I was recently invited by Digital Citizens co-founder James Fridley @fridley to be on a panel discussion entitled “Startups, small shops and bootstrappers: the real value in social media and digital PR for small business”. Digital Citizens is an inclusive, informal organisation dedicated to knowledge sharing and discussion of social, political, ethical and professional issues related to new technologies and the social web.   So my first response was along the lines of “Are you sure you want me”? I don’t profess to be an SME, SMEG or any other acronym that gives off the illusion that I am some sort of expert with social media. But that’s precisely why I was asked.

I mean to be honest, I get really annoyed with social media, particularly Twitter where half the time I feel like I’m talking to myself and lack of response or retweets can really send me into a sulky tantrum and Facebook where I find I do get a lot of response time however constantly stalked by lonely men wanting to build up their online female friend list or potential “wannabe” friends only out to post and promote their business on my wall! Sometimes there’s no point to it but then I think about all of the connections and friends I have made and that regardless of the response/s I do have an impact on someone, somewhere, out there and that’s what’s important to me. It’s all about the connection. (Just as an aside, I must pay tribute to @iggypintado for flogging the whole “connection” thing as he taught me that).

So as nervous as I was to attend and speak (as the set resembled something out of Q&A albeit more relaxed), I was also honored that someone out there thought I was relevant and interesting enough to listen to and I was flattered to be sharing the panel with Jeremy Somers (@itsartdammit) designer and co-founder of We Are Handsome, Craig Macindoe  (@chefmumu) head chef and owner of Mumu Grill and Lara Solomon (@LaRoo) creator of Mocks, and author of Brand New Day.

The plan was to take questions from the audience and online although the majority of the questions came from the audience who were an eager bunch wanting to learn more about social media success in your business and how you can attain it. One of the questions we all fielded was around “measurement of social media” i.e. how do we measure the fact that a sale or lead can be directly attributed to a tweet, how do you know how much time and effort to invest in order to get a return?

I could hear the sharp intake of breath when my answer to this was not as expected. No, I didn’t hook up my iPhone to a pocket projector and beam colourful charts and graphs plotting time spent being “social” (x axis) against dollars flowing into the business (y axis). My answer was simple, I don’t measure. While many strive for the magic social media combination and formula for me it is just about being me. I am the representative of my brand and fortunately I like to chat, with anyone, about anything.  I can sense the puzzled look on your face!

For me anyway it is about building and maintaining connections which in turn become friends. Over time these maintained connections will be beneficial (mutually hopefully). I am sure it is something to do with six degrees of separation but from my connections I can summon all matter of things: tech help on my website, an invite to an event, opening a door to a new client and so on.

And you just can’t put a price on that!

Recently Rhianne, who has been with us at The Transcription People since early 2008, finished her Certificate III in Business Administration and is about to start Certificate IV in Front-line Management.

Rhianne came to the organisation straight out of school after finishing Year 12. With the decision made not to go to ‘schoolies’ and to become focussed with starting her career was the perfect start. “… Although the tempation to have a break and go to ‘schoolies’ was hard to resist, the benefits of starting the job was always going to outweigh the negatives …”.

Rhianne feels that the completion of Certificate III has set her up for further achieving career goals. When asked what Rhianne would like to aim for, she indicated that running an office would be her dream job.

Rhianne mentioned that the winning formula for making a successful traineeship happen includes:

• Taking your time with understanding the basic elements of the job;
• Be prepared to make coffees and do the tasks that are considered menial or boring;
• Don’t go out partying before the first day of your job. There is nothing cool about smelling of alcohol or having the ‘night club’ stamps on your arms;
• Wear work appropriate clothing. This means no offensive logos or torn pants, midriff showing or tattoos exposed;
• Listen well and if you’re not sure about how to do a task as requested then re-ask the Manager. Rhianne believes there is nothing worse for someone who is starting out in their traineeships to do a task which you didn’t understand in the first place. It leads to you getting into trouble from your Manager and as well it can lead to a major knock to your self-confidence;
• Making time to complete all assignments;
• Don’t be afraid to make suggestions if you think things can be done differently;

With Rhianne moving from Certificate III to Certificate IV in Front-line Management, she is feeling confident and well supported by her workplace to complete it without any problems.

