Escape from Cubicle Nation

Update from Pam before wild week

I am writing this on my way to Sedona, where I am going to relax for a couple of days before starting what is sure to be a busy and exciting adventure.

So many of you have been with me on this journey for a long time, trading emails and blog comments, talking with each other on calls and even, occasionally, meeting in person!

I wanted to give you a little behind the scenes update so you know what I am doing in the next few weeks and why I am doing it.  And for those of you who have similar plans to write books or launch programs or start a company, maybe my successes and failures can help you a bit in your own journey. 

Here are some things you will see happening:

The Book

After what seems like a long time, the Escape from Cubicle Nation book will actually be hitting bookstores and shipping from online booksellers on April 30.  A number of you got early copies with your pre-order, and I have been totally excited to hear your thoughts about the book.  It seems like most of that communication these days has been happening on Twitter.  I jump up and down in my chair when I imagine real readers holding the real book.  It is pretty exciting.

I had the great fortune of giving my very first finished copy of the book to my Dad, when he was visiting here in Arizona.  I know he reads my blog so sorry for embarrassing you Dad, but we both got choked up.  My Dad has been hugely inspirational to me as a writer (I dedicated the book to him) and seeing his pride and excitement as I handed him the first copy is something I will never forget.  See for yourself here.

The Book Launch

At a high level, here is what I am doing for the book launch:

• Coordinating with bloggers who have gotten early copies of the book and will post reviews
• Working with the media to get the word out by traditional channels like newspapers, magazines and radio.  I am working with my publicist to schedule 20 interviews in different markets so we get broad coverage and reach people where they live
• The day the book launches, I am doing a call with Suzanne Falter-Barns, who encouraged me to create this brand and start this blog for a class assignment.  I thought it was really fitting to talk about the whole journey from idea for a blog and brand that was a glimmer in my eye to full-blown book.  Join us here if you want to hear the story! (My blog is not quite 4000 today, but it was at one time - Technorati is fickle!)
• I wrote a number of special pieces for the launch, some of which came out (like the New York Times piece, and an article The Myth of the Stable Job for Powell's, the wonderful independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon), and some will come out later.  I will be sure to keep you updated.
• We are going to see about live television after the book gets out in the world.  Hopefully we can get some buzz going and producers interested, since the topic of layoffs, meaningful work and starting a business are very timely!  You all know it is my dream to sit across from Matt Lauer on The Today Show and talk about the book, so let's see what happens.  And The Daily Show and Colbert Report are also on the dream list, so John and Steven, if you are reading (hah!), call me!
• I will be asking anyone who reads the book and enjoys it to spread the word to people in your life who need it.  Seth Godin has influenced me a lot in this regard, with his views that things worth spreading will spread. 
• For those of you who have the book already, if you are inspired, you can send me a short 1-minute video with your impressions, takeaways and thoughts for other readers. I look forward to posting some of these videos during launch week.  You can send the link to pcs (at) ganas (dot) com.

The Blog

After many years of your patience with my homegrown blog design, that many of you diplomatically remind me every now and again is hard to read, cluttered and clunky, I am shifting blog platforms and moving to Wordpress.

My hope is that this move will make the blog much cleaner, easier to read, and integrated with the rest of my business.  While my friends at Typepad have been great over the years (especially my great buddy Andy Wibbels who works for SixApart- sorry bro!), it is really time to move to a platform that will support growth, look better and integrate with applications I want to use.

If all goes well, the new blog will go live this week, before the book drops.  You won't have to do a thing - the URL will remain www.escapefromcubiclenation.com, so it should be transparent.  But for some of you who have been with me for a long time and who may have subscribed to my original Typepad URL, you may find you need to click the RSS button on the new site to resubscribe.  I know we will work all that out after the launch, and like all technology projects, it will have some bumps along the ride. So thanks in advance for your patience.

I also know, from having worked on a lot of web projects over the years, that some of you will not like the new design or long for the old days.  I wish I could make the perfect thing that will appeal to everyone, but of course we know that is impossible.  I promise to give it my best shot and, at the very least, I promise to write good content for you. Change can be hard, even when it is good in the long run, so thanks for hanging in there with me.

