In the beginning, Oshima reminded everyone of a common mistake.

Marketing should not be about you or your story, but about telling potential customers the story of your brand.

She wanted participants to ask themselves if they can actually talk clearly about their brand.

“Brand story is not marketing. It’s much bigger,” Oshima explained.

The workshop was about learning how to build that story so it represents you, while also attracting the clients you want. This is where Oshima is an expert – she has lived in Japan for 20 years, and is the founder of Heart Data Inc., a marketing strategy company focused on putting the consumer at the heart of the data marketing.

She explained with vivid examples why stories are crucial in branding. Some of these points include that:

• stories are easy to remember and recall
• stories evoke emotions
• stories take customer on a journey to dive deeper into your brand
• stories build brand loyalty
• great stories last

Oshima urged everyone to find their brand ‘ikigai’ (raison d’etre, reason for being). When you find the uniqueness and purpose for your brand, you are a big step forward into building a lasting and effective brand story that resonates with consumers across emotional and functional needs.

FEW and Women’s Start-up Club want to thank Vanessa Oshima for sharing the passion for marketing with us during this engaging and inspiring evening!

Are you part of the Women’s Start Up Club Facebook group? If not, make sure to join to stay connected, get support, and receive updates on upcoming events! Come and join us here at https://www.facebook.com/FEWWSC/

The post Women’s Start-up Club Recap: Building Your Brand Story appeared first on FEW Japan.

– Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon

For the 2018-2019 season, Women’s Startup Club focuses on helping you create YOUR story and brand, kicking off the season with Masterminding—Supporting Your Success.

Thirty women from diverse career backgrounds, a wide variety of countries, and at different stages in their entrepreneurial journey joined the September 26th meeting to share one goal—to take their business to the next level.

The meeting created a forum for intense networking, allowing everyone to pitch their entrepreneurial experience during a speed-dating exercise, which then led to the creation of various mastermind groups.

Some of the groups will gather periodically outside of WSC to support the members on their journey, for others, the impromptu group was an opportunity to experience the power of a supportive network first-hand.

The evening ended with participants receiving feedback from their mastermind group on how well their brand was portrayed during the session and tips on how to start off the journey of creating their original story for their brand.

The post Recap: WSC — Creating Your Story & Brand with the Help of Masterminding Groups appeared first on FEW Japan.

The overall goal is to “Transform your brand and your overall online presence into a genuine reflection of who you are personally, and professionally, from the inside out, not outside in.” Branding by Archetypes is a tool that helps you to achieve just that.

Different archetypes provide different aspects of your branding:

• The Signature Archetype provides the core, the driver of you and your company.
• The Influencing Archetype gives dimension, the colour, the uniqueness.

Before the session started the participants worked to find  their personal Signature and Influencing Archetype through a questionnaire.

Marci shared her experience on working with Archetypes and says while they are interesting, fun and validating they can at times make us feel a bit uncomfortable, too. At times we might struggle to except the Influencing Archetype. Allowing us, let them stay with us, take time to reflect often helps. She also recommended not to re-do the questionnaire too often as it is important to create a connection and recognition. A retake of the questionnaire does make sense if you change your direction though.

Details on the Archetypes can be found on Marci`s webpage. For now, we leave you with a very short overview on all 12 Archetypes:

• Alchemist – making dreams come true
• Artist – confidently honoring self-expression
• Explorers – discover deep fulfilment and authenticity
• Hero – achieving grace by triumphing and adversity
• Humanitarian – speaking up for the common man / woman
• Innocent – making us new again
• Jester – offering different perspective
• Maverick – challenging the world as we know it
• Nurturer  – caring for, nourishing and protecting mind, body and soul
• Romantic – deepening, intimate connections
• Ruler – creating order, peace and prosperity
• Sage – discovering truth and sharing wisdom

It was very interesting to see the mix of Archetypes all the participants at WSC represented!

Marci then guided us further into a lively discussion and group sharing on “Finding Your Unique Brilliance”, followed by a quiet visualization part to dig deeper and to create a connection to what we achieved and stand for.

By the end of the session Marci had taken us on a journey starting with the discovery of our personal Archetypes to creating and defining statements on

• “I am a stand for….”
• “My brand promise is…”
• “My Unique Brilliance is…”
• “I am an expert in / at…”
• leading us to defining “The Soul of Your Brand Guide”.

