So what does the "AIMC" in AIMC Business Solutions mean anyway?

I started my own business a little over seven years ago called AIMC Websites which eventually became AIMC Business Solutions a couple of years later, when we offered more business services with social media management and IT Consulting, among other services.   It has been a great ride and there is no slowing down.  The goal is to expand our network and help small businesses take the next step in their vision to success.

Ok, I did not answer the question yet.   AIMC initially stood for All In My Cart, our internet marketing portal where our customers convert spending to earning.   It has been a wild success, since it is a no brainer for our customers, since they can convert all their online shopping onto one website and build a little annuity doing so.    I also cannot forget the great products in health/wellness and cosmetics too.

However, since the AIMC Business Solutions is a business services company, the "AIMC" needed to have more meaning in the business world.   I have always had a successful career in IT and more recently in social media management and have learned that in any technical or marketing challenge is important to develop an operational process/ structure in everything you do.    

Before you kick a project off the ground, you need to Assess (the "A") what you will need for financial and personal resources to design/define the system needed to meet the client's need.   Assess is the most important part of the project, so there are no surprises later in the project.  

Once the assessment and plan is complete, it is time to Implement (the "I") the system.   Implementing in the IT World can be building the system, going through a pilot or test cycle, and then going live in production.   In a social media campaign implementation, this would be the setup of the social platforms and activating all postings and interactions.

Once you go-live with an implementation, it is important to closely Monitor (the "M") how the new system is running or how the public is responding to a new social media campaign by reviewing analytics.   The first 30-60 days are very important.  Adjustments can be made and monitoring tools start providing good data on the system or campaign.  After 60 days, the system should be a well greased machine!

Once the monitoring tools are in place it is important to stay on track and Control  (the "C") how the system or social media campaign is performing.  In the IT and Social Media world, it is making sure you are proactive and not reactive to customer needs.    The IT System or Social Media Campaign cannot be a burden to the customer.   This is why the Control phase is important and when we never lose sight of this.

So there it is Assess Implement Monitor Control - AIMC Business Solutions.  If you need anything give drop us a message.   We would be happy to help your business plan your next project!

Networking Tips Going Into 2015

It is hard to believe that I have been hard core networking for almost eight years now.   From my infancy days going to the Northeastern University Alumni Networking Events to now running my own business networking group,  the landscape has changed.   Back in 2008 and into 2009, the economy was at its worst and networking events were the place to be seen and heard.    Almost all of the events were packed mostly with professionals looking for their next job or trying to start a new business venture.   From Foxboro to Providence to Framingham to Boston, every event had well over 100 hungry professionals trying to meet as many people as possible.   I fell into the same routine, and aggressively build a large network myself.

Fast forward to the past year, I noticed the networking events have become smaller, but the quality of people and relationships are much better.    It is probably because the economy is much more stable and growing now.    There are not many unemployed attendees but instead professionals with great business ideas, expansion and growth.  It is actually a shame some stopped networking when their situation got better.    I always thought when things get better, professionals should network more than ever.

So we are now about to enter the year 2015.   The networking events are smaller, more focused and the attendees are more seasoned.    Here are some of my recommended tips to survive networking in 2015:

- Stop the sales pitch now.   When you are at an event, look to make friends.  Would you go to a bar and start pitching your product or service?   Probably not.

- Know why you are attending a networking event.   Who would you like to meet?  What questions you would ask to understand if someone you meet is worth following up with?   What is your thirty second non-salesy elevator pitch?  Having structure going into an event makes it worthwhile.

- Only ask someone for a business card if there a possibility of following up with that person.   I am guilty of being a business card collector.  I have three full shoe boxes of cards to prove it.   Chances are, I have a card from every company in Massachusetts.

- Go to as many events as your schedule allows. As I mentioned earlier, even when the going is good, you should continue to go to events.   You never know when your scenario will change.  You lose your job or your business no longer exists.

- Stop thinking social media is for kids.   I still meet people that think Facebook or Twitter are for children and they wouldn't be caught dead using social media.  Social media is here and now and the #1 way to meet the right people.   The best way to use social media is for follow-up with professionals you have met at an event.

- Your goal is to become a people magnet.   I am going to end this blog with this tip.   When you are popular and a great resource, people gravitate to you.   Be a nice person and make everyone you meet to be about them and not yourself.

Happy Networking in 2015!   

-

Marketing and Information Technology Do Go Together

The IT Team has always had an identity crisis in corporate America.   Does the IT Organization at your company report up to the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Medical Officer, the COO, the CEO or even Human Resources?    Over the course of my IT career, I have been in IT Organizations that reported to all of the above.  OK, maybe not Human Resources.  

