Business Coaching

With the recession, charities' donations have decreased.

With the recent disaster in Haiti, many people and charities are reaching out via social media networks to raise funds.

But before the Haiti disaster, charities were increasing their social media efforts to attain potential donors…and it seems to have been working.

The Detroit News recently published an article about how charities are joining Twitter and Facebook in an effort to spread the word about charity events and recruit volunteers and donors, something that’s been a more urgent need in the down economy. An example they cite with Forgotten Harvest, a charity that supports impoverished areas that need food, is they had 100 volunteers for an event to help package 11,000 meals. And about a fifth of those volunteers were recruited online.

Even though charitable donations took a hit with the recession – in 2008, donations slid 2 percent from 2007, the first decline in donations since 1987 – E-philanthropy, giving donations online and recruiting volunteers, increased 4 percent that same year.

Charities are getting so savvy with social media marketing, that some have added their own apps for iPhones and Facebook. For example, the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign has a facebook widget with a game that collects real donations.

ActionCOACH is making waves by marketing its own charitable campaign, Coaching for a Cause, on Twitter and Facebook. The end goal for the pro-bono business coaching campaign is raising $2.5 million and so far, with successful business coaching, $859,294 has been raised.

If it’s working for non-profits, social media marketing can work for small businesses and big businesses, too. Fine-tune your social media marketing skills and figure out what you can do to leverage your business this way.

On the other side of things, if you’re a social media whiz, you might consider how you can help charities with your expertise. Coaching charities — and businesses — does wonders in this economy.

13-year-old Leanna Archer of Leanna's Inc.

How young is too young to start a company?

ActionCOACH founder Brad Sugars was just 21 when he founded ActionCOACH, and a few short years later, he was “financially retired.”

So if someone’s got a great idea and they’ve got the will and means to start a business, who’s to say they can’t? Is there such a thing as being “too young” to start a business?

If you answered yes, tell that to 13-year-old Leanna Archer, CEO and founder of her own hair and body product company, Leanna’s Inc.

When she was just eight years old, Leanna kept receiving compliments on her hair, which was styled with pomade made from her great-grandmother’s recipe. Leanna, obviously savvy, saw the potential for a business – selling her great-grandmother’s pomade. She tested demand by filling empty Gerber baby food jars with her grandmother’s pomade and giving them out to classmates – then received several requests for more from her classmates and their parents.

Leanne’s Inc. has increased its product line (her company now also sells shampoo, conditioner and shea butter body lotion in addition to pomade and hair products), ships 30 to 50 orders on average per day, and made $100,000 in revenue in 2007. She even set up her own foundation to help underprivileged children in Haiti.

Running a successful business since she was eight…most people wouldn’t believe it. But when you have a good idea that fills a demand and a solid business plan, all it takes is great execution and hard work to keep your company successful.