Erica Ehm

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• Have you done any marketing or advertising? If so do you mind sharing what worked and what didn't?

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    Not yet. Since this site is self financed, I’ve been spending my dollars on growing the site and hiring an amazing team. But, I’m about to jump in. Ask me again in a year :)

• How would you advise an entrepreneur to balance personal & professional online? I sell green products & wrote my still-unpublished 1st blog post along the lines of, "My vision was that this blog would be the trials & tribulations of a fabulously successful entrepreneur, but was having trouble finding my 'angle.' Last night, after spending an hour sobbing, worrying I wasn't doing well enough at business/mothering/housekeeping/wife-ing, I realized that's what I had to write about." Too much?

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    If you’re combining your personal and professional world, but very careful how much personal trauma you share. No one wants to work with someone who’s having a nervous breakdown. I wouldn’t want to order a product from someone who may not be able to deliver.

• What strategies have you employed to drive traffic to Yummy Mummy Club? What has been most effective?

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    We haven’t started advertising. We occasionally do baby shows. We run contests. We link to other sites. We use Twitter and Facebook. I even hand out postcards when I meet moms in the street.

• How important has networking been for you?

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    Networking is key – you never know who you will meet or why. I think the book The Alchemist could be a bible for Entrepreneurs – the process is a journey and you will meet people along the way who will become a part of your life. But you need to put yourself out there!

• Twitter has opened my mind and imagination to a whole other world of social media that I never really realized existed and that people make a living at! So exciting. I'm uber talented at multitaksing but, I just don't know where to start. What is step one to .. reaching people ?

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    You need to build followers, friendships and relationships. Start conversations and help people out when they have questions. It takes time!!!

• I'm just not getting traction on twitter. Trying my best, have read 100 tips ... what's your best piece of advice for building momentum? I swear I'm not sales-y. I try to post original/interesting content, RT my followers, "talk" to people, follow people w similar interests ... still getting just 1 mention/RT every few days.

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    Keep talking to people. Make real friendships. Retweet other peoples stuff ALL THE TIME. I recently read something super smart (on Twitter) – which was to always ask what you can do for someone, not what they can do for you.

• What is the best piece of advice you have for someone thinking about starting their own company?

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    Think long and hard about how freaking hard it is – how you will work longer and harder than you ever have before for no many and no guarantee of success.

• What's the best way for a new blogger (with a brand new, out-of-the box blog: a few articles for you to get a sense of writing style, but few comments) to approach Yummy Mummy Club to publish a guest post/article idea on YMC? I have IRL published articles and a writing background, so I'm confident I could write something well that your readers will find interesting. I just wonder how not to get lost in the shuffle?

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    We’re always desperate for great content – so you can submit it here (operative word here being great) http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/writers_guidelines.php. But the reality is, it’s all about networking and creating a relationship. follow the YMC bloggers and become part of the Club.

• How can stay-at-home moms who have been out of the workforce for years and now have the desire and opportunity to work again manage through the "resume gap" problem?

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    You need to make sure you’re relevant and up to date with what’s going on in your field. If you are, there are opportunities for “moms” because we are uber talenting multi-taskers who can get a ton done in a short period of time I hope more employers understand the power of the working mom and let more of us work from home.

• I have a start up and i need to know whats the best way to get sponsors? we deal with restaurants and hotels and i need to get sponsors to generate revenue.

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    Cold Call. Cold Call and network.