LinkedIn, Part II: Customize your profile page

This blog continues with last week's discussion about LinkedIn.  To learn about highlighting your skills, expertise, and your accomplishments - click here: LinkedIn Part I.

When I first signed up for my LinkedIn account I did not realize that I would be assigned a rather long and difficult to remember profile URL that was a mix of my full name and random numbers and letters.  LinkedIn gives users the opportunity to customize their public profile URL (I changed mine to www.linkedin.com/in/kathymkelley, which I think is much more professional than the automatic URL I was assigned when I opened my account …./in/kathleenmariekelley93dnc9el3).  

I suggest that users customize their URL as soon as possible, because first come/first served - if the URL is available now it may not be in the future.  My name is fairly common so I had to go through several combinations to get a URL that was short and made sense.  Customizing becomes even more critical when a business owner develops a company page (discussed in my next blog) and wants a LinkedIn URL that closely matches their website or Facebook URL.  Grab it while you can!

Not only have I customized my LinkedIn URL, but I have done something similar for the three websites (the maximum I can add) I've added to my profile:

• My Penn State Profile (http://plantscience.psu.edu/directory/kmk17),
• our Farm Business Management website (http://extension.psu.edu/farm-business),
• and link to this blog (http://farmbusiness.blogspot.com)

LinkedIn gives users a couple of labeling options when they add URLs to their profile page.   In the edit contact info option I have two choices for describing/labeling the webpage associated with the URL:

• I have the option of choosing one of the general/generic names produced (personal website, company website, blog, RSS feed, or blog) or
• I can develop a more specific label of my choosing, though I am limited to 30 characters or less.

I like the option to customizing and think it is more enticing to see a website labeled: PSU Farm Business blog rather than the standard LinkedIn “blog” label.  If an ag. business uses the generic “blog” title someone looking at the profile may have no clue as to the type of blog that they will find after clicking on the URL.   Better to provide a bit of information, even if the description is rather brief. 

Entering customized link descriptions and how they look on my LinkedIn profile.

As you can see, some of what I've described about LinkedIn is similar to what you might have had to provide when you built your website or even when you set up Twitter or Facebook accounts.  LinkedIn does have an extensive help menu and FAQ section – and LinkedIn personnel are responsive when users ask questions via their “Contact Us” form.  This is just the start of our LinkedIn conversation.  Do check back next week when I describe a bit about networking and company pages. 

The Costs of Accepting Credit Cards

Credit cards are a payment staple for many consumers.  Although there are fees associated with processing credit cards, you should consider potential sales losses by not accepting them.  As I always stress, do your research to help you decide if/how you should process credit.  Below are some questions to ask to get you started.

In the U.S. alone, consumers collectively had over 609 million credit cards (Source: "The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010).  That's a lot of cards!  One of the main reasons small businesses don't accept credit cards are the fees associated with processing.  You will need to include this fee in your pricing strategy to determine if you will need to raise your prices. 

Questions you should ask:

1.  What fees are charged per transaction?  Do the fees vary?
Most credit card processors charge a per transaction fee plus a percentage of the total purchase price (for example, $0.30 per transaction plus 1.9% of the total purchase price).  Fees can vary depending on whether the customer is in the store and you swipe the card versus typing in a card number or paying online.  Also, the type of credit card may result in a higher fee (for example, an airline miles card usually costs more to process).  

Conversely, you also have the option to use a credit card processor that offers a flat rate like Square, Paypal, or Google Checkout.   

2.  Are there any other fees associated with processing credit cards?
Find out if there are other costs like monthly fees, regulatory fees, statement fees, etc. All potential fees should be spelled out clearly before signing a contract with a processor.

3.  How much will a terminal(s) cost?
A terminal is the actual machine in which you swipe the credit card.  Opt for purchasing rather than renting a terminal because rental fees are often exorbitant.  For example, purchasing a terminal may cost $200-$350 while renting could cost as much as $139 per month.

4.  Is the credit card processing system compatible with your online store?
You will want your processor's software to be able to connect with your online store so that both your brick and mortar sales and your online sales can be processed together.

Other tips:

-If you already have an established processor, give them a call and try to renegotiate your fees.  Processors sometimes charge higher fees for new businesses because of higher risks.  Being a loyal customer may save you some money! 
-Be wary of a processor that wants to charge you a setup fee.  You shouldn't pay a fee for the "privilege" of using their system.

