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Lisa Almeida - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Lisa Almeida is the founder of Planit Production and brings more than 14 years of experience to this company.
Her entrepreneurial spirit has its roots in the specialty toy industry. In 1996 she purchased the store she had worked in for several years where she doubled gross revenues in the first year of ownership and tripled net revenues.
Her most recent corporate experience includes serving as the General Manager for a family of four ... [More]
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- Reaching Revenue Goals - An Index Card Plan
[Business:Strategic-Planning] Do you like Halloween enough to have a replay of it when you visit your annual revenue figure on December 31? If you want a treat, instead of a trick, when you cast your eyes on the very bottom line at the end of the year, you may need to do a few things now.
- Social Networking - Going Through Twuberty?
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Networking] Believe it or not, there is a social networking equivalent to puberty. I call it Twuberty and it's a natural part of the cycle many entrepreneurs go through on the road to embracing social networking. The process goes something like this...
- Time Management - How to Create a 25-Hour Day
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] The fastest way to start running your time ship tighter is by getting a grip on a top time gobbler: email. Here are just a few ideas that will let you get your email inbox under control - beginning today!
- Cash Flow - Stop the Roller Coaster, I Want to Get Off!
[Business:Strategic-Planning] A roller coaster ride during a trip to an amusement park is fun. A roller coaster ride every time you open your bank statement? Not so much. Whether you're willing to admit it or not, you buy a ticket for both rides. Learn how continuity programs can be your ticket off the cash flow coaster.
- Business Networking - Making the Most of Face to Face Time
[Business:Networking] Many consider land to be the best investment money can buy. But is it really? There is at least one thing that has the potential to yield a virtually unlimited return on investment - your time. Read this and do the math.
- Social Networking - It's Called "Facebook," Not Scary-Looking-Silhouette-Book
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Networking] Have you ever heard this one, "I'm not so great with names but I never forget a face"? Let's talk a little bit about your face as a marketing tool.
- Call to Action - Slow and Steady Wins the Race
[Self-Improvement:Success] Life is moving faster than ever and it seems to pick up speed everyday. I'm in favor of using incentives to encourage people to take action at the moment they are reading, listening to or watching your stuff. But it's important to do so in a way that respects both their intelligence and life-force. There are basically two marketing paths you can choose when encouraging people to take action. Read about them here.
- List Building - Why You Should Be Glad When People Unsubscribe
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:List-Building] You work hard to attract people to sign up to your email list and build your tribe. But what happens when you get the notification that someone has unsubscribed and fled the flock? Not only is it okay when people remove themselves from your list. There are reasons you should be glad they do and here's why.
- Life Purpose - Stepping Up to the Elephant Buffet
[Self-Improvement:Personal-Growth] Is there a thought or idea that nags at you? Something that keeps coming into your mind no matter how often you tell yourself it's silly, irrational, too expensive or too difficult? The bigger the nag the, the more important following it is for fulfilling your life-purpose. Read this and learn how to tackle the big stuff with ease.
- Social Networking - The Top 3 Do's and Don'ts
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Networking] In the world of marketing, social networking is an infant, a new frontier still being explored. Here are my recommendations for the top 3 do's and don'ts to incorporate into your social networking game plan.
- Understanding Keywords - How to Help Your Ideal Clients Find You Online
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:SEO] What the heck are keywords and why should you care about them? The concept of keywords and the role they play in getting found on the internet is too often shrouded in mystery. Here's a keep-it-simple synopsis to help you get found online.
- Article Marketing - Identifying Your Marketing Fluency
[Writing-and-Speaking:Article-Marketing] Stick with me for a minute and I promise you'll find something useful about article marketing. There's a line from an old TV commercial that I've never been able to shake.
- Marketing Strategies - What Do Twitter and the Stock Market Have in Common?
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Internet-Marketing] Technology offers lots of great tools that make running a business easier and faster. But once in a while, technology hiccups. Just such a hiccup occurred earlier this year involving Twitter and just in case your world leaving some important reminders in it's wake. Here's what happened.
- Internet Marketing - Finding Balance Between the Old and the New
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Internet-Marketing] Ever since the invention of the assembly line, there has been a battle between those who embrace innovation and those who prefer the status quo. The best of both worlds lies somewhere in the middle and embraces technology and automation without forgetting that behind every machine is a warm-blooded operator and an end user with a beating heart. Read on to learn how to find a winning balance for your business.