All these discoveries can help when we struggle with the correct words and/or colours to use when creating a webpage, a logo, or write a blog and set up any marketing material.

The personal Archetypes can help to get a better and clearer direction when it comes to market yourself and your business. It is as much of a tool that inspires when you feel stuck as it is to connect deeper with the ideal client.

We hope you feel inspired and clearer on how to present yourself, your brand to your clients and thank you Marci for a joyful and inspiring evening!

To all WSCers – thank you for your continuous support throughout the year, we hope we helped and supported you to get a step further on your quest to “Share Your Passion”.

Wishing you all a lovey summer, wherever that may take you,

Your WSC team,

Ann-Katrin, Mary & Tanja

The post Recap: June FEW Women’s Start-Up Club – Branding with Archetypes   appeared first on FEW Japan.

Let’s jump into some definitions and which aspects are important when it comes to cyber security!

1. Cyper Crime

Cyber Crime is the fastest growing crime and it targets intellectual property. Recent statistics state that every second 12 people (consumers) become a cybercrime victim.

Ransom-ware happens often behind the scene, after you clicked on a link for example. Then the “bad guys” take over. Ransom-ware is a form of malicious software that can take over your computer, usually denying you access to your data and threating you to do more harm if you do not comply with their demands. (note: the demands will never stop).

2. Back-up

“Backing up your data is absolutely critical” BUT you have to keep the back-up physically separated at all times!  If you back up on a cloud solution, make sure you DO NOT have the cloud icon on your desktop.  (If you do, this does not qualify as a physically separate back-up)

And she strongly suggested to avoid any browser password saving!

3. Myth: Apple products are “save”

Apple / Macs are not inherently “save” and as well protected as one may want to believe. With increased market share, apple products have become the next target for hackers as they go after volume. Mobile phone security breaches have also increased drastically.

4. Smart Phones

Smart phones are basically a mini-computer and can be hacked as well. Most phone providers offer security software as part of the phone package. If you don`t know if you have it, go ask your provider. NOTE: Even if it is part of your package, you need to make sure to activate the function in order to protect your smart phone!

5. How to protect yourself

• Protect ALL your devices with security software (even Macs)
• Set the updates to automatic updates.(Yes, it may be annoying but helps to keep you up to date)
• Make sure you know what happens with your data once you submitted, before you submit it. The less data you (have to) provide the better.
• Individualize passwords for every tool you use and don`t save them in your browser.

As a business owner, educate and be aware of what is happening – know more than your customers!

6. Privacy vs Security

Privacy focuses on the data an organization collects and who can access the data. Security refers to the technology tools that are used to safeguard data. Your privacy can only be as good as the security tools implemented!

7. Nothing is really “for free”

Keep in mind “nothing is for free”! If you download any free offers or use free wifi often somewhere in the fine print it will be mentioned they might use / sell data. This includes free wifi in coffee shops. If something is offered for free via a link make sure the source / email address is the mentioned brand name for example. If in doubt do NOT open!

8. GDPR

GDPR affects both EU citizens living in Europe and overseas, regardless of residence status. If you have a European passport, you are affected. Even if you are not European and you live overseas AND use a service based in Europe, e.g. a cloud in Europe, you are affected.

Basically it boils down to this:

1.    Make sure customers know what you do with their data (name, e-mail addresses etc).

2.    Be ready and ABLE to delete any customer data (both soft and hard copies) that you have on file upon your customer`s request within 24 hours.

3.    If you are keeping data, make sure you have been given explicit permission and have confirmed right to keep the data on hand you.

4.    Create a data retention policy that you can share with your customers and make sure you include a paragraph of WHY you keep any data.

9. PCI-DSS  (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)

PCI-DSS is very important in Japan and can shut you down very quickly if not followed properly/violated. Know your obligations before you accept any credit card payment, handle any customer credit card details (e.g. if you use Square etc). Ask credit card companies for more information to educate yourself further on this! It affects small businesses as well! Google PCI-DSS Compliance for more details.

