Feb24

Pulling off the Band-Aid

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Pulling off the Band-Aid

Everyone deals with change.

Not everyone deals with change the same way.

In business, as in the rest of your life, you should know yourself well enough to know if you are a “pull the band-aid off slowly” or “yank the band-aid off quickly” kind of change processor.

Further, before instituting changes in your business, you need to assess the change embracing styles of your co-workers, employees, clients, and vendors.

Yes, to successfully embrace change you must know yourself, and figure out others.

Okay. Don’t panic.

You don’t need to psychoanalyze everyone around you.  But do give it a bit of thought.

If you are a “pull it off slowly” kind of person – you can help yourself ease into changes.  And the same goes for those around you.  You can plan to explain the change(s) in advance of them happening a few times to get that person or persons comfortable with embracing the change.  Yes, even negative changes, like lay-offs.

If you are a “yank it quickly”person, but you are dealing with slow changers, you can plan for it so you won’t be impatient (maybe even reward yourself somehow to be sure you don’t race through things for the benefit of those you wish to embrace the change with you).

On the flip side, if you are a “slow change”person, and those around you are “quick”- then you can prepare something ahead of time for them. Anticipate their immediacy with a written document answering all their questions, so that you won’t have to react on the fly and potentially upset yourself and those you are trying to bring along with you to the change!

This fundamental part of embracing change is often overlooked.

Which leaves participants feeling left out, frustrated, uninformed, or sets them in the “reticent” position – making you work extra hard to convince them to change.

If your business, practice, consultancy has to make changes.  Start with figuring out the change-style of those involved – for more insight to personality styles check out the free temperament evaluations on Kiersey.com. Or take a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment.

Have a great week-end.  More on the subject of Embracing Change coming next week.

Feb22

Resistance is Futile

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Resistance is Futile

The title of this post is the oft-quoted phrase from Star Trek, and it is also an appropriate mantra for dealing with change. Whether we like it or not, we live in turbulent times with a great deal of change facing us daily.  I see in those around me and even in myself, a weariness with this aspect of modern life.  For example, I’m a big LinkedIn fan, and often tout its virtues to others,but a friend recently responded to my encouragement to set up a profile, “I just don’t want to have to learn something new.”  I understand his feelings.  I’m having to face that issue with my own attitude toward Facebook, which I use with trepidation because it feels so very automated.  I feel like I’m not “in control” of a tool that is supposed to serve me, and I know I’ll need to spend some of my precious time learning more in order to feel comfortable with it. 

But the purpose of life is not always to be in control.  That would be an impossible goal, wouldn’t it?  As human beings we definitely need to impose a degree of structure upon our lives, but rigid control actually works against us.  We need some balance between the logical, analytical, scheduled times and the creative, freedom-loving, playful times.  As a person with a natural resistance to change, I’ve had to come up with some new attitudes to encourage myself to “roll with it” and adapt to new things.  I hope sharing these ideas will be helpful to you when change is staring you in the face and you’re wondering whether to dig in your heels and resist, run screaming in the opposite direction, or smile while accepting it gracefully.

1.  Change is not inherently bad.  It’s hard to know when something new comes along if it will be bad or good.  The truth is, it will be both.  To those who did radio dramatization, TV was a bad thing.  To Apple, the PC was a bad thing.  But radio has evolved and so has Apple.  The changes from competitors moved them in new directions, and those new directions made them better and stronger.  So when I’m faced with change, I make a concerted effort to remain neutral rather than negative, and to think of the change as something that will make me stronger in the long run.  (Okay, I’ll acknowledge that the short run might be hell…..but keep your eye on the long term good.)

2.  Change is inevitable.  We have limited amounts of energy, and fighting a change that we have no control over is a waste of energy.  If management is upgrading your computer, adding a new CRM, or altering work processes, you may have no choice but to accept the changes gracefully.  Here’s the plus side:  new pathways will develop in your brain as you learn and make those changes.  You are exercising your brain and that is good for you!  You don’t want to have a hidebound, crusty, creaky old brain, do you?  And speaking of exercising the brain, check out Luminosity.  It’s an amazing and scientifically-researched way to play games and improve your brainpower at the same time.

