How do you get your event, product, and company to stand out in a crowd?

In a world where we are all connected and information is passed instantaneously how as marketers can we stand out in a crowded marketplace?

It used to be that money was a determining factor of who could get their message out to the masses but with the creation of the Internet in one giant swoop the playing field of getting your word out has been leveled.  This is a GREAT thing but it also makes it even more important that you turn on your creative juices and make sure that you aren't even near the box when thinking of new ways to position your company.

So you want to create a successful event either as a fundraiser or a launch party,  what's the first step?  You need to think on it.  You need to throw some ideas around in your mind and see where they take you.  You need to come with an idea that hasn't already been done like an auction, and if it has been done you need to come up with a great twist to make people stop in their tracts when they hear about it.   One thing you can do is take an event that was successful in the past and revive it with an updated feel and makeover.

Think simple. Think believable.  Think big.  Think exciting.  Think practical.  Think interactive.  Think location.

Are you trying to create an event to raise money for a charity?  People don't mind spending money when they are happy, laughing, enjoying themselves and having a good time.  Something about all those endorphins flying around people's brains that make them open their wallets and feel good about spending especially when its going to a good cause. 

Who is your targeted audience and what did they love doing when they had kids and even better do they have kids now?  Try to create an event where people can relive their childhoods and then share the experience with their own children.  If people don't have to get a baby sitter you've just eliminated one of the obstacles to getting them to your event and fund raiser.  When you have your idea for your event, close your eyes and picture it playing out in your mind.  Start at the finish line and envision all of the people pulling up in their cars. Where are they going to park? Do you have enough parking that is close by and convenient to the event?  What are the people wearing? Are they casual, formal, or ready to get messy?  Oops someone has to go to the bathroom. Do you have that covered?


If you are hosting a mud football tournament between the fire and police department how are you going to make the mud?  What do people love to eat outside when they are watching a football game? How will fans be able to make noise when they are rooting for the chief of police? And how will people be able to remember this great event once it is over? Will they be able to grab a souvenir t'shirt with sponsors listed on the back to where when they go to the dump or their kids soccer games promoting the event for next year?

How did people hear about your event?  Did they invite their friends to come with them? Was there an incentive for them to buy their tickets early?  Did the fire and police departments help get the word out?  Were there prizes or raffles for the crowds?

Go on an on with this line of questioning and try to uncover every piece of information that could possibly happen or make your event great or not so great. Spend a few days imagining your event playing out in your mind and then throw the idea around with some friends and look for their reactions.  If you can turn your fundraiser into a community event then the chance for success is higher and people will be expecting it to become an annual event and it will grow and grow year after year!

Questions? Ideas?  shoot me an email - jennifer@tylerryangroup.com

Are you a Good Website or a Bad Website?

How do you know if you have a good website or a bad website? 

Well here's the thing...you may think your website is fabulous because you cut the check for it and had most of the creative ideas for its foundation but really its very simple to find out whether or not you have a "good website or a bad website".  It doesn't take a degree in marketing or graphics and pretty much anyone under the sun is qualified to evaluate your site and its trust worthiness.

Here is the best available litmus test.  When people view a site for the very first time they know in an instant, a split second, upon opening the home page whether or not they would trust the site and actually place an order with their credit card.  There is a level of creative that surpasses being home grown and somewhere in the middle that screams this is a site I trust. It doesn't matter if the person viewing the site went to business school, has an art degree, or has any clue what layered files are...it is just a gut reaction and it is real.  Watch closely as friends, family and neighbors open your site for the first time and if they tilt their head to the left as Glinda did,  you know they are stuck somewhere in the middle of "is it a good site or a bad site."  Think about what you are trying to accomplish with your website and if you are less than thrilled with people's reaction in the big scheme of your business plan and goals does it matter?

Don't get stuck in today when dreaming and building for tomorrow.

Have you ever had one of those days where no matter what you do, where you put yourself, or who you talk to you can't get away from your own negative thoughts?  I had one this week and I thought I had hit the wall going 150 mph.  My mind had convinced me that my business was going nowhere, I had no friends, I was letting my family down, and worst of all I was being kicked off Team Laffalot.

Okay, so how incredibly insecure does that all sound.  Unfortunately in the moment it felt very real and as though there was nothing in this world that I could do right or even attempt to make a difference.  Then the most miraculous thing happened, I picked up the phone and  reached out to a friend. This was progress for me. I was brought up to not share when things weren't going so well.  I finished the day (faking my way through it) and finally  I went to bed.  When I woke up the feeling was gone. It had disappeared as quickly as it had come on.  I got up, got dressed, and picked up my colleague and headed off to my first business meeting of the day.   Perrin got in the car and immediately said I looked great, I smiled a little smile to say thanks and somewhere inside something major had shifted and I was no longer stuck in the mud of self doubt, fear, and negativity.

I wish I could say that there was something that set me off in thinking that everything I was doing was wrong and heading nowhere but looking back over the week there was nothing.  Just a low moment where my mind was urging me to give up on my dreams of wanting to be more and do more with my life than just the same old same old.  I do know what helped to shift me out of the mud and get back on track in believing in my dream and knowing that it could be done.  It was a call made out of desperation to my very best friend, sharing how incredibly sad I was and that I couldn't be who I wanted to be.  It was in the moment of sharing out loud that my cloud of negativity and doubt began to dissipate.  Oh I still felt the sadness after getting off the phone with her but Sue provided an amazing voice of reason to say "this is just one day, one moment. Life changes in an instant and this will too!"

I remember building our family house on Gerrish Island. My brother cleared the land, poured the foundation,  and raised the walls of the house.  In the beginning there was a lot of mud and it seemed that no matter what we did the mud kept holding back our progress.  Some days it took sheer determination to keep moving forward  to get the house built.  Sure enough month after month the house took shape and before we knew it we were moving in!  Stay on track with your dreams and don't let one day stuck in the mud prevent you from working towards your ultimate goal.

Idea, Communication, and Action

Really big ideas produce really big results.  We often marvel at businesses who seem to be in the right place at the right time and come through with a huge sensation out of nowhere.  "Why didn't I think of that?"  The funny thing is there are a lot of things that we actually do think of but never act on or let go of before we've realized their full potential.

Christopher Columbus had the biggest idea of his day and against popular vote knew in his heart that the Earth was in fact round.  He needed a lot of cash to prove his idea to be true and went to the biggest Venture Capitalist that came to his mind, Queen Isabella.  Can you even imagine the speech he had to give to convince her that against everything she had been taught and believed there was a possibility that the shape of their planet was actually different than always thought?

He did it. We can only imagine the scene and how it played out but the point is that he did it.  Christopher Columbus mustered up the strength, faith, belief, and perseverance to go where no man has gone before.  He had an idea, he communicated it to anyone he could get to listen, and he took action to prove his idea.  It seems simple enough so why is it such a hard premise for most of us to take hold of and put into play?  Maybe it's a little bit of fear from the unknown mixed with some self doubt or maybe its just that we've been told too many times that something is not possible.

Some of my greatest achievements in business came from situations where an idea popped into my head, I picked up the phone to connect with someone, and  just made it happen.  I didn't leave any room for self doubt or questions to flood in and never once let myself believe that it wasn't possible to achieve this new goal I had set.  Looking back over my career I realize that the moment I let something sit too long in the thinking stage before I acted on it - the idea usually became dead in the water and never went anywhere.  The point is  that by nature we are meant to create.  Don't be to attached that your final outcome is exactly what you  envisioned. Creating can get messy and sometimes from our miscalculations or mistakes come the greatest outcomes and achievements. 

