*Woke up, got out of bed

Then it hit me.  I had nowhere to go but to my home office.   So I turned and –

*Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream…

Which soon became a nightmare as I began staring blankly at my computer screen.

This is how I spend many mornings as a freelance writer – thinking of ideas to write (and hopefully sell) in the solitude of my pre-Civil War apartment with no one around but Hugo, my dog.  My husband seems the lucky some days, headed morning to his office where he’ll laugh it up with co-workers throughout the day.

Sure, I’m laughing, too, well, laughing sardonically, if you will.  I haven’t come up with a decent story idea in hours. Then suddenly, one idea pops into my head.  Duh!.  I could write about the things I do when my ability to write isn’t happening.

So here’s the piece – five things that may boost your own writing process.

1. To hell with all those caffeine naysayers.  Drink coffee. Lots of it.  It works for me. But if coffee’s not your thing, try guzzling a few Chai teas, Red Bulls or whatever it takes YOU to get where you’re going, which inevitably hopes to be “The End.”
2. Call a friend, introduce yourself to a stranger, meet someone for lunch. Open dialogue can be a tool of inspiration, a dramatic device, even a cathartic means of getting words to the page.
3. Jump up and down screaming, run around the block, hit the gym – whatever it takes to get those endorphins pumping and the creative juices flowing.
4. Sift through your old document files and re-read all those uncompleted stories you’ve written. Sometimes love, er, story ideas are better the second time around.
5. Never give in to writer’s block.  Seriously.  Turn off the computer, turn on the world.  There IS a story to be told somewhere, anywhere, everywhere you look, inside and out, up and down, there and back.

*My thanks to John Lennon and Paul McCartney for writing “A Day in the Life” recorded at Abbey Road Studio  ~ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967, Parlophone, Capitol, EMI)

Lisa Hanock-Jasie lives in New York City. She is a Writer, blogger, and driven, astute, business- and media-savvy PR/Marcom/Social Media professional.

Originally published June 2009 by Fuel Your Writing http://fuelyourwriting.com

Probably the most exciting about our new community is the ability for each Partner to control her content, easily interact with other partners, and in so doing provide herself with additional presence and exposure.  Further, as we move into the future, our current community will grow with us and provide for fewer “growing pains.”  All that said, the community launched but is far from finished.  In the coming weeks you will see design changes on our home page to highlight our Partners, Artists, Relevant Topics, Tools, Pets, Featured Interviews & Downloadable Podcasts.

The most difficult part of my “driving the boat” is keeping all the “wants” in check with the “needs!”  As is often my way, when something starts to gain momentum I run like a banshee to make it better and often learn to regret my whirling dervish!  One such case hit me in the face this morning as it occurred to me that simply because it’s “there” doesn’t necessarily mean everyone knows where “there” is.  Bear with me as I explain a very important aspect of our new Community.

When we changed platforms it was necessary that we move a mountain of material from one database to another.  The first compulsory action by each partner is to sign in and create a password.  What I failed to explain is this is only step ONE. Creating a username and password gives visitors, Partners and casual guests’ access to the Community.   The object is to allow guests to visit our community without necessarily becoming a Partner, which comes with more responsibility but more benefits.  The SECOND compulsory step for every existing Partner is to create a profile. Both of these steps can be easily accomplished using videos and walk-throughs designed to make the process simple (see below for a list of these links).  It was physically impossible for us to enter profile information for each Partner and if you haven’t yet completed a profile please do so immediately as you are not showing up on CremeMagnolia.  All the information, articles, blogs etc., which you contributed on the old site now reside on the new site (in various group categories) – which makes your information searchable once you have created your profile.  The fact that you are receiving this newsletter does NOT guarantee you have already completed steps one and two above – newsletters are generated from a completely separate database and program.

As I began to experience the grandeur of our new Community with its technological abilities, in retrospect I took my eye off the original mission of CremeMagnolia.  Adding a plethora of new programs without the manpower or resources to do so serves no one.   With the Whirling Dervish lesson learned, I’m back on target and our focus and mission is to grow CremeMagnolia by helping our Partners market and promote their companies.  Weekly we will feature one Partner in our newsletter and on our home page.  With a minimal commitment of time, our featured Partner will have her ad placed on the home page and the newsletter; and either an article submitted by the Partner or an interview available as a downloadable podcast.  Our newsletter now has an astounding 70% open rate … so being featured in the Magnolia Wire is a very good thing.  In return for the free advertising Featured Partners must participate in the community, its group discussions, and blogs.  Free really isn’t free but you have to admit, if you’re promoting yourself anyway, CremeMagnolia is a wonderful place to do it!

