Category: New Business Development

We’ve all done it.
We draft up a confidential
or personally embarrassing email,
autocomplete puts in the wrong email address
and we hit send
before we notice the mistake.

So what should we do?

Hit recall if that optional is possible.
But don’t trust that to fix the error.

Business etiquette expert
Karen Cleveland
advises*

“Apologize for sending
a confidential message
that wasn’t intended for them.
Ask that they please delete it
and thank them for their discretion.”

I judge the likelihood of the wrong recipient
being discrete
based on my relationship with them
and their ability to be discrete.
That will decide my next steps.

If you’ve sent an email to the wrong person,
contact that wrong person
immediately.

*March CPA Magazine

Small (yet growing) companies
can’t outspend our larger competition.
That’s not possible
and that’s not a bad thing.
It forces us to be creative,
innovative,
to try techniques and tactics
that have never been done before.

Everyone in the organization
also has to be engaged.
There should be no floaters
in a smaller company.

As
Patrick Oland,
CFO of Moosehead Breweries
shares,
in the March CPA Magazine,

“We have to be quicker and smarter
than the competition
–we can’t outspend them.
If we are going to be successful,
we are going to have to run a company
that is streamlined,
a lean well-oiled machine
with really capable people.”

Lean and capable
can be a strategic advantage.

Last week,
I outsourced a small project.
I spent a couple of hours
detailing exactly what I needed.
I got one of the three core things I needed
because the person I outsourced the project to
didn’t follow (or read) my instructions.

One of the skills
many busy entrepreneurs should look for
when interviewing possible employees
(and partners)
is the ability to follow instructions.
We don’t have the time
to double check
that every instruction we give
is followed
and, unfortunately,
MANY people can’t (or won’t) follow instructions.

Marc R. Enriquez,
founder of
Resonant Advantage Marketing
suggests
when crafting job postings
to “make your application process itself a test
as to whether a person can follow directions.
Don’t make it as simple
as allowing the applicant
to reply to your Craigslist post.
Those who do will immediately disqualify themselves.
This saves you a lot of time
in dealing with better quality candidates.”

We don’t need a thousand applicants.
We need one applicant
who can do the job.

Seth Godin has a great post
on Confidence.

“You succeed because
you’ve chosen to be confident.
It’s not really useful
to require yourself
to be successful
before you’re able to become confident.”

Happiness is also a choice.
Optimism is a choice.
Yes, we might be naturally inclined
toward a certain emotional setting
but the brain is a powerful thing.
We can overcome these defaults.

I have tricks to make myself more confident.
I have a list of wins I’ll peruse.
I have a suit that I feel powerful
while wearing.
I have certain friends and associates
I’ll talk to
(and some I’ll avoid).
I have a pep talk I give myself.

I have similar tricks
when I want to feel happy
or optimistic
or, if I need to ruthlessly revise stories,
when I want to feel grumpy.

Learn how to manage your emotions,
using them as a tool for success.

There is always talk
on St. Patrick’s Day
about the ‘luck of the Irish.’
(the irony is that many historians
believe this saying originally referred to BAD luck,
not good luck).

And you’ll likely hear people say today
“I just have to get lucky”
like that will solve all of their problems.

Ummm… no.
They don’t JUST have to get lucky
and it WON’T solve all of their problems.

Yes,
luck is an element in any success
but it is never the only element.
Even lottery winners have to enter the drawings.

Something has to be DONE
to supplement the luck.
And the more that is done,
the luckier a person is likely to be.

Luck also isn’t the solution
to all of a person’s problems.
Many lottery winners end up broke
because some of their problems
(like poor money management skills)
didn’t magically disappear
with their stroke of good luck.

Luck favors those who DO.
Get out there
and make luck happen.

Romance writers often talk
about how they’re not taken seriously.
One writer,
who earns millions of dollars a book,
is regularly asked
when she’ll write “a real book.”

I don’t give a sh*t
about being taken seriously.
Romance is the number one selling genre.
More romance writers make a living
from their writing
than in any other genre.
Our readers take us seriously.

And because other writers
don’t take us seriously,
they don’t enter the market.

As Allison O’Kelly,
Founder of Mom Corps,
shares

“When I started,
I got a lot of patronizing pats on the head.
But sometimes that’s good.
Nobody took me seriously
at the beginning
so nobody tried to copycat
what I was doing.”

Not being taken seriously
can be a VERY good thing.

I’ve always been aggressive.
I grew up dirt poor without connections
and the way I built success
was to reach out to people,
to ask for as much as possible,
to leverage every opportunity.

Yes, I get push back.
Some people call me names.
B*tch being one of the faves.
But that is part of the price of doing.
Someone isn’t going to like
ANYTHING you do.

Stacie Vanchieri,
Founder of
Modelogic [Wilhelmina],
shares

“’Aggressive’ is the best word
I can think of,
and I’m not bothered by it.
I’m very direct
because I’m busy
and I don’t have time to waste.
That can be scary
for a lot of people.”

Be aggressive
and be okay with it.

A friend of mine asked me
to take part in a box set
she’s organizing.
12 writers are contributing
1 new novella each,
in the hopes of making
the best seller lists.

I wouldn’t mind being on the best seller lists,
I had a story already written,
and this person was a buddy of mine,
so I said yes.

And then discovered
no one in the group
knows what the hell they were talking about.
They are all writers with less experience than I have.

Everything is at a lower level.
They do less promo.
The cover art is amateurish.
They don’t even have a contract.

I’ve already given up on the best seller lists.
That won’t happen.
There is no income in this project.
My greatest worry now is that
I will look amateurish by comparison.

If possible,
work with partners
at a higher level than you.
If you’re the only ‘expert’
in the partnership,
reconsider the arrangement.

I’m 4 stories into a 12 story project.
It is challenging to stay motivated,
to stay excited, fresh.

One of the ways
I do this
is by taking courses.
I listen to a 1 hour audio seminar
every week.
The topic is writing.
Sometimes I learn something new.
Sometimes I don’t.
But I ALWAYS leave motivated.

Michele Woodward,
an executive coach,
gives more ideas
to shake things up.

“See if you can change the patterns,
schedules and rhythms of your day.
Drive to the office
via a different route.
Change the way you do meetings.
Delegate differently.
Read a book.
Take a class.
Take on a different responsibility,
project or task.
All these strategies are designed
to incite your learning and growth,
and bring a new sense of zest
into your work.”

Consider taking a course.