Escape from Cubicle Nation

Escape Podcast: Reduce your marketing dread

It's that time again!  I publish the Escape from Cubicle Nation Podcast every other Monday.

Go here to listen.

In this episode, I cover three things that help new entrepreneurs overcome their dread of all things marketing:

1. Readjusting your marketing mindset
2. Clearly defining a niche
3. Selecting and creating a marketing plan

In case you can't scribble fast enough while listening, I reference two helpful marketing experts:

Robert Middleton from www.actionplan.com and John Jansch from www.ducttapemarketing.com

Do you dread marketing too?  What has helped you to get over the dread?  And if you know of any other good small business marketing resources or experts, please add to the comments.

If you want to subscribe to this podcast automatically, here is the feed. 

Why Sprint's PR person lost his job and will never contact another blogger again

I may be late to the game with this, but I was in hysterics reading Joel Spolsky's post Amazing X-Ray Glasses from Sprint! from his excellent blog, Joel on Software.  I realize that this blog is frequented by software engineers, a profession I clearly don't have, but his writing is so good and funny and spot-on that I visit often.

In this post, he gives a review of a new phone that he was given for free from Sprint with the intent, I am sure, to seduce him into writing a great review on his blog (which has a huge following)to help sell thousands of units of their product.  But much to the chagrin of whoever thought of contacting him in the first place, he ended up testing the phone and found that he hated it ... and wrote an excellent, detailed (and hilarious) scathing review.  Here is a tasty morsel:

"When it finally arrived, the physical appearance of the phone was rather disappointing. If you’ve been spoiled by Motorola’s latest phones, or the seamless, screwless, elegant iPod, the LG Fusic will strike you as butt-ugly. Where a Motorola RAZR has a solid case made out of almost sensual matte-black steel that just feels great, the LG Fusic is made out of the cheapest kind of gray plastic, the same material you find on a $3 toy. Where Motorola goes to great lengths to hide the screws, and minimize bumps and seams, the LG Fusic has dozens of ugly protuberances, gaps, holes, screws, seams, etc. Worst of all, the LG Fusic has no less than three of those evil, flimsy, rubbery plug-caps that are connected to the phone by the thinnest of filaments. You know, those stupid rubber plugs that you have to pull away to plug anything into the phone, and then they just dangle there like chicken wattles (when they’re not getting in the way of the thing you’re trying to plug in) for a couple of weeks until they finally tear off. The phone is almost twice as thick as a RAZR. It comes with a break-offable front plate which can be used to change the accent color of the very front of the phone. Your choices are Barbie Pink, Barbie Green, Barbie Blue, and Black which would be the only stylish choice, if only it didn’t clash so badly with the rest of the phone. (Believe me, it is hard to make black clash with anything, but LG did it.) Overall this phone seriously looks like a Fisher Price toy, not a top-of-the-line cell phone."

Such are the wonderful examples of "old" meets "new" media - the opportunity for the truth to come out.

I actually have no idea if Sprint's PR person was fired over this ... the best outcome would be honest, frank and useful conversation inside their company.  But I seriously doubt it went down that way.

I do feel kind of bad for everyone who spent energy and effort on this product.  It would be very painful to hear a review like this.  But most likely, if they are like many corporate bees, they would agree with Joel that the product sucks and would say that they tried to tell the same thing to their management many times and they wouldn't listen.

So if you are a corporate marketing or PR person and want to entice bloggers to write pitches for your products, beware ... you will most likely get the unadulterated truth.  What a novel concept.

Your advice for 17-year old Alexius? Stay in school or hit the streets?

I am totally busy trying to get ready for my trip to Georgia this weekend (I'm teaching a consulting skills workshop for the staff of the Youth Programs at Habitat for Humanity next week - can't wait!) but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for you to share some advice for 17-year old Alexius who asked:

"Hi, I want to start a business that I have plan thoroughly but I am still studying, so should I continue my studies or should I hit the streets? Alexius, 17"

As for me, as much as I know that traditional education has a lot to improve, I almost always encourage teenagers to go on to college.  So much of what you learn there is not in the books (and I mean the positive things, not the horrid drunken frat parties that you should avoid) and it is much harder to go back to school once you are rocking and rolling in the working world.

