cathypresland.com

iPhones…

I’ve been putting off buying a decent phone for about the last three years.

I’m overwhelmed at the choice. I want an iPhone because it’s cool. But then will it be compatible with all my other gear?

And then it’s more expensive….

And then people tell me Android is better…

And then I go to business meetings and everyone has Blackberry because they tell me it’s better for email. And I used to have a Blackberry so I know how it works. The learning curve would be less steep….

…And So To Inaction

And so it goes round and round in my head.

So of course I don’t take any action.

But If Was An Expert!

Yet I have a friend who is a gadget geek. If I asked he would spend hours telling me what phone to buy and what plan I need and I don’t have to worry about being sold something because the salesperson is on commission rather than them getting me the best deal.

And I know that when I go to the supermarket and choose apples, I know exactly what I want. What type, what degree of sweet versus sour. Hard versus soft. Flavour. Juiciness. I am very discerning. I am almost an expert in this category.

Perfect Paint

If you’ve ever hunted down that perfect paint colour you know exactly what I mean.

No other shade of yellow is quite right. Often to the exasperation of your partner who can’t see the difference between the three shades you’re agonising over. But you care and you can see the difference.

That’s what happens when you become a category expert.

So why am I telling you this?

Well, when it comes to your business you will be the category expert. If you’re a phone expert then you already know what phone I should buy.

If you’re a web designer you can tell me what theme I should get and how I should put it together. Maybe you specialise in doing websites for the health professionals because there are specific applications you can add in etc., etc. – you are not just like any other web designer.

Your Customer Needs To Know

But your customer doesn’t know that. And if they are uninitiated in your area of expertise then they won’t be able to see the subtle differences between you and all the other web designers, or coaches, or event planners. If you don’t know anything about paint colours then all those shades of yellow look the same. Sometimes the subtleties of choice are just too subtle for your customer to see.

Your Check-Points

So when you are explaining or describing what you do check in with these two points:

1. Identify HOW you are different from everyone else around you. Why is your yellow different? Why is the Blackberry a better choice for me?
2. And make sure you explain that difference. What’s obvious to you really isn’t obvious to everyone.

All Apple need to do is tell me that their phone is cooler than the other phones AND it does everything I can do on a Blackberry. Only better. Faster. Cheaper. More secure (OK well I made up those last two points but maybe in a perfect world…).

Or whatever the point of difference actually is.

Don’t leave it to me to work it out.

Love you to leave a comment – tell me how and why you are different!

A typical non-profit tale – maybe?

I was at a women’s networking meeting a couple weeks ago and I struck up a conversation with Julie (not her real name). She heads up a small non-profit and, in the way of the world right now, their grant funding was drying up.

She’d tried networking…

She’d been doing the business networking circuit for six months. Trying to drum up some paying clients and shift into some for-profit revenue generation. But it just didn’t seem to be working. Nothing was happening. No clients. Zero new business. Zero new income. And she was sounding pretty despondent about it.

So we got talking. I was genuinely interested in what she was doing and after she told me her story I could immediately see a couple of things – just small things – she could do differently that might make a big difference for her.

A world of possibility?

Her organisation was all about story-telling. They worked with deprived young people to help them tell their story in their own way, and with the use of low-tech video. Building confidence for the youngsters and creating fascinating stories and content along the way.

She thought their real expertise lay with the story-telling. THAT was their point of difference and their unique genius. But how to make this something that a small business would be interested in supporting? Or doing? And of course paying for!

Shift perspective

She probably couldn’t see what I could see. That a tiny shift in perspective could very easily re-orient what she thought of as story-telling, into very creative marketing. The power of story-telling is ages old – and the ability to move potential customers emotionally and draw them into a sale is probably the most powerful marketing technique any business can use.

So what shifts could Julie make here?

1. Positioning from a customer perspective

She wasn’t looking at what she did from the perspective of the customer. To position her organisation as a service provider for small businesses then just describing the process of story-telling wasn’t enough. Of course, it’s a great conversation opener, but it wasn’t bringing her any customers.

But how’s this for a simple re-frame? Rather than…

“we help deprived young people tell their stories…”

What about…

“we train small business owners, just like you to use the power of story-telling in your marketing. Our clients, on average, double their conversion rates when they learn how to connect with new customers in a way that is engaging and personal.” (just as an example, of course the numbers would need to be proven!).