Now down to the real business.  What can I do for you?  We want to know what you need to make your business grow.  What can the community do better?  We’ve created a new group called “How can I help you?” and we really want to hear what you think.  This is a place where you can vent, comment, criticize, or contribute ideas that will help us all.  If we don’t hear from you, then we must be doing everything perfect.

Have a wonderful week! Karen

Video Links:

This week’s walk-through: How to register on the CremeMagnolia website

Previous Video’s and Walk-throughs:

• How to edit your Profile Page
• How to Add Friends on the CremeMagnolia site
• How to send a Private Message on the CremeMagnolia site

From the book, the original assignment to a seventh- grade class was; “Think of an idea for world change and put it into action.” Again from the book; “Knowing it started from unremarkable circumstances should be a comfort to us all. Because it proves that it doesn’t take much to change the entire world for the better. You can start with the most ordinary ingredients.   You can start with the world you’ve got.”

These quotes resonate with me as all too often we don’t recognize that the world we’ve got has great value and can be shared with someone who has less.  Paying it forward isn’t meant to be easy, rather the giving to another person at times is difficult.  Further, paying it forward means to have no expectation of return, or paying it back.  Too often we have expectations of reward and are disappointed that our expectations are not met.  However, it is the expectation of no return that will reward us in unexpected ways.

This article is not meant to be a sermon, rather a reminder that as women in business, large or small, we possess “ordinary ingredients” and it is those ingredients that have value to another woman starting or growing her business.  This very forum is designed to put your ingredients out there, “think of an idea for world change, your world” that can help other women.  Form a group, join a group, discuss or start a topic where you have knowledge or experience, help other women find CremeMagnolia.  Offer yourself and your time to Pay it Forward.

Today we find ourselves in very difficult times and it is during this time that we not ask for as much as we are willing to give – in spades.  We all have ordinary worlds and small pieces of that world can help others.  Busy lives tend to take away from our thoughts of helping others by being a participant versus taking a passive role.  By passive I mean; we write a check to our favorite charity, give to our church or donate goods to the local food bank.  Proactive is Paying it Forward to a perfect stranger who will benefit from a small piece of your world.  That is the meaning of “put it into action an idea that will change the world.”  The world is a small place when you really think about it, and ordinary ingredients really can change “a” world.

Have a wonderful week, Karen.

The benefits of social media for your small business are numerous, but let’s review of few of the best reasons for incorporating social media efforts into your business plans.

1. Social media provides a simple way for customers, and even potential customers, to comment on your products or services, or to ask for more information. Because it leaves all the interaction up to the buyer, customers feel more comfortable looking for the information they need. When they are ready to share, or need your services or products, they will let you know!
2. Social media provides an outlet that can “go viral” far more quickly than typical advertising opportunities. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, “go viral” in the online world is when a blog, or article, video, or other social medium, is picked up by enough online outlets that it receives literally millions of views in hours. This doesn’t happen too often, but when it does anyone in close vicinity would like to be on the bandwagon.
3. The days of waiting on hold for a telephone customer service representative to pick up and answer your question about a product are over! Today’s online medium allows for enhanced and far superior customer service options which put less strain on customers and service reps alike! Social media can enhance customer service options by providing up-to-the-minute feedback on products and services that can be disseminated to multiple customers at one time. Best of all, social media allows even small businesses to provide quality customer service without a huge customer service telephone system or department expense.
4. And finally, social media can provide the opportunity for increased sales. This is most especially true for small businesses, whose global advertising reach may be limited.

However great the advantages of social media efforts, businesses should keep in mind that these are not static solutions. One of the advantages of social media is the ability to disseminate up-to-the-minute information, but this fact can also be a drain on resources if not properly implemented. With so many options for information, a social media website should include daily or at least weekly updates of either written text, video or audio content, or other interactive materials.

So how do you get started adding social media to your business?
First, you should have a website. You need a place where customers can “land” regularly, and where you can provide your information and updates. All your social media pages will then link to this website.

Second, you need to research your market objectives and determine who you are trying to connect with. If you sell toys for pre-schoolers, your target market might be Moms between the ages of 25 – 40. Or maybe you have a toy that would appeal specifically to the male interest – in which case your market demographic would be different.

