Sell to China

Now's the time for service providers and small companies to look into doing business with China, according to long-time export consultant James Chan.

There's both great opportunity and great risk, but nearly unlimited potential, Chan says in my column today. I'll be discussing it on the Bloomberg Small Business radio report next Tuesday.

2012

I'd given up years ago on New Year's Resolutions. I could never think of any inspiring goals, and that made me feel guilty. When I decided to give up guilt a (blessed) decade ago, I also gave up resolutions.

But this year, a couple of 'em popped into my head spontaneously. One is to put what little extra cash I have each month into a trip fund, so I can take a real vacation every year (or maybe every other) and finally get cracking on my lifelong ambition to be a well-traveled individual. The other is to research an ancestor whom I've always been curious about and determine whether there's enough material in his life story for a novel or non-fiction book.

I really like both resolutions, so I'm going to actually put them on my "task list" and try to follow through.

Well, service strategist John Tschohl, founder of The Service Quality Institute and author of seven books, recommends that small businesses make 2012 resolutions as well. Here's a look at his top five:

Fathers and Daughters

I interviewed a researcher who has written a new book on father-daughter business succession around the world.

I thought it was very interesting. Check it out and see what you think!

Top Ten 2011

This is the time of year when we get inundated with Top 10 lists for movies, TV shows, albums, you-name-it.

One that's a little different stood out. Check out this Top Ten Emotional Intelligence moments of 2011 and you'll find Justin Timberlake, Anthony Weiner and two - count 'em two! - appearances from Anderson Cooper, who's apparently become our national emoter-in-chief.

Just for fun, this list of comments on Top 10 lists cracked me up.

A True Meritocracy?

Women still participate less in the global economy, are less likely to start businesses and run established businesses and are less confident about their ability to be entrepreneurs, according to this Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study I reported on last week.

The facts, much as we dislike them, are in. The statistics speak for themselves, no matter what culture or country is studied - though there are degrees better and worse in terms of women's outlook.

But what's the cause? Let's start with the fact that in the U.S., women have not had the vote even for a century. That's right; my great-grandmother never cast a vote and my grandmother could not vote for most of her young adulthood. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

So, societal factors. Gender differences. Parenting differences. It's complicated because every factor plays some role, major or minor.

Last week at a TEDx conference, long-time entrepreneur and economics professor Vivek Wadhwa detailed his findings on how women and certain racial minorities have fared in the so-called "pure meritocracy" of Silicon Valley. He also talked about the reception he got from the powers-that-be when he challenged their most cherished assumptions. Let's just say it wasn't pretty.

A fantastic talk and well worth watching.

Sources of Information

Where do your potential customers get information about where they should go to shop and dine out?

The Pew Research Center asked that question and the answers they found are online in this report:

The internet is the source that people most rely on for material about the local business scene and search engines are particularly valued. Newspapers and word of mouth also rank high as sources.

I'm glad to see that newspapers - both the printed copies and newspaper websites - are still making it up near the top of the list.

Word of mouth is another important source of information. Social media, for all we hear about it, is way down near the bottom.

Takeaways? Read the report, it's interesting and you'll likely draw some conclusions that apply specifically to your 2012 marketing plan. For my part, I'd say you'd better have a strong, search-engine-optimized presence for your business online.

But that's not news anymore.

I'd also venture that while social media will continue to grow in influence, it's not as big a factor as most of us would think, given how much buzz it engenders. In an interview with one of my favorite consultants this week, he mentions how many clients want to abandon all their traditional advertising for Facebook - and how he counsels against it in many cases.

I remember, more than a decade ago, interviewing some forward-thinking techies about entertainment media They assured me that by the early '00s, we'd all be downloading movies and television to our computers directly and traditional media would be on its way out.

About two months later, the Netflix concept - sending physical DVDs by the old-fashioned postal service model - really caught on. It's only within the past year that streaming has truly become accessible to the masses.

So just keep that in mind: Whenever you hear something's hopelessly old-fashioned and "on its way out," including newspapers, figure you've got at least a decade or more before that really comes true.

Communications Blunders

Every time I talk to self-employed women and women business owners, the same stumbling blocks to success seem to crop up. 


"I get shy" about promoting myself, one amazingly talented and successful woman said recently. This is an accomplished writer who is not someone you would ever identify as "shy." But when it comes to self-promotion, it's difficult even for many confident, extroverted women to do it.


Yeah, it's difficult for some men, too. But I think they are less apt, as a group, to fall into this trap. What do you think?


Here are some additional blunders that women seem to make, as identified by Roshini Rajkumar, a communications consultant and author of, "Communicate That!"   

• Apologizing for perceived short-falls: Stop apologizing because it makes you sound weak. Instead, come up with a suggestion.

• Bad posture: This includes rolled shoulders and shifty feet. If you stand up straight you will appear more confident and people will take you more seriously.

• Lack of voice projections and weak vocal behavior. Having a weak voice, including nasal or ultra-feminine tones, gives others the impression you are not capable. If you adapt a stronger voice you will have a better chance of not being second guessed.

• Lack of pride in accomplishments: Take pride in what you’ve done, and others will see how you can be beneficial to the team as well.

• Less is more: Be very intentional about what you say and how you say it. Don’t be too wordy.

• Ill fitted clothing: Clothes that don’t fit is unprofessional. Get your clothes tailored to fit you perfectly -- the extra money makes a huge difference.

I don't know about bad posture, but I've certainly seen otherwise-professional women in ill-fitting or inappropriate clothing at business events. Either they're wearing baggy, shapeless outfits, they're too casual or they're in clothes that probably fit nicely - a couple of sizes ago.

Not a good look, either way.

And the apologizing, preemptively and totally unnecessarily, really is a pet peeve of mine. I just hate to see women starting off a conversation with "sorry" when it is not expected or needed.

What about you? Are there blunders that bother you, or others that you've noticed - among men or women - when it comes to communication?