Learn More

• Free Wifi – A good podcast to learn more about risks associated with free wifi can be found under “Hackable?” podcast.
• GDPR – Compliance Support / Free GDPR Education (www.McAfee.com)

Conclusion

If you feel worried and concerned and even a bit overwhelmed right now, you are not alone. Despite that, Nicola managed to keep the mood light and uplifting. It is up to everyone to be secured and save, not only for yourself but for your customers as well, as a reputation can easily be damaged. On a plus; there is a huge shortage of cybersecurity specialists – so if you have kids looking into possible career paths, that might be one way to go! (or a new biz venture opportunity?!)

Thank you all for attending this session!

Please note that our next and final WSC for this FEW year will be held on June 27th!  Learn what Archetype you are and how you can use specific vocabulary to promote your business brand.

Your WSC team,

Ann-Katrin, Mary & Tanja

The post May 2018 FEW Women’s Start-Up Club Recap: The Importance of Cyber Security to Entrepreneurs appeared first on FEW Japan.

And hands-on it was indeed – and not only related to social media! Those who attended may remember the police invasion! But thankfully, that was quickly cleared and the participants could focus on the topic at hand. After all, the three presenters had exciting things to share on how to use social media to generate an impact. With three 30 minute rotations, all participants had a chance to get information on all social media presented that evening.

Below are takeaways from each of our expert speakers. And don’t forget the next WSC evening on Wednesday, May 30. This time we will make sure your business and clients are secured. Come and join us for an evening on “Cyber Security!”

Facebook and Instagram Insights by Victoria Close of Bikudesigns

• Facebook is for sharing information and engaging with followers, whereas Instagram is more about telling a story, unique content
  • Use hashtags (#) !!!

• Whatever you do, make sure that your content connects with your followers / readers and make it about you and your authentic voice!
• Engage with the followers, do not just post a picture, but always add some information on your post
• Post regularly! Ideally everyday, but start frequently at least
• Often your followers are the same on either media, so try to create different content on either media
• If you use a business FB page or group make sure to connect it to your private one so that people can see what you do
• Newsletters are more important than social media (you have the email addresses of potential clients!)
• Do not get hung up on numbers – you are out there doing something, that is already more than many others do!
• Do not compare yourself to others, especially those out there for a longer time already
• When it comes to social media, the work is never done and it will always change. Do not wait for perfection –  70% is good enough

LinkedIn Insights by Kaoru Jo from LinkedIn Japan

Kaoru shared her insights on how to best set up a LinkedIn profile to attract clients:

• Brand yourself in the summary with details and a professional picture. Think of the summary as the executive summary of your bio.
  • Give short, but compelling information about yourself using keywords, not buzzwords, that would attract your audience to easily find you in their searches
  • If you speak more than one language, you can create your profile in another language to demonstrate your fluency. This also will allow potential recruiters and clients to find you in their respective local language. (Linked-in does not have an automated language translation function)
  • Be engaged on LinkedIn to increase followers and to become noticed, publish and share own or other information that pertains to your area of specialties.
  • LinkedIn is a business platform, so keep your content professional and not private.

Webpage and Blog Insights by Marci Kobayashi, Web designer, coach, and writer

Webpages:

• Depending on your business, you do not really have to have a webpage- it’s useful, but not mandatory
• A webpage can give credibility, and if you work internationally you can be found more easily
• Important to know where your audience is and where/how they search for you
• Setting up a webpage can take a long time and especially when you start out it is tempting to “hide” behind it.
• Keep in mind that webpages change, it does not have to be 100%!
• To start a webpage make sure you have welcome page, services, contact, about pages
• Make sure you have a secured maintenance for your webpages (they are not always included when you use website providers!)

Blogs:

• Can enhance visibility and give additional value
• Depends on your business
• Blogs do NOT have to be about your services, it can be something that is interesting to you and it can help to connect to others on a more personal level
• Make sure you write about what your ideal client wants to read about

As you can see, it was a bundle of information! Now go and put into practice what you learned!

The post March 2018 Women’s Start-up Club Recap: Online Presence Part II- Social Media appeared first on FEW Japan.

The next Women’s Start Up Club Meeting on March 22 will continue the discussion on utilizing the right social media tools to build a strong online presence. Register for the meeting here!

