It Sure Beats Working

How Low Can You Go?

"Hi, I’m calling from the Honey Baked Ham store in Framingham to tell you how you can save. . . "

"Dear Michael, it was great to meet you at yesterday’s networking meeting.  Here’s a list of the services we offer. . ."

"Open this e-mail and earn. . ."

These are all messages I received, unsolicited, in the past 48 hours.  The first by phone, the next two via e-mail.

Here’s the good news:  The bar for what companies consider “outreach” is low.  Exceedingly low.  Unbelievably low.  Boring, impersonal, automated junk.

And that’s good for you and me.  Because with all this stuff out there, and all the people stumbling so badly in their eagerness to make the sale that they forget about the human being on the other side, we look good simply by keeping it genuine.

That’s it.  Just stay in touch with a friendly, sincere hello and the occasional tidbit of useful information sent to the people you already know.  Then watch your small business grow.

I’d like to make it more complicated, but it really isn’t.

Forget the Business Model

I know you want to figure out the perfect business model for what you do, whether you have a business already up and running or you’re just thinking about it in preparation for leaving your job.

But as a first step, I want you to put aside the question of how you’re going to make money. 

The problem with putting the money first is that it kills your creativity; it forces you to think in terms of “how many units at what price,” right from the start.  And once you pull out the spreadsheet, you’re locked inside the realm of “what’s possible based on my past experience.”

So instead, spend time (a lot of time) on three things:

1. What am I really good at?
2. What do I love to do?
3. What does somebody else need?

Get clear on that and then look for the business model.

In the meantime, here are some people whose businesses are so unconventional -– and based on their own interests/skills --  that if they had put the business model first, I doubt they’d have ever made it past that first spreadsheet:

Phil Fraley Productions (dinosaur exhibits); Deborah Henson-Conant (musical theatre + story telling + electric harp); Joel Goldes (dialect coach for actors).

Postcards from the Edge

Took a week’s vacation last week.  We did all the usual vacation stuff, including sending postcards to friends and family.  And I did my usual thing… sending postcards to my clients as well.

Not a lot.  Maybe 20 people total.  Just to say hello and make a connection.

I’ve been doing this for years and I’ve found it’s an easy way to stay in touch and show your clients that you think of them as more than just a check in the mail.

Not automated either.  I wrote them all by hand, sitting in a little Internet cafe while my daughter got her digital fix.  45 minutes later we were both done.  Total cost: About $15.00.

Here’s the point:  It’s easy to get so fixated on “friending,” “following” and other social media gew gaws that we forget to connect with people in a genuine way.

If you haven’t yet taken your own summer vacation, send a few postcards to clients and watch what happens.

Don’t Sweat the Summer

My first few years in business, I was always anxious during the summer.  The phone didn’t ring, the e-mails didn’t get returned, the new clients didn’t appear. 

It was just really quiet. And I would worry that maybe my entire business was heading south for good.

But then I noticed how in September, it all came back to life again.  Every year, the same thing.

So now, instead of worrying about the slow summer, I enjoy it.  I sleep in, I go home for lunch, I spend time outside.

Here’s the point.  One of the benefits of working for yourself is that you don’t have to show up just for the sake of showing up.  So if things slow down for you in the summer – as they do for me – why not just go with the flow and enjoy it?

After all, isn’t that one of the reasons you left corporate America in the first place?

Who's Mowing Your Lawn?

It takes me about two-and-a-half hours to mow my lawn.   It’s about an acre, and although I’ve got a rider mower, the machine is ancient (slow) and there are a lot obstacles in the way.  My wife sometimes asks why I don’t get my oldest son to do it or just find some other way, so that I don’t use up that time every Saturday morning.

I realized recently (yesterday) that I don’t mow the lawn just to get it done.  I also like how the activity keeps me in touch with “the property.”  Mowing the lawn requires covering just about every inch of it and it just sort of keeps me in touch -- at a very granular level –- with where I live.

Running my own business feels the same way.  I like the fact that as a solo professional, I do everything from vacuuming my office, to going to the post office, to selling and creating the client work.  It keeps me grounded in the work; it makes it feel real.

That’s very different from when I worked in middle management within a large company.  There, I didn’t see the top or the bottom (or the sides) of the way we did business.  I just did my one little compartmentalized thing… it was like living in a house where the lawn was always mowed.