The next time an idea pops into your head promise yourself that before you dismiss it you'll share it with a friend and take at least one step in the direction of making it happen.  You never know what it will become.

Remember to Explore

There's a big world out there waiting for you to drop everything and explore.  It's time for you to let go of all your preconceived notions and remember what it is like to be open to new smells, sights, tastes, and ways of thinking.  We've been doing business in our own corner of the world for years without acknowledging that some of the most awe inspiring places exist outside of our borders.  When is the last time you sat in a restaurant and you were the minority, where you hung on every foreign word spoken trying to piece together the conversation? 

A field of yellow daffodils offers the perfect inspiration for a new color scheme for your Spring Line, a spicy serving of fresh fish from Mexico offers a new line of sauces, and the view from Mt. Everest provides you with the courage to launch a new business.  If we forget to leave the place that we feel most comfortable and most at home we risk loosing one of the greatest opportunities for self growth and awareness. If we as individuals become stagnant and closed in our way of thinking and being, then we risk missing out on the possibilities that life has to offer us up each and every day.  Remember to step outside of your comfort zone and purchase a ticket to the place you've always longed to visit.  When you arrive at your new destination try letting yourself go where the wind may take you and not mapping out your entire adventure.   Hop on a bike and fill your back with a baguette and fresh brie.  Drink from the spicket of an old farm that you pass by and stop to ask a stranger for his favorite place to spread a picnic blanket. 

Before you know it you will be engaged in a conversation that will change your perspective on one of your deepest core beliefs, before you know it you will have a new favorite song, and before you know it you will no longer be longing for your favorite brand of ketchup.  You will have opened yourself up to a new way of thinking and that my friend will open you up to new possibilities and a new sense of adventure.  And when you are done exploring and ready to return home, I promise you will be refreshed and renewed.  Your comfortable life and familiar neighborhood will suddenly feel much bigger and more interesting than it did when you left.  You will be looking at all it encompasses with a new set of glasses, one's that are less tinted with your past experience and belief system. Your new set of glasses will be able to see people and places for what they may represent not what they have represented in the past.

Just back from Mexico, I am already trying to plan a trip to Belize for next summer.  Other than that I will wait and see where the wind takes me.

To skype or not to skype....that is the question!

Just loaded the dinner dishes, finished loading backpacks for tomorrow, started the dryer, and sitting down to work on Sharcula, November Night, Get On Board, and finish a proposal for my good friend Tom.  TRG Northeast is underway and growing.  We have signed clients, prospects, events, and life is good.  I love working from home around my kids schedule and most of the time, Tyler and I can connect for quick thoughts or issues via text or mobile.  It works. TRG's headquarters are in Columbia, South Carolina and for now TRG Northeast is successfully working from South Berwick, Maine.

Then every once in a while we come a cross a project or a piece of a campaign that we just can't seem to get on the same page.  Specifically today we are trying to iron out a facebook application and the best positioning that can be achieved for a client. My head is in one place and Tyler's is on a train to Anchorage. (kidding! - don't get your panties in a ruffle.)  From the very beginning of our meeting back on Facebook and our discussing building the Northeast office together for TRG, I have been urged to get SKYPE so that we may communicate more effectively.  For some reason there is something inside of me that screams "no flippin way Tyler".  Actually, let's be honest.  I know what the reason is and wondering if you, any of you might agree with me.

Remember when we were kids and the Jetson's were like one of a handful of shows on Saturday mornings to watch? "Meet George Jetson, Jane, Judy, Elroy, and Rosie etc.."  The one piece of technology that intrigued me the most as a little girl was the talking TV phone where George would picture home and explain why he had to work late or to find out what he needed to grab at the store for his wife.  It has always stuck with and not out of fascination. I have always fell victim to Bedhead.  My hair has enough curl and volume to make it look like the Bride of Frankenstein when I wake up.  The thought of someone calling at any given moment and having to be face to face when not having paid the least amount of attention to what I may look like is not my idea of a good time. 

As I'm putting my thoughts down I'm starting to have questions about my objections of using Skype in business and wondering how valid they are.  There is just something strange about the whole concept to me and where I usually embrace all new technology this one has me stumped.  Tell me what your thoughts are about using Skype for business and please be honest it's for posterity.

Labor Day - Times are Changing.

My dad was a plumber.  I was the last of five children and grew up in a house of older siblings, a home office, vendors, customers, friends, neighbors, and strangers coming in and out of our house constantly.  I have zillions of memories of holiday dinners where the table would be set, we had all just gathered to sit, and the office phone would ring and my dad would have to leave to help someone even before the first bite was taken.

He was a master plumber, a mason, constantly in the local paper, hard worker, and basically a stranger.  He was married to his profession and it was what he did best in life.   He could literally fix, lift, and source anything. We were not allowed to say "can't" growing up and we were told a million times how easy we had it in life and didn't know the true meaning of hard work.

My dad was born in 1929.  His mother died when he was five and was sent to live and work on a Polish farm while times were tough.  The Polish influence trickled into my life through language, food, and music. Oh and did I tell you that it wasn't uncommon to see my dad dance the polka at family weddings?  That's another story.  He had a hard life born from the Great Depression, loosing a parent, and being part of a mixed family with all boys yet he never gave up until the very end.  All of this created a personal belief for my dad that unless you were working physically hard and getting the job done with your hands, you were not working at all.  My brother went to school for engineering and in my dad's eyes it wasn't good enough.  He wanted my brother to follow in his footsteps and takeover the family business.  My brother had his own dreams and they had nothing to do with plumbing.

When I turned 18 and it was my turn to decide what I was going to be when I grew up and my Dad was already 59 years old.  Being the 5th born, and the 4th daughter, he had long given up on the idea that the family business would be taken over and his legacy continued.  My dad had also given up on life and had withdrawn from the world as most of us know it.  I was left as an impressionable 18 year old taking it upon myself to decide whether or not to go to college,  what I should study, and where I wanted to end up in life.  I knew that anything I chose would not fit in with my Dad's way of thinking and his thoughts about what my life should look like. Twenty years later, my Dad has been gone for most of the time and I'm knee deep in a career that my Dad never even knew existed.  It's Labor Day and most of the country has the day off and is celebrating a holiday that most of us don't know the story behind the day.

Times are changing.  There are new industries being created everyday and people's ideas about labor and what it means to work hard are expanding.  People work hard everyday without getting their hands dirty and I applaud them but on this Labor Day my thoughts go out to all the people that work hard everyday like my Dad did.  They work 12 hour plus days, physically grueling, and mentally taxing jobs to make all of our lives run smoothly and without interruptions.   They build our roads, keep our water running, clear our garbage, manufacture our goods, farm our lands, maintain our buildings, and serve our country.  While many of us make our living creating new business and creating new vision, my hat off to so many who like my Dad contribute to society by getting their hands dirty and using a little elbow grease.

Star Fish or Sea Stars?

Libby and Anna woke up late this morning and very hungry.  Anna asked for a cheese omelet and Libby requested her newest favorite "Roasted Toast with Strawberries."

No I haven't reinvented a breakfast dish, I wish I could claim I was that talented. Libby likes to give life her own names and affectionately calls French Toast, "Roasted Toast".  Whole wheat bread soaked in eggs, milk, vanilla, and sugar/cinnamon and then placed on a buttered griddle till its nice and crispy. Good Ole Aunt Jemima from my childhood and fresh strawberries on the side and Libby is happy as a clam.  Plus the combination of the omelet with the roasted toast made my kitchen smell like the Maine Diner on a Sunday Fall morning.  LOVE IT!  What in the world does this have to do with Sea Stars or how can it be remotely connected to business?