Wolfgang Bierer encourages all business owners to have a webpage – even if it is just a simple homepage – and to connect social media to the webpage to drive traffic. Content is most important, as well as keeping the webpage and social media tools active and interesting to avoid customers getting bored. Please see slides 5 and 6 of the presentation for different approaches to targeting B2B and B2C audiences.

Digital Marketing is about “getting found online”. Digital Marketing it consists of:

• Webpage
• SEO optimization
• Social Media optimization
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Pay per click

This is a tough process and requires and continuous flow of revamping. Slide 10 shows the digital funnel in detail and Slide 11 shows the layers of digital marketing. Do not panic too much– you do not have to use them all, but to get a successful start, the top layer is the most important one to focus on. If in doubt, it is as well always good to learn from the big players in the market and the downgrade for your business!

After a general overview of digital marketing world Wolfgang then went deeper into webpages. Webpages can be overwhelming and have a lot of layers. It was recommended to start small, to focus on a few tools (social media channels) instead of losing yourself. Before deciding which additional tools you want to use (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.), be sure to know where your clients are, meaning what tools your clients use.

Setting up a webpage:

• Marketing Foundation
• SEO
• Content strategy are a start-up must.

SEOs (slide 16) react on content, change content regularly, even if just a sentence to keep it moving. But SEO require some work, learn and go deeper about specific keywords, if you are too generic your page will not be found. Also, a basic understanding of how a webpage is structure is recommended.

A general structure for every page is:

• Header – the name of the page (shown in the browser)
• Body part – where all the information lies, defines your webpage layout. Often it goes deeper and deeper as you click, Wolfgang referred to it like the Russian dolls, you start with the bigger picture and layer by layer you go deeper.
• Footer – for analytic tools

When you just start out or are small to medium sized it was recommended to use providers/templates and tools that are either for free or can be used with a limited budget.

And keep in mind to start with a simple template, a webpage grows with your business! Make sure you include some analytic tools (eg google analytics) to track your page, know where you clients are, what they click, how much time the spend where, etc. to get more specific as you grow.

Some recommended Web Design Resources(slide 14):

• Wix.com
• weebly
• Go Daddy

The pros and cons between the ones above and wordpress (used by some in the audience) were also discussed. Wolfgang recommended to have a look into them, try their free versions and play around to see what works best for you! (slide 15 gives you access to a free set up on Wix).

While some templates and services are plug and play it is advisable to have some basic understanding how your webpage works. To “know” your webpage.

Today, with all different devices used to access a webpage (computer, ipads, phones, etc) a website should have the following functions to adjust:

• Responsive design and HTML 5 (to be accessible on different devise sizes)
• CSS is responsible for design details such as fonts etc.

Press F12 on your webpage and you will go into coding details. Often alignment issues, etc can be found there. But as mentioned, this requires some basic understanding.

Here are a few more takeaways from this information packed evening:

Social Media Activity

How to increase followers:

• “Like them so they will like you” (digital reciprocity)
• Have good and attractive content
• Commenting vs liking –  commenting has a greater impact

Key Messages

• Keep it simple.
• Engage on a personal and emotional level. Encourage call to action (CTA), this makes it easy for the target audience to interact with you.
• Know your target audience: tailor your social media, starting from what you will use to how you use it to your target audience.
• Be specific. The more specific you are the greater impact you will have on search results.

Creating Traffic

• Update your content regularly (once a week). These can be small changes, such as switching a picture around or changing the colour of your website background.
• When using pictures, ensure that you name the pictures using your brandname. This will increased traffic.
• Link social media to your website (backlink)

Cross-links are important

This includes:

• Direct social links
• Consistency (especially in regards to pricing)
• Use same keywords across all media, example #. Hashtags function like keywords.
• Consider integrating a link to maps – “find me on google map”

Utilizing a Website vs. Blog For Your Business

Website

• Information based
• Used for introduction of your company and services
• Allows  e-commerce engines
• Allows for payment options
• Accessible to a larger crowd

Blogs

• Targets a specific topic
• Usually sign-up based to create a fan base
• Direct communication with target audience
• No e-commerce or payment options
• Tends to be easier to maintain (Facebook is a type of modern blog)
• Can help to increase traffic

NOTE: Link blogs to your website and not the other way around to increase traffic and search results!

