The California condor: Flying at the edge of extinction
We hope to see California condors during our June roadtrip to Arizona and Utah. While researching, I came across an informative video, produced by the Arizona Game & Fish Department.
Here are highlights:
- In 1982, there were only 22 California condors in the world.
- Rescuing this raptor from the edge of extinction represents the first-ever wildlife recovery program. Every bird was captured for a captive-breeding program, with offspring released into the wild.
- The largest flying land bird in North America, the wingspan is up to 9 1/2 feet! That may be longer than the room you’re sitting in.
- These birds can travel hundreds of miles in a day.
- One of the longest living raptors, they live to be up to 60 years old in the wild.
- They are gregarious and social.
- Adults weigh 16-26 pounds.
- There are now over 400 California condors. More than 200 fly free in the wild, including 58 in Arizona.
- While still one of the most endangered species in the world, the California condor is thriving and recovering.
Click to view this 10-minute video
Click to view this 10-minute video
Weird weather day: From Manitou Springs to Lookout Mountain
It was a real pea-souper.
On May 7, I wound my way up Lookout Mountain Road – in thick gray fog – to present my “Nail Your Brand” workshop for the Western Wealth Advisors’ program, called Advisor University.
Creeping toward the Mount Vernon Country Club on that mountain road was a real feat. (Glad I made it – you guys were a great group. Thanks for inviting me!)
Later that day – after paying my respects at the Buffalo Bill grave – I drove into Colorado Springs just after the city had received EIGHT INCHES of hail.
From soup-to-nuts, May 7 was a weird weather day!
A lonely country road on Lookout Mountain. This was AFTER the fog lifted!
I arrived in Colorado Springs after the snowplows had pushed aside 8 inches of hail and, thankfully, after I-25 had reopened.
I get pretty active in my workshops. Here, it looks like I’m running away! 🙂
Mount Vernon Country Club at Lookout Mountain
Buffalo Bill’s grave, located at the Buffalo Bill Museum & Grave on Lookout Mountain Road near Golden.
How do you get qualified leads from your website? Up-level your CONTACT form to an INQUIRY form
GET QUALIFIED LEADS. Clearly, this is a top goal for your business website.
In fact, from a marketing/sales perspective, most of us have 3 key goals for our website:
- Build the list with quality prospects
- Sell products and services directly via the website
- Get qualified leads from your website in order to sell products and services
Sometimes minor tweaks to your website can reap great rewards. One is transforming your basic CONTACT FORM into a hardworking, strategic INQUIRY FORM.
Use this checklist to get highly qualified leads:
- Have two different fields for First Name and Last Name (not just one field for Name).
- Ask for Email Address and Website Address.
- If you do business internationally, change the “Phone” field to “Phone/Skype.” Ask your website developer to ensure this field accepts numbers and letters, with room for at least a dozen characters.
- Add at least one question – with a drop-down list or radio buttons – that empowers the prospect to provide specific information that helps you qualify the lead. You may want to include multiple questions. For example, inquiry forms for professional speakers often request event date, location, and length; audience size and demographics; topic choice; and so forth.
- Make all important fields mandatory. However, if your form is lengthy, don’t make all fields mandatory. The prospect may lose interest and not complete the form.
- Make your Comment box work hard for you. Instead of asking for “Comments” or “Give us your feedback,” ask a direct question that encourages your prospect to provide useful information. For example, my inquiry form says: “How can we help you? Please tell us about your business – and how we can be of service.”
- When prospects hit “Submit,” they should automatically be taken to a thank-you page (aka Success Page). NOTE: Your prospects just took a BIG step forward in your relationship. You must ensure the content on this page is warm, friendly, and customized – not a basic template page with a skimpy, impersonal “thank you.” In your copy, add a note that you (or someone on your team) will follow up with a personal contact. On this page, consider adding: SEO keywords in the content, your scanned signature beneath a personal note, a photo to add warmth and personality, a prominent button/link to the Home page.
- Test your revised form to ensure the entire process works properly, including the fact that you (or your assistant) must receive an email notification with all information. NOTE: Thoroughly test your form by entering wrong information and intentionally making mistakes. Do the error messages work? Is the wording in the dialog boxes accurate and friendly – or cryptic and techie?
- Ask your developer to ensure the prospects’ names/email addresses are automatically added to your email database system: AWeber, Constant Contact, MailChimp, Infusionsoft, etc.
- Treat your qualified leads with the importance they deserve. Shockingly, some businesses do not have an efficient process to follow up on website-generated leads. They allow these valuable inquiries to gather dust. Meanwhile, those qualified prospects will go elsewhere to find the products and services they need.
Your website is your most powerful marketing tool. Yes, you want to get leads. Better yet, you want to get QUALIFIED leads from your website, via a hardworking and strategic INQUIRY form.
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Here are 2 examples where I have transformed a basic CONTACT FORM into an INQUIRY FORM.