To read more about credit card processing, check out these two great articles on Entrepreneuer.com-- "5 Questions You Must Ask Your Credit Card Processor" and "How to Cut Transaction Costs on Customer Purchases".

As an ag business owner, do you already accept credit cards?  Do you think that the convenience is outweighed by the fees?

If you don't accept credit cards, why not?  How frequently do you lose customers because you don't accept credit?

Are you LinkedIn? Part I: Highlight your skills, expertise, and your accomplishments

I have been a LinkedIn member for a few years and have made some good connections with other users; however, I wanted to learn how to use this social media tool to help ag. businesses build connections, learn from other industry members, and how to potentially increase business. So, I decide to brush up on my LinkedIn skills and learn about some of the changes that took place at the end of last year – some of which I like very much.

Creating a LinkedIn account is fairly straight forward, much like any other social media account or online account you might have created in the past.  A step-by-step process will prompt you to add contact information, your picture, past and current positions, as well as areas of expertise and your skills, etc. 

Adding more than just basic information

You may be tempted to just add the minimum to your LinkedIn profile – but image how much more professional you will appear if you do provide more detailed information about you, your business, and skills and expertise you possess.

Adding skills or expertise is just a matter of adding keywords, or allowing other LinkedIn users to “endorse” you by adding keywords they feel describe what you have to offer.  For example, my skills and expertise are broad, since I have many responsibilities at Penn State, and include: teaching, public speaking, social media, statistics, horticulture, and similar.  A few of LinkedIn users I am linked to endorsed me for horticulture and blogging.  These short words/phrases really do stick out among all the other information I've chosen to add to my profile page – a real contrast to the paragraphs of information that describe current and past positions, etc. 

A listing of keywords describing skills and expertise. 

Think about keywords you could add to describe your specialties: consulting, public speaking, management, landscape, floral design, event planning, or specific computer software skills.  The possibilities are endless. 

The skills and expertise section is just one of the features that users can use to highlight accomplishments or achievements.  More recently, LinkedIn added a feature that allows users to emphasize projects they have completed, courses they have offered, organizations they belong to, and even volunteer activities and causes they support.  Users also have the option to associate each of these with specific jobs or positions they have held. Some examples as to how ag. businesses can use these descriptors include: 

• Have you written an article about a topic that would be of interest to those you've connected with on LinkedIn?  If so, enter the title, brief description, as well as the URL that they can click on for easy access. 
• You can do the same for projects.  Perhaps you/your business provided plant material or landscaped a property that had significant meaning for the community.
• For honors and awards, maybe your wine was award the overall gold medal winner in a wine competition. Why not let other LinkedIn users learn about this achievement? 

For some of these, such as publications and project, you will be able to “add” other LinkedIn members to the description.  For me, I feel that this blog provides stakeholders with such useful and timely information that I added it as a project, associated it with my current position at Penn State, and added names of other major blog contributors (Sarah, Jeff, and Dana) to give credit where credit is due.  

Information I've added to create a project on my LinkedIn profile. Notice how Jeff and Dana are listed under the "Team Member(s) heading.

After I saved the information to LinkedIn profile, each of them received an email from LinkedIn asking if they would like the description of the project added to their profile page.  If they approved, the description was added.  Now, their linkages can learn a little bit more about the blog and choose to read it and receive updates when we next post.

This is how projects will appear on LinkedIn profile pages. 

As with all of your information on your profile page, you can arrange the order so that if you would like projects, etc., to appear above other information, such as the summary of your background, education, groups you belong to, you can choose to do so.  LinkedIn is truly a tool that you can customize in many different ways.  Next time I'll describe other features that you can customize on your LinkedIn profile.

Five Tips for Farm and Food Businesses in 2013

Take time this winter to consider last
year's results and plan for next year.

Maybe it's too strong a statement but I'll write it anyway.... What you do this winter could mean the difference between flourishing and shutting the doors.  These five tips will help you prepare for the coming year (and beyond).

1. Assess your success - One of the best things to do in January and February is analyze your records from last year.  How was production?  Did you meet your financial and business goals?  Any idea why you may not have hit your targets, whether you were under or over them?  What did you learn that would cause you to re-think what you had planned for 2013?  Maybe it's a little change; maybe it's huge.  Either way, note what it is and make the necessary changes.

