<title>Business toolbox — Venus Network

Women in business, New Zealand – 6 Simple tips for building trust

October 9, 2009 By Vanessa Davey 1 Comment

trust Building trust between you and your potential client is a very important step that needs to occur first or else they won’t buy from you. In fact, building trust is a prerequisite to selling. So how do you go about building this trust? Following are 6 tips…

Tip #1 When having a sales conversation, explore whether you can help the person get what they want. Forget about selling because as soon as someone feels you’re trying to sell something, they’ll instinctively not trust you. That’s just human nature. If, however, someone feels you are genuinely trying to help them, then they’ll be more likely to trust you and buy from you. [Read more...]

Filed Under: All blog posts, Business toolbox Tagged With: businesswomen, marketing for business, small business start up, Women in business

Businesswomen – What is this Twitter all about?

October 9, 2009 By Vanessa Davey 1 Comment

Twitter, tweets, twittering, tweeps – what??!!

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s time to catch up on the latest social media phenomenon – Twitter.

How it works:
With Twitter you send short messages of 140 characters or less – these are known as “tweets” — to any other Twitter member (a tweep) who has chosen to “follow” you. You can send the messages from your computer and you can send or receive tweets via your cell phone.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: All blog posts, Business toolbox Tagged With: Twitter, Women in business

RSS, subscribe, feedreader explained simply

October 9, 2009 By Vanessa Davey Leave a Comment

This is a great post written by Sheryl Mangold, www.huiadesign.co.nz
Definitely worth reading….

“What on earth is RSS?” – I hear you say, “and those pretty little icons like the ones on the left (very often orange) that I see on alot of websites and blogs”. Well in actual fact RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is no deep mystery it’s a very useful tool and you’re about to learn why.

Basically RSS is internet technology that allows you to stay up to date with the changing content of a website or blog without actually having to visit that particular website or blog.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: All blog posts, Business toolbox Tagged With: businesswomen, help with websites, websites explained

A passion-driven business

October 1, 2009 By Vanessa Davey 3 Comments

passionflower When people tell you to “follow your passion,” they are either:
1) simplifying the problem (the problem being, What should I be when I grow up?), or 2) assuming that your passion inevitably aligns with your talents and market demand.

Have a look at the diagram below…

Passion alone, region α, puts you in the fan/enthusiast category.
Passion and what you’re good at , β, lead to a hobby.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: All blog posts, Business toolbox Tagged With: businesswoman, Passion and business

What are your top 5 passions?

October 1, 2009 By Vanessa Davey Leave a Comment

I believe to create a happy life it is essential to check in with what your top passions are every 3 or 6 months.

This helps you stay on track with your purpose and keep your enthusiasm and interest high in life.

At the start of each season, its feeling like spring today, I spend some time sitting and asking myself the following questions:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: All blog posts, Business toolbox Tagged With: businesswomen, Find your passion

Developing Your Personal Brand

September 27, 2009 By Vanessa Davey Leave a Comment

Work through the following questions to create an understanding of your personal brand and how you can use it for maximum advantage.

• Who are you?
• What do you stand for?
• What are your talents, skills and abilities?
• What is your unique point of difference to others?
• Do you know what value you bring to an employer or your business?
• When you describe what you do, is it compelling?
• Does everyone know what you can do?
• How do other people perceive you?
• How can you get your message out to more people?
• Who is your audience? [Read more...]

Filed Under: All blog posts, Business toolbox

Visible, Valuable, Viable Leadership in Business

September 27, 2009 By Vanessa Davey Leave a Comment

Business is about providing what the customer wants or needs in a way that is mutually beneficial and which creates a relationship that can be sustained over a period of time.

Today, if our clients are not happy– they simply pick up their account and move to whoever meets their need in an environment that they find rewarding. [Read more...]