Lightbend Works Technology & Digital Marketing, 42542 W Chambers Drive, Maricopa, AZ (2026)

05/09/2023

Scared to niche down…

So this one is something people struggle learning. In the beginning, entrepreneurs are so hungry that they will take on any project to get going or to stay in “hustle mode”. Most people seem to be afraid to niche down to what they’re really good at. They are afraid the projects will stop coming if they aren’t versatile.

However,

This probably couldn’t be any further from the truth. Don’t be afraid to niche down. Your value can be highlighted by doing this.

Here’s an example…

If you’re a day care. That makes 40 dollars a day as a general daycare. The minute you do this see what happens.

You’re a special needs daycare for children between 2 and 12 that are on the spectrum. Your value has shot up from 40 dollars a head to 75 dollars a head with potential government grant dollars included. There is an inherent value to your service when you do niche down.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with being a generalist. Knowing alittle about everything, anjack of all trades and a master of none. My entire career has been on the skill that, I love to learn and apply new things all of the time. But, don’t sell yourself short of niches and becoming really good at one particular thing.

Good luck and happy entrepreneuring !!

05/04/2023

Celebrating the victories.

I can’t tell you how long it took for me to understand this concept. Not that fact that you celebrate victories, more importantly how you celebrate those victories.

Before you say, “Brett I can’t afford to celebrate, or I gotta hustle for the next one”. Let’s take a step back. Celebrating the little things is paramount in acknowledging your worth and contribution. Hell, you can even say it might even motivate you to accomplish the next thing. Celebrating doesn’t have to cost you money.

You must celebrate the fact you’re accomplishing and leveling up people. If you sat down and wrote your goals for the quarter, take a minute to celebrate. If you tackled the first 10 things, take time to celebrate. Hell, if you lasted to the end of the week without any major panic attacks 😵‍💫. Take time and celebrate that.

So how do you celebrate? ….

Don’t go out and buy extravagant gifts and be wasteful. Find a ritual that speaks to you individually. Or take some time and share your accomplishments with someone. You could always go with a glass of wine or a shot of whiskey. One my favorites is sitting with a nice cigar in the quiet, reflecting on the accomplishment.

The most important thing is to segment your victories like you do your losses. Keep a mental picture about what your worth to your business and clients that depend on you being at your best.

Now you tell me!!

What do you do to celebrate the little things ??

05/03/2023

Are you tired of actually working hard to make your business succeed? Want to join the cool kids and jump on the AI bandwagon? Well, have I got news for you!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the latest and greatest tech trend, and it's here to save your business from actually having to try. With AI, you can finally kick back and let the robots do the work for you.

Imagine having an AI-powered chatbot that never takes a day off, never gets tired, and never complains about customer service. Talk about a dream come true! Plus, with AI analyzing your customer data, you can finally stop guessing about who your target audience is and start bombarding them with personalized ads until they give in and buy something.

And who needs employees when you can have an army of robots to do all the grunt work? With AI automating repetitive tasks, you can finally focus on the important stuff like checking your social media accounts and ordering pizza.

So, let's face it, who needs hard work and dedication when you can just let AI do it all for you? If you're ready to join the AI revolution and watch your profits soar, hit us up at Lightbend Works. We'll help you embrace your new robot overlords and bask in the glory of a job well done, without actually doing anything.

Cheers to a brighter future (thanks to our new robot overlords)!

05/01/2023

Hey Watch Me!!

Ok, those of you that know me personally, probably know that this page and my adventure is something that is brand new. I am literally creating this page, and my business from scratch as of this post 4 days ago. I have been so blessed with so many mentors in my professional life, as well as personal, that I know I can grow this page and see it do so many wonderful things for all of the small business and entrepreneurs out there.

This is how our story starts. It starts by documenting and sharing how we overcome major challenges, the pain points, and sheer dread of the amount of work its going to take to succeed. The end goal to help show people how to become independently successful at what it is that gives them the passion to get out of the bed in the morning.

Why?

Well, its pretty simple really. It gives hope, hope that in this amazing age of information, we can still get things very much wrong, and we can get confused, turned around, and a desperate feeling of giving up. Hope that through the haze there is good help out there. When all along sometimes all we want to hear is "I've been there before, this is what you do". Which has to be the best feeling ever.

So I hope you guys can follow, like, engage and if you need anything from myself and team reach out.

05/01/2023

Who also expected this?

Can we just take a minute to appreciate the fact that we're all out here hustling like crazy to build our businesses? I mean, seriously, the amount of coffee (Coke Zero for me) and late nights we've all put in is just astounding.

But let's talk about something that's been bugging me lately: the idea that we can just rely on our hustle and not invest in any advertising. Like, really? Do we think that posting a few things on social media and crossing our fingers is going to bring in a flood of customers? That's almost as ridiculous as thinking that we can survive solely on caffeine and sheer willpower.

Look, I get it. Spending money on advertising can be scary, especially when funds are tight. But if we want our businesses to succeed, we need to be willing to invest in ourselves. And yes, that means spending some money on advertising.

The good news is, advertising doesn't have to break the bank. There are plenty of cost-effective strategies out there, from social media ads to email marketing. And trust me, the ROI on a well-placed ad can be truly magical.