Here it is...my good friend Perrin Cothran, Education Director of the Seacoast Science Center brought her little girl over for breakfast, business, and a chance to catch up on girl talk.  The kids played and Perrin and I sat and ate and laughed.  The conversation eventually made its way to Touch Tanks For Kids and the strategic marketing campaign TRG Northeast is putting together on an International Scope.  We began discussing the big vision of how it would all play out in regards to being an educational program to build awareness and help clean up the oceans.  I brought up the story of Star Fish that Mike had told me and the minute I said it I knew I had made the biological blunder of the decade. For those of you who don't know, Star Fish, are now being referred to as "Sea Stars".  I had learned this tasty morsel of a fact at Anna's spring field trip to the Seacoast Science Center.  Our educator had politely asked us to refrain from calling our familiar friends, Star Fish and to refer to them with their new accepted scientific name, Sea Star.

Later on in the day I was poised with the question should someone change their name if a life situation calls for it or should they keep their birth name? Should celebrities keep their birth names or should they adopt a stage name? Why do we as individuals have such a fascination with pet names, pseudonyms, stage names, nicknames, acronyms, and trade names.  As businesses we try to invent and reinvent names so that we may trademark them and somehow claim ownership.  Why? Our creative genius and how we position ourselves, products, and companies has become an industry and for a reason.  People like to stand out as being unique, one step ahead of the curve and when they can make a product, service, or identity their own with a different slant they own it and claim it.  People love to be trend setters and love to plant seeds by nature to see how bigh and far they will grow.  Buisnesses know this and want to cater to the individuals need of standing out and being able to share a compelling story.  By businesses I also mean the entertainment industry - celebrities drop names like Harold Smith to become Jack Black. (not a true statement but you get what I mean) Identity and Labels sell.  Roasted Toast with strawberries sounds much more glamorous to Libby than just plain old French Toast and besides she's the only one in the house currently dining on Roasted Toast.  How eloquent and ahead of her time.

Keep your eye on the prize!

Are you sitting down without any distractions?  Well at least can you sit for a second and zone out of the normal daily chaos?  Allow yourself to sink back into your chair, close your eyes, relax your body, and picture yourself in the life you were meant to live.  Smell the smells, see the scenery, touch the objects, and listen to the sounds that surround you as you are living in your ideal way of life.  Now let me ask you a couple of questions.  Are you happy in your new life? Does it make you smile and feel content?  Can you see yourself living this life and making a go of it?  GREAT!  This is the first step of determining your true destiny and where you are supposed to be.

The trick now is creating this vision in a way that you can hold on to it and commit to it.  If you like to blog or journal, write it down. If you are an artist, make a collage or paint it.  If you are a songwriter put together a melody and sync it to music.  If you spend a lot of time in your mind do what I do, imagine every detail and put together a living breathing scene in your mind and cement it there.  When I coming up with a new event, function, strategy, or even business I work backwards.  I visualize how I want it to end up and then create the scene in my mind.  I imagine the smells, sights, feelings, smallest details, and how people will interact within my vision and I own it.  I "keep my eye on the prize" and commit to the fact that my vision will become reality.  If you can see the end goal first and then take steps towards it the process seems to lay itself out in front of you and becomes less chaotic and cluttered.  It becomes a simple action plan instead of "how in the world am I going to make this happen."

Try it.  You can do this in area of your business or life.  The latest campaigns I am using it for is the SoBo Central, Lantern Walk "A Night of Light" and the marketing strategy for Touch Tanks for Kids, Sharcula educational campaign.  If you know what you want to have happen in the end it makes the first step so much easier to take.  Decide what you want to do, who you want to be, and the results you would like to achieve and then start walking towards your goal until you reach it.  Don't get me wrong, it's easy to get off track and make decisions that lead you away from the goals you've committed to but that is why you surround yourself with good friends and business colleagues. Share your vision with them, tell your story, let them feel your passion and commitment so that they will  help you stay on track and realize your goals.  This is your story and you are the main character don't let someone else decide your plot for you.  Keep your eye on the prize!

P.S. -
When times get tough it becomes even more important to try to regroup and decide what's next.  When The Little Hat Company was ending and the writing was on the wall that we had taken it as far as Sue and I possibly could within the circumstances I sat down at my personal blog and asked myself what I wanted to be next.  I had an overwhelming feeling that I couldn't go back to corporate and I wanted to have flexibility for these last couple years of Libby's little time.  I knew that I loved creating and spinning a good story and had a ton of experience and education in marketing and business development and I knew how to do it well.  I began picturing myself working from home, doing a lot of writing, and creating marketing campaigns for companies in the Northeast. You know where this is all going.  I didn't necessarily know how I was going to reach this end goal but I knew it was what my heart wanted.  Then I received an IM on facebook from someone who I knew more than 20 years ago asking if I would open up the NE for his marketing/communications firm - TylerRyanGroup  Just 2 months later I have signed clients, meeting with prospects, writing a business blog, and have 3 scheduled events in this upcoming calendar year.  It wasn't all fun and games getting here - there have been some rough spots and there will be more but I am committing to this new goal and taking steps towards it everyday to make it my reality.  Call me let's do coffee! Jennifer Houghton 207.450.8441

Keeping it Green and Healthy

You are at a really good place.  You're established in your business and or career, the sun is shining, and everything is coming in green and smelling like roses.  Congratulations! Give yourself a giant pat on the back and tell yourself job well done!  You've made it through the honeymoon stage, past the rocky mountains and finally here you sit in the golden prairies of life.  Now what?

Well you should certainly take off some well deserved time for yourself. Remember what it is like to be you and now that you are not nose to the grind for 80 hours a week seek out some balance in life.  Take 60 minutes at lunch in the gym, travel to the mountains on the weekend, or even book that extended trip to Europe, just remember in the back of your mind that you need to have your plan in place to keep your daily business thriving and well maintained.

Just like your front lawn once you have all the weeds vanished and you are left with a vibrant green carpet spreading out to welcome your neighbors and visitors your stable business is going to take some care and effort to keep performing at the level you want.  By no means is it going to require the blood, sweat, and tears that it took to reach this new plateau but just say lets make sure you are leveraging your knowledge and experience from building it to keep it where it is and actually get it ready for the next round of growth if that is something you desire.

1. Develop a "to do" list to keep your current level maintained
2. Look for ways to keep your business in the eyes of your customers and prospects
3. Create fresh new activities for your business to stay involved in the community
4. Interact with your customers and prospects - reach out to them regularly to say hello and see how they are doing.
5. Use the holidays and anniversaries to say thank you for their business and to recognize the impact they make on your bottom line. - Gratitude!

Stay the course and continue taking care of the foundation you have just built until you are ready to put on an addition and watch your baby grow again!

Jennifer Houghton
TRG Northeast
Tyler Ryan Group
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Do I really need a creative strategy or can I just see what happens?

In my twenties, out of college, I had a philosophy.  "Take life as it comes, look for the positive, and go with your gut."  It seemed to work in business and I was able to make some traction adding clients, regions, and new revenue streams for companies.  I actually got a little bit of an ego as I became known as the door opener.  The problem was that I would open up just about any door that came my way regardless of whether or not I believed in their product or thought their company was strong and had merit.  I often found myself in precarious situations in business dealing with people and issues that weren't always the most positive and I would shake my head and wonder what I had done to deserve such clients. 