Keywords

“Be specific”

• Include company name, product name, service name, vocabulary your target audience will search for.
• You can use up to 60 different key words to help search engines find you and increase traffic
• Update content regularly, just adding or changing one sentence can assure that you will stay on top of the search engine results
• Or in other words, old, static content will move you down in the list of the search results
• Increase the user experience, example encourage and enable comments or create account options. Every new comment is recognised as an update of your content.
• TIP: do not offer to keep credit card information on your site to avoid potential future liabilities.

Resources

• Slideshare.net  – a great resource to find presentations on almost any topic.

Thank you to everyone who joined us! Here is the link to Wolfgang Bierer’s presentation. Looking forward to seeing you at our next meeting on March 22! 

The post January 2018 Women’s Start-up Club Recap: Online Presence Part 1 appeared first on FEW Japan.

Part of this plan is marketing. Read on below for a summary of the meeting. The next Women’s Start Up Club Meeting on Jan. 31 will cover how to build an online presence and how to create content online. Register for the meeting here!

A 4 -Step Guide to Marketing with a Purpose

Step 1:  Start with Visualizing

Imagine your business is a tree.  Take a white sheet of paper on draw a tree.   Is it a big or a small tree?  Does it bear fruits?  Where are the fruits if any, abundant and easily reachable or scare and high up or do the fruits lay on the ground?   What about the roots? Where is your tree?  Is it covered by other trees or is it easily accessible?  Are there bushes hiding the roots?

The metaphor of the tree is quite powerful.  The size of your tree relates to the size of your business.  If you start out small, is there room to grow?  The fruits represent your product or services.  The roots are how you anchor your business.  The surroundings are your competitors.

We recommend that you reconsider your tree as you walk through the marketing with a purpose outline and amend and continue to revise the tree throughout to represent your business.  The end result will show you the areas you may want to focus and the order you want to focus your efforts on.

Step 2:   Analyze the environment

Depending on your business, the environment can make, break or challenge your endeavor.  It is therefore important to first analyze any legal, economic, social and technological realities that could potentially impact your business/products/services.

Find out if there are any legal implications, regulations or laws that you need to be aware of.

The same goes for social, economic and technological framework.

Don’t forget to add your environmental findings to your tree environment as a reminder.

Step 3:  Market Dynamics

Once you know that you are in a favorable business environment, you can then start to take a closer look at the market dynamics particular to your idea.

There are four things you need to consider around market dynamics: Entrants, Buyers, Substitutes and Suppliers.

Entrants, Substitutes and Suppliers all can fall in the competitor analysis.  Who is already serving the market? (Suppliers). Who can offer the same or similar thing that you offer (Substitutes).  Have you hear of any news in regards to new entrants that offer similar things? (Entrants).  Are there Entrants, suppliers and substitutes available outside your geographic area that could potentially be a competitor?  (Technological environment encourages borderless trade).

The Buyers’ dynamic explores potential customers – who will buy your product/service.

It is always the customer who is the driver of any business.  Without a customer, there is no business.  Think about your target audience.  Reconsider the different environments that could potentially unlock a wider customer base.

Don’t forget to draw your market dynamic findings and customers on your tree picture.

Step 4:   WHY ME?  Can you do it?

Putting it all together, you can use the lean business model canvas to evaluate your business in more detail and define what it is that gives you a competitive edge over your surroundings and how you can be successful. Those insights you can then translate into a marketing strategy that serves the purpose to attract and maintain a customer base and create a successful and sustainable business. Below is a copy of the model and the questions to help explore the different items in more details. The questions are posed in order of consideration.

Questions to consider in order

1. Customer segment

• Who is my customer?
• Which are the most important segments?

Characteristics: mass market, niche mkt, segmented, diversified, multi-sided platform etc.

2. Customer relationships

• What kind of relationships should we establish/maintain with each segment?
• Do we have already established relationships?
• How do these relationships integrate with the rest of the business model?
• What is the cost of customer relationships?

Examples: (dedicated) personal assistance, self-service, automated service, communities, co-creation

3. Value proposition

• What customer problems do we solve?
• What needs do we satisfy?
• How can we bundle products for each customer segment?

