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There’s Something You’re Forgetting To Tell Us
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy
It’s time for me to get really honest with you and let you know that there’s a reason why people are not crossing the street or the Inter-webs to buy from you, and it has nothing to do with how good your idea is. People might be noticing you left and right, but you’re not giving them a good enough reason to go beyond simply paying attention. Forgetting to do this one thing means that you are sabotaging your chances of being a leader, or an influencer. It stops people from trusting you enough to care about your idea. It makes them hold back and keeps their credit card firmly in their wallet.
I want you to stop telling people what you are, and start showing them what you are not.
You need to start telling people why you’re and showing them how you’re different
Do you know? Have you given much thought to what makes you and your idea extraordinary?
It’s not enough anymore to say I’ve got an MBA, a really reliable product or a bazillion twitter followers, plenty of other people have those badges of honor too. You need to do more than just wear your ribbon on the opposite side to everyone else. You’ve got something more valuable than all those credentials put together, you’re just keeping it hidden.
Your gifts are too precious, your ideas too important, don’t squander your opportunity to make a difference.
Once upon a time, an amazingly gifted client of mine thought she was an Etsy store owner and a decorator, when what she was all along was a stylist and interior designer. She just wasn’t telling people.
Are you up for the challenge? Deep down you know what makes you different it’s time to start articulating it.
Image by Emar.
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Take Off Your Little Black Dress
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Maybe you look amazing in a little black dress with no help from anyone. Very few people can pull it off without at least a leg wax, high heels and an airbrush tan. Think about why you wear that dress in the first place. Is it to make you feel good about yourself? Possibly…..or is it to attract attention?
You know deep down that you won’t attract the right kind of attention with your little black dress.
When will it be time to show the best of your real self, not just in your life but in your business too?
Are you spending so much time working on the ‘how to attract people’ part, (tactics); that you’ve stopped focusing on making a difference to people, (objectives)? Have you forgotten the unique value of your own message?
You have something important to share, but if you’re wearing the equivalent of a little black dress to attract people to your idea, blog or your business then you’re doing yourself a disservice. You are diluting your idea and making yourself invisible to the people who need what you have.
You are one-of-a-kind, your story is what makes your idea unique, and that idea it is going to make a difference to someone. Don’t bury it by dressing it up in 10 inch heels and covering it with lipstick.
Image by Zar Cor.
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The Secret To Building Ideas That Fly
Every single successful idea is born from tapping into just one thing. It’s the secret to the success of entrepreneurs the world over, from Derek Sivers to Richard Branson, Seth Godin to Jack Canfield. You know what it is, but sometimes you get so caught up in creating momentum around your idea, that you forget to pay attention to the one thing that really matters.
Ideas that fly are born from discovering neglected worldviews, then creating something to fill the void
Each business in the Virgin stable was built on this foundation. The neglected worldview is the first perfect brick. Think about any successful business, book, movement or cause you care about and ask yourself the question; what neglected worldview did it set out to fulfil?
I want your idea to fly, maybe it’s time to take a step back and look at the foundations of this thing you’re trying to build. What is your first perfect brick? What void are you filling?
Image by AmpamukA.
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20 Things You Need To Do More Than Google Plus
Any occurrence requiring undivided attention will be accompanied by a compelling distraction ~ Robert Bloch
There is a shiny new toy in the social networking sand box and you can’t wait to get stuck into it. It’s only natural to want a piece of the action, to see what the 10 million early adopters of Google Plus are raving about and to understand how circling is better than adding. Why? Because following is easier than leading and belonging is magnetic to the human condition.
Being in the Google Plus loop might be fun, it may even become a useful tool to leverage in your business down the track. But tools are just tactics. Tactics can become distractions and tactics alone don’t build your business, or make your idea a success.
You need to act on your own great ideas before you get distracted by someone else’s
So what could you do instead of getting distracted by Google Plus, (unless you’re Robert Scoble)?
