More Than WE Know

A little over  a week ago, I was offered an unexpected opportunity - to co-host a blog for B5media called Business and Blogging.  It’s an existing blog that’s been without an author for 4 months.   The blog focuses on the use of blogs in large and small businesses and is a good fit with my background, education and interest.

This offer was unexpected. I had actually contacted them about including MoreThanWEKnow in their media channel. But they had recently launched a blog on women in business and thought there would be too much overlap.  After some email exchanges, they ended up offering me this opportunity instead.

Many of us worry about how to handle unexpected crises in our business - illness, family problems, loss of customers.  Some of us even plan for business continuation during challenging times.

But how many of us remember to plan for unexpected opportunity-  a big order, an abundance of clients, a new market?

In my special report, 7 Steps to Sustainable Success, I point out that the best way to prepare for a crisis or an opportunity is to have a well-thought out plan.  A plan helps you to quickly assess the risks, options and trade-offs involved in handling a crisis or an opportunity.  It helps you handle either one with the least amount of disruption in achieving your goals.

In my case, I had recently mapped out a plan to write two e-books in the first half of the year, so that I could put together some training classes on the topics in the second half of the year.

In looking at the opportunity to co-host Business and Blogging, I knew I would have to put those e-book plans on hold.  I already work a full-time corporate job, provide coaching to women business clients, write this blog and attend school.  Adding another blog to the mix would be the most I could handle.

In deciding whether to take this position, I had to ask myself questions about what my ultimate goal was - the goal of my goal, if you will.

If my real goal was to write an e-book - then taking this job would be pointless. It would prevent me from making progress on that goal any time soon.

However if the real goal of writing the e-book, was to gain additional visibility for this blog and for my expertise as a small business development specialist - then writing the new blog could help to further that goal as well.

My goal’s goal, my true end-goal,  could still be met. 

What I had thought was my goal - the e-book,  was really just a step, a how-to, if you will.  By knowing what the goal of my goal was, I was able to see that accepting the offer to co-author Business and Blogging was the right opportunity to take.

So by now, you’ve guessed my decision - I did accept the position as co-host of Business and Blogging.  One of the topics we will be discussing indepth is the use of blogs as a low-cost, high-return marketing tool for small businesses. 

If you are not already blogging, you may want to  consider creating a blog to help gain visiblity for your business. And if you are already blogging, you may want to learn how to make it a more effective online marketing tool.

So, please stop by and see me sometime. Don’t forget to say hi!

 What’s the goal of your goal? Do you know? If not, how do you know you’ll get the result you want? If you do know, are there any other ways to achieve that end-goal?

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I love the exercise we did the other day when we wrote ourselves a letter from the future. It might have seemed silly, but it is an amazingly powerful tool. I have been doing it every year now for the past 5 years - and it is incredible how accurate it is!

The first year I did it, it was sort of a lark, and I actually forgot about it. At the end of the year I was digging through an old journal and found it. It gave me chills to see how much of it had come true.

Since then, I’ve made it a very deliberate exercise to write down exactly what I want to accomplish in the coming year, and to write it as if it had already happened. Almost without fail, I have accomplished what I set out to do, or something better.

Hint - if you haven’t written your letter yet, now might be a good time to do it!

However, except for that first year, I haven’t stopped at simply writing the letter. I have then used it to develop a deliberate action plan to achieve my goals.

Remember,

Goals + Action = Success

Goals - Action = Failure

So, go back to the letter you wrote and take a look at what you said you had accomplished by this time next year. Then ask yourself, “If that were true, what would have had to happen? ”

• what would I have had to learn?
  
• who would I have had to meet?
• what would I have had to do?
  

Then for each of those items, ask yourself

• when would I have needed to do it?
  

For example, in my letter I said that I had published two e-books which had led to speaking engagements and training classes. That implies that I had published the books in the first half of the year, so I could benefit from them in the second half. Therefore I must have written them by at least May so I could publish in June.

I probably wouldn’t write and publish them both at the same time. I’d write and publish one, and then the other. The first one would probably take me longer than the second, so I’m going to say that I would need to publish the first one by the end of April and the second one by the end of June.

