Building a strong local economy is a real passion of mine.  Time and time again I see evidence that if you want to sell your product in a local market, you have to shop there first.

This was the theme of my presentation at Rainmakers last month. ( I just got the video links) . The video is in two parts and it contains a serious call to support local businesses.

With this local focus in mind, I thought I would share just a few of my favorite local restaurants. These are places I would miss if they were gone. . I hope you will consider voting with your dollars this holiday season, paying them a visit, and helping to build a strong local economy.

No links to websites sorry, but more importantly I have listed address so you can check them out yourself.

Ocean World on 86th Street and Ditch. Some of the best and most reasonably priced sushi in town. The food is so good it is easy to overlook the mediocre service. It is usually busy, but not overcrowded at lunch time, 1/2 prices specials on Sunday, and always a long wait on Friday night.

LaPeidad 6524 Cornell Ave – Great, authentic TexMex. Fast friendly service, good food, reasonable price. Nice outdoor dining when the weather permits. When I need a TexMex Fix this is my favorite.

Kona Jack – Meridian and 96th Street – Not to be confused with the Kona Grill chain in Clay Terrace. This Indy tradition has a wonderful, diverse fish menu, and even sells fresh fish for you to take home and prepare yourself. Sharing a kitchen with Daddy Jacks, you can often convince your waitress to serve something off the menu from the other side.

Santorini Greek Kitchen – 1417 Prospect Street, in Fountain Square – Well worth the trip to Fountain Square for the huge portions, home-style Greek food, and great service. It is also the only place in the city that makes Eggplant parmesan the way I like it – I think you will too.

These are just a few of my favorites. What are yours? List them here, and more importantly, pay them a visit this month!

It is Planning Season! - As the year winds down, it is a good time to think about business planning, so I will be offering two sessions of my popular BusinessMap workshop on:

December 17, 2009 and January 21, 2010.

Each program will run from 8 am to 11 am.

Thanks to Spin Web for graciously offering to host the program at their offices located at: 8580 Cedar Place Drive Suite 116 Indianapolis, IN 46240

In this lively three hour workshop, participants will learn the elements of a good business plan, as well as tips and strategies on how to get started, and make planning an integral part of your business operation.

Business Map© will focus on How To:

• Get started, including a simple outline to use as the foundation of your plan.
• Organize information – the structure and flow of a typical business plan.
• Avoid the 10 most common mistakes small business owners make when writing their business plan
• Decide what each section should contain – where to find supplemental information.

The Fee to attend is $75.00 and it includes a copy of my BusinessMap workbook, and a CD complete with samples, plan outlines and spread sheets to build Performa Financial statements.

Seating is Limited! Register Now!

Title: Business Map Seminar
Location: Fishers Office Suite
Link out: Click here
Description: Basic Overview of How to Write a Business Plan
Start Time: 12:30
Date: 2009-01-25
End Time: 14:00

I have spent the last few hours reading some amazing business plans.  The would-be entrepreneurs who submitted the plans are not currently looking for investors or loans.  These are student plans, written by High School students ( juniors and seniors) as part of the Hamilton County Business Alliance Entrepreneurship Education Program.

This is the 3rd year I have been involved in the competition and it is always a treat.  Some of plans are well written and well researched, but aren’t viable businessess.  Others contain a great idea, hidden in a poorly written plan.

And every year, there is at least one, which makes me stop and think someday, I am going to say I knew him/her  when.   This year my favorite plan  is Island Ice Cream.  Simple in concept, easy to execute the business may never be huge, but it will easily be profitable, and if he chooses,  a great way to fund his education.

The writer does not have huge plans for this business, but he has a well thought out model which will create a business on a scale he can manage.  I know a number of adults who could take lessons from him.

The oral part of the competion is Saturday, January 10th. And  can’t wait see if  he is as good selling his ideas in person, as he is on paper.   Do bankers or VC’s get this excited when the read a really good plan?  I hope so!  Our economy needs the plans and people who will be excited to seem them succeed.

Every now and then I run into an example, video, blog post, or article of someone sharing an idea or creating a living example as proof, that they are a Rainmaker. As president of Rainmaker, maybe I look for these examples a little harder then most.  But always enjoy when I find a good one.

Today, I want to share Seth Godin’s Thanksgiving post. He says:

Why be generous? Why go out of your way for someone who can’t possibly pay you back? I hope the answer is obvious. It is to me. The benefit is in the fact that they can’t pay you back. The opportunity to instruct or assist when you can gain nothing in return is priceless. It creates meaning and momentum and structure.

