Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

Prevent the “lago effect” from dooming your CEO who tries to “help” during a crisis. http://paper.li/clayedwardspr/pr-pros-paper

How Restaurants Are Using Social Media to Their Advantage. http://tinyurl.com/8xbuyuo

How to Use Great Testimonials, Once You Get Them. http://ow.ly/8b2LS

Get Blog Results for Business | Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad | Writing On The Web. http://tinyurl.com/7dzodzr

Top 50 Women Entrepreneur Experts to Follow on Twitter. http://ow.ly/8dj2U

Nice year-end gift for your clients. Free ebook with 2 dozen publicity/social media tips. http://ow.ly/8dj8Z

5 clever uses of LinkedIn’s brand new “group polls” feature. http://ow.ly/8dkJL

5-part strategy for cashing in on content and social media marketing in 2012. http://ow.ly/8dTU6

Freelancers: Pick up some extra cash in 2012. Pitch articles to these paying markets. http://ow.ly/8dUTu

Authors: Compare major print-on-demand companies. http://ow.ly/8dV2u

Several years ago, when busy people were looking for ways to save time with social media, they relied on programs like Ping.com to automate their content.

Post a status update and Ping could push it out to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the other sites you see in the photo at left, with just a click of the mouse.

At the time, it seemed like a good idea. But something started to happen.

People who followed a particular expert on several social media sites started to see the same content over and over again. It became all too obvious that the expert was pushing out identical content on multiple social media platforms.

On LinkedIn, for example, I’m seeing people complain frequently about the maddening stream of tweets that others are feeding into LinkedIn, which is strictly for business networking. These include those brain-numbing updates about when people are waking up, eating breakfast, starting their work day, and picking their kids up from soccer practice.

That minutae is bad enough. But creating noise by pushing it onto LinkedIn is a sin.

Enough, already!

I stopped feeding my WordPress blog into my Facebook fan page because the automatic status updates made it impossible for me to write a compelling tease that really pulled people into the post and made them click.  
   
  
The Benefits of Separate Status Updates

By manually promoting a blog post on Faceboook, I can do this:

I can do the same type of status update on LinkedIn for the same blog post, but I can write the teaser a little differently.

In my Twitter feed, or my Facebook profile, I can also share more personal tidbits that don’t belong on LinkedIn.

I can pull followers from one social media site to another by telling my LinkedIn visitors that if they want a list of tips on how to solve a business problem, then can visit my Facebook Fan Page and Like the page.

Have you stopped automating social media content? Why or why not? Have you stopped following people who push out their content across multiple sites? 

Or is automation a valuable time-saver that you refuse to give up? 

More Tips Like This on May 7 at Author U

I’ll be explaining more about how to use traditional and social media to promote when I present a two-and-a-half-hour workshop at Author U in Denver, Col. If you can’t afford plane fare, that’s OK.  Host Judith Briles is recording the entire two-day session, and you can buy the recordings.

Learn more about Author U here.

Here’s another hyperlocal website to add to your publicity toolbox: EveryBlock, perfect for publicizing local news in bigger cities, and also for finding other local blogs and media outlets you might not know about.

MSNBC.com bought it in 2009 and unveiled the new version yesterday.  It operates in 16 cities mostly on the east and west coasts: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

EveryBlock offers news down to the block level and encourages collaboraton among neighbors.  Enter any address in one of those cities and you’ll see news articles, blog coverage, crime reports and a wide variety of other local information, all updated throughout the day. 

You can also submit your own news, which they don’t edit.  Create a free account, and you can participate in discussions and even get email updates.
   
  
3 Main Types of News

• Civic information, including building permits, crimes, restaurant inspections and more.  In many cases, this information is already on the Web but is buried in hard-to-find government databases.  In other cases, the data hasn’t been posted online, but Everyblock gets it through government agencies.  
      
• News articles and blog entries, including information from major newspapers, community weeklies, TV and radio news stations, local specialty publications and local blogs.  If you can track down a local blogger who you didn’t know about, you can start pitching that blogger when you have local news to share. I found Meetups and even school reviews for Atlanta.
      
• Fun from across the Web, including local photos posted to the Flickr photo-sharing site, user reviews of local businesses on Yelp, and lost and found postings from Craigslist.  You’ll even find local deals from Groupon and ValPak.
       

