Seeds and Dreams: Parallel Processes, Similar Results

Have you ever thought about how wonderful a small seed really is? Think about it for a moment. You can take something very small, plant it in the ground, give it water, and it will grow millions of times larger than it's original size. Let's examine what the seed that grows into a tree can teach us about the dream that becomes reality:

1. The size of the seed is irrelevant: Diverse plants and trees across the planet all begin with seeds. While not all seeds are the same size, none of the seeds are the same size as the finished product. Seeds are so small they can be easily lost, trampled, and thrown away. Similarly, when you conceive a vision, have a goal or dream, it begins small, and it is easy to lose if not careful. You can share your vision with the wrong people and throw your seed away because they could not see what you see. Instead of planting it, you shared it -- prematurely nonetheless. You might share it with close friends or family members that eventually trample all over it and discourage you to the point of quitting. Seeds and dreams are the similar: small, fragile, easily destroyed, but also potentially great, larger than you could ever imagine, and able to produce more seed. 

2. Soil is very important: Preparation for the ground in which you plant your seed is very important and will determine the success or failure of your seed. You can plant prime seed in dry, infertile soil, and it will not bring forth what it is supposed to. Instead, you have planted perfectly good seed into bad ground. Position yourself and prepare so that your seed is planted into good ground. Don't be the man or woman with the greatest idea and poorest execution skills. You will need to prepare in advance for the success of your crop. Do you expect your vision to come to fruition? Or is it just a great conversation starter at business functions? You have to be serious and being serious requires turning over the soil before you plant the seed, and making sure the ground is capable of producing fruit. Timing, resources, and your attitude might be the soil in which you can plant your dream -- if they are not right, how can you expect the seed to take root and grow?
3. Cultivate the seed: Beside the initial preparation, watering the seed and making sure it has enough sunlight will be determining factors in the seeds success. Gathering the funding and support for your dream is very important to bringing it to pass. However, without proper attention after the seed is in the ground, it will not produce what you want. It may take root and actually spring up into something, but not what you envisioned. When you get your business off the ground and your first clients have began to applaud you for your expertise, continue to work hard. Do not allow complacency to stunt the growth of your dream or rob you of its full potential. The entire process weeds out the dreamers from the go-getters, the talkers from the doers. Soon, you will see that small seed bloom into something that everyone can see. You never have to share your seed in the beginning because if you stay the course, all will see it grow.

4. Get rid of the weeds: There will be thorns, weeds, and days you water the seed too much or give it too little sun. Mistakes happen, but you must pull up the weeds and thorns immediately. Anyone in your life that chokes your dream or vision and leaves you feeling drained or lifeless must be removed immediately if your seed is to see full growth. Don't be surprised when they come and don't waste much time wondering why they are there or their purpose -- pluck them and throw them away. Your seed is in jeopardy the longer you allow them to stay near the seed. In fact, they could be stealing essential nutrients from your seed! Prepping the soil and the daily cultivating will mean nothing if you allow the weeds to stay. A decision must be made: whether you will continue to grow a dream or will waste time on thorns. They cannot dwell together very long. One will thrive, one will barely survive. Sometimes they can do a great job of blending in, but the careful planter can easily determine the real from the fake. 

5. Allow it to grow and mature: There will come a time when your dream and vision has been monitored, pruned, and cultivated to the point it appears to be growing without any of your help at all, but be careful. No matter how large or great the dream has become, it is never completely "out of the woods" from destruction. The good news is that maintaining your dream and vision may be slightly easier than planting, growing, and cultivating it. Not because you have become an expert but because you have experience. Regardless, do not allow your experience to make you feel immune to the real threats that still remain. While your dream is no longer a seed and easily trampled, it is now large and impossible to hide. The threat of trampling or not seeing the seed grow is no longer there, but now that all can see it, new threats emerge. While the weeds can no longer come and choke it, it can still be axed. Use wisdom in keeping the dream, reminding yourself of the work involved in bringing it to fruition.

