Working From The Basement

I received a Tweet this morning that stated the Micro Enterprise Resource Group of Connecticut had closed its doors after 5 years.  This really doesn’t surprise me that much because micro businesses seem to be too diverse and distracted to get any kind of political message out.  Most of us hunker down and go to a chamber meetings or small social media networking gatherings, but seldom spend much time thinking about policy and politics.  I think we all agree the micros don’t get much respect from the government, banking institutions and even our slightly larger peers.  How many times have you heard “Oh you work from home?” I think most people just think we are unemployed.

So the question remains can micro businesses come together if not physically or on a specific agenda but more philosophically in a virtual community.  Could a Facebook Fan Page or group foster some kind of community spirit that wouldn’t take much effort or more importantly time.  I don’t know but it’s just a thought, let me know your opinion.

Don’t forget to click on the MERG CT link on the left of the page the organizers left a little treat for you there.

Thanks for visiting Working from the Basement

Michael Lawson
WFTB

Sorry for the month long absence folks, but I’ve been working on a few things and trying to catch up with some other projects.  Anyway for those of you that know me I’ve had this side thing going on for awhile now where I got out and listen to local music on the weekends.  Well a few weeks ago while I’d been working on the website (which isn’t finished), I decided to promote my fan page on Facebook.  Initially I had convinced 4 of my friends to join but hadn’t posted anything, but with about 50 videos up on YouTube I finally had something for people to see.

Initially I sent invites out to about 100 people that are my friends this generated about 50 people signing up within a day or two.  Well I wasn’t exactly happy about that number, but eventually it organically grew to about 100 fans.  Considering I have slightly more than 150 friends on Facebook that’s not a bad number, but I really wanted to see if there was any interest in what I was trying to accomplish.  So I decided to take the plunge and set aside some money for a Facebook advertisement.

Well I am a newbie at this but Facebook has a really easy system for creating an ad, especially for Fan Pages.  I am not going to go into detail on how to do this part because it is really simple and Facebook has some great help documents on how to do it.  The biggest decision I had to make was in the pricing section either Pay per 1000 Impression (CPM) or Pay per Click (CPC).  Based on Facebook’s advice I went with CPC which means you only pay when somebody clicks on your Ad.  I targeted my Ad with the criteria listed in the image below, which gave me a pool of around 175,000 people.  Wow really, that’s a lot of people to reach, what’s the circulation of a typical daily paper?  No wonder the paper’s are losing advertising revenue, and remember these are targeted.

So after about a week and a half of playing with the daily maximum that I was willing to spend, along with the cost per click out of 175,000 people, 77 people clicked on the Ad and 42 people signed up for a total cost of $54.99.  The Ad actually was displayed over 175,000 times but that is irrelevant because I choose CPC, it would only have been a factor if I had chosen CPM. 

So here in a nutshell is what I learned:

• It was in my mind over 50% effective in getting people to become a fan when they clicked on the link.  This was with hardly any effort in producing the Ad, I took my logo and mission statement and did a cut and paste.
• Fan Pages have a viral quality, since the people who joined the Fan Page also had friends with similar interest for each person that became a fan other’s joined. This is because the newsfeed now posts when somebody joins a Facebook Group or Fan Page.
• I wasn’t selling anything so your results may vary if you are promoting a product or service.
• People on Facebook don’t click on the Ads very much, but this is irrelevant if you select CPC.
•  Know your target demographics bid as close to the suggested maximum and keep an eye on it; reduce it when you don’t think people will be into what you have to offer.  I increased my bidding in the afternoon, because if you’re into local bands and have been out I doubt you’re going to be up early.
• I now have the confidence to go through with the project, based on the feedback and people I have met through the Fan Page.

So the inevitable question becomes will I continue promoting the Ad and I have mixed emotions on this one.  While I want to promote the community the final website isn’t up so is it worth paying a $100/month, I’m not sure.  Once the website is up, yes I would use Facebook advertising to drive traffic to the Fan Page, then ultimately to my website.

Anyway I hope everyone is having a great year so far and check out my Local Band Review Fan Page and the Local Band Review YouTube Channel.  Also make sure to go see some of our hard working local talented bands most of them work  for little money and they put on a great show.  Technically all band members work from the basement or at least the garage.

WFTB
Michael Lawson

We all know the story of the cobblers kids walking around shoeless.  Well, I have been feeling that way for awhile now.  While Diana has had the B-Law LLC Fan Page up, I’ve been negligent and hadn’t done one for either WFTB or 2ndot, so last week I took the plunge.  The experience so far has been interesting in that, while I am used to getting followers on Twitter, a Fan Page can be a one-way street.  Twitter encourages conversation, while Fan Pages are more passive and the only way to talk to people you don’t know is to become their friend – unless they participate, which kind of defeats the purpose.  You can start a discussion, but there is no guarantee that anyone will participate and sending a Facebook email seems too invasive.

