cartoon by @gapingvoid

This is the time of year when you should be laying out your goals for 2010. It should be a very serious part of your year-end routine. And it should be something with which you invest a lot of thought, energy, and time.

What I find is that most small business folks and entrepreneurs don’t do this. And this is a mistake. The main reason to decide upon some goals? Well, gives you something to shoot for and plan around. Without a destination, you cannot plot the course to get there.

And like me, I think it is a good idea to jot them down on your blog. Make it public. You know, we’ve all been told a thousand times to not only set goals, but to WRITE THEM DOWN. This makes them real. Better yet, publish them to your blog so that others know your plans. They will help hold you accountable. And maybe even offer to help you achieve them.

And once you do this, THEN you can generate the step-by-step plan to achieve them.

So, here are my initial FIVE main business and personal goals for 2010. I will add more as the year progresses. Let me know what you think!

2010 BUSINESS GOALS:

1. Double subscriptions to this blog. I made some progress this year, but I really want to kick it into a higher gear. Problem is, I currently don’t have a plan to do this. But now that I have made it a goal, I will research and develop a strategy to get it done.
2. Double the listening audience to my radio show. To be honest, we have not done a very good job tracking our current listening audience for the High Velocity Radio Show. That will change. And once I set the bar, my goal is to double the audience in 2010.
3. Add five long-term clients to my roster. My plan for 2009 was to evolve from a business with LOTS of clients doing small projects, to a business with fewer clients doing more comprehensive projects. I am still on this journey. My goal is to add five of these, which should get me to capacity.
4. Achieve a rolling enrollment of at least 100 members to my online school. Stone Payton and I have just launched Speed School a week or two ago. We haven’t formally made any large announcements, more or less testing and collecting feedback. And although we have more ambitious long-term goals, 100 to start would be a great first step.
5. Successfully launch Top Chefs Atlanta. Having done some marketing work for a local restaurant – and then featuring them and a few other chefs and owners on the radio show, fueled this idea. The first draft of the new website is up. Will be launching officially and going to market in January!

2010 PERSONAL GOALS

1. Run two half-marathons. I am already deep into my training. You can follow my progress RIGHT HERE!
2. Write a book. I already have plans to write a book with my business partner Stone Payton. It will center on this idea, CircleNomics. We had ideas to get it done last year, but didn’t. That won’t happen in 2010…
3. Get my passport and travel out of the country. I have no idea what the heck I want to do, or where I want to go. Maybe I will find some cool conference out of the country, and go to that…
4. Launch an online fundraising effort for my non-profit. I have the pleasure of serving on the Board of the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta. I had good intentions to launch this effort in 2009. Didn’t happen. My plan doesn’t call for raising one million dollars. Just want to launch a creative idea that starts building a community around what we do and helps raise a little cash to serve some people.
5. Improve my skills and knowledge on WordPress. I currently blog on a total of six wordpress blogs. And I know more than the average bloke. But I still have A LOT to learn. First step? Attending this…

For additional reference and guidance, I am a fan of Chris Guillebeau. On his blog, he does a superior job of laying out his year-end review process and goal-setting and planning process for the upcoming year. I’d recommend checking it out. Here is a good starting point.

Give people HOPE!

OK, you know how I am always talking about how giving back is good marketing? You have another chance to participate and make a difference in some one’s life.

And you could and should do it in the name of you and your company! This helps people – and makes you and your company look good.

There’s an event in Atlanta early December that will raise money for the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta and MUST Ministries. The event is the Not So Silent Night Holiday Bash!

Register for the event RIGHT HERE!

We look forward to having a great time AND doing some good all at the same time!

[Disclosure: I am on the Board of Directors for the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta]

This is the final segment of my three-part interview on Brent Brooks’ ThriveAMERICA video magazine. This is my favorite part of the three, because it is a great conversation about how a small business can thrive in this economy. Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO2OZWrmq-k&border=1&color1=0x6699&color2=0x54abd6&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

CHAIRish 09! What a great night!

Great friends, new friends, good food and drink, and an important cause. It is evenings like this that make life worth living.

It’s hard to go wrong when you can have a lot of fun – and help people at the same time! (CHAIRish is the main fundraiser for the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta. We donate used furniture to families and individuals who have escaped homelessness, battle HIV, or have fled domestic violence.)

Last night’s event was great – but I have ambitious plans for 2010!

Working with the staff of Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta, we plan to make a big push to expand our presence in the social media space. We plan to explore and implement some innovative ideas to grow our fund raising base. And we will continually look for ways to improve our PR efforts.

We will need your help!

