Escape from Cubicle Nation

12 ways to feel more free in 2007

New Years is my favorite holiday of the year.  I get filled with a huge sense of optimism, creativity and imagination.  Rather than getting overwhelmed with New Year's Resolutions, I tend to think about the major ways in which I want to use my life for good.

This year, my overwhelming purpose is to use my skills, creativity and imagination to inspire freedom through work in as many people as I can.  I will do this through writing, blogging, coaching, teaching and presenting.  As a way to kick-start this process, this month's ezine article is on 12 Ways to Feel More Free in 2007.  The full scoop is here.  Here are the highlights:

If there is any defining value in my life, it has to be freedom.

I define living a life with freedom as acting with joy, not obligation, honest expression, responsibility for choices and not taking direction from any external oppressive force.

I learned to truly appreciate freedom after having some life experiences where I gave up my freedom and allowed myself to feel trapped, oppressed, resentful, afraid and smothered.  What I learned from that experience is that I was the only one who could grant myself freedom.  No one can oppress you without your permission. 

Here are some areas in which you can feel more free this year:

1. Freedom from comparing yourself to others
2. Freedom from unhealthy relationships
3. Freedom from regret
4. Freedom from clutter
5. Freedom from financial chaos and dread
6. Freedom from drama
7. Freedom from couch or computer butt
8. Freedom from a manic pace
9. Freedom from perpetual dissatisfaction
10. Freedom from the elusive dream
11. Freedom from playing small
12. Freedom from work you detest

When my husband was a little boy, his grandpa would wake him up before the sun came up and lead him outside.  Facing east, he would take out a bag of corn pollen and say his traditional Navajo morning prayers.

When he was done, he would say "Grandson, this is a brand new day.  It has never been used, never been touched.  Enjoy it.  Ya at eeh. (It is good.)"

I invite you to greet the new year that way tomorrow.  It is a brand new day, has never been touched, never been used.  You can choose to make it a year of joy, growth, pleasure and freedom.

Ya at eeh.  It is good.

Off to the coast

In a few hours, I am taking off with my family to the Bay Area in California where we will spend some nice, relaxed time with my family over the holidays.

I am looking forward to a lot of things (FOOD is one of them!  Here in Mesa, AZ, Taco Bell is considered haute cuisine), but mostly to watch my parents and siblings play with my son.  He has grown so much this year, and my family has not seen the daily miracles of the first time he sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or put 2 nouns and a verb together (Mommy, want food!).

I try to abstain from sharing too much about my kids, but as I reflect on this year, one of the biggest things I am proud of is spending so much time with my baby son.  Because I designed my life to work at home and not be a road warrior, I have been here every step of the way as he went from crawling to walking, throwing fits to throwing up and everything in between.  I am so thankful that in this day and age you do not have to be tied to an office to earn a livelihood.

I am going to do my best to stay away from the computer so that I enjoy my family.  So don't expect any action here next week.

For those of you who are heading out of town, safe travels.

For everyone, happy holidays and THANKS for making this such a great year.  I can't wait to see what great entrepreneurial fervor you all cook up next year!

Create your media plan for 2007!

I have had my eyes opened wide this year to the value of getting mainstream media to notice and promote products and services and to include expert quotes in articles.  Through the sole vehicle of this blog, I attracted the following press this year:

• Business Week
• People Magazine
• Jane Magazine
• The Boston Globe
• The Baltimore Sun
• The Arizona Republic (my hometown paper - story coming out soon!)
• USA Today
• Greenstone Media
• And a ton of smaller independent radio/podcasts/blogs

I find the whole thing totally amazing, as this comes from the power of blogging on a particular topic on a regular basis.  It makes me giddy, actually.

Mainstream media can give you the kind of exposure that a million marketing campaigns cannot.  And most importantly, they can help establish you as an expert in your field, which is critical to developing trust with prospective clients and customers.  It is kind of the "second half" of credibility that you can match with your blogging efforts.

Joan Stewart, known as the "Publicity Hound", just had a quick and dirty excerpt in her newsletter that I thought was a great framework for creating a media plan for next year. 

