Are you a courageous entrepreneur?...

Jason Alba, creator of JibberJobber.com and a LinkedIn expert, recently wrote a blog post that I found really helpful. As a mompreneur, it’s easy to get discouraged, I think, when you’re working on your own, trying to build a business and sometimes asking “What am I doing?”

Here’s a bit of what Jason wrote. Be sure to read the entire post here…

“Sometimes I think I’m nuts. Even though I’m more sane than others.  But seriously, what am I thinking, doing my own business? Where’s the safety net in that??

Sometimes I think I’m dense. Even though I got a hecka lot of education, and feel like I’m rather witty.  This “dense” thing comes mostly when I compare myself to others.

Sometimes I’m lonely. Even though I have a terrific wife and family support, and thousands upon thousands of people who read my stuff in my blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.  But when I’m sitting in my office, all by myself, with hours to go in the day, wondering which thing I should do next, I wish I had a team working with me.”  Read more…”

The Benefits of In-person Networking in the Era of...

Mari Smith, a Facebook guru and social media expert, recently wrote a post on her blog asking opinions about the benefits of in-person vs. online social networking.  She made compelling points about being able to attend live events and then bring back the experiences from those events and share them online, either through connecting with people you met there using social media tools, or by uploading and sharing photos of the event using various photo-sharing sites. She also described the benefits of building a large online network and then leveraging that to create off-line business relationships. It made me consider the way I go about building and fostering my business relationships.

In the past, I was an active attendee at business networking events and I made terrific business contacts and friends as a result. However, since becoming a mom and running my business, I’ve had less time to attend those events, and so my off-line relationships have floundered a bit. As a result, I’ve felt somewhat pressed to get back out there. However, with social media, I’ve been able to maintain and recapture some of those business connections and even enhance them by sharing valuable information with one another. In fact, two of my most recent clients came as a result of reconnecting with old business contacts on LinkedIn.

I do believe that if I can couple my offline and online networking efforts, I will be able to further expand my network and strengthen my connections. I’ll keep you posted as I expand what I’m doing in both areas.

What about you? Do you like to put your efforts into online or offline networking? Or, do you do both? Do you think one has more success than the other? I’d love to hear what you think.”

Learn Social Media Marketing Techniques from Top E...

Have you been looking for a way to expand your knowledge of social media marketing but can’t find an event near you to do it? Then, you need to check out this live, web-based event, starting May 26, 2009 (and if you register by May 25, 2009, you receive a 20% discount).

Top experts in social media are offering this live, web conference to teach you about the tools and techniques that have made them successful and that can help to expand your online business.

Here’s the link so you can check it out yourself — http://www.socialmediasummit09.com. Hope to see you there!”