The most common report structure today is that IT reports to the Chief Financial Officer.   It is unfortunately antiquated thinking, since IT would be looked at as a cost center and the finance executive is always focusing on how to control their company's technology costs.    Computers, introverted high-priced techies and applications cost money, they think.   There is no innovation in this structure and the most common project is to cut costs by going through vendor contracts and conducting telecomm audits, to do what?  Save money.  From a people perspective, CFOs are always looking at how to reduce the cost of labor by outsourcing IT to Managed Services companies and even some outsource IT to services firms with operations overseas.

I view the COO, a lesser evil of the CFO, for the IT group to report to.  Money is still an issue, but instead process is more of a focus of the COO.  Process is a great thing.  I love process.  Technology is all about streamlining workflows and the way business is run.  I am currently at a firm that uses LEAN Management to help eliminate process "waste".   Believe me, there is a lot of waste in IT organizations today.   The mindset of the COO with process is a great thing, but again where is the innovation?  How is the IT group generating revenue for the bottom line?  Process only saves money.  Process can generate money if efficient technology is involved.

I will not discuss IT reporting to the Chief Medical Officer or Human Resources, since if there is a company that has that organization in place, they are not worth mentioning.  What does a doctor or human resources executive know about technology?

Ok, now how about the IT team reporting to the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)?   Marketing is all about how to prospect and engage potential business.    Marketing executives have to innovate and set their product or service apart from their competition.  Every firm has competition, whether it is a retailer, a hospital group, a lighting company or a high technology company.   Marketing executives focus on how to generate revenue and know they need technology to set themselves apart from their competition.  They need to have a better website, an engaging social media strategy, a more efficient CRM to maintain customer relationships.    Think about this, a website, a CRM, mobile applications.  Doesn't the IT team build and maintain them?  In this organizational structure, IT has become an innovation center instead of a cost center.    With all of the freeware, opensource and services like cloud computing, SaaS etc, the cost is not a factor anymore, if done correctly.   Marketing and IT do in fact work together like bread and butter.  

So, if you are looking at your next IT opportunity, consider how the organization structure is at the company.  It can go a long way to determine how innovative the IT organization can be.   If you are a techie, don't think about servers, instead think about services that help market a product or service.  It is where we are going into the 2015, since we are in a social marketing world.

Anything is Possible If You Network

I always talk about the year 2007 as the year things changed for me.  I was at the tail end of my career at Staples and living the life that revolved around my corporate job.   I received an email from Northeastern about an Alumni Networking Event and how it attracts a mixed group of entrepreneurs, corporate professionals and forever students.   I was like, hmm, entrepreneurs.   Entrepreneurism was something you really didn't hear about in the walls of Staples Corporate.

So I went to an event, and then went to another one.  Eventually, I was going every month to Northeastern and meeting alumni in all phases of their career.   I also noticed something.  The entrepreneurs always were positive, always smiled, and was interesting to talk to.    I started connecting to "non-corporate" professionals on Linkedin, studied their profiles and was intrigued with the their professional life.

Ironically, at one of the Northeastern networking events, I was introduced to a business opportunity in internet marketing.  It was a foreign world to me.  Residual income, leveraged time, a Plan B?  Plan B to what?  So I started my business franchise with Market America, because heck, what did I have to lose and the products were damn good.   I started making different friends and started removing myself from the negative energy of the corporate world.   There was a distinct difference in energy between an entrepreneur. avid networking and the 9-to-5 corporate professional and I was engulfing in the world of business networking.

I also started going to other networking events over the next few years, expanded my business into the world of social media marketing, and became the positive energy that influenced me.   There were days I could not wait till the end of the work day, so I can go to an event and meet another 20-25 people.  Eventually, I started my own networking group and had my own events, since it was a great way to build business relationship and expose my business opportunity.

Along the way, I met a couple of entrepreneurs that were starting an internet content platform that focused on entrepreneurs and small business ownership.   They asked me if I like to do my own radio show on social media and business networking.  Wait a minute, in 2007, I was that introverted IT guy at Staples, and now in 2014, I am a radio guy entrenched into the world of social media marketing, how is that possible?   IT guys and marketing don't mix.  Well, actually  they do.   IT is all about innovation and ideas and you need to be an extrovert and know how to market your product or service.

Looking back,it made me think anything is possible if you get out there and network.  Living the life of going to work, then going home to watch TV, doesn't cut it anymore.  Anything is Possible if you network.  An IT guy becoming a radio personality?  An IT Guy that knows marketing?   It is possible, if you network and connect with the right people.   Give it a try.