New posts (or lack thereof)

I really apologize for my anemic posting schedule lately.  This is what happened when I was writing my book, and it is happening now when I am getting ready to launch it.  This is a matter of time, energy and sleep.  In the final 2 months of writing my book, my husband took the kids out all day on both Saturday and Sunday in order to give me time to write.  With kids aged 4 and 18 months, this gets really strained sometimes.  I do my best to live with less sleep, and know that this hectic schedule will not be forever.  But to my kids, it is harder.  So I do have some hard boundaries about not working all the time so that I spend time with them.

I appreciate your patience so much, and look forward to getting back to writing meaty posts.

One of my regular readers was really upset with me in my last post because it seemed  to him or her (the comment was anonymous, so I don't know who it was) like all I was talking about was my book and some new programs I am working on.  I have always believed strongly in sharing 80% of my content for free, and charging a premium for the remaining 20%.  I learned this from Robert Middleton, who has a marketing philosophy and process that I find generous and ethical.  So in the big picture of almost four years of writing this blog, I feel good about the balance, falling well into the 80/20 balance.  Right now, given all going on in the business, you will hear more about the "business" side of my life.  Given that this blog is about creating a life you love, doing work that has deep meaning for you and making a living while doing it, I hope you see it in that context.  I would be worried for you if you never charged for your services, and gave everything away for free. 

I actually like to raise this topic, because I know it is something you will deal with when you really get cruising with your businesses, and move from planning to launch.  I have some specific thoughts about it and will write some posts in the near future on the topic.

I don't pretend to have it figured out.  It is a plain hard balance to achieve.  I tease my friend Sonia Simone, who wrote an excellent post on this topic for Copyblogger called "Is Your Tribe Holding You Down?", that I will leave it up to her to figure out the "poetry vs. commerce" or "sharing vs. charging" dilemma for us all.  In the meantime, never be ashamed of taking care of your family, or charging money for your special talents.

The Business

I have been working behind the scenes on a number of new things that I am really excited about.  We have a wonderful group working hard on their business plans in my new ongoing program Life After the Cubicle: A Quickstart Guide to Self-Employment.  I am totally enjoying working them on their specific plans, and watching them support each other in the community forum.  I have been wanting to provide a way to work with a larger group of people than my 1:1 clients for a long time, and this is proving very satisfying.

I will continue to provide one on one coaching services since that is the heart of my business.  I never tire of the very specific work we do together, and am lucky to have a really special group of clients.  I will keep the number of individual clients I work with to a reasonable number, since I like 1:1 coaching to be  about 30% of my business

Now that my kids are a little bigger and able to function well without me at home ALL the time, I plan on spending a little more time on the road speaking.  I have always loved to present to large groups and teach workshops, so I will be spending some time developing that part of my business.  With the book coming out, there is a lot of content I can use to develop a one or two day workshop, so I may look at rolling things out in a few cities where I have other events planned (like New York, the Bay Area, Portland and Chicago, to start).  Let me know your thoughts - would a live workshop be something that would interest you?  I would love to hear what would be the most important content to cover.

Wrap up

So <phew> that is the long-winded update!  Thanks for reading, and for your ongoing support.

I talk with a lot of other bloggers, and am convinced that I have some of the most compassionate, supportive and funny readers out there.  Instead of having to field tons of controversy or attacks, I spend most of my time saying "thank you so much for your tremendously kind and generous comments!"  What a gift that is, and I really do appreciate it.

Enjoy the changes this week, and if you tune in to the Today Show and see me ribbing Matt Lauer, you will know my evil schemes worked. :)

Welcome New York Times readers!

I was really pleased to write an essay in this Sunday's New York Times entitled Is This the Time to Chase a Career Dream?

Despite so much conversation online and off about the death of traditional journalism, I was extremely honored to write for such a well-known and well-respected publication.  I learned so much through the editing process which reaffirmed what I have known for a long time:  while the structure of traditional media has to change, the craft of journalism is more necessary now than ever.

If this is your first time visiting my blog, I have been writing for nearly four years about how corporate employees can leave their jobs to start a business.  An introduction to the blog with a good selection of starter posts is here.

I also wrote a book Escape from Cubicle Nation:  From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur which is being released on April 30.

You can read the first chapter here: Download Ch 1 escape from cubby nation

 

And if you are ready to get started moving on your own creative plans, you may enjoy a new program I just released:  Life After the Cubicle:  A Quickstart Guide to Self-Employment.

Enjoy your Sunday, and I can't wait to hear about your own creative yearnings!

And if you read the NYT article and have a comment, please send it to the email at the end of the post.  I know they would love to hear your thoughts!