Here’s a start, feel free to add your own:
1. Schedule time in the day to do uninterrupted work that supports your goals.
2. Start a blog. If you have one write a guest post.
3. Write a digital guide and give it away for free.
4. Notice things in the real world that aren’t working and think about ways to fix them.
5. Read books from start to finish.
6. Map out your objectives for the next year.
7. Start implementing strategies that will support them.
8. Design a product.
9. Build a twelve month launch calendar.
10. Look for unfulfilled worldviews and think about how to fulfil them.
11. Give a talk.
12. Write a newsletter and earn the right to connect with your audience.
13. Plan ways to make a difference, not just to be popular.
14. Skype a mentor.
15. Call a client.
16. Spend 30 minutes doing one thing without interruption.
17. Start a movement.
18. Take a day off.
19. Spend time offline, with people who matter to you.
20. Go outside, walk on the beach, by the river, or in the park.
*Full disclosure. Yes I do have a Google Plus account by kind invitation from a friend. So far I’ve added my profile picture.*
Image by rikulu.
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What’s Stopping You Making Your Idea Matter?
filed in Strategy
The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth $20 ~ Derek Sivers
You’ve got lots of great ideas and more than a few stuffed Moleskines to prove it!
An idea, even the most fantastic one, only begins to matter when you can take it from scribbles in your notebook to implementation.
So what’s stopping you? Why are you stuck?
When will the time be right?
If you have the kind of idea that will benefit others more than it benefits you, it matters. Don’t waste it!
I know that ideas aren’t a problem for you, so what would take you from Moleskine to momentum? What do you need to start? What’s holding you back?
Image by Mike Rohde.
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Forgetting The Facts
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Worldview
We all know that love affairs don’t begin with facts
Ric Bixter was given a college assignment; to take something boring, that you could buy for less than a couple of dollars and repackage it to make it more interesting and valuable. So Ric set out to tell a different story about elastic bands. One that had little to do with the facts.
Your customers will sometimes need to know the facts about what you’re selling. How many sessions? What’s the fuel consumption? Does is come with a guarantee? But that’s not always where your story has to start. Take a look around you at all the marketing messages you see working. The products and services people fall in love with aren’t just about the facts or specs. They are about the story and things people care about.
Your job is to communicate more than the facts
This doesn’t mean telling a story that isn’t true. It means getting people to take a second look and giving them a reason to fall in love with what you do. We all know that love affairs don’t begin with facts. If you want to make people believe your true story, then you need to ask yourself one simple question.
How is this adding to my customer’s worldview?
Take a look at how perfectly Ric told a new story about elastic bands, with colour, typography, nuance and humour.
How could you do this in your business? What story can you tell? How can you make your idea matter to the people who need to hear from you?
And if you’re looking to add a great storyteller to your design team in London next year, give Ric a shout @fellbridge. He’s sure to be snapped up!
Images and package design by Ric Bixter.
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How Not To Name A Startup Or Anything
filed in Brand Naming, Strategy
A brand name is more than a word. It is the beginning of a conversation. ~ Lexicon
Everyone can agree that there’s nothing really objectionable about calling your business ‘Bargain World’. It’s an innocuous name and most people won’t hate it. And that’s the problem.
If you’re going to name your business, non-profit, product or service something that people won’t hate, then you’re giving yourself an identity that they will never be able to care about either.
Bunkum! I hear your cry what about Apple and Amazon, aren’t they just unobjectionable words too? Back in 1976 when Apple was Apple Computer, tech startups and corporations were called IBM (what does that stand for?) and Microsoft. I bet a few people were laughing behind their hands at the idea of branding an incorporated tech company with a stripey apple. When Jeff Bezos named Amazon after one of the biggest rivers in the world in 1994, other book stores were called Borders Books and Waldenbooks. It didn’t take people long to fall in love with Amazon, which of course aspired to be the biggest, fastest, get what you want bookstore, (that had room to grow not to be just a bookstore) in the world.
Your business or product name is the hook on which you hang your story and start the conversation with customers. It’s the mechanism you give people to identify you. And when you earn their trust and loyalty it’s the way they spread the news about you. Your brand and product names are some of the most priceless assets your business can own. They should make you stand out, not fit in.
If nobody can find an objection to the brand name you choose, then you’ve probably got the wrong name. This kind of brand naming architecture often happens by committee, which means you end up with something that will be forgotten. Your name should polarize people, spark their interest and make them want to get to know more about what you do.
Here’s a simple test. If you can’t imagine someone wanting to wear your name on a t-shirt one day, then it’s probably not the right name for you now.
