You see, social media is just marketing. And marketing is a core business process that supports sales. If your “expert” doesn’t understand the business of doing business or strategic marketing, they can’t do much for your bottom line. No, really. I promise.

I collect strategic marketers who understand the digital space (REAL “social media experts”, if you will) so I can recommend them when needed.

Jeff Gibbard is one such ‘strategic marketer’.

So you can imagine my delight when he wrote a blog post about…. PROCESS!

Enjoy “Social Media and The Beauty of Process” at Social Media Philanthropy.

And for those of you who missed the Taco Bell video he references, it’s here:

Sybil Lindsay formerly of Xipwire

Zoe Seltzer

Amanda Steinberg of Daily Worth

Devon Siegel

Include below here women who are 40+. If under 40, that’s a different category (I’ll add those names to this one automatically).

>Joanne Lang of About One (41)

Who else?

• Colleen Mook (39) of BabyBeHip

Who else?

• Jaisree Moorthy of GanaLila
• Katya Bineva (30) of Baseklas

Who else?

Research project! I’m trying to compile this so please add a comment if you know of one that matches. Include here women who are 29. If over 30, that’s a different category (I’ll add those names to this one automatically where applicable).

• Nicole Newman of Newman Networks
• Molly Cygan Rossettie (29) of The Little Apple Store/Site

Who else?

>Yasmine Mustafa of 123 LinkIt

>Felicia Curcuru of Wishberry

>Keya Dannenbaum of ElectNext

Who else?

It is the most telling, humbling and funny three minute lesson on being an effective leader (or supporting one).

If you need a little leadership support, I hope you find it in this story (click for video):

Nope.

I’ve presented using every piece of technology you can imagine – from wands, remotes, tablets to PCs to ad-libbing a web based software lesson entirely because two projectors failed.

In the field, the presentation environment is never ideal – you could be working with dated AV setups or with spotty internet signals. When you are paid to present, as I am, the show must go on. I’ve found carrying the laptop an indispensable part of a reliable presentation.

I also have a few other criteria that presented some challenges:

• I need to walk around when I present, I can’t be tethered to a podium.
• I prefer Microsoft Power Point and most of my previous presentations are in this format.
• I need a Windows based laptop for some of the advanced data analysis I do.
• I am an Apple mobile device user (Ipad and Iphone)
• Wifi can never be relied upon as available

So my challenges of cross pollination of technology in a far from ideal environment made most solutions useless.

Until I happened upon the magic combination:

Iclickr is a smart little app that goes on both your mobile device (yes, Windows and Android are supported) and as a desktop software install on the laptop. It creates an ad-hoc network between the two, allowing you to control your powerpoint from your device SEAMLESSLY. You can even annotate on the screen behind you, have a timer indicator and see your slide notes – all within the app on your mobile device.

The app is $10, the software needed for the computer is free. I’d pay three times that without blinking, it’s that great – whether you are doing one presentation a year or 700.

The only challenge is that set up each time is a little tricky. Installation directions are pretty robust on their site but the -each time setup- instructions are a bit lacking so I prepared these for a client running a similar environment to the one I have and I thought I’d repost them here for your benefit.

12 Steps to using IClickr for each Presentation Setup

1. Ensure you have Power Point and the presentation file on your computer first.

2. open iclickr program on your computer (under Senstic in the program files)

3. in iclickr program on your computer, click direct wireless arrow and then -start- in the new window that pops open

4. on the taskbar on the computer (next to the clock), find the wireless network icon, double click and choose iclickr network – it may say unconnected but that is okay

5. on idevice, go to settings, general, network, wifi, and choose the iclickr network (also make sure bluetooth is turned off while you’re in the general area)

6. launch idevice app on idevice – say okay to any window that pops up, regardless of what it’s warning you.

7. inside the app on idevice click the option from the list that looks like an three part infinity symbol on the right – not the one that looks like a wireless internet signal

8. inside the app on idevice choose the powerpoint from your computer

9. on your computer, put the powerpoint into presentation mode and connect to the projector

10. you are good to operate the powerpoint from your Idevice!

 After you’re done and they’ve showered you with fantastic applause:

11. on the taskbar on the computer (next to the clock), find the wireless network icon, double click to restore to your regular wireless network – if you can’t find it, right click the wifi bars and go to open network and sharing center. Then set up a new connection or network, then connect to the internet, then wireless. The wireless networks should return.

12. on idevice, go to settings, general, network, wifi, and choose the wifi network you usually use. (turn your bluetooth back on while you’re in here in the case you use it)

Read more at their site: http://www.senstic.com/iphone/iclickr/iclickr.aspx

Happy Presenting! (Be prepared to awe the audience with your tech savvy, wireless presentation controlling wizard….)

The notebook I’m referring to is detailed here. This post just talks about how to wield it powerfully.

Put a label on each section: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, and HOW.

In the WHO Section, you’ll include the following types of information:

• WHO are all the people who will be involved in your business – including customers, suppliers, contacts, assistance, professionals, etc.

In the WHAT Section, you’ll include the following types of information:

• What is your product or service, what will it do, what will it look like, etc.

In the WHERE Section, you’ll include the following types of information:

• Where will you operate this business? Today? In 6 months? In 5 years?
• Where will you find the all the people who might be involved?

In the WHY Section, you’ll include the following types of information:

• Why does the customer want to buy your product/service and not someone else’s?

In the HOW Section, you’ll include the following types of information:

• How do you plan to bring this product or service to existence?

