I hope you had the greatest 4th of July ever, whether you celebrate Independence Day stateside, or if it was just another Sunday.

Yes, here in the USA, we celebrate Independence Day. People talk a lot about freedom and independence. It would take me a lot of detail and back story to tell you why the last time I truly felt free was so long ago. But why I feel independent?

That’s easy. I own my own company.

I don’t just “work for myself” – no dis to the self-employed, as I once counted myself among your ranks. But in many ways, my business is growing beyond that, slowly and steady as she goes. And while I’m personally far, far from being a millionaire, I do know that given full possession of my faculties, a way to communicate and basic survival needs taken care of, I could build another company tomorrow from scratch.

And whether you just enjoy my blog or have all my products, I have you to thank for that. So thank you.

That feeling of knowing I can shape my own destiny, win or fail, is what Independence means to me as an entrepreneur. I’d love to hear what it means to you.

Facebook may not have been built with marketing in mind, although the four choices under “looking for” on your Info tab are Friendship, Dating, A Relationship and Networking.

However, if you choose to take that invitation to network, you still have to be careful about the way you market yourself.

I could do a whole article on staying within Facebook’s terms and conditions alone. For now though, I’m going to focus on the subtleties of networking online, particularly Marketing in Facebook.

If you think about when you go to an event to network, you behave a certain way- even if the point of the gathering is networking, you don’t open with your business card.

People would think you were a lunatic if you came to the event dressed inappropriately, and ran in circles around the room, throwing a handful of your business cards at each person’s face.

Yet, somehow the perception is that this kind of behavoir is not just accepted, but welcomed online.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m no purist.

Far be it from me to say “don’t network” or “never try and make some money”, even on Facebook. I say take business where ever it comes.

It has just been my experience that in a networking environment, online or off, you get more of your products sold and services ordered, if you forego the hard sell.

The Age of the Hard Sell is over now, anyway. It’s the Age of the Educated Consumer, who has dozens, sometimes even hundreds of choices about where to shop, not to mention sources of information about you or your company.

We sell more by serving better.

To take the discussion back to networking, this is why we tend to be buy from the well-dressed person who cares and offered their help. We should be asking ourselves – what’s the equivalent online?

I’ll answer that question another time. In the next post, we’ll go over some common marketing mistakes here on Facebook.

I guess a better question would be “Has It Been Done?” – my answer is yes. Let me tell you a story.

There was an era when I had nothing BUT time. Not much cash but hours and hours to sit in front of my computer and

• read every RSS feed
• subscribe to and read every newsletter,
• go to Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Ecademy, LinkedIn, Delicious, Mixx, Business Exchange, Digg, Biz Sugar, Hugg, and about a dozen more of the best social media sites,
• not to mention commenting on dozens of other blogs,
• going to forums, or Ning sites,
• and posting videos or creating and publishing podcasts.

And I wasn’t there to waste time.

I wanted to either find some tidbit of information no one was paying attention to that could change the thrust of entrepreneurial life, or help whoever I encountered in every way I could. Either would add to my expertise, help me market that expertise, and result in more sales.

It worked. And when I had this huge mountain of available time, I was grateful that it was working. Then came work, as inevitably happens when you market yourself properly.

I mean, a lot of work. And even if you get help, even if you have a whole staff or outsource everything, being a full-time marketer, a full-time expert, a full-time blogger – it’s a lot to do. You find yourself choosing between work and sleep, trying to combine work and meals… wishing you could combine sleep and meals.

Smeals.

I’d be a Billionaire! If I could figure out how to do it without making everyone fat.

…Anyway. That day of optimal success came and went, and then I got really sick. So I went back to my hometown so my family could help look after me.

I went back to work, but then I had to manage my time more carefully. It’s been a long, slow road to recovery and it’s not over. Doctor’s visits. Figuring out how to pay for doctor’s visits. Learning how to do things you used to take for granted.