Characteristics: newness, customization, getting the job done, performance, design, brand/status, price, cost reduction, risk reduction, accessibility, convenience/usability

4. Key activities

• How do we execute our value proposition?
• How do we distribute our services?
• What kind of corporate responsibility activities can we perform?
• What is the cost of our activities?

Categories: production, problem solving, platform, networks etc.

5. Key partners

• Who are our partners?
• Who are our key suppliers?
• What kind of resources do we acquire from our partners/suppliers?
• What kind of activities do our partners/suppliers perform for us?

Partner motivation: optimization, economy, reduction of risk, uncertainty, acquisition of resources & activities 

6. Key resources

• What kind of resources do we need to execute our value proposition?
• What resources do our distribution channels, corporate responsibility activities, core services require?

Types: physical, intellectual, human, financial resources

7. Channels

• How do the customers want to be reached?
• How are we reaching the customers now?
• Are our channels integrated?
• Which channels work most effectively?
• Which channels are the most cost efficient?
• How are these channels integrated with customer’s routines?

Channel phases:

1. awareness: how to raise ~ about product
2. evaluation: how to help C evaluate value proposition
3. purchase: how
4. delivery: how
5. after-sales: post-purchase support

8. Revenue streams

• What kind of value is the customer really willing to pay for?
• What for are they currently paying?
• How do they prefer to pay?
• How much does each activity contribute to overall revenues?

Types

Asset sale, usage fee, subscription fee, lending/renting/leasing, licensing, brokerage fees, advertising

Pricing – fixed

List price, product feature dependent, customer segment dependent, volume dependent

Pricing – dynamic

Negotiation, yield management, real-time market

9. Cost structure

• What are the most important costs specific to our business model?
• What are the most expensive key resources & activities?
• Is our business cost-driven or value-driven?

Characteristics: fixed, variable costs, economies of scale & scope

The post November 2017 Women’s Start-up Club Recap: Marketing with a Purpose appeared first on FEW Japan.

True to the WSC spirit, the first meeting focused on “sharing your passion” and provided a platform to establish contacts and form mastermind groups.

We started off with a speed dating exercise, where participants were given 5 minutes each round to share their passion, their goals for the year and areas of support. You could feel the vibe and excitement in the room during those interactions!

Following that, each attendee had the opportunity to share their passion with the group by giving a 30-second elevator speech. It was exciting to hear the diversity of experiences represented, ranging from a mix of start-ups, business ideas and established businesses – a diversity of experiences that we all will be able to benefit from in the upcoming meetings.

Peer Coaching, moral-support and business support are some other keys factors for success and cornerstones of the WSC. After some general information about “Masterminding,” the participants were encouraged to connect and form their own masterminding groups.

The formal part of the event ended with a final brainstorming session to establish future meeting topics. Based on this input, the WSC committee lined up the following meetings for the rest of the WSC year. Please note that all upcoming events will feature specialists on that topic and combine the information with a practical workshop-style approach and masterminding opportunities.

Mark your calendars accordingly!

Nov 29 Marketing with a Purpose
Jan 31 On-line Presence Part I: How To Create Content
March 28 On-line Presence Part II: How to Attract and Maintain a Client Base
May 30 Get Serious – Legal Guidelines
June 27 Promote your Business

We look forward to an exciting year of learning, supporting and sharing and look forward to welcoming you back on November 29th – 19:00 at Minami Azabu Centre Hall 3F.

The post September 2017 Women’s Start-up Club Recap: Share your Passion and Maintain it through Masterminding appeared first on FEW Japan.

In an account of her career progression, Patricia explained that while she often made career choices based on family needs, she firmly stressed that she succeeded due to the guidance of mentors. She imparted her insights below, gained from her varied experiences as a mentee and as a mentor herself.

Save the date for the next WSC event on Thursday, September 28.  Share your projects and passions and connect with other like-minded women who could help you in your entrepreneurial journey. More details coming soon!

Mentoring vs. coaching

• Coaching: Usually covers a specific issue over a period limited time.

• Mentoring: Can involve aspects of coaching, but it should be a continuous relationship to achieve ongoing personal and professional development and success.
  • Talent alone is not enough to succeed in the corporate domain and will fail without support.
  • Keeping relationships with mentors throughout your career can result in job leads. Mentors even have the potential to become clients.
• Mentors are your best branding tool: Everyone you stay in touch with will come back.

