My hairdresser is my therapist, my confidante, my friend, and the guy who makes me look great after he styles my hair! We have some great conversations and recently we were both chatting about how no one can do what we do, well maybe they can, but they will  never do it the same as us and therefore not as good as us. But surely that means we are overbearing, micro managers who trusts no one?

This conversation was fun and it was like being part of a mastermind group of two as we brainstormed our ideas and our thoughts, but in the end we both agreed we find it difficult to hand over the reigns to someone else. But, when I was sitting in my office my train of thought kept leading me back to this subject and I started to think logically and then I realized I have handed over the reigns and this is how I did it.

• I started small – rather than dive in and outsource all the work I could not handle any more, knowing I should concentrate on what I did best, I took one step at a time so that this process was a painless as it could be, for me.
• I built relationships with the people I wanted to work with,  the people I had no trust issues with, who had great work ethics and who knew what they were doing.
• I communicated well, I documented information, I chatted over the phone, I emailed, I met these people for lunch, and I kept in contact with them.
• I set standards and build foundations which offered me a safety net if need be.

All in all I am very proud of those first steps, and it is a continuing work in progress, but I do know that other people who work in my organization can do what I do, but in their own way. This is how it should be, they are not me, they are individuals who are great at what they do because of who they are. I made great choices.

I still understand why my hairdresser thinks the way he does, and I did have a big problem in the early years of me branching out and out-sourcing work. Maybe my hairdresser has to build relationships, build the trust, over time and not rush the process, but in the end it’s his decision.

No one is as great as me at what I do, but they can take over the reigns and save me time and money and do it their way.

Sounds rude, big mouth, but in my Brit way I speak as I see it. So what do I mean by a big mouth, someone who shouts to the world they are right, or lets you know they are the best ever, or is always spouting off rubbish and never listens to themselves, or how they sound. I can admit that in my early, and naive days of being a small business owner I could have been one of those people; OK, I was one of those people. But, and this is the important thing, I realised in time my challenge, I checked myself into rehab, you know the one, The Big Mouth Rehabilitation Centre, and it only took me a few days before I was checked out and ready to move on.

Twitter and Facebook breeds herds of Big Mouths, it can be quite funny, even sad and in some times quite scary, but they don’t know they have big mouths, no one is brave enough to tell them. I like a good debate, and I like a good old heart to heart, but no one person is ever completely right all of the time! No one person has the right to spout off and be rude, ignorant, tell the world stuff has to be done their way, but they can carry on doing it for all I care. Their behavior leaves a wide open gap for the rest of us to jump in and be successful, successful in whatever we are doing.

Here’s the thing, there are a few big mouths out there who actually believe in what they say, and sometimes on a rare occasion they are right, but there is no need to SHOUT. If what you share is good content you will be noticed, people will listen to you. Social media can be a noisy place, and fighting for a chance to get noticed can be tough, but being a big mouth means you will become extinct, no one will remember who you were and you will be a piece of history long forgotten.

Bring it on if you want to debate this one, but please, don’t shout at me, I am not deaf:)

Think of social Media the same way you would face to face networking. You are showing off your brand, you are displaying your expertise, you are there for a reason. Finding out as much as possible about your connections and how you can help them is the way to go. You can’t sell to someone unless you know their needs, social media is about selling your products and services, the only difference is you do take the time to build the relationship versus cold calling. As for where, when, how etc, that is entirely you to you, your time, and what your business allows you to do.  You can learn a lot from books and videos but eventually you have to actually *do it*. If you enjoy writing articles and this showcases your expertise you can post the link to your article on any of the social media platforms you chose. However, make sure you have a reason for sharing your particular article and point it in the direction of connections who will be interested in what you have to say. Everything in life takes time, and the same can be said of networking in every sense of the word. The time you invest in your social media/face to face networking will relate to your investment paying off dividends eventually. If for instance you sat on LinkedIn for 6 months and dedicated your time to building relationships, writing articles, meeting people for coffee and connecting over the phone you would definitely have a better chance of moving forward than someone who only visited LinkedIn once a week and did none of the above. It’s not rocket science it just has a different name, Social Media, Social Business, you have been doing it all your life you just don’t know it

Social Media; don’t be confused by the social media hype, if we look at the words Social and Media,

Social simply means: a party of people assembled to promote sociability and communal activity

Media simply means: mass communication regarded collectively

If you have not yet embarked on the path of social media it’s not too late, but I would urge you to walk before you can run and not be taken in by the rush to be the most popular, the most sought after and, have the most followers.