I know that choosing a name for your brand has caused you to waste valuable time and slowed down growth and momentum in your business, so I’m working on the brand naming white paper you asked for, which will be available to you soon. Hallelujah!
How did you choose your brand, blog or business name? Which brand names do you love and why? Which ones do you wish you’d thought of first?
Image by World of Good
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Close The Gap Between Dreaming And Doing
Everyone wants to sit around and think up cool stuff. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to actually build something. The energy isn’t in the idea, it’s in the execution. ~ Seth Godin
I think you’ll agree that sometimes we get stuck, even when we know we have a great idea. Sometimes it’s easier to sit and wait for just the right time to execute, to see if it’s safe. The thing is if you’re waiting until it’s safe then it probably is. Most of what inspires us in our world didn’t come from a place of safety. Don’t wait to feel safe. Go be audacious!
Obvious to you. Amazing to others. from Derek Sivers on Vimeo.
RECOGNIZING YOUR GENIUS ~ Derek Sivers
PROVIDENCE ~ Bob Geldof
WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM ~ Steven Johnson
IDEAS THAT SPREAD WIN ~ Seth Godin
Jason Fried @ Big Omaha 2009 from Big Omaha on Vimeo.
WHY FAILURE IS UNCOOL & PLANNING IS GUESSING ~ Jason Fried
Tim Brown on Change By Design from IDEO on Vimeo.
CONVERSION OF NEED INTO DEMAND ~ Tim Brown
Image by Chris Devers.
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Acknowledging The Fear
“Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”
Marianne Williamson
People are scared. Especially people with big ideas and vision, who are doing great work. They are scared of doing the wrong thing, of making a misstep. Scared of being invisible and frightened their idea might not work. They’re afraid your design may not tell their whole story, or draw customers in. They’re worried about losing money and terrified of looking stupid.
Maybe their fear is partly what brought them to you in the first place?
Once they’ve paid for the coaching program, the copy, the intangible you probably sell, they worry that they won’t get a return on their investment, they fret that you won’t have the answer. This has little to do with trusting you, your expertise or your art, and a lot to do with expressing a tiny bit of self doubt about the place where they are on their own entrepreneurial journey.
Your job is not to get rid of the fear. Fear is normal. Fear has it’s place and you can’t make it go away.
Fear was the fuel for every great idea that ever was.
Your job is to recongnise it and show your people that you understand their anxiety. Your job is not to buy into it. Your role is definitely not to be afraid alongside them. As their expert, their mentor or their creative genius, your job is not to allow their fear to stall them right when they are at the threshold about to push past it.
Your job is to understand where your client is at, acknowledge that, then go ahead and deliver anyway.
*Update* new from Seth Godin today 2/7/11;
“Fear is the lone barrier almost every product and service has to overcome in order to succeed.”
I’d love to hear about your experiences of dealing with client fear, or how you acknowledge this in yourself sometimes on your entrepreneurial journey. I’ll share alongside you.
Image Paolo Margari.
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People Want What They Never Asked For
Everybody’s obsessed with finding a niche when what they should be doing is expressing a worldview. ~ Amy Hoy
Have you ever been to a chocolate cafe? There’s a new one in town and we went to see what all the fuss is about. I’m not talking about a big franchise operation here— I’m talking the real deal chocolatier. The kind that displays individual chocolates in glass cases like jewels, where the assistants handle everything with gloved fingertips. A place that labels itself a chocolate salon and not a cafe at all, where you blissfully buy $12 brownies, $8 chocolate bars and can’t get a seat.
Now all chocolate cafes are not created equal. This one just happens to be expressing a worldview with knobs on. It is gently whispering into it’s customers ear, giving her an opportunity to feast her eyes and imagination while appealing to her very soul. The extravagant $12 decision is made based on nothing to do with taste or facts and everything to do with what she cares deeply about.
Your customer cares that you made an effort to seduce her. She wants to be able to tell herself a story about being flamboyant, outrageous, passionate, determined and successful.
The reason you exist is to allow your customer to express her worldview.
People don’t just buy your physical product, they invest in their unspoken worldview reflected back to them. Things that they really care about like success, freedom, happiness, fear, popularity, legacies and love. The sort of stuff that matters more than just chocolate sauce and caramel swirls.
Image by teddy-rised.