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".

If You Start it Will They Come?

photo by Erica Marshall of muddyboots.org

The short answer is: Only if they know you exist!

Isn't that the truth. Such noise out there!

• Do you shout above the rest?

• Do you find only the people who you think you want to talk to?

• Do you take the attitude that the right people will "somehow" find you?

In as much as Social Media is restating the questions, I think the answers are coming up surprisingly the same. Finding your target market and keeping them engaged it the only way to make a business successful.

How to get someone's attention may be the flavor of the day, and human behavior as experienced on the internet may be a moving target, but there are some things you can count on:

• People are always buying more than a product.

• If the product you have isn't selling, don't assume the product is wrong.

• If the product you have is selling and then NOT, don't assume it's your marketing.

We live in a very "reactive" culture. One minute you're up, next minute you're down. We've been making movies and jokes about this for decades, but it's funny because it's true. So yes, if you start it they may come, but will they buy? Will they tell their friends? Will they come and buy again?

This brings us back to a more "scientific" notion about business plans and experiments. We don't want to waste our time on either without a pretty good notion of what's going to happen. But, if things don't play out the way you hypothesized, re-evaluating with a professional is the next best step.

Are Your Ears Burning?

You have a business and things are kind of okay but employees are nervous and so are you. You wonder how you can streamline and get your "back burner" marketing plan back up to the front.

1. You're not sure if your systems are working anymore.
   
2. You finally admit to 'yourself and another person' that you may not be reading your P&L correctly.(!)
3. You've stopped having regular Company/Employee meetings.
   
4. You wonder how your physical space is working or not working for you
   
5. Since when did your marketing plan end up on the back burner???

Are your ears burning? Well, they should be! Give 'em something to talk about!
This post is coming on a day when I am particularly fired up about this. (Puns everywhere folks)
For those of you who know my other blog, you know that I'm trying to mix things up in the marketing department right now.

A marketing plan is the thing that needs to being going on, no matter what. One of the biggest downfalls in the business world is when you get busy, you concentrate on doing the work at hand and stop focusing on getting new work. If you're really busy and pulling in the dough, go hire someone to bring in even more. If it's slow, step out of crisis mode and do it yourself with a little help from, ummm, you know....a mentor.

Many of you know about this blog because of Twitter. I've already spoken about that in a previous post, so I won't go there now. What I will say is that people like to buy goods and services from people they know because they want to be assured of the content and quality. Yes, perhaps if you are selling electronics you are going to be dealing with competition of the big-box stores. But, that brings us back to the original point. Personal contact.

Marketing is a lot of things:

• Connecting with people and networking in your social life
• Being connected through social media online
• Having promotions for new customers/clients
• Giving incentives to your existing clients to bring you new business
• Offering your products or services to those in need.
• Sponsoring Charity events
• Going to trade shows and (sharing space if you can't afford the whole thing yourself.)
  

Notice I didn't list advertising? I have serious doubts about advertising right now. It used to mean putting an ad in a newspaper of magazine. It's a much broader concept right now that includes all of the above. At a time when money is tight, it's my opinion that an outlay of big bucks for print advertising should not be taken lightly. 'Nuf said.

This is not directly under the heading of "marketing", but I think it's really important to all business owners: You and your image is The Company.

You cannot afford "bad press" because of small quibbles. You cannot afford to mis-speak in any big way through social media. If you are having a "bad day" do NOT put it out there on the internet. Be real, but step back from the computer or client contact in moments when you know you're not at your best. When you're feeling down about your business and you're about to do some marketing, find a way to get excited. If you're not, no one else will.

One last comment on Networking and putting yourself out there:
The best way to get is to give.

How Much Do I Need?

You just got laid off and you're thinking about starting your own business...

1. You don't know if working for yourself is something that fits your personality
2. You're not sure how feasible your business idea is.
3. You may not have a clear business idea.
4. How much will it cost?

Let's all just have a good, nervous laugh here...
I was actually putting this post off today because I had a lot going on. If I remembered what I was supposed to write, I'd have put it off anyway! (But I did not watch CNN all day...)

So, let's get to it. I'm going to cover both bases in this post, service and product-based businesses because the first one is pretty easy. I will start though with a quote that I'm afraid I cannot correctly attribute, but it goes like this: "When you're a consultant it's like you're 'renting your brain'."

What this person was trying to say is that you have a limited amount of hours in your day a limited amount of days in your year to bill. The big "B" Billable Hours. That's fine. You can start there. You can think about these things:

• How many hours do I want to work?
• How many clients do I want to serve?
• What is the standard rate in my community for what I do?
• Can I do any of this or all of this from a home office?(sub-topic to be covered later)
• Does this all tally up to the amount of money that I need to bring in or do I need to re-hash the numbers?
• What will be my goals for all of the above on a monthly or quarterly basis for my first year and can I live with that?

Okay, the next set of issues to think about is for a product-based business:

• Am I creating this product or is someone else?
• Do I have the numbers on how much production will cost?
• Do I have the numbers on how much inventory I will need (if any)?
• Do I know what my overhead will be on a monthly basis for the first 6 months?
• Do I need to hire other folks right out of the gate?

As you already know, the product-based business is going to need some up-front money. You really need to think "worst-case scenario" here and assume little to no income for 6 months to be safe.
Remember again that you can choose to not pay yourself to work in a store that you own, but you must pay yourself something to produce a product or your business plan will never work in the future.

When you get someone to help you with a business plan, this is really going to be the "meat". And, this "meat" changes all the time. Leasing rates change, credit possibilities change :::clearing throat::: And lastly, your competition and what the market will bear will change. Make sure your plan is up to date!

A PR specialist asked me yesterday what would I expect from a PR firm as a new business owner, hiring a firm for the first time. I said that I would want a great article about my opening business in the local business journal and some ideas about what kind of event to hold and who I should invite (and how to get them there) would be a start.

I thought I'd share that with you as a thought about marketing. Now, one last thought:

Sometimes we spend an awful lot of time doing the things that are easy and comfortable for ourselves, even when we're starting something new. I'd like to challenge you (and me) to work on that a bit and try a new "something" every day to get us closer to where we want to be.