ChrissyBiz Solutions provides clients with customized, results-driven web marketing strategies. Our primary business writing duties include: article marketing,  search engine optimized web copy, blog content, social media, press releases, and newsletters  designed to drive traffic to your website and influence buyers decisions when purchasing products and services.

Contact ChrissyBiz today to discuss the impact that web marketing copy can have on your business.

Brainstorm, Extract the Details and Execute

How many times have you heard others say "I was going to do this" or "I wish I had done that?" Not just business people, all people. I believe that one of the dividing lines between those who realize their dreams versus those who just have a dream is procrastination, also known as the arch enemy of success. 

Not one person on this planet is void of some type of gift or ability, yet majority will settle for dreaming instead of putting in the time and effort necessary to achieve the dream. As a business owner, when you are interested in streamlining processes or improving your product or service, a simple formula to use is Brainstorm, Extract the details, then Execute! This also works for the planning process before you start your business, or begin to bring your vision to fruition.

Brainstorm

Take time and allow your brain to think about the issue at hand. Do you need to improve your product or service? Are you consistently receiving negative feedback from your customers? How can you bring your dream to life and start your business?

Be sure that you have identified the correct issue, and not mistakenly narrowed down a symptom to a bigger issue. Brainstorming will allow you to assess everything surrounding the issue. Rambling to a co-worker or jotting down notes on a pad might help in this process. The goal is to allow your mind to focus on nothing else but the issue at hand, whether it's your dream, your vision, or anything else you need to address in your business. 

Extract the Details

This is where you begin to organize all of the information your brain just poured out. The brainstorm can leave you with much more than you need, but extracting the details will allow you to stay on task. If you were brainstorming ways to have a shorter turn-a-round on orders placed on your website, you may have thought of pricing the USPS, UPS, and FedEx based on the sizes of your product. Perhaps you realize that hiring a part time courier 3 times a week will really make a difference, and you need to look into hiring someone. This is an easy way to get sidetracked away from the original issue and leave it unsolved. Yes, hiring someone is crucial and related, however, you must continue on in extracting all of the other details you uncovered to make your process run smoother. It might include: setting a cut-off time for deliveries, creating a filter in your website email to make sure no orders are accidentally placed in the spam folder like before, and instead of forwarding emails, setting a calendar reminder on your mobile device to check it every 4 hours. 

It is really easy to get carried away with one side of the solution if you are not careful. In the example above, all of the solutions gathered will ultimately reach your goal, but hiring the courier and the details that go along with that can easily cause you to stop short of solving the entire problem. By the way, hiring a courier might require it's very own brainstorming session -- might be cheaper to have USPS pick up the orders with their flat rate shipping service when you work out the details. 

Execute

You know the problem and you know the steps you need to take, but don't stop there. This is where many stop. Just knowing the problem is solved is a big burden off their shoulders, but unless the action is executed, the problem remains. Take every detail included in the problems solution (as many have several steps involved) and begin to mark them off the "to-do" list. Do not give yourself any room to rest until every solution is implemented. Taking the example above, the solution would include: posting the new cut off time for deliveries on the website; creating rules in your email and checking spam folders at least twice daily; stop forwarding emails from domain email and manually checking it as often as necessary.

ChrissyBiz Solutions provides clients with customized, results-driven web marketing strategies. Our primary business writing duties include: article marketing,  search engine optimized web copy, blog content, social media, press releases, and newsletters  designed to drive traffic to your website and influence buyers decisions when purchasing products and services.

Contact ChrissyBiz today to discuss the impact that web marketing copy can have on your business.

Business Strategy | Define and Develop A Strategy for Your Business

The importance of Business Strategy cannot be overstated. It serves as a foundation for the company alongside Mission and Vision. What is Business Strategy? Business Strategy is the way you will accomplish your mission and vision. How will you fulfill the mission of the company and how you will achieve your mission. 

What devices,  procedures, technologies, or other methods will you employ to make your mission and vision a reality? 

There are three things you must do in order to develop an appropriate and competitive strategy:

• Educate
• Evaluate
• Execute

Educate yourself on successful companies within your industry that have been able to remain competitive. Stay abreast of current events and never stop learning. I am subscribed to many mailing lists in order to continue educating myself. No matter your formal education, you will be left in the dust if you refuse to continue learning.

