What to Read & Write to Keep a Small Business Afloat

     While interviewing Timothy about his daily activities as a small business owner, it became apparent that there is a lot of reading and writing that goes into running a business. In my last post I didn't get much into the subject, because I felt like it deserved its own post.
    
      I realized before hand that, yes, you have to communicate through clients/customers through email, but I did not know how frequently used it is. Email is one of the most important ways that Timothy communicates with clients, because it is quick and easy to get your point across if it is something that does not warrant a report. These emails are always short and to the point and informal. Now, informal to Timothy means that he doesn't have to make graphs and analyze a a stocks performance because that is all saved for when he is writing a report. Though they may not have these aspects, his emails are professionally written with proper grammar and spelling and formatted in a more scholarly format. This is because he still wants to create a professional appearance to his clients. I think that it is important to always keep a professional presence.

     Even though my future business will not have such a conservative and formal environment as Timothy's investment consultant firm, I think that it is still crucial to keep a tone of professionalism in communication with my customers because email will be my primary way of speaking with my customers. If you need more information on how to go about creating a more professional tone in your emails, here are ten tips on how to write a professional email. I always try to keep them in mind while composing my emails.

 
      Timothy also mentioned that an important daily task for him was to read the Wall Street Journal. The wall street journal is a business and financial news subscription journal used to learn about what in the economy today. Timothy recommends that anyone in business reads the journal. It has articles for any business subject: marketing, accounting, finance, management, ect. I plan to subscribe to it soon because I think it will be beneficial when I start up my business to keep up with current events that will be relevant to me.

     Timothy mentioned numerous other specific readings and writings that he does. Just to name a few: reports, stock portfolios, and clients profiles. Many things were specific to his consulting business and not very relevant to me, but what I got away from talking with him was that keeping up with current events and market trends is very beneficial to knowing how you want to run your business. It sets up a path for you to know how to direct your business to succeed.

Day in the Life of a Small Business Owner

     As I think about my future and all the things that I can make of my life, I always love the idea of starting my own business. For the past few years I have started leaning towards the thought of starting up a small business of selling my hand made bracelets and other craft projects that I love to do in my free time. I love the idea of being able to incorporate doing a thing I love with my career. I know what you're thinking, this has nothing to do with why I am going to college, or even why this is on my blog. However, I think that knowing how to market yourself and your business is very important, if not the most important thing to make your business a success.

     Since I am leaning towards starting my own business, I thought it would be valuable for me to talk to someone else who has started their own business, and has had great success with it. I met up with Timothy Clark*, who works along side his father, Brent Clark*, in their own investment consulting firm. Investment consultants help individuals and companies decide on what is the most appropriate investments for themselves. Brent started the firm in 1985 having to build his client base using nothing but his knowledge of investments and his skills of marketing. Soon after, his son started working with him and continued to help expand the business.

     Creating a business is one thing, but maintaining and growing a business is an every day responsibility that never ends. Timothy makes sure that he is always networking with potential new clients whenever possible to get his business known. The primary way he does this is by word of mouth from his existing clients. He relies greatly on his clients recommendations to friends and business partners for referrals. This is something that I have realized to be very important for all businesses. Word of mouth is one of the best ways for information to be passed, because if you hear about a positive experience from someone you trust, you will feel safer doing business with them.

     Timothy also never forgets about his clients, and thinks of them as being all equally important no matter what their size. He is in constant contact with them making sure that they are happy, and that they are getting the most that they can out of his services. This quality of customer service is crucial to all small size businesses. Since the client base is so small, it makes a big difference if one person is unhappy than if a big corporation has one customer that is unhappy. This is something that I think all small business owners should keep in mind to help their business expand.

     There are many great things about owning your own business: setting your own hours, being in charge of how everything is run, and there is no stress about a single employer firing you. With all these great things though comes a lot of work and dedication. I have learned from Timothy that at times it can be very difficult, but it can also be one of the more rewarding things you can do. Yes, at times when he was describing his investment consulting firm I was more than a little confused, but in the end all businesses come down to one thing: marketing your way to success. Talking with him has opened my eyes to a few different ways that are tried and true ways to help grow any type of business.

     I am now more than ever excited to venture into starting my own business after seeing all the success and satisfaction that Timothy and his father Brent has had in their own business. Using my knowledge as a marketing major will only further help me create a customer base that will help my future business succeed.


*pseudonym

Other Marketing Blogs

     Since this blog is going to be focused around all things marketing, I wanted to find other blogs that talk about similar things. This way, I can find some inspiration, and learn more about different topics. Luckily, marketing is such a broad field that there are many different blogs created, each with their own special touch. When I was trying to find blogs, I was searching for an easy-to-read interface, but more importantly, I was drawn towards blogs written by women. These are particularly interesting to me, because I think that it is important for women to embrace corporate power and find their own voices in a room full of men.
 
