Tag: entrepreneurism

It’s Almost Never About You

We're self-preservationists at heart.  This works well if shipwrecked or lost in the jungle.  In general, though, it's a dangerous mindset.

Where this really shows up is when we are trying use clients to get us to where we want to go, which is unethical.  But it also shows up when we're honestly trying to help.  Either way you need to stop and realize what's number one.  As in, your client.  No talking points, no radio spots, just authentic love.

If you've built your career/business model around "you first," then it will be painful to change.  You may have already tuned me off if that last sentence applies.

The following outlines some ideas to consider as you seek to get it right with existing clients, and prospective one's too:

  1. Just like God, a client's time-frame may not be the same as yours.  And if you're in the "service" business (we all are), then you don't get to make this call.  You can be polite in persistence, but ultimately you're a servant.
  2. Stop marketing that you care, when your actions communicate something different.  Washington, D.C. may have made us think that everyone has a price, but most clients desire authenticity.
  3. Be willing to risk loss.  Those who have lost, even though they did there best, change the world and are wildly successful.
  4. Stand your ground in the face of critics and conformists.  If memory serves, the word is courage.
  5. Your work is truly a motion picture.  Make it the kind that people want to see over and over again.

Emotional Control

Regardless of the business you're in, or a owner of, it's vital that you control your emotions.  Specifcially, around how you treat your customers.  Way too many organizations are led and operated by those who allow emotions to rule the day.

For example, if you're a retailer and a customer returns a shirt because the quality and fit are not up to their expectations, don't frown with disgust because their at the return desk/department.  It's an opportunity to grow the relationship.  Maybe there's a problem with QC at the factory where the shirts are sourced.  Don't wait until there's three boxes of returned shirts to get clued into a problem.  Customers do want to engage about your product-if you let them.

Sadly, most employees forget (if their thinking about the customer at all) that the customer comes in expecting to be treated…less than warm.  When you or an employee confirm that expectation, the customer convinces themselves that another store is there better option.  If the employee taking the return would have been prepared (or been trained/developed) in the art of restraint and vision, the result might be radically different.  Controlling our emotional urges requires practice.

A friend once told me that you'll know how much a service/product provider really cares about you when a problem arises.

Maybe you should start a program around training/developing emotional control (EC).  Yes, your manager/leaders will have to engage with the staff.  But that's what they should be doing anyway.  Think of what you might discover?  Your customers might discover something remarkable in a landscape full of the "unremarkable."

What Are You Hanging Onto?

Whether it's social media stardom or the next viral marketing campaign, your identity can easily be sucked in.  You may ask what does it matter?  It matters much.  Examine where your identity rests and you'll know what you're hanging onto.

The greatest artists, thinkers, and entrepreneurs are the ones who have a graceful indifference to their craft.  By that I mean they pour themselves out not thinking of what may come next.  It's beautiful to observe.

Maybe they're content to let eternity judge the quality or significance of their work.  It really doesn't matter…see Steve Jobs, Miles Davis, Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa here for a flesh example.

The answer to this post's question is nothing.

Hang onto nothing and change the world.

What Marketing Can’t Fix

Here are some things marketing can't fix:

  1. Leaders who wear masks
  2. Followers that have lost faith
  3. A culture broken from the start
  4. Unwillingness to change
  5. Organizations that don't put the customer first-really
  6. A salesforce only focused on sales
  7. An organization that doesn't aspire to something greater than last years results
  8. Apathy
  9. Wounded clients
  10. Exhausted faux-marketing techniques

The Entrepreneur Connection

If you're not hanging out with other entrepreneurs (positive ones), you're crazy.  Don't mean to be so direct, but it really can help.  I've been discovering this in the last few weeks.  Big revelation, huh? 

The power is found in the connection.  You'll find you're not alone, which is often the case inside of an employment situation. Everyone is self-employed anyway.  That's why this is not just for the self-employed.  That's right, even if you're employed you should be doing all you can to connect with other like-minded folk.  The universe is too big to go it alone. 

And if you think of yourself as a freak or an outsider, you'll find other freaks and outsiders in these confines.  Don't be a best kept secret.

The Problem With Small Getting Large

One of my favorite merchants in the town I live in, is not one of my favorites anymore.

They once were small and engaging, but now world domination seems to be the order of the day.  No more "we'll search and see if we can get it" or "haven't seen you in the store lately."  I miss being Eric to them. 

The problem with some entrepreneurs is they are trying to fill a void by being "uber-successful."  What is forgotten is what get's left behind-the customer.

By the way, the void above is rarely filled by getting large. 

I'm appreciating small these days.

Everyone Has A Story

I subscribe to the Pigg Pin because I need help in the garden.  Kevin dispenses in an understandable way, and I don't have to spend crazy amounts of time implementing the advice.

His post is more about his journey in life and entrepreneurism.  It's rooted in accidents and attraction, but one that I share on a different path.  I believe we all have something in common with Kevin.  Shame that so many spend a lifetime denying it.

Cheers to you if your living the dream, and to Kevin for the gardening and entrepreneur advice.