So, in order to publish an e-book by the end of April, I’d have to know how to publish an e-book. I’d need to know where to find pictures to illustrate it, and how to convert it to PDF and create a virtual cover. I’d also need to know how to distribute it and market it. I’d need to have someone edit it and give feedback before I published it. That sounds time consuming. It would probably take me all of April to do it.

So, I would need to have already written it by the end of March. Before I could write it, I’d need an outline. I already have my topic and it’s a subject I know a lot about. Therefore, I might be able to start writing without much preparation.

Wow - counting backwards, it looks like in order to meet my goals around publishing 2 ebooks by June, I’ll need to start soon! Putting my time-line in sequence it comes out like this:

January

• write outline
• write first draft
• network - find people to edit, give feedback and advice

February

• write second draft
• send to network for editing/feedback
• find artwork for illustrations
• ask network - options for cover art and editing
• ask network - pricing options and shopping cart
• ask network - affiliate marketing?

March

• make final revisions based on feedback from network
• incorporate artwork
• hire graphic designer for cover art/or buy software pkg

April

• convert final book to PDF
• create ad page with cover art
• set up account with shopping cart
• set up affiliate relationships
• announce publication!

May

• assess lessons learned from 1st book
• create time-line for 2nd book to be published by end of June

Whew - I’m tired already - and that’s just for one goal!!

In order to achieve this goal, I’ll need to:

• do some work myself
• ask for some help from others
• do some research and learn new things
• hire some services

As I move through working my plan, some things are likely to change. Some will be harder than I thought and some will be easier. But I’ll have a plan that I can adjust accordingly. It’s aggressive, but not so aggressive that I can’t adjust it if unforeseen obstacles or opportunities present themselves.

So, what about you? Can you make a plan like this for each of your goals? What do you need to do and who do you need to reach out to in order to make them come true? And what one thing can you do today to move your goal forward?

What? It’s the first day of the year and I’m already saying good-bye??

But, think for a moment - how fast did 2007 fly by?

In fact, how fast did the past few years fly by?

Before this year slips by too, take a moment to think about where you want to be a year from today. What do you want to be doing? What do you want to be saying about yourself and your business?

Then take a minute to write it down - not in the form of an intimidating plan or spreadsheet - but in a letter - to yourself - from your future self.

At this point, don’t worry if you don’t know How you are going to accomplish some of the goals you set. In fact, if you do know exactly how you are going to do everything - you probably aren’t setting your goals high enough!!

Focus on what you want to accomplish next year - and trust that the how will be revealed in good time.

Just write a letter as though it were January 1st 2009 and you were writing to tell yourself about all the wonderful things that happened to you in 2008.

Don’t worry. I’ll go first.

If you like, feel free to email me a copy of your letter - liz at morethanweknow dot com

or if you’re feeling really brave - post it in the comments below!

Here goes:

Dear Liz,

What a year it’s been! I’m so excited about the strong community of supportive women that has grown up around my blog MoreThanWEKnow. I’ve met so many incredible entrepreneurs. We’ve shared our dreams, our fears and our knowledge. I think we’ve all gotten a little stronger because of it.

My consulting business has continued to stay full. I’ve expanded to take on email clients to allow for timezone differences. This has helped a lot with my international clients and with busy time-strapped entrepreneurs who have trouble making scheduled phone appointments.

I wrote and published two e-books: one on effectively using the internet to market offline businesses, and the other on successful networking for shy and introverted entrepreneurs. These e-books led to multiple speaking and training opportunities which I enjoyed a great deal.

I’ve continued to build my own network of supportive advisors who have helped guide me along the way. Learning to ask for help was the most challenging task I encountered - but it opened opportunities for me that I never would have gotten without it.

All in all, 2008 was a year of growth and expansion on both a personal and professional level. I don’t have any regrets and am excited to see what next year brings!

Best Wishes,

Future Liz

There! That wasn’t too hard! And I feel a better sense of clarity around what I want to accomplish next year, almost as good as if I’d already done it!!

Now, it’s your turn!! What will 2008 bring for you?

Well, it’s here. The last day of the 2007 Holiday Shopping Season.

