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  • Learn to blog like a professional

    There was a point early in my career, where I built a Twitter presence that (at the time) was on the Top 100 Most Followed list and a blog that was one of the more respected social media and marketing outlets in Washington state. For the bean counters, that was somewhere around 7,500 Twitter followers and over 2,000 daily unique visitors all without advertising and no guest blogging.

    I learned a lot from that experience, but maybe more importantly, what I got from it was a lot of connections and two jobs at agencies that increased my income, visibility, responsibility, and opportunities to learn. Once I was on the path to success though, I did not see the need to continue investing in my blog because I was busy enough that I had to make a choice – keep investing in the blog in the hope that I get more and bigger opportunities while potentially squandering the new opportunities I had just gotten or let the blog languish and focus on making the most of the new opportunities. I chose the latter. That was 2008.

    Blogging is not a magic pill

    Since then, blogging has acquired this image of being a magic pill.

    There are bloggers like Rand, or Fred, or Mark, or Seth that write prolifically and seem to soar above the rest of us as a result, and what do you do when you want success for yourself? You model success. The problem that so many people run into is that it’s not the blogging that makes these guys successful. They all have their own businesses, and those take up the majority of their time. They just also happen to blog, and let us not forget perhaps the most important thing here.

    They happen to run great businesses, and running a great business is what makes them popular and successful. Their blogs are simply vehicles for sharing their businesses and their greatness. A blog is almost never a business itself.

    It's all about me
    via Nina Matthews Photography

    “I’m going to start blogging to market myself.”

    And, that is the thing that really baffles me. Blogging can be great, but it’s a business tool. It’s almost never a business in and of itself, so why start investing your time in blogging before you know that either you are producing great work or your business is really worth promoting?

    My recommendation is this. Build a great business. Do great work. Produce something that is so valuable that other people blog about you or it first. Then maybe, start your own blog to market yourself or your business.

  • 7 Simple Ways to Use Pinterest for Business

    Although many businesses struggle to use social media to their benefit, the ones that effectively harness it make huge gains in at least awareness and retention, if not also revenue. With Pinterest being the latest large social media tool, there is again an opportunity for you to gain ground in social media before your competitors learn how to use it.

    To best ways to use Pinterest for your business are:

    • Offer Important Information -You can be a source of helpful information to prospective customers who are researching on the Internet. Pinterest is the best of both worlds, because you can use it share advice while spreading the word about your business, all at the same time. Pin data that can solve a common problem and people will want to follow your boards, and share or repin your pins, making your Pinterest viral in a good way.
    • Register Your Business Properly -Register a Pinterest account using the same email address you input on other social network registration forms. Include your business name as your username, so that people will easily remember and recognize you. Post new content or a comment in multiple social networking sites. Add your business website link to every pin to increase website traffic. Most visitors prefer to click on a presented link rather than having to search around for your website.

    Register your business

    • Consider Contests-The best way to make your website popular is to run frequent contests. Websites generally give small prizes, while others give high priced items, such as iPads. Require entrants to share the link to the contest in order to enter. The more friends a contestant brings in, the higher the chances of winning.
    • Showcase Your Personality-Funny or interesting pins get more attention than boring pins. People often follow others who have interesting things to share. Topics that interest you are a good source of material, because there will surely be users who have the same interest. Having a profile photo can also help you gain followers.

    Showcase your personality

    • Follow Big Names on Pinterest-Just because you follow a celebrity or big brand doesn’t mean that they will pay attention to you, but interacting with their content can expose you to their audiences and potentially draw people to your account and then your website.
    • Pin Daily-Pin regularly to establish an online presence. Most people prefer to see something fresh and interesting. They are hungry for updates and gossips. So maintain your Pinterest account and post regularly to attract new followers.
    • Take Your Time -Making a new account on Pinterest does not automatically give you thousands of friends. You have to devote time to adding and retaining your Pinterest friends. Relationships do not happen overnight so you have to invest in time for them to grow.

    The best thing about Pinterest is that it is new and exciting, gaining the attention of many Internet users by taking advantage of the concept that people like to look at images rather then read large blocks of text. Once you create an account and start pinning, you’ll find adding and maintaining your Pinterest boards to be quite addictive and lots of fun. Imagine taking such an enjoyable activity and being able to increase your sales with it; it’s a win-win situation for everyone.

