December 2013 – Page 2

Adding Friction

Some of the blogs
I frequently read
now have restricted access,
requiring readers to sign up for
a free membership.

Yes, it is free.
But having to remember a password
and sign in every time I visit these sites
is a pain in the a$$.
The content wasn’t that unique
so I’ve stopped going to these sites.

As Seth Godin
shares

“If you’re going to add friction,
if you’re going to create
urgency and scarcity,
understand that it always
comes at a cost.
By all means,
we need to figure out
how to make a living
from the work we do.
But with scalable goods,
particularly those that have substitutes,
don’t add friction
unless there are enough benefits
to make it worth our hassle.”

Friction comes at a cost.
Think before you add it.

Apply Your Knowledge

Many readers have noticed
that when I quote a business leader,
I often also give an example
from my own experience.

Yes, this shows you
another way you can apply
the business leader’s knowledge
but the reason I do this
is for me.

If I can’t see how knowledge applies
to my own world,
to my own situation,
I don’t retain this knowledge.
I’ve taught myself
to immediately look for ways to use
what I’ve learned.

Knowledge is useless
unless it is applied.
Think of how you can use
the information you’ve gathered.

Craft A Great Story

“Just because everyone else is”
isn’t a compelling story
for your prospects.

Recently I had a serial published.
Serials
(stories broken into multiple parts,
these parts are sold separately)
are hot right now.
Publishers are aggressively buying them.

Some readers, however, hate them.
They believe they are a money grab,
a way to charge more
for the same story.

I could have told readers
I wrote a serial
because everyone else had one.
But that’s a weak explanation,
likely to anger readers.

Instead, I pointed out
how the relationship was naturally
broken into parts,
how being a serial made the story stronger,
how I couldn’t see this story
being written as anything other than a serial.

Readers, reviewers
and other industry professionals
responded well to this.
They understood.

Craft a great story
and your prospects will respond also.

Presents For Entrepreneurs

Buddies have been asking me
what I want for the holidays.

I’m working like a crazy person
building the writing business.
I don’t have time for other hobbies.
I don’t need much of anything.

Except time.

So a loved one gave me time.
She gave me some money
to hire an assistant
to help me with promotion.

Other business building buddies
receive maid service,
yard service,
gift cards for take-out restaurants,
Roombas (those room cleaning robots),
valet service at the airport,
blue tooth accessories,
personal shoppers,
other items that save time,
that allow entrepreneurs
to concentrate on building their business.

When loved ones ask you
what you want for the holidays,
tell them time
and let them know
how to give you that time.

Continuous Learning

Regular Clientk readers know
how important I think continuous learning is.
Learning new skills keeps us
competitive, young, hungry.

Knight Kiplinger
shares

“Your own earning power
–rooted in your education and job skills
–is the most valuable asset
you’ll ever own,
and it can’t be wiped out
in a market crash.”

I always put some writing books
on my Christmas wish list.
I’ll read a couple of pages every day.

I take at least one monthly workshop.
I’m sitting in these workshops
along side new writers
AND best selling writers.
These are both
my competitors and my partners.
If I don’t learn what they’re learning,
I become less marketable,
less competitive.

Continuous learning is necessary
for continuous success.
Schedule some time for it.

Insulting Your Customers

It is seldom wise to insult your customers
(unless that is your rather unusual branding).

But you don’t, you say?
Are you certain?

I recently read a blog post
in which a writer said
how the residents of a certain community
were stuck up prigs.
She was a very popular writer.
I can guarantee that
some of her readers
live in this community,
have loved ones in this community,
WANT to live in this community.

Another writer
ripped apart a book written
by a popular writer,
questioning the intelligence
of the popular writer’s readers.
I can guarantee that
some of the less popular writer’s readers read
and LOVED this book.

Your customers might live anywhere,
have a zillion different beliefs,
both in the past and currently.
Some of your customers
used your competitor’s products.

You don’t have to agree with your customers
but please strive to respect them.

Email Your Offers

Marketing folks talk and talk and talk
about social media
but the bulk of my sales
come from good ol’ fashioned email
(either email via reader loops
or newsletters sent to emails
or…).

Mike Michalowicz
shares

“Email is the single most powerful
marketing tool for online sales.
Most emails are opened
within 24 hours,
so your best bet is
to send an email
that highlights your primary deals
one day before the event,
and send a follow-up email
to remind folks of the savings available
on the day of the event.”

Email your offers.
If you don’t have a list of customer emails,
use someone else’s
(via their loops or their newsletters or…)

Your Weak Spot

All products/businesses have weaknesses.
Coca-Cola has the obesity issue.
Walmart has the wages
and sourcing issues.
Romance novels have plot holes
(or WTF moments).

When I started writing romances,
I tried to ignore my plot holes,
hoping that readers or editors wouldn’t notice.
Someone always did.
Not addressing (or closing) these plot holes
made me look incompetent
and shook their trust in me
to tell a story.

Today, I deliberately search
my stories for plot holes.
I’ll ask beta readers to look
for any WTF moments,
moments that didn’t make sense.

Bruna Martinuzzi
shares

“Anticipate questions
that address any weaknesses
in your argument
or controversial aspects
about what you’re presenting.
We often don’t spend the time
to prepare for these type of questions;
instead, we avoid them in hopes
the audience won’t detect the weak spots.
However, you can be sure
that if there’s a weakness,
someone will perceive it
and question you about it.”

Know your weaknesses.
Either eliminate them
or have an answer
when prospects ask you about them.
And they WILL ask.

Your Default Look

Seth Godin
shares

“We have a default setting,
an arrangement of muscles
that gives our mouth and eyes
a look.
Some have,
as a friend of mine says,
“resting bitchy face.”
People rely so much on reading faces
that even though you might not intend it,
people are making an assumption
about your mood
and your approachability.”

My default is
happy, a smiley face.
That’s perfect
for my career as a romance writer.
Romance readers want happy endings.
Romance writers sell
love and hope and optimism.

It wasn’t as perfect
for my stint
writing grim post apocalyptic fiction
or
my previous job mowing the lawn
at a cemetery
and
I’ve received many dirty looks
when I attend funerals
and other somber situations.

Why are our default looks important?
Because matching the tone of our businesses
to our default look
makes life much, MUCH easier.

Know your default look.
Find an industry
where that default look
is an asset.

Quality Over Quantity

A loved one is also a writer.
He always has a long list
of things he should do.
Many of the things on the list
are trivial.
Some, like writing his novel,
are important.

My loved one completes
the trivial, often easy tasks first.
He seldom has time to write.
He ends the day
with a lot of things checked off his list
but none of these are as important
as the one or two tasks
he hasn’t completed.

Shayan Zadeh,
co-founder and CEO of Zoosk,
shares

“At the beginning of the day,
I select one to two tasks
that I want to give my full attention to,
rather than trying to complete more activities
and doing a mediocre job.
Normally on my plate on any given day,
I prioritize my task list based on impact
and tackle the most pressing
and difficult work first.
Setting a goal of ‘inbox zero’
is the wrong goal to set as a CEO,
as your output quality will suffer
in lieu of quantity.
I am constantly reorganizing
my priority list
in an effort to do the things
that will have the biggest impact
on the business first,
rather than tackling
short, easy tasks
just to cross off more items.”

Complete your most important tasks first.