Know Yourself

Almost all of the mistakes I’ve made
in my life
have been because I didn’t know myself.
I didn’t know my weaknesses.
I didn’t know how I liked to work.
I didn’t know what I’m good at.

The better I knew myself,
the more successful I became.

Sallie Krawcheck,
Owner of 85 Broads,
advises

“Keep a running note
of what works and
what doesn’t work for you,
what you like and
what you don’t like,
what you’re good [at] and
what you aren’t,
the work styles that suit you and
what doesn’t,
where your passions lie and
what leaves you cold.”

Know yourself
– the good, the bad, all of you.

Don’t Forget Conventional Businesses

Richard Branson,
Founder of Virgin Group
shares

“Most 22-year-olds today
think that the way
to make their fortunes is
through setting up tech businesses
and it is true
that can be a fruitful direction.

But other more conventional businesses
shouldn’t be forgotten.
There are still plenty of different sectors
that need shaking up.

It is more important
to follow your passion
than going into tech
simply to make a fortune.

Not everybody is technically minded anyway,
and if you don’t really love what you do,
you won’t succeed.”

I’ve worked in quite a few industries
(beverage, movies, mortgages,
real estate, publishing, etc)
and I saw opportunities in ALL of them.
Yes, even in the romance novel business.
There are almost too many improvements
that I can make.

Enter and improve
industries you’re passionate about.

The Puppy-Dog Close

If I hand a prospective reader
a copy of my book,
there is a high likelihood
that she’ll buy it.

This is the puppy-dog close.
As Sydney Barrows
explains

“A customer is in the pet store
with a child who is begging for a puppy.
Not at all sure this is such a great idea,
or perhaps not sure if
this particular puppy is the right fit,
the customer will not commit
to the purchase.
The savvy salesperson offers to let them
take the puppy home for a few days,
assuring the parent
that the puppy can be returned,
no questions asked,
and a refund cheerfully given
if they decide they don’t wish to keep it.

How could you say no
to such a reasonable offer,
especially with your child right there
with those expectant eyes?

Of course,
the child falls in love with the new pet,
and there’s no way
the parent can return the dog
to the store.
Sold: one puppy.
It’s that simple.”

Once a prospect holds the product,
she is likely to claim ownership.
To avoid loss,
she has to buy the product.

Ask your prospect to hold the product
while you’re explaining its features.

Published
Categorized as Sales

Don’t Over Plan

I’ve been to conferences
(both online and live)
where every second of the day,
every speech,
every event was planned.
Speakers had to send copies of their talks
to the coordinator.
These conferences were usually good
but they weren’t magical.
The magic happened in the more casual dinners
or other events surrounding the conference.

Wurman
[Richard Saul Wurman,
Founder of the TED conference]

believes
his events stood out largely
because most of them were
unrehearsed, unplanned,
unedited and unscripted.
He recorded every talk
that speakers gave
at each of the TED conferences,
and what you see on videotape
is exactly how it happened live.
That, according to Wurman,
was the real magic behind TED.”

Magic doesn’t come from perfection.
Don’t plan the life out of your events.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Know When You’re The Exception

I was chatting with a bunch of writers
about newsletters.
They all agreed that
short, seldom sent, promo only newsletters
worked best.
They had a higher open rate
than newsy, longer, more frequent newsletters.

That’s the rule.

However, I write short stories and novellas
under the pen name I was using
and I have a release a month.
My readers expect jokes and silliness from me.
They’d be very disappointed
if I sent them a promo only newsletter.
They’d consider it to be spam.

I’m the exception.

This is key when receiving advice,
especially advice we want to take
(a promo only newsletter is MUCH easier to send
than a newsy fun-filled newsletter).
We have to know when we’re the exception,
when following advice
for the average entrepreneur,
the average business,
will anger our customers.

Don’t apply advice blindly.
Evaluate if it applies to your business.

Not Knowing People

I was chatting via Facebook comments
with a couple of writers.
Another writer joined the discussion.
I hadn’t yet Friended her
so I sent her a request.

She private messaged me
and it was clear she didn’t know
I was another writer
or anything about me.

When I replied that we wrote
for the same publisher,
she was embarrassed.
(I didn’t mention that
I hosted her on my blog
and we’d had dozens of discussions
– grins)

I teased her about it
and we laughed
but she SHOULD be embarrassed.

In this age of information,
there is no excuse
for not knowing who people are.
(once we have their names)

A simple Google search
or, in this case,
a click on my profile
tells us enough information
to prevent us from looking like dumb a$$es.

If you don’t know who someone is,
GOOGLE them
before you ask THEM who they are.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Collecting Friends Or Followers

I was super happy
because I made one of my benchmarks
for Facebook Friends/Followers.

One of my writing buddies
tempered my excitement
by telling me
she has five times my number
and has less sales.

I was shocked.
So I looked at her Facebook account.

She hasn’t posted an update
in a month.

Social media isn’t about
collecting friends or followers.
It is about connecting with people.
That means
reaching out to people initially,
creating that friend/follower,
and then staying in contact.

Have you posted an update today?

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Working The Long Weekend

It’s a long weekend
in the States
and you’re working.

Your friends are drinking wine,
chilling on a patio,
or relaxing at the cottage.
You’re working.

This might be a bummer
if this was all you were doing
but it’s not.

You’re making a dream come true.
You’re changing the world.
You’re creating a difference
that no one else can create.

That tweet you just sent?
It might be the tweet that gets
your business discovered
by a huge new market.

That email you just crafted?
You might cite it one day
as the email that changed your life.

As an entrepreneur,
anything or everything you do
this weekend
could change the course of history.
It could be a small improvement type of change
or a huge life-will-never-be-the-same change.

Your friends?
They’re just drinking wine.

What Is An Expert?

A writer at one of the smaller publishers
I once wrote for
sent an email to the writer’s loop,
telling writers that
the publishing business is
going to hell in a hand basket,
no one is making money,
and they shouldn’t quit their day jobs.

This is bullsh*t, of course,
but because this writer prefaced her rant
with “I’ve been in this business for 23 years
and have 17 novels published”,
writers got all in a tizzy,
citing her as an ‘expert.’

Yes, she’s an expert.
She’s an expert at surviving for 23 years.
She’s an expert at producing 17 novels.
She’s clearly not an expert
at selling these novels
or making a living from her writing.

Some new-to-Clientk readers
might look at my 9 years of blogging here
and think “k is an expert.”
Yes, I’m an expert at
blogging daily for 9 years.
That’s ALL this number tells you.

Judge an expert on her results.
If she hasn’t achieved the success you wish,
she likely isn’t an expert in the skill
you’re looking for.

Creating Business For Yourself

I grew up in small towns.
Working as a teenager
in the local McDonald’s wasn’t an option
because there wasn’t a local McDonald’s.
We had to create our own jobs.

And we DID.
We were always busy,
always selling something,
always looking for opportunities.

And this was one of the best things
to ever happen to me.
I don’t ever worry about ‘finding a job’
because I know I can create one.

In the May/June
The Costco Connection,
Wayne Fromm,
inventor
and founder of
Fromm Works,
shares

“I’ve always created businesses
for myself–
I’ve never worked for a company
or anybody
a day in my life.”

“My interests and my passion
became my business.
I didn’t go around saying,
‘How can I make money?’
I went around saying,
‘What would I like to see
or what would [daughter] Sage
like to play with as a child?’
and that was the way I did things.
I always put Sage first.”

Create the job you want
and the business you want to work for.