- Business Networking - An Effective Follow Up Strategy For Converting Prospects Into Clients
[Business:Networking] Part of networking is follow-up. In fact, it's one of the most important pieces of the marketing puzzle when it comes to converting prospects into customers. After all, isn't the ultimate objective of your marketing efforts to make sales? Follow-up is where relationships truly begin. And revenue comes from relationships.
- Niche Marketing - How Digging Niches Can Save You From Digging Ditches
[Business:Marketing] Digging ditches as a profession is as noble a pursuit as any, as long as you are doing it out of desire, not need. Read this angle on the current economic climate and how maybe the sky isn't falling at all, but instead, the ground is swelling with opportunity that you can capitalize on with the right marketing.
- Developing Your Niche Market
[Business:Marketing] Two weeks ago, the folks next door brought a rooster into the neighborhood. And while sleep patterns are definitely in flux under my roof, it appears that Mr. Doodle-doo (as I have affectionately dubbed him) couldn't be happier under his. Assuming that the frequency and enthusiasm with which a rooster cock-a-doodle-doos are good measures of happiness, then it is fair to say that a happier rooster there never was!
- Improve YOUR Economy by Helping Others Improve Theirs
[Business:PR] It is wholly possible to take advantage of the current economic situation without taking advantage of people. In fact, now is a perfect time to help yourself by helping others. Are you seeing and seizing the opportunities available to you in your field or industry?
- What Does Social Media Have to Do With Email Marketing?
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Media] Having lots of friends and followers is not a bad thing, so long as it's part of your plan. The important question is, what do you intend to do with your followers once you've attracted them? This is a valid and valuable question to ask yourself, whether you have 100 or 100,000 followers. How do you intend to create a relationship with them? Because the name of the game is still relationships!
- Branding Basics
[Business:Branding] You don't need a million dollar marketing budget to create strong recognition or a brand. But you do need to consistently communicate who you are and what you do. Read this to learn some of the bare basics that should be part of your visual branding.
- Why Bartering is Not Good Business
[Business:Marketing] We are in the midst of a necessary economic correction. Those who were running a sloppy, under-performing, disorganized, systemless ship during the fat years were the first ones to feel the pinch - and rightly so or turn to bartering as a survival strategy!
- Using Your Stats to Increase Profit
[Business:Strategic-Planning] Tracking allows you to see patterns and adjust them so you can get predictable results. This is important stuff to know, both when things are going well or not so well. Learn how simple math based on your stats can make a world of difference in your results.
- Two Tickets to Paradox
[Business:Strategic-Planning] Folks who know me, know that I am fond of the expression "slow and steady wins the race" when it comes to building your business. Well, grab hold of your assumptions because I'm about to make an argument for some business building speed!
- Twitting About With Ease
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Networking] Social media is BIG right now - FaceThis, TwittThat, Link-Schmink. Everyone is talking about it, but there are lots of folks who see it as just another foreign technology language that leaves them feeling left out, overwhelmed and resentful that things aren't the way they used to be. Here are some VERY basic basics to help you get your feet wet.
- A Bad Elevator Speech Could Be Costing You Money!
[Business:Marketing] A good elevator speech is a core component of a strong marketing plan. Every serious professional needs one. Read on for tips to improve yours.
- Are You the Right Tool For the Job?
[Business:Productivity] Have you ever tried to hammer a nail with a pair of pliers? It can be done but using the right tool for a job can mean the difference between pleasing results and an expensive mess to mop up. This is true when it comes to marketing your business as well.
- How Knee Surgery Helped My Business
[Business] Do you find yourself spending time trying to fix the same problem over and over? Would you like to be able to solve such things once and for all without getting overwhelmed by the process of sifting through an endless flow of information and magic wand promises? Then maybe my knee surgery can help.
- The Marketing Secret Weapon You Can't Afford to Ignore
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Email-Marketing] By far the single most economical and effective way to market to any audience is via email marketing. The basics for launching an email marketing campaign are outlined in this article.
- 5 Steps to Converting Strangers Into Loyal Customers
[Business:Marketing] When it comes to your business and the customers and clients that you serve there are 5 stages in the life cycle of a client. Effectively leading people through these steps will allow you to turn a stranger into a loyal customer, time and time again.
