experience is not a business coach; even if they pitch themselves as on.

I spoke to a business coach who was part of some business coach/mentor organization. He had a background as a sales guy with a big pharmaceutical company. I didn’t hire him because I couldn’t rationalize how his experiences in a big company would relate to mine as owner of a single person business trying to change everything we do and grow beyond that.

I spoke to a business coach who told me there was no way to start a successful business in an industry that was not growing and I shouldn’t even try. I was shocked at such negativity during our first conversation. I believed, and still believe, that if you can provide a unique offering that customers want you can build a successful business even if you aren’t in a growing industry. I didn’t hire him either.

Through the recommendation of a colleague, I eventually hired Greg fromhttp://www.smallbusinesstransitions.com/ . He is a business coach for over 20 years that had actually built up and sold a tech related business. He was tech savy and we worked over the Internet using tools like Skype and Comapping.com.

I recommend finding a business coach; ignore the life coaches you run into along the way. And, pay for it. You want a professional to help you along the way. It is like having a partner who isn’t a partner.

The original question was… “I need help – mentor or life coach” Here is my answer:

In my experience having a life coach is only as good as you are clear. Someone said to me once, “You can get anything you want, first, you need to know what you want.”

Thanks @reboog711 for the endorsement! I just decided to stop by and check out what’s > going on and decided this looked like a great thread to contribute to and was pleased to see you here. I enjoyed working with you!

The longer I am in business the more I realize (daily) that entrepreneurship is a “state of consciousness”. Specifically, it’s our habits that we just do automatically that creates our realities both in business and our personal lives. To the degree that we are conscious of what we are doing (or not doing) that shapes our business and the results we witness.

My Perspective On Coaching

In my experience, mentoring and coaching are significantly different. Each has it’s place and I think entrepreneurs need both a coach and a mentor.

In my experience, coaching has a lot of benefits and it also has it’s challenges. Benefits are a skilled ‘partner’ to share and help with your vision. Challenges for a coach is to remain detached – to be willing to let your client struggle – to know when to step in and provide the right kind of support. The reason this is so important is when a coach steps in too soon – because they feel uncomfortable or become impatient with you they end up hi-jacking your learning and self-esteem you would acquire as a result of solving your own problems.

Admittedly, it’s a fine line and can only be achieved with the active participation of the coach and client.

As @Reboog711 mentioned, I have been providing business coaching for 20+ years. recently, I stopped coaching because everyone seems to be a coach these days. More important, I prefer to collaborate with entrepreneurs as it provides more of an opportunity to work closely on a project together. I just started a new blogCollaboratingEntrepreneur.com to begin to explore how collaboration is becoming the new business paradigm.

Do you see the same distinctions I do between coaching, mentoring and collaborating? What has been your experience?

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Greg Balanko-Dickson

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Being shy in business never results in much worthy discussing therefore being open to promoting yourself and getting the word out about your business is pretty darn important. 

Many marketers have shied away from direct branding or selling on social media sites for fear of alienating consumers, Performics points out. Marketers should instead understand how consumers interact with individual social media sites––and what types of offers and messages engage consumers and motivate them to act, the new research suggests.

Among Twitter users, for example:

• 48% have used search after seeing ad on Twitter.
• 44% say they are receptive to promotions and offers.
• 44% say they have recommended a product on Twitter.
• 39% have discussed a product on Twitter.

Among Facebook users who have connected with a brand on the site:

• 46% say they are likely to talk about or recommend a product.
• 44% say they are likely to purchase a product.
• 37% say they are likely to link to an ad for a product.
• 27% say they are likely to post an ad for a product.

Among YouTube users:

• 36% say they have visited an online retailer or ecommerce site after learning about a brand on a social site.
• 31% say they have discussed a brand on a social network site after seeing an ad in another channel.

Via http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2009/3157/social-media-users-open-to-branding-marketing

“One in four respondents have four or more active social network accounts and more than one quarter access their Facebook or Twitter accounts at least one a day via their mobile phone,” said Scott Haiges, president of ROI Research. “We knew that these sites are extremely popular for socializing, but the level of interest for branding and promotional marketing content is surprisingly large.”

About the research: Based on a survey of 3,000 US consumers, the study was conducted by Performics, the performance-marketing unit inside Publicis Groupe’s VivaKi Nerve Center, and ROI Research, an analytics and technology firm.

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How will we define success in social media marketing in 2010 and beyond?

Certainly, Chris Brogan has a lot to say about social media marketing and I find this particular question to be very  thought-provoking and useful to get focused on how we want to model success in social media for our businesses.

How do we develop relationships that yield? – It’s great to have 100,000 friends on Twitter. How many take action? Of the 36,000 folks who subscribe to my blog, I usually get between 50-100 comments per post. That’s less than 1/3 of 1%. If comments were my business, I’d say that stinks. Relationships that yield are how we separate “friends” or “community members” from “customers” in our various business buckets. They overlap, but for the sake of this question, think strongly about “yield” and what it means to you. Via Questions We Should Ask

I really like how Chris asks us to consider how we differentiate between friends, community members and customers, especially how he encourages us to think long and hard about what the word “yield” means to us.

I don’t know about you, but I plan to take the time to think about the word “yield” and the criteria I will use to determine what success looks like for me in the age of social media. I’ll report back here with my ideas and perhaps a chart once I have it completed.

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Greg Balanko-Dickson

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