Flash forward ten years or so without giving up my exact age and I sit here smiling at my younger self.  If you sit down stream in any old spot in the river anything might pass you by.  You have choices and you can move from your spot at any given time. There are no rules as to how you make your choices and how you set your standards.  In my twenties if my boss asked me to pick up another trade show for a fellow employee I would automatically say yes even if I had just gotten home the day before, my pipeline was full of clients, and I was swamped with incoming/outgoing calls.  It never crossed my mind that I could actually say no to my boss.  So off I went packed and ready for another NACA show, sleep deprived, cranky, and stressed from not being caught up with clients. 

If amazing opportunities exist in times when you let "what may come your way" be your strategy imagine the possibilities and opportunities you will run into if you actually creative an effective strategy and position yourself and business where you want to be in a  global market.  What if you made the decision consciously that you were only going to work with clients and prospects who fit a certain criteria?  What if once you determined your targeted demographic you did some research and uncovered which region of the country most of those individuals or business resided in, and then imagine if once you had this incredibly valuable information you created a strategy that was tailored to their interests, needs, and decision making process.  Business no longer seems so much like a shot in the dark and you have just cleared away ten years of doing business with what happens to flow down the river into your lap.

As in life, synergy plays an important role in business.  If you try to shove a square peg in a round hole you may actually get it to fit and pass through but the results could be less than desirable and very messy.  If you take the time to search out the round pegs with the right diameter think of how much your level of productivity just increased.  It seems so simple and makes so much sense now as I sit here in my midland thirties nearing forty, but are you owning it?  I'm trying to and the more I create targeted strategies for TRG Northeast and also my clients the more I'm convinced that you can shorten your sales cycle, increase productivity, tighten up operations, and make yourself happy because you are working where and with who you most desire!

For me? I am exactly where I want to be, developing TRG Northeast for Tyler Ryan Group.

Really? Did I just bite off more than I can chew?

Feeling Overwhelmed?  Did you put yourself out there to the world beyond your comfort zone and now feeling as though you have no clue how to move forward?  No worries mate. It's nothing that a little time and list making can't take care of and produce the best possible results.

When you start a new chapter in life or in your business you can quickly begin feeling overwhelmed.  You are inudated with new ideas, people, places, and programs and it feels as though you will never be able to organize this new world in your mind and make sense of it.  Change naturally produces endorphins and can make even the calmest individual feel as though they now have ADD.  I'm there now with TRG Northeast.  Tyler, my partner was here for three days this week and we filled the time with client, prospect, and social meetings to make the most of his visit.  I even made him come with me to some of my "have to do in life" things just so he could get a clear picture of how my daily schedule flows with the business and being my mom.  I'm sure it was overwhelming to him to have to get ready for a client meeting with a house full of kids, neighbors stopping by, and a teenager that had to be somewhere in ten minutes.  My new business partner made me proud.  Not only did he rise to the occasion at our business meetings he was able to go with the flow with all of my "mommy duties" and unavoidable sidetrips and delays.

One of the things that I learned from working with Tyler this week is no matter where you are and what you are doing take the time to acknowledge those you have met and the possiblities that may exist in the future from working together.  Now with our addictive smartphones we can instanly plug in our new contacts, send them gratitude and thoughts of future dealings before we even hit the interstate.   We used to have to exchange biz cards, jot down some notes on the back of the card, fly home from the tradeshow, sit at our desks Monday morning and create emails or thank you cards to keep our new connections alive.  Modern Technology has simplified the process but you still have to remember to make the effort and to care about the connections you've made stepping out of the comfort zone of your office.

Where am I going with all of this?  Tyler sent me a you tube video that was a parody about biting off more than you can chew and it triggered some of my insecurities that I run into time and time again in business.  When I am out and about in the community or abroad I get an adrenaline rush from meeting new people and experiencing new places and then when I return home I feel overwhelmed by the thought of not being able to keep up with all of my new relationships and opportuniites.  I am a self proclaimed people pleaser and never want to feel as though I let anyone down.  So here I sit writing a daily blog that I haven't touched in almost a week, needing to send out some overdue proposals, having to finish up some press releases and of course wondering if I bit off more than I can chew.  NAH!! Make a damn list, take a deep breath, and know that you are doing the best that you can do.  Stay focused on your list crossing off each line one by one and at the same time stay balanced.  Accomplish a few of your tasks than get up, move away from your computer and do something for yourself that makes you happy.  Do something that screams I am being me.   Okay don't laugh but when I need to become defrazzled I take a shower.

Something about being somewhere where I can just check out for five minutes and have time to myself brings me back to a place of balance AND  I might add I've gotten some of my best ideas in the shower.

If you want - let's do a coffee meeting.

Jen Houghton
TRG Northeast
www.tylerryangroup.com
207.450.8441
Marketing! It's what we do.

A missed opportunity will come around again.

One of the biggest mistakes in business or life is to approach an opportunity as "it's now or never".  I know because I've done this over and over in the same business and with different businesses I've owned.  Call me a slow learner but it took me several experiences to learn that opportunity does come knocking again.  Sometimes it just comes a little bit early and you don't have the resources, manpower, or cash to full take advantage of the opportunity and be able to effectively manage the growth the comes with it. 

You've heard many people say "I'd like to have the problem of too much business."  Sure, it sounds sexy and the visions it brings with it are adrenaline pumping.  My favorite is the story of two men who create a widget for kids and just three months they have a national order from Walmart and its entire distribution channel.  How flippin amazing is that?  Can you picture the two men throwing the correspondance up into the air and literally dancing arm and arm in their manufacturing facility (shed behind one of their houses)? This is a prime example of their story having grown, exploded way ahead of their manufacturing capabilities.

Soon the music ends and the men stop dancing. Now they have an order for a million pieces deliverable in sixty days.  Even if they did have the cash could they source enough raw materials, manpower, and actual space to produce the Purchase Order?  Do they have enough time to have a lawyer review the 40 page document outlining the specs of the order and making sure that even with the price cutting they will in fact be able to turn out these million widgets and make a profit at the other end of the delivery date.  And for some reason they don't make the delivery date as stated in the agreement what will be the reprecussions for the two men and their fantabulous widgets they created?

OK, so you get my drift.  Opportunity will come knocking when you open your doors for business. My thought for you is that it might not be the right opportunity at the right time for your business and even more importantly don't ever worry that if you don't take advantage of the opportunity as it comes knocking that it won't be back at a better time.  Opportunities are nothing more than learning experiences unrealized. By nature their purpose is to happen and to create a new unique situation for growth and learning to occur. They will continue to circle back until they are realized or have just lost their relevance or meaning.  Either way a missed opportunity is better looked at as an extension to get your "merd" in order for the future.  Please don't misinterpret that by missing opportunity it gives you a green light to stay stagnant without growth or change.  We all know what happens to those who stay in one place too long.  It just means that sometimes you're not in the right place at the right time to take advantage of an opportunity but instead use it as a measuring stick to know what you need to do and prepare for when the opportunity swings back around.

Is it the right time?

New opportunities, experiences, and change comes flying at you everyday when you are in business. Some of these you've already experienced and good or bad you have a strong sense of whether or not to become involved again with a certain type of project or prospect.  Then every so often something comes your way that you have been hoping for. It is an experience or opportunity that you have been dreaming of doing or taking part of and you know in  your heart you just can't pass it up!