- Building Your Business As a Gentle Warrior
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] More than a decade ago, in a former business incarnation, there was a man in my life whom I considered a mentor and role model. He had taken an idea, envisioned the potential of it, then backed it with hard work and long hours until it paid off as a worldwide multi-million dollar phenomenon. I got to watch the whole process unfold and even played a small role in it.
- The Most Important Sale You'll Ever Make
[Business:Sales] There's a tip in this article that might just rock your sales world thinking. It happened in the middle of a run-of-the-mill chat. I got smacked between the eyes by a golden nugget of wisdom that accidentally slid off the other guy's lips? And for a few moments, as the impact of this profound wisdom penetrated my brain cells, everything seemed almost surreal. I'm sharing it here in the hope that it might hit you the same way it hit me.
- Marketing Tips - Thinking Outside of the Lunch Box
[Business:Marketing] Life's moments tick by at a steady pace measured by markers we call minutes, hours, days, months, years, decades and such. Every twelve months the moments pile up and approach the marker we call the end of the year. The last moment of December 31 isn't any different than the first moment of January 1st but boy-oh-boy do we make a big deal out of the transition from one to the other.
- Tribal Marketing - The Latest Twist on Relationship Marketing
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Internet-Marketing] You've done everything you're supposed to do in order to set the stage for a successful business and yet people aren't exactly beating down your door and things aren't going the way you envisioned. Read about Gus and how his approach may be just what you need to turn things around.
- Assessing Your Business Owner Mentality
[Business:Solo-Professionals] It may sound harsh but the truth is that many entrepreneurs are really employees posing as business owners. The freedom, flexibility and lifestyle that comes with being a business owner also comes with responsibilities. Read on to find out where you stand on the spectrum of business owner vs. employee mentality.
- A Better Marketing Strategy Then Ready, Fire, Aim
[Business:Strategic-Planning] Before you begin launching your marketing arrows, you need to first be clear about what and where your revenue targets are. Figuring this out is a process, not an event. Learn how to hone in on your targets and why you should bother.
- Should You Twitter Away Your Day?
[Business:Strategic-Planning] At the rate that technology is unfurling these days, we are just moments away from the adventures of The Starship Enterprise being about as cutting edge as the antics of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Trying to keep up and understand all the latest tech tools is just the first part. Next you have to figure out how and if you should use them in your business.
- How to Strategically Manage Your Business Growth
[Business:Strategic-Planning] I had a conversation recently with a business owner who described a universal dilemma that all successful business owners face at one time or another. Here's the scenario.
- Twitter and Facebook and Blogs, OH MY!
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Internet-Marketing] Is your head spinning with blogs, websites, LinkedIn, email marketing, Facebook, Twitter and trying to figure out which ones to use and how to use them effectively to manifest your success? Relationships are still the key to successful marketing. Read on and learn how you can use tech tools to build strong relationships.
- A $27 Simple Solution
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] The contrast between two unlikely business models clearly illustrates the biggest secret weapon behind the success of any business and the simple solution for any floundering vessel. Simple, but not necessarily easy.
- Blogs - Should You Have One?
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Blogging] Seems like everyone has a blog these days. Here are a just a few tips that might help you decide when and if adding one to your marketing mix would be useful.
- Building Business Value on Your Values
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] I'll never forget how my world changed the day my psychology teacher stood before the class and explained that every single event we experience is recorded in the mind and can be retrieved - even from the subconscious mind - under the right set of stimuli. Holy human hard drive, Batman!
- 4 Tools For Overcoming Obstacles on Your Way to the Top
[Business:Small-Business] Let's face it, almost anyone would agree that success is desirable, but the things we need to do to succeed are sometimes inconvenient and uncomfortable. When faced with a speed bump along your path to success, do you react like those who have achieved the top 5% of success in your industry? Read this to learn how to.
- 3 Success Lessons For Entrepreneurs From Mozart - Of All People
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] A recent trip to Boston's Symphony Hall revealed that Mozart was not only a great composer but had a darn good head for business too. I predict that you could profit nicely by following a time-tested business model like Mozart's.
- Understanding Outbound Vs Inbound Marketing
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Internet-Marketing] If you have ever ridden a commuter rail, you understand the importance of being alert to the difference between outbound and inbound. Just look what happened to Charlie on the MTA. (A great sing-a-long often heard spilling from bars in and around Boston and worth a Google if you're in the mood for a giggle.)
