Teachers are Sexy
I remember the first teacher I had a crush on. I mean, I don’t remember her name, but I remember her. She taught my Junior high school English class. She had long black hair, a winning smile and a way of making prepositions seem so very, very naughty . . .
. . . But anyway, teachers are sexy. And teaching? Even sexier.
And through Biznik you (yes, you!) can be a teacher. All you have to do is sign up to give a Biznik seminar. Pick a topic, pick a time, pick a place and WHAM you’re well on your way to teaching your very own Biznik class.
Why would you want to put it all that time and effort into sharing your hard-earned knowledge with your fellow Bizniks?
Well, all sorts of reasons:
1. It’ll make you feel good about yourself.
2. It’s a great way to promote your business and get other Bizniks talking about you. Teach a good, useful class (one that’s more than just a two-hour commercial for your business) and you’ll quickly get your fellow Bizniks on your side.
3. It’s fun.
4. It’s a great way to build up your self confidence and hone down your business message.
5. As stated above over and over, teaching is sexy. By teaching a class you’ll increase your persnal sexiness by 30 or perhaps even 33 percent. You just can’t get that kind of return anywhere else.
So, you, the phenomenally talented Biznik reading this screen, do yourself–and your sexiness–a favor, write Dan McComb and sign up to teach your very own Biznik class. Do it today!
3 Comments Scot Duke: The One Minute Commercial Is Dead!
Biznik member Scot Duke has begun posting a thoughtful multi-part review on the state of business networking on his blog. He’s given us permission to repost it here. Thanks Scot, and without further introduction, here’s his post…
I have spent the last two years looking at the way Network Groups are run, the businesses who attend them and the business that develops. I have done more than 100 one-on-one meetings, which is way below average for most business networkers so is not real impressive, but what I got out of the conversations validates the points I will make.
Let me start with describing the different types or styles of networking groups that are out there and are developing.
The Meal Ticket Groups: These are the traditional mainstay old fashion approaches to capturing business people over a meal in hopes they will purge themselves of sales leads and business connections while shoving a chicken leg down their neck. I called the groups who meet for breakfast, lunch or dinner the Meal Ticket Groups because generally you have to be invited to attend by someone who is a member of the group and they generally provoke you to attend my telling you they will buy your lunch…the meal ticket..
The history behind this style of networking meeting is they were organized to appease to the business people, who are mostly sales people that have daily sales quotas to meet, business people who cannot (or even worst, will not) manage their business day or business owners who have so many operational problems that they cannot get away from the office longer than the time it takes to eat breakfast or lunch. The business people who like the breakfast’s state they like to get the networking out of the way early so it does not interrupt them getting started with dealing with problems for the rest of the day. The same goes with the Lunch networking meeting being the only time they can get away from the office and need a break from dealing with problems. The Dinner Networking is probably the best of the meal networking meetings but usually is not well attended due to business people either wanting to deal with late day problems or wanting to get home for family time. But, the dinner meetings do provide a calmer group to network with since it allows the members of the group to relax, have a glass of wine and visit.
The bottomline: Most of these meetings formulated around the meal as a draw thinking that it would let business people kill two birds with one stone…eat and meet. But, from the conversations I have had with these networkers it seemed that a lot of businesses out there that cannot manage their time or know how to set up their operations where problems are taken care of or become non-existing so can spend as much time as they need to networking. There is a way, but I will have to discuss how to this is done in another article.
The Boardroom Networking Groups: This version of business networking popped up a couple of years ago and provided some needed optimism in the business networking arena until the leaders of these groups made an unwise attempt to make boardroom networking a profitable business. But, this kind of meeting, where a small group of people gather in a Non-meal related boardroom atmosphere, provides for a more business approach to networking. The boardroom feel fit well with the business executives and others who wear three piece suits everyday even if they done have a reason to, or need to.
Bottomline: This is a great way business people to get their message across to other people without having to break the ice by asking for someone to pass the pepper sauce or if they have any Zantacs.
The Social Networking Groups: This gathering of business people in a social style is probably the most effective. These groups are close to being a Dinner Networking groups but veer off from serving a meal by organizing social outings like wine tasting, horse racing, culinary classes or other gathers that naturally lend to promoting a sharing atmosphere. Social Networking Groups (SNG’s) are relatively a new and refreshing approach to networking. The SNG work well as a by-product of the even more effective and very popular online business networking groups that are being created across the country. The SNG draws in all types of business and generally produces a more quality business connection. Bottomline: The SNG, managed correctly, is the direction business networking needs to go. And I LIKE THE SNG’s.
What is common with all of these groups, and will be the death to all business networking groups, is they mandate a One Minute Commercial to be given by each person who attends any of these styles of networking meetings. What a bunch of crap… Even in the case of the boardroom meetings that provide a full five minutes, if you have heard one financial advisers spill you have heard them all. In some cases it might even be best that in the large groups that the leaders ask that all financial advisors get on one side of the room and provide their one minute spill in ocopela. And the Real Estate agents get on the other side and mime their pitch to the insurance agents. At least that would provide the rest of the group who do not have large marketing budgets with some entertainment.
The traditionalists who keep this type of networking groups alive are not very innovative and feel that a one-minute commercial is the only way to effectively find out what the person does or provides the business world. I hope they put the lid down when they got through thinking that approach out.
As far as the groups that mandates the requirement of each member to produce a sales lead to keep their membership. I call this the one-two knockout punch to the group, the one-minute commercial and the mandated sale leads. Why do they do this? In the interviews I have with members and leaders of the mandated sales leads groups they feel that it is a complete waste of their time if they are not produced with a positive sales lead at each weeks meeting. In reviewing these individuals business I find that their profit margins are so small that they can not produce a profit until they produce large volumes of sales. All of this is due to a saturation of the market they are in business for and having to reduce their profit margins to compete. Most of these guys and gals live for the pleasure of the deal and really have lost touch with how to treat people.
Bottomline: These groups have to change and purge the groups of members who do not like change or cannot (or again, do not want to) change.
