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DO WHAT YOU LOVE DOING

13/4/2017

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Business is about making money.
But that shouldn't be the only reason, you've got to love what you're doing.
Business takes time, if you're not enjoying what you're doing then the Business is not going to be successful.
That's our most important principle: Make Money Doing What You Love.
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Business plans are a waste of time

13/4/2017

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Traditional Business Support will tell you to begin with a Business Plan.
We at The PopUp Business School think that is a massive waste of time.

Business Plans are traditionally used to get funding. But what if you start your Business with no money? Go out, make sales and find what your customers want before you even consider a Business Plan.
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Under Pressure

7/11/2016

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Henry begins the week in a poorly lit cafe with the story of the most stressful day in PopUp History and how to handle yourself under pressure.
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Why Creators make Bad Entrepreneurs

27/9/2016

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Alan talks about the danger of focusing on too many ideas at once.
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HOW TO PITCH YOUR BUSINESS

1/8/2016

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You'll like this one. Look out for a nice tree shot.
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Social Selling - Matt Jackson

16/7/2015

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A guest blog post by Matt Jackson for PopUp Business School

"Social selling" is one of the biggest buzz words at the moment.  Companies, employees and entrepreneurs are all talking about how to use social media to increase their sales.  Many of the companies are getting it wrong by broadcasting and shouting about their wares and turning people off online. 

I am so excited to have Matt Jackson on our blog this week talking to us about social selling with a practical example of exactly how it should be done to increase revenue and engagement.  Matt runs social media accounts for some of the world's biggest brands as well as local micro businesses. He spends his days listening and engaging online and I have learnt so much from talking to him.

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Entre Matt Jackson:

I was thrilled when Alan asked me if I’d like to write a guest blog for the PopUp Business School, as I’ve always enjoyed working with the team and love the energy and positivity that comes from just spending five minutes with them.  But when he asked me to write about Social Selling, I was a little confused as to why he’d asked me.  You see, I’ve always been against brands that bombard people with advertising or marketing agencies that just broadcast material on social media with little or no real engagement with people.  Little did I know when I sat down to begin researching and writing my article, that the PopUp Business School was about to teach me another lesson.

For those of you already wondering, the idea of social selling is basically using social media channels to sell something, a product, a service, anything.  Social selling is when salespeople use social media to interact directly with their prospects or potential customers. Sales people provide information and value by answering questions and offering thoughtful content around their product until a potential customer is ready to buy.  There are hundreds of courses online which funnily enough are also being sold through social platforms for anywhere between £100 and £4,000 offering you the latest secrets to success and guaranteed sales funnels, metrics and conversions.  Sounds complicated, doesn’t it?  Well, that’s what they want you to believe.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret; social selling is nothing new.  Whilst social media is around 10 years old now, social selling existed for a long time before Mark Zuckerberg ever started his college’s online address book, before he started school, before his parents were even born.  Human beings by our very nature are social creatures and every culture around the world has a firm social story-telling tradition.  There’s evidence from some of the most ancient cultures that barter, trade, selling and story-telling have always been the foundations of civilisation.  Think back to before Linked-In, before Twitter and Facebook and you’ll find that we’ve always sold products and services socially.  From market traders shouting their offers and extolling the virtues of their wares over anyone else’s, to discussing potential purchases with your friends, family and neighbours, selling has deep roots in our social circles, communities relationships and conversations.
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Today those conversations have been amplified by the internet and social media channels.  Customers now have all the information at their fingertips, businesses have grown up in reviewing products and services for consumers and social media has allowed that collective experience to be shared across the world.  So how do you start down the path of social selling for your product or service?  My advice?  Start listening.  Conversations about brands, services and products are already taking place across the internet on a daily if not up-to-the-minute basis.  Find those that are similar to what you’re offering and listen.  You’ll be surprised how much you’ll find out about what customers want, what they expect in terms of service and how vociferously they complain when companies get it wrong.  Customers no longer come to you, you have to go and find them and listen to what they want.  You have to join the conversation.

There are any number of free and premium tools that can help you to listen and monitor mentions of your business, industry, products or even competitors.  I personally prefer to use Tweetdeck to watch column upon column of Twitter mentions about my area of work, competitors and the latest news.  For example, a customer of mine based in London began offering an afternoon tea service around 6 months ago and asked me to do some work on social to help promote it.  My first step was to set up some very basic monitoring of the terms ‘afternoon tea’ and ‘London’.  That initial search still runs today and on average every 27 seconds someone on Twitter mentions afternoon tea and London in the same tweet.
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So what do I do with this overload of tweets about afternoon tea in London?  I specifically look for people asking their friends and followers where they should go for afternoon tea in London.  I look for bloggers who review afternoon tea services, or people that talk about afternoon tea a lot.  And then I ask them politely if they’ve ever tried the afternoon tea at my customer’s establishment.  I talk to them about what’s on offer, what makes this tea different from anyone else’s.  I tell them honestly what I think of it, why I think they might like it and once they’re interested I tweet them a link where they can book on my customer’s website.  To date, that link has been clicked 485 times and 71% of all people that clicked through, booked an afternoon tea for two.