She could of course go on to tell a story about a client to make that introduction even more powerful.

2. Packaging

And she needed something to offer. A package of services. Without an offer it was difficult for business owners she was meeting to see and understand how they could work with her. If she said, again, for example, that she had a half day training programme, or a one-day in-house consultancy she would have had a definite offer.

If you don’t have something to sell, it’s impossible to make any sales.

What’s your genius?

In this case study, a very simple shift in positioning her strategy and creating an offer would make a world of difference to what Julie wanted for her organisation. And sometimes is so much easier for someone else to see your special genius and how to communicate that than it is to see it yourself!

My Get Momentum Programme is designed to help new entrepreneurs uncover that genius you don’t always see in yourself. And then turn it into a thriving business. If you’d like to find out more then go and check it out.

Making this simple change to your positioning and packaging will work whether you run a social enterprise, a non-profit, or a business. So what shifts can you make to help get your offer out to market more effectively? I’d love you to leave a comment below and let me know!

New Year’s Resolution?

I gave up making New Year’s Resolutions a few years ago. I have different ways of reaching out for what I want, and I know making a promise once a year just isn’t enough. I dream and I think big, and I break things down and make habits out of them. Ultimately we have to act to make a change.

Not this year…

But this year I’m going to do it a little differently.

I’m not ready to set goals right now. Or to think too long term. It doesn’t feel quite right. It’s time to take things a little more slowly. It’s time to reflect.

I have one project I’m totally committed to and totally immersed in for the next month. And then beyond that I have some interesting possibilities on the horizon.

But nothing is set in stone right now. I want to just see what happens. Let things flow for a while.

Three words

Instead of going the traditional goal setting route I’m going to use words to guide me this month. And maybe for the rest of the year – but – like I said I’m not thinking long-term right now!

I want them to be a theme for what I do and how I do it. I just want to play with it for a while. I know I’m really practical at the centre so I will come back to my mind maps and my wall charts and my post-its. But right now it’s time just to sit with what I’m doing and let the future take care of itself for a few weeks.

So, I’ve set myself three words to guide what I do this year. I already had two but I was inspired by Chris Brogan to make it three. Three is a good number and my third word more than makes the grade.

Simplicity. Connection. Laughter.

What do they mean?

Simplicity. It’s about making things easy and not getting drawn into too many streams of activity. I don’t know what that means yet but I will be letting go of some things in the first part of the year.

Connection. I know that I love working with other people. This is an easy one for me so I’m going to be bringing more guests to my audience this year. I love the connection of talking live with another successful entrepreneur and bringing what they have to teach to you. Make sure you’re on the updates list to get all the recordings…

Laughter. Well who doesn’t want more laughter in their lives! And part of this comes from the connection – I love to work with people who are fun to be around. Yes they have to be great at what they do. but once that’s taken care of I like it to be fun.

If you like this approach then I’d love to know what your three words are. Just leave a comment below!

Spring Is Coming…

I love spring, the weather, the light, the new life coming up. The world seems full of possibility. The longer evenings are coming, the weather’s getting warmer, summer’s around the corner…

But it makes me have business angst. I want to take time off, be outside, see friends. Now while I can wrap some of this up as networking and connecting, at the end of the day it isn’t really about money-making, that all important business activity that pays the bills.

Business Success Is All About Freedom…To Me

But to me that’s what success is all about. It’s about being able to design the business around the life and know that I have systems behind the scenes and the right support staff to help me when I need them to. The best business for me is where I can take a strong strategic hold and the use other experts where I need them for technical and administrative support.

But What Is Freedom In Business?

Now some might say this was freedom. Lots of us value freedom. But isn’t it a little vague? What does freedom mean for you? For me, it’s being able to take the afternoon or the day off. I can imagine exactly what I’ll do, who I’ll spend my time with, I imagine where we can go. This is so much more real to me than freedom which is really just a concept and might mean something totally different for you.

What’s Business Success For You?

Success doesn’t look the same for everyone. Maybe you are the behind the scenes detail person, making sure that all the systems are functioning. You’re the one who can get lost in the detail of the video production or the writing, or the creative graphics?