The concept of Business Networking has to change before there will ever be any improvement or before more viable business people who representing the entire economy will attend these groups. There are a number of options these groups need to consider and the main one is to drop the one-minute commercial. It does not produce anything including information about the person’s business. All it does is force the person to demean their business by having to come up with catchy slogans and phrases that does noting to improve their business image. Why do I say this? Because I have done the one-minute commercial so many times I get bored with it. And if I am bored so are the people that have to hear it, especially if they are the same people I presented it to the last time we met. And as the groups get smaller the problem gets worst.
In other words the One-Minute Commercial is dead and will kill the group if the leaders do not find other ways to tell people who attend the meetings what the others in attendance do for a living. A very simple solution to a cancerous problem.
Why do I say the One-Minute Commercial is dead? Well, it primarily is due to about 90% of the people who do them do not have a clue on how to do them effectively and the 10% who do know how usually provide information on a service or product that is better advertised by the media advertisement and means better suited to their business than at a networking group.
Bottomline: What kills a networking group is lack of growth and the businesses that lay claim to the group. Why is there lack of growth with all of the start-up businesses and new businesses? In the many conversations I have had with business people I have met in networking groups I find that they are either just joined the group or leaving the group. The reason they just joined the group is that the other groups they were in had the same people every week and more Financial Advisors, Insurance Agents, MLM’s and Real Estate Agents represented in the group than any other kind of business in the group. Don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends golfing partners are FA’s, Insurance agents and real estates. (Do I have to say why I don’t have any MLM’S as frineds?)
Those people leaving the group were tired of speaking to the same group of people and hearing (or in most cases, getting repeatedly hit on for sales leads) the same one-minute commercials by the same business. Seems this is the nature of the beast when it comes to networking groups, but can change by getting rid of the One Minute Commercial. Take that away and put the information in writing for all who attend to review while they eat, or after they get back to their office, would be much more productive than sitting in a room with 100 business people each giving a one minute commercial. Come on! Even I, who had been in the business world for more than 30 years, know it is 2006, and there are many, many other ways to get your message across than standing up and filling the air for a minute.
So, someone write the eulogy for this type of business networking because the One-Minute Commercial Is Dead…
I’ll be back later to talk about Online Business Networking, the future of Business Networking. Stay tuned…
1 CommentDavid Best calls for creating large-scale public art temple to honor those who died in Capitol Hill shooting
Internationally recognized artist David Best gave an impassioned plea for members of the Burning Man community in Seattle to turn our grief into art last night at the Ignition Northwest Town Hall meeting in West Seattle. He called for us to create a large-scale temple dedicated to honoring the members of our community who died last weekend in the Capitol Hill shooting. David is intimately familiar with the subject of grief, and has made a name for himself as an artist with his massive temples dedicated to honoring the memory of people who have died. He has been doing work like this for a long time, not only at Buring Man, where his huge structures have been a focal point of the event, but also more recently in San Francisco, where one of his temples was erected last year.
Also at last night’s event at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, Lara and I presented Biznik to the Burning Man community in Seattle. I want to say a big “thank you” to Ignition Northwest for including Biznik in the program. Lara and I met through participation in Buring Man, and virtually all of the original members of this group were Burners. So it’s no exaggeration to say that without this community, Biznik wouldn’t exist, and without the ideals of collaboration and participation which we’ve incorporated into Biznik, it wouldn’t matter.
So we plan to throw ourselves into making this temple happen, starting with a fundraiser event this Saturday to raise money for creating this public artwork. Stay tuned for details.
Temple photo by Pmatt Freedman
Sending Compassion and Mercy
We were shocked and saddened by the news of the Capitol Hill shooting Saturday morning. Dan and I, along with a large number of Bizniks are a part of the community that enjoys the electronic music scene in Seattle and it left an emptiness in our stomachs. The culture of warmth, generosity and inclusiveness we experience as members of the Seattle arts and music scene are a part of the Biznik ideology too. This event is senseless. We wish to send our deepest sympathy for those suffering.
Fellow Biznik, Rev. Elke Siller Macartney, posted some beautiful words today in Biz Talk and I wanted to share them here:
“I suggest that all of us compassionate bizniks send compassion and mercy to those left behind; and send these thoughts to those who’ve been taken off planet: ‘Journey to the Light, dear ones.’
Peace to all who have lost loved ones recently or a long time ago.”
Spookee business
Now, if there’s one skill that everyone who’s ever tried to run a business could use, it’s a little “foresight.” That’s something that Biznik member Spookee seems to have a lot of. So much, in fact, that she’s making a name and a profession for herself by giving psychic readings at Seattle nightclubs such The Capitol Club, Contour, and The Chapel. I was bar tending at a fundraiser recently where she caught my eye, and since then I’ve been looking forward to interviewing her about how “no one ever really dies, everything is interconnected, and you are never alone.” Today’s the day!
Q: How’d you get the name Spookee?
All my life I’ve kept telling people things that I shouldn’t have known and making offhand remarks to people that were really prophetic. People would look at me and say I was spooky.
When I was 17 my high school boyfriend took pictures of me in a beautiful old cemetery. When he developed them, all of the pictures of me had clouds in front of me, and the ones of the monuments alone were perfectly clear. He teased me, “Hey, maybe you’re a medium,” “What’s that?” “You know, one of those women who wears a turban and does seances and talks to dead people.”
I laughed at him and shoved him. Joke was on me.
Most psychics choose a name based on mythology, and as a result you get 500 psychics with the same name. But I’m also a wiseass from the East Coast, so I decided to tell it like it is: I’m extremely empathic like Counselor Troy on Star Trek or Phoebe on Charmed. I also talk to spirits, so to some people I am Spooky. The email name spooky was taken so I became “Spookee” spookeelittlegirl@yahoo.com.
Q: Can you really see the future and spirits?
I see the future, present and the past actually, yes spirits too. I’m getting really good at guessing baby genders, too.