Whatever your target market, you need to identify it so you can determine the best social media sites to use. Facebook is great for moms and dads between the ages of 26 and 35, while MySpace is better for younger age groups, and singles. The bottom line – if you don’t know who you are trying to reach, you won’t get the best results from your social media efforts.

Third, once you know who you want to target, then you’ll need to develop a plan. The plan should include which social media outlets will target the market you need to reach the best, a plan for how often to update and interact, and how best to tie your social market pages to your website.

All these efforts will take some time, but if done properly, many can begin generating leads within a few months. Not all leads will result in a sale, but you won’t have any sales without leads!

Finally, you’ll need to develop a plan to watch what works and what doesn’t. Your website should track statistics for who visits the site and where they come from. You won’t be able to generate specific statistics from the social media sites, but with a good statistics program you will be able to know what site generated the visitor, and what pages they viewed once they got to your site.

As with any marketing effort, all your time could be wasted if you do not plan appropriately. Additionally, all the planning in the world may still not generate the results you had in mind, but if you are not monitoring the results, you will never know if it is working or not!

The best social media efforts, just like big marketing campaigns, will saturate many social media areas at once, to include video, podcasts, and other interactive elements. But these can often be time consuming and resource heavy.

I recommend to my small businesses that they start small and work from there. Determine which one or two social media efforts will offer the biggest return on invested time and money, and focus on those for a few months. Monitor your results, and decide if they are meeting your goals. If they are, great! You can expand to add more media, or just increase the frequency of the efforts you are already doing well with.

If the results end up not meeting your expectations then start from square one, but this time you will be armed with information from the previous effort, which should help you avoid pitfalls.

Ultimately any social media effort will take some time, but as with any successful advertising campaign, it will be well worth the effort once you begin to see results!

If you haven’t yet, register as a member on the site, and you can follow along with this video and get your information front and center on the new site!

Karen R. Vowell-Mager, Founder & Publisher

I have a guest visiting who had never seen the movie “Pay it Forward” so I rented and watched it again for at least the fifth time. While the movie is compelling, it bears little resemblance to the book. Watching it again did give me inspiration for this week’s article. The Pay it Forward concept is the foundation for CremeMagnolia and the following are quotes from the book, Pay it Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

From the book, the original assignment to a seventh- grade class was; “Think of an idea for world change and put it into action.” Again from the book; “Knowing it started from unremarkable circumstances should be a … Read More »

Sponsored Partner

Founding Magnolia Partner, Christina Baird has found a wonderful way to stay in touch with her customers – and create new customers as well. Her business, SendOutCards is about changing people’s lives for good one card at a time. Christina can show you how to also create residual income and start a great little business.

No matter what level you choose to be involved. This service will change your life for good. See her website for more information!

How to Start a Social Media Plan

Roxanne Weber, Editor in Chief

Social media may still seem like a “toy for the young” and something to do when you’re bored, but in reality these tools are fast becoming a significant element of small business success.

The benefits of social media for your small business are numerous,but let’s review of few of the best reasons for incorporating … Read More »

Video Corner – Setting Up Your Profile Page

Bill Sklodowski, CremeMagnolia Partner

In an effort to provide more help for members trying to navigate the new site for the first time, we’re slowing developing walk-throughs and videos. This week, Bill Sklodowski, CremeMagnolia Partner, has provided us with a wonderful video on editing your profile on the new site.

If you haven’t yet, register as a member on the site, and you can follow along with this video and get your information front and center on the new site!

This week’s video: How to edit your Profile Page

Last week’s walk-throughs:

• How to Add Friends on the CremeMagnolia site
• How to send a Private Message on the CremeMagnolia site

Community Happenings

Below are new or popular features, articles, and other CremeMagnolia contentfor this week. Click through to items you may have missed or reread a favorite!

• Hot Item: Chronicals of a Spam Addict Vol.2 – Karen shares with us her foray into Spam mail and how the experience helps her business ventures.



• Freebie: www.befunky.com – This site can be used for fun or professional use. Regardless of why you use the site, you can created spectacular photographic effects for a website, newsletter, mailing or just about any other reason.The image to the right is a sample of the type of effects you can create with just one click!
• Video: How to Edit Your Profile Page -
  Magnolia Partner Bill Sklodowski walks you through editing your profile page and changing your profile photo.
• Last week: How often should you check your Search Ranking? – Founder Karen Mager discusses the benefits of checking your search ranking, and how to get the most out of the effort.

