Getting Your Business Started with UMPH!

Let’s say you are like most entrepreneurs. You have an idea. You think it’s brilliant. Your friends think it’s gonna make you a billionaire, and you are ready to do what you need to, to make this dream a reality. Before you quit your job and run headlong into this new adventure, stop. Get the following in order so you can give yourself a fighting chance.

• Put together a real business plan, wearing the CEO, COO and CFO hats. The plan should outline all the basics surrounding the cost of your operations, for at least one year. This includes, but is not limited to, purchasing office equipment (desk, filing cabinets, bookcases, phones, fax, printer, scanner, PC, cell phone and a laptop + the relevant operational and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software); rent, insurance, internet and phone services, marketing (we’ll cover this in more detail shortly), sales initiatives, gas, tolls, miscellaneous niche consultants, air and other travel expenses, entertaining, cost of producing your goods or delivering your service, admin help, IT person, lawyer, bookkeeper, accountant, and business filing fees, trade and other membership fees, printing and mailing charges.

• Assess the yearly & monthly costs of these. Add 25% - 50%.

• Create a separate marketing plan. Businesses that don’t take into account the cost and the time involved with getting the cash register ringing (read marketing, advertising and the process of selling) are planning to fail. A realistic marketing plan includes the cost of the following: figuring out your geographic footprint (local, regional, national, or global); best target markets - how and where you will engage them; developing a strong brand and the tools, a website and a suite of collateral materials that “speak” to your target market(s) – i.e. a business card, letterhead, brochure, website, oversized postcard(s), print ad, web ad, etc.; attending networking functions, sponsoring a local high school team, taking ads in industry or Chamber journals, sponsorships, internet marketing, direct mail campaigns, PR, attending trade shows and business expos, etc. The team you need to help you accomplish all these tasks should include: admin/sales help, marketing consultant, business consultant, graphic designer, webmaster, printer, and a marketing communications copywriter (SPECIAL NOTE about Copywriting: Getting an “A” in creative writing in college does not qualify you for this job! Being a staff reporter is not the right credential either. See “Making Sales with Authentic Copywriting” for more details).

• It’s a lot of hard work. Forget visions of lying on a beach somewhere in Hawaii. Newbie business owners who succeed live and breathe their business 24/7, and working incredibly long days for years! Fact is no matter how many people you know, creating trust (and generating sales) takes an organized, respectful process & time, lots of it.

• You don’t know everything. Smart entrepreneurs take the time to get educated as to all the hats (and their specific job functions) they have to manage, as well as the functions they need to outsource in the course of getting their business up and running quickly. I’ve interviewed scores of millionaires who admit that they would have made it to that “millionaire mark” sooner had they focused on what they did know how to do, versus leaving it up to chance, or worse, trying to juggle everything themselves long term. The ones that make it BIG all say the same thing — they hired or worked with an assortment of professionals who were specialists in a range of important areas — operations, systems, organization, marketing . . . and a marketing communications copywriter. Bottom line: most business owners who try to do everything over the long haul to “save money” usually end up treading water instead of sailing ahead.

(Special Note about Copywriting: Getting an “A” in creative writing in college does not qualify you for this job! Being a staff reporter is not the right credential either. Marketing copywriting is serious work, and a blend of art & science. See “Making Sales with Great Copywriting” for more details).

Writer’s Corner

“Give this to Pattie, she’ll fix it up - she’s good with words….” For years I imagined turning my love of descriptive wordsmithing into a profession — as a published writer.

One day I decided to stop dreaming and start doing something about making my lifelong interest into a real byline. I began with voicing my intention in my annual Christmas notes, penning these simple, but empowering words: “This year I am going to become a working writer.”

I wrote an email to the editor of a small weekly paper, sent her a few samples of my marketing copywriting and a published editorial (which was in response to another editorial from a frustrated father, who was bemoaning the general craziness of the movie industry’s rating systems and teen behavior). The initial query led to a phone conversation and a meeting. To my amazement, I was hired as a freelancer, and my journey to become a real journalist began!

Perhaps you are looking for a vibrant new feature writer, one with a nose for unique people profiles, who is adept at adding a touch of humor or a smidge of attitude. Click here to arrive at Hire a Writer, which has more information about my credentials and published writing samples.

Maybe you have a hankering to see if you have what it takes, to turn your words into a paycheck. If so, you’ll want to check out our Become a Writer private learning classes.

Either way, I thank you for tootling over to these pages, and wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors!

Pattie Simone

Writer l Speaker l Mentor

About Us

Write-Communications was created by Pattie Simone, a nationally acclaimed Business Success Speaker, Writer and Consultant. as a unique marketing communications resource. Spurning traditional agency models, Simone’s firm delivers on-point, penny-wise promotional guidance and sourcing advice, forecasting and project management services, through creative copywriting, strategy development, mentoring and marketing planning.

Attitude and Activity (or Pattie’s Primer on How to Stand up and be Noticed)

Armed with a diverse background that included in-the-trenches stints in customer service, textile production planning, insert tabloid advertising, retail entrepreneurship, national business development, marketing and sales, and nonprofit fundraising, Simone set out to share her sales-churning systems (which generated millions of dollars in new revenues) with other fledgling firms and growth-track companies. On the way, she amassed a nice amount of expertise in organic internet marketing.

Several years ago Write-Communications branched out to include speaking and training through WomenCentric™ .org, a sassy women’s speaking resource that Simone founded.

Today Simone and a cadre of other women experts craft and deliver snappy and informative entrepreneurial workshops, webinars, and teleseminars; corporate leadership and career development seminars and college keynotes to diverse audiences around the United States, Great Britain, the Bahamas, and Denmark.

Simone is also a Published Journalist, with more than 400 bylines in a variety of online and print venues. She has interviewed activists, authors, lifestyle celebrities and business leaders, including Sr. Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), Nicole Miller, Billie Jean King, Indra Nooyi (Pepsico), Chris Madden, B Smith, Christopher Lowell, Tom Cavanagh, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell and Jerry Greenberg (Ben & Jerry).

Pattie Simone has been a regular guest Expert (covering career advancement and entrepreneurial success tips) on ABC TV’s nationally syndicated America This Morning program, and has also appeared on FOX 5 TV, on the Good Day New York show. She writes a sales & marketing column for WomenEntrepreneur.com and is an Ask Entrepreneur Expert for Entrepreneur.com.

“I absolutely LOVE my work!! What could be better than being able to assess someone’s industry and target markets, and provide a range of web marketing tips and other promotional guidance that attracts lucrative new business. I’m really a dot connector, actually. My work with CEOs and marketing executives results in smarter, more cost-sensitive decisions, which in turn, produce higher profit margins and more ka-ching!

If you’ve got a great product or service, and need help getting your business to the next level, give me a shout. I’d be honored to join your team, and help your business thrive.”

Pattie Simone

President, Write-Communications

Founder, WomenCentric™

Book News:

“SNAP OUT OF IT! How to Drop-Kick Your Hum-Drum Career for Entrepreneurial Bliss!” the ultimate lifestyle guide for entrepreneurial women (to publish in 2009).

Pattie Simone’s first E-book, Penny-Pinching Marketing Secrets, will be available on this site in July, 2008.