As a board member, I have the honor to serve this great organization. More importantly, this title allows me to reach out to my extended social media family, and ask for your help and ideas.

I now get the pleasure to solicit advice and counsel from friends like Melissa Galt and Stone Payton. (Pictured below – left to right – Todd Schnick, Christopher Muise, Melissa Galt, and Stone Payton) They and other friends, like my partners at GrowthANSWERS who were there in force last night, will be hearing from me, as I intend to solicit ideas, help and guidance from all of them to benefit our cause. I already have some great brainstorms just from many conversations last night at the event.

And there is so much more to come. You’ve read on these pages my belief that giving back is good marketing. I believe that more than ever, and I believe that it is needed more than ever. We are living through difficult times, but it warms my heart to see people willing to give forward to help people in need.

You can count on us at Intrepid to keep doing our part to help the community. Your help and support is always welcome too. Just get in touch with us through this website. If you want to help the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta directly, you can help in three ways:

Donate money. Volunteer your time. Donate much needed furniture.

In the meantime, look to these pages as we do some fun and creative things to build our community, help our community, and serve our community! Thanks to everyone who made last night a success!

Be Intrepid.

Be An Intrepid Marketer – Recommendation No. 4

I recently presented a client with their marketing plan. In it, I recommended donating time and resources to a local charity. We spent several minutes debating which charity to support. I was thrilled. And knew right then – this client is going to be successful. Because they understand that:

Giving back is good marketing. You will never convince me otherwise. It is good PR – feels good – helps people. And you will meet new people in the process that may ultimately become new customers.

Marketing is about getting and keeping customers. And people like to support organizations that help others. If you learn one thing from reading this blog:

Giving back is good marketing. Serving your fellow manking is good marketing. It helps you stand out.

Here is how I give back!

Three things are happening at once: I am reading Seth Godin’s Tribes, I have a FBMA Board Meeting tomorrow, and today is the day we recognize MLK. And on this day, we think about service.

Thus, my regular theme about “Giving Back” is again top of mind. But reading Seth Godin’s newest book is making me realize that anyone can move mountains if they just provide the leadership AND utilize the tools that give them the leverage to mobilize people and a cause.

You should know two things about me: One, that I serve as a Board Member of the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta, and two, that I believe strongly that giving back to your community is good marketing.

Inspired by a Seth Godin blog post from the other day, I spent some time on this day of service, and gave back. He suggests doing any number of small tasks that help serve our fellow man. What did I do? Simple. I created a new Twitter account for the Furniture Bank. Something selfless, leveraged, and useful.

Want to help? You can give back by following the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta on Twitter at @fbma! Help us slowly move some mountains – and make life better for your fellow mankind.

Todd Schnick. Be Intrepid.

Want to survive and thrive in these tough times? If you believe the press, 2009 will be tougher than last year. So you will need to distinguish yourself and your business to stand out and succeed.

What to do?

Get innovative. Get fast. And give back.  (The first two are obvious, the third less so…)

In this tight economy, you’d better get innovative - both with your marketing and with your service delivery. Innovation is simply a new way of doing things, and it generally applies to a change in your thinking, product offerings, or your systems and processes. Getting innovative may go a long way towards helping you do things better than the competition.

And you better move fast, both in delivering on your products and services, and in being first in the market place with your marketing effort. As my friend Stone Payton likes to say, “speed kills the competition.” You cannot assume that your competition will wait around – you must assume they will be out there trying to beat you to that prospect. Get moving.

And you better distinguish yourself by giving back. As I said, these are tough times, and there are a lot of people in need. There isn’t a better time to make this a cornerstone of your marketing effort.

Not a bad idea to differentiate yourself by giving back. Don’t we always say the more you give, the more you get? And with the social media boom, you now have no excuse to contribute to bettering your community. That feels good in and of itself. But it also reflects well on your personally – and your business.

How can you serve by giving back?

1. Join and serve on a charitable Board (this is what I am doing).

2. Donate services, such as PR or Social Media advice to a local charity.

3. Commit to raise money.

4. Volunteer your time.

There aren’t many guarantees in life, but there is one I can promise: The gift of giving back will make you feel good. And feeling good makes you a better person and a better businessman. And we need that in these times.

I joined a board of directors in 2008, and can’t wait to make my contribution in 2009. On these pages over the coming months, I will share with you my experiences and my learning. I hope you will comment back and tell us how you are giving back.

Todd Schnick. Be Intrepid. http://intrepid-llc.com

Want to help us out? Visit http://www.furniturebankatlanta.org/

Todd’s next big adventure:

How to parlay social media tools to help non-profits.  I am sure a lot has been written.  I am sure there are millions of ideas.