This morning I opened my Outlook client only to find two offers that caught my eye; an offer from Extenze that says it’s guaranteed to work; and free Lasik surgery!  I readily admit to wearing trifocals but am told that I am NOT a candidate for Lasik; AND I am a woman and probably wouldn’t take Extenze even with the guarantee.

Apparently my name and email address became part of these marketeers focus at some point in time, but one has to wonder;  did the seller of the email list represent that I as a consumer are a prime candidate for either of these offers?  Did the buyer of my email address receive it as a specific demographic to the products OR was my email address sold in bulk?  Did the marketeer get what they paid for?

As of yet I have not followed the thread to unsubscribe but I will, today, I promise.  But the task as hand loomed larger as it brought a topic to mind, “Crape Diem” or Buyer Beware when purchasing email lists.  Everyone wants to build a large, if not larger than life subscriber list and often times sellers of lists get the better of the deal.  List sellers are very good at their job, because that’s what they do!  However, before thinking about adding this resource to your marketing efforts, think about the demographic you are attempting to reach.

The bottom line is this – I am single with no prospects of a new man in my life so the “guarantee” I read this morning is meaningless; and I’m not about to have a laser-drawing on my eyeball even if it is represented as free!

Have a great day!

• The ability to create connections with other members.
• React directly to articles, discussions and comments made throughout the site.
• The ability to create topic-chosen groups to drive promotion of your own business.

Of the above, the most lucrative for a small business owner looking to increase their reach online is creating groups that can help drive promotion for their own business interests.  Creating your own groups on the CremeMagnolia website is fast and easy, with the potential for great benefits. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Create a group that matches the topical interests of CremeMagnolia members, but also can dovetail with interests related to your products and or services. For example, an individual whose business is coaching new entrepreneurs on writing business plans could easily find a topic related to funding new businesses, and weave in the benefits of a great business plan.
2. Once your group has been created you’ll need to be proactive in getting the discussion started. The best way to get things going is to invite members you know, or have communicated with previously.  Ask them if they would be willing to follow your discussion for a week or two to get the ball rolling.
3. Make sure you choose a great group name and graphic. As with anything marketing, presentation is half of the goal. Don’t leave the generic graphic that shows up automatically but spend some time finding a graphic that fits your topic.
4. Engage members with relevant and stimulating discussion questions instead of simply stating your own thoughts. You may share your ideas on topics you introduce, but engaging members requires prompting them to respond to what you’ve written. People love to provide their own expertise and/or opinions, so a well worded discussion question can go a lot further than a simple statement of topical interest.
5. Be sure that your “pitch” is neutral, and not pushy. Visitors and members will not be fooled by gilded conversation that goes nowhere but to your own self-interest. Be creative, and find ways to introduce your services as part of a solution to the reader’s problems. If you’ve chosen the right group topic to match your services, this will be much easier.

In essence what you will be doing, if you following the tips above, is using the CremeMagnolia website as a platform for getting traffic to your own website, and more exposure for the services or products you can offer.  The results of these efforts will be far more productive than traditional online marketing graphic or text ads. Engaging members in discussions that are relevant to them helps them obtain the information they need to be successful. When they become success, they are able to purchase products and services that help them to enhance, improve, and grow their business and yours!
Following the tips above also provides you with several advantages over other less involved members.

1. All discussions will show up front and center on the home page under “Recent Site Activity”. New visitors to the site will often be drawn to this area for popular discussion topics, adding to the groups popularity site-wide.
2. Search engines pick up content on our site every day. The key words and concepts that are presented in these groups will be logged, and links back to your website will enhance your overall ranking as well.
3. You become an expert in your topic area, which enhances your potential for success elsewhere.
4. Soft-sells are more effective than pushy, aggressive sales techniques. As a discussion-format environment, your expertise IS your sell.
5. You can add content and move the discussion every day, keeping your topic, and your expertise, at the forefront of the site each day.
6. This type of marketing costs no more than the time you’re willing to put into it!

As with any marketing effort you will need to gauge the value of your time with the amount of money you spend to obtain new customers. Some marketing is more successful than others; this is especially true with virtual, social marketing similar to this. To make this work, and to make it successful will require some time and patience on your part, however the rewards can be extremely rewarding.

Right now, the site is in a growth period. This is the perfect time to find your niche and to market yourself as the Community expert. Get started today! Here is a quick video to help you with the technical details of setting up your own group. And as always, if you have any questions on this or any other area of the site, please feel free to drop me an Email at roxanne@crememagnolia.net.