When I was in business school, my dream was to be quoted in the Wall Street Journal. Once it had happened I knew in my heart I would truly have been successful.  Funny thing is I ended up being quoted for a law signed by President Bush and how it was going to negatively impact my business.  Well so maybe our dreams don't always turn out to be what we expect but don't dismiss them so quick. Every experience is and opportunity in life for growth or to decide to stay where you are for a little bit longer.

How do you decide if it is the right time to take on a new risk?  I've always followed my gut instinct and my heart but last week in Cancun I had an experience where I had to push past what I thought my gut was telling me and I am so glad I did.  I came face to face with fear and thankfully there was someone there to literally pull me through it to the other side.  Life tends to bring you what you need exactly when you need it - just keep your eyes and mind open to the possibility.

I am a risk taker in business. I have no problem saying yes to new opportunity and prospects.  I tend to jump before I look and I have faith that everything will eventually turn out as it is supposed to be.  When Diana asked me to go to Mexico with six other women I said YES!  In my mind I pictured a long overdue break that alternated between lying poolside and by the beach. Perfect!  Then Diana came back from a Scuba Dive and literally jumped on my lounge chair and made me promise I would dive.  NO, NO, NO I told her. It didn't fit my agenda of lying, sleeping, reading, and being in a pure "lizard" state of mind in the sun.  Then something in my gut said "why not".

My experience started in the Resort pool with my instructor Daniel for a quick try to see if I liked it.  It went well and I felt okay about the experience. I would have to do it again in the pool the next day to learn more of the basics and gain a knowledge of how it would work in the open ocean.  I was joined by a brother and sister from New York who were in their early twenties.  Not that I feel old but it made me realize that if there is something in life you want to do don't keep putting it off to when you have more time or are in a better place.

After the hour long pool lesson we had a lunch break and then met back to take a taxi to the park for our dive.  I was very calm during the taxi and boat ride out to the dive site.  Cancun is beautiful and there is so much to look at in every direction.  Then the boat stopped and Daniel said we were going in the water first.  We sat on the deck at the back of the boat with our flippers, mask and tank and suddenly I started to freeze.  My body became tense and my heart began to race.  My mind began flooding with a million what ifs and suddenly my gut was screaming don't do this, don't take this risk, you don't want to go here.  Daniel motioned for me to jump into the water and I did but I had already made the decision I was going to somehow stay on the boat while the others dove.

My two new friends were already down at the bottom holding onto the guide rope and Daniel motioned to me to put the respirator in my mouth and start descending.  I couldn't move.  He handed it to me and I put it in my mouth but couldn't breathe. There was a lump of fear in my throat and no matter how deeply I took in air from my tank it wouldn't push past the fear.  I turned and started swimming back to the boat but felt a hand tugging me back.  I tried to pull away but had become weak from the fear I was experiencing.  Daniel tugged at my arm until I was facing him and he motioned for me to look at his eyes. We were floating in the water and he took a huge breath from his tank and told me to do the same as he kept looking at me. Somehow I was able to do it. One breath after another floating at the surface and without me knowing it he was slowly deflating my vest and I went under the water.  It seemed to take forever to reach the bottom and join the other two even though it was only 20 feet.  I had to keep stopping to blow air through my nose to pop my ears from the pressure.  Daniel never let go of my hand or took his eyes away from mine.  It felt like he was descending for me.

At the bottom, I had finally pushed through my fear and realized that I had just literally been guided into a brand new world that I had never experienced before by a total stranger who spoke English as a second language but had communicated with no words at all. This stranger had taken me through a major lesson of trust without saying one word to me.  He held my hand at the bottom as we swam over coral looking at fish and creatures but soon into the dive my independence took back control and left his side to swim by myself  and have the experience of being alone under the water with the sea life and current moving back and forth pushing and pulling me at the same time. My gut had told me not to  take the risk but my heart was overjoyed that someone was there to guide me through it and open up a whole new world that I would have never experienced on the boat sitting with the captain.


My advice to you whether you are wondering if it is the right time for a new opportunity in business or life, when in doubt open your eyes and look around.  If you are meant to have the experience someone or something will be there to guide you.  Don't let fear be the deciding factor as you are becoming who you were always meant to be.

We're building a company with a future not just a revenue stream.

Tyler Ryan Group is nearly ten years old and has been building its foundation one customer at a time.  Not just wanting to make the quick dollar but making sure that the right campaign was strategically placed and positioned with the clients best interest at heart.    If you build something solid that provides value and benefit than the dollar will follow!

TRG Northeast is taking the knowledge and expertise that has been growing and building for the past ten years and combining it with Jennifer Houghton's business experiences and networks built from the past 20 years in the North to make an even bigger impact up and down the East Coast.

Tyler has promised Jennifer "the sky's the limit".  Jennifer simply stated, "let's get it done".

To find out more about Tyler Ryan Group visit our website!

A change of perspective is always a good thing.

When you are building your business especially in the early stages you can get tunnel vision and begin to see things only one way, your way.  Your world becomes consumed with assets/liabilities, income/expenses, insurance/taxes, and building your brand. You start losing sleep, your thoughts spin, and your conversations are monopolized by everything about your business. You are firmly planted in the forest and all you see are the trees.

Sometimes you need to literally stand up and move yourself to a place that you've never been before and just observe.  It could be attending  a local community group that is new and where you don't know any of the people.  Sit and just observe how the individuals interact and hopefully you will be able to listen to others talking about their businesses or ventures.  There's a certain wisdom that comes from listening especially when you are in a time of extreme focus about your own situation or project.  You may hear something that will help remove an obstacle in your process or you might gain a new connection that will be able to aid you in the near future.

A new fresh perspective does a world of good for one's attitude and outlook on life and in business.  The world is always moving and us with it.  Nothing is stagnant and when you simply get up and move to a different spot your situation will look entirely different!

Free Press - it doesn't have to be painful.

Remember as a kid visiting your grandparents house and fooling around on their old fashioned typewriter? This is all relative depending on who is reading this blog but let me give you my visual.  I was the youngest of 26 grandchildren born into my mother's family.  So needless to say my grandparents were always old and had really cool things at their house.  For some reason I remember being mesmerized with two of their items: a very old typewriter like this one and their very old beagle dog.  For very long blocks of time I would hover over the keys and just look at them.  I don't think I was even old enough to type or form an entire written thought but more than anything I wanted to get my fingers on those keys.
My grandparents born in the late 19th century prescribed to the train of thought that children should be seen but never heard so visits were most often painful and terribly long.  Opportunity would present itself and they would leave the room to share this or that with my parents and I would be able to take a precious strike at the keys and more often than not I would skin my finger on the metal arm from trying to hit it so quick.  Now I can envision reporters and businessmen sitting at those keys and painstakingly typing out their message or story trying to get it perfect each and every time.

Today - writing and publishing your work is as simple as it gets and the opportunities for free press for your business or organization are endless.  Even if you're not a writer putting together a press release is nothing short of filling in a template with all of the information you are trying to share with the world about your product, service, or event.  Always send off your press releases on letterhead whether going through the mail or being sent out electronically.  Your logo should appear at the top of the release and  PRESS RELEASE in bold capital letters needs to jump out at you from the page.  Remember that your purpose is to share as many pertinent details with the publication you are contacting to give them the whole entire story and if you catch their interest they will already have the building blocks of their angle.  Put your most important data and facts in the beginning.  Give a quick summary of what you are announcing and then go into more details in the following paragraphs and finally end with a summary of what you have told them.  When you are happy with your release and ready to end it make sure you include ### on the next line centered. This is a visual clue to the editor that you are done and complete.