This site is perfect for news from clubs and civic groups, schools, nonprofits, churches, political campaigns and neighborhood groups, and it’s continually updated daily throughout the day. EveryBlock welcomes you to draw a map of your own neighborhood (the example here is from Atlanta) if you don’t see it on the master list. 

It differs from Patch.com because EveryBlock concentrates on larger motropolitan areas. Patch is for suburbs and outlying areas. 

I’m adding EveryBlock to the long list I’ve already accumulated and shared on the webinar 50+ Places Online to Promote Your Live or Virtual Events to Reach Your Target Market & Pull Sell-out Crowds.  
     
    
Share a Tip for Using EveryBlock

Are you already using EveryBlock? If so, share tips on exactly how you use it, or how it has saved time for you.

If not, how will you integrate it into your publicity campaign?

BNET Blogger Jim Edwards wrote about a surprising nugget of information tucked inside the document that LinkedIn included in its initial public offering recently:

Most of its 90 million register users don’t visit the site on a monthly basis, or hardly ever use it.  In fact, Jim says, the company can’t tell the difference between an inactive or deceased member and an active user.

I blinked when I saw that.  I read it again.  Then I ventured an easy guess as to why.
     
     
LinkedIn Knowledge is Power

Most LinkedIn users simply don’t understand the power of making connections, joining groups, answering questions, making and receiving recommendations, promoting events, starting discussions, and providing daily status updates. 

Many aren’t aware that they can ask their connections to introduce them to powerful movers, shakers and other influential users who might never take their phone calls or answer their emails.

Learning all that is time-consuming.  And applying it can eat up precious weeks and months.

Still, even if less than half of those who have accounts on LinkedIn use the site, that’s more than 44 million people, many of whom include journalists, broadcasters, bloggers and others who can share your story with their audiences! 

LinkedIn has turned into the go-to destination for companies and nonprofits that are checking out job applicants, looking for recommendations for vendors, and searching for experts who can solve their problems.

Journalists use the advanced search function to find sources just like you.

I’ve heard one success story after another of LinkedIn users who have used the site to sign book contracts with publishers, find paid speaking engagements, and attract consulting clients.

Tom Beug, one of my fellow management consultants in The Summit Group in Milwaukee, used LinkedIn to contact a former client and say hi.  Turns out the company had an opening for a senior manager and hired Tom to conduct the search.
     
    
Learn LinkedIn Quickly

If you’re on LinkedIn but you’re confused about how to use the site, don’t spent weeks or months learning.

Join LinkedIn expert Wayne Breitbarth and me for a webinar on March 3 on “Your LinkedIn Power Formula: How to Make Killer Contacts, Pull Crowds to Events, be a Star in Your Industry & Track Down Leads Like a Bloodhound.” If the time is inconvenient, sign up anyway because everyone who registers will receive the link to the video replay and all the handouts. 

Inc. Magazine is so impressed with Wayne that the magazine has invited him to speak at its Growco conference April 6-8 in Las Vegas.

Register here.

Google “my Facebook Fan Page disappeared,” and you’ll see a long list of frustrated, aggravated, infuriated people—some of whom have accumulated thousands of fans—perplexed as to why their Fan Pages, and months of valuable content, are long gone.

It happened to me, as I explained here. And it can happen to you.

You may not have the same happy ending I did, but don’t give up without trying to get your Fan Page back. I’ll explain several things you can do. But first, a little history.

When My Nightmare Began

In November, I noticed that activity on my Fan Page had fizzled. Yet the statistics on my Page were telling me that there were several dozen “impressions” but 0% response to most of the Notes and other content I posted.

With more than 2,500 Fans, my Notes and other content should have had several hundred impressions. I should have paid closer attention to the stats, or Facebook Insights.

Frustrated, I kept posting, hoping to wake the dead. But nobody was commenting.

When subscribers to my ezine, The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week, clicked on the Facebook icon to visit my Fan page, they reported that they ended up on their Facebook Home page, or they got an error message. In other words, I could see my Fan Page and post, but no one else could see it.

Finally, in January, after filling out three Bug Reports on Facebook but receiving no reply, I went on an all-out crusade for help. I posted my dilemma on Twitter and LinkedIn and got lots of feedback and suggestions.  I followed most of the advice, but nothing worked.