I’d love to know what success looks like for you and one step that you can take right now to make sure that you get more of that success this year. Leave me a comment below…

Is Your Website As Effective As It Could Be?

Do you feel as if you have great products and services but you’re just not making the most of the online opportunities available to you?

The internet is amazing – with millions of people browsing every minute of the day and night. But how do you get them to come into your ‘shopfront’, your website? And then how to you get them to stay around and get to know you?

If you’re a business owner and you have a website and any other online activity – like a FaceBook or Twitter account, or maybe you’re advertising, or even if you just have your website on your business cards, then you could be losing out on hundreds or thousands of potential conversations with prospective clients and customers.

But How Can I Talk To A Website Visitor?

When someone comes to your website they can do one of two things – they can stay around, maybe buy from you or call you up, or they can leave. Research shows that most people browse away within 9 seconds.

But if you want to improve your website’s effectiveness, then you should be putting something tasty up to invite the visitor into a conversation. You can then continue to talk to them long after they first came to your site. Watch the video to find out more.

What’s A Niche Strategy?

I had a conversation with a photographer last week who is looking to grow his business. He’s a great guy, really passionate about his craft and he’s made some huge strides over the past year or so. He’s had a great coach (not me, I just met him!) and now he’s looking to go further.

“So what type of photography do you really love to do?” I asked him.

“Well I like all types – I do wedding, outdoor, equine, I do videos”, he replied. He then went on to tell me about the work he does and gave me one of his cards – which had a montage of images of all the different kinds of work he was describing.

“Yes but if you could choose one area and really focus on it for the next six months, what could you see yourself doing, and enjoying. Where is your real passion?”, I probed. Still he wouldn’t be drawn into one specific area.

Do I Need A Niche Strategy?

Now I’ve got to say that this is typical of responses I get from many business owners. I’m sure he does genuinely enjoy the variety in his work but at another level I suspect he is holding on to a small kernel of fear about what would happen if he let go of all the other areas and what about all the work he might be missing.

Does this sound familiar?

What Is A Niche Strategy?

So we then got into a discussion about his equine photography and how he had done a set of photographs for the owner of a racehorse training stables. I could see this was an area that was pretty unusual and I wanted to talk him through how this whole concept of niching down might work.

Imagine if he used the leverage he had from that one very successful project to make contact with other trainers, or with owners of winning race horses? Do you think the winner of a race would like some great photos or a video of his win? With the high of the moment and the emotion that is caught up in a sport like racing, how wonderful would it be to spend time and really get to know the top people in the field.

By really understanding and speaking just to them about his service he would be able to communicate how he can build their reputation and add value to their business. And in doing so he could build his own very lucrative specialism. And of course as he specialises and builds his own reputation, his fees can go up.

By staying broad in our business we sometimes make it hard for our ideal clients to find us and to hear our marketing message. And of course if they don’t hear us how are we going to win their business?

But What About My Business?

I know you might be saying to yourself, well yes, but if I my strategy is to niche down too much I’m cutting off a lot of potential customers.

No this isn’t the case at all, you are making yourself many, many times more attractive to your real customers and clients.

Just look how you respond to adverts on the TV or in print. I’m sure you skim over most of them but when one catches your eye, take notice? Is it for a book, a particular model of car, a breakfast cereal? It isn’t advertising all kinds of breakfast cereal, it’s just one, and the ad is speaking very clearly to the prospective buyer – you!

So I’m going to ask you to look at your business and think about whether you could use a clearer niche strategy in your own business. Can you take your niche down a level? What one area really excites you? Can you imagine how you could proactively market to a really small, selective group of clients? What would it be like to be the go-to person in your field – to really draw in business without having to look for it and to be able to raise your prices or your fees?

I’d love you to leave a comment telling me what your niche strategy is and whether you think your niche is narrow enough. How can you narrow it down even further? Just leave a comment below or ask me a question on twitter

Fear In Business

Being an entrepreneur is a really scary ride sometimes. I know I’m not the only one to liken it to being on a roller coaster with all the ups and downs. Sometimes it feels as if we are just ‘letting go’ and allowing that roller coaster to take us along. And that can be a bit scary.

Being Interviewed

To dig into the challenges around fear and business and how to get past them, I was invited to be part of a panel discussion chaired by my fellow coach Catherine Morgan of Point A to Point B Transitions and Mark E Gibson an expert in Fearless Living.