3. Change is filled with opportunity.  What we see now in the marketing world shows us this.  There are opportunities due to the internet, social media, economic changes, and demographics that can lead us in exciting new directions.  I feel like an explorer, and that is exciting.  Every day brings something new to consider.  If you view yourself as a life-long learner, this makes every day an educational opportunity.  And yes, even though change brings problems – problems are opportunities to provide solutions, services, and training on how to overcome them.

My last observation on change is that it prevents stagnation.  I truly believe that we’re either moving forward or losing ground.  Stagnant water is stale and foul-smelling and full of bacteria.  Change, and the forward movement it brings, keeps us as individuals and as a society, fresh.  As Benjamin Franklin said:  “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”

Feb21

Welcome to OZ

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Welcome to OZ

OZ – the Outer Zone.

Welcome to OZ.

If you are an artist, craftsperson, small business person, consultant – you have broken the barrier of the Comfort Zone and moved into the Outer Zone.

Or have you?

One of the problems with the Comfort Zone is that we tend to rebuild it wherever we land, after breaking through the membrane of complacency.

As business people, we rely on our strengths to carry us through.  And every so often something new occurs, and requires an adjustment to the Zone.

Change.

It is inevitable, and like death and taxes, it requires an enormous will power and several experts to thwart, and usually – you only windup forestalling the inevitable.

How do you learn to embrace change?

That will be the subject of the next post… in the meantime, enjoy OZ and remember to “Follow the Yellow Brick Road”.

 

Feb17

The cost of doing biz

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The cost of doing biz

There are a lot of folks out there struggling.  The cost of doing business is so very expensive that it makes it seem like a Herculean task to try to navigate through all the different tools and decide what to use for what – and get the most bang for your buck (a very important consideration).

So I am here to tell you about two services that are FREE, that can help most consultants, small business owners and even the occasional artist.

The first is FreeConference.com – it enables you to have a conference call, for free.  Hence the name.  LOL.  Seriously – if you do phone training, need to have a meeting with people across town or across the states – this is a great tool.   You can tie it to your Evernote.com application for reminders, if you like.  You get up to 4 hours of free conference time for up to 150 participants.  For additional costs, you can record the conference call – which works great if you plan to put a copy of  the call on your website.  It is easy to set up, and you can send emails to your participants with the phone number and pass code to use for the call.

What would you use it for?  Team meetings, collaborations, fundraising, study groups – the possibilities, as they say, are endless.

The second tool, enabling you to do webinars – is Anymeeting.com .  It enables you to have a webinar (voice and web-based presentation which allows you to share desktops) .  As with the first tool, there are some cool free features and the best feature (in my humble opinion) is that there are no downloads needed.

How would you use it?  Presentations that rely on slides or pictures (which you can show on your desktop), training, collaborations, study groups, orientation meetings,  weekly status meetings, interviews – you can do a lot.  You can even charge for your webinar using this tool.  And they have training tools available so you can easily learn how to use this tool.

TGIF – ponder how you can use these tools to improve your business or just have a great weekend (or both).

Feb13

Fact or Fiction

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Fact or Fiction

All too often in life, our gullibility is played on.  We know better but we want to believe.

In business, this can happen in a deal that is taking too long to finalize or in an email asking you to forward it so someone or something can be helped.

In both cases, your gut tells you one thing…but you want to believe that the deal will happen, and that Microsoft can really mysteriously track your email and send a dollar to help the someone or something (they can’t by the way).

First, always trust your gut.  If it seems too good to be true, then it probably isn’t true.

Second, follow NCIS Jethro Gibbs Rule #3: Don’t believe what you’re told. Double check.

The business you are trying to close a deal with – how is their Dunn and Bradstreet ?  What do their clients say about them?  Did you talk with their accounting people?  Are you sure you are dealing with a decision maker? Did you get clear expectations set of the time frame for a decision up front?

In the case of emails asking for help or declaring some, until now, obscure “fact” about something you care about – double check on Snopes.

What is Snopes?  According to wikipedia :

Snopes.com – officially the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a web site
discussing urban legends, Internet rumors, e-mail forwards, and other
stories of uncertain or questionable origin. It is a well known resource
for validating and debunking such stories in American popular culture,
receiving 300,000 visits a day.

