“Everyone has a plan ‘til they get punched in the mouth.” -Mike Tyson

I admit, I’m not a big fan of Mike Tyson, but when a statement rings true it’s time to listen.
In the past we’ve had lots of “feather weight” economic upheaval. There have been “light weight” and “middle weight” financial bouts; but in 2010 we are in the “heavy weight” division. In the heavy weight world you feel every punch.
When the business world entered the ring for this fight we had no idea it would last this many rounds. The initial hits we took could be expected and we made changes as needed. Now, as the rounds pile up and months turn into years everyone is digging deep just to stay alive.
These days clients and customers are reevaluating necessities, contracts, business relationships and employees— but that means opportunity, not dead ends. This is not a Pollyanna point of view, it is real. All those potential clients who have been sitting on status quo year after year now have a reason to open up to change.
Making changes when sales are flat can be scary. “If the change doesn’t work how big of a financial hit can we take?” Flat sales mean you are taking hits left and right. The cancelled order is a right jab. A top customer who went out of business is a left upper cut. Your top sales rep that goes to work for your competitor equals a straight right followed by a left hook.
After three years in a tough economy you’re bruised and bleeding. Here are some coaching tips:

1.  Move your feet. Are your employee’s running fast but getting nowhere? You may want to take a look at their feet. They could be shackled to an archaic system. “We re-did our ops manual last year.” Who re-did it? If it was constructed by management and signed off by operations, you might need to give it another shot.
Employee Training: Gather information from everyone. Where is the shortfall in operational procedures? Change people around and open up your cross-training to help employees feel both wanted and needed. Cross-training also allows you to hire from within and reduces ramp-up time with the bonus of employee satisfaction. Also, putting a supervisor on the front line can be a great inspiration generator.
Sales and Sales Training: Throw out the statistics. The idea that x number of calls equals so many appointments which equals so many sales will not work today like it did in 2007. Don’t blame your sales teams for not making sales; you’re the one that is holding them to the defunct sales standard. Deconstruct the sales process and ask your sales reps to put it back together. Give a prize for the most outlandish workable idea.

2.  Cut your eye. Blow after blow your face has taken a beating; we need to cut some flesh so you can see. It is time you looked at your company from the outside in. This is not as easy as it sounds. Some of the things you invested time and money into may need reworking or elimination. Areas to consider include:
Marketing: Down markets are a great time to take over market share. Have you cut back to conserve resources? When you stand on the outside can you even see a path looking into your company? Make your marketing dollars prove they are working for you. Wherever you spend money ask for a detailed report and electronic surveillance if possible. If there is no data available, even if you think it is working for you, if you are spending money, you should delete it. Times are tight, don‘t spend money on hope.
Website: “In our line of work no one really looks at our website.” What does your website look like? The majority of websites out there have a business that spent money on it but did not invest in it. When a website holds no value for today’s buyer, they won’t go to it, but it has nothing to do with “your line of work.”

3. Learn. “I’m scared every time I go into the ring, but it’s how you handle it. What you have to do is plant your feet, bite down on your mouthpiece and say, ‘Let’s go.’“ – Mike Tyson.
It is easy for business owners and management to get frustrated when you can’t seem to land a single punch. Your company is bobbing and weaving their hearts out but you just don’t seem to be gaining any edge.
Listen and learn from the guys with the championship belts. Call your clients who are holding their own or even prospering and ask for input. When you are in the fight you don’t see the whole picture. Get a new, different perspective from your usual sources. It’s easy to commiserate with a buddy and play the victim card but if that is your desire then throw in the towel now so you don’t have to take another hit. If you want to win; if you really, really want to win, now is the time to dig deep.

“A champion shows who he is by what he does when he’s tested. When a person gets up and says ‘I can still do it’, he’s a champion.” -Evander Holyfield
By: Shari Allison

You hear the term thrown around almost everywhere—the radio, TV, online media—and to many small business owners, the concept of branding might sound a bit vague. But truly understanding what the term means—and further, its implications—allows one to see the possible positive impacts branding can bring to one’s business.
First, let’s set the record straight: A brand is much more than a logo and a color scheme. While logos and recognizable packaging surely contribute to a successful advertising campaign, the brand is the big idea—the foundation upon which your company stands. Locally there are trusted companies with teams of highly experienced professional consultants. Tyler Goold, branding and marketing strategist for Cornucopia Enterprises in Redding, took some time to share some information about branding.
“Think of branding as a unique promise to the consumer, and it is your ability to fulfill that promise that will ultimately differentiate you from the teeming competitors in your market,” Goold said. The logos and designs of the business all work to emphasize what your brand is; essentially, who you are. Defining your brand will, in turn, define your marketing strategy and how to best spend your marketing dollars.
Agencies like Cornucopia work to guide business owners in the process to define their brand. Savvy businesspeople also know that the thrill of short-term success is exciting, but long-term success is the only way to remain sustainable. By determining where one’s brand stands, and also where it needs to go, it is prudent to team up with one’s agency to help create the best strategy for achieving those goals. “Establishing your brand means creating the context in which your product or service is perceived, and it lays the foundation for all the marketing and advertising that follows,” Goold said.
Cornucopia has teamed up with new media veteran, Kurt Holmgren to help with the strategy and execution of its online media campaigns. Holmgren has been in the new media business since 1999 and began with a top-ranking e-commerce Web site. From there, Holmgren spent time on Capitol Hill as a technical advisor to the chairman of the House of Commerce’s Telecommunications & Internet subcommittee. While in Congress, Holmgren managed technical new media efforts for the three different members of Congress, including the sixth highest-ranking member of the House. Holmgren is currently the vice president of a Washington, D.C.-based new international media firm and also consults with Cornucopia on various projects.
So what does this all mean? Yes, your logo is the image that identifies who you are. Yes, your adverting is the message that tells who you are. But the brand is the perception your clients have of what you are. Your brand is not the latest product trend, package design or discount sale. Your brand can and should build relationships between you and your customers. Now is more important than ever to understand what your brand is and what it can do for you.
For more information, visit www.cornucopiaenterprises.com.