Several of my followers and connections said the same thing happened to them, but they couldn’t find their Pages. So they started new ones, or abandoned Facebook altogether, something I wasn’t willing to do.

Twitter to the Rescue!

Then, the real power of social networking kicked in, just like it’s supposed to.  One of my connections, Krishna De of Dublin, Ireland, posted this:

@DaveKerpen is social media expert Dave Kerpen, of Likeable Media, a full-service PR agency specializing in social media and word-of-mouth marketing. He’s connected to Krishna, saw her post, and sent me this:

Dave doesn’t know me. But when I emailed him and explained the problem, he asked me to make him the administrator of my Fan Page so he could log in and investigate. I wouldn’t have done this unless someone on Twitter recommended him, like Krishna had.

A few hours later, Dave solved the problem. My Settings were configured so that only people in the Philippines were able to view the Fan Page. My assistant and I double-checked those settings at least 10 times, but we must have overlooked this.

Now, everyone could see the Fan Page, and I was back in business.

If This Happens to You…

Log into your account and call up your page. On the upper left side, under the Page’s photo, click on “Edit Page.” In the upper left corner, click on “Manage Permissions.”

The two red arrows in this screenshot show the first two places you should look. Make sure the Page Visibility box that says “Only admins can view this page” is not checked.    Also, see if there are any country restrictions. If so, delete them, and that should solve the problem.

If You Can’t Find Your Page

But what if you can’t find your page at all? Here are five tips:

1. If you don’t mind waiting for Faceboook to reply, fill out a Bug Report. Facebook expert Mari Smith has compiled a helpful directory of 120+ forms that will help you reach the right person, and she updates the list. Dave says filling out a bug report “only takes 15 minutes, so it could be worth it.”
2. If you have a relationship with someone who works for Facebook, contact that person directly.
3. Try connecting with someone inside the company on LinkedIn or Twitter. One of my LinkedIn connections reported doing this, and the employee solved her problem immediately.  You can also use Twellow, the Twitter Yellow Pages. I explain more about Twellow here.
4. Appeal for help on the social media sites, like I did. Don’t forget about Quora, the hot new site where experts are tripping over each to answer questions.

If someone reaches out to you and suggests you make them an administrator of your Fan Page, but you don’t know them, should you?

Dave recommends caution but says, “I don’t know if you had anything to lose at that point. Even if you didn’t trust me, it might have been worth the risk.”

The Best Solution

He offers what I think is the best solution, particularly if you don’t have a lot of time to wait and you’re willing to pay to get the problem solved quickly so you don’t spend months worrying about it, like I did.

5. “Talk to an agency that has a relationship with Facebook to get some help,” he said. That’s what major brands do when they have problems with their Fan Pages. Many agencies have contact information for Facebook that the rest of us don’t have.

Dave, by the way, is the author of the forthcoming book, Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand and be Generally Amazing on Facebook (and Other Social Networks).

You can join his Likeable Fan Page or connect with him on Twitter.

If you’re lucky enough to find your page, or if can’t and you simply create a new one, make up for lost time. See 12 More Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on the New & Improved Facebook.

Let’s hear your story about missing Fan Pages. Do you have any tips to add to the ones I’ve discussed here? Or have you abandoned Facebook?

Update on April 1, 2011: Malanie Jordan has just written a helpful post that explains more about quora. See “Quora: 7 Reasons Why It’s My New Best Marketing Friend.”

The more places online where you can convince people you’re an expert, the more attention you’ll receive and the more traffic you can pull to your website and blog.

Add Quora to the list of online Q&A sites where you can really flaunt your expertise. It’s a cross between LinkedIn’s Q&A feature and Wikipedia. As soon as I created my Quora account last week, my email inbox was inundated with messages saying people are following me on Quora. That says something about the popularity of the site.

Quora is a continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited and organized by everyone who uses it.  Quora wants each question page to become the best possible resource for someone who wants to know about the question.

Here are six reasons you should consider joining:

1. The site is gaining considerable traction, traffic and attention.

This morning, the question “What are some new blogs a start-up should send press releases to?” had 31 answers, many from experienced journalists and bloggers. I answered the questions, too, even though I haven’t created my profile yet. I’ll do that this afternoon. Profiles, by the way, can link to your website.