And so, as you begin the last month of the year, ask yourself.. Am I generous? Am I a RAINMAKER!

This was originally posted on roundpeg.

Kyle Lacy, were chatting recently about our favorite blogs. Ok, so we were texting, but that is almost the same thing, isn’t it? Anyway, he suggested we each create a list of our top 50 blogs.

At first I was a bit intimidated – 50 blogs did I really read that many? But I figured what they heck it would be fun to see how many I came up with.

Then, when Kyle sent me this cool graphic, I discovered I don’t follow instructions well. You see – Kyle is writing about his top 50 here in Indy, and I just picked my top 50. While many are local, I also follow some really cool folks around the world.

I have tried to group them in some semblance of an order – with a a brief description. Color coding – Red indicates an Indy Blog.

If you are not familiar with some of these, check them out! And add your favorites!

1. Kyle Lacy’s Thoughts on Social Media – Social Media, Marketing, & occasional Social Commentary
2. Chris Brogan – Social Media, Social Media, Social Media
3. Chris Baggott’s Guide to Blogging – Social Media, Company Blog
4. Media Sauce Blog – Social Media, Marketing – Company Blog
5. Collin Clark - Indy Awesome Blog – Social Media, Web Design – New on the blog scene, but interesting
6. Noah Coffey - Social Media, Marketing
7. Chris Garret – the Business of Blogging and New Media – Social Media
8. TwitTip - Social Media as the Name Implies, Specifically Twitter
9. ProBlogger - Social Media
   
10. Micheal Fruchter – My Thoughts on Social Media – Social Media, Marketing
11. Tim O’Reily Radar - Technology, Social Media,
12. Groundswell - Social Media
13. Jason Baer Where Social Media and Email Collide – Social Media, Marketing
14. Seth Godin – Social Commentary, Social Media, Marketing
15. Jim Brown Monopolized Chaos – Social Commentary, Politics, Social Media
16. Deep Ripples - SEO Blog -SEO, Social Media, Marketing
    
17. SEO Boy – Hannipin Marketing - SEO, Social Media, Marketing
18. Gravy Masters - SEO, Social Media
    
19. Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba – Church of the Customer, Social Commentary, Marketing
20. BNPostive’s Blog – Social Commentary with a decidedly Indy Perspective
21. Jared Young – The Original Quill – Marketing for Small Biz Owners
22. Chad Meyers – Three Hats Marketing – Marketing and Branding
23. Duct Tape Marketing -Marketing, Social Media – Sometimes a bit commercial, but good content mostly
    
24. Amber Naslund – The Brand Box – Marketing, Branding and Social Media
25. Marketing Profs – My Daily Fix – Marketing
26. Jim Connolly’s Marketing Blog – Marketing & Networking – Practical Tips
27. Jim Cota - Marketing, Life as a Dad, ( I also like Jim’s columns in the IBJ)
28. Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer – PR, Social Media and Marketing
29. The Buzz Bin – PR, Marketing, Social Media
30. Mark Story – The Intersection of Online and Offline – PR in the Digital Age
31. Kevin Eikenberry – Leadership
32. Louis Gray - Technology ( Particularly New Web Aps) and the implications on Social Media
33. Doug Karr – Marketing Technology Blog – Technology, Marketing – My Go-To resource for Wordpress
34. Michael Wolf – Greywolf SEO Blog - Technology and SEO
35. BlueLock – Technology, Cloud Computing
36. Rich Miller Data Center Knowledge – Technology – Nice balance between tech news & opinion
37. Nicholas Carr – Rough Type – Technology, Cloud Computing
38. Techy Pundit - Technology, Business and Cloud Computing
39. Robert Scoble – Scobleizer - Technology, Social Media
40. Patric Welch What’s Noo? – Technology with a sense of humor
41. Erik Deckers – The Laughing Stalk – Humor and Social Commentary
    
42. Capitol Watch Blog – Politics – This is my favorite for local and national politics because the authors represent such opposing political views. My favorite Jenn ( very liberal left wing democrat) and her worthy opponent, Abdul, (very conservative, right wing republican) present the inside scoop with insight, humor, and a even a bit of sarcasm
43. The Huffington Post - Politics from a Very Liberal Perspective
44. Indy-Biz – Indy Focused – News about the Indianapolis Small Business Community
45. I Choose Indy - Indy Focused content provided by community at large – best of Indy
    
46. Guy Kawasaki – How to Change the World – Smart Stuff – Entrepreneurship, Technology, Social Media
47. Harvard Management Update - Smart Stuff on Business, Politics, Economics, etc
48. TED – Ideas Worth Spreading - Smart Stuff – Technology, Education, Design, Science, Creativity, etc
49. John Byrn – Editor BusienssWeek.com What’s Your Story – Smart Stuff, Business, Technology, Politics
50. Mooshinindy - Photography

And a few extra’s these are friends who are using blogs in an interesting way to promote their business. Way to go!

