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02/22/2012
Shine...
I’ve been a work at home mum for a number of years now. I’ve always had a passion for business (one of two passions). Before Market Me I ran two smaller hobby businesses in which I learnt bucket loads about business, running a business, and marketing a business.
It’s a bit hard to believe now, but my mum was holding my hand and helping me set up my first business. I didn’t even know how to organise a domain name, had my mum build me a basic website, but then started to work through the ins and outs of business, improving packaging, branding, website all while learning everything the long and hard way! (I can remember being so scared that I was going to stuff the website up! Thanks again mum!)
It wasn’t until my first and my second passions were brought together, that I found my true platform to shine. My second passion is people. I loved being around people, helping people, training people, telling them about the things I had learnt in order to help them to new levels.
Business + people = Market Me. I started Market Me in April of 2010 with the focus of helping people grow their business ‘the smart way’. You see so much money can be spent on things that bring little benefit to their business. They can spend unnecessary money, chewing up that important percentage we call profit. They can feel stuck not knowing where to turn to for information or assistance. I am a creative thinker and thought if nothing else I could provide creative ideas for people to use in their businesses, ideas that would allow them to feel empowered to grow and expand their businesses.
I wanted to cut through the crap on the net and bring only what was sound, important and helpful knowledge. I wanted to be able to tell them that there was a better way, a smarter way to do business, a creative solution to every problem. I wanted to shine, and be a light, an encouragement to business owners through tough times. To some degree I have achieved what I set out to do, but know that this is a long term goal.
Many of my clients are long term clients, I connect with people (some more so than others), tell them they can do this business thing! I provide support way beyond what my clients pay me, as this is my service to business. I want to shine and be a light in a somewhat difficult business world. I haven’t done everything right, I’ve made mistakes, but I refuse to let those things hold me back from shining to the business community.
So if you do what you love, let it will shine through. Even if you're not quite where you want to be, start making the most of this time in your life and choose to shine. If you are passionate, people will sense that and want to follow you. If you are a person people want to follow, you will be a light to many. Everyone has an opportunity to shine. You just have to find it and run with it.
Business doesnt just have to be a job, it can be the outworking of your passions. If you feel like you’re just going through the motions, maybe it’s time you stood back & reassessed where you wanted to be in life, and if this really is what you should be doing. There’s always a chance to shine in every situation or business. Sometimes it just takes new perspective.
I’d like to take this incredible opportunity to thank my supporters, my clients, those who follow me on Facebook, those who continue to be a part of my life. For without you, Market Me would not be the success it is today. I’m excited about the future, excited about being a voice in Business across Australia.
Shine
I have been a keen supporter of Build a Little Biz for a long time, and when Karen said she was launching the Shine Network, I was over the moon. Why? Because we all need to be reminded to shine, and its just as important to surround yourself with other people that shine! Make sure you do yourself & your business a favour and check out this great new community,
Stay in tune with your passions, and shine!
Nic Jones
Market Me Marketing
Image: Shine
12/19/2011
5 ways to find, free up & create money heading into the new year...
The end of the year is exciting for me, not just the whole christmas, family, food, new years stuff, but because its the time that I reflect on my year, my business, and things that I can change to make things work better. With the economy being so tough, business owners feel the brunt of tight budgets and less customers spending.
There's no better time than over the holidays, to do a quick review of your business finances and see where you might be wasting away precious profits without even realising it, and to also see where you could possibly create some extra money without doing anything too drastic!
So here it is, 5 ways to find, free up & create money heading into the new year...
1. Subscription Specials - Check out the different things you are subscribed to. Many companies put out end of year sales where you can get up to 50% or more off a yearly subscription. You can see by the email I got this morning that I can save significantly on taking up a yearly subscription with Jotform (an online form creator). For some businesses that saving of $45 could be a few hours hard work! To be honest they’ve pulled out their best price for the end of the year!
2. Automatic payments – December/January is a GREAT time to check your credit card statements and automatic Paypal subscriptions and payments for anything that you don’t need anymore. You know those ’FREE TRIAL pay nothing for 30 days’ campaigns we get tempted by and give in to? How many times have you forgotten about cancelling something before the end of that trial, then ending up being charged month after month for something you’ve not used! It pays to check these regularly you might be saving yourself and your business some money.
3. Review your top 5 biggest expenses – you could spend hours reviewing your expenses but since December/January is such a busy time, take the top 5 biggest business expenses and review them. Can you re-source something somewhere else for a better price? The scope of the economy has changed so much in the last 12 months, that prices have come down on some things (and yes I know gone up on others!). There’s no harm checking for a better deal (without compromising quality if product or service of course).
4. Anything you can do without? Don’t get scared now, but yes there are potentially things that we can do without! The year gets busy, we sign up to things, take new things on and before we know we are living very close to or maybe above our budgets! Circumstances might change too and so there are often ways we can do things differently to cut back. Sometimes it’s just a matter of reviewing where we and our business is at and the slightest changes can even make quite a big difference.