Listen In

I’ve attached the mp3 recording HERE so just press the link to listen or right click to download to your i-pod or other music player (is there any other music player??) and learn what tips and tricks we offer to help you through the common kinds of fear that entrepreneurs may face, how to recognise when you are acting out of fear and how to stay in action to get through them.

If you want to get started right away then my top three tips for you are:

1. Set stretching intentions about what you want to achieve – put yourself just beyond the zone of your comfort.
2. Then stay in action – this is critical – just staying in action is the best way I know to overcome any type of fear.
3. And finally make sure that you are having fun. Celebrate, enjoy where you are, where you are going and love the ride you are on!

These are all areas that I work with clients on a one-to-one basis and if you want to find out more about whether this is something that might be right for you then you can read more about my services at this link.

As ever, I’d love you to leave a comment about what kind of fears you might be facing in business and what techniques and support work for you.

Photo credit: Danielle Laporte by Anastasia Photography. Thumbnails below courtesy of subject. Many thanks to everyone listed for photos. Just click for more details.

I know the end of the year is a time for reflection, a time for lists and a time for honours. And in the spirit of all three of those I wanted to reflect on the place of women in internet marketing, list a few of my favourites, and pay tribute to some incredible women I’ve had the pleasure to ‘get to know’ in the virtual world and in real life during the past year.

As with any list the selection is uniquely personal. I’ve given you my reasons for why these women made the grade and I know this could be a list of 100 and we’d still disagree over who to include. But here’s the final cut – my selection – and, as they say, the editor’s decision is final!

But Why Women?

But why is it a list only of women? I don’t write only for women and I don’t offer services only to women. Why separate the sexes now?

Well I noticed over the year that when it comes to lists of who’s who in internet marketing, there always seems to be more men than women. I was surprised. I mix with a lot of women, great women. Was that just my world? Surely the internet should be the ideal place for women to succeed – the flexibility of time and space, the communication, the engagement all seem to play to our natural abilities. Maybe it’s just about numbers? Are there more men out there? There are certainly more men in business but women seem to be catching up and are now starting businesses at a faster rate than men. How is it that men seem to be ‘better’ at this stuff? Or, rather, better known?

Rather than analyse the social dynamics here, I’m just going to redress the balance by showcasing my selection and giving you some festive sparkle and shine from the world of women in internet marketing. So, without further ado, here they are…

Personality Power!

Danielle Laporte. Is Danielle a business adviser, is she a writer, is she an artist? Well she’s a mixture of all of those. On her site she describes herself first and foremost as a writer and her updates arrive like a small ray of light coming into my inbox. She brightens the days that are just routine and reminds me we don’t need to follow any pattern or any path other than our own. Inspiring.

Marie Forleo. I can’t think of anyone who infuses the internet marketing world with more positive energy and personality than Marie. Having straddled a number of careers from dance to relationship guru to life and business coaching, Marie has an incredible spirit and sense of fun that draws you into her world and makes you feel as if you have known her forever. A brilliant communicator Marie combines the down-to-earth practical with spiritual and emotional wisdom.

 Creative Copywriting

Sonia Simone. When I asked my twitter followers for recommendations Sonia’s was the name that came up most often. While she may not be as well known in her own right as others on the list – yes she has her own business at Remarkable Communication – we know her best for her work and writing at Copyblogger. She’s a fabulous writer, fabulous personality and great educator for content-based marketing. Oh and did I mention she has cool hair.

Naomi Dunford. I’ve put Naomi in the writing category because of her pithy style, her wit and her humour. Her business is IttyBiz and yes she sells stuff on the internet but, like Sonia, what I really want to honour her for is her writing. If you don’t yet know Naomi then be warned that the occasional profanity issues forth from her keyboard. For me this is all part of her personality, but forewarned is forearmed if this isn’t your personal taste.

Creating A Phenomenon

Gretchen Rubin. I’m pretty sure that Gretchen should not be on a list of internet marketers but she’s very squarely in my ‘Creating A Phenomenon’ category. If you don’t know her then she’s a lawyer turned writer turned blogger turned leader of the now four year old Happiness Project. And maybe there’s also something about the nature of the project that draws me to her – who can turn away from the idea of being happier? Sign up for the updates, the videos or participate in the project; she’ll definitely cheer up your world!