I encourage ALL of you who are about to launch or are currently in business for yourselves to create a media plan in addition to a marketing plan for next year.  I think you will be happy with the results!  Says Joan:

"Many of you have emailed me the last few weeks asking for guidance on how to create a 2007 media plan. Here's the 60-second answer:

• Create what I call your "Top 25 Media Hit List." These are online and offline media that reach your target audience and are a perfect fit with your topic. You might have fewer or more than 25. The number isn't important. But it's better to target fewer media outlets instead of more, so you can spend time forming strong relationships with media people.
• Identify one person at each outlet as your main contact.
• Research each media outlet by visiting their websites, watching the programs or reading the publications. For newspapers and magazines, refer to their 2007 editorial calendars.
• Create a list of story ideas that each media outlet would be interested in and customize each idea as much as possible.
• Then start pitching.

For most Publicity Hounds, the hardest part is creating the list of story ideas. Help is on the way. My friend, TV reporter Shawne Duperon, joined me during two teleseminars in which we brainstormed a total of 219 story ideas from January through December. Some of them work better for TV, and some work better for print. Many of the ideas apply across all industries. Some are industry-specific.

We encourage you to steal as many ideas as you need so you can create a 2007 media plan fairly quickly and get a jump on your competitors. Each recording is available as a CD and comes with a downloadable list of all the ideas for those six months, for easy reference. 116 WOW! Story Ideas from January through June and 103 Sizzling Story Ideas from July through December "

Attribution:

Reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," an ezine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com/ and receive by email the handy list "89 Reasons to Send a News Release.

Joan is one of those people who is the "real deal."  She has been around for a long time, has great wisdom and is recognized as an expert in her field.  I feel totally comfortable recommending her products and services.

I am going to really amp up my media efforts next year, for the sole purpose of inspiring broader, deeper revolution among the masses.  Someone has to counter the gloom and doom out there about corporate jobs!

Lichen as a business strategy

There are few things that I remember well from high school biology.  For some  reason, I have always remembered the lesson covering lichen:

"Lichens are composite, symbiotic organisms made up from members of as many as three kingdoms. The dominant partner is a fungus. Fungi are incapable of making their own food. They usually provide for themselves as parasites or decomposers." (source:  lichen.com.)

I was struck by the topic of lichen as a business strategy as I was sitting in a packed International House of Pancakes (IHOP) this past Sunday morning.  I was there with my own family and some friends, and between us there were 4 small children.

I saw a jovial man at the next table with large suspenders who was making balloon creatures for the kids at the table.  He would walk around from packed table to packed table, making a sale at virtually every stop that had children.  Watching him effortlessly market his services, it struck me:

This man has chosen a lichen business model!  He has selected the perfect environment to symbiotically sell his services.  The restaurant was so full that waiters took awhile to get to each table.  It took some time to get food.  Given unstructured time to wait, what do most small children do?  Either terrorize their parents, try to run screaming through the room, eat catsup, take the top off the salt shaker, or a thousand other disruptive things. (Those were just what my 20-month old son did in 15 minutes.)  What is the perfect antidote?  Colorful, fancy balloon creatures!

Just imagine how much work he would have to do to sell his balloon creatures in a busy mall or park.  If he was lucky, he would get one out of 20 people interested in what he was selling.  That would waste his time, money and effort. 

So how can you learn from wise IHOP balloon man and find your own lichen business model?

1. Look for businesses that are serving your target market with everything but what YOU offer.  If you are a prosperity coach, look for a multi-faceted financial planning company that could offer your coaching services to its clients.  If you are a massage therapist, look for places where people have to sit down and wait a long time.  (If the government would participate, we could have a whole host of businesses just to support the Department of Motor Vehicles!  Stress and anger management consultants, therapists and psychologists.  And that is just for the employees!)
2. Make sure that you are enhancing the experience of your "host" business, not competing with it. If you are looking to sell your homemade jewelry in a crafts store, you may be seen as competition, not a friendly entrepreneurial parasite (if that is not an oxymoron).
3. Check out the viability of the business you want to partner with.  Do they only have seasonal crowds?  How is their market changing?  If it is an online environment, do they have a steady base of users and a good plan to continue growing?  If you are going to put effort into developing the partnership, you should make sure it has a chance of surviving more than a few months.
4. Aim for exclusivity through a good agreement.  If all of a sudden IHOP allowed jugglers, clowns and magicians into their restaurants, the balloon man would see his business rapidly decline. See if you can negotiate a business agreement that ensures you are one of the only, or few, lichen partners.
5. Subvert pure biology and make sure you offer something to your host in return.  In the scientific world of lichen, "parasites" can suck life from the hosts without giving anything tangible in return.  This will most likely not fly in the human business world.  Make sure you clearly articulate how your making money from your host's vast and eager market of customers will benefit them as well.