Example #1 – Before and After
Example #2 – Before and After
Marketing & Branding Views: Humility vs. self-promotion
THEME: “Humility vs. Self-Promotion” (Marketing Tip for Solopreneurs)
TIME: 3 minutes
LOCATION: Downtown Colorado Springs
THE KEY VIEWPOINT: I joined Katharine Lee Bates – who penned “America the Beautiful” in 1893 after summiting Pikes Peak by wagon and mule – to chat about this topic. :> Ironically, while we prize humility as a personal trait, you don’t want to be TOO humble when promoting yourself and your business. Here are marketing tips for solopreneurs to overcome 3 common stumbling blocks to forge a powerful brand and promote your business – without feeling like it’s shameless self-promotion!
A quick trip to the Land of Enchantment
Mike and I love road trips!
Although short (and involving 12+ hours of driving), our 4-day weekend to New Mexico reaped TONS of fun and R&R … and even a bit of adventure.
Highlights were spending time with Carol and Manuel, eating GREAT New Mexican cuisine, and taking 2 adventurous and rewarding hikes.
Enjoy this visual trip report!
(All photos by Patrice Rhoades-Baum except the photo below-left, by Michael Baum.)
The slot canyon at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument was a pleasant surprise and grand adventure for our Saturday hike! According to the BLM, the cone-shaped tent rock formations are a result of volcanic eruptions that occurred 6 to 7 million years ago and left pumice, ash, and tuff deposits over 1,000 feet thick. A small stream cut the slot canyon. Learn more about this wonderland.
Mike is digging the warm New Mexico sun.
On Sunday, Manuel guided us to see arches and a petroglyph panel in El Malpais National Conservation Area. “El Malpais” translates to “the badlands” in Spanish, so named for the rugged lava flows remaining from multiple volcanic eruptions in the distant past. Click to learn more.
Got a minute? Here are 2 time management tips for solopreneurs and small business owners
In a blog post last month, I mentioned my penchant for being organized and productive. Several small-business owners have asked for more tips! I’m delighted to share 2 of my favorite time management tips for solopreneurs and small business owners.
Time-management tip #1:
Ask y
ourself, “What is the ONE thing – the most important thing – I should do right now?”
When working for an Internet start-up company, I was always on the run. Literally! Too much to do. Not enough time.
Throughout the day, I repeatedly asked myself the question: “What is the ONE thing I have to do right now?” Sometimes the task was tactical, sometimes strategic.
This question kept me focused, efficient, and sane. :>
Time-management tip #2:
Schedule a Detail Day AND a Strategy Day in your calendar
Wake up! It’s 3am! Did you take care of that loose end?!
Details can be overwhelming. They can nag at you, wake you up and, worse, divert your attention 
from important projects and goals.
Every so often, I’ll schedule a DETAIL DAY in my calendar. I make a long list, then attack!
But we need balance.
It’s important to climb up to the 10,000-foot level. That’s why I also schedule a STRATEGY DAY.
Time management tips for solopreneurs and small business owners: I hope these quick-tips fuel your ability to be organized, productive, efficient, and strategic.
What are YOUR favorite time-management tips and productivity tips?
How do you have a high-energy (and productive) board retreat? HINT: Invite the Easter Bunny!
Where else can you fly with the eagles?
About 15 people (the 2015-2016 board members for NSA/Colorado) willingly locked ourselves in a conference room for 1-1/2 days. Sound boring? Tedious? Mind-numbing? Wrong.
This bunch of high-energy solopreneurs brought off-the-chart creativity that produced tons of fun AND productivity!
I’ll be serving as Secretary and VP of Operations on the 2015-2016 NSA/Colorado Board of Directors. I’m honored to team with these super-creative and dedicated business owners. After all, where else can you fly with the eagles?
Here’s a glimpse of our work and play.
Chandra Hall, CSP (laughing) is NSA/Colorado outgoing Prez. Traci Brown (flashing the peace sign) is incoming President. World-class facilitation was provided by Christie Ward, CSP (in green and black). All photos were taken by Brian O’Malley, CSP (the sole exception is the group shot with the Easter Bunny).
Get results from Facebook advertising: Favorite tips from a day-long program with Justin Livingston
Facebook advertising can reap results. BIG RESULTS.
In February, NSA/Colorado flew Justin Livingston to our chapter for a day-long program of nuts-and-bolts success secrets in Education-Based Marketing, aka Content Marketing. (I’m pleased to be on the Programming Committee and helped to coordinate Justin’s visit.)
Partners with Callan Rush, Justin Livingston is the brilliant strategist behind their million-dollar launches, which rely on Facebook advertising.
In his program, “The Facebook Ad Formula,” Justin shared proven strategies to generate leads – and reap revenue – from Facebook advertising.
Here are a few tips Justin shared:
1. Offer a free giveaway — Top-performing Facebook ads always provide a link to a free giveaway. Promise just ONE thing.
2. Regarding the free giveaway, convey instant gratification — Your prospect will take a minute to learn something right now and will click to get that tangible, quick info.