- 4 Easy Ways to Control Information Overload
[Business:Productivity] The internet is great. You can look up a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake in one browser window while the secrets of quantum physics are loading on another. But this unlimited influx of information can be a double-edged sword, creating a backfire effect that leaves you overwhelmed and drained, causing your productivity to drop rather than improve.
- The Secret Weapon of Increased Sales Conversion
[Business:Sales] Logic or emotion? Which influences your buying decisions? If you are like most people, it's a little of both. But when it comes time to pull the trigger, one always trumps the other. Read on to learn how to play the trump card and help your prospects choose you.
- How to Give Your Clients Exactly What They Want
[Business:Marketing] This might sound a little nutty, but here goes. Marketing is like an umbrella - one of those gigantic golf umbrellas that cover you, your clubs, the caddy and the cart, with enough room left to keep a Winnebago dry. The big, broad topics beneath this marketing umbrella include things like advertising, promotion, publicity and public relations.
- 3 Sure Fire Ways to Boost Your Business in a Slow Economy
[Business:Solo-Professionals] You may not be able to control the economy, but you can control how you react to it. Practical tips to boost business in a slow season or slow economy.
- 3 Universal Principles For Success
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] All things have a process. While watching masons replace my deck with a patio, I discovered success principles for building a business.
- Are You Happy With Your Business?
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] It's noteworthy that the founders of our country chose to include "the pursuit of happiness" as a birthright - not happiness itself, but its pursuit. It seems our forefathers had the wisdom to realize that it is the journey, and not the destination, that is the true source of fulfillment.
- 1440 Simple Steps to Personal Success
[Self-Improvement:Success] For many business owners, checking email is one of the first tasks of the day. What if you checked your email one morning and found something like this?
- How to Make Great Ideas Generate Great Revenue
[Business:Marketing] Have you ever attended an event that you felt was the greatest thing since sliced bread? I mean something that really had it all going on: great fun, great staff, great price, great location and great energy, yet no crowd. Read on to uncover the secret weapon to ensuring event success.
- The "F"-Word of Marketing and a 3 Step System to Overcome It
[Business:Marketing] Follow-up is the thing that separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, the hobbyists from the business owners and the place where most companies drop the ball. Read on to learn a simple 3 step system you will use.
- How to Create Incentives That Really Pay Off
[Business:Marketing] Do you ever feel like your bottom is far too far away from the top? From a hawk's-eye-view the solution is simple: generate more revenue. But obtaining and sustaining that goal can sometimes be like trying to hold Jello™ in your bare hands. Read on to learn how to keep your customers spending and referring new customers.
- Vendor Or Visitor - How to Analyze the Benefits of Exhibiting at an Expo
[Business:Marketing-Direct] Have you ever gone to a movie on release weekend because the trailers and promotions made it sound so appealing that you just couldn't wait for the reviews, only to be disappointed to find that the all hype was just a hoax and the film was a real dog? The same thing can happen when it comes to marketing your business. A promotional opportunity, like an event or expo, may be presented in a way that makes it nearly irresistible and only after you've shelled out several hundred (or thousand) dollars and precious hours of preparation ...
- How To Make Business Planning As Much Fun As Vacation Planning
[Business:Strategic-Planning] What if business planning could be as much fun as planning for a vacation or the arrival of a baby? It can be with some simple changes. Read on and learn how you can take the drudgery out of planning your success.
- How To Brand Your Business On A Puny Budget
[Business:Branding] Branding is a billion dollar industry. And even if you don't have the budget to develop branding at the level of Nike or Coca-Cola, you can still compose an effective brand for your company geared towards achieving the same objectives of awareness, recognition, customer loyalty and viral growth. Read on to learn how.
- The Most Powerful Tool for Growing Your Business; Is Fear Keeping You from Using It?
[Business:Networking] Public speaking is a powerful tool for leveraging the law of averages to get above-average results growing your business. The fear of public speaking is second only to the fear of death for many people. Giving into this fear could be costing you money and success. Read on to learn how to overcome it.
- 6 Reasons Why Your Business Should Be for the Birds
[Business:Customer-Service] Watching the birds each morning is certainly a lovely way to begin the day and a source of peace and calm but it turns out they are wise in the ways of business too. Here are just six of the lessons I've learned.
- How to Keep Your Ideal Clients For Life
[Business:Marketing] If you have gone to all the trouble and hard work of identifying your ideal clients, devised the best methods for attracting them, successfully converted them into paying customers, then doesn't it make sense to ensure that they remain your customer? Read on to learn the single most important thing you should do and other practical methods for locking in your customers for life.