That’s how simple social selling can be, and in writing this the PopUp Business School has taught me that it’s something I already do on a daily basis and that you can do just by listening first.

Ask me anything!
Follow me on twitter and tweet me your questions. Find me online at socially-m.weebly.com
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Do you treat all your customers the same?

24/4/2015

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PictureAlan Donegan with an Alan Coke
Do you treat all your customers the same?

Do you think that your customers want to be treated equally?


Do we live in a fair world?


This post is inspired by what some exceptional companies are doing at the moment, have been in the recent past and what we can do to personalise our own products.


PictureCoke advertising in Basingstoke
No one wants to feel like they are being treated the same.  Everyone wants to feel like they are special, like they are getting a deal, like they are treated differently to everyone else!  Coke did this with it's coke bottles, putting your name on them creating a buzz!

PictureNike ID Trainers arriving
Nike ID personalise Nike shoes just for you.  You can chose the colour, the laces, the design and every aspect of the shoes.   Not only that it is delivered to you with style, in a beautiful box, wrapped amazingly and as if it was done just for you!  Nike have taken personalisation to another level

PictureAlan at Starbucks
Starbucks have tried to do personalisation on a mass scale which has and hasn't worked.  They ask people for their names and write them on the mugs. Some people don't like giving their names, sometimes the staff don't listen and get it wrong.  It has had mixed results. 

However when they get it right it works beautifully, when I walk into my local Basingstoke Starbucks Nigel greets me enthusiastically by name and makes me feel like a special customer.

When you get it right personalisation and treating customers differently can create life long raving fans!

No one wants to be treated as everyone else is treated.  We all want to feel special, we all want to feel like you are doing it just for us.  We want to be treated as individuals.

What are you doing to treat your customers as individuals?

What could you do to make every customer feel unique?

Let us know what you come up with in the comments below or Tweet me at @AlanDonegan!
Follow @popUPbusiness

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You get what you deserve

19/3/2014

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Do you think you are getting what you deserve in life?

Is life giving you what you deserve? 
Are you getting what you want??
Do you have everything you need?

If the answer to any of these questions is no then I have one of the keys to getting more out of life. 

Recently I have had lots of experiences that I wanted to share with you that illustrate this point beautifully
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Do you ask for exactly what you want?

Whilst staying in the Grand Canyon we checked into our room which had a "full size bed".  We got to the room and the "full size" bed was TINY!  Katie and I would not have fitted in it together!

I went back to reception and made a joke about having to sleep to close to my wife and I asked if they had a room with a bigger bed. 

For free they upgraded us to a deluxe room with a king size bed like the one you see above.

I could have just accepted what I was given or I could ask for what I want (with rapport and in a friendly manor). Look what happened when I asked! 

You don't always get what you want, but one things is for certain: If you don't ask you will never get what you want! 

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The Grand Canyon, Arizona

In life you don't get what you deserve you get what you ask for

As some of you know Katie and I have taken a few months off to travel around the world.  We were at the Grand Canyon last week and went for Breakfast in a restaurant on the Grand Canyon Rim.  The waiter took us to a table tucked away in the corner nowhere near to the Canyon Rim.  Katie politely asked if he had a table with a view of the Canyon we were instantly moved to a table with incredible views over the Grand Canyon.  If we had not asked we would have been stuck in the corner with no view! 

You get what you ask for

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Some of the things we have got by asking:

  • The best seats in the house at Cirque De Soleil when we only bought cheap seats
  • Discounted hotel rooms
  • Free food and drink at restaurants

Amazing things happen when you ask!

In life you don't get what you deserve you get what you ask for

Things to remember:

  • It doesn't always work - sometimes people say no!  Shouldn't stop you asking though.
  • Always ask nicely - with rapport, humour if possible and a good energy
  • The more fun you have the more fun other people have around you

Your challenge this week is to ask exactly for what you want and to report back below how it goes!!  Get out there and start asking the world for what you want,................

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    Make money doing what you love.
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  • Welcome
  • Resources
    • Survival Guide
    • Rebel Entrepreneur Podcast
    • Course Notes
    • Small Business Heroes
    • PopUp Blog
  • Events
    • Milton Keynes
    • Sheffield
    • Kent
    • Stratford-on-Avon
    • Surrey
    • Newcastle
    • High Wycombe
    • Bolton
    • Don't See Your City?
  • Our Impact
  • Our Mission
    • Meet The Team
    • Sponsorship
  • Partner With PopUp
    • Partner FAQs