20 emails.

Two briefing reports.

One month.

SPECIAL NOTE: THIS SERVICE IS BEING RETIRED IN DECEMBER 2011.

This is the renewable plan I came up with two years ago for the micro businesses that want very much to pick my brain over a “cup of coffee sometime”.

It’s not that I don’t like you and want to help you – but you want to pick my brain for a reason. You think I can bring value to your business because of my experience and knowledge. You know what? I can.

So I decided to offer a way for you to get the help you need at a price you can afford, and it’s been working out very well. Some folks use one month of the subscription, some decide to keep the subscription active for more than one month. It’s like having my brain on speed dial for your needs. I debated bringing it back this year, but when I mentioned dropping the service I got a significant amount of push back, so it is here to stay in 2011.

Requirements:

MICRO business is not a euphemism. This is for the solo preneur or business being run by less than five people, mom and pop businesses, etc. For this package, smaller is definitely better, because you will be very hands on making these ideas work for you.

Working knowledge of social media tools (Already have a Twitter account, Facebook page, etc please – this is to make your business soar, not to train you in the basics. That’s what my classes are for.)

No social media marketers. I like to help real business do real things.

Skype account. It’s free for everyone, and lets me screenshare with you when appropriate to answering your question.

Intrigued? Subscribe with this button and get my brain on call for you.

NOTE: THIS SERVICE IS BEING RETIRED IN DECEMBER 2011.

The PayPal button below will be removed on November 30, 2011 and no further bookings will be accepted for this service at that point, so if you’ve been procrastinating, act now.

Will we see you there? We hope so! (Check the event links for discounts associated with the classes from Brittany’s, too!)

Schedule:

Friday, March 11, 2011 from 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM – Facebook for Business
Friday, March 18, 2011 from 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM – LinkedIn for Business
Friday, March 25, 2011 from 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM – Location Based Services for Business
Friday, April 1, 2011 from 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM – Twitter for Business

Friday, April 8, 2011 from 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM – Blogging for Business

Spread the word!

We have a new name: Magnitude Media, and a new web site, Facebook page and Twitter.

We have become laser focused toward helping small business and struggling entrepreneurs, with new price points and more portable options designed for the busy, time and and cash strapped business owner.

In the next few days, the Uptown Uncorked site will automatically redirect to the new business site. We have already ported over all of our existing content and your fabulous comments, so the transition should be seamless for you.

Meanwhile, if you are a small business local to NH, you can sign up for our next class: Facebook for Business, happening this week in Portsmouth, NH or in March in Lincoln.

While I was listening, I also turned off all of my online filters. I do that periodically to make sure I am in touch with how the internet and social media appear to someone who may be new at it.

Some of the things I saw people new to this more social, more vocal, more prolific internet struggle with include:

• Repetition
• Relevancy
• Source Trust
• Filtering
• Time Management
• Boundaries
• Data Ownership
• Legal Issues
• Human Resources Issues
• Tool Choice
• Engagement Levels
• Rate of Return

That means over the next few posts I’ll try and address these issues in such a way that you and your business can glean benefit. I want to give you steps toward being online without sinking your business from spinning your wheels.  I do this at least once every year, and I am always so happy when it’s time to turn my own filters back on.  Interestingly, I also noticed a dramatic increase in the number of web savvy people who are starting to buckle under the weight of shifting filter needs as well, so I won’t be leaving the more advanced users out of these posts.

If you or your company struggle with these issues and more, and want to know how this internet and mobile focused word can help you reach success in spite of it’s challenges, you can trust us to help you navigate your way through and build a stronger business.

Here are my slides from both presentations, and a huge thank you to both conferences for having me speak.

Social Media FTW, Portland, ME, September, 2010

Accelerate Maine, Bangor, ME, October 2010

The talk that inspired me and the Twitter friend’s blog I heard it from

The a la carte things I offer are designed to help the average one or two person endeavor break the learning barrier, get a road map to both online and offline efforts and tools, learn how to think about adaptive media and integration for themselves, and generally find their way in such a way that they can be responsible for their own growth without being scared or intimidated or feeling lost.

One word of caution: I dump a lot of information on folks in these a la carte sessions. This is not “sit in a room and listen to me talk”. This is “please bring your laptop to the table and your business plan and let’s both get our hands dirty helping you out for the day.” I require that the people who take the immersion course already have dipped their toes in to social media, because this is about so much more than just how to set up social profiles. If that’s a fit for you, click the a la carte link in the sidebar ->

First of all, this isn’t an automated business we’re in. It is true that some clients and their products or goals can lend themselves to some automation (see ReverbNation for musicians, or IndieGoGo for film, for examples). The reality comes into play that even those clients will eventually have to get their hands dirty and get involved with the people who are interested in their social efforts. If you are automated then you aren’t listening, you’re missing opportunities, and you aren’t growing like you could be.