If you begin to really analyze lichen behavior, there are some less than glamourous attributes.  Then again, is there a better description of an entrepreneur?

"Lichens grow in the leftover spots of the natural world that are too harsh or limited for most other organisms. They are pioneers on bare rock, desert sand, cleared soil , dead wood, animal bones, rusty metal, and living bark. Able to shut down metabolically during periods of unfavorable conditions, they can survive extremes of heat, cold, and drought."  (source:  lichen.com)

How could you use the lichen business model to your advantage?

Need last minute gift ideas for the creative person on your list?

My favorite Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen just put together an extremely cool list of gifts (mainly books) based on what he has read or used this year.  I wanted to buy almost all of them, since even though I am not a designer, I love books about design. 

One or a couple would make great gifts for the designer in your life.

Garr has a clean, cool aesthetic. In my next life, I want to be able to explain things as clearly and create visuals just like him.

Escape podcast: When is your branding "good enough" to start marketing?

If you are just starting to market your business, you might feel a little exasperated when trying to choose a perfect brand name.  It may feel like until you do this, you can't move forward with any marketing plans and you feel stuck and frustrated.

Go here to download or listen online.

In this episode (7 1/2 minutes or so), I cover:    

1. What a good branding process should look like    
2. Which marketing activities you can undertake before your brand is fully baked    
3. Which marketing activities you should hold off on until you are 80% or more satisfied with your brand

I also mention a few resources:

• My second podcast First plan your life, then plan your business
• Great brand naming resource:  namedevelopment.com
• Example of a great brand:  Legal Sanity
• Guy Kawasaki's book Art of the Start
• Marketing/branding resources for coaches: Andrea Lee's book Multiple Streams of Coaching Income and Suzanne Falter-Barns' site getknownnow.com

Oh yeah, and I didn't mention it in the podcast, but I did have some fun writing about branding before:  What's in a brand name?  More than you think

To subscribe to this podcast feed, go here.

I know not all of you will agree with what I have to say ... let your ideas rip here, ok?

How to network: for introverts

I am a total stats nerd and really pay attention to traffic and incoming links.  It actually is kind of fascinating to see who finds the blog and how they get here.

Through this means, I noticed a whole lot of visits from a great blog post titled "How to network:  for introverts.", from Business Pundit.com. (This image is from that post)  Dave Rothacker put a link to my "how do you introduce yourself" post in one of the comments, so that alone has driven a bunch of traffic (thanks Dave!).

The article is great, and touches on an issue many of my introverted readers have ... How do I get out there and market my product or service if I don't feel comfortable with traditional networking? 

I personally think there is a real bias in the businessworld about introverts, since by common wisdom, the more loud, fast-talking and slick salesperson is seen as being a "better marketer."  Often, especially in the online world, the converse is true, with more people trusting the opinion of the more quiet, thoughtful, and detailed person.

There is also some confusion as to what the word "introverted" really means.  I like the definition I heard from a Meyers-Briggs training class,  which said introversion and extroversion are ways in which you get energized.  So an extroverted person would feel energized interacting with a large group.  An introverted person would feel energized spending time alone in deep thought, or in a one-on-one conversation with someone else.  Introverts are perfectly capable of delivering effective presentations to large groups and doing "extroverted" things ... it will just sap their energy after doing so.

With that context, here are a few nuggests from the article:

• Networking is an investment, not a nuisance. Imagine if you could always find what you needed in just 1 or 2 phone calls. If you are well networked, you probably can. By putting in the time to build your network, you save time when you need to get things done. Well networked people don't have to waste time firing off random emails to people they don't know, buying leads or industry lists, or hunting through hundreds of resumes for the right candidate. Pick your poison. Do you want to put in the time now, or later?
• At first, you have to kiss a lot of frogs. Sometimes you have to start by picking events at random. You spend an hour in a very uncomfortable setting, but you learn what to go to and what to skip. Eventually you find a few people or events that you like.
• Do cool things. Introverts typically don't like to talk about themselves - we prefer to talk about ideas. Force yourself to discuss some of the things you've done. Don't brag, make sure they are relevant to the conversation. Then the extroverts can talk about you and pass your achievements along. It gives you credibility in some circles. Yes, I realize you would rather be accepted for what you think and know, but the truth is that the world measures you by what you do.

Read the rest of the article here.

