The BEST Part of Being An Entrepreneur Is Also The WORST...

I love being an entrepreneur! In fact, there are so many things I love about being one, I'm going to list them for you here:

The things I LOVE about being an entrepreneur: 

• Calling all the shots

• Being in charge

• Making all of the decisions

• Being my own boss

• Deciding when/where/how/if I'm going to work

• Determining when/where/if I work each day                                         

Hmmm...As I look over that list again...

Yep, I also hate those very same things about being an entrepreneur.

Being an entrepreneur is hard. It's hard if you're a solopreneur and it's hard when you aren't.

Being an entrepreneur is hard if you have a team of folks helping you and it's hard when you do everything solo.

Being an entrepreneur takes hard work, determination, savvy and strategic...

I Took the Day Off Today...And Still Made Money!

I  took the day off today. (Well, technically, I did do a 20-minute business chat with a new client, but the rest of the day was spent not working.) I thought about working, I just did other things instead.

• Got a manicure
• Went shopping
• Drove my son from ACT training to weight training to basketball training
• Spent loads of time scrolling through Instagram

Besides that 20 minute chat, I didn't work at all...and I still made money. (hint: Entrepreneurs should have multiple streams of revenue!)

It was a really nice day. Beautiful weather, sunroof open, lots of happiness. When I reflected on my day today, I couldn't help but smile at the huge transformation my life has gone through in the past 13 months. I used to read loads of blog posts and articles about the "laptop lifestyle" and "working when you want" and I thought to myself, "It sounds so incredible, I wish I could be like them and have a business like that..."

Now I...

HAS LIVESTREAMING CHANGED THE SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD?

(As seen first in June issue of iBlog Magazine)

The answer is a resounding YES! Livestreaming has absolutely changed the social media landscape for brands as well as small business and individual broadcasters.

Livestreaming (live broadcasting) has been around for years, (remember Ustream?) but it has gotten miles of traction, loads of press and many tens of thousands of participants within the past year; particularly since March 26, 2015 when Periscope came on the scene.

Meerkat, the first Livestreaming app to appear in 2015, was actually launched three weeks prior to Periscope, but Periscope was very quickly acquired by Twitter…then Facebook Live was launched, and for now, the rest is history.

Regardless of the livestreaming platform you use and how often you use it, live broadcasting appears to be here to stay; in fact, my business was built on Periscope and at one time 100% of my clients came from seeing my Periscope...

(As seen in APRIL 2016 iBlog Magazine)

If you haven't added live viedo (livestreaming...live broadcasting...) to your social media marketing plsn, you are leaving money on the table!

Live video is the hottest and fastest-growing way to reach your audience and there are more and more platforms to utilize every day! Read on....

You may have heard a lot about livestreaming (broadcasting live) in the past few months, and with good reason. Livestreaming is the fastest-growing medium out there right now and people from all over the world are connecting 24/7 on these interactive, real-time social media platforms both personally and professionally in meaningful ways. Although I’m also active on more traditional social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, my business has been built off livestreaming, specifically Periscope, Blab and MeVee.

What is livestreaming and why are people flocking to it?

Livestreaming is live broadcasting and broadcasters and viewers from all...

It's not uncommon to makes excuses, I'd venture to say that we've all made excuses from time to time, even when we knew the outcome would be less than stellar. Do any of these sound familiar to you?

                    "I was too busy..."

                    "I didn't really want to..."

                    "It's too hard..."

                    "Now isn't the right time..."

Problems occur when we make excuses and the outcome isn't just less-than-great, it's harmful to ourselves, others, and, in the case of this blog post, our businesses.

As a business coach, I see a lot of entrepreneurs (knowingly and unknowingly) stunting (and completely halting) their business growth from hasty and poor decision-making. It's not news that every decision has at least one consequence, but if decisions...

If you have an online business or you're thinking about starting one, you've probably heard about webinars.

Webinars (seminars conducted via the "web") have been around for a long time and are often used for lead generation, education and sales. I googled "webinar software" and listed five of the options that came up below. The first three options listed are more traditional ones and are what many people use for webinars these days.

Webinar Jam

Got To Meeting

Easy Webinar

Meeting Burner

Zoom

Each webinar option listed above is different and there are many, MANY others out there! Some are "wrap-around" products that use Google Hangouts for the actual webinar, others are stand alone products. I use Zoom for all of my webinars, but I don't use the "webinar" option they offer because it's a lot more expensive. Instead, I limit my webinars to 50 people and operate from the regular "video conferencing" program. (I also use Zoom for 1:1 coaching, group coaching the masterminds I run...

 As you probably know by now, I spend a lot of time livestreaming (broadcasting live).

I use a variety of livestreaming platforms on a daily basis: Periscope, Facebook Live, GoLive, BeLive.tv. For a while, people were asking me if I had a life outside of livestreaming. I do. I have an 18-year-old and a husband at home, a 21-year-old who comes home from college for each break and a thriving business that I've built solely off of LIVESTREAMING!

 Here are some tips for you regarding livestreaming:

• You can literally build your entire business VERY effectively and efficiently on one livestreaming platform. I did on Periscope, then I added some other livestreaming platforms.

• Before livestreaming, you should ask yourself WHY you're there. Be where your target audience is. If they're not there and you're trying to monetize your time on social media, don't bother spending loads of time there.

• You MUST prepare ahead of time before you go on any livestreaming...

Warning: I have made most of these mistakes. Please do as I say in this blog and avoid these business mistakes!

Starting a business is tough, confusing, and exasperating. There are loads to think about, lots of new things to learn, many questions to ask, may more that you think of right when you hang up the phone with your mentor...

As I've said many times before, When I began my business, I had zero dollars and zero support. Everything I know I've learned through well over 12,000 hours (yes, I figured it out...thanks Malcolm Gladwell!) of studying, research, observation, listening, questioning, reflecting, trying, formulating, pursuing, crying, giving up (for a few minutes), pivoting, ruminating, creating, recreating, re-recreating, doing, doing, and doing lots more!

The sole purpose of Bonnie L Frank Coaching & Consulting is to make your entrepreneurial journey a smoother one than mine has been by providing you with all the resources and support I can. Please don't make these...