This Week In Business: Remote Services Edition
The beauty with a website business is that, at least theoretically, you should be able to have a customer anywhere. Note the ‘should’.
In my first year of being full time, all but one of my clients was in Downeast Maine. (And the non-local one I met at a local party through a local friend). I like being in Maine so this was fine with me. But the whole point of an online business is to reach out further than you would in terms of geography. Ideally, I think my lack of remote work made me a bit worried that my skills wouldn’t translate beyond my geographic area.
In addition to making a video on the main page of my site (which a few new clients have told me made them a lot less nervous about contacting me) and otherwise proactively seeking out work, I now have multiple remote accounts, and my first ever client I’ve never met.
I finally set up an Elance profile to be even more proactive about seeking out work.
My friend Dorrie had written me out a bunch of links she had heard on a business radio show a few months ago. The paper has been on my desk since; I had enough work at the time but thought if I was going to reach beyond coastal Maine, this might be the way to do it.
I finally set up an Elance profile a couple weeks ago, if only to have the chance to bid on projects that sounded interesting. I’ve bid on a small one and, since I haven’t heard back yet, I’m guessing I didn’t get it. Oh well, you win some, you lose some!
I’ve been awarded the bid for my hometown Chamber’s new website.
I put in a bid for the Chamber of Commerce’s website in my hometown of Fort Kent Maine. Months went by (and I checked in a few times) but when I hadn’t heard a few months later, I decided to start taking steps to ensure I’d have enough work through the winter. I set up the Elance profile, beefed up my LinkedIn account, contacted anyone who might have leads for me, and bid on parts of larger projects with friends/colleagues.
Fun Friday: Chef Dan
Let me just say right off that I am far from being some kind of smooth lady on the relationship front. But I’ve recently did something where I accidentally encouraged my new boyfriend to do something nice for me, and then it kept happening.
Dan likes to cook. The second meal he made me, I decided to take out my digital camera and record him on video.
The next day, I watched it. What surprised me was that the video was actually good. I asked if I could post it on Facebook, thinking his friends would get a kick out of it. Almost immediately, he got phone calls, emails, and comments, mostly asking when the next video was coming out.
Next video?
Marketing Monday: Mardens
Know an individual or business doing something cool to promote themselves online? Let me know about it and they might be featured as part of Marketing Monday.
This week’s inspiration actually came to me as I was driving in the middle of a snow/ice storm back home from Christmas festivities.
A radio ad in the middle of the Maine woods had the familiar Marden’s jingle but urged me to join Marden’s on Facebook and Twitter. I especially perked up when they mentioned to visit the Marden’s website to see the weekly flyer before it got into the newspapers.
For those of you less familiar, Marden’s is a Maine institution, known in part for its cheesy catchy jingle “I should have bought it, when I saw it, at Mardens!” and for its great deals on everything. (If you don’t have to feed it, Marden’s sells it.) It’s a salvage store with locations across the state, meaning its inventory is not only location dependent but also constantly changing.
Marden’s would no doubt be a success in Maine regardless of publicity (Mainers are in general a practical people who love a deal) but all it’s promotional efforts have made Mardens the success it is today.
Here’s what Mardens is doing right:
Marketing Monday: American Express Open
Each Monday, I profile a person or company doing something cool online to promote themselves. If that’s you or someone you know, contact me. I love new ideas in internet marketing!
Maybe it was the television commercials with all the beautiful but also competent business owners or the fact that I’m completely fed up with my bank but I finally activated my American Express business card this weekend.
In straightening things out for my new accountant, I wanted to set up some recurring business charges and create a business only Paypal account on this new card.
I originally got this card because of the benefits (Cash back? Points for things I need? Cool!) but I realize my decision was made because of some subtle (or maybe not so subtle) things American Express has done to brand this whole Open concept.