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TDZ Blog

Strategy Is Changing; What Does That Mean for You?

By Tracy Diziere | October 1, 2019

A recent Forbes article covered how marketing strategy in mature organizations is “moving from communications leadership to growth accelerant.” That might sound like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to some of you. And like some pie-in-the-sky idea to others. So let’s break it down for the entrepreneurial-minded leader, shall we? As a small service-based business leader, you’ve […]

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Channel and Global Marketing Teams: Better Together and with a Creative Partner

By Tracy Diziere | August 13, 2019

As technology service offerings grow, channel partners’ opportunity to step in, cultivate custom solutions, and offer managed services has skyrocketed. In tandem, revenue from indirect channels has soared. While stats vary, a Forrester study commissioned by Mediafly reports that almost half (49%) of a company’s overall revenue comes from the channel. Or as Principal Analyst […]

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Success Is an Inside Job

By Tracy Diziere | December 19, 2018

Part of my message at today’s Conscious Connections panel “Insight from Women of Influence, Impact + Profit” was “Success is an inside job.” This was/is a hard learned lesson and speaks to the need for personalized attention when growing as an entrepreneurial-minded leader. I/we need this kind of help. That’s why I fill the role of […]

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Why We Take a Holistic Approach to Service

By Tracy Diziere | November 6, 2018

Why do we take a holistic approach to service? Why does service experience design start with a broad view? David Clarke in an Adweek article says it best: Experience isn’t just one thing. It’s comprised of sales, customer service, order entry, human resources, quality assurance, shipping, billing, collections, maintenance—a hundred parts of an enterprise. Therefore, […]

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Nothing Is Created Alone

By Tracy Diziere | January 9, 2018

I’m putting a stake in the ground: Nothing is created alone. This is what came from my Root Session with the fabulous team at Root + River. I’ll write more here later. The important thing is to know that it does take other people to create. We need each other. Despite our ideas about rugged […]

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How Are You Responding to Uncertainty

By Tracy Diziere | September 23, 2016

Not Much Is for Certain. How Are You Responding to Uncertainty? Spoiler alert: I don’t have it all figured out but I do have one tool you can use related to strengths which I’ll address at the end. There seems to be a lot of buzz and advice around being comfortable with–accepting?— instead of responding to […]

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Creating Your Own Vocabulary – Tracyisms

By Tracy Diziere | August 15, 2016

As you learn new things, identify trends, or solidify your own ideas about your industry or your world, it’s often useful to create your own vocabulary. I’ve created this post as a running tab of the words I’ve created or picked up on and made my own. I call them Tracyisms. Do you have words […]

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How to Develop a Plan to Update Your Website Content

By Tracy Diziere | July 16, 2016

How to Develop a Plan to Update Your Website Content for Solopreneurs Looking to develop a plan to update your website content–either on your own or with some outside help? Most of us know there’s dated content on our sites. If we look at updating our content, we’ll be able to re-post, re-promote and ultimately add […]

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Change Starts with You (and 3 Steps to Start)

By Tracy Diziere | May 17, 2016

“Stuckness” sucks. The way out? Realizing that nothing is keeping you glued in place but you. That you don’t need to wait for something to happen to loosen you from the grip of whatever’s got you. And the big realization: That change starts with you. What do you mean, “Change Starts With You?” It starts […]

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Knowing Yourself – The Start of Your Success Journey

By Tracy Diziere | April 26, 2016

I believe that success starts with knowing yourself–and defining your version of the word.  When we begin tapping into our authentic selves, we start to uncover what is unique to us. We begin to notice where we have deviated or fallen away from the path that is of our own design. And while perhaps different […]

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Guest Blog Posts

In addition to our own posts by title below, check out the following guest posts:

Focusing on Successes and Strengths vs. Failures and Weaknesses

The Best Place to Spend Your Marketing Time & Money

Customer Expectations: Mind the Gap

Key Topics

Re-Thinking the Business Plan

By Tracy Diziere | Comments Off on Re-Thinking the Business Plan

Bob Reiss’ article, “Write Your Business Plan in Pencil” from  Entrepreneur.com,  has some good points about when and how small businesses might approach business plan development.  Reiss advocates constructing a plan that will be flexible (hence the “in pencil” directive) but explains that “a detailed plan is only required if you want to raise money from a bank or […]

What To Do With a Full Plate

By Tracy Diziere | Comments Off on What To Do With a Full Plate

Ron Ashkenas has a brillant post “Do You Have Too Much on Your Plate?” from Harvard Business Review yesterday in which he advises larger organizations on how to streamline and manage projects.  His first point, “Review the workload across strategic priorities,” has more meaning for companies who have multiple management levels, a departmental structure, and a strategic plan.  […]

Quote of the Day: DIY

By Tracy Diziere | Comments Off on Quote of the Day: DIY

“Focus on what you do best and pay someone to do the rest.” I’m on my soapbox today about doing it yourself, or DIY.  Lately, I’ve seen too many small business owners trying to do it all and once they’ve wasted too much time and money on non-essential tasks, they contact me for help.  Not an […]

Personality in Business

By Tracy Diziere | 2 Comments

I love Kelleye Crane’s interview “Salty and Successful” with Jeremy Pepper, long-time blogger, PR expert, and current director of communications and social media for Palisade Systems. Crane asks important questions that, for me, point to concerns about personality and identity in business. Namely, “do you attract clients and employers who accept and embrace the real you?” Pepper says, […]

Maritz: Employee Sat, Trust Critically Low

By Tracy Diziere | Comments Off on Maritz: Employee Sat, Trust Critically Low

An article today in Incentive magazine covers poll results from market researcher Maritz regarding “record lows” for employee satisfaction and trust of management and coworkers based on a national sample of 2,004 full-time employees. Selected Findings 11 percent of respondents strongly agree that their managers show consistency between their words and actions 7 percent strongly agree that […]

To Outsource or Not?

By Tracy Diziere | Comments Off on To Outsource or Not?

Whether to Outsource and How to Value Your Marketing Efforts Here is a quick guide to help the small business owner determine whether to outsource specific marketing tasks and how to decide what his/her marketing efforts are worth. Should I Outsource? Try the classic litmus test for delegating: “If someone else can perform this task […]