I want to hear them all.

In the meantime, I remain convinced that social media is going to change how people give back to their community.  I currently serve on the Board of the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta, a non-profit that provides furniture to families and individuals just out of homelessness or fleeing domestic violence.

We are small, with a limited budget, and with a limited ability to help our clients.  But we have ambitious plans!  And I firmly believe social media will be a big part of that growth.

I wrote a post while back that “giving back” is good marketing: http://intrepid-llc.com/2008/11/18/intrepid-marketing-giving-back-to-your-community-is-good-marketing/.  I believe it so.  More each day.  Richard Branson wrote a post on the subject just today: http://entrepreneur.virgin.com/2008/12/18/social-responsibility-just-business/.

If you follow Twitter at all, you will observe people all over the Twitterhood informing people of how they can help one cause or another.  I think it is a great thing.  People can choose to make a contribution to a charity of their choice.  And even if they don’t take action, they are becoming aware.  And that is a good thing too.  Seeing your colleagues involved and giving back make the world a better place.

But how can it all work?  Is there a risk that too much communication about non-profits via social media will confuse people and won’t know where they should take action?  I am sure.

Which is why you need to be clever with your social media strategy.  And like any organization, non-profits need to have a marketing strategy.  And be sure they focus on brand positioning – and differentiation.

But that’s where social media can be used to benefit.  You can reach new people.  You can build an online community.  You can raise awareness exponentially.  You can test the validity of your marketing messages, and volunteer and fund-raising appeals, through social media.  You can gauge the many different ways people may be willing to contribute.

So help me – and help educate others.  Send us unique blogs of non-profits.  Send us a list of non-profits on Twitter.  On Facebook.  Help us find out what others are doing that works – so that we can apply those best practices to the non-profits we are helping.  And help all of us learn about new non-profit organizations that we may want add to the list of groups we want to help.

Todd Schnick.  Be Intrepid.  www.intrepid-llc.com

I have the pleasure of serving on the Board of Directors for the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta, an organization that provides furniture to families just out of homelessness, battling HIV, and fleeing domestic violence.  And as I sit today by the fire, full from a good meal, I know there are families having a much less comfortable day than I.  Being the holidays, coupled with the tough economic times, we are dealing with a severe shortage in needed furniture, mainly mattresses and box springs.  A small contribution of $25 will help a handful of families sleep on a mattress and/or eat a warm meal on a real kitchen table.  Click here if you can help: https://payments.auctionpay.com/ver3/?id=w036002.  We are grateful for your support!

Todd Schnick, Director, Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta, www.furniturebankatlanta.org/

We want you to be Intrepid marketers.

There are lots of ways to accomplish that: bold messaging, aggressive PR, and great integration of multiple marketing tactics just to name a few.

But where you can really stand out is in giving back.  And what I mean by that is in giving back to your local community, either by volunteering, fund-raising, sponsoring, etc.  Sadly, what I can promise is that a majority of businesses out there aren’t doing this, so what an amazing opportunity to differentiate yourself!

PR, or public relations, can be a big part of your overall marketing strategy.  This, of course, can come in many different forms.  You can get great exposure in local media for your charitable efforts, and have it become a large part of your branding.  A good example of this would be the NFL’s affiliation with the United Way.

And on a smaller scale, exposing yourself to a whole different network of people can connect you to a whole new group of potential customers – prospects who DON’T have to be sold on you as a good person/company by virtue of your volunteer activities.  And even if your charitable efforts won’t yield prospects, just think of the positive impact this will have on your branding!

At Intrepid, our vehicle to serve the community is the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta.  This organization collects donated household furniture and gives to families and individuals who just came out of homelessness, are suffering from HIV, or are fleeing domestic violence.  And as with any nonprofit organization, they need help with fundraising, public relations, community outreach, etc.  These are the areas where I hope I can make a contribution.  It is a a real honor for me to serve this organization on the Board of Directors.  (if interested in helping us out, please visit http://www.furniturebankatlanta.org/)

As an entrepreneur in this tricky economic environment, you need to be bold in your marketing just to survive.  And you need an edge to stand out against your competition.  Giving back provides an opportunity to do just that – and to do some good and help a lot of people!

With the severe economic distress we are facing, there are a lot of people in need.  At the end of the day, what really matters is making the world a better place.  To all you business leaders already doing this, bless you!  To all of you considering such an honorable undertaking, congrats to you.  The dividends are countless!

Todd Schnick.  Be Intrepid.  www.intrepid-llc.com