Caught Short - Again!

It's happened again. My schedule of visits is screwed up.

Monday was a public holiday in this province - not nationwide - so it didn't show up in my diary/planner. I had a busy week of visits last week, and so reckoned on using Monday morning to set up visits for Tuesday through Friday, with most offices closed, I could do no calls on Monday.

Tuesday morning everyone will be busy catching up on voice-mails and emails, and it is a short week, so chances of getting a meeting are lowered.

The time to set up meetings for this week was last week, or even the week before.

Setting up meetings on the Monday of the week is doomed.

I have to make a longer lead time.

I can use Tuesday through Friday to set up meetings for the next week, or the week after that.

How to Measure the Value of a Seminar

This item comes courtesy of a half-day seminar I attended this morning. To give you an idea of the full impact, I'll be prefacing all 13 items (!) based on today's notes with "VNT3" which is short for "Volume, notes, times, three", which is itself the topic of this item!

I'll explain.

You've been to a ½-day seminar. Registration 8:30 to 9:00; grab a coffee, a pastry, then try to shake hands with someone. Chat for ten minutes, swap cards, then sit down. Break at 10:30, more coffee, chat, swap, sit. At the end if you're lucky, chat, swap, got home.

Maybe you make notes. I do:



Relax, you don't need to read them, just to see that I have filled a page in my own curious shorthand and even more curious handwriting style.

So what?

The notes on the left are based, largely, on what was said during the presentation; notes on the right are ideas that popped into my head while the speaker carried on.

Both sides, left and right, are triggered by events that took place during those 3 hours in the ballroom. Add in one hour's travel each way, and we're looking at a five-hour investment of my time (" Management Measures ").

My notes, both columns, probably represent about 15 hours worth of stuff for me to wade through - not that I'll do it all -

"make a UW.DLL" is probably ten hours work, and I should just add it to a WhatFAQ list for an application.

"1/10 1 2 3 4 5 of 100" is a topic for a future blog item as are "can't predict the future?" and "be the last one to leave" and quite a few other notes.

"Rick: house sales" suggests that I put forward a demo Excel workbook showing Rick how we can predict the selling price of a house based on established prices of other houses.

And so on.

My point: You can measure the value of a seminar by comparing the cost (5 hours) to the number of hours of inspiration you derive from it, and that inspiration won't necessarily be related directly to the delivered material.

The "1 2 3 4 5"? I was counting up the number of Good Contacts I'd made at the seminar. Coffees and/or lunch down the road.

Marketing 101, 102, 103 and 104

From Michel Neray's " Essential message "

"No one will ever buy from you if they have never heard of you"

"That’s why the most successful among us are constantly marketing — writing articles, giving speeches, attending networking events, sending newsletters… being ‘out there’.".

Here's your homework exercise, each week for the next three months:

Once a week, no exceptions, do one of the following:

• Write an article
• Give a speech
• Attend a networking event
• Send a newsletter

Don't tell me you can't do that, because if you truly think that you can't do one of those things each week, then clearly you're not serious about marketing.

Write an article

This is perhaps the easiest thing to do. Start a blog (go to www.blogspot.com It’s free) and pick the best thing that happened to you this week, then write 200 words about it. Post it. You can come back and edit it later, for ever.

Give a speech

This is perhaps the easiest thing to do, but is perhaps the longest-lead-time. Before you can give a speech, you need to get invited to give a speech at a networking event, and that can't happen until you are known at networking events, so obviously ...

Attend a networking event

This is the easiest to implement, since all you have to do is show up, pay your $10 (sometimes), and start chatting with people (you aren't there to sell your product or service, you're there to get known to your peers).

Don't know where to go? No excuses. Check out AIC then email me to be invited as my guest. Honest!

Send a newsletter

This is the easiest thing to do once you've started Blogging. Your monthly email newsletter can be as simple as the best three or four items from your monthly blog, since you're Blogging on a daily basis by now. Of course, you will NEVER send unsolicited mail. Get caught once and you're on the blacklist forever (and no way of knowing it, or correcting it by email!). Ask if you can email two issues. And don't be offended by rejection. Some people just aren't into reading emailed newsletters.