1. Hartman Inventory – Company Blog, Inventory Service
2. Barb Jones – Biz Customs – Business Etiquette
   
3. Safari Solutions – Company Blog, HR Tips
   

And if I have missed your favorite – Add it here, then bookmark this page, and come back from time to time to see what others have to say. Haven’t had enough? I found this: 100 Blogs That Will Make You Smarter. I have not had a chance to check out the whole list, but thought I would put the link here so I can find it from time to time.

Lorraine Ball, president of Roundpeg, Indy’s leading small business marketing firm, has been named one of IBJ’s Most Influential Women of the Year.

Each year Indianapolis Business Journal recognizes local women who have demonstrated professional excellence and leadership in their careers and community service. IBJ first published a list of influential women in 1996. They included government and civic leaders and top executives in a variety of industries.

It is really cool that this year the expanded the category to include women from the small busienss community.

A few days ago I introduced this challenge to my readers, to help me write the second addition of my book, :The Entrepreneur’s Notebook.

Over the next few weeks I am going to post sections of the original text and ask for additions, corrections and other ideas. Anyone who submits ideas will be included in the list of contributors for the book.

Today’s Text comes from the Section on Defining Your Target

The process of defining your target customer is not about limiting to whom you sell, but simply to whom you actively try to reach with your marketing materials.

Few companies, with the exception of perhaps Coca-Cola® or McDonalds®, have sufficient funds to support a true mass market campaign, reaching all consumers.

Instead, savvy marketers look to down their audience to those people who are most likely to buy. Their goal is to craft a message which is relevant to these prospects and potential customers. It is about reaching the right customers, with the right message, at the right time!

So I am looking for thoughts and ideas on how to segment your market, find or define your niche, as well as examples of companies you think do this well.

I am not a techie. I say that on a regular basis – I’m too old, I’m a girl, and I don’t have a technical background.  But somewhere along the way, with the help of some very good teachers ( thanks Dave Anderson, Doug Karr, Jim Brown and Kyle Lacy) I have become very comfortable with blogging and social media in general.

So comfortable, I have started to talk like a techy.  And until today,  I thought that was really cool.  Then I read a very smart post by Louis Gray and I remembered what it was like not to be on the outside, looking in, thinking this was all a huge waste of time.   He said simply:

What we need to do is help translate these honestly geeky tools into something that makes sense to the mainstream. Instead of talking about how many people you’re following, APIs and how you use TweetDeck to follow specific terms in Twitter, start by explaining that the service is essentially text messaging that gets recorded and can be sent to many people at once.

I will take it a bit further.   Why should small business owners use Twitter?  Two reasons:

1. If you are blogging, this is a nice extension.  A good way to put your information out in front of a wider audience.   Sometimes it is good to go where the people are instead of always trying to bring the traffic to you.
2. As you get better at it, you can learn so much by following the right people.  Who are they?   For everyone, the “right people” are different.  It takes time to find the balance.  Unlike many Twitter users I don’t follow thousands of people, but I am always adding new folks to the mix.

My advice to other non-techies, log on, give it a try, and to the tech folks I will leave with one more quote from Louis’ article:

“Look, tech dork, software doesn’t solve problems, humans solve problems.”

Looking for more Marketing Tips – Check out My Business Blog at Roundpeg

In 2003 I wrote the Entrepreneur’s Notebook. I had no illusions of winning a Pulitzer prize. I simply wanted to create a workbook I could use with my clients, and perhaps sell a few more along the way.

A few days ago, I opened the last box of 50 from the first reprint. Two things occured to me:

1. Somewhere in the world there are more than 900 business owners with a copy somewhere in their office, hopefully filled out.
2. It is time to work on the second edition

As I get ready to review the contents, I know there are things I want to change, sections I want to add, especially about using social media as part of your marketing mix. Clearly this was not on my radar screen five years ago.

But in the spirit of Social Media, I would like to make this next edition a collaborative process. So periodically, over the next few weeks, or months, (however long this takes,) I am going to post sections of the book. I hope you will add your comments, suggestions and ideas. And if I include your content, which in many cases I am sure I will, you will be listed among the collaborators in the forward of the book and on on-line.

Interested? I hope so! Here is the first topic – just as a warm up:

If you boil marketing down to one phrase or concept. What is your most important marketing rule?