Helping tell an exciting story with @SanJuanWBC Hotel

March 11, 2013 by Raul Colon

We are always looking for ways to help share local business’ stories and learn from the new relationships we establish when we get hired to help tell them.

We are excited to work with local boutique hotel San Juan Water and Beach Club , @SanJuanWBC on Twitter, on a new story that has unfolded thanks to the hard work of Chef Raúl Correa. He was nominated by Food and Wine Magazine for their People’s Best New Chef Gulf Coast category.

As people learn about Chef Raúl and what amazing meals he creates for Zest Restaurant, our community can read more about his experience as you vote for him in the category Gulf Coast. Voting started today and ends on March 18th!

As @rj_c stated today on his blog, we are rooting for him to win and the only way to do that is by voting for him!

You can Tweet to @FandW (Food & Wine) and let them know you voted for Chef Raúl Correa for the Gulf Coast Region and use the hashtag #PeoplesBNC.

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Thanks for Trusting us with your New Website @AlianzaPR

February 8, 2013 by Raul Colon

We took on the task of re-designing the website for a non-profit organization in Puerto Rico called Alianza para un Puerto Rico sin Drogas. We are glad to announce that their new website is up and running. We would like to thank all those who collaborated with us on this project specially Mindoven, Michael Castro, and Bianca Estrada.

To learn more about @AlianzaPR, visit their website, add them on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks to the organization (Roxanna, Melissa, & Raquel who worked closely with us) for trusting us with this task.

If you feel your website is not converting browsers into clients feel free to contact us directly to see how are team and partners can make that happen.

Brainstorming Sessions

January 10, 2013 by Raul Colon

Every year we try to come up with new ideas to implement for our business and come up with new projects to help us create more connections with people who might have the same interests.

As a small business, instituting new projects or revisiting old ones and putting a different spin on them has helped us maintain our heads above water when the well has run dry. At the end of last year, Raul decided that we were going to do small brainstorming sessions after various small business people asked him for some advice about projects they wanted to get off the ground.

Brain Drain Game

Raul gets countless of calls from friends and acquaintances that want to do what we call brain drain; pick your brain for ideas, go forth with them, and never contact Raul or myself to know if they were successful.

After many years of playing the brain drain game, we decided to start creating sessions that would serve many purposes.

Disruptive Approach

One purpose would be to help individuals with an ongoing or new project that needed a creative or disruptive way of tackling the obstacles they were facing to get the project off the ground.

The Right Technology

A second purpose was to push entrepreneurs and small business owners to identify the right type of technology and platforms where they can connect with other like-minded individuals.

Getting the momentum going

Lastly, our goal is to also see these projects, through brainstorming sessions, come to fruition and have the small business owner state the success of the project.

Our First Sweet Session

Just recently a small business owner whose wife set up a cupcake, cake, and events company called, Dolce Maria’s Sweet Creations, approached Raúl for a Brainstorming session. We offered four brainstorming packages and they immediately scheduled a session the same week.

Once the session commenced, many ideas flowed between Raul and the client. As the session drew to a close, the clients appeared pleased with the key observations and recommendations offered.

The key objective was for the small business owner to see their value proposition in the services and product they are providing.

Creating a Road Map

To close off the small project we sent a roadmap in the form of a document covering:

– Overall objectives

– Accomplishments met within the session

– Primary and Secondary next Steps

– Online, Communications, and Business Recommendations

– Assistance with Pricing Strategy

– Recommended Reading

– Tips on using Images on Instagram and Pinterest

We would love to help you make those small or big ideas in your head into successful projects and businesses. Contact us directly.

When not to use Groupon or other Discount Sites

January 3, 2013 by Raul Colon

As a small business we are always trying to keep track of our expenses and save money for those days that might be extra rainy. As advisors to other small business owners, we are always providing cost effective methods for advertising to obtain new or returning clients.

Filling a Void for Slower Times of the Year

Our latest client, Fit911 Studio’s owner Andres Vazquez was looking to fill a void for those clients who go away on vacation during the holiday month of December. If you have ever frequented Puerto Rico during the holiday season, things don’t get back to normal until after January 6^th .

We talked about several options with him and he brought up using Groupon to offer some packages for new clients. We were talking to another person who had used Groupon to sell some pastries and she explained how it was more costly than profitable. We relayed this information to Andres and we suggested using Facebook ads to obtain those new clients.

Facebook Ad and the Ultimate Payoff

He gave us the permission to create the ads, and ultimately he gained 15 clients; five more than he had hoped for during this slow period. Four options were offered to individuals looking to get a jump-start on their new year’s goals.

Our recommendations for this small business owner paid off and now the excellent staff at Fit911 Studio will train new clients.

Although the popular thing is to appear on sites that are promising potential clients up to 90% discount on your services, a small business must evaluate how profitable this will ultimately be for them.

So before you end up giving most of your profit to Groupon and the other discount clones, ask yourself these questions:

How much will Groupon and other discount sites take from your profit?

What other alternatives are there for advertising on the web along with your blog?

If you are having problems with coming up with a creative way to advertise your services, we can help you with a brainstorming session. In our next blog post, we will talk about how short sessions with CIMA IT Solutions Corp. can be a positive outcome for current and future projects.

If your interested in finding out how to kick start any new effort or project drop us a line or two and we can gladly advance you that info via email.

Brewing a Fresh Cup of Content

November 8, 2012 by Raul Colon

For those who love coffee, a fresh pot of the black gold will get your day started. Others might choose tea or exercise to get their day started but the same idea of fresh tealeaves or a fresh new pair of running sneaks can all be thought of as a start to an awesome day.

Just like a fresh cup of coffee, fresh and exciting content is becoming scarce. In previous posts we’ve written about plagiarism on a national and local level. The individuals have the pressure of writing by themselves and this is in no way an excuse for what they did. But when you can bounce ideas off of a team member or group, it is a lot easier.

Writing as a Team

Writing as a Team can also become challenging but it sure does help when two or three brains are brainstorming about what topics to write about. Using a white board in your office or meeting room can certainly help a team of people come up with topics to write about and how to organize the content. In team discussions there might be even three or four topics to write about with even more content to elaborate on.

But if you are one person or a two person company writing various blogs, the best times to think of topics is when you talk to someone else over a meal or cup of coffee or road trips. We come up with a topic or several to write about when we are on road trips to visit family or out doing errands. One comment or idea can spark an in depth conversation about a possible topic for anyone of our blogs.

Tools to help with writing

I use both technology and paper and pen to write things down. Raul uses various tools such as Omm Writer and provides a detailed outline here of what else he uses to create blog posts. I also use Mind Node and Word for my blog entries. One cool thing that Raul has been doing lately is writing all his ideas on sticky notes, posting them to a wall, and then arranging them into categories where the ideas start forming into common themes.

There isn’t one way to do things as long as they are efficient for you, the company, and clients. The most important thing about writing a blog post is that you are highlighting these key factors:

How your company provides a service

How your company works with clients to resolve their issues and needs while building long lasting relationships

and most importantly how your company makes clients successful

What is your company doing to create fresh, new, and original content?