Whether you sell on the floor, wholesale, or retail,
you need to consider your markets for 2013.

2. Explore your markets - No matter if you are in a commodity market (like most milk or grain) or a direct market (like a farmers' market), learn about where the markets are expected to go in 2013.  Should you lock in prices on your grains?  Should you pull out of that store and target a restaurant whose chef is interested in featuring locally-grown produce?  Should you change some flavors in your baked goods or cheeses?  Talk to neighbors, industry players, and others who have thoughts/opinions.  Learn from them.

3. Take a close look at policy changes - Will health care reform (so-called "Obamacare") affect you?  Will changes in tax laws or the Farm Bill impact how you do business?  What about this Fiscal Cliff we are hearing so much about?  Although I've not been around as long as some others may have been, I can't recall a year in which there was more uncertainty about government policies that could affect farms and food businesses.

Sarah Cornelisse teaches how
social media can be used to
market and manage a business.
We have more on that and other
topics coming up this year.

4. Learn - Take time to improve your most important production input, your managerial ability.  Attend workshops and conferences.  Take advantage of downtime to talk with friends and neighbors in the industry.  We in Penn State Extension have several workshops coming up and we regularly promote those of other organizations.  Check out our webpage (farmbusiness.psu.edu) and some recent blog posts (here and here) to learn more.

5. Embrace technology - I'm rarely without my smart phone so this one shouldn't surprise anyone, coming from me.  However, I strongly urge you to take advantage of information technology.  I believe that managing data and technology will be what differentiates successful from unsuccessful businesses, including farms and food businesses.  With data and information all around us, the advantage will go to those who manage it best and use it to make the best decisions.  Some examples:

• Take time to follow the right people on Twitter.  (BTW, I'm @jeffhyde.)  
• If you are thinking really long term, talk to a business consultant to see what they can do to help you make sense of the information that's out there.  
• Join LinkedIn and connect with people in industry, academia, and some who are like you.  
• Like some businesses on Facebook or start a page of your own.

There are so many ways, including tons in addition to these, to "listen" in today's connected world.  Believe me, "listening" is much more valuable than "speaking" on social media.  (To learn more, check out Sarah's post, "The Value of Social Media as a Market Research Tool.")  The trick is weeding out the noise.

There's always a lot to do in any business.  Make sure you attend to these things and have fun.  Love what you do!

What's New in Ag Business Education? (part 2)

In last week's post, I talked about 2 of the educational opportunities available for future or current farm and food business owners.  Below you will find 2 more classes we offer in our class catalog. 

Estimating & Bidding for Landscape Installation  
Allentown, PA


Preliminary Day - January 15, 2013 (9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.)
This session is for newer businesses or owner-operators who have not established a confident bidding procedure. Designed to be a preliminary day to cover the very basics including terminology and the different types of estimates. The pitfalls of some common bidding practices will be discussed. Explore production rates in depth, including why you need to know what they are for your business and how to find them. Discuss profit and reasonable returns. There will be opportunity to ask questions and discuss bidding with other contractors.

 Nuts and Bolts - January 16 & 17, 2013 (9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.)
This is a two day intensive workshop to determine the overhead of a business and create a bid. This workshop is for businesses who want to be sure they are including all overhead costs in their calculations and fine-tune their bidding procedure. The first day we will work through an Excel spreadsheet to figure overhead costs. Each participant will receive an electronic copy of this spreadsheet so they can adapt it and use it for their own business. The second day we will create a bid for a small hardscape and plant installation job in detail, using the overhead costs determined in the first day of the class.

For more info or to register, please visit the registration page.

Annie’s Project  
January 15, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM in Gettysburg, PA

This national Cooperative Extension program is an 8 session class that empowers women in farming to manage information systems used in critical decision making, and to build local net-works of like-minded friends.  The sessions focus on all five areas of Risk Management – Production, Market, Financial, Legal, and Human Resources, and combine a short educational presentation by a Penn State Extension educator, class discussion, individual and small group activities, and guest speaker(s) who share the day-to-day application of proven risk management techniques and strategies. Several sessions will be held in a computer lab for participants to gain hands-on skills with software applicable to farm information systems.

