Beware the thief…

“Beware the thief in the street who would steal your purse, but more so beware the thief in your mind that would steal your promise.” ~Jim Rohn

About a year ago, I did an informal survey on a business networking site and asked the question – “What do you know now that you wish you’d known then?” There were the normal responses having to do with organizational issues, work/life balance, time management and capital issues. However, I was surprised to find the overwhelming number of responses that were related to “head” issues – confidence, focus, overcoming fear, and staying positive.

It makes me think of the old cartoons where the character would have a little devil on one shoulder telling him to do the bad thing and a little angel on the other shoulder urging him to do what’s right. Some days I feel like I have little distracting gremlins on my shoulder pulling me away from what I need to be doing. They’re especially persuasive every time I get ready to do something new or approach a new client prospect. Do you ever hear them too? They try to put thoughts in our head of how we’re too short. Or too tall. Or too old. Or too young. Or lacking the proper credentials. Or in over our heads. And on and on and on.

Ever heard the saying “You’re your own worst enemy”? Too often we are the architects of our own downfall. There is an old text that talks about taking our thoughts captive and renewing our mind. That’s a smart thing to do when you’re in business. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of messages every day giving us reasons why we’re “less than” the other guy but when those messages start to creep in, you need to take them captive. Filter through them. Sometimes they may, indeed, point out some area you need to improve upon. However, most of the time they’re just trash talk.

One of the best ways I’ve found to keep them in check is to renew my mind. I do that through a healthy dose of motivation. I read a lot of books, but lately I’ve been downloading mp3 books and rather than frittering away time just listening to the radio, I use my driving time for input from folks like the late Jim Rohn (my all time favorite) or Larry Winget (love his point blank style) or John Maxwell or the great Les Brown. There are plenty of them out there, but these are some of my favorites.

You’re not alone when those thoughts start rolling through your brain; it’s something we all have to deal with as was evidenced by feedback from small business people across the country. Just because they’re there, you don’t have to believe what they’re telling you. Take control of your thoughts and don’t let them steal your promise.

Biggest Challenges for Small Business

I read an article from the Huffington Post the other day about the current biggest challenges for small business. You can read the full article here. The comments from their “Small Business Board of Directors” were the focused on the following issues:

  • Malaise
  • Cash
  • Addressing Risk
  • Uncertainty
  • Customer Acquisition and Retention
  • Focus
  • Economic Perception
  • Getting up in the morning

I certainly don’t want to downplay the viewpoints of these successful and talented individuals. However, it seems to me that these issues are challenges every day in every economy for every small business person. There are always challenges to starting and operating a small business as with most worthwhile things in life. Despite the claims of some charletans, there are no magic bullets. Small business success is ALWAYS going to involve keeping an eye on the above list of issues.

I guess the core of what I’m trying to say is, don’t let the naysayers keep you from trying. There are always obstacles mixed in with the opportunities. Obstacles can be overcome.

Best wishes and happy entrepreneuring!

Frustration is the mother of invention

Are you frustrated about something? If so, if you can find a solution, you might just have a marketable idea.

I was on Facebook the other day with a friend from High School and she was telling me some exciting news about an article that had been written about her for a local business journal. Turns out, she has turned into an ace inventor.

Here in Oklahoma, we have very interesting weather – tornadoes, ice storms, hail storms, you name it, we’ve probably got it. My friend was living in an apartment complex where they didn’t offer covered parking. One year we had a significant amount of hail storms and she was bound and determined to not let her car get all dinged up. She came up with a solution that worked and then the light bulb came on. She began creating prototypes from her jury rigged solution and is now creating a catalog, seeking investors and taking it to market. She’s also come up with ideas for companion products during the process.

Frustration to solution to business owner.

I remember seeing a story about a gal who was frustrated by trying to get the dust ruffle back onto her king sized bed after cleaning it. She struggled to lift the mattress and slide the ruffle back into place. She got the kids involved and the ensuing story reminded me of a Three Stooges routine. She thought to herself, “There’s got to be a better way” and proceeded to create the Zip-a-ruffle that’s now sold on QVC.

Someone had to think up and create the Snuggie® and as silly as it may seem to some of us, it’s a million dollar product and there are a lot of folks that are a whole lot warmer for it.

Back to the original question – Are you frustrated about something? Instead of just being frustrated and going on, stop and take another look and see if you’re missing a solution. Chances are, if you’re frustrated, millions of other people are, too.

I’m a perpetual stargazer, are you?

When it’s darkest, men see the stars. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I received an email the other day from someone I didn’t know very well so I set out to get to know a little more about them. This person went from telling me about a marathon trip they’d just finished where they were looking at antique guitars and scoping out some business opportunities. Well, of course, that piqued my interest! When I asked about what type of business opportunities, it was like I’d flipped a switch. What started out as a pleasant conversation turned to a rant on how we’re headed to Hades in a hand basket and how we’re headed to a devastating global depression of apocalyptic levels. Trade all your money for gold and start excavating for a bunker in the back yard as soon as possible.

Wow.