I was at a friend’s house and looked out of a window on the stairs I never look out of and noticed a branch about to fall on his car and told him to move it. “I’ll do it later”, he said. If only he had listened it wouldn’t have totaled it an hour later when it fell. Made a cool sound.
I say “I told you so” a lot, but people don’t mind.
I’ve told people looking for love about people they’d meet in the future. What they’d look like, their personality. I’ve told them enough that they wouldn’t just throw themselves at the first blonde woman they saw, so they would know when they met them.
Once I was talking to a mother and son who were thanking me for a reading I’d done for him. I suddenly saw a muddy field strewn with bodies in civil war uniforms rifles and crows and the word Gettysburg. The mother and son were having a nice time out together so I didn’t bring it up.
A few months later I asked if they’d had any ancestors who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, and they had. I’ve seen the Battle of Gettysburg like my own memory. War is bad.
My specialty is Grandmas. Maybe because I was so close to mine. When Grandma says she looooooves you, believe her! When a ghost barges in to the conversation it’s almost always Grandma.
Q: Why Grandmas? Is there something about female energy that is more, what’s the word, “communicative” in that way?
Nope. Communication is as individual there as it is here. Everyone has their methods and specialties. Some transfer emotion, others spell words, or play pictionary with me, some people are gentle or pushy. It’s not gender specific. Grandma just loooooooooves you like no other. Grandma wants to see “her” baby, she’ll do whatever it takes. Once grandma comes she usually stays til the end of the reading — or longer. Grandpa’s come in second.
Q: Is this a skill you can teach, or are you pretty much born with it?
I don’t believe children have “imaginary friends.” I don’t believe in coincidence anymore, either.
Psychic ability is like musical ability: People have it to varying degrees, and they can learn it to varying degrees. I’ve taught people what their abilities are, so they could develop them.
Everyone has intuition, it’s part of survival instinct. In some cases people have it more, more than they’d even want to. Sometimes people who are skeptical are psychics themselves and just don’t want to deal with it — they’re psychic bashers.
Q: What’s the most common question you hear from your clients?
“When will I find my TRUE LOVE?! When?! Now?! Where?!”
I love love, I’m a romantic, I like that question. I’ll tell them who I see on the horizon.
Q: Let me guess the second most popular question: “When will I/how will I make money?”
It’s funny, questions seem to come in waves. Lately I’m not getting so many love questions as I am “what should I study in school?” “What profession should I pursue?” With that I address what their heart wants and what their pocketbook wants and I leave it to them which to choose, or how to combine the two. My visions have more to do with how they can work it out.
Q: Tell me a ghost story…
My Dad wanted to put a headstone on his mother’s grave. She died when he was a teenager, about ten years before I was born. He was too dazed to remember where she was buried. His dad was gone already and he was alone. He told me because of segregation she could be in one of three cemeteries. I saw a tree that copied itself and rotated so that it looked like an arch. I told him which I thought it was. “Shady Grove.”
My father booked a hotel for four days and we flew to Florida. The day after we got there we went to the cemetery I’d told him about. I asked my Grandmother where she was buried and she indicated an area, and I said you have to be more specific or they won’t believe me. She said “OK.” The graveskeeper couldn’t find her on the computer, but found her in the old index cards. “Now we have to see where she’s buried,” he said. I pointed, “Over there.” He looked at me and then looked at the card and said, “You’re right she is, but we have to find the plot.”
We walked over and I saw two trees leaning in to each other like an arch. I stood between them and thought “What a nice place to rest.” My father and the graveskeeper were still referring to the card, so I walked away to look at the headstones. I didn’t feel my grandmother near me anymore. So I walked back to where my Father was in time to hear the graveskeeper say “Well, she’s at 22 and this is 33, so she’s one over and one back, between those two trees.” Exactly where I had been standing. I chose a headstone for her and we were done the first day.
That was how I told my father I was psychic. He’s a scientist I know he wouldn’t have believed me unless he saw it for himself.
Spookee has more ghost stories on her website at www.spookee.org/ghoststories.html
You can catch her at a Pure Cirkus event (lavishly beautiful website) or at Co-op Sundays at The Chapel Bar on Capitol Hill, where she is the house psychic.
Why We Hire Professionals
I was surfing around the web last week and stumbled across this:
Guy calls a plumber because he can’t figure out why his pipes are making
noise. Plumber comes in, inspects a few things, twists a knob and hands him
a bill for $300.
“Hey! The guy’s incensed. “How can you charge me $300 for twisting a knob?
The plumber answers “I’m not charging you for my time. I’m charging you for which knob and what to do with it.”
A Referral is a Promise
So in other, less-cool, less-revolutionary, less-amazingly-badass networking groups, referrals are treated like so much currency. Show up to one of those way-too-early in the morning meetings without one and you’ll be scowled at at best and fined and made to feel bad about yourself at worst.
But Biznik does things a little bit different.
I mean, don’t get me wrong. The whole point of this great green giant of an organization is to make connections and pass business around. We all want more clients, more customers and more (more, MORE!) money.
But if you never ever (ever) make a single referral to another Biznik member, that’s fine. Heck, we might even give you a little golf clap for your restraint.
Why?
Because in a lot of ways, when you make a referral you’re doing more than just putting two people together. In a lot of ways, when you make a referral, you’re putting yourself out there and making a promise. When you make a referral you’re saying to the person you’re referring to “I’ve got someone who has an actual need for or interest in your services and who I think would be a good customer for you” and you’re saying to the person you refer “I’ve got a professional who will take great care of you, provide amazing service and make you so happy your cheeks might just fall off from all
the smiling.”
And if your referral goes wrong? If person A isn’t so great a client and if person B isn’t so great a pro? Well, then that little promise you made all crumbles up to dust. And that’s no fun for anybody.
So, dear Bizniks, refer away, but don’t do so because you feel like you have to or because you like having big numbers next to your name. Refer away because you’re ready to make a promise.