  • THE 2 ways to get over fears

    In September, Seth Godin wrote about Talker’s Block and how no one gets it – unlike Writer’s Block – because we’re so accustomed to speaking and having our words mean little. They rarely get recorded and come back to bite us so we don’t have to get over fears of talking and therefore never get Talker’s Block.

    As a little FYI, I’m not one of those do-something-every-day-that-scares-the-shit-out-of-you guys. Those people annoy the crap out of me, but some of them don’t simply do things that scare themselves just to satisfy the edict. They actually think about the outcomes of their efforts, and for that, I won’t go so far as to say that movement is stupid.

    You are a fearful thing

    Whether it’s spiders, or snakes, or tigers, or something else, you are afraid of it. Yet, when was the last time you were in a situation where one of those could have actually harmed you? Similarly, if you are one of the great majority, you fear speaking in front of people more than death.

    Both of these two types of fears are born into every human being. Our ancestors didn’t have guns or armor or vehicles or houses. They huddle under lean-tos for shelter and ran at the first sight or sound of danger. What else could they do? They were weak compared to the true predators surrounding them. At the same time, many cultures promoted homogenization of thought and character, so stepping out of line by saying or doing something different caused you to be shunned and socially punished, which could result in less food, attention, mating opportunities, wealth, and more.

    And, these fears stay with us. Society and our own nature promote them.

    How do you get over fears?

    There is nothing to fear

    Number one – There is nothing to fear.

    I spend a lot of time teaching others – speaking, training, presenting, developing my team, coaching teens, and more – and I’ve been very fortunate to not only only be skilled at a few things, but to also have had a life thus far that provides me with opportunities to try lots of things. I hope that’s not bragging. I’ve been very fortunate. I:

    • moved overseas by myself with no job and found myself working on a goat milk farm.
    • literally almost caused my own death skydiving.
    • have been hit by a car
    • impaled my abdomen on a tree branch when falling from a tree.
    • fell over 50 feet from a tree a different time and walked away with only a broken wrist.
    • and more.

    I say all that to put into perspective that I have fears, but I get over them, and when things go wrong, I survive, and you will too. What’s to fear about approaching a celebrity or hot chick (which I don’t do because I’m married) or speaking in front of a crowd when I nearly plunged to my death from 750 feet? Why not support someone that dreams to move overseas when I’ve done it with no plan and no experience and know what it’s like? How about helping people get over fears of speaking in front of others? The people in the audience are more afraid than they are.

    Your fears of almost everything are born into you. You fear speaking up for yourself in a meeting because your conditioning tells you not to. You fear approaching the A-lister because you’re worried about being judged. You shrink from the spider in your apartment, but can’t explain why. But, the consequences of those things are nothing nowadays. What happens if you speak up for yourself? Your case is heard. What happens if the A-lister rejects you? Nothing. They’re not in your circle and they don’t influence your friends. What’s that spider going to do? Bite you? You can squish it.

    Act on your fears
    via vancouverfilmschool

    Number two – Act on your fears.

    If you’ve ever worked with kids, you know what it’s like to say, “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Yet, you still fear. Heck, I still fear, but one big difference between the winners and the losers is that winners don’t let fear hold them back. Losers do. You don’t have to “do something that scares the shit out of you every day,” but you have to train yourself to recognize the reality of your fear.

    Irrational or inconsequential fear should be acted upon immediately. The longer you let yourself not talk to that person because you’re afraid, the harder it becomes, but the sooner you say something to them, the sooner you know whether or not it was a good idea. And, if you’re successful, you gain more confidence for the next time. If you’re not successful, you have more information to improve the next time.

    What do you get if you don’t act? NOTHING.

    Above, I listed a number of the bad things that have happened to me, but seriously, am I still here? Am a smart and confident person? Yes, and you are too when you act on your fears.

    Fear is an opportunity
    via Richawriter

    What do you have to lose if you try to get over your fears?

