Grow

From Idea To Online To Brick & Mortar, The Hometana® Brand Grows

It was either accident or kismet when Shirstie Gaylord’s young niece casually shuffled “going home” and “Montana” into “hometana”. Either way, that 2016 slip of the tongue sparked in Shirstie an idea, and within months, the Hometana® clothing and retail brand was born.

Gaylord is quick to acknowledge her professional background isn’t in traditional customer service. She spent 12 years as a (news) videographer in markets from Denver, Colorado to San Diego, California before transitioning to broadcast marketing and then moving to Big Sky Country.

Shirstie Gaylord, Hometana®

“I consider myself one of the most lucky entrepreneurs in that my background is in photography and marketing,” Gaylord says. “In today’s digital and social media age, you’ve got to have a consistent brand and really great ‘creative’. That’s logo and design palettes and design, so I’m so lucky that I have that background. I got lucky.”

She adds her niece’s 2016 play on words was an earworm that grew to a hobby but taking the leap to private small business owner didn’t happen overnight. That fact is sure to be true for most of the 5.6 million small businesses operating in the United States that same year.

Gaylord recommends burgeoning businesspeople utilize as many online resources as possible while they begin their journey. For her, information through the Small Business Association and SCORE were helpful. But she didn’t stop there.

“The biggest asset we have as entrepreneurs in my opinion is YouTube,” she says. “Sit down and teach yourself everything you can possibly teach yourself.”

For her, it was one pragmatic foot in front of the other the whole way.

“We trademarked Hometana® and got lawyers before we even had a business,” Gaylord explains.

“Before we even had a bank account. Then we started printing. We did website (sales) for a year, then we started attending Farmer’s Markets and Trade shows.”

Gaylord credits her husband, Eric, as a crucial support system for her early tenacity.

“It’s always been me with my husband kind of one foot in, one foot out,” she says. “He’s been there any time I freaked out.”

The Decision To Go From Side Hustle To Full Time Business

Shirstie’s reservations slowly began to bear fruit.

“I did both (marketing and web sales) simultaneously for a year,” Gaylord says. “In late 2018, Hometana® was becoming successful. I was faced with which job to choose; which job do I want to pursue for my future. I chose Hometana®.”

Gaylord says leaving her reliable 9-to-5 position was not a carefree decision.

“It was extremely scary; to be honest it wasn’t fun.”

But pragmatism ruled once again.

“Everything Eric and I decide in life is very full of thought,” she says. “It took three months of conversation before we finally decided I was going to quit my job and commit to Hometana®. The first month of quitting is so scary and you feel a little lost and you’re changing your identity. I was a career woman, and now I’m an entrepreneur and it was so hard.”

Taking The Brand To Brick & Mortar

Hometana’s journey took another big step in September 2019, with the opening of a brick and mortar store in downtown Missoula, Montana. That development, plus the brand’s success to date, is not only challenging the statistics, it’s inspiring Gaylord to share her knowledge with others.

“I’m three years into this and for the first time I feel like I might have something to contribute,” she says. “I’m just kind of finding my way and finding my voice for offering advice to other entrepreneurs. When I started, I had counselors through non-profits, but those counselors are very generic. They talked about getting a website and they talked about getting production going. And they kind of talk you down off ledges.”

Take Business Growth One Step At A Time

Gaylord suggests sifting the broad strokes of traditional business advice into actionable step-by-step stages can help beginners see the forest for the trees.

“When you walk into the SBA and you want to start a business and they say, ‘Well, do you have a 50-page business plan?’ It can be really discouraging. I’d like to get in the mud with the young and upcoming entrepreneurs and sit down and start helping them type their business plan. Ask them what their wholesale prices are going to be. Like the seedy stuff. Because I didn’t have anyone to help me with the dirty details.”

Keeping new entrepreneurs from drowning in the potential quagmire of paperwork and legalese is just one of Gaylord’s visions for her future.

“My five-year goal is to get into more speaking engagements,” she says.

But that doesn’t mean she’s taking her eyes off the brand that’s brought success and an entire new career path.

“I always want to be an entrepreneur,” she says. “I always want Hometana® to grow. That is an infinite task. That will never go away. And Hometana® will continue to grow as long as I have ideas.”

Six Essential Steps To Get Mentally Prepared To Start A Business

We all know that there is a whole lot more involved in starting a business than just deciding that you’re going to do it.

You have to think about legal structure. There are financial considerations. And, you need to face hard realities about whether your great idea truly has potential as a viable and successful business.

But having the right mindset is also important. It can make a huge difference when you’re making the decision to take the leap. And, it can come in handy as you encounter challenges along the way.