2.  Unlike Wikipedia, everything on Quora is tied back to a person.

Each question and answer has a revision history associated with it, and each change in the log is associated with the person who made it.  People use their real names and pictures on Quora and have a short bio describing who they are.

3. People can follow individual questions too.

That creates a waiting audience for anyone who wants to write an answer to the question.

4. It’s easy to find questions on similar topics.

When you answer a question, Quora lets you know how many other questions have been asked on similar topics.

For example, when I answered the question this morning on press releases, I learned Quora has 63 open questions for public relations,   375 open questions on social media, and several other Quora accounts I should be foll0wing. I can follow them just by clicking on the “Follow” button.

5. It will make you smarter.

What topic are you curious about? Search for it, and you’ll probably find questions that others already have asked, and plenty of helpful answers.

6. Many journalists are using this site.

They’re using it not only to look for sources, but to also answer questions.

Before you dive in, read 5 Questions to Ask Before Jumping into Quora. Quora might not be right for you, but if you want to be an expert in your field, it’s worth experimenting with it.

If you use Quora, what have you discovered about the site? Has it helped you connect with others in your target market, or with journalists? Has it made you smarter? What else should we know about this site before asking or answering questions?

Last week, I wrote about 11 ways to use Yelp and respond to bad reviews.

I just came across these two videos from business owners on Yelp who explain how they handle bad reviews.

Jeff D., who owns a wine and cheese shop in San Francisco, explains it here:

Here’s what Frank and Paul, auto mechanics in the San Francisco Bay Area, have to say:

How do you respond to bad reviews? Have any customers  edited their reviews and turned a negative review into a positive one?

If you do business in your own community, start participating on Yelp, the popular social media site that helps people share the best (and worst) of businesses like dentists, hair stylists and car mechanics. If you’re a  PR person whose clients are small business owners, incorporate this site into a publicity or marketing campaign.

But don’t try to persuade customers to write positive reviews about you or your client, or you could be sabotaging yourself.

Yelp allows users to contribute different kinds of content, including reviews, photos, events, private messages and more. It’s a powerful way to pull local customers into your store, build a loyal following and promote your events. Yelp is one of the Top 10 sites I designated during the webinar I hosted last month on 50+ Places Online to Promote Your Live & Virtual Events to Reach Your Target Market & Pull Sell-out Crowds.  

Three times in the last week, Publicity Hounds have asked me about the best ways to solicit good reviews for their businesses.

My answer: Don’t, or you’ll be violating the Terms of Service. I’ve explained more about that in this quick guide on how to make the most of Yelp.
     
    
1. Create your profile.

This shows Yelp users who you are, where you’re located, etc. Don’t include your birthday and make it easy for thieves to steal your identity.
   
  
2. Unlock your Business Page.

This video shows how business owners can use the business tools. For example, you should add photos to your listing. If you’re a coffee shop and you use an antique coffee grinder, say so, and include a photo. Is your cafe a popular meeting spot for Meetup groups? That’s worth mentioning.

   
   
3. Add an Event

If you’re a local restaurant and you’re sponsoring a “meet the chef” event, let people know. Don’t forget to take photos of as many in-store events as possible for sharing on Yelp and other sites.
     
    
4. Add your bio.

Keep it fun. What’s your dream for your business? What’s the one thing that persuaded you to do what you’re doing? What’s the most rewarding part of the job?
     
    
5. Choose a personal URL for your Yelp profile.

People can easily get to your Yelp profile without remembering a long, complicated URL.
     
    
6. Offer special discounts.

Encourage people to check out your listing by offering special discounts, special events, or limited time offers on your page. Consider a special discount if a customer says “I saw you on Yelp.” This week, Yelp is rolling out check-in offers, similar to Foursquare.
     
    
7. Recommend other businesses.

Don’t just wait for the reviews to start rolling in for your own business. Review other businesses. (No wheeling and dealing: ”You write a good review for me and I’ll write a good one for you.” See next item.)
   
  
8. Don’t solicit good reviews.

Yelp has a filter that weeds out suspicious reviews. Besides, consumers are very wary of reviews that don’t sound authentic. There’s nothing wrong with a sign in your shop that says “See us on Yelp for special discounts and other events” or something like that. But don’t even suggest that they write a positive review. If customers have something good or bad to say, they will.
     