Second, if you are a consultant and you don’t value your product (which is often your self) or your knowledge enough to charge for it, why are you in business? If you aren’t comfortable charging a price and sticking to it, perhaps in the back of your mind you think what you offer has no value, and if you think that – so will your potential clients. Figure out what you know and what it is worth, and charge accordingly. Perhaps this post from Christopher Penn will help you get some pricing perspective.

Finally, as I mentioned yesterday, you can’t go social and introduce all of the shiny new toys and tools and strategies that compliment your business without making sure your business can support the interaction. That where the business development, web site and other aspects of what I offer come in – it goes way beyond social. You will need to make at least a few organizational changes to accommodate customer interest, because you can’t force the customer to interact in only one way any more. You may be there for sales or news updates only, but your customer may throw you a customer service curve ball – you need to be ready. Your web site and other media (print, TV, etc) presences need to be ready to be social too.

What this all means for the customer is an adjustment in thinking about how they do business and what kind of benefits this will have for you and your customer. Interestingly, this post is about only a fraction of what I offer. The social media and business development is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all of the cool things I get to do with clients, it just seems to be where a handful of folks get mentally stuck. What this means for the consultant is that you need to offer something you value, or no one else will value it either and you’ll be on this treadmill of rejection and price cutting until you throw in the towel or price yourself out of business – self doubt isn’t sustainable.

So, you asked for it, you got it.

NOTE: THIS SERVICE IS BEING RETIRED IN DECEMBER 2011.

No further bookings will be accepted for this service at that point, so if you’ve been procrastinating, act now.

The Scoop:

“Let me take you out to [insert beverage type or meal] and pick your brain about something” has to be the thing I get asked the most.

I’m flattered to be considered pick-worthy, but one of the reasons you want to ask me questions is that I’m good at what I do and that takes time (and time is money, so to speak), which leaves little time for the simpler requests. So many people suggested I make the request into a service, I thought I’d take them up on it. At the moment this is a limited time experiment. We’ll see how it goes and if it makes actually doing my job more difficult, or if it is something we all enjoy. See below for cost.

Tell me a bit about you, and about why you want to Pick My Brain. Then schedule one of my available appointment times.

Legal stuff:

1) This is advice only. I can’t be held responsible for you deciding to use my advice for nefarious deeds and schemes. It’s intended to help you be better at what you need to be better at.

2) Sometimes I won’t be able to answer something if it falls under an NDA. Some of my clients require these little gems of legal silence. I’ll let you know that’s why if this happens and the genie will grant you another wish. Er, I mean, I’ll answer a different question.

3) I can’t create an entire strategy for your organization in an hour knowing not much about how you work as a whole, what your goals are, etc. That’s not what this is for. This is intended for questions I *can* answer in an hour. Think ahead to what matters most to you to know RIGHT NOW.

I hope this helps you out and allows me to give some nice people the advice they need at a price they can afford and in a way that doesn’t eat my schedule alive.

I don’t post more often because I like to put most of my ideas into action instead. I am a woman of big ideas, a connector, and I try to enact as many as possible, as quickly and as well as I can. I don’t like a good idea to die on the vine. A lot of these big ideas involve connecting the real world with the online world. The value of social media to people and businesses is in the connectivity it brings, and the doors that opens. This means I believe just as much in the value of face time as I do in the value of online time, and I try to instill that belief in others by building powerful real life networks.

I’ve been putting these thoughts into practice with Social Media Breakfast NH, Podcamp NH, in-person relationship building, client coaching and strategizing, writing books to make the concept easier for others like Twitter for Dummies (co-author with Laura Fitton and Michael Gruen), investigating co-working spaces like the upcoming Port Forward, real life networking whenever possible at events like NH and Boston Media Makers, local off-web events like Chamber meetings or last night’s Extreme Website Makeover event, one-on-one time with my colleagues and friends whose minds inspire me, and more. There is something about translating connections between the tangible and the intangible that makes the ideas much more vibrant and that makes the connection adhere more fully.

How is face time important for your business? Simple: it brings the human element into your brand. You can attempt to engage people online until you are blue in the face. You can throw money and resources at social media until you go broke. But if you can’t translate that rapport and effort into time off the screen somehow, you’re missing a key component to your overall social media and business development strategy. It’s not your 100 or 100,000 or more followers on various platforms that counts, it’s the number that come to your movie, attend your event, support your cause in person, talk about you to their friends, go to your concert, use your service in their homes or businesses, drink your wine in real life… you get the idea.

Never underestimate the value of face time. How do you employ face time in your business or life?