Blogging as a Business is real folks and in the first installment of this six week series, ?the SITS Girls offered you some sound advice ?last week as to how they have found success doing that with their immensly popular Bloggy Bootcamp conference as well as their website.
This week, the lovely ladies of Girls Lunch Out,?{GLO}??Tina Seitzinger (Life without Pink, anyone?) and Erica Voll (Mommy is Fabulous) are sharing their Business tips with you.
What is Girls Lunch Out??
Girls? Lunch Out {GLO}?is a place for women to connect, learn and lunch? with a purpose.
Join GLO and?
- Learn about local events and businesses
- Enhance your skills as a blogger and professional
- Network with other social media mavens and business professionals
- Have fun and treat yourself to lunch out with the girls
So, grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine if you?re reading in the evening and settle in for some professional development ? Girls Lunch Out style!
1.) How did Girls Lunch Out come to be? What made you decide to partner with one another?
We met at Bloggy Bootcamp in March 2010. It was the first blogging conference for both of us, and after chatting, we realized we only lived 20 minutes from each other. We planned to get together when we got home.
At home, we started meeting for lunch to ?talk shop? and blogging. It was so nice to get together for lunched without kids where we could focus on our hobby and network, that we thought other women would think the same thing.
Thus, Girls? Lunch Out was born. As moms, we felt evening events would be difficult with work and family schedules, but everyone can sneak away for a lunch once in awhile.
We wanted to give local businesswomen a chance to step out from behind the computer and network with other women in their own community to build and establish business relationships as well as new friendships.
2.) What?s the key to success when working with a partner from afar and often with other commitments pulling at your time? How do you make it all work?
Communication and delegating responsibilities ? both are key! We each have our own strengths and weaknesses. Fortunately for us, we balance each other out.
We also have professional backgrounds and each of us work full-time outside of Girls? Lunch Out. We are both great time managers, and are so focused on maintaining client relationships, so it isn?t too stressful for us.
3.) What advice do you have for bloggers with the entrepreneurial spirit?
Figure out what you love to do and go for it! Treat your hobby like a business if you want to take it to the next level.
Set goals for yourself with a business plan, and be realistic about what you can and cannot do.
Put some thought and effort into marketing yourself, and branding yourself in a way you want your clients to see you.
Also, don?t be afraid to say no. Not every idea or every pitch is a fit for you and your brand.
Oh, and get insurance ? and have friends who are lawyers!
4.) You host Girls Lunch Out throughout the year and in multiple locations. What can you tell us about what you have learned from planning that very first event from gaining sponsors, to organization as well as the pitfalls you?ve encountered along the way.
Organization. Organization. Organization.
At every event, we learn something new and how to improve our next event, but first and foremost, you have to be organized.
If you and your team are not on the same page, it can be a mess. We use tools to track everything from ticket sales, to twitter mentions. We plan and schedule everything and keep track of what is to be done by whom through Google docs.
Because we are new to markets, there is a slight learning curve and sometimes we need to manage our own expectations. Just because we sold out an event in Philadelphia, doesn?t mean that will be the same for a new market.
Another thing we?ve learned is to not sell ourselves short. In the beginning, it was hard to get sponsors to work with us. But we never looked back or lowered our costs. We felt we were priced fairly, but there were times when we weren?t getting sponsors, and we wondered if we cost too much. We?re so glad we didn?t change what we thought we were worth.
Finally, the little details are so important when holding a GLO event. Is there Wi-Fi in the restaurant? Will there be enough room for women to walk around and network? Do we need a microphone? Before every event, we go to the restaurant, and physically walk through the event to make sure we can ?see? things before they happen.
5.) When pitching brands/sponsors what are 5 things everyone should know/ or go in with for that first meeting?
1. Research the company ? who are they? What type of campaigns do they run? Are they active in social media? Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.
2. What are their goals? Tell them what YOU can do for THEM.
3. Write a solid pitch with ?out-of-the-box? ideas. We try to set our company apart from others and provide creative ideas on how we can work together.
4. Make sure you have some testimonials and past campaign results to share with the brand. Include them in your pitch letter.
5. Price yourself fairly, and list in detail what you will do for the brand so there is no confusion.
6.) There?s a saying, ?all in hindsight? ? what do you wish you knew starting out that you know now? Is there anything you would have done differently?
One thing we didn?t do well in the beginning, that we are starting to do all over again is SEO for our website. In the beginning, we just wanted something out there ? and we quickly put a website up without giving SEO too much thought. Now, our site has grown, and we are finding ourselves backtracking to re-do SEO in the RIGHT way.
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What piece of advice did you find most valuable??
**Next Monday they?ll be another fantastic feature, so make sure to add me to your RSS or Email so you don?t miss a single Blogging as a Business feature!
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