    
9. If you get a good or bad review, respond to it publicly.

A public response, particularly one that acknowledges problems and promises to make things better, shows that you appreciate the feedback and are committed to improving things for customers. It also gives you a chance to set the record straight if the negative review included errors.

Here’s a helpful list of 10 tips on how to respond to bad reviews.

By the way, Yelp won’t yank a bad review if you’re an advertiser. So don’t waste time asking.
     
    
10. Also respond to good and bad reviews privately.

Responding privately to the person who posted a negative review can reap big dividends. Yelp says that its users often change a negative review to a positive one after they receive a private response, especially an apology, from a business owner.

Don’t view negative reviews as always bad. These reviews flag problems that you might not otherwise know about, and they give you a chance to correct them before you lose business.
     
    
11. Publish your reviews to Facebook and Twitter.

This explains how.

What other ways do you recommend business owners use Yelp? How has it helped you gain a loyal following?

Do you respond to reviews? If not, why not? If so, have you been able to turn a negative review into a positive one?

Looking for a tool to help you navigate PR, communications  or social media, or do you have one you’re selling? There’s a new service that can help.

JungleBuzz lets you search its online catalog of more than 250 tools organized in 25 categories.  Search results provide a description of available tools, features, functionality and access to more detailed information.  JungleBuzz is free, but you must register at the site.

The paid service costs $95 a year ($65 until September 30, 2010).  Search results for this service includes access to vendor pricing and reporting, comments from other members who have used the tools, and the ability to make comments and recommend tools to be added.

If you have a tool you’d like added to the directory, email Gina Milani, creator of JungleBuzz.

This month’s guest blog post was written byJames Nissen. Last week, I shared James’ pitch and wrote about How a guest blogger pitched me and made me say ‘yes’

*     *     *      

By James Nissen

    

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius

   

One of the greatest things about promoting a brand online today is how low the cost really is.  I have helped to market SecretintheDirt.com over the past two years, and it has grown from a single ebook to a thriving golf community.  Over 8,000 golfers have now joined our community at Secret in the Dirt, despite having launched only two months ago.  

    

Granted, we did have a strong buzz before the launch of the site, but the great part about this adventure was the fact that it cost us almost nothing to build the brand up to what it is today.  Allow me to use a cliché metaphor, but one that I think applies to building your brand.  

    

I want you imagine that before you have a “brand,” your idea is just a bunch of car parts.  Everything you do to promote your idea is like adding a new part to the car.  At some point, you will have built the body of the car, the engine, put on the tires, added the interior, and checked all the wiring.  There is nothing left to do; the car is ready to run.  You will have maintenance from time to time, but the hardest part is over.  

   

At this point, your brand can go places it never could go before when it was just a bunch of parts waiting to be used.  Your brand will never get that way if you expect it to run when you’re only halfway complete with the job.  So start building the car today.  Here are 13 cost-effective resources we used in building our brand online.

    

1. YouTube. 

  

Our greatest asset in the beginning was a set of golf videos that Mike Maves aka “Sevam1″ put together on YouTube.  A friend of his asked for some advice on golf, and he put the videos together simply to help his friend’s game improve.  The videos ending up attracting over 500,000 views in a short time and people began to talk about them.  

   

Find a way to talk about your product or service in the form of a video, and put up as many videos as you can.  Other great videos sites include DailyMotion, Vimeo, Viddler and Twitvid.

    

2. Bloggers.

Many people have blogs, but how focused are they?  How big of a following do they have?  How often do they update the blog?

  

I’ll never forget a quote I read by Jeremy Schoemaker from the very successful site ShoeMoney.com that said he would continue to update his blog even if nobody read it.  You obviously want your followers to read it, but there is a tremendous power in that kind of mentality.  Other blogging services include WordPress and Tumblr.

    

3. Twitter.

    

Twitter has not brought the highest amount of traffic to our site of any source, but I still believe it should be part of the online arsenal.

  

Sites like Twitpic and Twitvid allow you to share pictures and videos with your Twitter followers, and it makes it easy to start conversations online with people who want to learn more about your brand.  You can even hold contests for your Twitter followers and keep them up to date on important changes to your website or business.