Plant a hundred flowers and watch what blooms

Yesterday, I looked at the list of things to do to get ready for my book launch on April 30 and I got a little overwhelmed. 

There were articles to write, interviews to schedule, review books to send and journalists to contact.  It seemed like each time I crossed one thing off the list, twelve new things would pop up in its place.  I felt a little anxious.

Then I experienced a serendipitous sequence of events: 

• A few good friends with large reach generously offered to promote the book to their lists.  And they wanted to introduce me to other people in their network who would be interested in spreading the word
• A couple of journalists I have been friendly with for a long time asked to write stories about the book
• A number of clients sent emails with suggestions for marketing the book to organizations and associations

Sitting back in my chair, I had the strong realization that the words of my mentor Guy Kawasaki, stolen from Chairman Mao, were coming true:  let a hundred flowers blossom.

My interpretation of this concept is this:

• When you get to the point of spreading the word about something you have created, good will will either exist or it won't.  This good will is developed over thousands of tiny interactions, conversations, smiles, links and messages over many years with an extended network of people. If you have acted in a spirit of integrity and generosity with your work, you will see the results.
• You don't have to know the "value" of everything you are doing to grow your business as you grow it.  I always chuckle when brand new business bloggers want to know the exact return on investment of spending time commenting on other blogs, and the specific sales conversion numbers that come from blogging.  Certainly, you want to have a good idea about the kinds of people and blogs you are interested in, and how they relate to the core of your business.  But you also want to just try things and connect with people just because it feels good.  There is random creativity and magic that happens by following your muse.
• Believe in what you create.  While most people would love to see great financial success and millions of people loving their products or services, what really matters, in the end, is that you are proud of what you do.  If your book or blog post or coaching hour or code or photograph or custom scarf makes one person glow with delight, you should be proud.

Grow, flower, grow!

If you try to launch a product or service too soon after planting your seeds, you will feel like you are kneeling down and shouting at the ground, drowning it in water and begging the sprouts to emerge.  This will not only be frustrating, but frankly impossible, since businesses, like plants, have a natural and organic path to growth. So make sure to start planting your seeds (i.e. nurturing relationships and providing valuable information to your community) as soon as you start to work on your business.

Ten people

Seth Godin recently wrote an intriguing post about how ideas spread, entitled First, Ten.  He says:

This, in two words, is the secret of the new marketing.

Find ten people. Ten people who trust you/respect you/need you/listen to you...

Those ten people need what you have to sell, or want it. And if they love it, you win. If they love it, they'll each find you ten more people (or a hundred or a thousand or, perhaps, just three). Repeat.

If they don't love it, you need a new product. Start over.

When I read this, I heaved a big sigh of relief.  Even though I decided against a gigantic coordinated email push to drive sales on Amazon, as was popular for many years to promote books, I had flashes of doubt, thinking I needed to be working harder, bigger, faster on promotion.

Then I realized that I have my ten.  Even small groups of ten.  And they are warm, loving, enthusiastic, generous and optimistic people.  And the book will do just what it is meant to do, one small group of ten people at a time.

Enjoy the view

My plan on April 30 is to sit back, survey the horizon, and enjoy watching flowers bloom in unexpected places.

Thanks to all of you for your support throughout the years -- I am eager to enjoy seeing your flowers bloom at just the right time, in just the right places.

Personal branding insight from young expert Dan Schawbel

I will never forget reading Tom Peter's article The Brand Called You in Fast Company Magazine in August 1997.  Growth in Silicon Valley was sizzling hot, and the fresh perspective on personal marketing was totally new and exciting.

25-year old Dan Schwabel felt the same thing when he read the article, although it was many years later, when he stumbled upon it on the internet.  According to Dan, it summed up what he had been doing in his own education and career since Junior High.  So he made the decision to become the personal branding expert for the new generation.

Today, Dan releases his first book on the topic, called Me 2.0:  Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.

I interviewed him in a 23-minute podcast where we discuss:

1. How to build your own personal brand
2. Can you still build a strong personal brand if you are no longer a young whipper-snapper?
3. How to maintain focus in a busy life
   
4. How to start small and grow your visibility in national and global markets

We can all learn from Dan's focus, drive and determination.  He is, like my other young mentors Ramit Sethi, Ben Casnocha and Shama Hyder, showing that experience is not the only thing that builds a great brand.

Listen to the interview here and grab the book!

Congratulations Dan on setting a great example for us all by living a full-contact life.