I politely stated my opinion in return and quickly ended the conversation because it was apparent that they were just getting started and determined to “enlighten” me to their truth whereas I’m perfectly happy to agree to disagree.

I’m no Polly Anna. I know the statistics – high unemployment, record foreclosures continue, gas prices continue to climb, depressed wages, consumers struggling with high debt, and it goes on and on. However, I also see opportunity all around us.

Is the world changing? Yes. It changes all the time. Is our US economy changing? Absolutely. Again, it changes all the time. We seem to forget our history so easily. Things change; our economy is cyclical. It goes up and it goes down. Change can be scary for a lot of people. I find it exciting, but I can totally understand that most folks don’t.

Maybe it’s because I grew up “without”. I’ve lived the hard life and made it through just fine. I’ve been broke, so broke doesn’t scare me so much. I’ve lived in the muck and I know that when you’re there, down deep and up to your eyeballs in troubles, it’s hard to see anything but. And when you’re focused on the muck, hope seems far away. I want to encourage you to look up and see the stars. Even astronomers sometimes need a telescope, and even in the most difficult of times, there are opportunities.

Take a look around, change your focus…see that little twinkle?

You Pick You

I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s Poke the Box and love the section where he talks about picking yourself. He also talks about it a bit in his recent blog post: http://bit.ly/hGGNfX

I can SO relate. For years in my career, I waited to be picked. I thought, “Surely someone would realize just how awesome I am and will want to groom me for magnificent things!” Well, most of the time they realized how awesome I was about getting the work done and would load me up…with more (not so magnificent) work.

In essence, I wanted someone else to create my vocational fate. Many of us are raised to think that way – Just get a good job and work hard and eventually you’ll be recognized for your efforts. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way, in fact, MOST of the time it doesn’t work that way.

I’m not anti-“job” by any means; not everyone is built to be self employed. However, I am anti-illusion. The days of complete job security are long gone. Let’s stop waiting to be the lucky stiff that gets picked out of the crowd and choose to pick ourselves. Your vocational destiny is yours to create and once you start seeing that, I think you’ll be surprised at the creativity and vision that you find in yourself.

Parallels

My mantra of late has been, “Success is created by the choices we make every day.” I was quite surprised by a commercial on television the other day entitled “Parallels” that paralleled that thought. A commercial for, of all things, Jim Beam bourbon whiskey.

At first, my interest was sparked by the familiar voice of one of my favorite actors – Willem Dafoe. I’ve always been struck by his ability to be a chameleon, taking on each role with immersive conviction. Then the message of the commercial began to sink in and I went back to copy down the specifics:

Life boils down to a series of choices.
Before long, the choices you make and the ones you don’t, become you.
But which you? Worse. Better. Someone you can’t even recognize?
It can make you question everything.
Whether you’re strong enough…good enough.
All choices lead you somewhere. Bold choices take you where you’re supposed to be.

The scenes phase from character to character, each of them Willem in a new persona. 2 buses – 1 to new York. 1 to Milwaukee. A man on a bench deciding which way to go. Factory worker. Trapeze artist. Elephant poop shoveler. A guy who owns a plane. The chauffeur driving the plane owner. Skinhead. Designer. Chess master. Sumo wrestler. He boards the bus to New York.

Which bus will you board today? What choices have you been making (and yes, not making a choice is indeed, making a choice) that enable or defeat your success?

The Value Proposition

A friend’s son is about to graduate from high school and we’ve been having a lot of conversations about vocation. Like a lot of people his age, the future is uncertain. School has never really been his thing; not for a lack of smarts, though. He’s smarter than he gives himself credit for. For whatever reason, he’s never been motivated to apply his good brain to achieve in the classroom.

He has also been the recipient of a lot of good intentions. Teachers and other leaders in his life that try to suggest what they think he might be good at. That’s not typically my methodology. As we’ve talked, I’ve mostly tried to listen but there is one key point I’ve tried to drive home – Quit thinking in terms of a “job,” but think about something that you love to do and see if there is a way to make it valuable in the marketplace.

Creating value around something you love will make your “work” day feel more like a play day. Every day.

Once Upon a Time…

There is so much information floating around about how bad it is “out there” that it’s enough to scare you into never leaving your house again.

We seem to have forgotten that the economy has been bad before and we’ve survived. There has been an ebb and flow to the cycles of business for as long as there has been exchange of goods in the marketplace. It goes up and it goes down. Around and around. Season after season.

We seem to have forgotten that in the scope of history, it wasn’t that long ago that people left their home country to reach a new world of opportunity. They blazed trails into the wilderness. Instead of focusing on how bad it was or how there wasn’t a governmental agency out there prepared to underwrite their endeavors and make everything OK, or extended unemployment benefits, they pulled up their boots, focused on the positive and the possibilities and got to work. They made a way when there seemed like there was no way.

We seem to have forgotten that it was only about 100 years ago that the majority of the population was self employed. They didn’t wait for someone else to assign their value to a salary and a desk; they looked for the needs in the marketplace and came up with creative ways to fill them.