What does that mean for someone like me -a Tiger, according to Chinese Astrology, celebrating the Year of The Tiger? In general, it means, WOW!!! Get ready for the ride.

You are a Tiger if you were born in these date ranges: 1902, 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1074, 1986, 1998, and 2010. Generally from around Mid February through February of the following year. Tigers always land on their feet, ready for their next act in life, pursuing it with unyielding energy and hunting it infallibly.

Having been born in 1962, I am considered a Water Tiger. “The Water element gives the Tiger a soothing characteristic making this breed a bit more tranquil. Their ability to consider feelings and ideas from other people makes them quite sensible and understanding. They are also born with a great intuitive power, which gives them accurate and excellent judgment.” Their strong characteristics include: Courage, Vehemence, Self-Reliance, Friendliness, Hopefulness, Resilience, Vanity, Disregard.

You may be wondering why I am sharing this today. Generally speaking, the Tiger Year is a phenomenal year for entrepreneurs’ and business owners to kick up their heels and start shaking things out. According to a recent article in USA Today by Rhonda Abrahms, this is a good year to look for:

• Opportunities. Especially in a time when many of your competitors may be weakened or frightened, are there openings that you can exploit? Tigers are courageous.
• Team building. When many great people are unemployed or underemployed, can you hire employees or contractors who can help you build your company.
• New product development. In a year of creativity, are there new products or services that you can introduce with significant financial potential?

She goes on to say, “The tiger is a great symbol for a recovery. For those who are starting new businesses, new projects, or heading in new directions, 2010 is a year to go for it. The year of the tiger is a year of power, passion and daring. It bodes well for financial gains, new enterprises, and growth. It’s a year for entrepreneurs. And it’s a year for you. Go for it!” (Read the entire article here.)

As a Michigander, I couldn’t agree more! I’m looking forward to celebrating my “entrepreneurial spirit” and I invite you all to join me. Stop thinking about what you would do, could do, or should do and just do it! Take the plunge. You’re in a great place to make it happen – NOW!

Here’s to a blissful New Year! ROAR!!!!

Bliss ON!

Next, create a group (I’ll have a walkthrough on that up on the site hopefully by the end of the weekend). Make it a topic that is related to something our members would be interested in, but also related to your academy. Perhaps, since your focus is on parenting, the group is about women business owners as parents, or something. Then (and this is the more tricky part) you’ll want to invite some of the members on the site, and engage them in topical conversations. You may have to prop this in the beginning by contacting some members you already know, or members you think might be interested by private message and ask them if they would participate. Even better, make an offer to at least 3-4 members on the site to do some “round robbin” discussions. We’re currently doing this with a LinkedIn group. Basically how that would work is say you had three people participating. Each week you each would provide a new topic discussion in your own group, and then each person would go to each of the groups and start communicating about it. This way you all get your own topics pushed, plus each others.

Now, the benefits of this will be huge. First, all these discussions will show up front and center on the home page. This is right now the most visited page we have (that’s pretty typical for a site like this). When new folks come to the site they want to know what’s being discussed and where the “action” is, so they’ll look to this area first to find a place to start. What that means is more traffic to your group, more traffic the discussions, and more exposure for your program.

Now to ensure that these efforts are market-worthy, make sure that all your topics/discussions are 1) relevant to our primary market, which is women business entrepreneurs, 2) that they cover a topic that is of interest to your primary market, and 2) that you give them a segway into your services naturally. For instance:

Perhaps you have a group, as suggested above, for women entrepreneurs as parents. You create a topic in your group on work-from-home business women coping with children when they get home from school (just as an example off the top of my head). The discussion talks about the various needs these children will have, and how to fill those needs. One of those needs is children will have homework. Perhaps they could use a little extra time after school with a virtual “homework helping”, or whatever the advice might be. Then you would be sure to let visitors know that the Academy also provides more advanced coaching for situations what are more challenging, and let them know how to contact you/get more information, or get started.

Now in essence what you’re doing here is using the CremeMagnolia site as a platform for getting traffic to your web site for potential conversion into a customer. This is not as easy as paying for a months-worth of google ads to your site, but then, it is FAR more effective. The results will be a lot more productive; it is similar to showing up at these family’s homes and speaking with them more directly.

Hopefully this wasn’t too much information, and you found something useful from it. Let me know if you have any further questions or would like some clarification on all this info!