Pamela Slim. Pam created the hugely popular ‘Escape from Cubicle Nation’ blog and then book. I think the expression means more in the US than it does in the UK where our workers are not so much in cubicles as on hamster wheels. But Pam catches the imagination and inspires a certain spirit of entrepreneurial freedom with this phrase; painting a picture of worker ants breaking free from their corporate chains. A genuinely lovely person and almost unintentional phenomenon creator.

Hold On To Your Credit Cards…!

Lisa Sasevich. The growth of Lisa’s business over the last year or two has been nothing short of incredible. The core of Lisa’s message is about sales – and how to sell without being salesy. Bringing a different style and probably attracting a different audience than some of the women above, I want to bring Lisa to your attention as part of bringing sales to the forefront of your business. I’ve said it before but the core of your business is learning how to translate your value into sales and if you aren’t making enough money in your business then 2011 might be the year to turn this around.

Fabienne Fredrickson. I suspect that Fabienne is so well known in the world of internet marketing that she doesn’t need an introduction. But if you don’t know her then what is unique about her is that she seems to speak to her market in a clearer voice than almost anyone on the internet, male or female. She has such absolute laser focus on how to market to her mainly female audience in a voice that they hear loud and clear. Some of you may find her message a little sugar-coated but I don’t agree – I think the lesson from Fabienne to all of us in ‘how’ she gets that message across. Watch and learn.

True Creativity

Kendall Summerhawk. Real creativity seems rare in the internet marketing world. So much of what is available is derivative from one marketer to another and the differentiation often comes with the style of delivery rather than the content. But Kendall is genuinely creative and, I think, the most original thinker in this space by some distance. Like all of the women on this list, she has a particular style that does not and is not intended to appeal to everyone. But I really take my hat off to her for creating material that is new and original. Taking concepts from the mainstream of coaching, NLP and personality profiling and turning it into something beautiful.

Lifestyle And Balance

Alicia Forest. Alicia has built her business while spending time (a lot of time) with her family. And I really take my hat off to her for the discipline that this takes. Too often we fall into comparison-itis, thinking we need to be racing ahead because others are doing it. Alicia has got there at her own pace and in her own style. I met Alicia this year and she is so generous with her information and her teaching that it was a real pleasure to spend time with her. She’s smart and funny and well worth your time getting to know.

So, agree or disagree, I would love to hear whether these women would make your list. And if not, who would make your list? And let’s not forget the guys! Leave a comment below…

In Business There Are Good Reasons For Setting Goals – But They May Not Be The Reasons You Think

Have you heard about the study of Harvard MBA graduates from the 1970’s who set goals? Or maybe it was Yale graduates from 1953? Either way, the story goes that the group was followed up a number of years later to see how successful they’d become. Apparently those who set specific goals were more successful than those who didn’t and the 3% who wrote down clear goals had accumulated more wealth than the remaining 97% put together.

A convincing argument that just the process of setting goals is more likely to make us achieve them. Right?

Well… not exactly

It’s emerged more recently that there is no actual evidence that these studies took place. In fact Yale has gone so far as to expressly deny the study.

So… should we set goals – or shouldn’t we?

Like me, you’ve probably done your share of setting goals for your business. Annually, quarterly, preparing plans, projects, strategies. Team away-days, logical frameworks, strategic plans…. There’s a certain appeal and a definitely a certain satisfaction from this – a bit like getting all our pencils sharpened in preparation for the new school term.

But does it actually make our business do better?

Other that teaching us that you can’t believe everything you read on the internet, the urban myth about these graduates has distorted the value of setting goals. It isn’t as simple as ‘set a goal and you will achieve it’. In fact the opposite can be true. Setting goals can be a distraction. Studies show that just visualising the achievement of a goal may mean that you are less likely to achieve it.

Here’s my take…

Yes goal setting in your business is a great thing to be doing. But maybe not for the reasons you think. Your goals may not lead you directly to success in the way we have been told. And maybe that time spent on setting and mapping our goals isn’t the best way to do it.

So what instead?

