Microsoft Project used to be the program that many turned to to get real project work done. I always found it overkill for the smallish projects I was a part of. Loaded up with everything you might someday want to do, the program sent me screaming down the halls, convinced I could never manage a project. The times (and so few alternatives) practically forced accommodation.
Thank god that’s no longer the case. We can now choose what fits us. Hallelujah! The things that matter today are 1) ease of use — since we can feel overloaded within minutes of waking up, 2) a decent calendar and project list — to see what must be tackled each day and see schedules at a glance, 3) a way to send task emails, files and status updates to folks working on tasks we assign, and 4) a chance to have it all accessible through mobile.
So, here’s what I am finding as viable tools to manage my projects. 5pmweb has a very cool, very simple interface with all of the above ($12.00 a month when you enlist new clients to post their logo instead of your own or if you fall into nonprofit status). BaseCamp — especially if your projects are milestone and article-driven ($25/month) and Dooster, which is a free version with similar functionality, soon to sport mobile as well.
These selections, by no means, cover the universe of programs out there for project management, but the three named are the ones I believe a small business or creative professional can benefit from the most. Oh, and one more thing. If you have a business where sending scheduled reminders about upcoming tasks can really impress clients, a dedicated task tool (more simple than the project-based tools mentions above) such as Remember the Milk can work out very nicely. If reminders are sent to clients for a purpose that matches their own, they will feel personally-considered and remember this as a business service for a long time coming. This often translates into customer loyalty and positive word-of-mouth. Priceless.
As mentioned in the previous post, what matters most in achieving social media impact often comes down to the degree to which you can be customer-centric, and what you can do behind the scenes to achieve it. This post will concentrate on the second.
Here goes:
It was one of those events where I thought, maybe this is one small business conference too many, and heck, since I’ve been consulting to small businesses already in my day-to-day, probably I’d be going over old ground. Boy, was I wrong!
First, it was my attitude. It was great to get to meet so many interesting people conceiving of themselves as small business owners, something that you wouldn’t have seen in either hardier times or when social media wasn’t as prevalent a few years back. Secondly, all the presenters were incredibly forthcoming, sharing what and whom they knew. And third, there was a wealth of focused resources.
But sometimes, it is just the ideas, information and leads that come in little bits that form “aha” moments, and give you the extra energy to move forward. Little things. Like at a PR & Marketing presentation, I learned from the speaker, PR Specialist David Perry owner of David Perry & Associates, that one of my all time favorite books, “Writing Down to the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg was actually a great read for branding ideas. At a branding session led by Robert Friedman, Owner of the company, FEARLESS BRANDING and found at this fearless site, I extended my learning through a set of key questions that can guide how truly differentiated branding is achieved.
Like at a mobile presentation, I learned about Mobile Spinach, that provides local coupon deals, but linked with Loopt now enables location-based discovery, and through their TasteMakers commentaries, a brief but interesting review of key places/activity you might want to check out as well. Unlike deals of the day sites, they offer a range of categories for unique businesses to advertise within (arts, gyms, events, etc), and then the opportunity for visitors to pre-select their preferred categories, not to mention leaving open a small door for non-profits who might like to shout out about their fundraising events too. Need a mobile web design? Through Mobile Web Up, your site can be mobilized, which will come in handy if you are the type of business people are likely to look up on the go.
Like at an online tools for small businesses session presented by Suresh Khanna, a Google executive and owner of Kasa Indian Eatery in the Castro and Marina, I also learned about trend-intelligent Google’s Places, which is essentially the Local Business Center with the addition of a whole lot of new features, including QR codes, best explained through the link here. And about the latest in what is actually working for small businesses in terms of increasing visibility (Facebook ads are not bad at all!). Okay, you get the picture!
Sometimes, I just want to figure out what matters most in terms of social media impact. As messages, dire and otherwise, blast my ears, and content consumption line my days, I decided to attend an Inbound Marketing Conference moderated by Chris Brogan in San Francisco.
I walked away with two major insights. How to be as consumer-centric as possible, and what that entails, and how to get yourself/your company ready to deliver impact. This topic is split up into two posts.
Developing Consumer Centricity
Ruder Finn’s survey recently unearthed American motivations for mobile use across the country. What did they find?
Those of use who actively use mobile like immediacy most of all, and it’s because we want to feel socially connected. The tools they were using most included Instant messaging, forwarding emails, content and photos, posting comments on sites, and connecting to people on social networking sites.