Avoid becoming the stressed-out, overworked entrepreneur

One of my readers recently asked this very astute question:

"Some of the people I know that actually own a business (most of them selling some sort of product or franchise), they complain that they work a lot more than on a regular job. You can see them working weekends much more than other people. I'd like to know if this holds as well for consultancy based businesses. (one of the reasons to have your own business is to increase quality of life and time with family, so it seems contradictory)"

This is so very true and unfortunately becomes the case for many new entrepreneurs.  I have three general comments about this, then some recommendations.

First:  When you really love what you do, you don't mind working hard.  Life isn't just about sitting around a pool sipping margaritas.  I have worked since I was 12 and frankly enjoy it ... but only when it is something that allows me to be creative and has an impact that I care about. 

Second:  You can design your business however you want.  If you  decide that you only want to work  30 hours a week, there is a way to set up a business to accommodate that.  You may have to trade off other things like subject matter, target market, pay or control, but if a light work schedule is important to you, by all means design it into your business.

Third:  There is a difference between working hard to build your business and running yourself into the ground, neglecting your family and your health.  That reeks more of desperation and poor planning than entrepreneurial passion and exhilaration.

If you find yourself in this third category, here are some things that may help pull you back out (or avoid altogether, if you haven't started up yet):

1. Price your services appropriately.  It is very common for first-time entrepreneurs to undervalue their services and therefore low ball bids with new clients.  This will mean that you have to work twice as many hours to make your income targets.  There are others who have so much self esteem and gusto that they wildly overcharge.  Both have their problems, since in the first case potential clients may doubt your credibility since you charge so little, and in the second, they may laugh you out of the conference room since you obviously are too green to know what to reasonably charge.  The key is to really understand your market well and know the competition so that you have some benchmarks for setting your prices. 
   
2. Schedule in time to work on your business.  You will never imagine how long it takes to deal with paperwork, back office systems, reporting to the government, bookkeeping, marketing and product development.  A common tendency for new service professionals is to schedule all your time with billable hours.  This will mean that you will either neglect your important paperwork and get in trouble, or spend your nights and weekends frantically trying to catch up.  My Biz 2.0 solution is to forget about taking care of minute details from the very beginning of your business - hire a virtual assistant or office manager as soon as you can to free up your time for marketing and sales.
   
3. Don't get too greedy.  I remember when I first started out as a consultant, I was amazed and thrilled that anyone would hire me at all. I had to keep my cool in important looking board rooms so as to not betray my total glee when they signed a new contract.  This led to sometimes taking on far too many projects at the same time, which stressed me out and led to some really late nights. I learned from these experiences that if I was going to take on a large number of projects at the same time, I had better get help from other independent people, or risk the quality of what I was designing.  Sure, it meant I had to share my profits with others, but it was completely worth it since it meant a healthy and reasonable work load.  If you try to do everything by yourself, it is a recipe for disaster.
   
4. Don't stray from your priority services.  There are times when you have to do what you need to do to generate income for your business.  Sometimes this includes doing things you know are not part of your core services.  This can be things like doing someone's bookkeeping if you are a high-end accountant.  Sure, you can do it, but should you? Watch out if you just grab any work that comes your way, no matter what it is.  Over time, this cheapens your brand and will make you feel more like an employee than an entrepreneur.
   
5. Always look for ways to build in passive revenue streams.  If you have a service-based business, chances are, there are some ways to build some information products that would benefit your target market.  These can be things like e-books, online workshops, tutorials, and CD roms.  If you set up a good system of attracting people to your mailing list and following up with good information in the form of an ezine, you can tactfully promote these products and make sales.  You can also look for trustworthy, helpful affiliate partners who might serve your market in a compatible way.  The key is to think about products you could sell that don't involve your personal time or energy.
   
6. Don't forget your family.  I am guilty of obsessively checking my email even in the evenings and on weekends.  If you find yourself being a crackberry addict or not able to tear away from your laptop at dinner, chill out.  Unplug, focus on your family, talk to your kids and spouse, and make sure you have no-work rules for your family time.  Even a very supportive family will begin to get frustrated with your new business venture if it takes up all your time.
7. Exercise and eat well.  I know, this is hardly a unique message for entrepreneurs.  But it is really important to keep your stamina going to build your business, and if you always eat fast food and drink sodas, your energy level will eventually wind down.  Exercise can be a great way to break out of your rut and get a fresh perspective on things.  (I am on a voluntary caffeine withdrawl, since my coffee and Diet Coke consumption got out of hand ... I am still in the painful day 2 headache stage, but I know it will be worth it in the end.)

It is possible to have a great business and not spend all your time working.  It is up to you to design it that way, then have the willpower to stick to your plans, despite temptation.

