Melanie Kissell | Recovering Perfectionist | Blogging on the Lighter Side of Clowning Around in Online Marketing
With every fiber of my being, I believe the greatest and most valuable asset in life is a sense of humor. And no day is complete without coffee. By night, I work my magic as a Certified Perinatal Educator and Lactation Specialist. I’ve been witnessing the miracle of birth and working in the business of babies for the past three decades. Teaching is my ‘thang’. By day, I smooth out the wrinkles of online biz start-ups for moms entrenched in creative chaos and the tricky juggling act of motherhood and small business ownership. School activities, laundry, cooking, carpooling, hair braiding, and housework aren’t the only things moms are great at! Ideal client: A tenacious mom with a big “why,” a marketable idea, a shoestring budget, and unstoppable passion for creating a business online. My Solo Mompreneur blog focuses mainly on no-cost and low-cost marketing strategies, branding, content creation ideas, social networking and, of course, blogging! I’m active on social media. Fan me on Facebook – Join my Twitter stream – Follow me on Pinterest – Connect with me on...
Read MoreClare Price, Developer of 5 Easy Pages, the Essential Marketing System
Clare Price is on a mission to stop bad marketing! She helps small business owners avoid the marketing mistakes that suck the life out of their companies. She developed 5 Easy Pages to make marketing easier, faster and more effective for overwhelmed small business owners. Her system is based on her 20 years of strategic marketing experience with global companies like Microsoft, Wells Fargo Bank and Proctor and Gamble as well as multiple start-ups. Clare is the author of 700+ articles in the areas of technology, marketing and business strategies and growth. She has been a featured speaker for the American Marketing Association, SARTA and the U.C. Davis Graduate School of Management. Clare is a classically trained business and marketing strategist. Her insights, knowledge and recommendations have helped companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to emerging enterprises make better business decisions about how to best use their marketing resources (time, talent and money). Expertise The 5 Easy Pages marketing system comes from more than 20 years of consulting expertise. Clare’s areas of expertise include market research, analysis, product management, competitive analysis and market positioning. She is passionate about helping fast, growth-oriented companies maximize new market opportunities through the commercialization of technology, market feasibility studies, market segment analysis, target customer research and analysis, market development and product alignment, go to market strategies, communication strategies, positioning, messaging and branding. Best Practices 5 Easy Pages is based on Clare’s original, proprietary strategic market analysis and practice methodology for product brand development, target market analysis, competitive analysis, positioning and messaging that was used to launch eight new company and product brands since 2003, achieving National, regional and International market success. Results This practice methodology has been used by more than 130 clients in 22 industries (IT, real estate, mortgage, insurance, retail and consumer goods verticals, etc.) to develop winning products, compelling messages and dominant market positions. Experience Prior to starting her own consulting firm in 2003, Clare was a Research Director for Gartner. At Gartner, she helped to develop and launch Gartner’s Internet Strategies Service which grew to $15 million in sales in less than three years. Her clients included: Microsoft, IBM, HP, Cisco Systems, Procter & Gamble, L.L. Bean and Wells Fargo Bank. Clare was also a senior product manager for Sun Microsystems and the vice president of marketing for three software startups. ...
Read MoreSandy McDonald, Why You Must Blog
The almost magical ability we now all enjoy, to connect to one another online, is well demonstrated by our Word Carnival experience. Hi, I’m Sandy McDonald from Why You Must Blog and proud contributor to the Word Carnival team efforts to bring you monthly words of wisdom on all matters to do with being in a small business. Why You Must Blog was borne out of a passionate belief that blogging is a powerful tool for businesses to connect to their community, build their business and make a difference. The first revelation of this truly awesome medium, was as co-founder of charity, KasCare, an online charity. A simple idea, simply promulgated online, to offer warmth and comfort to some of the 2.7 million southern African children, made orphaned or vulnerable by HIV/AIDS and poverty, resulted in a growing international community of over 8,000 members from 52 countries, which thrives today. Even more astounding, is that ownership of these tools and the manifestation of the idea now resides with this community around the world. Previously, my husband Roger, poet/writer and marketer, and I, graphic designer turned small business consultant ran our own marketing communications and design business, ArtWords, for 22 years, before founding KasCare in 2008. We developed the online KasCare community and its primary programs, knit-a-square and KasKids using blogging, online marketing, SEO and trust-based relationship building. Today, I pass this working knowledge on to businesses and bloggers to develop their own online communities. Key to this offer is the desire to save small business time and money. The Internet is a vast and powerful medium. Finding reputable service providers and honorable Internet marketing trainers can be frustrating and time consuming. Using my experience and a trust monitor to evaluate the efficacy of the services or products, is the basis of any recommendation I make. We recently founded Inspiring Women Online on LInkedIn, for both women and men to inspire and be inspired by each others’ experiences online, as an open platform of shared knowledge. I greatly look forward to the sharing of expertise with you through Word Carnival’s eloquent and inspired team of...
Read MoreNicole Fende, The Numbers Whisperer (R)
Nicole Fende is The Numbers Whisperer® and President of Small Business Finance Forum. As a credentialed actuary with experience as a former Chief Financial Officer, Investment Banker, and successful entrepreneur, Fende helps her clients reach their profit goals and learn how to effectively and enjoyably run the financial side of their business. As host of the well acclaimed SmallBizFinance Show on Blog Talk Radio, Nicole shares tips, tricks and expert interviews to help small businesses operate more efficiently and improve their bottom line. She broadcasts live every Wednesday at 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. In her book, How to be a Finance Rock Star, Nicole shares the same strategies she uses for her profit coaching clients to help them reach multi-platinum profits. It is an easy, practical go-to reference guide for mastering small business finance. Despite Ms. Fende’s endless list of impressive credentials, her true claim to fame is her ability to make finance fun. From her LOL blog posts, such as “How College Keggers Teach Complex Expense Analysis”, to the endearing finance mascot Fluffy, she entertains entrepreneurs while helping them grown their bottom line. This definitely isn’t the finance you slept through in college. Find her on twitter...
Read MoreMichelle Church, Marketing Support Specialist
When there is too much that needs to get done and not enough time to complete it ALL, delegating is now a must, contact Michelle Church. For eight years Michelle Church has been specializing in virtually providing administrative marketing support for solopreneurs that need to build a team. She assists them with posting, writing, and researching their blogs; building and maintaining WordPress websites, email marketing campaigns, and various other administrative tasks. “I help clients improve their productivity by taking on some of their time consuming tasks so that they can spend more of their time on revenue generating activities. I work well with coaches, speakers, sales professionals and authors that are positive, driven, determined, honest, and passionate. I am highly motivated to enhance the success of my clients.” I love being of service and supporting…how can I help...
Read MoreSharon Hurley Hall, Professional Writer and Blogger (and Word Nerd)
Sharon Hurley Hall helps small business owners, online entrepreneurs, solo bloggers and group blogs create well-written, well-researched and accurate content – it’s search engine optimized, accurate (fully fact-checked) and always on time. She also mentors other writers.
Read More