Throughout my corporate career, the thing I heard most often was, “Jeff, you have such good relationships with everyone you work with.” And I did. I had outstanding relationships with customers, peers, management, employees, stakeholders and just about everyone I came in contact with. I did not realize how extremely valuable that skill (developing relationships) would be in marketing. So, I thought I’d write a series of blog posts about the topic of building relationships, and I’m going to start with how to TALK TO people in a way that builds relationships.

Click below to watch a short video on the topic or just scroll down and keep reading.

Most importantly, talk to everyone from THEIR perspective. When you talk to kids, you refer to their parents, as mom or dad. You say, “Mommy will be home soon.” or “Can I talk to your dad?”

You don’t refer to the kids parents by their name, or your relationship with them, you refer to them from the child’s perspective. We do this to ensure they know exactly who you are talking about. We use their language. Kids have a lot to teach us about the world, and this is no exception. W learn from kids, in this case that people understand better when we are talking to them from THEIR perspective.

My first corporate job was an interesting one and I learned a lot about relationships. I collected money from health care providers who were paid in error by the insurance companies that I represented. What that means is that I would call health care providers and convince them to resubmit the bill to Medicare and refund the money to my company. They were not legally required to do this rebilling, so I had no choice but to develop a relationship with them so they would want to do this for me. This also frequently meant that they would have to accept less money for the services rendered because the Medicare rate was less than what had already been paid by the insurance company.

What I quickly identified was that we (the insurance industry) had a VERY different vocabulary than the health care providers I was contacting. The most notable was what we called the person who received the services. We called them the “beneficiary” (‘bene’ for short), but the providers called them the “patient.” So, I started referring to the “bene” as the “patient” and saw that something as little as that made me sound less like a “jerk from the insurance company” (which is basically what I was).

That’s just one of many examples of how talking to the providers in their language was beneficial. The industry is complicated and there were numerous opportunities to use sensitivity their language as a method to increase my influence.

This is exactly how to approach marketing and talking to clients and prospects. Always approach the conversation from their perspective.

How to Talk to Clients and Prospects

Do they want a coach? NO
Do they want a training program? NO
Do they want to attend your event? NO
Do they want a 6 part CD series? NO

They want something REAL, like

• A better love life.
• Better behaved kids
• Less Stress in their business
• A lifestyle that allows them to have more Freedom (my favorite).

Those are the terms in which you must talk to your clients and prospects.

You want to sell them a 6-part CD series.

BUT

They want a better love life.

Sell the better love life, not the 6-part CD series. Just like the beneficiary vs. the patient.

Always get right down to these two questions:

• Who are you talking to?
• What do they want?

I’m obsessive about this. I keep notes with specific words I hear, so that I can use those same words to talk to clients and prospects. The more I can talk their language, the better I can serve them and as a result influence their buying decisions. Since I offer amazing products and services, I can rest easy that influencing them to consume my information is the best for them.

Image Credit: Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Building an Expert Lifestyle Business successfully hinges on one major thing: Getting Known for Your Knowledge.

People have to know who you are and what you do if they are going to follow you and buy from you. And that means you have to promote yourself and your products. One important aspect of that is to create and deliver high-quality content regularly. Another is to build relationships with others who have a complimentary audience. But, if you really want to build your business to awesome new heights, you will need to put some big promotional strategies in place.

Below is a video that outlines the key to successfully promoting yourself as an expert authority on your subject. Watch the video below, or scroll down to keep reading.

Examples of big promotional strategies are things like:

• Podcast
• Web TV Show
• Teleseminars
• Webinars
• Writing a book
• Creating an Ipad Magazine
• Public Speaking

There are infinite promotional strategies, but those are a few of the more popular ones.

Expert Entrepreneurs are also action-takers. When we see a opportunity, we jump on it! We are subscribed to lots of Internet Marketing newsletters and the like, and when we see a product that we believe will teach us something useful or help us, we are all over it. The problem comes in when we start down too many of these paths.