I think starting an entrepreneurial venture on the side of your studies while young is the way to go so you get the best of both worlds.

I am sure that all of you will have many different perspectives and opinions about this, so comment away!

I would love it if Alexius' parents would comment too, as I think their perspective would be interesting.

The ultimate compliment: Interview by 20-something Ramit Sethi

I don't know about the rest of you 40-to-50-somethings, but I sometimes fear that as I get older my rapport with the young generation will turn into "long-winded old person lectures bored young person rolling his eyes."  Something must happen when you pass the 40-year mark that makes you feel compelled to share all the hard lessons you learned with the new generation lest they make the same painful mistakes you did.

So imagine my delight when, at the prompting of Matt Blass, Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich interviewed me for the Friday Entrepreneurs feature on his blog.  Ramit is a recent graduate of Stanford University and writes his blog on personal finance (banking, saving, budgeting and investing) and personal entrepreneurship for college students, recent college grads or other young people.  He has already gained mention in the Wall Street Journal as well as great response in the blogosphere.

I am so glad that he is doing this, for I find that our educational system does a miserable job of preparing young people to manage money effectively.  Many get into debt too early and end up taking jobs for the paycheck instead of the joy of doing work they love.  I could have used some of his advice when I was a 20-something college student.

Ramit is an excellent writer, and his blog is worth tuning into even if you don't fit into his young demographic.  He also has a hilarious blog (infrequently updated since he has so many other things going on) called Things I Hate.

Check out my interview here and please share your comments on his blog.

Overwhelmed with too much to do? Outsource everything possible

There are a handful of things that I do very well.  Some, such as consulting or speaking, bring in cash which is handy to do things like pay the mortgage, buy diapers and indulge in my book-buying habit.

But there are a bunch of other things that I either don't do well or hate to spend too much time doing, and for these I have learned three magic words:  outsource, outsource, outsource.  These are things like:

• Bookkeeping and accounting.  All I can say is YUCK and BRING ON THE ASPIRIN.  I have no talent, skill or interest in keeping my own books (aka entering each expense into Quickbooks or reconciling my bank account).  But I care very much that they are done well, so I hire someone else to take care of them.  Once the figures are neatly entered, I can scan a report and make sure that things are done accurately. 
• Project management.  I have managed many projects in my corporate consulting career and know how to do it.  In my current situation, I have about 10 major things I am working on simultaneously and I get very overwhelmed with the amount of detail required to complete each one successfully.  So I just hired on a "virtual assistant" to take on the day-to-day project management of my key projects.  She will give me the short list of things to get done each week and I will do them, without worrying about tracking progress and priorities.  I feel free already.
• Home maintenance.  My husband and I don't mind doing things around the house like painting, installing new light fixtures and repairing things.  But we are both working so much these days that we don't really want to spend all weekend with home maintenance projects.  This leaves us feeling exhausted and cranky at the end of the weekend.  (He gets up at 3am most days since his work starts early, so is usually very tired by week's end).  So we outsource a lot of these tasks and find that we get great joy at watching a skilled and competent handyperson solve our repair problems. 
• Childcare.  I don't mean to say that I outsource my mothering (!), but I do pay for in-home childcare a few days a week so that I can concentrate on getting work done.  I admire any of you who are able to both take care of a toddler and run your business from home.  I am hopeless.  My 18-month old son is in a clingy stage where I can hardly wash the dishes for 10 minutes without him wanting to drag me outside to play.  Forget about writing a blog post, conducting a conference call or designing a program.
• Housecleaning.  I keep up with routine stuff like dishes, laundry and straightening up the house at the end of each day.  But I do like to have a get-down-and-scrub-the-bathroom kind of clean at least a couple of times a month.  So I have a house cleaner come in every other week and do a thorough cleaning.  We all feel better and healthier for it.

You  may think, if I am bootstrapping my business, how could I possibly spend money I don't have paying other people?

The key is to make sure that the time that is freed up by paying others to do routine, administrative or labor-intensive chores is spent on activities that will bring you greatly increased revenue, such as developing new products, or marketing or selling your services.