Having less time to work, and needing more help to get things done. General loss of control. Then, there were all the social interactions I wasn’t used to. (Okay, isn’t this why I left corporate America? I could have stayed and been making mid-six figures by now. Dang it.)

You know the social things I mean. Stuff entrepreneurs who live alone or with other entrepreneurs for several years happily forget about.

Good morning/good night. (It’s apparently a major sin to be too lost in thought to greet someone. “I didn’t see you there” doesn’t get you out of it OR points for honesty. Tried that.)

I’m an entrepreneur, we only shower on odd days. (Also known as “WHAT is that SMELL?”)

If it’s yellow, let it mellow? (I Love the earth but it took a long time for me to get used to seeing someone else’s pee in the bowl when I get there.)

Who left these kids here! I’m not watching them, I am BUSY. RESPECT MY TIME. Hey! Just because I’m working at home today…
 Sorry, I mean… My adorable nieces and nephews.

I really am kidding about that first part, though things like that occasionally do happen. (Pointed look at their Dad!)

I volunteered to watch them, not really understanding that you can’t multi-task ANYTHING and two year olds. It was great when they were 6 – 18 months, and will probably work out again when they’re 3 and a half. But right now, they cost six hours a day.

Yes, with daycare.

So what’s a self-marketing entrepreneur who counts on a piece of profits to feed her and pay medical bills and pay down debt to do?

I tried everything. And here’s what I did, and a few things I believe we MUST do.

1- Accept the situation.

You can’t be a rock star every day and have a life. If you choose to have a happy life, get comfortable with your choice and its consequences. You’ll miss events. You won’t be the first with all the news anymore. But you can be the best speaker when you can show. And you can still have the highest Quality news, which is what people care about anyway.

2- Realize it’s not hopeless.

Chances are 20% of your work got you 80% of your results. Focus on that 20%. You can look at your web stats, recall where and how you met your most valued customers and clients, pinpoint where you were most passionate, find out where you got the most benefit in the least amount of time.

3- Get. Help.

I’m a master at avoiding the best way to get people to help me grow. If they gave out Olympic Medals in Not Asking for Help, I’d be some kind of Prodigy. It makes me feel weak to ask someone for something as simple as a retweet. Sometimes, I’m just confused about who I can ask. Don’t be like me.

If you already are, join me in taking one extra step, one time a day, asking people who like you to do one small favor. It makes me feel better to do one for them first, regardless of what I think the answer will be.

4- Be Efficient with Your Time

Manage your tasks so that you can get as much of the most critical things done as you can. I believe that after those first few weeks of setting up and getting started, that we can all get our most important social media tasks done in 15 minutes a day, with the exception of those of us who have made social media a career.

I’ve come to this conclusion after observing customers and clients for a few years. Regular business people have to juggle their work life, their home lives, and the duties of each. We simply can’t be on Twitter all day. We don’t think it isn’t fun. We don’t necessarily believe it doesn’t help us. We just can’t give it 8 hours. So we tend to give it a little chunk of time and then kick butt during that sliver.

You won’t get all of it done. The secret to joy is that No One gets all of it done, and that’s actually okay. You’re not a failure if you didn’t finish every single item on your to-do list – and you’re not one if it happens every day. Delegate. Prioritize. And Sometimes? Let go or say “No”.

Apologize if it makes you feel better.

5- Have more fun.

I know this is a weird tip. But indulge me for a just a few more seconds, because after this I have to ask for your help. This tip lets me procrastinate doing that.

The first time I thought of this tip, it was one of those sarcastic inner comments like so “Maybe if creating products was more fun, I’d do it more often.”

Then I thought – hey, wait, why Isn’t it more fun?

We all know why it’s not inherently fun – we think of it as work. But what if we didn’t? When I was a kid, I hated washing the dishes, so I would sing to pass the time. I loved to sing, so suddenly, I always looked forward to washing the dishes.

As an adult, I thought walking was the most boring form of exercise on the planet. Then I heard that a quick way to monitor your heart rate would be to sing as you walk. If you can carry a tune without much struggle, you’re on track. Now I turn up my iPod and sing at the top of my lungs when there are no people visible.