Here’s the two ways I think you’ll find goal setting most useful to you in your business:

1.  To Do Less

Hmm, surely the point of setting goals is so that you can do more? Well no. Part of the process of setting goals is to decide which is the one or the few that are most important to you. And then you don’t need to focus on the others.

Think about it, if you did less, then you could do those few things much better. And wouldn’t that lead to better results?

So prioritise away. Do half what you think you need to be doing. Get rid of some goals. Time is our most precious commodity – save it for the things you really want to achieve.

2.  So That Your Team Knows Where They Are Going

By team I mean anyone around you who is involved in your business. This could be an actual team, or your contractors. Or your advisory board. Or just your friends and family.

If everyone around you understands where you are going then they can support you better. They can help you get to where you want to be and they will be right there with you to celebrate when you get there.

Goals are good but I’m not convinced that goals in themselves will get you to where you want to be in your business – certainly not in the way we might think.

So go on, tell me why you set goals in your business and what you get out of the process – leave a comment below or send me a message on twitter @cathypresland

Entrepreneur Personality – What Does Your Type Say About You?

Do you ever have that experience where you’re just not ‘getting’ what someone is saying? Maybe you’ve worked for someone or you have a supplier and you just feel irritated by the way they go about things? Or maybe there are things in your business that you really don’t like doing and that frustrate you no end?

Well more than likely these are people or tasks that are causing you to act outside of your personality preferences.

We all have a personality type that’s set in our genetic coding. Maybe you’ve heard of Myers-Briggs, of DISC or some other kind of assessment. Maybe you’ve even done some of them?

I know they can come over as light-hearted but there is an underlying seriousness that makes this type of assessment really useful. I’ve found over the years that understanding myself and understanding others has really made me much more effective in all areas of life and business.

So I thought I would offer you my special take on the different types of entrepreneur personalities that I’ve seen. To show you what I think are the main drivers for entrepreneurs that I work with and what this means for you and your business. I want you to use this to give yourself feedback on the areas that are working well for you so that you can build on them, develop yourself and really drive your business forward.

And, maybe even more importantly, if we’re aware of our entrepreneur personality then we understand our weaker points (yep, we all have them) or to put it another way, the things that don’t fit as well with our personality (no judgement!), so that we can manage them. So if you are not a detail person, for example, then you need to make sure you have the right systems in place and that you are delegating to someone who is. Otherwise you’ll end up six months down the line with a big pile of disorganised financial paperwork.

So how can you find out your entrepreneur personality and learn more about your strengths? Just go over to my entrepreneur test, answer the eight questions choosing the option that best fits you and then press submit.

I would love to hear from you about what type you are and what you are going to differently by knowing this!

Election? What Election?

I was in the US a couple of weeks ago. On my taxi ride to the airport I asked the driver about all the political posters displayed on at least every third doorstep. “Sure, we have elections coming up” he told me (but I thought you’d just had elections I mused silently?). And he went on to explain his political independence and how he would decide nearer the time which party he was going to vote for. He was valuable to both sides he laughed.

Don’t Watch The News

In the bubble that is internet business, I’ve noticed a trend – a trend advising us to turn off the news. News is depressing, it’s full of negativity and it will drag us down. In the last couple of weeks three highly respected marketers I follow and two I work with have told me this in phone calls and blog posts.

When I first heard this advice I thought, OK I can see the logic in that, no need to expose myself to the violence and devastation in the world. It kinda made sense.

But later that day I was watching the evening news and I thought back to this advice. Did it really make sense?

I live in the UK. Our government is announcing serious budget reductions. Deeper cuts than we have faced since the period following World War I according to some commentators.

The news is full of discussion about which budgets will be slashed: will it be health administration down by 46%, will it be the de-commissioning of aircraft carriers, raising retirement age, removing free bus passes for the elderly, tripling university tuition fees, cutting child benefit, business support budgets, scrapping of non-governmental organisations, cuts to the monster budget of out-of-work welfare and disability. Probably most of the above if we’re being realistic about it!

But whatever the politics, what really struck me, watching the news that day, was whether those who argue so strongly to turn off the news had thought this through?

Do Watch The News!

If I didn’t watch the news how would I know what was going on? And if I didn’t know this then how would I hold the government accountable? And so on.

As a business owner, a mum, a user of the health-care services, I want to be able to listen to news that affects me. And maybe even influence it if I can.

