juicy ideas + savvy ingenuity = marketing power.

Last month, I struck up a conversation with a woman who was sitting next to me at a neighborhood business. During our exchange, we talked jobs. She mentioned her past career of many years, in the public sector as an executive assistant. As a highly skilled professional with no college degree, she was passed over for promotion numerous times until eventually, her position was dissolved. What did she do? She started a successful cleaning business that’s been rolling for over 20 years. Her client base is solid, she’s able to care for herself, call her own shots and pursue her love of rowing. Bonus: at 60’ish, she looks like she’s in her 50’s. Her resourcefulness, resiliency + faith, Left me inspired.

A gift for you. {My A to Your Q} Subscribe to my blog (if you aren’t already), or forward this to a friend.

Email me your Q (question) + I will respond with my A (answer). To anything: life, business, love.

Entrepreneurial know how: the tried + true combined with imagination: make your ventures, your own. Apply these out-of-the-box ideas, liberally.

1. Beef up your social media: Facebook, Twitter, Linked In (exchange recommendations).

2. Volunteer for causes that you’re in-line with. You never know what other “liked minded” people you’ll meet.

3. Commission a student artist to design a logo or artwork for a promo piece or your website.

4. Offer yourself up for a magazine or radio interview, or blog.

5. Create a pay-what-you-can day.

6. Feature other experts on your web site or at a “live” event.

7. Create a welcome video on your site or for your “about me”/bio, page.

8. Write your bio in first person.

9. Create a brown paper lunch session, to introduce businesses to your services.

10. Hire a V.A. (virtual assistant), to help you rock your contact lists and social media.

11. Team up with other Entrepreneurs in your community and offer workshops to the public.

12. Put together an informal round table of businesses and business owners that you admire, exchange ideas that have worked.

13. Self publish an e-book of your blogs, expert advice, or your artwork.

14. Pitch a monthly column to a blog, print newspaper, or magazine.

15. Host a teleseminar or web event, with the cost going to charity. Invite a local expert to participate.
16. Host a contest related to your industry.

17. Volunteer: Speak to students at your local schools.

18. Offer your services for free, to another start up.

19. Send a thank you note + gift to a person(s) that has helped you along the way.

20. Accept + offer help when the opportunity presents itself.

Author's Bio: 

Throughout a career of working for + with Fortune 500 companies, training sales teams, building strategic marketing plans and over 25 years as an Entrepreneur with few exceptions, I've done and seen it all. I've loved jobs, soul searched, changed careers, found new inspiration, created successful business opportunities and volunteered for non-profits. Through making an impact, being on point, taking healthy risks and at times, bombing big time, I've pushed my personal envelope. This is what I'm crystal clear about:

I am clear that being an entrepreneur + life coach works for me, it's who I am and how I choose to work in the world. I am energized and excited about the idea of creating something organically and from the ground up, that’s uniquely mine, reflecting me at my very core + that will allow me to serve humanity.