Words That Work

Campers in the Adirondacks used to suspend their food from a rope and pulley system high up between two trees to protect their supplies from bears while they were off enjoying nature.  The bears learned when they saw a hanging bag, park rangers report, to look for a rope next to the trees.  Then they chewed the rope to release the “pinata” of sausages and s’mores or other yummy camper food.  If you’ve been out of a job for awhile, you can now insert your own dreamy and desirable stuff in that pinata image — stuff you see other employed folks enjoying which you cannot. It’s discouraging.  Can you empathize with the bears?

A “bear canister” has been offered  at campgrounds for sale or rent recently.  It operates like a child-proof pill bottle — you have to squeeze and turn the lid simultaneously to open it.   It’s also made of tough, very sturdy plastic that resists even bear claws. A dream denied, until some bears figured out the system, and this year an advanced bear canister was re-engineered requiring a 2-step press and turn which was thought to be impenetrable.  It was successfully tested on zoo bears, and in fact, quite a few humans have had a problem opening it.  But wait, for those of you still hanging in with my job search metaphor, there is a hopeful end to this story.

Campers are complaining again about food theft.  A bear that park rangers refer to as yellow-yellow because of her double yellow ear tags has been tracked to the area of the complaints.  Tooth marks appear on the lid of the supposedly impenetrable canister, but the lid was not ripped off by tooth or claw.  Yellow-Yellow, a shy but persistent black bear has been observed from a distance pilfering a canister — apparently trumping the system by pressing with her teeth and twisting her head.

The job market right now seems impenetrable.  I offer you this wisdom in a nutshell from a model of ingenuity and true American grit, Yellow-Yellow:  whatever is thrown at you, just keep going after your dream in different ways, and don’t give up!  Crunch, slurp…

Maggie Anderson Words That Work provides strategic communications planning, writing and implementation.  We primarily work with executives, coaches and consultants to stand out, so they attract more opportunities and prospects.

Not long after we were married I came home after a long day and went to turn on some music and the stereo was missing.  Honey?  What happened to the stereo?  I rented it, was the reply.  My husband and I started our businesses at the same time — his company rented equipment for business meetings.  I did productions that were shown at meetings.  He had an opportunity to make $100 renting a stereo, but there were none in the warehouse — so we did without music for a couple days!  Where I was all about furnishing our offices and looking like a prosperous business right away, I learned a really valuable lesson from my husband’s philosophy.  Make money when you can, and don’t spend a dime unless it will increase your income. Looking good is overrated.  Your customers will be much more impressed when you consistently give them what they need to look good.

I don’t mean to simplify this — business is a constant stream of decisions about where to spend your time, your money, and your personal attention — and it seems like there’s never enough of any of those.  How well you make those decisions determines how well you do.  Sometimes what will help to make these decisions is remembering that, even if you are a solopreneur,  you are the CEO first, and a worker in your business second. Step back.  Don’t get too mired in the minutiae.  Find good people to work for you on a contract basis until you can hire someone.  Surround yourself with an “executive team” of advisors — reliable experienced professionals and mentors, paid or not, who will be able to give you the wisdom of their own experience.  Have a plan.

And one final thought — no matter how brilliant, timely, creative and attractive your enterprise is, it is the rare startup that begins to thrive right away.  Give it time — allow your business the time it needs to grow. That might mean keeping another job while you build it.  Or changing your lifestyle for awhile.  It took a full five years before my first business had a consistent flow of referrals and income and it take grit to keep working at it when the business is not succeeding the way you imagine.  Hold onto your vision, nurture it, spend time dreaming about the next steps and you will be delighted to wake up one day and realize — OMG, I’m doing it!  Namaste — the spirit in me salutes the spirit in you.

Maggie Anderson Words That Work   www.maggieanderson.com

Starting a business naturally involves planning and lengthy to-do lists, and since you are reading this, you are obviously doing your homework.  There comes a time when you have to stop reading, get off the sofa and get into action to avoid feeling overwhelmed and losing your  confidence and momentum.  When that time comes, and you open your actual or virtual door for business, a few guiding principles will save you years of floundering.  After more than 20 years as an entrepreneur, here are the ones I think are most important for a new business owner:

Customers are the heart and soul of your business — every day should be about finding, keeping and serving customers.

There will be lots of other things to do, whether you are setting up a physical space or working off your laptop at the dining room table, but it’s a mistake to think that when you are ordering office supplies or building shelves or designing your logo that you are “taking care of business.”  The best advice I got when I was starting out was from someone who was in a deadline-oriented media business similar to mine.  He told me:  “No matter how busy you get, take time every day to sell.  Make phone calls to prospects, go to networking meetings, ask for referrals from your existing customers. Because when the job you are working on is done you need another one to start on.  You should always be working on the pipeline at the same time as you are working on your current project.”  You may not have a project-based business like mine, but think about how you would apply this high-value advice to your business.

It is natural at the beginning to focus on operations, setting up systems for production, delivery,  your  financial management, etc.  Once focused there, many businesses stay there.  But without customers you don’t have a business, so focusing on the customer is the #1 job for everyone.   Look at every point where prospects or customers come in contact with your company, and ask “what does my customer really want?” and then give it to them.  If you can follow this simple principle, it can give you a huge edge over your competition.  Especially now, when a large percentage of buyers shop on-line first, your satisfied customers become your most important viral sales agents — consumers want to know how many “stars” you get from your existing customers before they decide to buy from you.

Okay, that’s enough for one day.  Go out and get some customers and check back  for Part 2 coming soon