So what use are they, you may ask? Well, it does provide you with a fairly low-maintenance way to interact with potential clients and build a referral network without much work.  I have always found it annoying when people update their personal Facebook status from TweetDeck or some other Twitter-related tool because most of the time it is Twitter speak (lots of @ symbols and short talk).  Facebook now provides a link to go the other way, which seems more effective as long as your first 120 characters gets your point across.  (The other 24 characters get turned into a shortened link pointing back to the Facebook post). It is also easier to update than a Blog, which actually takes time to think about, write, add links, and check your spelling and grammar etc., while adding an external link, photo or status update in Facebook with a comment is a fairly quick and easy process.

So the next question is what do you put up there? Do you just rehash the same thing that you put on Twitter?  My answer is no.  Since I started with the 2ndot Fan Page, let me explain a little bit about what I did with it.  Since @2ndot is my primary work-related and personal online personality, I wanted the page to reflect that persona.  So I decided to provide links to information that an everyday computer user would find interesting or useful.  My business normally doesn’t provide home computer support, just business-related services. But I have a wealth of information that can help home users, so a Facebook Fan Page provides a perfect platform for this.  A bonus here is that I don’t need yet another website to maintain, and it’s a totally opt-in relationship.  Also being able to use the discussion feature allows people to ask home computer related questions.  Facebook is also a great product to use for event scheduling, with attendance tracking and just notifying people in general, so having a Fan Page opens up another communications avenue.

While my personal profile on Facebook is very active, I don’t like spammy Fan Pages, so I have decided to limit my posts to only one or two a day maximum.  I think this may even be too much and I will adjust it if I get complaints.  As for the WFTB Fan Page, well, for now I will probably use it to promote the site much in the same way I do in Twitter.  Since WFTB is a blogging website I think you would use it to direct traffic to the blog, but only time will tell.  I am really interested in any feedback about my techniques used here and how other micro-businesses use their Fan Pages, so feel free to comment.

Again thanks for visiting WFTB…

WFTB – Michael Lawson

We write a lot about networking events here on WFTB, for the obvious reason that they play a major role in meeting clients and finding resources.  These events are not strictly business-oriented, and people attend for various reasons. While it is a great way to socialize and make some real connections, it doesn’t always work out that way.  I’ve had this article sitting in draft mode for awhile now, and after reading Chris Brogan’s “Stop Humping My Leg” post on his blog yesterday, I finally decided to publish it.  I have met many people I like at these events and whom I would consider real friends, but as Chris mentions in his article, simply: “if you hump my leg, you risk screwing yourself.”

One of the benefits of Social Media is that it can accelerate trust, friendships and client interactions, based on the amount of information you can find about people and their companies on Social Media sites.  This usually works to each person’s advantage, but once and awhile, just like in real life, it is one-sided.  Like Chris mentions in his article, it is about building relationships, and that is not as simple as just knowing about the other person from their online presence.

Social Networking events such as the CT TweetCrawls are a good way to meet people, and I have been both promoting and reviewing them on WFTB.  My own social media guidelines allow anyone to become a LinkedIn Connection, but don’t assume I am going to let you be a Facebook friend.  Notice that LinkedIn calls people “connections,” which is not a big commitment in my view, while Facebook uses the word “friend.”  This may be the crux of the problem and may just be a word to most people, but to me it means something.  I use Facebook to communicate with the people that I know and have usually met in person.

When you do meet in person (and if you have been following somebody on Twitter and they followed you back), don’t assume that they are your best friend.  Just like in any social setting introduce yourself in a respectful manner and let the person know that you are a follower, then start a conversation.  Even if you have had a conversation online don’t assume the other person remembers it. There is nothing more annoying than somebody assuming that you know all about them, too, especially if they use an alias.

The way you post information about yourself may also be exacerbating the problem, if your posts are too personal you may want to rein them in.  Using your real name as your nickname can also be an issue, but it is up to you to create your online identity and presence.  I have multiple Twitter accounts for exactly this reason, and for me that strategy has worked well.