    Neither of us are stupid. We’re not going to put ourselves in harm’s way without being reasonably certain that the likelihood of something going terribly wrong is miniscule.

    Knowing that, what’s stopping you?

  • The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

    Who?

    People that like economics, sociology, psychology, politics, or being brainy.

    When?

    Whenever you get to it. There’s no rush.

    Why?

    The Black Swan is at the very least interesting for purely intellectual reasons.

    Best Quote

    When you develop your opinions on the basis of weak evidence, you will have difficulty interpreting subsequent information that contradicts these opinions, even if this new information is obviously more accurate.

    Review

    I tried to read this book once, but gave up not because it wasn’t interesting. It was. But rather, because I could not see how I would apply it to my work, and honestly, my time comes at enough of a premium that I don’t choose to make time for things that I’m not going to make use of in my career. A month or two after giving it up, Kim Alfreds strongly recommended that I go back to it, which I did. I’m glad that I finished reading it because it was a good book, and I can definitely apply what I learned to things in my personal life, but strictly within my career, I’m at a loss for how I’m really going to use this information.

    The Black Swan is all about the idea that some things, and increasingly more things, are simply unpredictable. The name itself stems from the fact that Europeans believed that a defining characteristic of a swan was that it is white until they saw a black swan in Australia. They had no way to predict that swans could be black because it simply wasn’t in their model that that could be a possibility. Similarly, Taleb argues that many things in life are unpredictable because we do not possess the faculties to take every potential event into account.

    Last Word

    I found Taleb’s argument fascinating, if at times a little over my head honestly, but in the time since I have read this book (now twice), I still have not encountered any situation in which I have used the information outside of a normal intellectual debate. As such, you should read The Black Swan is a worthwhile read if it sounds interesting to you and you don’t already have something that will more directly impact you to read.

  • Dogbert’s Top Secret Management Handbook by Scott Adams

    Who?

    Anyone that has ever worked for a business with more than 5 people.

    When?

    Anytime.

    Why?

    Because it’s hilarious and so cynical that anyone can relate to at least one part of the book, if not multiple parts.

    Best Quote

    If you are not a manager, put this book down right now.

    Review

    You will enjoy this book if you are a manager or work in a business that is in any way the least bit corporate. Yes, it’s cynical, and yes, not every aspect of the book will match your environment, but having worked for a 200 person company that I really enjoyed, I still found the book hilarious.

    If you are a manager, you will especially enjoy Dogbert’s Top Secret Management Handbook because you can guarantee that one or more of your bosses has some of the negative management characteristics Dogbert describes, and despite your best intentions, you do too. This is as one Goodreads reviewer said, “A compendium of helpful management tips outlining strategies for doing little work, taking all the credit and inflicting mental anguish on employees.”

    Last Word

    Dogbert’s Top Secret Management Handbook is short and goes by fairly quickly especially if you get the audiobook, which I recommend. Take a break from your normal business books, and let your brain relax a little bit with some business-related humor and cynicism.

  • Book Review: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

    Who?

    Anyone interested in how we make decisions.

    When?

    Put it in your queue.

    Why?

    It’s a fascinating book, and at something like 3,400 words, it is also a quick read.

    Best Quote

    We have, as human beings, a storytelling problem. We’re a bit too quick to come up with explanations for things we don’t really have an explanation for.

    Review

    In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell examines how we make decisions – with the major focus being on split second decisions. He uses military engagement, police shootings, soda taste tests, art forgeries, and many other examples to show how humans do a better job with split second decisions than they do with more data and more time to think in many cases, but he also demonstrates how we frequently use split second decision making skills at times when they are wholly ineffective. Examples of this are times when we are agitated and therefore do not have as much energy or attention to devote to a decision as well as times when we’re primed for a specific response.

    Blink is a great taste test for anyone looking to learn a little about decision making, but it won’t give you so much that you feel you have to abandon the book if it’s note your cup of tea.

    Last Word

    I found Blink very intriguing and wish that Malcolm Gladwell had gone into further detail about nearly every point he touches on. Yes, I know that he’s really just referencing others’ works, and that’s fine by me. I’m not however the type of person that is going to sit down and read the latest from the annals of psychiatry or anything like that. It won’t happen, so having something like Malcolm Gladwell pull together all of these disparate and seemingly related stories is something I find valuable.