It's What Friends Are for ...

Late yesterday, the phone rings. My colleague sounds awful, but who is going to tell her? Voice all husky and scratchy, and the words sluggish. I know she's not drunk. She is stretched to breaking-point with a problem, and it is the new laptop, the operating system, the mail program, the getting-it-started, the whole thing.

And now of course she is behind in her business - the business of phoning contacts, setting up meetings, emailing details.

"Stressed" doesn't describe it. I can FEEL it over the phone lines.

This morning it dawned on me, the nature of the real problem.

She started as a solo entrepreneur six months ago, after leaving an established position in a large airline company.

Six months ...

... It seems is too short a time to learn a basic truth for all solo workers - as soon as you hit an obstacle - phone someone.

Don't leave it for 10 days.

Doesn't matter who you call - they don't even have to have a clue about the problem, let alone the possible solution - just call someone and let them know that today, things are tough.

What?

You think that I don't have days like that?

I call my canoeing buddy Fred, and HE doesn't have a clue about VBA. Or I call Jim, and he has even less of a clue. Or David. Or Julia. Or Cheryl.

Not a long call; just long enough to make contact with another solo who, like me, has bad days.

Hanging on to it for 10 days doesn't do you any good, and FWIW it soaks up lots of my time when you DO call after 10 days of accumulated worry.

It's a tough lesson to learn when we are alone.

There is no IT department to resolve computer problems, no manager to suggest new avenues of approach, no co-worker who might have experienced a similar situation.

Reach out and network with a buddy.

SEO on the Cheap

A call last night from a colleague, looking at a job to help boost rankings on a web site. Maybe bring in a Copywriter? Maybe DIY? What do I think?

I think that no one truly knows what makes search engines tick. I know that 37 people will come up with 37 different ideas.

I suspect that Google ignores keyword tags

I believe that Google runs for the benefit of searchers, and that Google doesn't have it in for me, the web page writer; is neither for me not against me. Just couldn't care less.

Only if my pages are perceived as having use to the readers will I rank high.

Therefore "Real Estate Toronto" isn't likely to do much for me; nor is "Excel Training Toronto".

My best bet is to ask Google what keywords are being used, and to build web pages that employ the serach terms people use.

You will notice in the previous paragraph a slip of my fingers while typing. I make that mistake five times a day - I'm not kidding. Some people can't spell milenium. Anyone who searches for a bokkeeper needs help, and that help could come from you - if you include "bokkeeper" in your web page.

So, What to Do?

"Management Measures", and if you aren't measuring, then you aren't managing.

Establish a dollar figure budget with the client: $250 for you up front, up to $300 if a copywriter is brought in. (If your client doesn't have the cash to play the game, walk away from the game, politely).

Work with the client and write the web page; do the best you, as readers (not writers) think you can. Upload the web page and monitor it with Google Search.

When it appears (you know that Google has indexed it!), take the page and Google Search results to a Copywriter and ask them if, given the (measured) facts they think they can help you.

Negotiate a base fee for work, say $200 for a new page, and sweeten the pot with an additional $20 for every rung higher than YOU have reached. Everyone should be happy with a fee/commission on results system. (Dollar amounts may vary; don't stick to my $200/$20).

Since neither of you know what really works, it is a gamble.

But since you have put measurements in place, it's a Controlled Gamble.

You are not in danger of pouring money down the tube. You will stick within your budget.

Mailing Forms

I mean those on web pages where, to contact the web site owner, you first click on a "Contact" button, and then have to navigate a series of text boxes providing your name, email address and telephone number as well as typing in the text.

It's not typing in the text that bothers me - that's the creative act - it's the account details.

If the "contact" button would just send me straight into my mail client (Mozilla Thunderbird since you ask), my personal details are right there in my signature, at the foot of every email I send. My street address too!

Computers are good at doing boring and repetitive things; making me do something that my computer already does automatically goes counter to my calling.

On top of that, I just resent an extra hurdle/barrier between my question and your answer.

Not to mention the perceived attitude of "We'll answer your questions if you are prepared to do some leg work up front".