A lot of people are using Social Media resources in different ways to promote products, services and themselves, so your views may not agree with the other person.  If you consider someone a spammer, for instance, you should not feel guilty about unfollowing or unfriending them; but, you can also use filters to hide their posts as a compromise.  We are all learning the rules as we go (and the problem is there are really no set ones), so for now I would suggest be patient and understanding, but don’t allow people to be abusive.  Just like in real life, we have to interact with people that we don’t exactly get along with – you should use the same techniques with Social Media.  Just remember to bring your Miss MS Manner’s book and we should all get along.

WFTB – Michael Lawson

While attending the TweetCrawl in Glastonbury last month Suzi Craig and Lisa Davenport announced that they would be throwing a party to raise money for Operation Home for the Holidays (OHFH).  Which at the time seemed like it was going to be just another CT TweetCrawl event; well it didn’t turn out that way.  Along the way this was planned to be a Rave Party, Dinner Event and ended up being something even more spectacular. Now I really don’t think Suzi or Lisa actually sleep, because to pull this off with all the changes in less than a month is simply amazing.

The goal was eventually set to raise $25,000 which even in a good economy with only a month’s time frame is a tough task.  This was to be done originally through traditional large business sponsorships of the event, well that didn’t happen.  Money is really tight and trying to get even smaller donations from larger clients is harder than ever. So what happened instead, the little guys pitched in, and I think we did really well (and by “we” I mean everyone who donated or helped)!  Not only did the event go from being a traditional fund raising dinner (albeit in a warehouse), but it became kid friendly, fun and spawned these other events listed in this article here.  I also got up on stage and raised money by singing bad karaoke.

A lot of small businesses, micro-businesses and individuals donated and continue to donate without having to go through corporate hoops. (Hint: check out the sidebar on the right of this blog to donate until December 4^th, 2009.)  Dealing with the smaller donors is harder, but with the Internet and an existing Social Networking presence it is a lot easier than it used to be.  Suzi and Lisa where able to rally the troops (literally, just check out the pictures in the resources at the end of this post), and raised over $12,000 which is a pretty good amount with still over 2 weeks left to go.  It wasn’t even the money that was the most amazing thing, but the donations of time, food, auction items and raffle prizes that rolled in.  (yes I won the first raffle with no superglue this time, but I still got yelled at…) I was by no way an insider into this, and other than going to TweetCrawls, participating online and raising money I can only imagine the amount of work done to pull this off.

So to everyone who participated, I think congratulations are in order for a great fund raising effort, especially Suzi Craig, Lisa Davenport, Enza Dandeneau and The Marlborough Business Association who planned the whole thing.  The food was also excellent and was provided by Agave Grill which was one of the first TweetCrawl hosts.  The MCs where Ann Nyberg and Damon Scott who did a great job keeping the event moving along throughout the day, and announcing the winners for the auctions and raffle prizes.

To everyone wondering how my efforts paid off I was very close to my goal of $250 most of which was handed in at the Karaoke event. My personal thanks to everyone who showed up to watch me make a fool of myself and to anyone else who donated.  One thing I learned from this is just because your business is small doesn’t mean you can’t contribute to a larger cause and do great things, Micros Rock!  On that note I’ll leave you with a serenade…

Resources:

Suzi Craig’s The Deep End Article here:
Stephan Krauchick’s Video here:
CT TweetCrawl Page here:
Brent Robertson’s Photos here:
Seshu’s Photos here:
NEW: Order T-Shirts online here:

The photo used in this article courtesy of  Brent Robertson, his other photos of the event can be found on Facebook by using the resource link.

As I mentioned above we are still trying to raise money so please click on the ChipIn widget on the right sidebar to donate or buy a Limited Edition T-shirt for $15 (Leave a comment on this article if you want one). Also you can order prints ($10 each, 5×7) from Seshu, and 20% of the proceeds will go to Operation Home for the Holidays.

WFTB – Michael Lawson

OK, by now you are probably wondering what a picture of me dressed up in a blue bunny fur coat and a cowboy hat is doing in this article.   Well the CT TweetCrawlers are meeting at Public’s in Middletown Wednesday night for Karaoke and I thought I would present a challenge.  If we can get 25 people to vote in the poll to get me on the stage in this getup (My Halloween Costume) and donate $10 to Operation Home for the Holidays, I will do two songs dressed like this.  Since I am mostly bald shaving my head would have been a bad fund raising idea at best.

So please pledge your support in a comment attached to this article and vote on the sidebar poll. I am looking to raise a mere $250, but would like to do better.  In order to get more people to attend please go to the Facebook Page for this event and invite your friends and direct them to this post to pledge their support.  You can also post a link to this article on your Facebook page or use Twitter, the more the merrier. Public is one of the best night spots in Middletown and is always a lot of fun, please come and join us.  Also remember that the “Open House to Bring Them Home” Party is now free this Saturday.  Below are the details and links for both events, we hope to see you there.

