The Bit Boss

I was speaking with Loretta Marston of Optima Business Consulting the other day, she had attended the first Learn About Web conference held here in the Tri-Cities, WA, and has joined myself and others in creating the Biz411 Group, a group of Small Business Owners who are dedicated to educating others while generating some money for charity.

We were talking a bit about why some Owners or key people might choose to shy away from these events and she had mentioned a conversation with a local business owner who mentioned that the idea of coming to a show like this was appealing, but that it may show a weakness to other potential clients or a boss, if they came.

I really hadn’t thought about it this way, and I understand the concern. Having said that, there is another way to look at this.

Conferences are nothing more than ongoing education. You will hear plenty you may already know, the goal here is to get up to date on concepts you may not understand as well. Or you might be provided some information to help you make decisions about your business future.

I proudly tell my customers about the additional conferences I attend, because they also know that with technology, every facet of business changes at the speed of light. Your boss knows this as well. Explaining to your boss that the investment of the trip to the conference will prove one of two things, you know everything you need to know, or they made a wise investment that will enable you to make them more efficient!

I have been to conferences that taught me very little, and some that I have learned a lot from. The key is to read the details about what the conference is geared to provide. What is its target market, what are the key conversation points, and is there enough there for it to be sensible for you.

What about competitors? They might be there!

Yeah? So what? You should be worried about them being there while your sitting in the office. Everyone wants a competitive edge, its only the fool who thinks they have it already. A very key issue in business, its not about what you know.. you are EXPECTED to know how to do your job, its about how you build and sustain relationships. If you’re not as good as or better than your competitor at that, no amount of knowledge will save you.

Conferences are designed to help you build and keep relationships by providing you the education you need to make them happy.

Focus on YOU, not on THEM.

I educate people and learn from them, yes, even my competitors!

I read a lot of blogs, I’m not one who comments unless I feel an article has touched a nerve in such a compelling way that I have to speak my mind. This is actually pretty difficult for me, because I am an opinionated person. I just choose to be careful about public response.

I also am involved in communicating on Twitter as often as I can. About 50% of the time I am watching and responding to things I read, and the rest I might comment about business, talk about coming work or more often just rattle off a thought I have at that moment because of something that has impacted me with the hopes I might help others in the same predicament.

I read a lot about the “Experts” issue, because I don’t have much choice, the group I follow are collectively people who are involved in Social Media in some business manner, but prefer that people not refer to themselves as experts. I am on the fence on this issue, primarily because noone knows who gets to set the criteria for the so called “Expert”, but there are many compelling ideas behind the concept. Do you have to be a marketing professional already? If not would some of these people qualify?

I know I am not a Social Media expert. How? Because my peers do not communicate with me on that level. In fact I don’t believe I rank on anybodys scale as a person knowledgaeble on this topic. But still, I do offer classes on the subject to local Small Businesses and I do make a small profit doing so, because my time is still worth money to someone. And more importantly, I do this for a good reason, someone needs to do it for a couple of reasons:

1. If you jump into this eyes closed, you can quickly become overwhelmed or underwhelmed. If you don’t know what to expect and some of the rules you are expected to follow (and yes folks, there are rules even if they are not posted anywhere on the sites for these tools) you will give up quickly having accomplished nothing and likely not to see the value it can bring to you.
2. I have goals that are much broader, I want to further the cause of Small Businesses like mine. It is a real struggle and has some very large ups and downs and education is a big part of how I feel I can offer something back.

Hey, I don’t have all the answers. But I’d rather do my best than do nothing. I want to believe I can help you, and I know that is a mix of my ego and my desire to be humble all jumbled up into one.

I know I have helped people, and know that I will continue to learn and pass that information forward as I can. I also believe that there is no “right” way to get involved. I teach an approach, be yourself and learn to build value to others. That is how I have grown my business before I knew a thing about Social Media! So really, I’m teaching a marketing class, or am I just teaching a class in common sense? Sometimes others just need to hear someone else say its ok before they act.

Im involved in Social Media, and you should be too. Follow the path that got you to where you are. It’s Ok!

I have posted a new Vlog about the importance of Investing in your web presence and Online Marketing. I hope you enjoy it!