Then, we start to get overwhelmed, frustration follows, and then we are gridlocked. We don’t know where to start with all the things we have in play and progress stops. Then, we hear about another promotional technique and the whole cycle has started over again!

Pick Two  

Pick two major promotional strategies to focus on and focus on them like a laser. Do these in addition to creating content regularly and building relationships in your industry. But focus on those two and no more. Unsubscribe from Internet Marketing mailing lists if you have to! That will save you time and ensure your focus stays on your TWO key strategies.

Stick with those two items for a clear and definite period of time. How long that period of time is will depend on the individual technique, but the important thing is that in the beginning, you commit to a specific amount of time. Whether that is 6 months or 18 months, you will have a concrete goal that you can meet. The point here is that you do not quit because something else more exciting came along.

Why Two?

Two is more than one but its still a manageable number. One is not enough. It creates a single point of failure. If that one didn’t work out or was less successful that you expected, you wouldn’t have a fallback. Also, by having more than one, you are beginning to be seen in more than one place and platform by the same person. This builds credibility and positions you as an authority figure. Any more than two would just get unrealistic. You want a life of freedom, right???!!!

This is YOUR Life

Since this is YOUR Expert Lifestyle Business we are talking about, pick two promotional strategies that YOU like! Don’t pick the ones that are “hot right now” or that “everyone is doing.” Pick stuff you like to do. If you hate writing, a book is not a good choice! What other business, job or industry lets you do “whatever you want?”

Get Help

Definitely seek out training, coaching, consulting or whatever help you need to implement these major strategies. They will be important to the success of your business, so investing money to learn or get help is a must.

Now you know how to choose two promotional strategies to promote yourself as an expert. Tell me in the comments below what TWO strategies you are going to use to build your following.

Image Credit: Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

Call it a niche, call it a crew, call it a tribe, a herd, an avatar or an ideal client. Whatever you call it, it’s important. If you don’t think it’s important, keep reading.

You can literally have the PERFECT solution to someone’s problems, but if you can’t find those people and you can’t communicate to them in a way that they understand and that resonates with them, they will not pay attention, you will never build a following and you will certainly never sell anything.

I’m going to give you the three things to consider when selecting a niche. They are listed below this video. If you would like to “watch” this blog post, just click the video below, otherwise keep reading.

OK, before we get into that, let’s start by outlining WHY you need to define a niche. The simple reason is that you need to have a group of people with a common set of problems or desires who you can get access to and communicate with in a similar manner.

Coca-cola, Budweiser and McDonald’s have the “marketing muscle” to CREATE demand. They have the budget to sponsor sporting events, create characters and do the appropriate amount and type of advertising to actually MAKE people want their products. McDonald’s, for example, has actually manufactured demand for their bad-tasting, unhealthy food that kills you.

None of those three big companies have the best beverage or food in their category. But they do have the best marketing. They have marketing that is so good it has actually created demand for their sub-par products.

You probably don’t have the marketing budget to do that. And, I suspect that even if you did, you wouldn’t want to sell your information in that manner anyway. So, you must define a clear niche that already has a clear and common set of problems and desires. Let’s talk about that.

The three things your niche must have: 

1. A clear problem they want to solve or desire they want met.

2. Common viewpoints about their situation, their goals, desires and frustrations.

3. Findability – they must gather in places where you can get access to them.

1. A Clear Problem They Want To Solve or Desire They Want Met 

We call ourselves “experts” and say we are in the “information” business, but let’s face it, we are in the marketing business. Marketing is all about identifying a problem that someone has and then showing them how the thing you have solves that problem. If there is no Problem to solve or Desire to meet, there can be no effective marketing.

That is why your niche must have a common problem or desire. In some cases, this is obvious, for example, if you are an expert on relieving back pain, the problem is obvious. If, however, your area of expertise is a generic and very broad topic, such as Holistic Medicine, you have some work to do here to “niche it down.” While the general topic of Holistic Medicine does contain benefit that is applicable to nearly everyone, you can’t market that to EVERYONE because EVERYONE does not have the same problems and desires.

