Choosing Your Fusion Partners by Pam Small

When choosing your Fusion Partners there is much to consider. Determining which businesses would make for a good Fusion match would include those who:

• are targeting the same audience as you;
• will commit the time and resources to brainstorming and implementing ideas;
• do work you respect and admire;
• have business practices that mirror your own;
• respect you and appreciate what you have to contribute; and
• will give this marketing campaign time to work.

While each of these elements is critical to a successful Fusion Partnership, the most important quality to determine is not one that you can easily quantify. What is your gut telling you about this relationship? Is this business owner honest and trustworthy? Are your philosophies on life similar? How well do you know this person? What would you be willing to tolerate from this person?

It may not be easy to walk away from a relationship that has the potential of driving a lot of business to you. On the other hand, it may cause you untold grief if you "sell your soul" to someone and become enslaved to practices and attitudes that are uncomfortable to you.

The best advice is to take your time. If there is any red flag that pops up in your spirit - WAIT. The waiting game is not something most of us do easily. Don't allow impatience to force you to make a hasty decision. As the old adage goes - "there are plenty of other fish in the sea." Proceed with caution, but when you get that green light - don't look back. Commit to the relationship and plan your strategy.

Eagle Soars Marketing frequently works on projects with Pam Small, owner of Refresh & Renew. If your business sells to women, she's the one to contact. She's been helping small business owners understand the woman buyer for over 10 years.

Work smarter, not harder - Upcoming teleclasses for small business owners shows them how.

The small business owner is pulled in so many directions and is working hard to create a successful and profitable company. Often, they are not able to devote the time they would like to continuing their business education. In response, Eagle Soars Marketing is offering low-cost teleclasses on various marketing and training topics so these business owners can work smarter and not harder.

The first teleclass, Navigating the Web Site Waters, is scheduled for Thursday, June 6^th from 8:00 to 9:00 pm. Business owners can call in from the comfort of their home to hear Anne Lazo, owner of Eagle Soars Marketing, talk about web terminology in an easy-to-understand way. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of web design companies that are ripping off the small business owner. This teleclass can help business owners purchase and utilize various web site design and marketing services with confidence,” states Lazo. This teleclass is great for the do-it-yourselfer as well as the business owner who would like to contract with a web designer.

Rhonda Moskowitz recently wrote the following about the Navigating the Web Site Waters teleclass, “Your expertise is amazing and your ability to take complex information and simplify it for the techno-challenged just stunned me. I learned more in one hour with you than in one year of reading.”

Because of the popularity of Navigating the Web Site Waters we decided to work with top-notch business professionals to hold teleclasses on additional subjects.” Classes are also being offered on:

• Fusion Marketing
• How to Optimize Your Web Site for Better Ranking in Google and the Other Search Engines
• Free and Low-Cost Ways of Marketing Your Service Business and Expertise

For the upcoming class schedule and to register on-line, interested business owners can go to www.eaglesoars-marketing.com/ teleclasses_webinars.htm.

Balance is Important for Business Success

As a business owner, are you swamped from early morning to late evening handling all the aspects of your business and personal life? If you answered this question with a "yes," you are probably among the majority. We all tend to allow the daily pressures to take hold of and dominate our lives. The lack of balance leaves us feeling overwhelmed and tired.

I'm going to make this short and sweet... as a business owner, you MUST take time out for reflection. Whether it is self-reflection or reflecting on the success of your business, it is very important to schedule this time into your busy schedule. How can you take a look at where you've been and where you want to go with your business unless you dedicate the time for thinking?

Making a concerted effort to schedule quality time for planning, troubleshooting, and creating can be the difference between running a so-so business and building a great business. They key is making sure you plan this valuable reflection time into your schedule. I like to do my reflecting on Friday mornings. I sit and look back over the past week. Then, I consider ways I could improve what I do for my clients.

I write everything that comes into my mind down into a journal. On Mondays, I take a look through the journal entries to see if there is anything I should implement during the coming week. I then schedule that task (or tasks) into my to-do list. Some ideas may sit in the journal for a long time before I decide to work on them. Others I implement right away.

Don't let the busyness of your schedule keep you from doing what is paramount to its success. You won't regret the time you take to reflect.