  • How to successfully market your small business using Facebook

    You know you have to be on Facebook. There’s no question about that. The problem you and thousands, probably tens of thousands, of business owners face is, “I’m on Facebook. Now, what do I do?”

    Profiles are for individuals. Pages are for companies and other organizations.


    Since you have a small business, you’ll want to create a page by going to the main Facebook Pages page and clicking on Create Your Own in the upper right. The only cases in which I recommend only using a Facebook Profile are when you’re a public figure of some sort like a politician, celebrity, or sports star. In those cases, you can just allow people to subscribe to the updates you post publicly on your profile, and this way, you don’t have to bother splitting your attention and time between a profile and a page.

    Interact with Your Fans through Asking Questions

    For you to attract and maintain friends and customers on Facebook, you have to give them an experience that they 1) value and 2) can’t get anywhere else. Sadly, most small businesses think they can just post pictures of the latest products or bits of information about what happened recently at the company, and people will love that. The truth is that posting about products often makes people feel like you’re just asking them to by and that the goings on in your office, store, or whatever else have to be really exciting. Otherwise, your posts are just noise.

    Let’s say you run a showroom that sells bath furnishings. Your customers are people remodeling, or building, their own bathrooms and their contractors. When one of them comes into your showroom, pick up on what they really like. Then, after they leave, see if they like you on Facebook…hopefully, you asked them to before they left though. Post a picture of something you think they might like and mention the person with something like, “We thought that Lin Wormley might love this for his new bathroom. What do you think, Lin?”

    When you mention one person by name, it’s common for others to take notice, so you might get some likes or even comments from other people. I worked on some things like this with a coffee shop once. Frequently, we would post a beautiful looking latte or even a new odd creation from a barista, and we would tag a customer, whose name we had just learned. The thing that we had to ask for from the staff was, “Give us a customer’s name, talk to them while you’re making their drink so that you learn about what interests them, and then tell them that we’ll give them a shout out on our page the next time we have something they’ll like.”

    Post Interesting Content

    As a Facebook marketer, you need to attract friends, start a conversation, and keep it going. Conversation pieces need to be selected carefully and should be of public interest. Make sure that what you post or share in terms of videos, photos, audio, or ideas is interesting and will keep people talking about it. Be vigilant about the content you post on your Facebook page, keeping it fresh and up to date.

    One of the best ways to figure out what’s working for you is to set a schedule where you have a content type – video, audio, trivia, news, etc – combined with a message type – question, statement, customer call out, humor, etc. Put together a schedule where you cycle through every possible combination of these and then see which ones got the most response. For bonus points, you can also track this by time of day and day of week to really see what works for you and your audience. Once you find out, focus on the things that give you the best return.

    Facebook Insights will give you a lot of information on what’s working, but my preference is to use something like PageLever or Edgerank Checker because these and other similar services do almost all of the measurement work for you.

    Have Contests to Promote Fan Building

     

    We all love to win things, and we love the thrill of knowing that we just might be picked for a contest or competition. It makes us feel special. You need to create this feeling for your fans. If you’re a local furniture shop, hold a contest where everyone that likes your page and gives you their email address will be entered to win a certain piece of furniture or a $100 gift card. If you’re a plumber, give away an hour’s worth of work anytime that person wants it.

    One of the keys here is to not just get people to like your page and give you their email address (hello email marketing), but also to make sure that your page is worth liking whether you were to give away something or not. Having a page that posts engaging, interesting, and compelling content ensures that your new fans will not just unlike you as soon as the contest ends.

    Conclusion

    While social media is great and Facebook can do a lot for you, don’t forget that you don’t ultimately control your Facebook page like you do your store or website or email list. If Facebook decides to make a change to how it works tomorrow, you can’t do anything about it. As a result, you should cultivate the best page you can, but remember to motivate your fans to sign up for email, give you a call, or connect to you through as many other channels as you have so that, if anything ever does happen to your Facebook page, you’ll have another channel to connect to your customers through.

  • EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey

    Who?

    Anyone interested in leadership or growing a team or business.