So I guess this tip should say – MAKE it fun. Whatever you’re doing, find a way to make it fun. Why? It makes you feel better about doing it, and other people can tell you entertained yourself – and some of them will also be quite entertained.

Now comes the hardest part of this article, the part that feels like it’s going to KILL me.

I need your help. Respond in the comments section with Your Tips on how to market yourself best in 15 minutes a day. My plan is to take all the answers and give them away as a free ebook with a link to each contributor, if I have more than 25 comments by Friday.

So I need you to respond, then retweet, or post the link to Facebook, StumbleUpon, where ever. Thank you!

I couldn’t let Friday night pass without giving you some of the best news I’ve heard in a while. (I’d say Saturday morning, but I know my entrepreneur friends – you’re up working just like me. You went out, you came home, you worked some more. Admit it.)

If you remember our last Site of the Day, you know that I don’t give these honors out lightly.

So why the Small Business Success Index? What about that site can help you build your business online?

The way I see it, knowing you’ll have a business to build this time next year helps dramatically. That seems like a pretty strong reason to care to me – and not just because much of my business is with small business owners. I’m an entrepreneur, after all.

Let’s look a little more closely at why this site is so important to those of us with smaller companies.

In a time when the pressure of the economy is being felt in ways most of us have never witnessed in our lifetimes, you know who’s not worried?

Us. Small business people.

When I first heard this I was skeptical . Then I came across proof.

And you know how I just love hard evidence and numbers — I’m always saying listen to people who make sense to you, test out their theories, and believe the results, the proof, the data, even about me.

I love it when the numbers agree with my gut reaction. Call it an extra ego stroke, but I get a buzz from knowing that

a- I was right, and
b- Other people agree with me.

Of coruse, that’s where the Small Business Success Index (SBSI) comes in. It’s hosted at GrowSmartBusiness.com, which is full of research put together by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

They say it better than I do, so I’ll quote from the page about SBSI’s survey of over 1000 small business owners:

The benchmark survey, which gathered data used to create the Small Business Success Index, was conducted in December 2008 and January 2009; a total of 1,000 small business owners were interviewed by phone. The Small Business Success Index found the following:

• Small businesses are succeeding despite the economic downturn.
• 69% of small businesses made a profit in 2008
• 7% of small businesses report that they broke even
• The majority (69%) of those who showed a profit in 2008 said it was equal to or better than the previous year
• 70% of small businesses expect their firms to still be operating in five years as opposed to being closed, sold or transferred, and of these, 66% expect to be bigger in size

How’s that for good news?

If you’re not seeing the connection, here it is: small business employs more people in this country than big business. We drive the economy. We’re quite a pragmatic group so we don’t cheer easily. Therefore, for things to be in this big of a mess and us to be optimistic? Bodes well for everyone.

Or as a post from the official Network Solutions blog put it:

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, “American small businesses are the bedrock of the U.S. economy. There are more than 25 million of them in the to the Census Bureau. They employ more than 58 million people, that is a greater number of jobs than big companies, and they create more new jobs each year than any other sector.”

Before I came across the SBSI I thought maybe this was just all the Small Business Owners that I knew.

My original theory was that more companies are starting to see that they can get better results from leveraging PR, online and offline publicity and marketing than just paying for search advertising, so I thought perhaps only marketing-related companies were getting a boost in new business from this change in climate.

Apparently, the news is better than I thought – small business is doing much better than I expected, across the board.

This hopeful data isn’t all the site has to offer, either. There are also lots of tools at their site to help small business owners, including their Small Business Survey, which will help you assess how well your business is doing competitively.

For more, go visit GrowSmartBusiness.com, and read Brent Leary’s Tale of Two Studies over at AMEX’s Open Forum. (Brent’s the co-author of Barack 2.0 with our friend David Bullock.)

He also interviewed the Network Solutions CEO, Roy Dunbar, at his Social CRM site.