It is important to have good people within the business. Over the years whilst running this business, the amount of issues experienced with firstly attracting the right type of skilled people has been difficult and secondly the effort spent in keeping them for long term is equally as difficult. The realisation of my business needing a good focused young person to come in and learn was vital to the long term viability and with Rhianne’s raw talent and abilities, has in my view, turned out to be mututally beneficial. In short, The Transcription People gained a great young person whilst she continues to gain qualifications and other useful life skills that she can use within other future roles.

The following number of elements are what I consider important for people to have when employed as a trainee:

• Having good interpersonal skills;
• Turning up on time;
• Listening and asking questions when you do not understand and;
• Putting your full effort into tasks – half a job done is as good as not doing the job in the first place.

The Transcription People are always looking for bright and energetic people to join them, especially skilled proof readers and transcriptionists. Send your resume to jobs@ttp.com.au

I was inspired to write this blog post after attending FlyingSolo Live in Sydney recently. One of the best speakers on the day was Andrew Griffiths an Aussie who has done very well in business in Australia. His keynote speech at FlyingSolo Live talked about his personal and business journey and how he once trusted a business adviser who came his way during tough times who turned around his ailing business and promoted him into the A-League of small business entrepreneurs.

One of the things that Andrew spoke about on the day which I could totally relate to was how small business must think and act big. This is something I worked on in the early days of my business, before we had an office and staff, when I was working on my own from my home office.

It is easy today to create a website and sell your wares to the world online. A great looking website is a must and is often one of the first things any potential client sees so good first impressions are essential. But alot of small and micro businesses start to fail when you look closer at the detail of the business. Here are four quick and easy things to work on to swell the image of your business:

Tip 1: Use A Real Address For Your Business

Yes a PO box is handy, send all your bills there, forget them and hope they go away. But when potential clients see this the bells start to ring. Is this a legitimate business? Why don’t they have an office? Whereabouts are they located?

This one is quite easy to fix. Use your home address except add a Suite number to the first line. So for example if you live and work at:

Simply add the Suite to address line:

Don’t worry this doesn’t confuse your postie, he or she will still deliver your post.

Tip2: Email Address

This is my pet hate. Nothing gives away a small or micro business more than using an ISP or free email address as your primary business email address. By that I mean BigPond, Optus, Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail email addresses. Every business should have a website, no question. If you have a website you have your own domain name, you must use that domain name for all your business emails.

I see this all the time, especially from people who apply for a job with The Transcription People. I will get an introduction email with a resume attached “Hello I have been running a small business for X years and would love to work with The Transcription People …” invariably the email signature block will have something like hilda@agoodtypingcompany.com.au BUT when you look at the sender the email is from fred_and_hilda52@bigpond.com !!

Worse still, I get an email from someone using Hotmail or Yahoo with a “Find Singles Near You” advert at the bottom of the email, not very professional.

Do not redirect your business domain emails to your home ISP or free email address. No excuse, if you have a domain name use it for your business emails. You can either do this by configuring the email that you pay for which comes with your web hosting or switch to something like Google Mail for Business.

Tip 3: Phone Number

Times are changing, in the not so distant days gone by it was a faux pas to list your mobile phone number as your only contact number, mainly due to the exorbitant call costs to mobiles. Those days have gone and it is more acceptable to put your mobile number on your contact page, but not as your only contact number. Remember, small business thinking and acting big. Look to get a 1300 (local rate) or 1800 (free call) number, doesn’t have to be something meaningful as your first number like 1300 I AM GR8 any 1300 or 1800 has the look and feel of a “real” business. If you live and work on your mobile simply have the 1300/1800 routed directly to your mobile. The costs involved in setting up and maintaining a local rate (1300) or freecall (1800) number is minimal for the effect it has.

Tip 4: GST

Before you roll your eyes or start the whole “I don’t earn enough for GST” comment just stop and have a think. How many professional companies do you deal with, day to day, who charge you GST, I am willing to bet all of them. So, why not join join them? Small businesses who turnover less than $75,000 a year are not required to register for GST but you can optionally register for GST – ATO details here. You should already be accounting for your sales and purchases so it should be easy to account for that extra 10% tax. You will be required to lodge a BAS (Business Activity Statement) every quarter, yes only four times a year, no big deal. The extra 10% of income you receive and hold onto for the government for a couple of months can come in handy sometimes if cash flow becomes tight, the 10% rebate on any purchase is always worth having. Of course always talk to your tax professional before you do this.

These are four quick and easy tips to help move you and your business forward.