Vision Statement How-To with Example

What is A Vision Statement? Your company vision statement briefly yet thoroughly  describes where you see yourself in the future. What do you envision for your company, for your customers, for yourself?

Reflect on your resources and those you hope to acquire -- this will aid in constructing a complete vision statement. Aim high and work tirelessly to make your vision a reality.

In preparation for expansion and growth you must consider this beforehand so that it is not clouded by any decision you are facing in the future. Whether you are an entrepreneur or a small team -- vision is similar to mission in that it is a guiding force. Mission is more of a present tense statement with descriptors while vision is futuristic. Without vision, it can be very difficult to come to decisions within your organization. 

How To Use Your Vision and Mission For Your Internet Marketing Strategy

You may be wondering how vision and mission statements are relevant to your internet marketing efforts.

Creating vision, mission and strategy statements for your business are still necessary steps you will want to spend time on.



Your vision, mission, and strategy statements act like compasses for your ship at sea as they guide and direct decision making, organizational priniciples, and where to focus your efforts. 

In times of distress or when you are presented with opportunities, you can use them as checkpoints to make sure you are on course.

Vision, mission and strategy statements are also crucial to your small business internet marketing success. These foundational principles help anchor the business regardless of the conditions you will face.

There was a time when companies proudly displayed their vision and mission statements on their website. This trend has become less and less popular, though I am unsure why. 

So exactly why do you need to write mission and vision statements, and more importantly, how can they positively impact your web marketing online?

Vision and mission slideshow from Christian Dernbach
Vision

The vision statement of your company is where you want to be and where you see yourself in the future. What do you envision for your company, for your customers, for yourself?

Without vision, it can be very difficult to make decisions within your organization. Whether you are a solopreneur or a part of a small operation, vision is just as crucial. 

The vision statement does not need to be elaborate, rather concise and clear.

Example: ChrissyBiz Solutions will provide professional internet marketing services for small businesses and nonprofit organizations through it's one-stop-shop business model.

Learn more about vision statements here with more examples.

Mission

The company mission statement is equally as important as it narrows down why you do what you do, and what you hope to accomplish by doing it.

• What is your mission statement? 
• What motivates you to do what you do? 

Your mission is what motivates your operation even when times are difficult or you are confronted with a difficult decision. 

Mission statements should be inclusive, honest, and purposeful.

Example: To offer affordable, valuable, and result-driven solutions for small businesses and nonprofits.

Click here for more information about about mission statements examples.

Strategy

With the mission and vision statements now clear, you can begin to develop your strategy for marketing your products and services online. 

Where you see your business and why you do what you do can be very helpful in determining your internet marketing strategies.

For example, nonprofits may want to invest more time on Go Fund Me than small businesses because of the way it is designed and the audience it appeals to. 

Though it is crowdfunding for anyone's use, startup funds for nonprofits are more accessible than startup funds for business on this platform.

Similarly, LinkedIn caters more toward professionals than Facebook, and provides more valuable business opportunities and leads for small business and nonprofits.

A successful web marketing strategy incorporates the vision and mission so that time and resources are maximized. You will be less likely to jump on the next bandwagon when you know where you want to go and why you want to get there.

Small business web marketing can be time intensive or extensive, yet more productive when in sync with company values.

You might find it necessary to outsource some of the business writing associated with it so you are able to more fully focus on your gift.

Tools for any internet marketing strategy might include:

• Pay per click advertising
• Email marketing campaigns
• Blogging for your business
• Blogging for your nonprofit
• Newsletters  
• Social networking for business also known as social media networking
• Free offers online such as a free Ebook for download
• Online article marketing
• Press release writing and distribution
• Free webinars
• Youtube video marketing

Your written vision and mission statements should be where you can easily access and see them daily. The internet is a massive place, growing at lightning speed, but your written plan gives you direction and puts you at an advantage. 

Have you written your vision, mission, and strategy statements yet? If not, it's never too late!