5. Review your pricing and postage structures. Australia Post have made changes to their rates this year, did your business postage charges change to reflect this? For many businesses losing a few dollars here and there on postage you’re not realising you have to pay, could mean 10 – 20% of your profit being chewed up.
And what about your prices? We could go into a whole new topic here, but in short, are your prices really covering expenses and are you really making a healthy profit on these items? If you are a service business, does what you charge line up with industry standard pricing? Are you really charging what you’re worth? There’s no better time of the year than now to review pricing, and make changes where needed.
Small business owners work hard for their profits, if you take just one hour to review these 5 things, you may save yourself anywhere to a couple of hundred dollars to thousands, PLUS you could be creating a stronger income and a better business for 2012.
It’s gonna be a great year I can feel it!
Nic Jones
Market Me Marketing
11/10/2011
10/02/2011
Purposeful Branding or Branding by Default?
Did you know that every business has branding? Some businesses take the time to think through, work on and launch professional branding with the aim of portraying a unique image that will help sell their product or service, others let their branding fall into place by default.
What is branding you ask?
The Business Dictionary defines branding as ‘The process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers' mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.’
Ok so ive got a logo, that’s it right?
This is one of the biggest misconceptions of all time! Branding starts with your logo, but incorporates more than that. Branding covers every aspect of your business, your logo, your stationery, your online presence, your uniforms, your product packaging and more! It even goes as far as things like your staff, customer service, order turnaround times and the overall ‘tone’ of your business and the way things are carried out.
Branding does a number of things:
~ Creates a professional presentation (or a non-professional presentation)
~ Shows that your business is serious about being in business! (or that you’ve thrown a few things together hoping it will make you some money)
~ Creates Trust in your brand (or uncertainty - people will simply move on and find another brand)
~ Creates an image in the mind of the consumer, so that when they see your product around, they will possibly have some brand recognition, and people will also remember a unique ‘image’ and when they next need your product, their ‘image or logo’ will be what pops into their heads well and truly before your name!
Purposeful Branding or Branding by Default
So you can either simply let your branding ‘happen & evolve’ or If you want to give your business the best chance to have a ‘unique image’ that will help sell your product or service, a professional image and something that will stick in the minds of consumers giving you the best possible chance of success then you need to be purposeful about your branding.
Market Me are only one of the many companies that can help you get the branding right for your business, and kickstart it off on the right foot. The loss in sales you may face from having ‘default branding’ would possibly be much more than the small outlay you could have paid to get your branding right.
Purposeful Branding or Branding by Default? Its your choice!
Yours in Business
Nic Jones
Market Me Marketing
09/24/2011
07/10/2011
Announcing the Winners of our BUMPER BUSINESS GIVEAWAY!
Well Market Me turned one, and we celebrated in style with a BUMPER BUSINESS GIVEAWAY! Just about all of the entries were absolutely GREAT business tips!! But we can only have 3 winners, so here they are!
THIRD PRIZE valued at $109.95 was won by Business Tip no 13. Angelic Scents & Beauty! Vanessa wrote...
'The biggest thing i have learnt since starting my business almost 2 years ago, is to trust yourself!! If you have faith in yourself, your products and what you are doing, you can achieve anything! Have a plan, and stick to it, and believe in yourself! I had so many people telling me that i would never make it when i was trying to set up my business. And with many different set backs, they were almost right. But the more i was told i couldnt do it, i was even more determined to make it! Positive thinking & actions work wonders :)'
SECOND PRIZE valued at $299.00 was won by Business Tip no 32. Charlene from Scentual Flair. Charlene wrote...
'The biggest thing I have learnt is to first and foremost put yourself first! Without good health and allocated time for yourself everything can fall down in a heap! Prioritise your time,make a daily "schedule" and try and stick to it! I am a work at home mum and it is easy to get side tracked with house duties and non-business related issues. I now pack myself lunch and snacks each morning, ( as you would if you had a job that was outside of home ) get myself dressed, put my work hat on so to speak, and get into WORK MODE from 9-2.30pm. Time management is crucial.'
AND FIRST PRIZE valued at $598.95 was won by Jacara Russell!! Jacara wrote..
'I have only started to follow my dream a few months ago, so I'm learning valuable information every day, trying to soak up as much as possible. In the beginning everyone had a suggestion of what they thought I should be making which led me to the conclusion that I must make the things I actually enjoy making and eventually like minded people will gravitate towards me instead of me trying to cater for everyone. I have found that in order to avoid getting ditracted by housework I act as though I'm at work not at home. This involves having a set schedule of times for breaks etc, not answering the home phone ( I use my mobile for business ) and most importantly, explaining to friends, nieghbours etc that I am trying to run a business from home and simply cannot stop for coffee and cake every 10 mins just as I couldnt do if I was employed elsewhere.'
We'd like to say a HUGE thank you to those who entered, and a MASSIVE CONGRATS to those who have won!!! Please get in touch with us to organise your prizes!
Have a great week!
Nic Jones
Market Me Marketing
NOTE: Winners have been worked out using the numbered comments in our Typepad back office. There were 2 double entries and these have been taken out of the initial count. Numbers were chosen using Random.org.