Need a business card? “If you want to be noticed, Show Off”
Ever think running your own business might be a bit easier if you were 10 feet tall, could fly and throw lightning bolts? Thanks to Show Off Cards in Greensboro, North Carolina, super powers like those are just a reach for your business card away. I interviewed the Chief Show Off himself, who lights up the Biznik map from Greensboro, North Carolina, to learn more about his “be unforgettable” approach to making business cards.
Q: How’d you acquire the name Chief Show Officer? Do you ever reveal your real identity, or are you going to keep us guessing?
My title is one of those things that just happened. The beauty of running your own business is that you can use any title you want. I considered President or Owner but felt that they were too boring and pretentious. I then thought about Chief Executive Officer which morphed into Chief Show Officer or CSO (Get it? Chief ShowOff-icer).
As for my identity, nothing is a secret on the web so anyone inclined to do some snooping can find a picture of me but I work in a world of fantasy illustration so I think I’ll stick with that for now - at least until the statute of limitations expires.
Q: Creating business cards sounds like a pretty competitive field. How’d you get started, how long have you been at it, and how are you different from your competitors in the field (besides having a great job title)?
Competitive? It doesn’t get any more competitive than business cards. Heck, there are printers who will give you free cards if you don’t mind having their logo on the back. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 40 something years on this earth it’s that you can never win on price - someone is always willing to do it cheaper. So I didn’t get into the business card business to run in that rat race.
I got started in the middle of 2005 when my brother launched his own group benefits business and asked me to design a business card for him. I fired up the old computer and cranked out a traditional business card - and it was nice…nothing special…ok, it was kind of boring. Alright already, it was watching-paint-dry boring. Which reminded me of a quote by Seth Godin “Boring always fails. Winners are remarkable.” Wanting not to fail I set out to make a remarkable card. We decided to make an absolutely unforgettable card and went over the top with a muscled up version of him looming over his home city and Show Off Cards was born.
Show Off Cards are different from our competitors in a few ways.
1) First and foremost Show Off Cards are fun. There is not nearly enough fun in business these days. I mean isn’t that why entrepreneurs (see also: Bizniks) like us decide to hang out our shingle? So we can put the fun back in our work! (Please hold while I pull out my soapbox).
(Pulls out soapbox) If you are going to hand out a business card, and everybody does, why not hand out a fun card? a card that makes people smile? or laugh? or look at you as if to say “Are you for real?” For cryin’ out loud stop handing out “vanilla” business cards! (Puts soapbox away).
2) Show Off Cards are beautiful. Once you get your paws on one you will see that they are heavier and thicker than any business card you have likely ever received. The commissioned illustration is a work of art combining a facial caricature with a super hero body placed in a setting that tells an unforgettable story about the Show Off. The back of the card, in addition to traditional contact info, provides a few personal tidbits that help personalize you with the recipient and find a common point of interest.
3) They’re pricey. There I said it. Show Off Cards are more expensive than your average everyday business card. Why? Because they are not your average everyday business card (See items #1 and #2 above). Because we don’t simply stick your head on a stock superhero body, there is a lot of back and forth proofing on the customized illustration from concept through line art and finally colorization. We develop fully customized illustrations which take time and as we all know, time is money.
4) They make you unforgettable, which to quote MasterCard, is “Priceless.”
Q: Who is a good client for you?
Anyone who wants to be noticed. People tend to think that a Show Off Cards client has to be the classic type A “Hey look at me” type of person. Those type of people ARE great Show Off’s but I like to point out that the type B personality (and I am one - ask my type A wife) gets a much bigger bang for the buck from a Show Off Card.
If Jane, super sales person, hands out a Show Off Card it is definitely a show-stopper and gets a great reaction because the cards are so unique.
But stop for a minute and imagine the impact if the usually soft spoken buttoned-down bean counter hands out a Show Off Card that illustrates him leaping from behind his desk (visualize a secret service agent going into action) while reaching into his coat to pull a calculator from his shoulder holster! That guy just went from “Bill Who?” to “Bill (Packin’ Heat) Irvin”. He’ll be handing out cards at the next bored meeting like a rock star. More importantly, when there are hiring decisions to be made within or without his organization, and someone starts thinking CFO, Bill will be the image and name they recall.
In short, if you want to be noticed - Show Off.
Q: Your blog, http://showoffcards.blogspot.com/, is a really interesting read, and you share a lot of tidbits of information that go way beyond cards. Do you use the blog as a marketing tool, and if so, has it been successful?
I started the blog with no grand plan or expectations other than to give it a whirl. I hoped that it would be a fun way to put my thoughts and ideas out there for the greater good of the world…as well as the 4 people who might actually read my blog and I wanted to see what marketing effect it would have on ShowOffCards.com
Having been at it for several months I can say that it is fun and a good creative outlet. It has also been an effective marketing tool. As you mentioned, I go against the normal blog philosophy of being focused on one topic and tend to post whatever pops into my silly little head, because quite frankly there is only so much you can say about business cards. I write about things I find interesting - period. One day it might be about a unique business card or a marketing strategy that I find interesting but you also might find me posting about how to fold a fitted sheet or why I think taco bell hot sauce packets are great.
Based on my ShowoffCards.com access log, I get quite a few visitors to Show Off Cards through the blog and the blog obtains a lot of visitors through Technorati tags and search engine results. Nearly every professional in the world uses business cards so “un-targeted” traffic is fine for me.
Q: What’s the favorite card you’ve ever created?
Why not just ask me which of my kids I like most? Seriously, my favorite card is always the one I am currently working on. One of the reasons I enjoy running Show Off Cards is because I get to be creative. Often my clients have little or no idea about how to “super-hero” themselves - it is after all, not something people do on a regular basis. The fun for me is running through concepts in my head that incorporate the key features they requested until my creative light bulb lights up and I settle on a rough concept. I then develop a crude (And I really mean CRUDE) storyboard for the card front. Once the client Ok’s the concept I turn my illustrators loose and the magic happens. They take the grade school level concept art I develop and come back with illustrations that I couldn’t even imagine, let alone put down on paper.