Age of Conversation

There’s this wonderful project I’m a part of, and all the hard work of the project leaders has come to fruition. A while back, I told you about the childish jealousy that led me to be a part of The Age of Conversation Part Two. In this book, you can read 239 perspectives explaining how to be successful in the Age of Conversation – a goldmine if you’re an entrepreneur or a small business owner.

What I didn’t tell you then is that all the proceeds go to a children’s charity, Variety. So, I know it’s late in the day, but I took a chance that you’d be in a much more giving mood when the day was done. The sale has been on for 12 hours, and it would be wonderful if by midnight Pacific time, we could have $15,000 to hand over to this fabulous charity.

How can you help? Buy a copy.

They come in digital, in paperback or hard cover for those who collect books like me.

Thank you so much for your help. You’ll get a great book AND help a great charity. What could be better?

Other than reading my mystical magical words on the printed page, I mean.

Final list of all the authors participating.

1. Adrian Ho,
2. Aki Spicer,
3. Alex Henault,
4. Amy Jussel,
5. Andrew Odom,
6. Andy Nulman,
7. Andy Sernovitz,
8. Andy Whitlock,
9. Angela Maiers,
10. Ann Handley,
11. Anna Farmery,
12. Armando Alves,
13. Arun Rajagopal,
14. Asi Sharabi,
15. Becky Carroll,
16. Becky McCray,
17. Bernie Scheffler,
18. Bill Gammell,
19. Bob LeDrew,
20. Brad Shorr,
21. Brandon Murphy,
22. Branislav Peric,
23. Brent Dixon,
24. Brett Macfarlane,
25. Brian Reich,
26. C.C. Chapman,
27. Cam Beck,
28. Casper Willer,
29. Cathleen Rittereiser,
30. Cathryn Hrudicka,
31. Cedric Giorgi,
32. Charles Sipe,
33. Chris Kieff,
34. Chris Cree,
35. Chris Wilson,
36. Christina Kerley (CK),
37. C.B. Whittemore,
38. Chris Brown,
39. Connie Bensen,
40. Connie Reece,
41. Corentin Monot,
42. Craig Wilson,
43. Daniel Honigman,
44. Dan Schawbel,
45. Dan Sitter,
46. Daria Radota Rasmussen,
47. Darren Herman,
48. Dave Davison,
49. David Armano,
50. David Berkowitz,
51. David Koopmans,
52. David Meerman Scott,
53. David Petherick,
54. David Reich,
55. David Weinfeld,
56. David Zinger,
57. Deanna Gernert,
58. Deborah Brown,
59. Dennis Price,
60. Derrick Kwa,
61. Dino Demopoulos,
62. Doug Haslam,
63. Doug Meacham,
64. Doug Mitchell,
65. Douglas Hanna,
66. Douglas Karr,
67. Drew McLellan,
68. Duane Brown,
69. Dustin Jacobsen,
70. Dylan Viner,
71. Ed Brenegar,
72. Ed Cotton,
73. Efrain Mendicuti,
74. Ellen Weber,
75. Eric Peterson,
76. Eric Nehrlich,
77. Ernie Mosteller,
78. Faris Yakob,
79. Fernanda Romano,
80. Francis Anderson,
81. Gareth Kay,
82. Gary Cohen,
83. Gaurav Mishra,
84. Gavin Heaton,
85. Geert Desager,
86. George Jenkins,
87. G. Kofi Annan,
88. G.L. Hoffman,
89. Gianandrea Facchini,
90. Gordon Whitehead,
91. Greg Verdino,
92. Gretel Going
93. & Kathryn Fleming,
94. Hillel Cooperman,
95. Hugh Weber,