Simply choose a small portion of EVERYONE to start with. In the holistic medicine example, you might choose the parents of hyperactive children, or women in their 50s who are concerned about osteoporosis due to their family history, for example. That concern about osteoporosis or hyperactivity is a PROBLEM that you can address.

They want a SOLUTION to that specific problem and you have one to offer to them.

2. Common Viewpoints About Their Situation, Goals, and Frustrations

Your niche must have similarities in how they view the world. Certainly not in every aspect, but in many. You must be able to talk to them in a similar way. For example, let’s continue with the holistic medicine theme. The parents of children with chronic earaches is a specific niche. These parents also should have similar views about the world. They are interested in holistic medicine. Perhaps they are frustrated with traditional medicine’s approach to the problem. They may feel that their doctor just prescribes medication each time their child gets and ear infection, rather than attempting to get to the root cause. They are frustrated with the reactive nature of their doctor.

Let’s also consider a little more about this parent. They obviously love their child very much. They hate to see him or her suffer with this horrible earache. The parent misses a lot of work because of their child’s illness and spends a lot of money on doctor bills. They are also concerned because the child is missing so much school because of the earaches. This is all much more rich information we can use to understand what our niche wants and needs.

Their clear problem is their kids having chronic earaches. Their common viewpoints or perspectives are that traditional medicine is reactive and a holistic approach may get to the root cause and result in fewer earaches, making their child feel better and be happier.

3. Findability: They Must Gather In Places Where You Can Get Access To Them

This is just a plain old practical matter! You have to have a way of reaching or contacting your niche. This can take on a number of different forms. It could be online forums, regular events or trade shows, clubs, organizations, Facebook groups, etc.

If you can’t find them, you can’t market to them and you can’t get known. That’s it. Your niche simply must be in some place where you have access to them. Pick a niche that “hangs out” in a few specific places that you can get access to.

Misconception Alert!

Finally, there is a huge misconception that “niching” is limiting. The conception is that defining a small niche will hurt your business by limiting the pool of people you do business with.

The opposite is true.

By choosing and targeting a smaller niche, you actually increase the power of your marketing. You actually make it possible to reach and very effectively target a small group of people with your marketing dollars (which are much smaller than Coca-Cola’s :-). Once you have success and a following in this niche, it will be much easier to branch out and target larger groups and niches.

So, if you are feeling limited by a niche, think of it as a stepping stone.

Image Credit: Photo by note thanun on Unsplash

Jeff Steinmann Review of APE – How to Publish a Book by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch

I was thrilled to get the opportunity to review an advance copy of Guy Kawasaki’s brand new book, “APE, How to Publish a Book”, which he co-authored with Shawn Welch. I’ve been staying closely in touch with the publishing industry and all of the radical changes it has been going through the past several years and this book is an incredibly concise (even at 313 pages) overview of the industry and literally EVERYTHING you need to know about writing a book.

I decided rather than writing a fourth-grade book report, I would summarize the most important points for anyone who wants to use a book to establish themselves as an expert in a particular niche.

So, here it goes, these are the 11 most important points I captured from the book:

1. Write a book for the right reasons. Write it because you have a message inside you that you MUST get out! It’s just too much work to do for any other reason. Whatever you do, DO NOT write it to make money from sales of the book.
2. Traditional Publishers vs. Self-Publishing: In general, traditional publishers get you one thing: The “clout” of being published by a big publishing house. In order to be published by one of those houses, you need to have a platform, or a way to reach a large number of your followers. If you have that platform, traditional publishing with a major publisher may work well for you. If you don’t, self publish, but you will STILL need the platform in order to promote your book. So, start building a platform, if you aren’t already.
3. Ebooks are gaining in popularity, but there is still nothing like holding a physical book in your hand. And printed books are still outselling eBooks by a large margin. At the end of the day, it’s easy to have your book in print these days with print on demand technology, so have it in print, have it on the Kindle, iPad, Nook and every format you can reasonably support. Guy explains exactly how in the book.
4. Tools matter. The tools you use, word processor, conversion tools, file sharing, etc. will make your work easier or harder. Guy tells you exactly what to use for best results.
5. How much does it cost to self-publish your book? 4300 bucks. You have to do the math and decide if this expense is worth it and guy walks you through that. You can also barter and cut corners to get that cost much lower, which will come at the cost of time and quality, but may make sense on a limited budget.
6. Hire an Editor. Hire someone who edits books for a living. You simply can’t get out of your own mind enough to look at your book objectively.
7. Don’t let it look like crap. Guy calls it the “self-published look.” Get a professional cover design, interior design and use an imprint (publisher name) that is not your own name or company name.
8. Distribution options are almost unlimited. There are companies that will do this for you, or you can work directly with Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc and their respective self-publishing programs. This is great, because there are a multitude of different ways to get your book distributed. You can choose the method (or more likely, methods) that work best for you. Guy outlines your options very thoroughly.
9. File formats can be tricky. But, it’s not rocket science, you just need to understand the ins and outs of each format and which ones you need for what you are doing. He explains them very simply and clearly in the book.
10. Pricing. If you are just getting started and building a platform, start low and go up if you can. You are never going to get rich off the book sales themselves (the money is in the credibility a book brings!), so the better route is to keep the price low so you can get it into more people’s hands and build your credibility.
11. Platform, Platform, Platform. That’s what promoting and selling a book is all about. You must focus on creating a following of people who know you, love you and are ready and eager to buy from you. Wait, isn’t that MY area of expertise? Good, your in the right place. Click here for more information (from me) on how to get known as an expert and build a life of FREEDOM and FLEXIBILITY with your knowledge and expertise. OK, I had to get a little plug in for myself. 

If you are considering writing a book, you definitely want to read APE. There simply is no other book that so thoroughly, yet concisely wraps up all you need to know about this complex and still changing topic.

You can purchase APE from Amazon.com by clicking here. If you follow this link, I will be compensated an extremely small amount (nowhere near enough to buy a cup of coffee) by Amazon for referring you there.

Image Credit: Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

I wondered a lot this year about that feeling … you know that kind of little feeling that you get when you maybe should do something or shouldn’t do something … go in one direction or go in another direction.

Well I got that little feeling a lot this past year. I got that feeling a lot this past year and what I found that I wasn’t following it. I wasn’t doing what that little feeling told me that I need to do.

Now, I’m going to get a little bit crazy here in this blog post. I don’t really normally talk about this kind-of touchy-feely stuff, but probably should more, so here it goes.

Continue reading below or watch this short video I made about the topic:

What was happening is that I made a lot of decisions without paying attention to that “feeling.” And I found that I was going back, reversing decisions and changing direction and doing a lot of things only to go back to be true with that feeling I remembered having in the first place.

Now, what I really believe is happening there is my subconscious, or intuition, or “gut” is way way way more intelligent and can process way more information and knowledge than our conscious mind does. So I believe that my subconscious was giving me much more “information” and better resources to make the decision with than my conscious mind ever could!

So, that’s why not following those feelings sent me down the wrong path every single time. It’s something that I’ve really seen this year to be incredibly true for me, my personal life and my business. I simply have got to follow that feeling and generally when I do follow that feeling things do work out.

And when I don’t…well I saw how that works out this year!

That’s another thing that in 2012 I didn’t do the way I would’ve liked to have. But I’ve learned very important lessons about how to do it right in 2013!

I’m only part way through this journey. I’ve strongly embraced the importance of this “feeling,” but my biggest challenge remains actually RECOGNIZING the feeling when I have it. I’m getting better, but have a ways to go on that front. I sometimes use a technique that a coach taught me a while back.

That technique is to ask yourself, when making a decision: How does this feel? Heavy or Light?

Asking myself that question always helps me to sort of “feel” it more.

Now, I’ll share an experience I had earlier this year with this. I was sitting at my desk on a Wednesday afternoon over the summer, frustrated as ever with my life and with my business. I suddenly had the realization that I had 3-5 thing I needed to FIX immediately. I had gone in directions that my intuition told me not to go in.