The process is hard to explain so let me “pull back the curtain” and give you a behind-the-scenes look. One of my latest clients actually provided me with a pencil drawing (which is a “first” by the way). I tweaked his drawing, added some of his requested features and well, here’s the before and after.
Show Off Cards website: www.showoffcards.com
Chief’s blog: showoffcards.blogspot.com
Steve Schad on how to create a business plan
The quality of the conversation on Biz Talk has been incredibly high lately. And Steve Schad’s post about creating a business plan really deserves some attention, so I’d like to share it with you in its entirety here. This is his response to a question from member Neil D’Souza about how to create a business plan:
First of all, it depends on what you want the plan for. I have seen countless people launching their businesses get caught up in writing a plan that has little relevance to their eventual work lives. This seems to be especially true of people who are highly organized and detail oriented. They tend to want to have everything planned and all the bases covered, so they devote an inordinate amount of time to a plan that ends up sitting on a shelf somewhere. The plan becomes the thing.
Yes, this is the voice of experience.
In my view, unless you are trying to get funding from a lender or investor, put some limits on the time and energy you put into the plan. (I wrote this assuming you are not. If you are, respond that you are and I will point you to some resources).
Limiting yourself can be hard for some people. When I was starting my business ten years ago, the thinking and planning was inspiring and juiced me up. Those early days are so filled with excitement and hope. The danger is that the plan, which can come to represent the idealized future of your business, is a lot more fun than the hard slog parts of getting a business up and running.
I think people sometimes use it as a way to avoid the tough stuff. I did and it remains a challenge for me. I love to plan. (The good news for me is that is also why I am so valuable to my clients in the planning process.)
The goal of your planning process should be to come up with a clear direction and distinct, measurable goals and what it will take to achieve them. Keep it that simple.
My advice would be the following:
1) Start with a clear vision. Imagine all that you want from your life and your business and how you have served the world once you have reached your ultimate success. My favorite exercise that I assign my clients is to write the “Front Page News” from a special edition newspaper published in honor of your retirement from (or sale of) your business. What would the headline read. What would be the main story. What sidebars would appear. And, what images. It’s a fun way to envision the future.
2) Set SMART goals. Pick a timeframe - maybe one year. Then create goals that are as actionable as possible. I use the SMART model for writing goals: Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Time-Bound. And, remember, success lies in good tactics, not grand strategy.
3) Get the lay of the land. Scan the horizon to get a sense of where the opportunities (key markets and segments, products//services the markets really need, etc.). Also, try to understand the dangers and pitfalls (what are sometimes called “threats” in the planning lexicon.) These are generally external factors that might stand in your. (Limit this part - don’t dwell on the barriers - simply study it enough so you’re not blindsided).
4) Understand yourself. I think the most successful entrepreneurs are those who are self-aware to know their strengths and weaknesses and disciplined enough to neutralize the latter while leveraging the former. Do you know what motivates you? Do you know what distracts you? How are your finances? What will happen when a dip in income comes? Will you keep feeding the pipeline when things are great? All tough issues that get sugarcoated by the new business owners - even the best - who get too enamored with their dreams to give an honest assessment of what they bring to the business table.
5) Review and revise. Be intentional about pausing and examining how things are going. It’s easy when you are soloing to start flailing when things get tough or letting up on the gas when things are good. It’s important to be sure you are still on track and to make adjustments in your plan as you go forward.
6) Get support. Find and surround yourself with positive people who will encourage you and stay focused on your success. You’ve got that here at Biznik. Find it in your other circles, too.
Hope this helps. Let us know what you think and how we can help you as you get started. Good luck!!
Steve
This is an active ongoing discussion, and Steve’s posted a great followup already. View this topic in Biz Talk.
A Week of Biznik Events
Last week was the busiest Biznik week yet in terms of events in Seattle. I attended all three - a Happy Hour, and two seminars one on real estate investing and the other on getting out of the way of your own success.
Tuesday night brought a small group of us to the BalMar in Ballard for “Real Estate Investment - Fixers, Rentals, Pre-Sales and More” hosted by Christopher Braxtan (real estate associate), Marshall Carter (mortgage broker & loan consultant), and Jessica Hale (financial planner). During the event Christopher, Marshall and Jessica wined and dined us with a complimentary cocktail and appetizers and shared three common real estate investment opportunities that are more within reach than one may realize. I found the presentation full of so many tips on what to avoid and ways to succeed in this, that half way through my brain was full and I found myself blurting out, “Wait! Another option is to simply bring you three in on the transaction, right?” They definitely sounded to me like they knew what they were talking about.
The next night we were at the BalMar again, this time for the most widely attended Biznik events to date. Close to fifty people showed up for the Biznik Happy Hour. Joe McCarthy brought his interactive display and I found myself having a number of awesome conversations with some new people I hadn’t met yet.
On Thursday night, another group of us met in the private roasting room at the Espresso Vivace Roasteria on Capitol Hill for Joe Shirley’s seminar presenting his 9Joys method - “Get out of your own way! How to keep fear, self-doubt, and worry from sabotaging your success“. On handouts that Joe uses in his practice, we each identified one of the fears that holds us back from success. Using adjectives & colored pencils we described how the fear behaved, what kind of sound it’d make, and even how it looked. Then we imagined this fear in a positive light and went through the exercise again. It was fun to see how much it had changed in appearance and properties. Great exercise! Joe’s offering a repeat of this seminar on April 5th. Check out the Biznik Events calendar for more information.
I’m looking forward to Elke Siller Macartney’s class the week after next entitled, “The Four Agreements Plus One for Personal Integrity and Business Success.” These seminars are awesome.
Biznik will be at Ignition Northwest’s Town Hall meeting on March 27th
Ignition Northwest is hosting a town hall meeting in Seattle on March 27th focused on civic art opportunities for the Northwest Burner Community, and they’ve asked Biznik to present at this event. I’m looking forward to talking about how Biznik is extending the notion of radical self expression into the default world as radical self promotion.