I think it’s pretty obvious that “things” will never go back to where they were 5 years ago. But rather than let the newspapers and pundits write your story for you, take control of your life and write your own story. Don’t you think you’d do a better job than some corporate CEO whose focus is his own company’s bottom line?

Once upon a time, there was you. Where are you going from here?

Websites Made Easy

In today’s marketplace, it’s pretty much mandatory that a business has a website. Personally, I go to the web first before I ever think about pulling out my clunky old yellow pages and I can’t tell you how many times my patronage to a business has been influenced by whether or not they had a website.

Trying to choose a restaurant…is their menu online? What are the hours of that new clothing store downtown? What was that gardening class that I saw at the nursery?

Those kinds of questions can’t be answered by the phone book and I’m not likely to get in the car and drive over to find out. Sadly, I’m also the type that doesn’t like picking up the phone and having to call. Well, I might to find out a store’s hours, but if i was seeking more than just basic information, chances are that I won’t call.

If you’re like me, you’re not a web guru. And being a small business person, I don’t have a whole chunk of money allocated to web development. I also don’t have a lot of time to self-educate on the latest software or coding methods. I’ve done the chore of browsing through hundreds of templates but never quote find one that fits the bill. I always want to tweak something or change a color or a texture and then you start racking up fees for customization for ONE site. If you have more than one site, you have to go through the whole thing all over again. Refer back to the chunk of money comment. It goes quick, doesn’t it?!

So, what’s to be done?

I have been noticing that there are some wonderful (and affordable!) software tools that are specifically designed to make web design easy.

One tool I have personally used for this site is Artisteer. It is especially great for creating designs for WordPress. The software will make design suggestions and then you can go in and adjust the colors, layout and graphics. It’s very easy and intuitive to use. It is available for download and comes in two different versions based upon export options and some expanded graphics elements.

www.Artisteer.com - $49.95 – $129.95

If you’re looking for the added simplicity of wrapping design/hosting/domain registration into one tidy package, there are a couple of options available.

GoDaddy has their Website Tonight® tool. I’ve used this tool, too and it’s very easy to use. I especially like the ability to go in and make changes and publish to the web with one click. They offer a variety of templates that are virtually plug and play with you just inputting your own text and graphics. While there are several color options for each template, you are limited to those specific colors and layouts.

www.GoDaddy.com – Each plan includes hosting and ranges from $3.99 – $12.99 per month based on size needs and payment plans.

Another tool that looks really nifty is one at Yola that I read about in my latest Entrepreneur magazine. It looks to be quite similar to GoDaddy’s tool but they also offer a free version. Yes, you read that right, I said FREE! For the free version, you would have a subdomain of their site (for example: www.YourSiteName.YolaSite.com). They also have the option of having a custom design created for $349.

www.Yola.com – FREE to $49.95 per year. $349 for custom design.

Intuit also has a website template service. Like GoDaddy and Yola, you simply have to choose a template, plug in your information and click to publish with their hosting. They also offer a 30-day free trial if you want to test it out.

www.Intuit.com – $4.99 per month.

These are just a handful of tools in an ever increasing number of options. I’m personally hoping for a marriage between the design portion and the hosting/one click publishing portion and more of the functionality for those of us that market and sell products online – shopping carts, autoresponders, list management, affiliate management. But it’s getting closer and closer all the time. But for now, you just need to get out there and online. With tools like these, you can make that happen in a couple of hours with just a couple of clicks.

What are you waiting for??

Happy Entrepreneuring!

Katherine

Go big or go home?

Lately, I’ve been wondering where that phrase came from. Surely it was some sports pep talk designed to rally the team to go for a big win. I can see where that would fit but why do I see that kind of attitude crop up in relation to everyday life?

Lose 100 lbs in four months.

Make a million dollars in a week.

You get the idea.

Is it possible? Sure.

If you’ve ever watched The Biggest Loser you’ve seen people lose 100 lbs in four months.

But they have put their entire lives on hold to focus on that one area of their lives.

I personally know folks that have made a million dollars in a week.

But they didn’t start out making that kind of money. Nope, most took about 10 years to grow to that point.

Is going big the only way to go? I don’t think so.

I think that too often we get it in our heads that unless we’re able to “Go Big” we shouldn’t even try. Or we try to “Go Big” and get overwhelmed.

Why can’t we just “Go?”

I’m of the opinion that any progress is good. Sometimes it’s small steps but at least we’re moving forward. Actually, I believe that compounded small steps add up to BIG change. Not only big change, but LASTING change.

You might not lose 100 lbs in 4 months, but you might lose 20 lbs in those 4 months just by eating a few less bites and moving a few minutes more each day.

You might not make 1 million dollars in a week, but by focusing on your business consistently and making small steps of progress, you might make an additional $10,000 this year.

I don’t know about you, but 20 lbs less and $10,000 more is better than finding myself in the exact same place in a year. Or even worse, 20 lbs heavier and $10,000 more in debt because I tried to make some huge effort and failed…and gave up.

So, as you look to 2010 and start picturing what you want to accomplish I encourage you to DREAM BIG, but break it down into small, realistic steps.

Just go.