GET FOCUSED. GET CONTROL. GET GROWING.
	Monthly Business e-Tips	Vol 1 Issue 1

Welcome to My World

Hi, I'm Ellen Kaplan and I'm inviting you into my world with this first issue of my e-zine (e-mailed newsletter), Growing Possibilities.

My business, Possibilities@Work, serves small technology and service business owners who either want to grow their organization and are stuck in some way or need to manage their growth. My e-zine will be one way for clients and readers to work through some of their growing pains. My world may have some similarities to yours. Let's see what we have in common.

Are you saying to yourself, "Oh no not another newsletter!" Well, stop and give me two minutes of your time. I get some very helpful e-zines along with some that are nothing more than barely disguised self promotion. Sometimes I don't get to read the ones I will benefit from or value. Why? They are too long. They have a series of articles and sections. Also, they have news and promotions from the sender that don't meet my needs. The e-zines from my world will be short, informative and offer action items you can implement right away.

You will be receiving a new issue of Growing Possibilities every three weeks. The value of e-zines is the focus of this issue. It features ways of using e-zines to grow your business.

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about launching Growing Possibilities. I am creating more work for myself. I have to think of interesting relevant topics, tips and how to's, - and be concise and clever while I'm at it. What pressure! But there are some good reasons for me to do this and to recommend you to consider it for your company.

Here are a few ways e-zines can help your business:

• Provides knowledge and value to clients, prospects and networking contacts.
• Demonstrates you are a resource who solves problems and gives advice in your area of expertise.
• Helps you stay visible. The old adage "out of sight, out of mind" accurately expresses how businesses operate today.
• Lets prospects get to know you.
• Helps you spotlight yourself, your clients, vendors and partners.

First steps to launching an e-zine:

• Decide who the target is and issues to address that will be of value to this audience.
• Select six to eight topics you feel passionate about and write about them in a personal and informal voice. Otherwise, you will feel like you are back in 6th grade writing a report on a book you hated.
• Decide how much time you need to write it and with what regularity. Set up a schedule and stick to it!
• Have someone edit each issue several times. Typos, lack of clarity and grammatical errors leave a poor impression.
• To automate the process, use an auto-responder service such as Constant Comment, www.constantcontact.com, or AWeber, www.aweber.com, to manage your database and send out e-zines.

Take your first steps now. Two excellent resources to help you write successful e-zines are Alexandria Brown, the "E-zine Queen," at www.EzineQueen.com and Michael Katz, of Blue Penguin Development at www.bluepenguindevelopment.com.

E-zines provide a vehicle for viral marketing, a way to make it easy to spread the word to more people. Instead of the flu, spread the word about your business. Ask your readers to e-mail it to others. People will appreciate getting a relevant new resource. Please pass this e-zine along, too.

Thanks,

Ellen