“Come down and meet your community. Be heard and listen. Learn what you can do, now, to make your community, your home, and your lives a better, stranger place,” says board member (and Biznik member) Phill Arenserg.
Here’s the full announcement:
The focus of the meeting will be on Civic Art Opportunities for the NW Burner Community. Also on the slate is the final word on SeaCompression, the latest word on Critical Massive, the definitive word on Ignition NW’s structure and elections, and words of wisdom from our guests from the Black Rock Arts Foundation, including Temple of Honor/Sorrow/Joy architect David Best. In addition, we will welcome guests from the San Jose and Detroit. These are individuals from communities, like ours, who are interested in bringing the art, energy and ethos of Black Rock into their lives year round.
Details:
Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
4408 Delridge Way SW (in beautiful West Seattle)
Time: 7pm
View Map
Sales Leads Without Cold Calling: Tino Buntic’s TradePals
I met Tino Buntic the way I’m meeting a lot of people these days - by discovering his blog. Turns out we have a lot in common. First of all, he lives in Toronto, which is where I spent a good chunk of my growing up years. Secondly, he’s building an online business network, TradPals, in his spare time. And thirdly, he’s having some fun in the process. Look no further than the logo he chose for TradePals: a couple of monkeys. It’s hard not to like an organization that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that isn’t afraid to put some personality into it’s profile. So let’s find out a bit more about what Tino’s up to.
Q: First, where are you from, and what are the highlights on the path from there to where you are today?
What is probably the easiest question for most people to answer is probably the most difficult for me. Most people can talk about themselves but I don’t like to. Anyhow, I’m from Toronto and lived here my whole life. It’s a great place to be in the summer but way to cold in the winter.
Q: How and when did you come up with the idea for TradePals? And those monkeys, what’s the story behind them?
I’m an insurance broker and I used to work at a firm that advocated cold calling. It was like a boiler room. Everybody had to do it. To them, there was no other way of generating new business (I don’t think they’d ever heard of advertising). But all of the brokers hated it. It was the main reason that employee turnover was so high there.
This got me thinking about the way some companies feel about cold calling. They promote it as if its the only way. But I think its useless in this day and age. Busy executives aren’t receptive to cold calls anymore. It’s interruption marketing just as spam email is. Nobody cares for it. Yet, employees are expected to generate sales leads through cold calls.
When I was working there, I thought that there must be something online that people can use to generate sales leads without cold calling. So I searched for it but I couldn’t find anything worthwhile. If you search for “sales leads” in the search engines you will, mainly, find sites like InfoUSA, which sells lists of executives’ name and phone numbers. That’s not what I was looking for.
I couldn’t find what I was looking for so I built what I was looking for. With TradePals, business professionals list what they do and why someone should contact them. Let’s say you created a TradePals profile and a person that is in need of their services finds you and completes the contact form. You will receive an email notifying you that someone is interested in your services. Now you can call or email that person. But, you know what? That phone call will not be a cold call because you are just returning their inquiry.
Oh, about the monkeys. People always tell me that a business site should not have cartoon monkeys in business suits, that it projects a childish image. I disagree. I think a logo should be memorable. What’s more memorable, monkeys in a logo or a standard business icon (like a briefcase, globe, or handshake)? People need to remember you somehow. When you think about jobs and looking for work, is the first thing that pops into your head “monsters?” Maybe, but definitely not ten years ago.
Q: Is it something you’re doing in your spare time? Are you having fun with it?
I am working on TradePals on my spare time. I will keep doing that until it generates enough revenue to work on it full time. It is fun but it also is time consuming to run a business. Anybody that has started a business can probably tell you that it takes a lot of work and persistence to get it going.
Q: What’s your vision of online business networking, and how does Trade Pals fit into that?
Online business networking, as it is now, doesn’t seem to work. With the main online business networking sites like Ryze and LinkedIn, people need to spend too much time emailing other members in order to make a name for themselves (it’s the online version of cold calling). Everybody’s trying to sell something but nobody’s buying.
TradePals is different and so is Biznik. With TradePals, you create your profile and that’s it! Most new TradePals profiles are indexed by Google within a week or two of being created. And, since Google has ranked Tradepals well, people searching for specific services can find you via Google and contact you directly through the site. That’s what you should aim for. Tell people what you do and let them find you (instaed of cold calling or emailing). For example, today someone went to Google and searched the following: Toyota salesperson. The number 1 result, out of 142,000 results, was a TradePals profile.
That’s why I also like Biznik. Biznik doesn’t rely on the old online business networking model. It is a hybrid of online and offline networking, including business workshops. For example, several Biznik members recently hosted a seminar about real estate investing. What a great way to build a bigger and better network for yourself than to offer workshops with free advice? There’s nothing like face- to-face interaction and you can’t get that online.
Great companies like Biznik and TradePals should promote each other to help each other grow!
Q: I totally agree - that’s why I’ve added Trade Pals to our resources page. Has blogging been a big part of how you’ve grown Trade Pals? Tell me more about why you blog, and what you choose to blog about, and why.
Blogging is just one way of promoting your business. When promoting a business you should take any and all approaches that you can. Blogging can bring a targeted audience. All you need to do is write about topics that your intended audience is interested in and you’ll get targeted visitors.
I think most bloggers make the mistake about talking only about themselves and their business. Nobody really cares if you think that you and your business is great.
I like to blog about anything that I am thinking about that day. But, I also blog about good websites and businesses that I happen to discover.
Tino’s site is www.trade-pals.com
Happy hour pix and new “who was there” feature
Picture courtesy of Joe McCarthy (more pix here)
Biznik loves the BalMar. Our happy hour Wednesday evening attracted 38 members and about a dozen non-members throughout the course of the evening, our largest turnout ever.
New events page feature: I got a request from a member who wanted to see who had attended the event, so I’ve added a feature to the events page that shows the photo and name of all the members who attended. It’s nice because if you met someone and don’t remember their name, you can just go to that page and find them right away, instead of having to page endlessly through the general membership directory hunting for them.
