Mike Sansone

Since October, my wife and I have been focusing our walk and work to serving in a local rescue mission and with our homeless neighbors – specifically in the area of recovery.

One of our most repeated and shared mantras has been, “Make Good Small Choices – They Add Up to Big Results.”

Many times in life – and business – we try to swing for the fences every time. Too often we find ourselves in knots or falling over. Sometimes both at once.

With the still quickening pace of change and tools, small business owners and rural business might often find better success and digestible improvements by making good small choices – even if these choices come weekly or even once a month.

Build a better business presence one piece at a time. It’s what I call “Pieces of Presence” and you can learn more about how to implement this practice in your business at SmallBizTracks.

Make Good Small Choices is a post from: ConverStations

Happy New Year! Here’s to 2013 being a year filled with wonderful times and opportunities to be profitably courageous and positively contagious.

Angela and I have invested the previous months focusing our time and energy on a mission field. Our ministry work (Lk 14:23, Mk 16:20) has been fulfilling and, at times, stretching – and we look forward to more exercise in 2013.

As I begin to return some attention to business, the work I do will be focused on helping business grow using the SmallBizTracks model. Personal and Spiritual writings will be found on my Armchair Articulations site. Angela has begun working on her second book and continues to care and share at 1019Ministries.

As 2013 becomes the date on the calendar, I pray this year brings an abundance of blessings and that you remain healthy in your work and your walk.

To a Wonder-Filled 2013 is a post from: ConverStations

Some of life’s biggest projects are best traveled in small steps.

I’ve heard that relocation is one of the three most stressful times of life (along with a wedding and a funeral). Moving has so many … moving parts to it, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. It would be easy to adopt an “I don’t know where to begin” attitude – a sticking point to getting stuck.

Begin somewhere and maintain movement, focusing on one task at a time. Don’t worry about seeing the destination at the starting line.

This practice has served well in my life, most recently with our move to Colorado. The timing was quick, the total task was large. We broke it up into small pieces and tackled one piece at a time. By doing so, it became easy.

The same is true in developing or building a web or social presence. Pick one track and focus … then build on that movement and momentum.

Movement Avoids Overwhelm is a post from: ConverStations

Here’s J.J. Abrams (Lost, Super 8, Revolution) and one of my favorite question-askers/storytellers, Morgan Spurlock (A Day in the Life, Super Size Me) in a short video about choice, technology, and how to know which possibility to go after:

Isn’t this true with some of the Social Media choices we face? With so many choices – which do you go after? Certainly not all of them – that would turn into a slow process of none of them. Go after the one that thrills you first!  Hate Facebook but love Pinterest?  Go with Pinterest first.

When it comes to which Social Media track (or which “duck”) to go after first, what gives you the chills or thrills?

By the way, I’m lovin’ Zeitgeist Minds. Lots of great thinking going on.

What Gives You the Chills? is a post from: ConverStations

Ducks in a Row vs. Ducks in a Bunch. I’ve talked about this before.

For most of us, getting your ducks lined up before you start something can be disabling. It’s like waiting for all the lights to turn green before you leave the house.

While some folks need to move from Ducks in a Row to Ducks in a Bunch to get going, there are many others that need to take things One Duck at a Time.

Maybe that’s you. If you’re having a tough time getting started, stop trying to herd ducks – just attend to one duck at a time.

That’s what we’re doing at Small Biz Tracks – one track at a time.

photo credit: Ben124. via photopin cc

One Duck at a Time is a post from: ConverStations

“Code” seems to be a bad word, like “spinach” to a child. Yucch!

When I suggest “learning code” to some business owners, the response is out loud laughter followed by a raised eyebrow or curled lip, hoping I’m not serious.  Alas, serious I am – but in simple form.

Learning some simple basics can save time, money, and open a world of thought and possibilities. After showing one retail store operator how to “hyperlink” to her own pages and to other places and pages on the web (Be the Resource), she went to work creating hyperlinks on all of her old pages and posts.

In my gut, I believe that most owners cringe at “code” due to fear of breaking something (you won’t), not because of lacking an adventuresome spirit – heck, they operate their own business. That’s an adventure. Small Business owners are often Do-It-Yourself’ers.

If you have a bit of DIY in you, there’s a super-simple (and fun) site called Codeacademy that guides you through learning simple code and leads you into new possibilities. And it’s FREE!

If you want to dive deeper and really learn how to do more in-depth projects, including mobile, then Treehouse might be a place for you to developing your code chops. For a small monthly fee, you can learn quite a bit.

Ten years ago, I made those scrunched up faces when asked if I wanted to learn code. Then again, I said “yucch” to spinach when I was a kid. Now, I do it every day (code and spinach, though not together).

How about your future? Any code down the road?

Have fun!

Learning Code to Open Possibility Thinking is a post from: ConverStations

Seth Godin shares a recent TEDx video he did on the future (and past) of education. The video is below. The ebook links are below that. How can some of these questions translate to your business practices?

Stop Stealing Dreams Resources

Stop Stealing Dreams [Video & eBook] from Seth Godin is a post from: ConverStations

Before the words “embed a video” can contort a face, I quickly soften the crinkling frown with “by simply pasting the URL” and smile.

With almost every site I work with, we use the plugin Tentblogger’s Vimeo, YouTube, RSS Embed. It allows you, the publisher, to simply grab the URL of the video and paste it into a box. The video gets embedded without you having to mess with any “code”. It allows your RSS readers to see a link to your page if they don’t see the video.

Whether it’s a video you’ve made yourself, a clip from someone else, this plugin makes a big impact with a small step.

Here’s a short video from the folks at Manta. I simply grabbed the URL and pasted it using the plugin:

Easy. A small step with big value.

Here’s a how-to on this great video plugin from the author himself.

A Non-Techie Way to Embed a YouTube Video is a post from: ConverStations

Have a Bias Towards Action. Let’s see something happen now -

This post might sound familiar and look different. This post uses the post type “Image”, while the previous post was this same quote by Indira Gahndi using the “Quote” post type found in the Standard Theme (one of 6 custom post types).

It’s possible this post, while taking a bit more effort than the previous one, might get shared more on Facebook or Pinterest. Either way, for action to happen – a step must be taken.

Have a Bias Towards Action is a post from: ConverStations