By the final session, participants will have begun writing business risk management plans for their farms, and applying action steps that have been discussed in class, to daily operations.

For more info or to register, please visit the registration page. 



More educational opportunities to come in future blog posts!  As always, please check the Ag Entrepreneurship Calendar for all event listings.

What's New in Ag Business Education? (part 1)

Did you know that Penn State Extension regularly holds classes on a multitude of different business topics?  Classes range from beginner (those just starting to think about creating an ag business) to advanced (those who are veteran business owners thinking about succession planning).  Below is a brief description of just a few of the courses Penn State Extension will be offering in early 2013.

Social Media Boot Camp for Ag Businesses 

During this 2-day boot camp, we'll discuss the basics of several tools such as Twitter and Facebook and get you thinking about their strategic use.

The first day of the workshop will be spent in a computer lab where you will begin developing your Facebook, Twitter, foursquare, and Yelp pages.

On the second day you will develop social media goals and objectives, a strategy for achieving those, and be introduced to tools for measuring and analyzing your social media impact.  You’ll also hear from a farmer on their use of social media tools.

For more info, please visit the program page.

Your Future in Focus 
Sessions will be held on Mondays between January 14 and March 11, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in York, PA

This 8 session class empowers farming and food entrepreneurs to build a business plan for their venture – whether a start-up or a long-established business.

As a member of the Your Future in Focus class, you will consider appropriate business structure, actively pursue goal-setting, build a strategy for marketing your products/services, and gain skill in the development/analysis of financial documents – all steps that lead toward writing a complete business plan. As the weeks progress, experienced instructors will guide you through the process of business and risk management planning, providing feedback throughout the course. Most important, you will receive training and support needed to produce a draft written business plan – the key business risk management tool that can be used both for daily management decision making, and as well as serve as a proposal for start-up or expansion funding.


For more info and to register, please visit the registration page. 


I'll be talking more about our other class offerings next week.  You can also view entire the Penn State Extension Ag Entrepreneurship Team's calendar now on our website. 

If you see a class you want to attend but not in a location near you, don't fret!  Let us know on our Facebook page and we will try to schedule a class near you.

Hot Sauce is Hot in 2013! How Demographics Help Mold Food Trends

Fellow blogger Sarah Cornelisse recently tweeted a link to an Entrepreneur.com article on the biggest trends in business in 2013.  One of the trends included the popularity of hot sauces.  Hot sauce production is one of the 10 fastest-growing industries in the US reports IBISWorld, an industry analysis firm.

Why is the hot sauce industry expanding so much?  Both Dave DeWitt (producer of the National Fiery Foods & Barbeque Show) and IBISWorld point to the increasing popularity of international foods.  In the Entrepreneur.com article, they illustrate the increased sales of hot sauces.  "Research firm Mintel reports that sales of sauces and marinades--including hot sauces--jumped 20 percent between 2005 and 2010 and are expected to increase another 19 percent by 2015."

An article on PreparedFoods.com also discusses the popularity of spicy flavors.  In 2011,  the “Packaged Facts Food Shopper Insights Survey” showed that 53% of U.S. grocery shoppers “somewhat” or “strongly” agree they “like hot and spicy foods" with a percentage rise to 58% among Gen Y (born 1977-1994)  adults.  The article also says that, "The same survey revealed that a majority of adult shoppers seeking global foods purchase Mexican and Chinese/Japanese flavored items. However, a larger percentage of Gen Y adults than adult shoppers in general seek out Indian/South Central Asian and Middle Eastern flavors. This indicates a broad interest in global flavors of all kinds."

By knowing your target audience, you can develop the best marketing plan for your product.  For example, the  “Packaged Facts Food Shopper Insights Survey” showed  that 58 % of Gen Y respondents "like hot and spicy foods".  By looking at demographic information on PAMarketMaker.com, you could find where the highest concentration of Gen Y adults are in Pennsylvania (see Figure 1).  Thus, you can target the release of your product in areas where your audience is most highly concentrated.  

Figure 1.  Population concentration of 19 to 24 year olds in Pennsylvania.

Check out the Resources tab on PAMarketMaker.com for more information on using demographics in developing your marketing plan as well as relevant industry information.