That day my business radically changed. I made some hard decisions, severed relationships, and let some large time and financial investments disintegrate. It was when I shifted the focus of Braveau Experts from being an agency (actually creating brands, websites, products and things FOR experts) to becoming an expert lifestyle business, which is what I was doing for my clients. In other words, the company was no longer about what I DO, it was about what I KNOW.

Then I became sort of addicted to getting things RIGHT and reversing those old, bad decisions. It was so liberating! I love it! I began actually asking myself, “What else can I change?”

Have you recently made a decision that was NOT congruent with what your body and intuition were telling you? How did it turn out? Tell me in the comments below, I love to hear from you!

Whether your post it below or not, I would like to issue a personal challenge to you to reverse one of those decisions TODAY. It might be hard at first, but step up and DO IT. You deserve the outcome.

Image Credit: Photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash

I’m not shy about investing in myself. Most people in this industry (expert entrepreneurs) are not either. We simply want to be the best we can be and know that that costs money. I still remember the very pivotal moment in my life when I spent 1997.00 on a training that was the first serious investment I made in myself and my business. I was hooked!

One of the realizations I had this year was about the pace of that training & development stuff. What makes sense to do when? Am I ready for this? Is this right for me? We all ask those questions CONSTANTLY!

The realization I had is simply that it has to be timed right. Then I began to think of it totally differently.

So, I made the below video about it:

Here’s How

This year two things happened to me regarding my personal development. Each happened on a few different occasions.

The first is that I was “overtrained.” I had studied something SO MUCH that I literally could not formulate a single question to ask about it. That means my head was gridlocked with information. More training wasn’t going to help! DOING MORE STUFF was the only thing that would help! I would apply what I’d learned and that would expand my understanding (by doing) and then I would be ready to learn more.

The second thing that happened (less frequently) was that I got under-trained. In other words, I had been spinning my wheels for a while and needed help with some area. I needed some sort of training or development.

As I write this, it seems elementary, but let’s face it, we all struggle with this. It’s a tough balancing act.

I starting thinking of it like a road. You have to have a little bit of road built out in front of you, but not too much just yet, because you may need to change the exact course of the road AND you need the resources to drive.

So, what can you do about it?

A few key questions you can ask yourself.

1) Do I know enough to move forward for a month or two?

What this question really gets at is the core of what is usually the issue here and that is that sometimes the training or program or event is simply more desirable in the near term than actually DOING the next step. Don’t let fear keep you in learning mode and out of doing mode. 

2) Is more information going to help me right now?

This really gets at the root of the problem. Is “not having information” really what is stopping you from moving forward or slowing you down? Sometimes it is, but realistically, it’s usually not…

How has your learning journey been going this year? Comment below and let me know what you learned this year.

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2012 was a year of absolute craziness for me. My business changed DRASTICALLY. My life changed drastically! All for the better.

It was the year in which I made more mistakes than I have ever made in a single year in my entire life. I’m not whining or crying about that, just stating facts.

Now on the flip side, it’s the year that I’ve accomplished more and had more success than any other year of my life. (Except maybe the year I was born, but I didnt’ have much to do with that. 

Notice a correlation between messing up and having success? That’s a whole other blog post!

Sooooo, I’m going to spend the remainder of the year talking about all the ways I screwed up in 2012 and what I’m doing differently in 2013. One per week, so look out!

Sound good? If so, I know exactly where to start. We’ll start with what may be the biggest (I’ll probably say that about all of them!) mistake I’ve made and that is CONSISTENCY.

I’ve done a really poor job of being consistent with a lot of things. I haven’t put out consistent content for my tribe. I haven’t consistently followed up on conversations. I haven’t consistently followed my marketing plan.

Don’t look at me…

The problem is that, in this industry, despite what the big guru’s tell you you can buy for 1997.00, there are simply no silver bullets. There are no magic formulas or blueprints, there is only CONSISTENTCY AND PERSISTENCY.

Consistency and Persistency are what gets you known and builds your tribe. Period. I don’t know if “persistency” is a word or not, but it rhymes with consistency, so it’s a go.

I’ve been saying that all year, but not doing it.