Estimates are that online holiday sales in the U.S. for the months of November and December will reach $29.5 billion - 20% higher than last year.

Whether you sell products or services, you had a holiday sales season this year. How did it go? Did your sales increase 20% over last year? Do you know why?

Very soon you will be caught up in the challenges of next year. All of the lessons you think you learned this year will become faded memories. All of the changes you vow to make will be forgotten. All of the things you did right will slip away.

Unless you take the time to write them down.

So now, before it’s too late, open a document on your word processor and label it 2008 holiday plan. Copy the following 5 questions and type in your answers. You may be surprised by what you come up with.

1) What went well this holiday season?

It’s too easy to focus on what went wrong and think of the lost sales and missed opportunities. Instead, take a moment to look at what went right - products that sold well, clients that were pleased, moments of which you were proud.

2) Why did those things go well?

Look at the systems you had in place, the products you had to sell, the marketing that you created, the upfront planning that you did. Which of these contributed to your success and why?

3) How could things have gone even better?

How could you have reached more clients? How could you have had more of the right products on hand? How could you have avoided stocking the wrong products? How could you have sold your goods and services to more people? How could you have leveraged other people, other outlets, other modes of delivery?

4) What could you do next year to increase your success?

Take a look at your answers to questions 1 through 3 and envision 2008 being even better than this year. Then consider - what would you need to do to make that happen? Start planning earlier? Develop more products? Do more marketing? Get closer to your customers?

5) Which of those steps will you implement?

Next year’s holiday season will be here before you know it. Which of the tactics you listed will have the greatest impact on your sales next year? Which of those things can you start now? Next week? Next month?

Now, Take action.

• Make a list right now of all the actions you are going to take to make 2008 a great success.
• Label them as high, medium or low priority based on the potential impact they might have on your success.
• Put a date by when each task should be completed.
• If you’re not the person that needs to do the task, identify who the proper owner is.
• If something else has to occur (i.e. take a class, hire an assistant, design a logo, etc.) add that task, priority, owner and date as well.

Before you know it, you will have an actual plan that you can put into action and measure your progress against.

Throughout the year, you will be able to work the plan, add ideas and remove things that no longer make sense.

And when next year comes, you’ll be ready to make the 2008 Holiday Season your best year ever!

What would you do with $25? 

 After a few moments of pondering, the question soon becomes what could you do with $25?  We all dream of obtaining thousands of dollars to invest in our businesses, could a sum as small as $25 really make any difference?

Shai Coggins author of Just Make Money Online asked this question recently on her blog. I read about it on John Crickett’s blog Business Opportunities and Ideas. John had a good idea for developing an additional website devoted to a topic of interest to him and potentially to others. He was so excited about his idea that he actually went ahead and invested the $25 to put his plan in action.

Another entrant said that she would finally break down and buy business cards as she had been wanting to do,  so that she could more easily publicize her business.

Both of these ideas were good but after giving it some thought, I realized that what is most important and most scarce for me right now, is time. Like many entrepreneurs I already have more projects, ideas and passions than I can pursue.  What I need is more time to work on them.

How much time can I buy for $25?  I figure I can hire a high school senior over the holidays to work 2 hours for that amount of money.  In that time he or she can organize my online files and categorize my email inbox,  and update some spreadsheets I keep on analytics, expenses, revenue and article submissions.

In return, I’ll get back morethan just the 2 hours.  I’ll save the time I would have spent looking for a document or ebook that I need for a project. I’ll save the potential loss of good will resulting from not responding to an email that got lost in my inbox. I’ll save the embarrassment of not being sure which article I’ve submitted to which site. And most of all, I’ll save the frustration and guilt I’ll feel each time I realize that I really should take the time out to organize my files better.   

And what will I do with this increased time and enhanced psychic energy?

I’ll devote it to the aspects of my business in which I add the most value - working with clients, writing articles, doing research, coming up with new ideas to provide more value.

Now I’ve talked myself into it - I’m going to go ahead and make the investment in my time, my energy and my business!

So, what about you?  How would you spend $25 on your business? Let me know - And if you come up with a good idea - why not go ahead and put it in action?