UPDATED EVENT INFO FOR KARAOKE FUNDRAISER:

Wednesday November 11^th 2009
Karoake TweetCrawl at Public’s in Middletown
337 Main Street
Middletown, CT
6:00pm – 9:00pm

UPDATED EVENT INFO FOR MAIN FUNDRAISER:

Saturday November 14^th 2009
Operation Home for the Holidays TweetCrawl
The Warehouse of Lisa Davenport’s Home Gallery
9 Austin Drive
Marlborough, CT
1:00pm – 5:00pm
This Event is now “Open House to Bring Them Home” party
Kid Friendly and lots of Raffles and Prizes, please RSVP on Facebook.

WFTB – Michael Lawson

I just wanted to mention a few good events coming up over the next few weeks that might be of interest. This Friday Oct 30, 2009 Diana will be at the Middlesex Expo in Cromwell Ct from 9:00a– 8:00p at her B-Law booth, I’m sure she would be happy if you all stopped by.  Our friend Charlie Schein will also be helping Diana man her booth.

Friday October 30^th 2009
Middlesex Expo 2009
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Cromwell, CT
9:00am – 8:00pm

The ambitious event schedule for TweetCrawl continues with fund raising efforts this time focusing on Operation Home for the Holidays.  If you haven’t been to one of these yet it would be a good time to meet new people and help a great cause.  Diana and I will be at the one on November 11^th in Middletown, we are not sure about which of the others yet.  It’s Karaoke night so stop by and see if you can get Diana on the stage to sing.

Thursday October 29^th 2009
Hot Rod’s TweetCrawl
114 Bank Street
New London, CT
5:30pm – 8:30pm

Thursday November 5^th 2009
TweetCrawl at Wadsworth Atheneum
600 Main Street
Hartford, CT
5:00pm – 8:00pm

Wednesday November 11^th 2009
Karoake TweetCrawl at Public’s in Middletown
337 Main Street
Middletown, CT
6:00pm – 9:00pm

Friday November 13^th 2009
Open Studio
555 Asylum Street
Hartford, CT
6:00pm – 8:00pm

THE FOLLOWING EVENT HAS CHANGED
Saturday November 14^th 2009
Operation Home for the Holidays TweetCrawl
The Warehouse of Lisa Davenport’s Home Gallery
9 Austin Drive
Marlborough, CT
1:00pm – 5:00pm
This Event is now “Open House to Bring Them Home” party
Kid Friendly and lots of Raffles and Prizes, please RSVP on Facebook.

7:00pm – 10:00pm
$40 per person to benefit Operation Home for the Holidays.
Order your tickets here or RSVP on Facebook and pay at the door.

Another Event that I would recommend is the “Starting and Staying in Business – What it takes to survive in today’s crazy world“  seminar hosted by Rothstein & Co.  Alan is a great speaker and is very engaging, this should be a really good presentation. A donation of $10 to FOODSHARE would be appreciated, please rsvp to cpa@rothsteinco.com and let them know you read about it on WFTB. The agenda and contact information is listed below:

Job Stability is Being Self Employed
Alan Rothstein, CPA/PFS
Alan works extensively with small business owners and entrepreneurs

What can go wrong in business, and how to prevent it
Susan Busby, Attorney

New Rules on Marketing and Communications
Using Social Networking to grow your business
Darlene Susco, President Susco Visual, Inc.

November 11, 2009
Farmington Marriott
15 Farms Springs Road
Farmington, CT
7:00pm – 9:00pm
$10 per person requested donation to FOODSHARE

I want to thank all the people that got back to us about  Diana’s Thankful Friday post, it was one of our biggest days here at WFTB. It was very encouraging to hear that we are helping motivate others in their daily lives.

WFTB – Michael Lawson

Me and Lisa Davenport holding the rug I won

I went, I saw and well I didn’t Crawl, but I did gingerly step around things.  This week’s TweetCrawl was held at Lisa Davenport’s Home Gallery in Glastonbury.  The Home gallery was the first TweetCrawl I’ve been to that was not in a restaurant and I must say it was fun.  My only problem was that I was afraid to put my drink down on any of the nice furniture.  Another thing that was really interesting was that I stood all night while the people new to the TweetCrawl just sat down in the comfy chairs, how’s that for conditioning.

This was the first time Diana and I went out to specifically promote this blog, and based on the results the day after I found that the TweetCrawl is a great place to get traffic to your site.  I also won the door prize again and I am beginning to wonder if my business cards are embedded with superglue.