I go to www.snopes.com immediately when I get an email or a Facebook posting asking for support, forwarding, sharing or which states something so unbelievable, that I doubt.

Whether I am trying to determine the probability of business, or the veracity of a potential urban legend, I trust my gut.

Make it a great week!

Feb11

Where were you when the lights went out?

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Where were you when the lights went out?

And what did you do about it?

Disaster recovery planning.   It is not just for big corporations.  Disasters hit small businesses, sole owners, consultants and artists.

Disasters are not just big storms, earthquakes or terrorist attacks.

Disasters can be (and often are):

- overheating caused the sprinkler system to go off, everything is soaked;

- the fire next door caused smoke and water damage to your business;

- an unhappy employee does bad things to your files both paper and electronic;

- vandals break in and damage and/or steal your goods and data;

- hackers get to your website and redirect it;

- a spouse or significant other and you are splitting up and someone gets vindictive.

These are just a few example of what a “disaster” might be to your business or enterprise.   Often you are so very busy trying to juggle everything that needs to be juggled, and building up your business, that you have little time to consider protecting it.  And the concept is a bit overwhelming.

So take a deep breath – let’s run through the basics:

1.  Do you have insurance?  And not just property and liability – do you have Errors and Omissions (aka Professional Liability)?  Make an appointment with your insurance agent and have him/her explain in detail what you are covered for and what it would cost to cover whatever isn’t covered.  Make a decision based on your own understanding of your business – and what it takes to keep it safe.

2. Identify all your critical records – these are the documents, licenses, permits, etc. that are required to run your business.  They may include past income tax returns, client information, and accounting information.

- Determine which items are static (i.e. don’t change).  Those items you will want to scan or if they are only in electronic form, copy to a cd or dvd and store off site in a bank safe deposit box or other safeguarded place.  You should include a copy of your driver’s license and passport in the scanned items, in case you have to establish your identity as well.  If you do not have a scanner, you can probably rent the use of one at Fedex/Kinko’s or purchase one at local office supplies stores.

- Files and data that change regularly, should be backed up and stored either offsite via tape/portable drive or to a cloud storage space that has been vetted as secure.

- If you deal with inventory, photos and descriptions are important (as with artists and crafts people) of your finished items, and listings of your materials are needed to establish how your insurance will be able to handle for you.

-  Again, you should know clearly from your agent whether you have actual or replacement cost covered and for what items.  You should know what your deductible is and save that amount aside in your business savings account to cover it.

3.  Equipment – remember that your phone, cell phone, iPad, Touchpad, NetBook, etc if you have them, are all part of your business.  Are they insured? Have you backed up the data from them?  If you use an IT Tech or Consulting Firm – do they service all of your equipment?  Can they keep an inventory for you?  Do they do back ups of non-pc equipment for you?  Also – if your equipment is damaged, can they retrieve the data for you? And don’t forget an inventory of your software!

4.  Employees, do you have a method for contacting everyone, in case of a disaster that closes your office?  Can people work from home to keep your business running?  Do they know their roles if such a thing occurs?

5.  What happens if you are in an accident?  Who contacts your employees to let them know what should happen with the business?  Who contacts your clients?

6.  What should be done if you are in the office or business during a disaster?  Should you turn off or unplug equipment if you have time before evacuating?  What should you grab on your way out (besides making sure everyone is safe and out)?

These are just the high level items to think about for your Disaster Recovery and Business Resumption planning.  If you have a team, consider brainstorming and delegating to them.  If you rely on vendors and consultants – do the same with them (just watch your budget).  You don’t have to do it all at once.  Take it in small chunks, but do it.

It could mean the difference between bouncing back stronger than ever or closing your doors forever.

Don’t be in the dark when the lights go out. 

Feb6

The Devil is in the Details

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The Devil is in the Details

Potential clients and potential employers are inundated with resumes.  Before you add yours to the fray, run down this checklist and make sure you have taken care of the details:

1.  Don’t forget a cover letter.  Make it short and sweet.  Tell them why you are submitting your resume, a summary of why you think you are a match for their position and what you would like to get back from them (Phone call? Appointment? Interview?)  If they have asked for salary information – make sure you have added it.  If you know you are not what they are looking for right now, ask them for a time frame to check back with them for openings.