Mentoring for entrepreneurs

• Mentors as motivators: A sense of pressure to perform in a new role, all the while still developing your professional skills, can cause feelings of inferiority and loss of confidence. Mentors can help motivate, give advice, provide contacts and give constructive feedback.
• Mentors as experts: Starting up can be daunting. Look for mentors in areas where you don’t have expertise, for example:
  • Revenue generation, govt. funding, and friends established in business, enterprises and with contacts can advise and motivate.
  • Technical knowledge – you don’t have to be an engineer, ask an engineer for advice.
• Mentors as voices of support: Startups are daunting, and there can often be a lag between starting up and succeeding. Experienced mentors can offer support and encouragement, especially if discouraged by early mistakes after just making the big leap.
• Mentors as sounding boards: Many entrepreneurs need help with their focus, such as recognizing and putting a cap on ambition, working on what matters, and learning to be productive rather than just busy.

What’s needed from mentors

• Informed: Mentors should know your objectives and help keep you focused.
• Objective: Mentors should provide safe and nonjudgmental relationships and give constructive feedback with “no curls” straight talk.
• Experienced: Mentors should have at least some personal experience in what you are doing.
• Trustworthy: You should be able to share your ideas and have a good sounding board with a mentor, without fear of having your ideas poached – use your gut instinct to determine who to trust.
• Strong rapport: You should have a personal connection with a mentor, along with effective communication.
• Good listener: A good mentor must really hear you, your ideas, and concerns – in turn you must hear your mentor’s constructive advice for a mutually open and beneficial relationship.

A good mentor

• Experience matters: A good mentor is usually, but not necessarily, older and more experienced. But anyone with experience in your field can give valuable insights. Age and seniority can often be disconnected – in learning your business, don’t be afraid to ask for the help in the areas you need

Capitalizing on a mentorship

• Be proactive: Reach out and set up meetings, communicate with a mentor.
• Be clear: In your vision, path and communicating it – the person should not have to intuit or develop your plan for you, but give feedback.
• Be clear: Of your issues and articulate how someone can help.
• Keep a balance in communication: Use a mentor as a sounding board and share your ideas, but don’t expect explicit answers to build your business.
• Be honest and open: Rely on a mentor’s feedback and build trust.
• Be responsible: Make arrangements for meetings or communications, keep schedules.
• Be respectful: Of a mentor’s time and agenda, keep appointments and commitments.
• Be grateful and show appreciation: Also good to stay motivated, especially in lean times to avoid a ‘persecution complex’ when things don’t seem to be working well

Choosing a mentor

• Seek a good match and reflect on the relationship: Often mentors are accidental and not realized as such until later.
• Choosing a mentor should be unique and contextual to one’s needs: Like-minded corporate to corporate relationships or entrepreneur to entrepreneur make a good match. Corporate people often talk about the entrepreneurial spirit, but do not necessarily have the experience in the same innovation and business development that business owners do.
• Assigned mentors from programs are not always effective if not there is not good connection.
• Look around and choose someone you admire and would like advice from, or who you aspire to be like.
• Choose someone you trust and whose straight talk you value

Reaching out to potential mentors

Cold calls and follow-ups to an unanswered e-mail are acceptable if done with finesse and respect. But recognize and graciously accept when there is no possibility or interest in such a relationship from a potential mentor.

Being a mentor

Accept mentoring if asked and feel qualified to do so. Especially if you have had the advantage of mentoring, it’s good to give back.  Also, someone mentored is a potential contact or client.

The post June 2017 Women’s Start-up Club Recap: Mentorship and Networking appeared first on FEW Japan.

The next WSC event is “Mentoring and Networking” on Thursday, June 29. Join us to learn how mentoring can help a start-up succeed and keep up the momentum and motivation for your business.

Location Independent

Chris Kirkland – Blogger and website developer

Websites: artweb.com, tokyocheapo.com

A Brit based in Tokyo, Chris identified and exploited a niche in online blogging: helping budget travelers get the most out of Tokyo “on the cheap.” With a background in web development and IT consulting, Chris is succeeding in his goal of helping budget travelers through the highly successful TokyoCheapo.com.