If you are an employee, this equation may not work, since you usually don't have the opportunity to greatly increase your income, unless you work on commission or could get a big bonus for finishing a certain number of projects.  You may get peace of mind, which may be worth the expense.

My friend and fellow entrepreneur coach Philippa Kennealy told me a good way to think about it the other day:  figure out the hourly rate for your services.  Let's say that you make $100/hour.  How much time would it take you to do a routine task?  Let's say it would take you 6 hours to clean your house.  If you paid someone 15 dollars an hour to clean your house, it would cost you $90.  If you do it yourself, it would cost you $600.

If I kept up with all the administrative and labor-intensive details of keeping my and my husband's businesses running, not to mention our home, I would have no time left to work.  Because I have recently outsourced all these activities, I have had time to develop new services and alliances that will give me at least 10 times the return on investment (every $1,000 spent on outsourcing yields at least $10,000 in revenues - did I do the math right?  I need to check with my accountant.  :)

If I had continued to do all the routine tasks myself, I never would have had the time to complete the work.

And even more importantly, I am only doing the kinds of things I enjoy -- writing, building the Escape from Cubicle Nation community, building my brand, creating new products and services and partnering with interesting people.

All of the business owners I outsource to are glad to get my business.  I pay a fair wage, treat them with respect and contribute to the health and growth of their small businesses.  I don't believe it is only the super-wealthy that can have some help with life management tasks.

If you are a small business owner, what could you outsource to free up time to bring in more revenues? 

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Additional info a little later ...

For those of you who haven't heard of VAs or virtual assistants, it is the hot new thing in many solopreneur businesses.  Basically, VAs are highly skilled administrative talent who usually work from home and handle multiple clients at one time.  Depending on who they are, they have skills in things like setting up shopping cart systems for web pages, managing projects, graphic design, customer support, traditional administrative duties such as managing email and scheduling meetings, and much more.  I found my new VA Wanda through the specialized agency I work with, Multiple Streams Dream Team.  They focus on coaches like me who are building internet-based coaching businesses with multiple streams of revenue. 

There are other directories - here is one that I know of, from VA Networking, an association in Canada which supports and grows VAs. 

For any of my VA readers, please let us know about your services in the comments, specifically, what kind of work do you specialize in, and who would be your ideal client.

How to get experience and credibility when you are just starting your biz

Olivia, one of my readers from Australia, sent a thought-provoking question the other day that I felt would be a good discussion-starter for those beginning a business.  She writes:

"I've decided I'd love to do professional organising (only just emerging in Australia), and am reading lots of excellent books on the actual work/counseling and also marketing and business info.  The biggest question is, since I've been a Personal Assistant, and that's the only thing I've ever done (18 years), how on earth do I break out of the mold of the old job, and find the guts to actually TAKE ON A FIRST CLIENT in my new field?  I mean, to study and ponder and learn and prepare is one thing, but actually going out there and DOING it, I have no idea where to get the "nerve" from.  This could be the difference to whether I take off or not.  How do I go from preparing to doing?"

This is such a juicy question because it highlights a number of challenges for first-time entrepreneurs:

• How do you get experience in a new field so that you have a track record of completed projects and satisfied clients?
• How do you gather the confidence to "put yourself out there" in a new way to the world, when you might not be totally convinced that you are competent yet?
• Where can you find your first client?

Here are some suggestions for each of these questions:

Gaining Experience

• If you are brand new in your field, you might want to "test drive" your service as a volunteer.   Choose an individual or organization that would be an excellent case study and that would provide clear "before and after" results.  Gain agreement from your client that if she is satisfied with the results, you may use her as a reference for future clients and would use her project as a case study for your marketing.
  
  So in Olivia's case of being a professional organizer, she has a great opportunity to choose a client with a terribly messy office or closet.  She can take a "before" picture, do the work, then do the "after" picture.  If she does a stunning job (which I am sure she will!) she can take a picture of her satisfied client and ask for a two-sentence testimonial. This will be great for her website or marketing materials.
  (Note to any newbie organizer in the Phoenix, AZ area ... if you need a great "before" and "after" filing project starter client, let me know!)

