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It’s a great feeling to consult to another small business owner and see the fire in the eyes and the hear the excitement in their voice while they describe their business and why they are the best at what they do. It’s great because I sit next to them sharing same adrenaline dream of making it work. Right off the bat, small business owners are confronted with back breaking work and mind numbing number crunching. Stats that read, “80% of business owners fail in the first year” and “50% fail after 5 years” are some of the first things that are in bold on all the applications (not really). Yet, we still grip on tight and move forward.
I am just now stretching my legs as 2011 is ushered in on the back of long nights and weekends. My days are devoted to my ‘first client’ and I steal away lunch and late evenings to traffic inbound and outbound contacts. As each communication goes from hand shake to business, it is apparent that each owner shares a common need. It doesn’t matter if their company is 5 years old or 2 months, what most of my clients cling to the most is having someone who has the maps to all the places they want to go. I have found that after a short conversation I am able to open their eyes to where the web can help, and not just social media. In essence, I am their guide to the web.
And, it just so happens that everything on the web is becoming social.
And by ‘social’, I mean the web is intruding our lives at every chance. This dance of technology around us chirps and blinks to the point where if we haven’t had an email or message in the past 30 minutes then our phone must be out of range or dead. (Let me check my phone for a sec, brb)
In most cases, the small business owner has the knowledge to succeed in their profession but lack the maps to help them compete with the diminished attention span of a ‘social’ marketplace. The level of a small businesses success can be increased by gaining knowledge of this area and implementing it in their business model.
The social space is the next marketplace where you can get lost and muffled amongst the growing crowds very easily. It’s important to know how to stand out and stretch your visibility to attract customers.