BTW, we’ve got a lot more features we’re developing on along these lines, which include a very powerful and cool RSVP system that will allow any member, anywhere, to host an event and slick automated tools to RSVP, automatic email reminders, etc.
Tech-facilitated networking at BalMar happy hour tonight
Guess whose smiley face was beaming down from the front page of the Seattle Times business section on Sunday? Biznik member Joe McCarthy, connector-in-chief of Interrelativity, that’s who. The brief article provided an overview of what his technology is all about.
We’re going to give you a much more in-depth opportunity to see what the buzz is all about tonight. Join us at The BalMar in Seattle for cocktails and conversation this evening, where Joe’s big-screen system will be deployed for our happy hour business networking enjoyment. (For the technofobes among us, you can just blissfully ignore all of this and do it the old-fashioned way. Either way, we look forward to seeing you this evening.)
To get a custom name tag made for you in advance, you’ll need to sign up in advance today at http://interrelativity.com/biznik. Here are some sample Interrelativity profiles to get you started.
Mapping the Global Biznik Business Network
OK, I’m back from a brief but lovely trip to Montana, where it was beautiful but COLD. And I’m delighted to warm things up today with a fun announcement - the Biznik map of the world is ready for you to play with it (although still a beta). If you’ve uploaded a photo, you’re in it. If you haven’t, you’re not (so what are you waiting for?). This Google map lists members by zip code (in the United States) and by city and/or country elsewhere in the world.
The Geocoding we’ve used seems to work very well for plotting members in the US, but tends to stack the members in other countries on top of each other. Zooming in to Seattle is a great way to view how cool this is - you can see where each of our members is located all over the city.
There are a few display issues we’ll likely have to live with, but if you run into any bugs, drop me a line to dan at biznik dot com. And let me know what you think of it!
Two Books Every Biznik Should Read
Hey, guys. It’s gorgeous out in Seattle today. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. The girls are walking around in dangerously ankle revealing outfits. It’s just plain good to be alive. So good that I can’t bring myself to sit at my desk and come up with a brand spanking new biznik post. So what do you get instead?
Reruns!
Or, well, things I already wrote about once for my newsletter. (ahh, shameless self promotion. Isn’t it grand?)
So, read on for two books I firmly believe every Biznik should read.
Book # 1: Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourselfby Daniel Pink.
Remember the nineties? Those halcyon days of runaway stocks, overpaid programmers and an economy that just wouldn’t quit? Yea. Me neither. Face it, times have changed and the business and work models of the past are going to have to change with them. In his book “Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself,” former Vice-Presidential speechwriter Daniel Pink paints an impressive picture of America’s freelance-heavy future. He also makes some way-off-base predictions and talks about the sad fact that most of us are just never going to retire. But pick it up, give it a read, and if you don’t like it you can chuck it at me at Wednesday’s happy hour.
Oh, and if you’d like to read an interview I did with Daniel a few years back and download The Floating Olive.
Book #2: The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.
I don’t believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus or Thor, but after reading his book “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It,” I’ve become a practical worshiper of small business guru Michael E. Gerber.
Not sure how to expand your business? Paralyzed with fear at the idea of starting a new venture? Beaten down by years of doing it all yourself? This book will help you get on track and deftly dodge the pitfalls that claim so many bright-eyed entrepreneurs. Whether you’re a small business owner, a corporate manager or a disgruntled employee, “E-Myth” is a worthy read.
What is Success?
Hey, folks. So, chief blogging mukkity muck Dan McComb is off on vacation until Tuesday, which means your humble word mercenary will be in charge of your Biznik Bloggishness for a few days. Scared yet? You should be.
Checking out our rapidly exploding member database, staring rapturously at the Biznik Manifesto or diving gleefully into the clear and cooling waters of Biz Talk you’ll notice pretty quickly that Bizniks do things a little different. We run our businesses different. We network different. And I’m willing to bet we think about success in a different way than most of business world.
So, dear reader, how do you define success? How will you know that you’ve “made it?” Or have you “made it” already and are just skating joyously down your career path with a big, shiny smile plastered across your face?
Personally, I define success this way:
-Having more money than I need.
-Having the time I want.
-Having the people to spend both my money and my time with.
-Enjoying my work.
-Doing good.
-Never dreading a Monday Morning.
So, speak up, yon Bizniks. What is success?
Best profile mug award goes too…
I think it’s time for Biznik to have some awards for the most creative profiles. If we did, one would definitely go to Chief Show Off (who I’ve already interviewed for an upcoming blog post). But R Keith’s mugshot fairly pops off the page and has my attention for today’s blog post. Nice work. I think he should start a side business helping Biznik members create eye-catching profiles. (And this is a nudge to all of you out there who haven’t uploaded a photo yet - when we launch the mapping feature next week it will only display members who have uploaded a photo (so if you don’t want to be on the map, don’t upload a photo!).
Q: Do you go by R or is there a real name hiding behind that letter?
Ranier is my name.
Q: What is DunnBai Dezygn?
Say it with your eyes closed.
Q: What kind of work are you doing right now that you’re really excited about?
I am in the middle of brokering a partnership with a recording label CEO to
invest in buying enough camera equipment to start shooting music videos.
What excites me is that I will have complete access to the equipment. DId you check
out my flash movie Dual Duel?
Q: What do you think of the Biznik Manifesto?
It makes me glad to have joined. I got a couple of cats that I am going to invite.
Rainier’s website is www.ranierkeith.com
“Your greatest fear, looking like a small business, is in fact, your greatest asset.”
Biznik member Natalie Ferguson, who hails from New Zealand, posted recently in the Decisive Flow blog on the importance of letting your personality shine through in business. I think her comments are right-on, and here’s a snip:
‘Corporate Speak’ is not the language of small business. Departments, Managers, HR, Office Addresses and secretaries simply cannot all fit within a business run out of your lounge or shared office space, so they should all be kicked out of your marketing too. Your greatest fear, looking like a small business, is in fact, your greatest asset.