3. Here’s more about the hook — Imply that they can consume the information right away. “This trumps everything else,” Justin said. For example, use a phrase such as “The single most important tip to…” versus “Gain access to all resources in our 3-day workshop.”
4. What type of giveaways generate the most leads? — Here’s the order, according to Justin’s research: Book, blueprint, template, report, video, webinar (or other live event).
5. The ad and the landing page must be congruent, in both the message and the dominant image — Justin stressed that congruency has a big impact on effectiveness and ROI. He underscored that a compelling image is the most important part of the ad. And make sure it takes up the full width of the ad.
6. The landing page must include a simple opt-in box to acquire the prospect’s name and email address — At this stage of the marketing process, the goal is not sales. The goal is to generate leads. Justin and Callan’s business has automated a robust email marketing campaign to stay top-of-mind with prospects. Plus, Justin emphasized that most of the emails offer additional, free giveaways to build trust.
7. Watch the numbers — As Justin said, “When it comes to paid media, what you care about is ROI.” He will spend more on advertising, as long as it results in more prospects and more sales.
View Justin’s top-producing ad …
Text 818-337-4466 and type in FBAD.
You’ll be asked to enter your first name and email address. You’ll be given a URL to view the ad AND a 3-page diagram with helpful tips.
And here’s a helpful diagram that I drew … 
The day after Justin’s event, I woke up with this picture in my head. I scribbled it down, in order to help me remember the big picture of how he promotes and advertises Callan Rush’s live events. This might be useful for you. Call me if you want to chat about this!
Click to view my sketch of Justin Livingston’s Education-Based Marketing strategy
A shout-out to CTU’s Marketing Class – Thanks for asking so many great questions!
Here’s a quick shout-out to Jerry Fritz, Professor at Colorado Technical University, and his inquisitive class: students in CTU’s Applied Marketing Management course.
Presenting to – and chatting with – the students was a really positive experience!
We had robust Q&As on each topic I addressed: the marketing team’s top goal in business (lead generation), the roles and responsibilities of a typical marketing team, and how marketing and sales work together to promote and sell products and services.
We also talked about Marketing Communications (MarCom) and the types of promotion or “outreach” strategies you can use to “reach out” to your target market (prospects) to entice them to purchase your product or service.
MarCom is near-and-dear to my heart, because I was Marketing Communications Manager for much of my 25-year career in high-tech corporate marketing.
Throughout my corporate career as a Marketing Communications Manager, I was directly responsible for all strategies, content, design, photography, logistical support, and budgets for a wide range of promotion/outreach activities.
Do you own or manage a small businesses or large business? No matter the size, you can implement these MarCom outreach strategies to promote and grow your company:
- Advertising (online and offline)
- Branding (initial concepts + logo creation)
- Direct mail and e-mail campaigns
- Marketing toolkit: brochures, one-sheets, cut-sheets, stationery package, etc.
- Public relations, investment relations, and government relations
- Sales support
- Social media marketing
- Tradeshows
- Websites and landing pages
- White papers
Today, MarCom is essentially what I provide for my solopreneur and small-business clients.
The specific MarCom support I provide includes:
- Clarifying your brand – My definition of a clear brand is being able to quickly communicate Who you are, What you do, and What they get (the benefits and results your clients receive).
- Project management with my team to create the marketing toolkit – Typically, this includes a strategic and hardworking website, speaker one-sheet or company brochure, stationery package (including business card and notecard), and social media profiles.
- Ongoing copywriting and marketing projects – I’m happy to note that many of my clients call me again and again for all types of marketing projects, from press releases and case study articles to website updates and tradeshow ideas.
After my presentation to CTU’s marketing class, here’s what the professor had to say:
“Patrice, thank you so much. The class got a lot of value out of your presentation and discussion last night. They were buzzing about it long after you had gone. I really appreciate your effort and hope I can call on you again.”
– Jerry Fritz, Marketing Professor at Colorado Technical University
Idioms of the World
Ever wonder where those colorful – but cryptic – idioms come from?
- “It’s raining cats and dogs.”
- “She’s under the weather.”
- “He kicked the bucket.”
According to Merriam-Webster, idiom is “an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but that has a separate meaning of its own.”
My sister Karen, who also is a writer and word buff, forwarded a fun and informative article to me: “Idioms of the World.”
Written by London-based Matt Lindley and illustrated by Marcus Oakley, they explain the meanings of 10 wild and wacky idioms from around the world:
- Into the mouth of a wolf (Italian)
- Not my circus, not my monkey (Polish)
- To have a wide face (Japanese)
- To have the midday demon (French)
- To feed the donkey spongecake (Portuguese)
- A cat’s jump (German)
- To give someone pumpkins (Spanish)
- To ride as a hare (Russian)
- To let a frog out of your mouth (Finnish)
- To have a stick in your ear (Danish)
Curious? Click to read Marcus and Matt’s article: “Idioms of the World.”
