I am an avid reader, and just by sheer coincidence each of the last two books I’ve read have had a honeybee theme throughout. I can’t seem to be capable of watching TV or reading a book without finding a business application and I thought I’d share this one here.

First of all, I have always hated bees. I’m afraid of them even though I know their stings don’t hurt that much. I never realized how truly fascinating those little fuzzy buzzy creatures are.

Let’s, for a moment, imagine that your business is a beehive and you’re the Queen Bee. After all, she’s the most important person in the hive - her sole job is to lay eggs. Without eggs, there are no bees so nothing else can happen. You are also the most important person in your business, goes without saying if you’re a ’solo-preneur’. But all entrepreneurs are responsible for getting new clients and ensuring all daily operations run smoothly.

Each beehive is a whole world in itself. Each bee has a role to play, it’s a very well-organized society. The Queen’s job is to lay the eggs, but there are worker bees who make the honey, there are guard bees who make sure no robber bees get in, there are scout bees who go around finding the best flowers, there are nurse bees who make sure the babies are cared for, there are bees who tend to the Queen - fanning her and caressing her, there are even bees whose lot in life is to remove the dead bees from the hive.

If it were the Queen’s responsibility to make honey, guard the hive, scout for nectar and remove dead bees, how many eggs would get laid?

As a business owner, every second you spend typing up letters, writing newsletters, blogging, entering contacts in your database and researching stuff on the Internet is eating up your egg laying time. Rather…the time you should be spending on meeting with clients, finding new ones and just do what you want to be doing.

Honeybees have a lot to teach us, don’t they? What sort of chaos would a hive be in if the Queen were running around trying to do everything herself? She’s smarter than that. If a Queen bee could give you some advice, she’d probably tell you to go get yourself a virtual assistant so you can focus on what’s important. The future of your company depends on it just as the future of the Queen’s hive depends on her focus on egg laying.

Honeybees invented the art of delegating as far as I’m concerned!

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I was doing some online research today and got lost in this really great website full of small business marketing information. You really can get lost in all the information. I purchased one of the products from his store on article marketing, and I can tell you, I learned a few great tips just by scanning it. This guy (Charlie Cook) really knows his stuff and has a lot of valuable information to share. If you have about an hour to wander around a website for some great marketing tips and ideas, it’s worth a visit!

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Most entrepreneurs are concerned about what we’ll do if all of our clients disappear one day and we’re left with no income. That’s a very real fear, and of course we should have a contingency plan in place (consistent lead generation, adequate savings, etc.) for such an occasion.

However, how many of us small business owners really prepare for success?

Does your business plan allow for the “best case scenario”? What happens if your company explodes with more clients than you can handle? Do you have some great colleagues to refer people to? Have you formed an alliance with anyone? How will you keep up with your email if you are maxed out doing client work? How do you keep writing proposals if you’re so buried under administrative tasks you can’t see over the pile? Do you have additional staff? Contractors available to pitch in?

You see, in business it’s usually a good thing to get more business. (’Duh’) We all want growth, otherwise we’d be very foolish to be pouring our souls into our ventures.

That being said, while we all want to be successful are we all ready for it? We all say we want to have “X#” of clients or be bringing in “X$” as our goal, but are you prepared to handle that if you get there sooner than expected?

The problem is when you get swamped with work, it’s usually too late to get yourself out from that place. It’s hard enough to keep your head above water without scrambling to formulate a plan.

Mann Made Time has recently exploded. I have been blessed with several referrals over the past couple of weeks that has brought my business to a new level. I’m very glad that I have a project manager and an online collaboration tool, otherwise this would not be pretty. As it is, we’re experiencing some minor growing pains, but if it weren’t for the system I’ve been building with my PM over the past half year or so, well…I would just rather not go there

So…instead of focusing your back up plan only on what happens if all your clients disappear, look at it from the other side.

Are you ready for an onslaught of business?

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I know my parents love me. I’m sure they do.

When they named me Jaime Lee, after my dad (James), they decided to spell his name “Jamie” in a more feminine way - “Jaime” for me, their first born.

I don’t think they realized that nobody would ever spell that name correctly as I grew older.

It’s not a big deal, in the big scheme of things, when there are wars going on and people are starving and can’t afford gas - I’m not whining. But I have many diplomas, awards, Christmas tree ornaments, etc., with my name on them - spelled wrong. It’s kind of disappointing, but I’m a big girl. I’ve gotten used to it. I know people automatically think “Jamie” when they hear my name, that’s fine.

I’m kind of surprised each time I receive an email - keep in mind, my email address is jaime@mannmadetime.com - where I’m greeted as “Jamie”. Sometimes “Jaimie” or “Jaeme” or any number of variations. Again, no big deal. (I’m not bitter, Mom)

However, I really like when someone has paid attention and spells my name right. It makes me feel good that someone actually noticed that detail.

What does this have to do with business?

It’s the little details. It’s the little things we do as business owners to make our clients and customers feel like we care about them. If that’s taking care to spell their name properly, or remembering them on their birthday (*ahem*, somebody’s might be tomorrow ;)). It could be sending them information on a new product you heard about that you thought they’d be interested in. It doesn’t take much, and small touches can really go a long way towards making someone feel loyal to you because you care.

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Are you aware of how beneficial press releases are to your marketing efforts?

Anytime something newsworthy happens in your business, you should write a press release about it. Whether it’s a new service offering, a new office location, a promotion, an award, anything people didn’t know about yesterday could make for a good press release. You can go ahead and submit your release to local media outlets, but more importantly, spread it on the Internet.

Whenever you write a press release, it should be submitted online. Why? Well, each time you have a press release that links back to your site, that helps your SEO. Not every press release that gets submitted online will be picked up by anyone, in fact, it’s kind of rare. The biggest benefit is the boost to your SEO.

When writing a press release, there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, you need a great headline. I often spend more time coming up with a headline than I do writing the content of a piece. If the headline stinks, it doesn’t matter what’s in the rest of the press release, it won’t get read.

It’s important to include a link to your site near the top of the press release, and that’s also where the main newsiness (nice word, eh?) of the piece should be, in case it gets chopped up. You should have a quote in there somewhere, so if it does get picked up by someone, they don’t necessarily have to call you for a comment. At the end of the press release, it’s good to have some ‘About’ information about your company or yourself, but it’s not totally necessary.

After reading ‘Publicity Hound’, Joan Stewart’s newsletter yesterday, I discovered a mega cool tool for press release analysis: Press Release Grader. You can copy and paste your PR in there and it will tell you how well you’ve scored for marketing purposes. The last one I wrote got a 90% which is cool. It also gives feedback on how to improve it. What a great tool!

If you suck at writing aren’t great at writing,  outsource the task. I write a lot of press releases, and can pump them out pretty efficiently. Another option is to give it your best shot, then send it to an editor to polish it up. I heart Angela Smith of Accu-Asisst for this task.

So, what’s happened in your business lately that merits a press release? It’s GREAT free marketing for the bootstrapping entrepreneur.

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