You don't have to be a brilliant writer to get your press releases in the news just make sure that when you send out a copy that it is actually interesting and newsworthy.  You can be creative with your headline to make it stand out in the pile of other releases hot off the press.

Don't be intimidated by the process if you've never done it before.  Don't let fear hold you back from taking advantage of  one of the best way to get your word out there to your foot soldiers.  Remember that people like to be "in the know" and you are doing the general public a service by letting them know about your product and service! It's a good thing that you are doing!

If you have any questions or need any help, give me a call!

Jennifer Houghton
TRG Northeast
www.tylerryangroup.com
207-450-8441
jennifer@tylerryangroup.com
Marketing! It's what we do.

How strong is your logo?

Ideally you want your customers to be able to identify your company and product by a symbol.  That its your end goal when building your brand and creating your marketing strategy.  Most kids today can identify 1000's of brands by image alone without the company name anywhere in sight.

It's not going to happen overnight and it requires a lot of forethought and vision on your part. The best piece of advice is to keep it simple and go with your gut.  Most of us won't be able to come up with and create the graphic on our own so we'll need to bring in an outside talent to translate our ideas and what we are trying to achieve.  You will however in an instant know whether or not the graphic created to represent your entire brand and line of products and services is the right fit for you and your business.  Trust that intuition and know that you are going to need to commit to the basic  premise of the logo.

There's no doubt that your new logo will need to evolve over time as both your company grows and changes along with the market but you still want to make sure that the foundation you lay will be strong enough to carry you way into the future.

It's always good to receive positive feedback - especially when it comes from your CEO!

“When you look to take a big expansion step in your company, there are a few key players that can make or break you.  Recruiting the right people is often daunting.  It’s just shy of fate that I found the right person to head TRG Northeast not on a website or an ad…I just had to go back 25 years in school pictures.  I am very excited to welcome Jennifer in overseeing TRG-Northeast.  Since the minute we first spoke about the idea, she has been nonstop building not only the firm, but every client that was on my radar and relationships she had enjoyed for a long time.  Her vision, experience, and drive make it instantly clear her motives are to not only growing TRG Northeast, but doing by building a long list of successful clients along the way.”

Tyler Ryan

President/CEO

Tyler Ryan Group

TRG-Northeast

It's all about to change - are you ready?

It's Monday morning just shy of 9:00am on the East coast and in the day it's the time that just about everyone commuting to an office is getting ready to pull up there chair to the desk and say, "OK, let's do this."

Well okay, I've been there, done that and I'm not sure I always approached Morning with the excitement knowing it was the day I was going to make business magic happen. There was always a little bit of resentment that my relaxing weekend of doing housework, yard work, birthday parties, and family BBQ's had come to an end.

Many of us have left that way of life and are now integrating our offices into our homes, our cars, our methods of transportation, and even poolside. With the invention of the internet, smart phones, and ISDN lines basically any type of business can be conducted outside of the office. Is this a good thing? I'll leave that one up to you. However it is a catalyst for major change in how we are doing business and exactly who we are doing business with and I'm proposing the question, "Are you ready?"

Remember fifteen years back, relatively, when the buzz was the dot com movement? The first question out of everybody's lips was "do you have a website?". People were buying up urls like they were collectible Pez dispensers hoping to snag the right one and soon find themselves on easy street. The funny thing is that happened to a large group of intuitive buyers. I found myself smack dab in the middle of the dot come revolution and remember the swirling of misinformation and projections of the future of business that clouded everyone's way of looking at doing business. Some of the crazier notions were that newspaper, radio, and tv were on their way to becoming obsolete, it was actually possible to buy up all of the online inventory to block your competition from having any advertising real estate on the internet, and my personal favorite the great debate of whether an individual should log in or log on to the web.

Well buckle your seat belts and get ready for the next big advancement in virtual business. Most of you are already aware its happening many thanks to You Tube. The new question on the street is "do you have a video I can take a look at?". Think about it as a commercial for your business, product, service, or project. Companies are making it their entire focus and building their business plan around the creation and marketing of videos for commercial and non profit groups. Why? Because as one who prides herself on creating a story and then spinning it to build a brand or market niche it is one of the easiest ways to help give your story personality, reputability, credibility, and two very fast legs to help it spread out all over the globe. I love the possibilities it brings to the individual artist, small business, non profit and large corporation. The possibilities are endless and it doesn't have to cost an arm or a leg. We have a number of professionals in our town of 7,000 already servicing customers in this medium. TRG, our parent company, has been creating videos for clients for almost ten years. It is something that you as an individual can do by yourself.

Think about it, write it down, and let your creativity run wild.
If you would like help putting together your video, call me!

Jennifer Houghton
TRG Northeast
207-450-8441
www.tylerryangroup.com
Marketing! It's what we do.

Jennifer@tylerryangroup.com

Tyler Ryan Group Introduction

Pick my Brain for Free! Jennifer Houghton TRG Northeast

So you want to pick my brain? OK, let's be honest. During the days of our retail stores in Little Hat Company, people had a sixth sense of knowing when I was covering a shift or somehow knew that I would happen to be working behind the counter and would often say to me, "hey good to see you here today, do you mind if I pick your brain?"

The truth is I love business and would often spend hours listening, internalizing, and then helping to create solutions for their marketing strategies or new product launches. Sometimes it would be simple as letting them know what my accountant thought about a certain situation. I love hearing about business and its obstacles and growing pains - it's a puzzle and it always feels good when you "get a piece".

SO now that I no longer have the store fronts and school pick up is out for the summer I have a proposal for all of you who may want to pick my brain for free. Actually the proposal includes a FREE 2 hour sit down dedicated entirely to your business, project, event, or fundraiser. So - there is a catch but its not brain surgery.

Part of branding your company or positioning your product in the marketplace is getting people to know it exists. One way to jump start the momentum of growing your business is by using effective promotional products. What? You know - slap your name or logo on basically anything under the sun. School is just around the corner. One of the least expensive, most effective promotional product is a number 2 pencil or a bic pen. Most of you are already placing quarterly orders for promotional products anyways...Give TRG Northeast your next order of any size and I will give you two hours of my time with my complete attention and all of my experiences and business education at your disposal.


How do I know promotional products work? Ask my friend, Mr. Gagnon. Everytime I make my way to the gym I bring with me my faithful PGagnon and Son sports bottle. Every time my kids go to practice or the beach we fill up our trusty PGagnon and Son sports bottle! LOVE IT!! In fact it is common for when you cross paths with another carrying their PGagnon bottle to perform a "cheers" in recognition that we are supporting local business!


Anything under the sun can be branded with your logo or business name and it can be a very small expense or you can go hogwild and spend 100,000's of dollars. I'm suggesting that for now let's start small and let me show you how cool it is to work with TRG Northeast.




Email me and ask me lots of questions about this crazy idea or just pick up the phone and call me!

Jennifer Houghton
207-450-8441
jennifer@tylerryangroup.com


P.S. My first job out of business school was working for Forbes Marketing Group in Exeter, New Hampshire. I was hired to open up the Midwest and South Central Markets by selling promotional products to colleges and universities. I traveled like a demon, attended a zillion NACA shows, met celebrities, lectured to students on how to effectively promote their programs and events on campus and also experienced many unusual encounters with TV personalities: Skippy from Family Ties, Barry "Greg Brady" from the Brady Bunch, Mohamed from one of the original Real World Cast, and Faith Hill while she was still singing to crowds of 50 people or less....Very cool job right out of college!!

Appreciating and Getting to know your foot soldiers!