96. J. Erik Potter,
97. James Gordon-Macintosh,
98. Jamey Shiels,
99. Jasmin Tragas,
100. Jason Oke,
101. Jay Ehret,
102. Jeanne Dininni,
103. Jeff De Cagna,
104. Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral,
105. Jeff Noble,
106. Jeff Wallace,
107. Jennifer Warwick,
108. Jenny Meade,
109. Jeremy Fuksa,
110. Jeremy Heilpern,
111. Jeroen Verkroost,
112. Jessica Hagy,
113. Joanna Young,
114. Joe Pulizzi,
115. John Herrington,
116. John Moore,
117. John Rosen,
118. John Todor,
119. Jon Burg,
120. Jon Swanson,
121. Jonathan Trenn,
122. Jordan Behan,
123. Julie Fleischer,
124. Justin Foster,
125. Karl Turley,
126. Kate Trgovac,
127. Katie Chatfield,
128. Katie Konrath,
129. Kenny Lauer,
130. Keri Willenborg,
131. Kevin Jessop,
132. Kristin Gorski,
133. Lewis Green,
134. Lois Kelly,
135. Lori Magno,
136. Louise Manning,
137. Luc Debaisieux,
138. Mario Vellandi,
139. Mark Blair,
140. Mark Earls,
141. Mark Goren,
142. Mark Hancock,
143. Mark Lewis,
144. Mark McGuinness,
145. Matt Dickman,
146. Matt J. McDonald,
147. Matt Moore,
148. Michael Karnjanaprakorn,
149. Michelle Lamar,
150. Mike Arauz,
151. Mike McAllen,
152. Mike Sansone,
153. Mitch Joel,
154. Neil Perkin,
155. Nettie Hartsock,
156. Nick Rice,
157. Oleksandr Skorokhod,
158. Ozgur Alaz,
159. Paul Chaney,
160. Paul Hebert,
161. Paul Isakson,
162. Paul McEnany,
163. Paul Tedesco,
164. Paul Williams,
165. Pet Campbell,
166. Pete Deutschman,
167. Peter Corbett,
168. Phil Gerbyshak,
169. Phil Lewis,
170. Phil Soden,
171. Piet Wulleman,
172. Rachel Steiner,
173. Sreeraj Menon,
174. Reginald Adkins,
175. Richard Huntington,
176. Rishi Desai,
177. Robert Hruzek,
178. Roberta Rosenberg,
179. Robyn McMaster,
180. Roger von Oech,
181. Rohit Bhargava,
182. Ron Shevlin,
183. Ryan Barrett,
184. Ryan Karpeles,
185. Ryan Rasmussen,
186. Sam Huleatt,
187. Sandy Renshaw and
188. James G. Lindberg,
189. Scott Goodson,
190. Scott Monty,
191. Scott Townsend,
192. Scott White,
193. Sean Howard,
194. Sean Scott,
195. Seni Thomas,
196. Seth Gaffney,
197. Shama Hyder,
198. Sheila Scarborough,
199. Sheryl Steadman,
200. Simon Payn,
201. Sonia Simone,
202. Spike Jones,
203. Stanley Johnson,
204. Stephen Collins,
205. Stephen Landau,
206. Stephen Smith,
207. Steve Bannister,
208. Steve Hardy,
209. Steve Portigal,
210. Steve Roesler,
211. Steven Verbruggen,
212. Steve Woodruff,
213. Sue Edworthy,
214. Susan Bird,
215. Susan Gunelius,
216. Susan Heywood,
217. Tammy Lenski,
218. Terrell Meek,
219. Thomas Clifford,
220. Thomas Knoll,
221. Tim Brunelle,
222. Tim Connor,
223. Tim Jackson,
224. Tim Mannveille,
225. Tim Tyler,
226. Timothy Johnson,
227. Tinu Abayomi-Paul < -- Hey That's Me!
228. Toby Bloomberg,
229. Todd Andrlik,
230. Troy Rutter,
231. Troy Worman,
232. Uwe Hook,
233. Valeria Maltoni,
234. Vandana Ahuja,
235. Vanessa DiMauro,
236. Veronique Rabuteau,
237. Wayne Buckhanan,
238. William Azaroff,
239. Yves Van Landeghem