     I also think that it is inspiring to read things that women write because I can relate more to their writing. It is easier for me to see myself in their shoes tackling the business world one day at a time. At times too their writing is based around working women and I think it is helpful to get tips and gain knowledge in their past experiences.

     The first blog that I ran across is the Lip-Sticking Blog. This site is written by a group of women who are have experience with the corporate business world and marketing. Their posts are aimed towards women, and range from tips for working with teams or from home, to social media posts, to current events. Their site is well-written, and always exciting to read.


     The next blog I found was called Wonder Branding. This is another collaborative blog that focuses on all things marketing. Their tag line is, "business-building principles for main street business owners". This blog is great for anyone owning a business because they give you tips on how to budget, improving customer service, and many other important things to know.


     Finally, the last blog that caught my eye was Copyblogger. This blog combines marketing, writing, and other things that make up business into all of their posts. They have many interesting posts like, "7 Social Psychology Studies to Help You Convert Prospects into Paying Customers", and one entitled "How to Become an Exceptional Writer". This blog has one of the best layouts that I have seen so far, and the posts always have exciting titles that draw me in to read them.

     Of course there are many other great business/marketing blogs out on the internet, but these are just a few that have caught my eye. I only hope that one day my blog can compare to these blogs.They have all been around for a while though, so they are all formatted wonderfully, and have numerous articles that anyone could find something that interests them.

    I suppose what I take away most from seeing all these other great blogs is that I need to incorporate more variety in my postings. I need to remember not to get stuck in a rut and only talk about one specific area in marketing. This way it will always be refreshing to write something new and also it will be refreshing to my readers. 

Blogging: A Genre

     While creating this blog I started to think, how do you describe a blog? What genre does blogging fall under? I used to think that blogs were purely just personal journals put out onto the web to share your feelings with the world. Though there are many of these types of blogs out there, I have been increasingly aware of other types that are either on a specific topic, or more for educational purposes.

      There are many ways that people describe blogging. Cornelius Puschmann wrote in a journal article describing corporate blogs: "corporate blogs are written by the
employees of a company, delineating them from self-employed or freelance writers
who make their living by blogging and are thus also “business bloggers” in a
sense". These types of blogs are on the professional level and thus entail more proper tone and formatting. There are two main types of blogs: personal and business. These categories all have similarities though, for example, they are social and build off other peoples knowledge.

     The social aspect of a blog is critical to the definition of blogging. On an online journalism blog, they defined blogging as, "Blogging, above all else, is conversational. It is social. It is networked. There are two key features to the blog: links, and comments. Fail to include either, and you’re talking to yourself". Blogging is beneficial to someone who wants to learn more about something because it is all about expanding off of others blogs, journals, and books. The blogger takes what they have read and expands on it, thus building their knowledge on the subject as well as their readers knowledge. These transactions between the reader and writer of the blog also helps build relationships, thus allowing them to grow closer and get to know each others interests.

     As well as using comments and links to build relationships, the formatting of a blog is crucial to how a reader connects with the blogger. The posts are ordered chronologically and usually build off of each new post. This is important to create fluidity within the blog, helping the reader connect with the writer better. Unity between posts will help further define what the blog is about, and why it was created.

     After reading numerous articles, I have come up with my own definition of blogging. Blogging is a way for a writer to portray what they want onto an open platform that has the opportunity to collaborate with the reader to grow on a particular topic. With ever expanding technology though, the definition of blogging will always be changing. As Christina Harview quoted Rebecca Blood from her book We've Got Blog,"The web invented weblogs, but they are still being defined by the people who make them". That is what is so exciting about blogging. New things will come along that will completely change how we as writers and readers go about creating a connection with each other. In the end though, blogging cannot simply be defined as a certain genre, but as a genre in itself.

Marketing and me

Hi blogging world,

My name is Samantha and I am a fourth year student at San Francisco State University. I am majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. Picking a major was very difficult for me, and I went through a lot of trial and error to come to the path that I am on now.

All throughout high school, I never had a "favorite" subject. I figured that once I got to college I would figure out what I wanted to do in the future. Then when I started out at San Francisco State, I automatically decided that I would be a communications major, because it was such a broad subject field, and also the classes were not very technically challenging. Then, as my first year came to a close, I realized that I shouldn't go to college if I was not challenging myself and learning something that would help enrich my life outside of school. I then decided to be a business major. I thought that business was well rounded and would be able to give me more real life experiences.

Once I decided to go into business administration, I dabbled in accounting and marketing. Ultimately I decided on marketing because I am fascinated by studying consumers and what drives them to make their purchasing decisions. I also love the idea that marketing is in everything. Every product and service available all have marketing plans in place to help them succeed.

This is my final year in school and I am excited to graduate and go out into the real world to start a career in marketing. There are so many different positions available that I am willing to start any and gain experience to figure out where exactly I want to take as my career path. From there, I just plan on working my way up the corporate ladder!