There are at least twenty other web-based services or products just like yours.

Or mine.

Surprise Value

From "Unweaving The Rainbow" (Richard Dawkins ):

"Information, in the technical sense, is surprise value, measured as the inverse of expected probability.".

To build an image of me as a person-worth-listening-to I must focus on providing listeners (and readers) with something-they-didn't-know.

• Every email should have Real News Value.
• Every presentation should be chock-a-block with novelty.

I suppose that my style of delivery - I move about a lot, and come up with entertaining analogies - helps differentiate me from your average clutch-the-podium speaker.

I hope that my daily blogs do something to make a change in the way you approach business.

If they don't, then you are probably not reading this anyway ....

In Praise of Unsafe Research

From "Nature's Numbers" (by Ian Stewart):

... goal-oriented research can only deliver so much. You have to be able to see the goal in order to aim at it. But anything you can see, your competitors can see too. The pursuance of safe research will impoverish us all.

In marketing I think this is called a "niche" - find an area undeveloped by others, and exploit it.

I look back on various applications I've written, and without a doubt, the most exciting ones have arisen from an original thought to "play" with computing technology.

I can make money when someone approaches me with a problem.

But I make the most money when I can respond with "I have a unique and cost-effective solution to that problem", and reach to take some of my inventory, stockpiled through R&D, off the shelf.

How about you?

No wait! There's more!

There is nothing wrong with goal-oriented research as a way of achieving specific feasible goals. But the dreamers and mavericks must be allowed some free rein too.

I'm proud to sign myself "Maverick", of Toronto.

It's "No" for Sure, Unless You Ask

My friend and colleague Cathy Nesbitt of Cathy's Crawly Composters won the coveted Green Business Award from the Greater Innisfil Chamber Of Commerce.

Again.

To her the honor, glory and kudos.

To me the pleasure of watching her walk to the podium and accept.

Also a jolly good meal in good company at the dinner.

Cathy is a media phenomenon, and I watched her in action, after the awards, with a host of a TV breakfast show.

Within minutes she had parlayed a chance encounter into another series of appearances on TV.

If you don't know Cathy, it all looks so smooth, subtle, natural.

But I know Cathy as a self-assured, downright and forward individual, and she has been that way since our first contact (by telephone) eight or more years ago.(*)

I love gleaning bits of stuff from her fertile brain.

The title of this post is yet-another quote, tossed so glibly, but demonstrated oh so well by her ability to boost her business year after year.

"It's "No" for Sure, Unless You Ask ".

So true.

Ask.

The worst they can do is turn you down.

P.S. Visit Cathy's web site and ask her about the award!

(*) I had sent an email to eight worm suppliers, and Cathy was the only one to respond, and she responded within 60 minutes with a telephone call.

Entrepreneurs, Engineers, Scientists and Mathematicians

From "Nature's Numbers" (by Ian Stewart):

The entrepreneur's instinct is to exploit the natural world. The engineer's is to change it. The scientist's is to try to understand it - to work out what's really going on. The mathematician's instinct is to structure that process of understanding by seeking generalities that cut across obvious sub-divisions.

What/which am I?

Today I consider myself an entrepreneur, but for years my slogan has been "Changing the Way People Think". My university subjects were mainly mathematics and my degree is a Bachelor of Science.

I use the scientific method in my daily business and personal life.

Who doesn't use mathematics? (Although I use perhaps more than most people, a heritage of Mr. Brian Feld, who changed my life).

I know that I change the way people think - you're reading this, aren't you!

What are you?

Time Out!

As a consultant you manage projects.

You manage the project that is built around your promise to deliver a service to your client.

You are happily responsible for scheduling time and resources to achieve the stated goal in the stated time.

You know who to work extra hard to achieve the goal to keep your client happy.

How Come You Don't Take the Weekend Off?

Could it be that you are incapable of managing two days of your own life?

• How would your clients perceive your inability to manage your own life?
• How would they feel about your ability to manage their business's life?

Emergencies - why they don't exist

I am asked from time to time why I don't carry a cell-phone.

The answer is simple: My clients don't have emergencies.