This TweetCrawl had over 60 people registered for it, and I think most of them attended. A lot of people new to Social Media took up refuge on the couches and received some training on a laptop.  I had a lot of great conversations with people about contributing to this blog and picked up on some great people to follow.  This didn’t stop me from mingling with the group now known as the regulars, and heading out to the Diamond to continue our conversations afterward.

Suzi Craig has been working hard on these events and announced a couple of changes.  In the next month there will be an event or two every week and even a Party in a warehouse.  I emailed Suzi about this and she made a couple of points.

• December is a bad time to schedule anything so there will be nothing in December (as of now).
• A lot of people have been unable to make these events so she is scheduling them throughout the week.
• By spreading to different venues and more diverse locations more people may attend.
• Suzi also announced a fund raising campaign to help Governor Rell bring troops Home for the Holidays, which means you need to have an ambitious schedule.

Suzi also hinted at more changes to come next year, not bad for something that’s only 6 months old and was initially promoted just on Social Media sites.  While I hope to keep trying to make a lot of these, I am afraid even a person normally stuck in a basement like me won’t be able to keep up.  This is by far one of the most fun networking events in Connecticut at the moment and attracts a great bunch of people.  I also promised Suzi that I would not put my business card into the drawing for the next few weeks, so come out while you still have a chance to win something.

Some semi-irregulars and new people hanging out at TweetCrawl

Suzi’s Deep End blog can be found here.
Additional Information can be found at the TweetCrawl Group page on Facebook here.
TweetCrawl Twitter name @CTTweetCrawl.

Again we would like to thank Tim Tracey for contributing to yesterday’s blog and being our first guest blogger.  Anyone interested in contributing to Working From the Basement please just signup as a registered user and shoot a message out to @WFTB on Twitter.

pictures courtesy of the CT TweetCrawl Group on Facebook…

WFTB – Michael Lawson

Your reputation has preceded you.  That’s right.  We’ve been talking about you.

And it’s not just us at WorkingFromTheBasement (WFTB). Heck – your customers, your neighbors, your fellow business owners – they’re all talking about you. As scary as this is, it can be a secret to your success.

For good or bad, word-of-mouth is unstoppable and the most powerful form of advertising. Small businesses tell us that 80% of their new clients result from referrals.   And these clients are more profitable since they take less time and effort to close. They’re also more likely to result in future referral business.

Here are some hard-learned reputation marketing tips from successful CT business owners:

1. Current customers are a good place to start. Let them know you welcome referral business.

a. Ask them for referrals early and often.

• Make it a habit.
• Bring it up in conversation and during your follow-up contacts.

b. Reach out to your past customers as well as neighbors, friends. The 20% of them that give you 80% of your new clients are like gold. (See Pareto Principle, also known as the “80/20 Rule”.) You should continually stay in close touch.

• Use phone, mail, email and face-to-face
• Consider a structured rewards/loyalty program.

2. Chambers and networking groups are great. So hit the road.

a. Meet with other owners face to face at networking groups.

b. Put yourself out there – get beyond the shallow networking chat.

c. Be a hub – invite other owners to attend. Be a friend to your fellow networkers.

• You’ll be happier.
• Work will be more fun.
• And, by the way, you’ll probably have more of it.

3. Capture the buzz. Networking is great, but limiting since you can only be in one network meeting at a time. (And sometimes not even that if you sleep through a 7AM #BreakTweet.)

Remember that while you’re chatting over coffee or adult beverages, your customers and neighbors are “out there” talking about you. And they’re doing this more and more on social media sites.

So multiply your efforts by connecting with your customers and your network on a social site

a. spend 15 minutes a day. Start slowly – it will get easier

b. Facebook is the most widely used social site

c. You might prefer Twitter – it compliments Facebook and makes it easy to find and follow more people you may want to connect with

d. Social media guidance is available

These steps cannot make your reputation. Your skills, enthusiasm and attention to your clients’ needs do that. But by employing these tactics you can allow your reputation to spread, increase word-of-mouth referrals and generate profitable new sales.

Disclaimer: As founder of YouGottaCall.com, LLC – “Good referrals. Doing good.” I am an admittedly biased observer of the B2B & B2C word-of-mouth referral scene.

Tim Tracey is a self-described “Web 2.0 Connect-gineer.“  His business, YouGottaCall.com, connects consumers with local, trusted businesses. His network is free to join and free to use for consumers.  Businesses (i.e., “trusted service providers”) compensate for the service through referral fees, so they only pay for what they get. You can sign up for YouGottaCall.com here.

WFTB – Tim Tracey