Gaining Confidence

• Find yourself a mentor.  There is nothing like hearing "stories from the trenches" from someone who used to be in your position and now has a thriving practice.  You can get information, resources and confidence-building from the right person, or group of people.  You may also join a professional organization or community forum like Startup Nation to get some ideas and support.
  
  For Olivia, I would heartily recommend two wonderful professional organizers I have come to know through this blog:  Jessica Duquette of It's Not About Your Stuff and Ariane Benefit from Neat Living Blog.  They are very open and supportive people and I am sure would share tips and tricks with you, as well as give you encouragement to make the leap.

Getting Clients

• Obviously, there is an art and a science to small business marketing.  If you are concerned with just getting things going and taking on a few clients, start with defining your niche. That is the specific segment of people that you will target for your marketing efforts.
  
  For just about anyone these days (well, anyone with the something meaty to share and who likes to write), I would recommend starting a blog on your topic, since it is a great way to showcase your expertise, build community, test ideas and develop a friendly relationship with potential clients.
  
  In Olivia's case, since she mentioned that professional organizing was just getting started in Australia, maybe she could partner with a more established service professional such as an accountant to provide financial organizing services for their clients.  Whatever niche she chooses, I would recommend starting in a targeted way, then as she gains exposure and experience, she could branch out to other groups.  Some of my favorite marketing resources for service businesses:  Action Plan Marketing and Duct Tape Marketing.

I know that everyone here is rooting for you Olivia ... the time to act is now!  Get your volunteer starter client lined up and see where it takes you.  To any of my Aussie readers, if you happen to be looking for someone to create order out of your chaos, let me know (pcs (at) ganas (dot) com) and I will pass on the info to Olivia.  I am not sure which city she lives in, but with the power of networking, we could probably line her up a client or two. (Update:  she lives in Melbourne)

Other suggestions for Olivia?

Give yourself permission to suck

In this month's ezine, I share my lifelong struggle with perfectionism, a characteristic identified by a school buddy in fourth grade in our new-age encounter group called "rap."  She said that I always had to be "Perfect Pam" and it bugged her.  (I grew up in Marin County, California which was the hotbed of touchy-feely education in the 1970's.)

Although my work life has been far from "perfect," I do get hung up occasionally when I receive criticism or prepare to launch a new project. 

This mentality can be deadly for new entrepreneurs, as you have to get your ideas winging out in front of your customers and peers if you want to make headway on starting and growing your business.  My mentor Andrea Lee summed it up with the liberating phrase:

Give yourself permission to suck!

I have the full article here, but here are some tips for shaking yourself free from the bonds of perfectionism:

• If you have been in business for awhile and want to offer something new to your clients without making it free, call your first offering a "pilot" program and give participants a discount in exchange for some feedback. If they know that they are participating in something that is still under development, they are more likely to be very helpful with feedback and not critical of your program.
• Identify a "mastermind partner" who is in a similar place as you are and offer to exchange feedback on each other's work in progress. Just knowing that a peer that you respect struggles with similar issues will help you break out of paralysis.
• Join a business forum for your industry and participate in a discussion board. I see this all the time in many industries from coaching to software development, and I am amazed at how thoughtful and detailed peer feedback can be.
• Identify a group of test users to give feedback before you release a product for sale. Invite some friends or clients to participate in a pilot or trial. Give them the final version for free as thanks for their feedback. (An added bonus: if they enjoy the product, they can offer you a testimonial to use in your marketing materials)
• Let people know that you are releasing a product or service in stages, and set expectations for eventual upgrades. As an example, I recently started a podcast and knew that I didn't have everything I wanted in place for the ultimate product. But I wanted to start it, so every two weeks when I record a new one, I upgrade one part of the program. The first show I used recording software that was not my ultimate choice. But it was good enough. The next time I used the right software. Then I moved the programs to the correct hosting platform and provided subscription information. Next I will include a professionally recorded introduction and music. Because I keep my listeners informed of my progress along the way (and share information with them about how I am doing it in case they want to do the same thing) I don't worry about having to have everything in place before starting the new project.

Am I the only one that has struggled with the nagging feeling that everything I do or write is a piece of crap?  What have you done to overcome this feeling?