When your business offers a quality product or service word travels fast. This is the most reliable and affective way to grow your audience and brand recognition.

Imagine if you enabled that word of mouth to grow at even a faster pace and helped it build its own momentum by providing it with tools to make it more accessible, entertaining, and full of value.

One of the best ways to grow your business is to take traditional word of mouth marketing and stretch, pull, and tug it in just about every direction it allows. The internet and traditional marketing channels provide the perfect distribution for this technique. Remember business is not rocket science its taking what you already have and building a story around it so people can relate, identify, and share your information.

Steps to expounding word of mouth marketing - getting to know your foot soldiers.
1. Every peer group, community, town, city, market, region, country, and beyond has its own leaders who pride themselves on knowing things of interest and value first. These are your first targeted group of foot soldiers that you need to identify and introduce yourself to. You need to get to know them and find out what their likes and dislikes are, where do they spend their free time, and how do they connect with people.
It's not hard - I'm sure you already know a handful of these people in your community. These are the people that when you are out and about in town, or at community events their names keep popping up. Introduce yourself to them. Strike up a conversation about the day and try to find simple points of identification. Remember you're not trying to rule the world you're just trying to make yourself known.

2. Local Groups happen naturally in Communities and are a perfect way to get to know your foot soldiers and organically grow their numbers. Reach out to local groups in your area through Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, One More Referral, Community Centers, etc... ask a member about their group and if there are any restrictions or costs on attending a meeting. When you feel comfortable enough ask if you could present yourself and your business. Remember props always bring laughs and laughter always sparks memories.

3. Involve yourself and business as a volunteer in community events. It's one thing for your business to sponsor an event its another for you and your employees to submerse yourselves and your product/brand into the day in a non intrusive way. Example? Nature's Way Market didn't hesitate to say yes when asked to be the BBQ provider for the 1st Annual Field of Dreams Home Run Derby in South Berwick, Maine to benefit local Team Laffalot. The day was amazing and it was all about breast cancer. Nature's Way Market stepped up to the plate and offered a wide array of fresh quality choices to the attendees and batters without charging them an arm and a leg. They also made a donation to Team Laffalot which was greatly appreciated. The crowds were fed, happy and stayed longer helping to build the dollars raised for the day and now a week later the community is still talking about the steak tips and baby red potato meal deal for $6.00.



These are just a few of the steps I've taken in my businesses to help encourage and grow my foot soldiers! Word of mouth marketing at its finest is cost free and the most effective. You just need to know how to stretch the limits! I invite you to call me anytime to sit down and consult how we might grow your business!

Jennifer Houghton
TRG Northeast
207-450-8441
www.tylerryangroup.com
Marketing! It's what we do.

Synergy - you know the word, do you know the meaning?

We've all been there, I call it being in the groove. When everything you touch in life, more specifically your business turns into gold and the world seems to be at your feet. It's a sense of momentum that keeps building leaving you feeling exhilarated and on top of the world, and while you are smack dab in this feeling of immortality it seems more and more opportunities are drawn to you and you are nothing short of a kid in a candy shoppe.

Did you ever stop to think that it was more than just a feeling? That there was actually a social science behind the cycle and with just a little bit of insight you can create this whirlwind of success and pure force of a positive bottom line. Business is not rocket science. Trust me it wasn't the academic icons that turned in the best projects or senior case management studies in business school. Not that there isn't merit in scholarship and the ability to apply ones studies to real life situations. The issue is that real life situations are constantly evolving and changing and it is the basic equation of synergy that will be able to propel you into a a spiral of positive cash flow and brand positioning.

In college, I remember Mr. Chaput telling us if you take nothing from his courses in marketing and actually our entire business syllabus remember the four P's. It seemed simple enough at the time but for some reason in each of my businesses I would allow myself to get ahead of where I was and forget to remember the simple equations for success. So let me remind myself as I begin this new venture with The Tyler Ryan Group and promising the CEO I can blow open the Northeast, wide open were my exact words and just in case you haven't heard of the four P's before let me bring them to your attention.

Product
Place
Price
Promotion

Which smiling to myself as I write this blog post have become my best friends in business. Each of the four P's are compelling by themselves, however when you can create a compelling strategy that integrates and incorporates each into one very strong story with legs you have instant attraction and success. While some of my friends get a shopping high, others a running high, I get my high from spinning a story and seeing how far I can spread it. As I have matured (loosely stated) I have come to realize that as you spin your story and create brand recognition it is oh so important that each of the four P's are well thought out, contain value, integrity, and have a natural tendency to balance each other out. If you have one superstar in the group and the others fall way short, I'm predicting you will have the shooting star affect in your business. You'll start out strong and bright but will quickly fade into the darkness of an overcrowded marketplace.

When you create a synergy between the four P's in business than you have created your very own super nova. Let's be realist as we are riding our business high, life is everchanging and there is always a new trend just around the corner but there is no reason that you can't catch an early ride on a wave and let it bring you all the way into shore. There is no good without bad, there is no black without knowing red, and there is no demand without supply. Remember that business is always a careful balance and although everchanging it is important to keep your perspective on the synergy, relationship between your product, place, price, and promotion. And as Tyler loves to say you can be sitting on a pile of gold for sale but if know one knows where you are and noone can afford to purchase a bar from you at the end of the day you will still be sitting on your pile of gold. And really how much fun is that? Wouldn't you rather be out creating memories from extraordinary experiences?

http://TylerRyanGroup.com

If you would like some help getting rid of that pile of gold shoot me an email or pick up your smart phone and call me. I'm personally addicted to the technology and will always have mine with me.

Jennifer Houghton
jennifer@tylerryangroup.com
207-450-8441
TRG Northeast
Marketing. It's what we do!
"excuse me while I go outsmart some bears"

Bullseye! Letting talent do what they do best!

If you are an entrepreneur of any degree than more likely than not you like to just get it done and do everything yourself. This is especially true when you first start out before you have developed the ability to trust and include and build upon other individuals visions.

Somewhere along the way it is imperative for you to let go of total control and allow others in your inner circle to do what they do best. It's important to remember that we've all been given special talents in life and when we are using these talents the possibilities are endless and the sky is literally the limit. I have the perfect example for you. REAL life story that shows you exactly what I'm sharing with you.

We are hosting a Local Home Run Derby this year to raise money for breast cancer. Early on we had the idea of putting a giant bulls eye in the outfield and having the first batter to hit it getting a large gift certificate from the Kittery Trading Post: hence the bulls eye logo. Well undoubtedly we soon got caught up in organizing the details of the Derby and finding the sponsors to underwrite and getting people to show up through guerilla marketing campaigns...blah blah blah. The point of this story is that Sue and I put off making the actual bulls eye for the Derby. So Bill jumped in and said let me just handle it. Since our version of the bulls eye was going to be foam board with Sharpee Markers we agreed and let go of all control with no expectations and moved onto finishing up other details for the day.

Last night right before 11:oo pm, Bill sent me an image of the bulls eye he whipped up for the Derby in his garage. AMAZING and incredibly professional. The Kittery Trading Post is going to be proud and people are really going to want to try to hit it!! It had never entered my mind that it would be so professional and kick ass. It so much better than it would have been if Sue and I had said no we'll just figure it out and get it done.

Your business is your baby and I know how hard it is to let go and let someone else take care of it sometimes...but be open to others infusing your business with their incredible gifts and talents!

Instead of creating obstacles...Imagine the possibilities.

When you are creative you are brainstorming and letting ideas flood in and just exist on a piece of paper. Remember back in school when the teacher would set a plain white peace of paper in front of you and have you draw a circle in the middle? Next you would put something in that circle, anything really, the actually word doesn't matter as much as what that word inspires in your creative process.

