Q. How can I become more comfortable talking about my business?

A. Practice, practice, practice. I've given so many presentations and public speeches...since becoming a business owner. You always want to position yourself as the expert in your field. If you do that people will want to hear what you have to say. You've heard about having a thirty second elevator speech? A one minute elevator speech and so on? What's an elevator speech? It's what you'd say about yourself or your business if you only had :30 in an elevator. What would you say in such a short amount of time to let someone know what it is you do. This doesn't mean you say you're a industrial engineer who works for a manufacturing company who makes widgits. That tells me nothing. Perhaps instead you say you're an expert in efficiencies in a manufacturing setting, you ensure things run smoothly from one process to the next, you're a vital link between designers & production workers. The company you work for makes equipment for the entertainment industry. Hmmmm...interesting. As with anything take any chance you get to practice your speech, to family, to friends...get out there and network, network, network.

Are you getting involved?

Getting involved with your community and for those of us who work from home just getting out of the house and in front of people can be the best thing. What am I doing? Besides the monthly Moses Lake Chamber events, there's the Moses Lake Lioness, a service organization associated with the Lions Clubs, Power Partners of Grant County, a referral group that meets for lunch twice a month, the Moses Lake Business Association, Habitat for Humanity, my husband is on the board, and I'm involved with the upcoming Moses Lake Spring Festival. Gosh...is that everything? We're also trying to plan a trip away from home and drive back to the Midwest, trying to find a few days to do so was challenging.

Seems like this time of year there is so much going on. Today and this weekend my husband and I will be volunteering our time with the Moses Lake Lioness serving up Spaceburgers at the Moses Lake Spring Home & Garden Show being held at the fairgrounds. It's a little chilly today but spring is definitely in the air. What are Spaceburgers? These famous sandwiches have been a mainstay at the Grant County Fairgrounds since 1960. It's a pocket sandwich with a very secret sauce. I've never actually had one, this weekend will have to be my first...I'll have to report back later.

Should I cut my advertising during these uncertain times?

Times are tough, everyone is watching their advertising budget. The reaction always is to cut advertising, trust me, I know, I worked in the corporate world and our budget was the first to be reduced during slow times. Unfortunately, cutting advertising all together is the quickest way to go from slow sales to no sales. Rather than eliminate your advertising focus more on targeting your message directly to your customers. Choose the right media for your business and then you can insure you're making a smart decision with your advertising dollars. Advertise where your prospects look first. If you don't know where they're looking, ask them. This is valuable information. From this you can learn which media touch them the most often, is it the newspaper? The radio? Email? The internet? Knowing this information will allow you to strategically place advertising that will reach your customers. And, when you go to place your ads make sure you're getting the most bang for your buck. Sometimes it pays to scale back the quantity of smaller ads and go for frequency and size. A larger ad run a minimum of 3 times may get more recognition and response to a much smaller ad that may be missed.

Why not try marketing your business online?

Times are tough, everyone is watching their marketing budget. But, now's not the time to sit idle until the economy improves. Here are some creative ideas to market your business online and get things moving in the right direction. Create a Facebook and/or MySpace page for your business. No...it's not just for teenagers, these social networking sites are all about making connections. Use MySpace's search feature and look for area users to join your network. The most important thing is to update your page a few times a week or even daily. Every time you do so everyone in your network will be notified. Keep your updates interesting or funny, create buzz about your business. Other sites to look into are Twitter, LinkedIn...you could even post your business to Craigslist. If you have a video camera you could even post videos on YouTube. The best part about all these online marketing options is they're FREE! Give it a try, marketing is a daily activity, develop a marketing calendar and keep your business in front of your customers.