    When?

    Put it in your queue.

    Why?

    This is a well-written book from a passionate and experienced entrepreneur/writer/speaker/trainer.

    Best Quote

    Zig Ziglar says, “People say motivation doesn’t last, well neither does bathing, that is why we recommend both daily.”

    Review

    I didn’t want to like this book. Dave Ramsey seems like a great guy, but for some reason, I want to find something to disagree with him about. Unfortunately, he has written a book that demonstrates passion, focus, dedication, and his own his ethics, and I find that difficult to question.

    In EntreLeadership, Dave Ramsey talks through his trials and tribulations as a real estate agent and leadership and management trainer and speaker over 20 years in business. Whether you agree with his conservative, Christian values or not, they shine through bright and clear and help you to see that Dave Ramsey advocates that leaders build employees that are not clock punchers or seat fillers, but rather entrepreneurs and leaders in their own right. He conveys this through discussing management techniques that he has developed and problems that he has handled in the past.

    Last Word

    I was impressed by EntreLeadership mostly Dave Ramsey seems to have put so much of himself into it that you come away feeling like he’s been right there guiding you the whole time. Reading EntreLeadership is like having Dave Ramsey there giving a private training, so while I wouldn’t say that you should run out right now to get this book, I do recommend that you put EntreLeadership on your reading list and get to it soon.

  • Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath

    Who?

    Anyone that needs their ideas to affect others – teachers, managers, entrepreneurs, preachers, parents, activists, etc.

    When?

    Put it in your queue. If it takes you a long time to go through your reading list, move Made to Stick to the top.

    Why?

    Made to Stick is a great examination of why some ideas stick and others do not. This is immensely valuable for anyone that works in an idea or attention business.

    Best Quote

    The Curse of Knowledge: when we are given knowledge, it is impossible to imagine what it’s like to LACK that knowledge.

    Review

    The best thing that you can learn from this book is that less is more. As a person that lives and dies by their ability to effectively share an idea, taking the lessons of Made to Stick to heart will take you leaps and bounds ahead of those around you. When you need to make a sale, leave your audience wanting more. Need to raise money? Make your pitch as simple as possible. Lecturing your teen? Shorten your lecture. People don’t want to hear you talk. They want to hear themselves talk.

    The worst thing you can do is ignore the curse of knowledge. Chip and Dan’s book gives example after example of why we have such a hard time believing that everyone will see it our way if we just give them enough information. Coming away from this book, you will hopefully be able to persuade your audience using an elevator pitch rather than a speech.

    Last Word

    Knowledge can be a curse when you’re in the idea business. You get blinded by what you know and take for granted that not everyone shares the same knowledge set or relates to it in the same way, and as a result, you do your best to give enough information to persuade your audience with facts and grand arguments and plenty of background. When in reality, shortening and narrowing your idea is often more effective.

  • How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: The Secrets of Good Communication by Larry King

    Who?

    Anyone interested in increasing self-confidence, meeting more people, and improving their personal or professional relationships.

    When?

    As soon as you realize that face-to-face communication is important for your life.

    Why?

    How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere is so short, written by a very experienced and confident conversationalist, and to the point that it’s a shame not to take the little bit of time you need to breeze through it.

    Best Quote

    You cannot talk to people successfully if they think you are not interested in what they have to say or you have no respect for them.

    Review

    Like How to Win Friends and Influence People, How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere really seems like feel-good self-help book that will tell you just to be nice, and if you do it well, good things will come to. It’s not. Yes, there are lessons in Larry King’s book that deal with being nice, smiling, and acting like you’re interested in others, but there is much more to it than that.

    Larry King is one of the best interviewers around. He knows how to get information out of the most belligerent, reserved, or weird people you can find. How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere teaches you how to:

    1. More effectively start conversations.
    2. Listen for key points of pain, need, sympathies, wants, and more in others.
    3. Give a speech that sticks with your audience.

    Last Word

    How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere is a short, fast read from one of the most seasoned and experienced people in the field of, well, talking. The lessons Larry King imparts are simple, but if you apply them to your life, I guarantee that you will find yourself getting ahead faster than ever.

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