So, before you leave your day job and take the leap into business ownership, here are a few must-do’s to help you get mentally prepared to start a business.

How To Get Mentally Prepared To Start A Business

Identify Your Why

You may know you want to be your own boss, and you may have some ideas about how you want to make it happen, but you need to dig deeper.

You need to clearly define your “why.” What’s motivating you to take the leap? And is it a strong enough reason to keep you going when you have a pile-up of slow paying clients, a hard drive crash or some other crisis?

Develop A Values-Based Business Plan

Having a business plan is crucial to setting your venture up for success, but take it a step further by asking yourself how your business plan honors your values and the passion that you have for your business concept.

It can be easy to get started or get excited about something new. But, trust me, you will hit roadblocks. Some of them will make you want to give up and go back to your day job. That is, if they’ll still have you.

You have to be able to find the motivation and strength to keep going when you encounter challenges that seem insurmountable. If your business plan is in alignment with your most passionate values, it’s much easier to stay on course and power through whatever obstacle is in your way.

Having this foundation is an important part of being mentally prepared to start a business. If you don’t have it, you may be more inclined to quit.

Dismiss Self-Doubt

There are many forms of self-doubt, including your own thoughts. Self-doubt keeps you from achieving your goals by instilling a fear of failure. Learn to identify it and dismiss it before it gets the best of you.

Build A Support Group

We need people who can hold on to that dream for us when we lose sight of it.

Think of friends, mentors and family members who will be most likely to support your venture and reach out to them when you need a boost.

A support group can also help provide you with accountability and a healthy dose of reality when you need it.

Don’t Reinvent The Wheel

Research what other businesses like yours have done. Learn from their mistakes and their successes.

Don’t be afraid to reach out for advice from people who have paved the way before you. You may be surprised at how willing other business owners are to help someone just starting out.

When I first considered freelancing, I contacted an experienced freelance writer in my city and asked if I could take her to lunch to get some advice.

I was quite nervous when I made the call, worried that she might just slam the phone down (back when you could do that) and not be willing to help someone she might perceive as competition.

It wasn’t the case at all. She was very willing to share her experiences and offer helpful tips and encouragement. Later on, she hired me to do some work for one of her clients, and today I am delighted to call her a friend.

Put Together An Action Plan And Go

Finally, once you’ve established a foundation for a positive and powerful mindset, put together an action plan and start moving forward. This is where a lot of people stall.

You may have a great concept but it will stay exactly that unless you start moving forward.

Lean on that support group for encouragement and accountability and turn that dream of yours into a reality.

Seven Tips for Better Business Negotiations

If your business negotiation skills are less than stellar, you may be missing out on opportunities to gain more value and save money when you are dealing with other businesses. But, you’re in luck. The art of negotiation can be learned. Read on for seven rules that can help you sharpen your skills for better business negotiations.

Initiate The Business Negotiations

By starting the negotiation process, you will have some control over where it goes and when it comes to an end. This can be a significant advantage.

Do The Research!

Before you begin business negotiations, research what you are negotiating. Make sure you understand its true value, and any advantages and disadvantages associated with it. You should also research the person or organization that you will be negotiating with. Try to develop some intel on what it is that they may really want out of the deal. Knowledge is power.

Aim High

It is almost a given that you aren’t going to get everything you want. But you need to aim high. Ask for a lot, so when you do reach a compromise point, you’ll feel good about what you’re getting out of the deal.

Never Accept The First Offer

If you’re aiming high, you can count on it that the other side is doing the same. It’s pretty likely that the first offer will come in low. Also, they may test your resolve to try to determine if you’re a pushover. Hold out for something better.

Negotiate From A Position Of Strength

If the other side believes that you have no reason to compromise, they are much less likely to ask you to compromise.

Plan Ahead For Better Business Negotiations

You never know how the negotiation process will go. Spend some time before you open business negotiations thinking about everything that could happen. Make plans for each likely possibility, and even for some of the unlikely ones.

Be Honest

You don’t have to tell the other side everything, but don’t lie about anything. It is too easy to get caught, and when you do, you will have broken trust, which will likely wreck the whole negotiation process.

Give It A Shot

Successful business negotiations do require a lot of prep work and confidence. But if you keep your cool and follow the rules, you’ll get better and better at sealing deals in your favor.

Recommended Content: Eight Ways To Keep Your Business Competitive

Too Much Work: A Solopreneur’s Guide To Surviving A Peak

Peaks and valleys. We talk about them a lot here on Wobizzle. It’s pretty much the norm when describing the workflow of many solopreneurs. A rough patch with too little work can be a pain in the purse. But a peak with too much work can be stressful in other ways.

Too Much Work Is A Good Problem To Have – Or Is It?