FIXED.

Here’s how:

1) I’ve created an awesome, streamlined process for creating and publishing content. It utilizes a very small amount of my time to get a considerable amount of content created for the week. Is this something you’d be interested in learning more about? If so, hit reply and let me know. I’m considering talking about that in a blog post or video…

2) I’ve implemented a new and pretty darn awesome follow-up system for potential clients and partners. I had one before, but found that when the number of people in the system got too large, it became very cumbersome and ultimately that meant it didn’t get done. Now, we’re rocking it. Stand back.

3) I’m no longer creating content that “has to go out today”. All content is going to be created at least a month in advance. As the system gets more mature and robust, content will be created about a month in advance. This will allow for much better planning and execution.

So, the bottom line here is that consistency and persistency are KEY. It is key in two major areas — content and follow-up.

Here are some really specific actions you can take to ensure that you are doing things consistently in your expert business:

1) Create a monthly “topic”, to drill down further in your content. For example. the final 45 days of content for me in 2012 are the things I’ve screwed up in 2012 and how I’m doing them differently in 2013. There is no thinking, “what should I blog about this week? What should I put on Facebook? What should I email my list about? It’s done, decided and completed in advance.

2) Put a robust follow-up system in place. It can be a simple Excel spreadsheet, Infusionsoft, or anything in between. The volume of people we are moving through the follow-up process has gotten to be insane in my business and it only works because it is organized and streamlined. But, it’s totally OK to start small.

3) None of these things will work if you don’t do them. Put it in the forefront of your head that your expert business WILL NOT succeed without Consistency and Persistency. Do them like your business depends on it, because it does.

Look for another lesson learned next week. And then another one, and another one, until 2012 is over. 

Then we’ll talk about something else.

How is your 2013 going to be different than your 2012? Tell me in the comments below.

Image Credit: Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash

I’m not a huge sports fan. I certainly don’t play sports. I have the hand-eye coordination of a coffee pot. Throughout my corporate career, however, I got really used to everything being analogized to something related to sports. I know what a hat-trick means in the business-sense and that it has something to do with hockey, but don’t really understand what it means in hockey. That’s OK with me because it meant that I knew how to communicate in the language of business, which happens to borrow a lot from the language of sports. All of that to sort of apologize in advance for the annoying sports analogy.

Let’s say I’m going to have a free-throw content with Michael Jordan. Again, reiterating that I’m not really that good at sports, or anything that requires coordination or aim. But, in this analogy, I’m having a free-throw contest with Michael.

I am standing right at the free-throw line (or whatever they call that horizontal line that is right in front of the net) with about 5 basketballs queued up and some really fast kid to retrieve the balls so I can keep throwing them continuously.

On the other side of the court is Michael. He has the exact same setup. We are in the exact same position, with the exact same balls and all ready to go.

Now, it’s also important to know that lots of people have turned up for this event. The stadium is packed full of people just waiting to see who is going to win this free-throw contest. We are warming up. You can hear that distinctive sound of a basketball bouncing on a hardwood floor. There is a bunch of chatter coming from the crowd, there’s an overall dull roar of talking. I can even smell the fresh popcorn! As we (Michael and I) are warming up, our respective coaches come over to tell us its about time for the contest to start. My heart is beating. It is pounding and I’m getting nervous because all the practice I’ve been doing is about to either pay off or fail miserably. Michael looks unfazed. He looks like he just wants to get this over so he can go have a beer.

It’s starting. The announcer comes over the loudspeaker and says, “Welcome everyone to the free-throw contest OF THE YEAR! With Jeff Steinmann and Michael Jordan! We have a special announcement to make. Even our contestants don’t know this yet. Are you ready for the announcement?”

The crowd goes wild! They want to hear the announcement!

The announcer’s voice booms over the PA system, “General Motors has generously donated a BRAND NEW, fully loaded, 2013 Cadillac Escalade that will be presented to the winner of this free-throw contest!”

Holy crap, I think, I would LOVE a new Escalade! Wow, now the pressure is ON! I get even more nervous, knowing that there is more on the line that I thought!