Turns out seniors were 18% more likely than the traditional user to use the mobile internet to educate themselves and youth 9% more likely to shop. 52% actually use it to manage finances.
Scott Kirsner, a social media maverick, wrote a book I’ve just got around to hearing about entitled “Fans, Friends, & Followers: Building An Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age, published a year ago.
What I liked about it is that he went directly to the source: creative people. He interviewed visual artists, comedians, animators, documentary filmmakers, musicians, writers, and others who have been pioneering new ways to build a creative career online (and off.) It delves into the business models that can support leaving the day job behind. And all of the material in the book was collected in 2008 and 2009.
To check it out yourself, you can download a partial pdf or buy the book. Here’s the link. Or read his reviews here.
Amy Sample Ward has done us bridge builders a great service. She has created a collection of case studies around the topic of Social Media for Social Good, which is, essentially, organizations that get behind a social cause writing about their goals, approach, etc.
But aside from gathering what people are doing in the name of social good, I think these studies provide readers with excellent examples on how to go about making creative bridges to our communities. She, along with Beth Kanter, presented the winners at the NTEN (The Nonprofit Technology Network) this past March. but you can check out the full range of submissions here. A wonderful idea bank for social media connection!
Nothing like having a real business challenge to get me moving on how to advertise locally. And I certainly had that. Nothing complicated in any way; just a few small businesses yearning to open their doors and reach out to the Bay Area community, and my challenge to come up with a few strategies for them.
Since I had been concentrating on online awareness campaigns exclusively, and not what social media could do on the ground at the local level, I had some work to do. No matter. Like a siren call, there came a point when certain terms persisted, echoed louder and louder. Words like “localizing”, “hyperlocal.” I’m sure for you too.
So, here’s what we’re probably all seeing. Local is part of almost every social media effort now. Sure, we always had our friends to help us broadcast announcements but what’s newly sprouted are potentially more powerful options for discovery that lie beyond our own networks. Oh, and the accumulation of many more options, such as:
I was a little surprised, on the other hand, to realize several local business directories (like Yahoo) were quite sparse, and content from many local professional associations, disappointing. Nevertheless, what has emerged to help us hear about/advertise local is impressive (especially those innovations that have focused on filling the gap left by traditional news outlets). For example, Vid SF LOCAL is a ‘Video as Local TV’ site which accepts local advertising and improves local connection-making, and Bay Area News, one of the aggregators for community sites and bloggers, now makes local exploration increasingly fun (many points of view represented in our most passionate areas of interest), not to mention rewarding to folks interested in combining business with a community presence. Places like Thumbtack are now emerging as the new local directories. And I’m sure we’ll be hearing about many more developments as well.
So, hey, there’s reason for a little optimism, no? Certainly, there is power in this media. The trick, of course, is to keep up with it, and then, do something with the visibility we are able to achieve.


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I can’t believe it. For so long, I have attended events, hoping to serendipitously cross the path of someone with compatible interests with whom I could chat up my ideas for a business, but nothing as yet has come to pass. Either the people only partially shared my interests or the timing was off or a personal knowing was missing to enter into the kind of committed work relationship that sharing a business needs. I began to curse my departure from those natural peer circles at graduate school where access to partnering seemed more the order of the day.
So, here’s a connection that I just ran across that got me excited and maybe will do the same for you. It’s called Founder Dating, and basically you put forward an idea you have, and see if others might also be interested in going to business with you around that idea or something similar. It’s not like one of those schemes where you vote up or down a business, thereby conveying your belief in its viability (although hey, I’ve got nothing against them). Or sites like KickStarter Online, where you can make a pitch for a particular project, and get people to back you, essentially a variation on voting for the good idea but better, because here, there is actually a pathway for some real funding. Or events like Women 2.0, where you gather with others to shape your idea in-person in the hopes of improving the quality of the idea in this first place.
No. Founder Dating is actually a service that aims to bring together super talented entrepreneurs with different backgrounds and skill sets to start innovative new companies. All too often, we know people with similar backgrounds and skills sets to our own. So to find co-founders who come with complimentary skill sets, with an interest in launching similar ideas; well, that kind of service actually fills the gap I’ve just described. Check it out by submitting an application. And see if you might find your way to a San Francisco or Seattle to take it further!