Try it. I dare you. Take a plain white piece of copy paper out of the printer sitting next to you and draw a circle in the middle of the page. Inside the circle I want you to pick just one product or service you offer as a business and go ahead right it down. Own it and recognize it as something you are proud of. Let it be your finest accomplishment. So step two this is where it gets crazy and lets you just be like a young child again not worried about coloring in the lines.

Draw spider legs out from the center of the circle in each and every direction and don't feel as though they need to be even or balanced. Go flippin crazy with the lines and don't even let yourself think about whether or not you can come up with something for each of the lines. So now it's time to reflect. What product or service did you put in the middle of the page and where do you want to go with it? Do you want growth, stability, increase in production, a new ad campaign, brand loyalty, brand awareness, a new factory or storage facility...it really doesn't matter just pick something to focus on and pick up your pen again and starting writing as fast as the thoughts come flooding into your mind. Remember this is your dream and your choice as you would have your company and product line grow.

No holds bar! The more you let go of your preconceived notions of business the more you will get from this exercise. So take some time fill your paper, draw more silly lines, and then let your paper sit for a day or so and then pick it up and take a look. We'll all be waiting here at TRG Northeast to see what you came up with and the brilliant new strategy or product line that you would like to run with will be our newest mission and goal.

Thanks for stopping by and even if you don't come back to share I hope this exercise was helpful. Love your business and watch it grow!

Are you positioning your product in the very best light possible?

"South Berwick is not the biggest, most happening town. That is why I was happy to find Nature's Way Market in the small downtown area. This business is about 3 or 4 years old and is a great addition to the neighborhood. Not the most impressive natural grocery store I've been to, but they have the basics. A nice, organic produce section. Some prepared foods such as salads, quesadillas, and sushi. Some organic snack food and frozen food items. I was particularly impressed by the wine and beer section as they carry some great craft beers that you won't find at the nearby Cumberland Farms. The prices are steep and are about what I paid last year in NYC. But I suppose to bring those products to a small town is expensive. I plan on doing a lot of my grocery shopping here this summer despite the prices though." Erica C



With the internet opening up content and copy for everyone and their brother to post, position, and get out there how do you continue to manage to place your product and brand in the best light possible for the world to see? When I found the post for Nature's Way, in an instant, at first I was disappointed in her review but then I changed my perspective and realized she is telling people that even though it is more expensive and she has been to better markets she is happy she found it and going to shop there. Eric took the time to write a post and let the world know about the little gem she found in South Berwick, Maine. How invaluable is that to have a foot soldier doing your marketing for you as a volunteer?

This is one of the ways that I was able to grow the story around The Little Hat Company so quickly. I capitalized on the testimonials, photos, comments, and postings that I found on the internet and took at the store locations and helped spread the efforts of our team of foot soldiers. Everyone likes a honest balanced testimonial and it goes a lot further than a banner ad or a randomly placed ad in a newspaper. Don't get me wrong both have their merits and importance when it comes to building your brand, just how much impact would they have collectively if you implemented a targeted strategy that used both to their full potential?

TRG Northeast knows about creative strategy and planning and taking all aspects of media into account when building a successful campaign for your brand and product placement. We work with companies of all shapes and sizes and budgets of any capacity. It's what we do and more importantly it's what we love to do. The great thing is that TRG Northeast has the backbone of TRG supporting its launch along with my 20 years of experience in the industry including relationships and contacts and did I tell you my boss, Tyler is really cute? So not so important but it helps!

I'm laughing out loud loving my job right now!!

Business is a Circus. TRG is your Ringmaster.

Tyler sent me an image today for TRG that had been done awhile ago and although I didn't think it was very good or that it even came close to representing TRG and the value it brings to its clients in brand development and positioning it sparked something in me that has pushed me off tracks for the entire day.

On my agenda today was writing one proposal, two press releases, the creation of two new facebook pages and also when I can find time, finalizing the logistics for the local home run derby benefiting breast cancer research happening this Sunday. Then Tyler emailed me the old file of a graphic that he wanted to know if I "likey". Ok so I'm in new waters with a new company and never really have known how to tread lightly. My gut said how awful rudimentary, elementary and saying nothing of the mad skill that TRG possesses in its team or capabilities. I kept looking at the damn bear and then literally fireworks went off. "we wrestle bears" kept spinning in my mind, what does that mean, who wrestles bears, who would want to wrestle bears and then it all came flooding in an instant. Business is a Circus. TRG is your Ringmaster.

Circus Bears, Ringmasters, girls in short tutus walking tightropes, Clowns trying to close the deal and make everyone happy, Angry mobs trying to push their way into a sold out circus, vendors wanting to sell their wares to the audience, live music trying to be heard above the roar of the crowds...don't you see - Business is a Circus. TRG is your Ringmaster.

Tyler and Jen are here to keep everyone on track and in focus. We're fun we like to have a good time and think out of the box - hey we live out of the box, and in fact quoting my brother we don't even know where the box is anymore. Still when building a business and bringing a circus to town you need to stay focused and make sure you keep the train on the tracks even when it becomes a wild ride and you are speeding down the mountain at a 100 miles an hour and the twist and turns are making you queasy and shrilling with excitement you need the conductor, ringmaster there to make sure you stay on the tracks and everyone gets their tickets worth at the circus.

Ok so I'm a little zany and full of wild ideas. But when you are trying to build your brand and position it effectively in an already crowded market who is going to make you stand out? The guy in the three piece suit or the zany marketing girl who thinks out of the box and has a history of getting things done?

Is anyone really doing business in the boardroom anymore?

Is anyone really doing business in the boardroom?


I'm only asking because it seems for the past ten years I have been able to juggle a family, work from home, and vacation and get things done. I work this way so I can spend a lot of time with my children and have the benefit of being home to get things done in between all the day to day business grind. My last "real" job in technology had office space and conference rooms but we spent most of our time on the road or talking with co-workers/bosses in breakfast or lunch meetings. A lot of the time we would go grab a coffee to discuss the really important things.

So now that I've been back in the swing of corporate America for a whole whopping three weeks, I'm finding it refreshing at how much I get done working from home. A week ago I was away on a lake in New Hampshire without wifi and was able to get a proposal out via my smart phone and keep in touch with contacts and boss via facebook on my blackberry. Believe me it was not ideal but we were able to make things happen. Home now I am finding myself at my computer more than I was working in an office on Congress Street in Portsmouth but still able to balance my time with the girls and making sure Aaron has rides to where he needs.

So what about the rest of you? Are you chained to an office or a desk from 9-5? Do you have flexibility in your schedule? Are you happy? What if we are more productive making our own schedules and with the invention of the Internet and Wifi we are able to be virtually anywhere at anytime and be in communication in an instant. I LOVE it, most people think its horrible. So here I am typing a blog for TRG - northeast at 12:30 in the morning while the parent company is in bed in South Carolina and feeling thankful that I can be with my girls just a little bit longer as they grow up.

Tyler and I worked together on a project today (Sunday) remotely - he is down South and I'm up here in the North but we were able to make it happen. I described the shoot I needed down to the location and his wardrobe and also the basic gist of the script. He then made it happen. He produced the video down in South Carolina in a place that might be able to pass for New England, did the editing and voice overs from home and uploaded to You Tube. Seriously, could it be any cooler to do business?

Here's a glimpse of how we come up with our best creatives:


















Check out the rest of the company - TRG!