 

Input on expanded podcast for 2007

I got a huge brainstorm last week as I was thinking about ways to expand on and improve my podcast for 2007.  To this point, I have kept it very short and succinct, with the idea that busy corporate employees don't have hours of time to spend listening to recordings.  It seemed like the 5-7 minute timeframe was just about right for a quick hit of information and encouragement every other Monday.

At the same time, I have been hearing from many, many readers that there are some deep issues that they want more information about.  Things like "How do I figure out what kind of business to start?" and "How do I sell and market my services if I have never done that before?"

So I had a brainstorm:  what if one of the the two podcasts a month was in a longer, interview format where I could ask some of my "entrepreneurial heroes" their perspectives on these deeper issues?  I figured the interviews could last about 45 minutes - 1 hour and could focus not just on the expertise of the interviewee, but also some of their personal stories about building a business.  That is always what fascinates me.  The people I hold in high regard not only have thriving businesses, but also very cool and healthy lives.

So I jumped on email and started poking around, and lined up the following guests:

• Martha Beck in January for an in-depth look at how you figure out the work you are meant to do, and hence which business to start.  Martha is a long-time idol of mine and wrote the very useful book "Finding Your Own North Star." She also writes a monthly column for O Magazine.  She is the most profound coach I know, and was a huge influence on me finding my own path.  Besides which, she is hilarious.
• John Jansch of Duct Tape Marketing for February, on the topic of where to start with small business marketing.  I just blogged about John and know that he will be a font of information about all things marketing.  I am especially interested in marketing for people who have never done it, or who don't consider themselves "extroverted."
• Guy Kawasaki for March about ... I'm not sure just yet.  He just announced that he is writing a book about getting venture capital so this would be an obvious topic, but he also has an interesting perspective on a lot of different things. 

I plan on creating an "open questions" post a week before each interview to solicit your questions and find out what you would like to know from the interviewee. 

The other person on my "dream list" is Jim Collins, a long-time hero from the world of academics and publishing, who wrote Built to Last and Good to Great.  I know that I want to talk with Jim about discovering work you are meant to do and creating a life plan, as when I heard his  personal story at a Fast Company conference in 2000, I was completely blown away.  If anyone is buddies with Jim and can make an introduction, I would be extremely grateful.  If not, I will do it the old fashioned way:  grovel and beg!

What do you think about this idea?  Would you listen to longer podcasts if they had these kinds of interviews?  Who would be fascinating to hear from?

I really value your input.  Thanks!

Fascinating BusinessWeek article - "Smashing the Clock"

My Arizona buddy Pete just sent me the link to a really fascinating article by BusinessWeek online that chronicles the bold experiment by Best Buy to "smash the clock" and not require headquarter employees to observe any kind of fixed time schedule.

In my rant to CEOs awhile back, my point #8 was "Focus on the work people do, not how or when they do it."  This is a concrete example of this philosophy in practice.

Excerpts from the article:

"One afternoon last year, Chap Achen, who oversees online orders at Best Buy Co., shut down his computer, stood up from his desk, and announced that he was leaving for the day. It was around 2 p.m., and most of Achen's staff were slumped over their keyboards, deep in a post-lunch, LCD-lit trance. "See you tomorrow," said Achen. "I'm going to a matinee."

Under normal circumstances, an early-afternoon departure would have been totally un-Achen. After all, this was a 37-year-old corporate comer whose wife laughs in his face when he utters the words "work-life balance." But at Best Buy's Minneapolis headquarters, similar incidents of strangeness were breaking out all over the ultramodern campus. In employee relations, Steve Hance had suddenly started going hunting on workdays, a Remington 12-gauge in one hand, a Verizon LG in the other. In the retail training department, e-learning specialist Mark Wells was spending his days bombing around the country following rocker Dave Matthews. Single mother Kelly McDevitt, an online promotions manager, started leaving at 2:30 p.m. to pick up her 11-year-old son Calvin from school. Scott Jauman, a Six Sigma black belt, began spending a third of his time at his Northwoods cabin."

It seems like this radically flexible schedule is having an impact on hard business metrics like productivity, employee engagement and turnover.  If indeed it is true and not hype, I am really encouraged and hope that some other companies try this approach.

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, and for some, having a flexible schedule coupled with the perks of employment would be a good deal.

If you know anyone who actually works for Best Buy in this arrangement, I would be fascinated to hear from them.

Do you think it is hype, or would something like this have a real impact on your satisfaction level as an employee in a corporate environment?