When you are experiencing a peak, everyone around you responds to your situation with a “too much work is a good problem to have.” Perhaps it is, but those intended words of comfort don’t make it easier to punch through to the other side of an extreme influx of projects.

Too much work can make you feel like you are in triage mode. I’m there right now. For the past two weeks, I have been over-scheduled on meetings and phone calls. Monday morning before breakfast, I already felt the urge to stress eat. Not the way to start the day – or the week!

I can physically feel the burden of several deadlines bearing down on me. The air in my office feels heavy. The endless meetings and phone calls suck time away from my ability to work on projects that are currently in play.

And, I know that all of those meetings and phone calls are going to result in more work and more deadlines that will all converge around the same time. That creates a constant state of underlying anxiety that stifles productivity and clear thinking.

I am also acutely aware that I am missing out on a chance to enjoy some outdoor time on a perfect spring day.

So here I am, just trying to maintain some semblance of control and sanity as projects, tasks, and deadlines are closing in on me. It’s happened before. I have survived it. It will no doubt happen again. Peaks and valleys are standard operating procedure in my line of work.

As I sit here enjoying the gift of 45 minutes given to me by a client who had to reschedule our call this afternoon, I am choosing to use it to write myself (and you) a survival guide for the next time this situation comes around.

Accept It As Reality.

As a freelancer, work is full of peaks and valleys. You often don’t have control over workflow. At least not completely. When the orders come in you need to fill them. That is if you want to eat and pay your house payment or rent and do all the other things in your life that require income.

Know that it is completely normal to experience a peak. It won’t last forever. You will make it to the other side.

Fight The Fear Of Famine.

I don’t know about you, but when I find myself with too much work, it seems like suddenly even more work starts flowing in. A full plate apparently attracts more helpings.

And, if you are prone to a “feast or famine” mentality, which a lot of us solopreneurs are, your fear of a famine next month may tempt you take on more this month than you can handle.

Don’t get caught up in that kind of chaos. When you feel that urge to take on more, instead take a step back. Be realistic about how much time you have available and what you can accomplish within that time. Don’t overschedule yourself. It’s not fair to you, your clients or the people you love. No one does their best work under duress.

It doesn’t mean you necessarily need to tell a client or potential client “no.” It may just be that you have to tell them “not right now, but here’s when I can do it.”

The bonus in that scenario is that you’ve just booked yourself some work for the future to help ward off that fear of famine that lurks in the back of your brain.

Stay Organized.

When you are in a peak, diligent (even militant) organization is critical to getting it all done.

I use lists to keep me on track and on deadline. It gives me a sense of control over what might otherwise be an overwhelming load.

Every Sunday (or Monday morning if I had a busy weekend), I create a master list for the week ahead. I organize it by client/project with the tasks under each client/project heading that need to be completed that week to move forward.

What doesn’t get done, gets rolled over to the following week. It took me a while to develop the right system for me. Think about your work flow, how your mind works and develop a system that will work best for you.

When I am in triage mode, I also make notes on my list of tasks that will take an hour or less to complete. Then, if a client reschedules a meeting or call, or I otherwise find myself with a little time to spare, I can pull something into that space that will fit, and boom! – I am ahead of the game.

And, if you charge an hourly rate, don’t forget to track your time! When you are crazy busy, bouncing from one project to another, it can be easy to forget to keep track of all of those hours, minutes and seconds.

Minimize Distractions.

When you are fully booked, you need to make the most of every minute you have. Minimize distractions by putting your phone in silent mode. Turn it face down to keep pop up notifications from catching your eye.

And by all means, stay off of social media. If you must be active on social media for your business, make a list before you log in of what needs done while you are there, and set a timer for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes tops. When the timer goes off, get the heck out of there.

Social media platforms are built to attract your attention and keep you engaged. It’s just too easy to get distracted and end up eyeballs-deep in someone’s high school reunion photos with no idea why you logged in to begin with.

Track Patterns & Anticipate.

Peaks are not always predictable, but if you have regular clients, you may be able to anticipate and plan for busy times by looking back at your history together.

Review past invoices to look for patterns of when they have needed you most. If you have projects that occur at a certain time every year and you see a log jam on the horizon, check in with those clients to see if you may be able to get started on their projects a little earlier than you typically do.

Let them know the blocks of time that you have available and when you anticipate your time to be more limited. Get them on your schedule so they can count on the same level of service they have come to expect from working with you.

Give Yourself A Break.

Self-care and enjoying a little downtime is always important, but it’s especially critical when you’re working harder and longer than you normally do. Long hours and deadline-oriented stress are hard on your body and your spirit.

Your brain can only stay focused on one task for around 90 minutes, so keep your productivity high by taking breaks every hour and a half.

