Lynda's Lookee Here

I’m not a politician or a preacher, I’m just ready to stand up and say that there is a financial flood gate this is flowing out of our area that is filled with dollars, not diamonds.

It is the daily buying decisions that we make that determines our region’s economy.  We can’t do anything about the national news we wake up to, but what we can do is choose what businesses we support.  If we choose to spend our money with local, small businesses then we will build our local economy.  Small business is what has driven the most amount of net job growth for the last 20 years for our region.

It’s not complicated and doesn’t require a degree in economics.  If we spend our money with eachother we will feed eachother’s families and contribute to our collective local success.  If we don’t, we won’t.

Will you stand up with me and support small business in our area whenever possible?

My trusty team member Fredy found this for me this morning and I need to pass it along to you.  As many business owners lay their claim and put their efforts into building a Facebook Fan page they need to realize that Facebook has total control of their site.  Business owners are playing in Facebook’s playground and they can be kick you off at anytime and without notice.

Here’s the complete article:  Realtor Site is shutdown by Facebook without notice

Jeffrey Eisenberg explains, in real, raw, talk, what he thinks makes a small business successful. Jeffrey Eisenbergy is a two-time New York Times best selling author and Internet Marketing pioneer.

I continue my interview with Bob Childress, owner-operator for Chick-Fil-A in Roanoke, VA, on the day of the spicy chicken sandwich launch. He tells me how the execute the idea of keeping things consistent for the consumer.

Ira Kaufman sent me this article and I thought I would pass along some stats that I thought you mind find helpful when you are feeling like a wave has already come and gone in social media and internet marketing.  There’s a whole lot of hype right now, data being collected, and beta tests going on, but the eyes and ears of most people are still on tv, radio and newspaper.

Here’s a link to the whole article:  http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2009/12/exagerating-death-traditional-media/

Thanks, IRA

The next television evolution is about to arrive from Google.  Check out the short video they produced to explained this new technology that is the next, logical step to bringing the internet to our television experience.  There’s no doubt in my mind that this will lead to increased options for advertisers looking to stay ahead of the curve which is what all small business owners must do to stay competitive.

Here’s the link: http://www.google.com/tv/    

The options for your advertising dollars are becoming endless.  Synergy Sessions can help be the filter and gateway to up to date knowledge to run, market, and manage your small business.  Go to www.synergysessions.org to find out more.

Finally… I’ve learned how to create a blog!  It’s taken months of instruction from Fredy (our on-site guru for this sort of thing) and our collaborative guru, Brian Duvall.  With their patience and tutoring, we now have the new Synergy Session website up and running.  The reps that have worked so hard to help pull all the groups together have been angels and patient as well.  No – it’s not perfect yet as Fredy has to come back from paternity leave and make it even better and more beautiful, but now Synergy Session participants have a home they can go to and find out:

• What sessions are upcoming for the month and year
• Who leads which group meetings
• Post recommendations for other Synergy Session participants
• Submit events with discounts and savings for Synergy Session participants
• Learn about ways small business owners can save time and money

If you are a Synergy Session participant and haven’t submitted your picture, website address, short description of your business, and contact information, please do so in January.  We want to post all participant information so collaborations can be made easier among your groups and other Synergy groups!

WHOO HOO!!!  The Synergy Nation (as Bob Brudzinski calls it) is coming of age and rockin’ and rollin’. Thanks to all that are part of it, all that have helped with and God for giving me the ability to not fall apart while building it.

How to use WordPress.org.  YES!  There are three different types of WordPress’.  I know… who knew?  If you just want to fool around with a personal blog, just go to WordPress.com and set up a quick blog and get started, but if you have a domain name you want to use like I did, www.lyndamcnuttfoster.com, then I had to set that puppy up by going to www.wordpress.org.  Actually, I bypassed that all together and went to www.hostgator.com and bought this super cheap website hosting accounting and had that site upload WordPress for me… much easier!

This stuff will drive you completely nuts if you have an entreprenuer mind like mine.  It’s taken me months to learn enough to even know this much.  I’ll keep passing along knowledge as I get it because small business owners really need to be learning about this WordPress hysteria that’s going on.  Everyone is all distracted by Facebook and the truth is that the business applications for a blog in WordPress will grow businesses much faster.

A huge THANK YOU to one of our Synergy Session leaders, Brian Duvall, for all his help answering all of my questions.