2. Spellcheck AND grammar check AND have someone who writes well double-check your resume.  Some of the mistakes people have left on their resumes are the stuff of urban legends – check and double-check.  That goes for the cover letter, too.

3. Ditch “Objective”  and “References”- they take up real estate on your resume and don’t offer any value.  Everyone assumes that your objective is to get a job.  If you say too much there, you may talk the reader out of looking further.  And “References”, if the employer wants them, will be asked for, no need to share contact information up front.  Plus, anyone who has agreed to be your reference will undoubtedly have nice things to say.  Most high level jobs will call your references, AND call your previous employers to see what might get volunteered.  Your best reference is to try to always leave or complete assignments on good terms.

4.  KEY WORDS – if the position or assignment has specific requirements such as “MS Project ” or “Quickbooks” then make sure that those words are present in your resume! If they are not, the person(s) screening the resume will not assume that you have those requisites, they will move on to a resume that has them stated.  And remember, sometimes it is not a person, but a software application that does the screening…if the key word is not there, the resume doesn’t make it through the screening – period.

5.  Depending on the conservative level of your potential employer or client – and this is a judgement call based on your research about them – you may wish to leave off employment that is not germane to the position you are applying for.  Some companies only want to see what applies to their industry, and do not care about your previous careers in other fields…and some understand that skills can be transferred across industries (some of them anyway) and will appreciate seeing them.  Think hard about it before you go one way or the other.

Does it sound like you must have multiple versions of your resume?  The answer is YES.

Plus you should have one “Master Resume”with your entire work history on it to use as reference when you are asked to complete an application – which many companies still require even after they have viewed your resume.  The application should be complete with your work history, as often it is used for background checking.

Good luck and Happy Monday!

Feb2

5 Fun Tips for Facebooking More Effectively

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5 Fun Tips for Facebooking More Effectively

It is a living language, after all, and we have a verb “to google” and now one “to facebook “.

If you are like me, you are trying to juggle many things in life – home, work, family, friends… and while you have heard how powerful Facebook can be you are still not clear on how your page can help you in business.

I am still learning and exploring Facebook, and I thought it might be a good way to end this week with my 5 fun tips for Facebooking more effectively.

1. You can create your business profile page easily by logging in as yourself, and doing a search in the search bar at the top pf the page for “Create a Page“ – it will lead you through your choices and it is pretty easy to set up.  If you are a serial entrepreneur with multiple businesses, you will be happy to know that you can have multiple pages all tied to your personal account (and you can keep that tidbit private on those pages, if you don’t want the world – or your boss – to know that the XYZ Candle Maker is you).

2. Once you have created your page, and have “liked” other businesses or people’s pages that are pertinent to your page, you can choose up to 5 of those to be anchored in your page’s list of likes – rather than letting Facebook randomly rotate them.  This is good if you have a reciprocal business agreement with a complimentary entity as you and they can cross promote this way.

Or if you have multiple pages, you may wish to “like” and anchor them to each other.  For example, if you are a writer and have set up a page per book, as well as an Author’s page – you can “like”and Anchor the pages to each other.

3.  If you use an opt-in email tool, such as iContact, Constant Contact or MailChimp (there are many others but these three are the ones that come to mind) – don’t forget to generate a “Join My Mailing List” link and add it to your fan page in the Info Tab or create a new Tab for it.

4. Looking for leads?  Using quotes at the start and finish of key words in the Search Box at the top will get you half way there, once you have the results – look at the left side menu options and click on public posts – you’ll get people who have used your key words in their posts whether you are connected to them or not.

You can comment back to them with advice or a link back to your website.  So if you are making XYZ candles and do a search on “i love candles” – be careful to read the context and then craft a nice intro comment to let them know about your candles.  Remember to do the searches while you are using the Facebook page that you want to represent so your comments will be from the page you want them to see!  If you forget and notice while you are crafting the best ever response – just add a tag to your Facebook Page in the body of your comment.

5. Did you know that you can drive traffic to your Facebook page by advertising that people “like”your page by texting to Facebook?  On your marketing materials suggest that cell phone users “fan”your Facebook page by texting “Fan -insert name of your page” to 32665.

Example:  Text “Fan myEZWebpro “to 32665.

