She’s the, "Get it Done Girl!"

I came across a great blog post featured on Mashable called How To: Deal with Negative Feedback in Social Media.

Google Alerts

But how do you know if there is negative feedback if you’re not using social media? If you’re hesitant to delve into Twitter or Facebook for your business, the bare minimum that you need to do is create a Google Alert.

Everytime your keywords are mentioned on most websites INCLUDING Twitter and Facebook, you are notified via email. This is invaluable because there is no way that you can be monitoring every website all the time. Let Google do the work for you.

Go to http://www.google.com/alerts and start creating alerts. Use quotes around text that you’d like Google to search for as a phrase. For example, I have a Google alert created for “Suzanne Hull” and “Des Moines”. Everytime my name and city of residence are mentioned on a website, I receive an email notification. I also have a Google alert created for “Contemporary Business Solutions”. I want to know when my business name is mentioned so I can go directly to the content and read what was published.

Google Alerts are great to find out about negative feedback; they’re also great to find out if someone has said something positive about you and/or your brand so you can thank them for their comments.

How can you use Google Alerts in your business?

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Through a local Business Book Club last year, I read a life-changing book called “The Go-Giver”. I highly recommend this book. It’s premise applies to everyone in all facets and stages of their lives.

It’s a really quick read in a modern-day business parable format focusing on putting others first. Over the course of five days, a restaurateur, a CEO, a financial advisor, a real-estate broker and the mysterious “Connector” teach Joe, a fictitious young salesman, about the laws of value, compensation, influence, authenticity and receptivity-concepts while reflecting on the concept of “give, and you shall receive.”

The Go-Giver demonstrates how shifting the focus from getting to giving and putting the other person first is the key to business success and personal fulfillment.

I experienced this first-hand last year in my efforts to help the unemployed in Des Moines get back to work. I created a blog which has grown into a support network for the community. As soon as I started giving and helping others, professionals, who would soon become mentors, started coming out of the woodwork. They reached out to me, in recognition of what I was doing, and offered to help in any way they could. Through this process of giving selflessly, I was able to demonstrate my business acumen and build credibility in the community which has become the foundation of my business.

If you haven’t already read this book, I highly recommend it. If you live in Des Moines, I also recommend that you join the Business Book Club organized by the Meyvn Group. They choose amazing titles and facilitate a great discussion.

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As a new business owner with newly acquired clients, I’ve begun thinking about time management.  How much time does a businessowner spend working “on” the business (marketing, branding, meeting with clients, drafting proposals, other meetings, networking) versus working “in” the business (doing the actual work you’ve contracted with a client to perform).

Before I started Contemporary Business Solutions, I was comfortably busy. As a job seeker/blogger, I kept busy looking for a job, attending networking events, career workshops and maintaining my website. I continue to work part-time for the Iowa United Nations Association and am involved in a German Club which I started last year. Then I started my own business. That’s when life got interesting.

After I got the creation of the business out of the way, I was spending 100% of my time working “on” the business.  Mostly marketing, then meeting with prospects and drafting proposals. Of course there is a lot of networking mixed in there as well. Once I landed a client, things changed.

I’ve got to do the work I’ve been contracted to do, but I also have to keep that pipeline filled with prospects. I’m at the point of trying to find this balance while also maintaining all the activities I was engaged in before I started my business because they continue to be important to me.

Are you a small business owner/entrepreneur? How are you finding the balance between these two worlds?

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