   

4. Niche Forums

  

One of the biggest sources of buzz for the Secret in the Dirt ebook came from Golfwrx.com, a forum devoted to talking about golf-related products and topics.  Mike posted in the forum constantly, answering questions about the YouTube videos and the golf swing.  I have seen forums in every conceivable niche, and if you can find one or two big ones relating to your company, posting to the forum regularly will go a long way in building up your credibility.
    

5. Squidoo

    

Seth Godin hit the nail on the head when he helped to create this site.  It allows anyone to create a mini-site (called a “lens”) about any conceivable topic in a very short amount of time.  We used this site as an opportunity to create sites about golf and golf history, which in turn brings traffic back to our site.  Another site similar to Squidoo is HubPages.

   

6. Facebook Fan Pages
  

These pages are great because they are indexed by Google, and people may find them just by doing searches about your topic.  They don’t allow for as much customization as a normal web page or blog, but with over 300 million users on Facebook, you can be sure there are many people who will be interested in the products and services you offer.  They offer a great way to keep in touch with your loyal followers.

  

7. Simple Scripts

   

At some point, you will have to invest in hosting for your website.  If you don’t hage hosting yet, I recommend a hosting service that uses Simple Scripts.  

   

It’s a user interface that comes installed when you by hosting from Bluehost, Hostgator, and a few others.  The great thing about Simple Scripts is that with just a few clicks (literally), you can have your blog or website up and running, without having to worry about installing it yourself the hard way.  It makes it a lot less scary if you are new to the web.  You can also point as many domain names as you want to the same hosting plan (it’s around $100 a year).

   

8. EzineArticles.com

   

This service allows authors to submit articles on every topic imaginable, and is great for establishing credibility in your niche and getting your thoughts clear about your topic. We have seen thousands of people view our articles, and all of that traffic is free.  Other great services include ArticlesBase and ArticleDashboard.

    

9. Flickr

    

If your niche involves art or pictures of some type, consider using Flickr.  It’s a great service that allows you to create photo albums that you can share with others for free.  

  

Even if your niche does not involve photography, posting photos from industry events and appearances is often great material to share with your loyal fans.  Another great photo site to use is Twitpic, which links up with your twitter account.

   

10. Google Analytics

   

I can’t speak highly enough of Google Analytics.  This is a free service that takes minutes to install onto your website or blog.  You can see where your traffic is coming from, how much traffic you had, how effective your affiliates are, what countries your visitors are coming from, how long they stay on each page, and a lot more.  Testing is critical to refining your website.

    

11. Cold-Emailing

   

I was surprised to see how many bloggers, radio talk show hosts and newspapers are hungry for good content.  Don’t be afraid to contact successful people in your niche and ask if you can write a guest post for their blog.

   

 BlogTalkRadio lets you create your own radio shows for free, and these talk show hosts always need new guests and experts to have on their show.

  

Last but not least, don’t forget the almighty newspaper.  Contact the smaller ones in your town or neighborhood first, because they like to highlight “local stories” and things going on in that part of town.  If you’re giving a free seminar or making an appearance somewhere, odds are one of the writers would love to spotlight it.

   

12. Karma

   

Aside from the fact that people enjoy getting things for free, it never hurts to have karma on your side.  When we launched the Secret in the Dirt E-Book, we gave away several chapters for free as a bonus for signing up to our email newsletter.  

    

Posting videos and blogging regularly has the same effect.  Give people a chance to get to know you on a personal level, and make it a habit to answer questions emailed to you about your topic.  Give them some real value.  If what you say gets them hooked, they will be back for more.

   

13. Elance.com

   

When we ever ran into a problem that we could not solve ourselves, we used Elance. They have professionals who can help you out with logo design, banner ad design, web programming, blog layouts, troubleshooting, writing, video editing, and a lot more.  The turnaround time is pretty quick, and since professionals bid for jobs, you are sure to get the best price.

  

Even though you now have the right tools, when you make a habit of using them day in and day out, you will start to see success.  It will feel like a slow climb at first, but that’s part of the journey, right?  

   

Take what applies to your business and throw the rest out.  Focus on one tool at a time, and build upon that.  Get creative, think outside of the box, take action, and add parts to your car.  It will be up and running before you know it.

    

    

James Nissen, head of marketing for SecretintheDirt.com, loves golf, espresso, and the outdoors. He also may be found reading the occasional book or playing guitar.  He is a graduate of the University of Redlands with a degree in accounting.