If you are a speaker or presenter – this would make a great final slide.  If you are a band or theatrical group, add it to your posters and other promo material.  Put it on the back of your business cards.

If you have questions about these tips or if you have tips to share, please add as a comment to the blog, and I’ll get back to you – or share your tip in a future post.

Have a great weekend!

Feb1

Up at the Crack of Dawn Today

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Up at the Crack of Dawn Today

I rose early this morning – 4:30-ish – to trek across the city of Dallas and meet with a fellow writer who wanted some advice on kick-starting her writing business. We’re also involved in a mystery-writing critique group, so the foggy mist that obscured the White Rock Lake area along Northwest Highway seemed the perfect setting for our get-together. It was literally so foggy that I held the wheel with both hands and peered over it into a pea-soup cloud. The good news – all the traffic was headed west, and I was going east, so I didn’t have to worry about cars right around me as I strained my eyes to see the lane markings.  Meeting at 6:30 a.m. is a rare event for me.  But J. is a rare friend, and I didn’t mind giving up a little sleep to meet with her.

Today my friend wanted to talk more about business-oriented writing services rather than our usual creative novel-writing pursuits. Like many experienced writers she is learning to transition from traditional marketing to the new age of social media, with all its complexities.  We had a great brain-storming session and she left with some good ideas about how to promote her work.  She wants a website, so my suggestion was to use WordPress as her starting point, because it is intuitive, easy to use, and free or low-cost, depending upon the options chosen.  I encouraged her to set up a LinkedIn profile, but I’m not sure she is ready to do so.  I also showed her a blog post by Carol Tice, whose blog and website I’ve found both practical and thought-provoking.  Carol is a successful free-lance writer and award-winning blogger who recently wrote about where her writing business came from in 2011.

There are other options, of course.  Using the telephone to contact her targeted customers is one possibility, with a follow-up letter and/or email.  She might consider doing a newsletters using an online tool like ConstantContact, iContact, or AWeber, but a traditional printed newsletter might be an option for her, also.  She can do it on her computer and have it printed at an office supply store like Office Depot.  We also discussed magazines that use free-lance writers and would be interested in her travel-writing skills.   Please note that the advice I gave her was geared to someone who is not yet comfortable with social media.  It’s about dangling one’s legs in the water and adjusting at a slower pace rather than diving in headfirst.

I’m eager to see where my friend goes from here.  J. has many years of experience in writing, ghost-writing, travel writing, resume writing and editing books and marketing materials for all kinds of businesses, so I know she’ll do well with her writing endeavors.  I’m also hoping to see her pursue her dream of self-publishing the mystery novels she has written, since she’s one of the best writers I’ve ever read – honestly – and her work should be out there for readers to find.  She’s a published writer already, but she doesn’t currently have an agent or publisher.  That shouldn’t hold her back.  Lots of writers are finding success by self-publishing.  It’s a brave new world, and everyone – writers, publishers, agents, and even readers – is learning to swim in unfamiliar waters without any floaties.

I’ll keep you posted once she gets her online presence in place.  And I guarantee you, her books will not begin with “It was a dark and stormy night….” and they will keep you perched on the edge of your easy chair, reading long past your bedtime.

Jan30

A team of ONE

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A team of ONE

If you are an artist, consultant, sole proprietor you may be missing out on the value of feeling a part of a team.  One of the advantages of larger companies (and one I hear most often that is missed by ex-employees) is the daily socializing with co-workers and team mates.  A recent article on the Gallup Management Journal – “The Business of Good Friends” talks about the five essentials for personal well-being, one of which is “Social Wellbeing” which includes 5 to 6 hours a day of socializing.  This happens most frequently as socializing with co-workers.

But what if you are one of the aforementioned lone or small business?  How do you manage to attend to your Social Wellbeing then?

Extend your concept of team.

For example: the postal employee that delivers your daily mail – make a point of introducing yourself and saying “hi”; do the same at the library or the office supply shop.  Get to know your “extended team mates”, they contribute to your success, don’t they?

Plus, the socializing helps to spread the word about your small business – you can get practice in, explaining what you do and getting additional “word of mouth” exposure.

Let me know how this works for you (yes, emails and chatting count as socializing).