Joshua Corbelli is a freelance writer who lives with his Shih-Tzu, Pebles, in Redding. He can be reached at Pebles, in Redding. He can be reached at joshua.corbelli@gmail.com.

By Joshua Corbelli

I admit there seems to be something oxymoronic about “tweeting with a purpose.” The very tentacles of the social media octopus seem, in many ways, to perpetuate a lack of purpose. If that is taking it too far, at the very least, it’s a dangerous time-drain.
I know for me, without beckoning monastic-like discipline, I can easily get lost in the Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn abyss. Only to wake up weeks later, wondering why it was I felt compelled to “Tweet this” or “Facebook that.” Alas, I breathe easily knowing such information has a 5-second shelf life—at best. No longer are the days when you have to wait for the next morning’s newspapers to bump your story to the bottom of the birdcage.
If posts, tweets and ‘what’s on your mind?’ are replaced almost immediately after you click the cold plastic keys, is there really justification in engaging? Are nonprofits and businesses creating new and valuable networks over the ethers? Can it help your bottom line or bottom lines (for those in public sphere)? What’s the point?
As the moon made way for the sun I decided to pull a small sampling from my Facebook stream. Here’s a peek, just as they appeared, in order and without edits:
Chico Bag: “The fan photo contest for a FREE ChicoBag ends today at noon! Only a few hours left to get your photos in.”
ARC of Butte County: “The Arc of the U.S. and all children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families lost its all time legislative champion with the death last night of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA).”
Arnold Schwarzenegger: “Video of my tour at Twitter HQ yesterday with co-founders Biz Stone & Evan Williams.”
Friend: “Madonna’s “Sticky and Sweet” tour gets more of a sticky than sweet response when she stands up and speaks out against discrimination.”
Friend: “Golden Valley Bank Founders BBQ tonight.”
Friend: “It’s that awkward time of year when the first three weeks of the U.S. Chess League season conflicts with the WNBA.”
Friend: “I am looking for a husband. Any takers?”
I found this exercise oddly rewarding. First of all, I learned something. I learned quite a few things actually. I didn’t know about the ChicoBag contest and I absolutely love ChicoBags. A few months ago, I was in a World Market in Bend Oregon, and as I reached to grab a pack of gum I bumped into a basket of ChicoBags. The clerk and fellow patrons must’ve thought I’d been stung by a bee. I got so excited to see the little recyclable bags.
I had a similar experience last weekend in the De Young Museum in San Francisco. Here I was taking a cappuccino break in the cafeteria after consuming toxic but scintillating amounts of art, when I caught the reflection of a green labeled Sierra Nevada Pale Ale behind the counter—again, with unadulterated enthusiasm. I don’t know about you but there is a sense of what must only be described as undeserving pride whenever I see such Chico gems outside our city lines.
Clearly, I’ve digressed.
This morning’s Facebook thread taught me about the late Senator Kennedy’s legislative work for people with disabilities. Healthcare, yes, but that he fought hard for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, I had not known. Our local Golden Valley Bank was having a BBQ—cool. Madonna was talking about something of significance—awesome. The U.S. Chess League conflicts with the Women’s National Basketball Association—um, ok.
But, other than learning stuff, does this better my business? Can these networks be mobilized to action?
The truth is, and not surprisingly, I don’t have definitive answers. A great deal of research has already been done about the impact and role of social media. There are ways to develop effective social media strategies (and tools) for outreach, fundraising, networking and branding.
In fact, I have been working with colleagues to train hundreds of local and international nonprofits about these very things. The North Valley Community Foundation’s curriculum at our Nonprofit Leadership Institute is plowing through new fields, exposing pitfalls to avoid and worthy mountains to climb.
There are countless ways to justify time spent on social media forums. But defining your measurement for success and holding yourself (or your staff) to that measurement is critical. Defining goals and outcomes will reveal what impact these tools are having.
Don’t just do it because (nearly) everyone is doing it…do it with a purpose!
For example, if you don’t have an audience on Twitter, then it doesn’t matter how often you tweet—to whom are you tweeting? If after great consideration, you believe this to be a social tool for you, then the first step would be to build your “twitter followers.” Chris Brogan (one of the best of the best) gives you the play by play in “Get More Twitter Followers TODAY.” Google him—trust me.
Speaking of trust, for most of you, your social media life has something to do with networking. But, that’s a means not an end. Ultimately, we want to be able to mobilize our networks to: donate to our cause, buy products, attend events, etcetera.
If our social media networks have yet to be mobilized, is all for naught? Of course not. You, your company or your organization, are establishing trust. Then, and only then, will you be able to pull off an effective online fundraiser or announce an event and have your e-network attend.
The point here is to be vigilant with your posts. Only share those things that will promote a greater understanding of your business or nonprofit. Make sure that your online presence correlates with the story a client or donor would hear if they left the ether-sphere and entered your bricks and mortar.
Be consistent. Be honest. Share the information and contacts you value most.
I’ll end by sharing the greatest social media gem I have stumbled upon. For anyone, at any point in their social media evolution, meet “Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media.” Tweet it. Facebook it. Blog it. Grab a number #2 pencil or your Underwood Typewriter—just jot it down.
You’ll find a little more purpose behind your tweets, if you do!
Alexa Valavanis is the chief executive officer of the North Valley Community Foundation; a Northern California based nonprofit public charity, managing more than $6.5 million in assets – www.nvcf.org.

By Alexa Valavanis