First and foremost know the answers to these questions:

• Why – why are you thinking about becoming active on a social media site
• What – what will social media add to your life
• When – when will you have time to devote to your social media activities
• Which – which social media site(s) do you want to join

Once you have answered the above questions, and you still want to be a part of the social media revolution  then go for it, but do it your way. Don’t be taken in by the so called experts on many of the social media platforms who tell you how you should tweet, to use  Twitter as a good example.

SMB’s definitely have a lot to gain by being active on social media platforms, but first and foremost know yourself, your business and your action plan. Many people have great success by simply building  relationships online and, when possible in the geographical sense, meeting people face to face and strenghening the connection even more.

Social media, in my opinion, makes our lives easier by bringing certain people into our lives and allowing us to find out about them, which in turn offers us the chance to further our business connections and, ultimately sell our products and services. It is a great partner to all the other things we do when building our business connections.

You can decide how much time and effort you put into your social media efforts, as long as you remember you get back what you put in; if you invest a certain amount of time each day, and the time can vary and is always your choice, you will reap the rewards.

Being seen to be active on social media platforms, becoming known, popular, well liked and as someone who is there to help others is no bad thing. Challenges can happen when your time is not well spent on social media and you forget you do have other business matters to attend to. That’s when people tend to walk away and blame social media on their time wasting, which really means they did not structure their social media calendar effectively.

Ultimately, social media is a great tool to use, if you use it proficiently and enjoy the activity, you will be successful.

I hold my hands up, I apologise, but I am human, yes really I am:)

My blog has not been updated as much as it should have been and I know that for a fact and I know why, which really helps me determine how to move forward.

Excuses do not make any difference, if I let my readers down, I admit it, but having relatively good reasons and explaining those to you may give me chance to win you back;)

2011 has not been the best year, but not the worst. Many challenges have crept, jumped, silently came into my life to disrupt, upset and generally pull me down. But, for those of you who know my story, I am still here, I kept going, and now is the time to move on.

One of my sons suffered a mental breakdown earlier this year, he was diagnosed with early Bi-Polar, he is one of the lucky ones. He is getting the best treatment, help and support and will have a fantastic life and will go on to help others in similar situations.

Two of our beloved cats had to be put to sleep, a couple of months apart, Misty and Chip who were brothers and almost 18 years old. Family pets are cherished and more like family members as each year goes on.

My husbands grandmother died, followed by her daughter in law, two funerals in a short space of time, hard to imagine.

The list goes on but I wont bore, you I know you get the idea.

I am back! Thanks for your support:)

I am a do-er, which, and that means I “do” things I don’t just talk about doing stuff.

After presenting to the Small Business Community Network recently on the benefits of LinkedIn I came up with the idea to host a full day conference called The @MarketPlace Conference. You can check out the website here: www.marketplaceconference.com

My goal in life, whether it’s business or personal is to help people, and the @MarketPlace Conference will certainly help a lot of people.

Please check out the recent video interviews with our vendors in the Vendor Village at the conference: http://www.marketplaceconference.com/vendor-village.php

I would love your thoughts on my recent TELUS Talks Business Blog Post thanks:)

http://community.telustalksbusiness.com/blogs/talk_business/2011/08/09/are-you-working-for-social-media

Please check out my recent Motivational Steps Blog post, your comments are welcome, thanks:)

http://www.motivationalsteps.com/stepping_stone/archives/2011/issue_95.html