- How To Convert Your Ideal Prospects Into Clients
[Business:Marketing] Being able to identify and attract your ideal clients is important information to be clear about. But until they take the big step of exchanging dollars for your goods or services, your ideal clients are really just ideal prospects. Read on to learn how to get them across that critical threshold.
- Crossing the Finish Line
[Business:Sales] Closing the sale is part of the marketing cycle - it is the final step and the only part of the process that causes money to flow into instead of out of your checkbook. Read on to learn how to structure a truly effective and well constructed marketing cycle that will set the stage for a natural flow to the finish.
- How To Spot The Investment Potential Of An Expense
[Business:Strategic-Planning] ROI isn't a measure limited to mutual funds and real estate. Every investment includes an expense but not every expense is an investment. Read on to learn how to expand your definition of an investment and how to choose them wisely.
- 7 Steps To Writing a Press Release That Will Get Published
[Business:PR] The secret to maximizing your advertising dollars is in learning how to write an irresistible press release. Read on for step by step instructions.
- Goal Setting Revisited - How to Reset When You Miss Your Target
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] How are your 2008 goals progressing? Experienced goal setters know that re-setting is part of the process. Here are some tips to help you stay on course in case you didn't quite hit the mark last month.
- Top 5 Essential Leadership Skills
[Business:Productivity] The number of people in leadership roles is far greater than those with leadership skills. There are many qualities and characteristics of leadership. Read about the 5 most essential ones here.
- Are You Tapping the Power Of Your Passion?
[Self-Improvement:Innovation] The life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. leads to the question of whether there is anything more powerful than a dream. Every business that is rooted in personal passion is a powerful MLK-type vehicle for transformation.
- The Last Resolution You'll Ever Need
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] The concept of the New Year's resolution is fair game for selling just about anything to anyone but is wrought with the pitfalls of failure and disappointment. What if you could live the rest of your life and never fail again? It's possible with this alternative approach.
- 2 Simple Ways to Reclaim Command of Your Time
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] The days of December often seem fewer and shorter than the other months of the year due to additional demands on your time. Learn 2 simple steps that will allow you to maximize your efficiency this month and every month.
- It's Not Too Late
[Business:Marketing] Even if you have not yet launched your Holiday Promotional Plan it is not too late to capitalize on the spending frenzy that is underway in a way that honors your values. Here are some ideas that you can employ now.
- How to Create a Power Surge in Your Client Activity
[Business:Management] Want to learn how to create an influx of activity in your business? By harnessing the power of a close cousin to the Law of Attraction you can do just that. Because what comes around goes around.
- How to Get and Keep More Clients Using the 4 Keys to Clear Communication
[Business:Management] Are you sending your prospects and clients mixed messages? Learn how to clearly communicate who you are and what you do to attract and keep your ideal clients.
- I'll Have the Soup and a Side of New Clients, Please
[Business:Sales] Why is it that so many people find recommending a business or practitioner to someone else easy, but when the time comes to toot their own horn, they shrink? Learn how to overcome this self-imposed obstacle to growth.
- How Do You Define It?
[Finance:Wealth-Building] Everyone who starts a business wants to succeed. But success has many definitions. Find out why it's important to be clear about your definition of success.
- Using the 80/20 Rule to Succeed
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] You are most likely familiar with the of 80/20 Rule, the principle that 80 percent of results stream from 20 percent of the population associated with a task. This rule seems to hold true no matter where it is applied.
- Delivering the Goods - Final in a 3 Part Series on Goal Setting
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] Most people like guarantees. When someone gives you a guarantee, you know that even if something goes wrong, someone has promised to fix it.
- How to Turn "Wants" into "Haves" - Second in a 3 Part Series
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] The second of 3 key elements to successful goal setting are explained in this second installment of a three part series.
- A Deeper Look at Goal Setting - First in a 3 Part Series
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] Want to learn how to exponentially increase your effectiveness? In this first of a 3 part series you will be guided through the essentials of mastering the secret of super achievers -- goal setting.
- 3 Secrets to Setting and Achieving Goals
[Business:Strategic-Planning] What causes people with seemingly equal levels of talent to have wildly varying degrees of success? The difference is goal setting. Learn the 3 secrets to unlocking the mystery of this effective skill.
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