The announcer comes over the PA again, “Are the contestants ready?” I signal a thumbs up, even though clearly I’m terrified, but I know I have to get this over with.

Michael does the same.

The crowd gets quiet. They’ve been waiting a long time to see this and want to know who will win.

“On your marks! Get Set! Throw!”

It’s time. Stop worrying, focus and believe in yourself, is what I’m telling myself. I shoot the first one, and I’m a little off, but it spins around the rim about 10 times and finally goes in. There is a 5 minute time limit, so I’m really irritated this shot took so long.

“Don’t think about Jordan,” I tell myself. “Focus and believe in yourself. You’ve spent a lot of time getting ready for this, you can do it.”

I shoot the second shot and it bounces off the rim. Third shot is an air-ball. Fourth shot bounces off the backboard and nails the pop-corn vendor. Popcorn everywhere. I’m thinking, “I just want this to be over so I can have some popcorn and a beer.”

“Don’t hit the beer vendor, don’t hit the beer vendor, don’t hit the beer vendor,” I keep saying.

“Focus!” I yell at myself.

Then the next ball goes in. And the next one. Followed by two air-balls and and other 3 misses. Then I get a few more in. Followed by a few more misses, then I sink the last two.

BUZZZZZZZ!!!

The buzzer goes off and the contest is over. I was so focused on what I was doing that I had no idea what Jordan did. My coach comes over with a strange look on his face. I don’t know how to read it, but I knew he had been watching Jordan.

He says, “Jordan made ever shot perfectly.”

My heart sank. I knew he had won. No Escalade for me. I wasn’t even getting any popcorn.

“But there’s good news,” coach says.

“What do you mean? If he made all those shots perfectly, there’s no way I won?” I replied, sounding really pissed.

“He didn’t have a hoop.”

“What?”

“There was no hoop on Jordan’s side of the court. So, none of the perfect shots he made counted. There was nothing for the shots to go into.” Coach explained.

“I won?”

“Yep, Congratulations!”

OK, you’ve read all this and now your saying, “Wow, this guy has really lost it, now he’s rambling on about basketball and making up fake stories about beating Michael Jordan in a free-throw contest. Well, you are correct, I am rambling on about basketball and making up fake stories about beating Michael Jordan in a free-throw contest, but I do have a point.

If you want to get known as an expert, you have to have a hoop and a net. The net is how you “catch” the shots you take. The shots you take are everything you do to promote yourself. The shots are your Blogs, Facebook updates, speaking engagements, and all the other stuff you do to get yourself known. But, if you don’t have a hoop to throw them through, none of them will stick.

Let’s talk about this a little bit more. When you meet someone at a party and want to talk to them some more, what do you do? You ask for their phone number, email, connect on Facebook, LinkedIn or something else. The point is that you are trying to create a way or a method by which you can stay in touch.

If you didn’t have Facebook, LinkedIn, email or a phone, you would have a really hard time remaining connected with these people. Also, while you were at that party, you said things that interested that other person. That’s why that person was willing to share their information with you.

That is exactly how it is when you are getting known as an expert. You need that “hoop” to capture the attention of the people you encounter AND (more importantly), impress!

In the expert business in 2012, “making shots” means getting email addresses onto your list. So, the point here is to get signed up with one of the major email list providers and start making those shots (collecting those leads)! You won’t make them all, but if you don’t have a hoop, you won’t catch any!

Image Credit: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

A friend send me a link to an article from Forbes Magazine about Corporate Cliches today that really hit home for me. I spent 15 years working in the corporate environment, much of that along side Accenture consultants, so I literally knew and probably used about all of them! Which makes me laugh and is a great reminder of how glad I am that I am no longer in that environment of corporate blah, blah, blah. I always enjoyed (actually enjoyed making fun of) the crazy excessive use of these cliche’s that nobody uses anywhere except corporate america! I used to call them the “comfort food of corporate america,” but upon further thought I’ve decided to call them “Corporate Porno.” Why did I change it? Well, I felt it needed to be a stronger statement and I really think “corporate porno” is more accurate. Here’s the thing:

“Neither really serves any purpose except to make us feel good when we’re not getting what we really want.”