This will become a working volume to use to run your business. Add phrases, notes, lists, thoughts, scribbles. No need for whole sentences and certainly not paragraphs. Got ideas on the back of an envelope? Tape it in. Been collecting business cards of people who can help? Tape them in (loosely, you might want to re-organize later).

Most of the information that discusses business planning emphasizes the Business Plan document. That document itself is only relevant if you need financing. It is how financial institutions have decided they incoming communication to be formatted. This document doesn’t actually help you run your business. This is why so many people are stopped short staring at a blank template. I want you to put the emphasis on the planning of your business, this is why I’ve chosen such a different medium.

Here’s how you might use your notebook:

• Keep your thoughts organized.
• Find holes and inconsistencies in what you want to do
• Get clear on what you know and what you need to learn
• Quickly share your thoughts about your business opportunity with someone else
• Memory jogger
• To be a baseline so you can compare/contrast later
• Document of plans, milestones, and expectations
• Be the foundation of information for continuous enhancement and improvement

Got a client? Take care of them first. Then get back to the notebook.

What’s important, REALLY important, is that everything is in one place so you can find it. Got distracted by children, parents, projects, life? Not a problem. Find the notebook, flip through the pages, remember where you were and keep going.

Don’t fill in one section at a time. This isn’t a test. There is no special order. Expect that you will be writing information in multiple sections of the notebook at one time. Sometimes you’ll be seeking WHO information and instead will find WHAT or HOW information. Sometimes you’ll be reading the newspaper and a brilliant flash will suddenly set you off on the trail of WHY. Rip out the article, make a note in the margin, and stuff it into the book for later. As you answer some of the questions you will uncover other questions that need to be addressed. There is no date due and no real end point.

You may find one of these categories very easy to fill in and one very difficult to fill in. That’s exactly right. It is IMPOSSIBLE to know it all in advance. One of the reasons for getting organized, in any fashion, is to learn what you know and what you don’t know. The value of the notebook: you are clarifying yourself. Have you ever explained a problem to someone only to find an answer in the middle of your explanation? Yep, this kind of works like that.

For example, one person might easily complete the HOW portion but may be struggling with WHAT. An inventor with a good idea knows exactly WHAT but may not know WHO the customer would be. Don’t beat yourself up too much if you can’t answer a question or if your investigating sends you down a different topic. Just go with it, the only WRONG way to do it is not to do it at all.

How long should this take? Building a business is a process it’s not done in a day or a week. In some ways, the work is never over. I don’t want to scare you. But business is dynamic that means that business is always changing. It’s a little like, (okay, a lot like) raising a child. Yesterday’s issues are not tomorrow’s issues. Once you finish learning about nursery schools it becomes time to learn about kindergarten. Your child doesn’t stop growing up while you’re figuring out what to do with them at that stage. You just have to hold the heck on and hope you can keep up. Welcome to entrepreneurship!

Before you go into business/apply for a loan/negotiate a lease/pitch suppliers/obtain partners/sweep the floor you should write a business plan.

I hate that. Really, it’s like a freezing cold shower.

In my rational mind, I know it to be true – the business plan is the FUNDAMENTAL starting point. It makes your concept official, fleshes out your idea, makes you accountable to something, forces you to think about the things you’re SUPPOSED to think about before dedicating time, money, brainpower.

BUT, it takes the new venture euphoria, weighs it down and says – Phhhhf! Way more fun to design the new business cards! Be careful with this euphoria – it drives the blood, sweat, tears, vast amounts of debt, sleepless nights and innovation that differentiate between success and failure. To plan your euphoria is such a downer. It’s like asking someone to draft a prenup on the third date. I don’t want to mitigate risk; I’m just trying to be in love here!

Oh, and by the way. This applies to you too – intrapreneurs or entrepreneurs already in business. If you’re here, it means there is something you’d like to improve and chances are it stems back to the fact you don’t have a plan. You could hire me to come do this for you or you could start here.

I’m going to give you an escape route out of this dreaded chore. Don’t worry, it doesn’t involve a 60 page template.

How to Not Create a Formal Business Plan

Buy a five subject notebook, the kind you would buy for a schoolkid. It should be dedicated to this task. Otherwise, I give you no other restrictions – pink, unlined, embossed. Doesn’t matter. Label the dividers:

The purpose of this notebook is to capture all the idea bees that have been swarming around in your head into a usable third dimension format. It doesn’t have to be pretty or formal – you can add images, magazine cut outs, staple computer printouts in there (or use the pockets in each divider if you splurged), doodle, write illegibly. It doesn’t matter what kind of notebook you choose. Any one will do.

STOP OVERTHINKING IT! You’ve already groaning inside and filing this away for later when you’re making money/official/been doing it a year/have an actual shop/traffic/sales because it SOUNDS like it’s going to be painful. C’mon now, people, as Nike says, JUST DO IT. And yes, that was probably in their business plan. Once you have the notebook, we’ll talk about how you can make that into something that resembles a plan. The only way to do this step wrong is not to do it at all.

Because I know you want the easy way out, I created a formal version of this notebook (including hints and charts) in 8.5 x 11 or book size. You can buy it now and it will appear at your house in a week or so. In addition to the sections outlined here, I’ve also included a when, how much and next steps section that may be helpful.

That’s it. Step one. Get a notebook. Stop worrying what’s going to happen in step two.

Once you HAVE a notebook, move on to step two.