Last week the EU voted on extensions to paid maternity leave. Even if this doesn’t affect you and your business directly, right now, then who do you think is going to pay for our care as we age? At least in Europe with the vestige of a social welfare system where we still rely on future generations of taxpayers!

And I have a teenage son. I want to teach him how to interpret what he reads and sees around him. Who is saying what in the news and how do they say it. What do they really mean? Second hand stories just don’t come close.

Sure, I don’t want him to watch the drivel that some channels and so called ‘news’-papers churn out. I want him to be able to differentiate. And so can we.

Even those marketers who are telling me to turn the news off completely have a choice. Are things really so bad that we need to turn off everything?

And so, recalling the conversation with my American taxi driver, as I read and listen to my mentors telling me to turn off the news coverage, I wonder: If you don’t watch the news how do you know who to vote for?

I’d love to know what you think about this. Should be shut ourselves off from negativity or should we follow what’s going on? Is there a happy medium? Is it entertainment or civic duty? Please leave a comment below!

Your ‘Small Business Strategy’

When people ask me what I do I still pause for a second or two. To me what I do is summed up perfectly by the words ‘business strategy’. But most people – at least most people in business – glaze over at the mention of the word ‘strategy’.

It’s boring. It means analysis. There’s no action. It’s just not creative. Or fun. And entrepreneurs are usually creative, feisty and fun. That’s OK, I understand.

So I have a few different answers that I give depending on who I’m talking to: I work with you to grow your business, help you make increase profits,  work more productively, spend more time doing what you love, helping you find focus, etc, etc. But today I wanted to set out the first step in creating your small business strategy. I want to see if I can convince you that it’s actually pretty easy, fun and maybe even relevant…

If You Think Your Small Business Doesn’t Have A Strategy, Think Again!

My definition for the strategy-shy entrepreneur is this – any small business strategy is just one simple concept: it’s a decision.

That’s it. No big shakes, no detailed analysis, no long documents, no complex spreadsheets unless you really want them.

Decision = Strategy

No Decision = No Strategy

Of course you can have all the analysis and detail you want, and I can help you with this. But at the end of the day if you don’t take a decision the analysis is worthless and you still don’t actually have a strategy. And if you don’t take a decision for your business, then you won’t take action. Without action you don’t get results. Or at least not the results you might hope for.

OK – you may think this is too simple.

Yup, it’s really easy to get a small business strategy in place. It really is. And simple works best if you ever feel yourself stuck in that fog of confusion or in that place where everything just feels far too complicated.

Take a deep breath and tell yourself that you are going to be strategic. Create a picture in your mind of what you want your business to look like and then take one simple decision that can move you forward towards that place. And then move with it. That’s all you need to do. If you don’t take a decision and don’t move forward then you’ll still be stuck. Growing more and more frustrated, not realising your big vision, and probably not making a whole lot of money.

But What If I Take The Wrong Decision?

I know this is the big one we’re all afraid of. What if we take the wrong decision and end up in a worse situation than we already are? Or what if we take the wrong decision and miss out on the big bucks that are just waiting for us around the corner if only we knew what direction we should move in?

But decisions are not usually like that. If we take one track and we don’t like what’s underfoot then we can do things about it.  We can change track.  Or we can change shoes. We can adjust and adapt along the way.

There is no wrong decision because all decisions can be changed. You just need to focus on the next step. The next step might be a big one or a small one depending on where you are in your business. Move at the pace that’s right for you.  And remember, not to take any action is a sure way to a slow death.

The important thing is to maintain momentum, forward motion.

That’s why I’ve kept your first step to a strategy for your small business really simple. Simple is good if you’re stuck, or if you’re strategy shy. As you become more strategic, you’ll get used analysing and making decisions and you can bring more information into your analysis. And you can start to be strategic over a longer time span.

For today, as you are reading this, ask yourself:

“What’s the one decision I can take and act on right now that will move my business forward today?”

Be strategic. Take that decision, take that action and then give yourself a huge pat on the back for doing it.

And now you know how easy it can be, why not get your business on track for increased profits by signing up for my Get Momentum Programme?

So, what’s your strategy for your small business? And do you glaze over at the mention of the word strategy? I’d love to hear your comments.