Carve out a little time in the morning for a walk, a little yoga or some meditation. Find the time and space to enjoy a distraction-free cup of coffee or tea. Whatever helps you clear your head, make a little time for it.

When your work is monopolizing your time, something else is going to have to give. Empower yourself to say “no” in other areas of your life – social, volunteer work and other commitments. Ask for (or hire) help with the household chores. And, you absolutely have my permission (if you feel you need it) to order carryout or delivery for dinner.

Remember How It Feels To Have Too Much Work.

Work-related peaks can feel overwhelming, unfocused and chaotic. They can be downright uncomfortable. While they tend to come with the territory of being a one-woman show, there are steps you can take to make them more manageable. When the dust settles and the work is complete, remember how it felt to be overwhelmed. You will be more motivated to do what you can to make it a little easier on yourself the next time around.

Easy Ways To Improve Your Search Engine Rankings

A quick Google search of the term “Search Engine Rankings” pulls up more than 58 million results from around the web. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is crucial to online success, but if you’re not an SEO expert, you can quickly become overwhelmed by the overload of information and search engine rankings advice being offered in every corner of the internet.

Really good SEO is best done by someone who specializes in the craft. It’s not cheap. It takes a high level of expertise, consistency and a long-term commitment to be successful.

But there are some things you can do to improve your business website’s search engine rankings without seeking help from a pro. Here are the three things that matter most. BONUS: They are easy to do.

1. Keyword Usage For Search Engine Rankings

Doing great keyword research is the first step to improving your Google search engine rankings. Develop a short list of words that you believe customers might use when they search the internet for a business like yours.

Plug those terms into an online keyword research tool. Google’s free keyword planner offered through the Google Ads division is an easy to use option.

Search for variations of your keywords and take note of the monthly number of searches in comparison to the amount of competition for each.

If you’re new to this, you won’t want to waste your time and efforts trying to compete for keywords with high competition. Instead, identify 10 to 30 low-competition keywords each with an overall “Monthly Search Volume” of around 2,500-3,000.

Also, identify and research long-tail keywords to increase your chances of success. Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific than regular keywords. For example, if you offer social media services, instead of using the keyword “social media,” consider drilling down a bit more with a term like “social media marketing consulting.”

New domains, sites with little content, and web pages with few backlinks are typically on the bottom of Google’s priority list when it comes to ranking. So, if your website falls into any of those categories, the lower the competition is for your keywords, the greater your chances are for higher search engine rankings.

2. Quality, Audience-Relevant Content

Once you have a sufficient list of low-competition keywords you’re now off to the races of content creation. Decide what forms of content will work best for your business model. It can also be helpful to try a few things at first to see what gets you results. The most common forms of online content marketing include:

Articles & Blog Posts
Infographics/Images
Press Releases
PowerPoint Presentations
Pinterest Pins
Industry White Papers

Whether you choose to develop your own content, or hire a freelancer, be sure that it focuses on your keywords.

3. Optimization For Better SEO Engine Rankings

Even the best content doesn’t stand much of a chance of being found without a little optimization.

When search engines crawl your website, they’re looking for phrases and terms that match the searched keywords. If your pages and content are aligned with those words, your chances of ranking higher improve.

If you have a WordPress website, using an SEO plug-in like Yoast SEO will make optimizing your website content much easier.

Here are some areas of your website where a little tweaking can make a difference.

Keyword Density In Blog Posts

Having a blog that is updated on a regular basis can greatly improve your website’s search engine rankings. It’s within your blogs posts that you will want to include the keywords that will help customers find you on the web. That’s where “keyword density” comes into play.

Going back to the “social media marketing consulting” example – if you chose that as your long-tail keyword for a specific blog post, the more times that keyword showed up within your blog post, the higher the keyword density would be for that post.

There is much debate about what percentage of keyword density yields the best results, but a good rule of thumb is to have a minimum density of 1.5%. For a 500-word blog post, that means your keyword needs to show up 8 times.

Titles and Tags

Make sure your keywords are included in your post titles and tags. The post titles and tags provide search engines with details about the content on the page.

Meta Tags

Meta descriptions appear in search results below the title link of your post, so it’s important to write descriptions that’ll help visitors get a quick peek into the page’s content before clicking on it.

Images

When uploading images to your site, be sure to include your keyword in the title of the image. Also, add an Alt Image Title with your keyword.

Consistency Is Key

SEO can feel a little overwhelming. But, even if you don’t have the budget to hire professional help, you can’t afford to leave your business’ search engine rankings to chance.

Though these tips only scratch the surface of what can be done, if you perform them consistently, they will help you improve your search engine rankings over time and help potential customers and clients find you.