Making Things Happen

Everyday I sit down to Twitter or Facebook or any list of blogs out there I wonder, What's everyone REALLY doing?

There is such a huge trend of people telling you how to do your business and how to reach more people and how to make more money that I am at times reticent about identifying myself as a "Mentor". By now, you all know what I really do but I kinda wonder what everyone else is doing!

This trend seems to be about selling a product that will "guarantee" certain success through greater visibility. If that's what success is about, I guess I don't have a job at all. All day I see people with less than fabulous products or services trying to have more hits to their website and become a household name. 99% of those people still need a lot of work on their product. (That's where I come in).

This is not a downer post. This is a reality check, people! We need to be a culture of "doers". We're turning into a culture of "tellers". In theater and movies and literature we say, don't tell them, SHOW them. What this means is that there shouldn't be a narrator telling you what the character is thinking. You should be able to see through their actions and emotion what they are thinking.

In business we need to express who we are by doing. By making cool products that will be better for our environment, or writing things that move us and make us laugh, by making art that moves the soul, we create change. Change is not a better search engine. Doing is not selling an "idea".

Smite me if you will, Consulting Universe, but this is the part of me speaking who spends hours at a spinning wheel, just to make something. This is someone proud to be part of a nation of Makers. I am a consultant but I seek to support in any way I can those who are doers and those who have something to say and contribute to our culture.

This is my rant before a holiday weekend. This is my cry to those trying to sell me an idea, to sell me a "thing".

Spouse AND Business Partner Part 3

You need to think about how you communicate in front of others

In Part 2, we talked about how you "identify" to those around you regarding your business relationship. Now I'm going to talk about how you speak in front of others. I bet you know where this is going...
How to keep your personal life out of your business life!

It's not possible. What is possible is to keep it out of the way you appear to others and how you manage tasks.

• Call each other by your first names instead of "honey" or any other endearment
• Be aware of the "tone of voice" you use, people around you are!
• Make sure that your personal relationship doesn't "trump" your business relationship
• Don't argue in front of the "kids". You'll have conflict, but speak as if you are speaking to anyone else in your company with the same level of respect.
• If things do get heated in a conversation, take it outside.
  

I have worked with many successful couples who work well together. The main key to success that I would derive from observing them is that their jobs were very separate. Little to no overlap in the jobs they performed. Each saw the others value and had respect for their partner's abilities.

Of course when you live with someone or are very close to them, the "other stuff" that is your life will not just automatically disappear because the work day starts. The part you can manage is how others see you and WHEN you deal with conflict.

The Small Things

...That Get in The Way

I write all the time about how you cannot "see the forest for the trees" when you're right in the middle of the FOREST. Are you on a path or are you walking in a rut? There can be a rut, worn into your path by the way you do things. Some of these things you do well and they do well for you. Some of these things, not so much.

Most of the time, when I meet a new client they have some idea that "only if..." something were different, they'd be doing so much better. It could be postage costs, unruly suppliers, or an office space that's costing them too much. I can confidently say that I never agree with their assessment of what's wrong. Sure, what they identify as not working in their favor is probably not helping their situation, but it's not THE thing.

THE thing that's not working for them is something that is much more in their control. That's the good news. The bad news is that sometimes THAT thing is something they really had not seen an issue with. They feel blindsided and a little disoriented.

The most common: The message of who they are and what they do or sell is not well expressed to their market.

When you know what you do, and you tell people about it, chances are you're entering the conversation mid-sentence. It's because you do it all the time that you don't really know the starting point of your consumer. You may have identified who they are but perhaps you are trying to read their mind instead of just laying it all out there.

When I studied Art History, I learned about looking at a painting with the awareness of where the "entry point" was. What was the route that your gaze traveled as you looked at the canvas? Do you know where that "point of entry" is for your consumer? Do you know what it really looks like to them? Do you see what they see?

No. You cannot truly see what others see. You can however, work with people who see things differently than you, so that you can see more of the available choices. Every choice you make in building your business adds up to the sum. Many of those "small things" may carry more weight than you realize.

Life is a constellation of choices. Let's take a look at the choices you're making now.