Corporate Porno is just amazing in how it actually works. It just plain makes people feel good! Whenever someone hit’s play on the corporate porno, everyone just feels better. It does not matter (one damn bit!) what is being discussed, it simply gives everyone common ground and makes everyone feel like they are all “on the same page.” Well, OK, yeah, I just used some corporate porno.

What does this have to do with anything?

Well, as I was reading all 89 of those little ditties, it made me think about one fo the decisions I made that allowed me to launch my dream life.

I decided to be myself.

Unfortunately, in the corporate world, you can’t always be yourself. That may be one of the reasons people tend to be so unhappy there. However, as an entrepreneur, you MUST be yourself. You have to be relaxed and genuine. It’s the only way to build trust.

And with all the NOISE and chatter going on with social media, everybody and their chiropractor having a blog and the 600 digital cable channels, you damn well better be exuding some personality!

My company is about building brands around PEOPLE. People have personalities, they have idiosyncrasies, and they are not perfect. That’s what makes them people and that that’s what makes people like them. So, you absolutely MUST be yourself! That is your biggest asset.

Your personality sets you apart from big, corporate giants and that is a very good thing. It’s not easy to be yourself publicly, trust me, it’s been one of my biggest challenges. But the fact remains that people like, trust and want to work with me way more when I’m myself. Right now, that is the single biggest advantage I believe I have going for me.

Yes, being yourself will indeed scare some people away and that’s OK. I’m sure just putting the word “porno” in the title of this blog post will scare some people away. But I truly believe that more people will be attracted to the genuine nature of what I’m saying here.

So, put away the porno, relax, be yourself and say what you really mean. It’s cool. Chill. 🙂

What is your favorite corporate cliche?

Image Credit: Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

There is a huge misconception out how you start up a business. I’m going to unveil it right now. The misconception is this:

“If I’m going to start up a business, I have to quit my job, invest my life savings, take a second mortgage on my house and ‘hope like hell’ that it works.”

If that’s true, it’s no wonder our economy is suffering and there are so many people working in full-time jobs that they don’t like and aren’t fulfilling them.

But it is absolutely not true. Today is different. This is how you start a business in 2012:

1. Build a passionate and engaged following of people around your expertise.
2. Ask them what they need help with.
3. Sell it to them.

I believe so strongly in that principle that I built a company around it.

I love to run and the other day, I was running through an industrial area near my house in St. Louis, Missouri. The area I was running in is very industrial and most of the large warehouses and buildings were built around the turn of the century. I love running around there because I find the history and architecture to be so wonderful and inspirational. It always makes me think about what it must have been like to build a business in 1895. Did they Google, “how to start a baby carriage factory?”

I am, however, certain they did research before starting their companies. They probably asked other business people what they wanted and needed. They probably asked local people what products and services they had to travel the farthest for. They probably did this by polling people on the street, asking them at church, or maybe worked with owners of similar or complimentary businesses to get access to their customers. Maybe they asked people who purchased certain products what they felt could be improved about them and set out to improve them. Who knows? But I’m sure they did some research about what products or services were needed in the area.

Back in that day, in St. Louis, and most major industrial areas, you didn’t travel far for your groceries, hardware, ice cream, or to get your shoes fixed. You did it in your neighborhood. So, if you are researching what business to open in a neighborhood, you simply started the business that was desired there.

Now, it’s 2012. Geographic barriers are gone. You now have the ability to create a community of people around your knowledge and expertise. Give them lots of great information and value and they will keep coming back for more. Then, all you have to do is ask them what they want. They will tell you. Then, you create it and sell it to them.

That’s actually quite the opposite of the myth! And furthermore, it’s not really a new concept. Successful businesses have been born out of people communicating their desires and businesses stepping up to fill the need for years. You can do the same.

So, I think we can put that old myth about dumping your life savings into a business to rest, cool?

Image Credit: Photo by Mohammad Rezaie on Unsplash