The motivation for TokyoCheapo came in 2012, when Chris and his business partner aimed to debunk the Mercer Report’s ranking of Tokyo as the world’s most expensive city. Keeping up the momentum from one of its first popular articles on Japanese capsule hotels, TokyoCheapo now posts up to 50 articles a month, has a growing team of independent contributors across the globe, and plans to expand with London and Hong Kong sites. TokyoCheapo’s reliable and extensive content, along with a unique, quirky style, currently attracts more than 250,000 followers.

Chris stated that while it can be difficult to make money blogging, it is still useful for promoting a business. He shared tips for how to make blogging successful, including:

• Aim to generate 80% of revenue with 20% of your business activity by capitalizing on articles that generate the most traffic
• Capitalize on a space/topic not already covered and create a niche
• Set yourself apart by creating a unique style and presence
• Clearly define yourself with depth and high quality content with significant details
• Be consistent with a regular, high volume of high-quality posts to audiences engaged
• Exploit seasonal trends and events for more article opportunities and presence

Social Networking Sites (SNS) can also be effective for grabbing the shorter attention spans of certain target audiences. Business can optimize their social media presence by:

• Using channels best suited to your content
• Being an engaged member of a SNS platform/community related to your business or content
• Making your site easily found through organic searches
• Using a mailing list
• Owning your site’s traffic and identify key content and users
• Evolving: review, analyze and strategize

Kyoko Bowskill – Online store specialist

Website: thelinkcollective.com

A Japanese native, Kyoko started her online store Link Collective in 2011, with the goal of sharing the beauty of Japanese furoshiki art and design to a global clientele. She continued to grow her business while an expat in London, and since returning to Japan, she travels to various textile wholesalers throughout the country and collaborates with global artists and designers who design her modern furoshiki-based products.

While she introduces her products at various markets and events, most of her sales are through etsy.com, one of the biggest online worldwide marketplaces for creative individuals. Kyoko offered the following advice to grow an online business:

• Research and choose your customer base wisely
• Brand effectively –when selling products online, visuals are important, so use good quality photos
• Economize when starting – quality photos eliminated the need for an advertising budget
• Be timely – In the global market, simplicity and speed are essential
• Connect and build trust with customers with a balance between timely, friendly responses
• Connect with and exploit the platforms connected to your product for further marketing
• Get feedback to analyze how your brand is perceived – surveys and testimonials are helpful

Jodie Lightfoot – Online communications consultant

Website: Lightfooted.com

Jodie is a brand marketing strategist from Vancouver who has successfully exploited her networks in Canada and Japan to grow her digital marketing agency, Lightfooted Strategies. She believes “the shortest distance between two people is a story” and has attracted a diverse, global clientele, including: Shortlist.com; local non-profits Mirai no Mori and the Jewish Chabad House of Japan; a Swiss luxury beauty brand; and Accenture, where she coordinated APAC-wide internal communications for 500+ Utilities professionals.

With Singapore as her next physical location, Jodie is confident she can succeed as a digital nomad by building on all her experiences and networks to develop new ones. Along with building effective networks, in person and online, she suggests the following for ambitious online communications specialists:

• Choose what’s important to you and work around it- make your work your play
• Choose small projects when starting out and still learning
• Choose projects that resonate deeply with you- including pro bono projects you believe in for experience and resume building
• Identify issues and don’t be afraid to ask for the right help
• Choose effective channels and be proactive, including finding good partners and learning digital languages
• Make a training plan – start in the client’s shoes
• Determine your vision – where do you want to go and what is the finish line
• Don’t procrastinate – the longer the time gap, the higher the expectations of the client

– – –

The three panelists all agreed that it is possible to support oneself independent of one location. In response to audience questions, they emphasized that:

• Online security is much safer than it was just five years ago due to the evolving internet
• An online presence means you are putting yourself “out there”- be aware of your audience and “ be professional”  on all platforms
• Build trust and loyalty with professionalism
• An online business is like any business – it needs vision, opportunity, a business plan, hard work, and, if necessary, an exit plan.

Thank you to Chris, Kyoko and Jodi for their time and advice!

The post May 2017 Women’s Start-up Club Recap: Location Independent appeared first on FEW Japan.