Marketing a small business isn’t actually that hard (or expensive). Because your business is made up of you, your business’s personality is your personality. If your customers like and trust what you’re all about, you gain immediate credibility.
She goes on to list 4 ways that you can promote your small business personality. Here’s a link to the full post.
Trademark attorney Danny Bronski also touched on the topic recently in this post in his blog, VeriTrademark Zen:
Personality can be a pivotal selling point when you are an independent service provider, and can distinguish you from the masses of blue suits and power ties (or, in Seattle, rumpled purple khakis and birkenstocks).
Why is personality so important? One reason is that people like doing business with people who they like…
So, have a great day, and let your personality shine through!
Elke Macartney, business shaman
One of the things that grabs me (or not) as I’m browsing the membership directory is the job title that independent professionals take for themselves. It’s easy to forget you can take any title you like, isn’t it? Here are a few that stand out for me: “Chief Show Officer,” “Schmooze,” “Connector-in-Chief.” It’s also easy to forget you can be anything you like and do anything you like, and sometimes we need reminding of that. That’s where Elke Macartney comes in. She’s not only a wise woman of business, but she’s the woman Lara and I chose to marry us when we did the deed a year ago. The name she’s taken for herself is a real grabber: “Business shaman.” It isn’t a job title you’re likely to find inked on too many business cards. But it’s the kind of job title that raises a lot of questions. The first of which is…
Q: What’s a business shaman?
Heya, heya, heya hey! …Oh sorry, I was pounding on my drum when you asked me that question…what is a business shaman? Good question! Seriously, I have studied with a number of wisdom masters for about 28 years now, and I’ve been an entrepreneur for 22 of those years. Combining those two experiences, I can tune into a business situation, and, instead of just assessing, quantifying, and figuring things out, find answers more rapidly on a need-to-know basis. In other words: a business shaman uses a bit of “magic” to cut through the haze.
There is a wealth of potential budding shamans in the Biznik community, because of your entrepreneur’s spirit: you’re independent, self-directed, passionate about what you do. That’s a world a shaman can relate to: shamans are independent: traditionally, shamans live outside the village, and people come to them for answers; so, because they are a few steps away from the situation, they can be objective. Shamans are self directed: we go wherever our “spirit leads us”, and we are passionate about what we do: I love nothing more than to see the idea lights turn on for people, or a sick situation healed, a broken connection fixed or re-rerouted, a foggy communication cleared up.
Q: What type of business (or person) would benefit most from the services you offer?
My clients are high-integrity people who need help from time to time with perspective, new ideas, or sometimes just to run some things by a wise, understanding person. I’m a very quick read. For instance, I’ve been brought into offices that seem to have stuck energy in them, nothing seems to get done, or the place isn’t prospering, despite a person’s best efforts. With my shamanic skills and tools, I can assess where the stuck energy is, and find a way to clear it. Other situations: If a person is in a major life transition, with unclear choices about their future, I love assisting them in seeing what choices are best for them. Mainly, people see me as a non-judgmental ally: I am here to encourage your path, your life’s contract.
Q: You have a life contract?
Yup, everyone does. I see it this way: For most of my life, I have seen auras…you know, colorful halos around people. Auras have information about who a person is, how healthy they are, all sorts of information. In that halo, that aura, there is also information about what is your ultimate purpose for being here. The more closely aligned with that purpose your work is, the more gratified you’ll feel.
Q: Are your services similar to what a life coach does? How are they different?
Similar, but I go a little deeper: I am here to keep reminding you of who you actually are, and what you are here for (that contract thing again). Some good life coaches do that too, but I also teach you how to make good choices using your own intuition, and I teach practical shamanic tools that people may find helpful…In other words, I empower people to be their own shamans, for those times when they need a shaman and I’m not handy! *smiling*
Q: In the work you’ve done with business people, what’s the biggest problem you see people dealing with? Any hints on how to get past it?
Number one problem, bar none: Lack of trust in….drum roll please…your self! Oh yes, that is the problem, the big obstacle, the main source of fear, poor decision making, unclarity, financial rack and ruin, and just pain in the butt poor thinking.
My advice to people? Oh, it’s almost too simplistic, but it is truth: Trust yourselves! Only you know what’s best for you and your business. Trust me…
Q: Any other advice for small business people?
Find allies, folks you can gather with and talk to…work things out with. Small businesses are sometimes businesses with only one or two people involved, it can get pretty lonely. If you can find at least one other person you can trust to run things by, that can be very helpful. Case in point: Today; I mentioned to my business ally a couple of biz decisions I had just made…I was just sharing what was new in my life. Well, out of the conversation, she brought up some legal ramifications about one of those decisions, an ethical ramification of the other decision. I wasn’t even thinking about those possibilities! We small business people are sometimes too close to the situation…run things by people you trust, and then trust yourself to know what’s best.
Q: Who would you say have been the biggest influences in making you who you are today?
My one dozen shamanic teachers from around the world: who found me somehow, taught me stuff, and then wandered off. My teachers imparted wisdom that you don’t often find in our Westernized, compartmentalized culture. They saw something in me that could be tapped into and used for the benefit of good people everywhere. They trusted me, and I trusted them.
Also, I’ve been greatly influenced by the huge mistakes I’ve made. I have learned that when I did not follow my instincts, my knowing, it would often turn into disasters I had to then clean up….hopefully, that is no longer part of my contract!
Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the class you’re teaching in Seattle on March 27th?
The Four Agreements, based on the book by wisdom teacher (shaman) don Miguel Ruiz, are agreements that I have used in my everyday life, and my business life, and they work! According to don Miguel, these are agreements we can make to get us out of our personal hell. We can just as easily create a personal, and eventually, planetary heaven, you know. Plus, I ve added a fifth agreement that is a clincher….The four agreements plus one are not always easy to achieve, but as often as I can remember them…they bring me success.
Aho! (Lakota for “it is so”.)
Elke’s website is inspirationu.com, which also links to her blog. And here’s more info and RSVP info about her upcoming class, The Four Agreements + one: for personal integrity and business success