How about you?  Do you like the “lawn mowing” tasks related to your business, or would you just as soon have someone else take care of them?

Hobby or Job?

Following up on yesterday’s post (two days in a row, how do you like that?), I finished Hugh MacLeod’s book last night.  Lots to think about.

In chapter 35, he raises an interesting question, essentially suggesting that if your hobby becomes your job, you no longer have a hobby.

I’ve always looked at it the other way: If your hobby becomes your job you no longer have a job.

What do you think?  Is making a living doing what you love a blessing or a curse?

Advice on Advice

I’ve been reading Hugh MacLeod’s new book, Ignore Everybody.  And 39 Other Keys to Creativity. I like the book and I like his point of view and voice.  

Some of what he says I totally agree with. (“Good ideas have lonely childhoods.”)  Some of what he says I think is completely wrong. (“Keep your day job.”)

Either way, what I’ve noticed about expert advice from successful people is that even if they are in fact expert (a big “if”), and even if they are in fact successful (an even bigger “if”), when they show you the path, they’re really just showing you their path.

It’s not a universal truth -- it's a data point. 

If you like it, use it.  But if you don’t, feel free to just keep walking.  Your job is to figure out what works for you.

 

Roll The Dice Every Day

I was thinking today as I was driving to my office how much freedom I have as a solo professional.  Not just the freedom to come and go as I please, either (although that’s significant).  I was thinking about the freedom to follow the opportunities and interests that arrive in my life.  

 

If I get an idea for a business service that I want to pursue, I just do it.  If I’m invited to go on a three-week book tour, I just go.  If a new client appears with a project that I want to tackle, I’m free to take it on. 

 

That’s big. 

 

Having a job that more or less consumes 100% of your available work time, on the other hand, prevents you from following the opportunities that life blows your way.   It might pay the bills, but the predictability of a steady paycheck interferes with the unpredictability of pursuing your passions, most of which appear as little side projects before eventually growing into full-blown dreams. 

 

Even if opportunity knocks, you don’t have the time or energy to stop and chat. 

 

For me, never knowing what the next day will bring is a big part of what makes solo professionalism so rewarding.

Every Little Bit Hurts

Like you, I buy a wide range of services from other professionals: legal, accounting, coaching, financial planning, insurance, design, IT, etc.  I've got a team of people who fill different, important roles in helping me keep my business going.

The interesting thing is that each has a different approach to billing.  I don't mean the rate or frequency with which they charge, I mean how generous they are with their time.

For some, it's "every minute has a price."  If I  ask a quick question or need a fax sent or, frankly, want anything, it shows up on the invoice.

For others, they only seem to bill me for the "big chunks."

Who's right?  I don't know, but I can tell you this.  While the former group certainly has the right to bill me for every interaction, they get a lot less of my business. I'm so concerned about the clock -- they've trained me to be -- that our relationship remains at arm's length and they never learn enough about me or my business to offer me more.  I tend to think of them as vendors.

The other group, on the other hand, gets the big checks.  They don't get paid for every interaction, but over the (just slightly) longer term, I send them a ton more business.  These folks are my partners, my advisors.

It's easy to see which approach makes for a better business model.  As a wise professional once said, "The slower you are to take someone's money, the more of it they'll eventually give you."

What's Your Secret Sauce?

I had a client tell me yesterday how much he likes the writing I do for his company.  How good it makes him look and how well it translates his point of view onto paper.

I tell you this for two reasons:

1.  To brag.
2.  To impress upon you the importance of figuring out what your special gift is. Mine is a particular type of writing (first person, story-based, casual) for a particular type of client (professional service provider).  When this type of person wants this type of writing, I honestly believe that I am the most qualified person on planet Earth for doing the work.

That's big.  Not only because it gives you confidence, but also because when a client believes that about you, there are no suitable substitutes.  They'll wait for you to be available and thrilled when you are.

Lots of people (and companies) try to explain their expertise by using a grab bag of positive, but generic traits: good customer service, professional qualifications, wisdom, good listening skills, professionalism, etc.  All are important, but none come close to the marketing traction you get when a client believes that you and nobody else but you can get the job done right.

Figure out your own special sauce and spread it around.