So let's put our hustle to work alongside some smart financial decisions, shall we? Because as much as I love caffeine and all-nighters, they're not exactly sustainable business strategies. Let's invest in our advertising, watch our businesses grow, and show the world what we're made of. And maybe, just maybe, we can squeeze in a nap or two along the way."

Like always follow me for more reality checks.

05/01/2023

Someone has the case of the moondays !!

One of the most iconic scenes in the infamous movie “Office Space”. Where the front desk secretary hears the arbitrary groans of fellow office mates. She shouts out someone has the case of the moondays. I mean this movie has gold nuggets everywhere but I wanna focus on the “Ugh it’s Monday”.

I always look at Monday as a new beginning for all the wins and losses from the previous week, the score is settled back to zero. A fresh week means a fresh plan of attack. As every successful person knows, success is planned and then won/loss on the battlefield. After all you’re only as good as your plan or preparedness.

How are you planning ?

One of the rituals I’ve learned to do is create a Kanban board of my endeavors. I use Trello as a free one. But many people use Asana or other tools. Essentially you create these swim lanes or columns which represent the stage of where your ideas are. For an example let’s say you have a new idea. You start off by doing a brain dump into this story which would be in this ideation column. Then as you do more research or work it goes into the next column like in progress or in research. You can really get as far the weeds as you like with the swim lanes. The process is meant for you to manage multiple ideas at different stages.

Tools and hacks like these often is what motivates me about Mondays. There is no greater feeling than to see things go into the completed column and you and your small business are better for it.

Of course follow us for more tips.

04/30/2023

The Fiverr / Upwork curse.

As a person of 15 years into software design and engineering this one makes me cringe alittle. But, as some would say ”They know not what they do”. So I’m here for alittle knowledge session.

Finding help with your website or technology needs is something every business owner will need on its his/her lifetime. Some of us will scour the boards and try to figure out the solution, or try and use the easy to do methods. But some of us will use these particular sites to hire help from overseas and then surprised when they’ve spent 1000 dollars on 6 pages of a Wordpress site with little or no content or visual appeal.

Let me explain …

While these contractors can be undoubtly talented, they are looking to finish a job and get to the next one. They probably don’t care about your copy or the graphics or the user experience to your site. They don’t understand you or your customers. Which this clue number 1 , never hire someone who doesn’t have an interest or curiosity about you or your business. After all this website is the digital brochure to your future customers.

The next thing is management. you have to manage your contractors like you do employees. Now, I’m not talking about emailing every 4 hours of their done, but as a manager you’re there to offer resources and to keep the expectation and delivery accurate and on time. A good contractor will ask for what they need up front but it’s great when the lines of communication are open.

The last thing is testing. Your site needs to be market tested. Have a former client or someone that knows your business give you honest and real feedback before you give payment to a person on these sites.

If you’re doing these things then you’re going to have a better product every time. Not to mention the money you’ll save by not having to hire the next person to fix or modify the mistakes.

Of course, if you guys have a website or upgrade, I would always be grateful to earn your business.

04/30/2023

Hustlism before professionalism

Ok, before you break out the dictionary, hustlism is not a real word. It’s my word, for when inexperienced entrepreneurs use the wrong etiquette to acquire business.

Let me explain,

With a small business, not everyone comes from an educated or even a business culture background. I’d even dare to say they remind of the young man in his twenties just going straight to third base without even knowing his date’s middle name. You know the go straight for the thing that’s on his mind type.

This behavior isn’t necessarily always bad when starting out or learning. Entrepreneurs like teenagers need to learn from their own mistakes.

Small businesses have to gracefully and tactfully engage their potential clients. Clients wanna feel like they can trust you and take you home to mom and dad one day before they give up the goods, so to speak.

However, there is something to admire with these entrepreneurs that use hustlism. They remind me of the raw hunger and fight from the days of old. There is an inspiration of energy and doing what it takes to succeed and that’s what’s inspired me to write this post. So, like everything in life it’s about balance and those of us that are hung up on professional business etiquette could probably use alittle aggressive energy in our business practice.

So hats off to those are staying hungry and doing what they can to win the sale.

04/29/2023

Vacation often..

I think I’ve heard my whole life work hard, play harder. I never quite understood that until recently. At least every 90 days try and get away more than 50 miles away, something pretty amazing happens when you travel outside your home. When you travel your brain gets wired slightly different. You will see increased mental creativity and ideas integrate. You start to see the world slightly differently than when your home. This is the best medicine against monotony.

Travel to boost your mood and your creative business mind. See the answers that weren’t there before.

As a business owner invest into your mental health.

Follow us for more tips !!

04/27/2023

Recommending a business ?

Nothing speaks of a greater service than recommending a small business to a facebook group or your friends online.

However,

Maybe give alittle more detail than just a tag or a name. Tell the people why you are recommended them, also make sure you give them their verifiable contact information. Trust me your friends and the business will thank you. I couldn’t tell you how many times I called a recommended company and never got a response and no way to contact them. Also, by telling people why you like a service or a product helps them build a relational understanding of what to expect. Business owners can also educate their clients by reminding them why you would liked their service.

This is the post I see all the time. “I recommend John Doe at John Doe repair”. Like ok, but why and where do I get ahold of them ?

Maybe try this ….

I recommend John Doe service, they were timely. Accurate and price was very reasonable. Give them call 555-5555. Or message them on Facebook they respond quickly.

An extra bit of information goes hella long way.

Lightbend Works Technology & Digital Marketing

05/09/2023

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