I don't plan for them to have emergencies; I plan for them NOT to have emergencies.

I plan for them to be confident in coping with minor hiccups, and I respond to phone calls and emails as soon as I return to my office.

Of course, not having call-display helps; when the phone rings, I pick up the phone, so most would-be-emergencies are nipped in the bud.

Take a good look at your clients.

Have you made them strong and self-sufficient, or are you one of those parents who is reluctant to let "Little Johnny" leave home until he is over 40 years old?

Good parentage builds children who are economically viable by age 20.

Good service providers build clients who are self-supporting in all manner of day-to-day events.

Marketing to the Children

For once, not a diatribe against TV or McDonalds.

I spoke today with someone setting up a hand-holding service for seniors. Literally, sit with you in the doctor's office, tenaciously ask for clarification, comprehension of medication and, as needed, literally hold your hand as a genuine comfort in times of stress.

(I could use that service once a week!)

Early efforts to establish a market by contacting health-care centers have failed ("Oh, we already provide that" - but they don't really).

It seemed to me that such a personal service can grow only by word of mouth.

That means establishing contact with ???

Not with the seniors; they perhaps feel quite capable, or perhaps don't like to shed their independence. In some cases perhaps they are just too senile to make a decision.

I figured that it was the 60-year old children of the senior who would make the decision. But how to get the word out to them?

That brought us to churches, getting one's name mentioned by the local minister.

And that brought us to establishing a program of 60-minute seminars, hosted by a church geographically central to a group of churches; each church inviting members to attend.

Twenty minutes at the podium, 40 minutes taking questions.

Of course, one needs a professional business card, a brochure, a web page and a serious email address , but then, that will be pre-established.

Estimates vary but:

	area	pop	pop/sq km
Tor	630	2,480,000	3,937
GTA	7,125	7,000,000	982

If we take the area of Toronto as 630 square kilometers, and imagine a set of squares 2 kilometers on a side, a church in the center of each square would have a catchment area of about 1.5 Km radius.

There must be 630/4= about 150 loci in Toronto.

150 seminars to present, each seminar with a catchment of 4*4,000=16,000 people, of whom perhaps ten percent are in the market for hand-holding services.

And so we are Off To The Races ....

What's The Point?

Sure, it's a great solution to a marketing problem, but more than that:

It's a great example of what happens when one entrepreneur chats with another entrepreneur.

Two heads are better than one.

Who Owns Your Calendar?

I heard this today: "The people I want to contact are those who own their calendar".

I had to think about it for a few seconds.

It is true.

It is true of Presidents, CEOs, CFOs and CIOs.

It is true of many "VPs of ...".

It is sometimes, but rarely, true of mid-level managers.

It is never true of end-users.

The people I want to contact are sometimes known as "decision-makers", sometimes "cheque-signers", but they always are entrusted with management of their own time.

That means that they are empowered to spend 15 minutes with me, if they decide it is worthwhile.

Or to let me know they choose not to spend time with me.

Who Else?

It is true of all solo entrepreneurs

Bartered Bread

I figure that the tax department frowns on bartering where the unit of exchange is not the national currency ("dough"), and the transaction is not documented.

But what's a consultant to do when a fellow consultant offers to barter?

"Would we be able to barter this work ...?"; whatever their product or service, I am to work on their computer, and they will supply me with proof-reading, copy-writing, or a few graphic designs.

Surplus time

There's no doubt that at times this is tempting; I'm short of ready cash, too, but have lots of spare time.

Bartering in the old familiar sense was the exchange of surplus commodity, or at least, exchange of differently-valued commodities.

For solo entrepreneurs, that commodity is most likely to be time. I have an excess of time, as do you, and we will exchange so-many-hours of your time (and implicitly your expertise that comes with it), for so-many-hours of my time (and implicitly my expertise that comes with it).

Services, not Products

Note that bartering between us is most often going to be services.

Any tangible product that you provide - tea, candles, business cards - is provided by a cash outlay.

If you supply me with exotic tea at your cost, you had to spend the $100 cash anyway, why not use it to pay me?

If you supply me with five $20 coupons redeemable at Bruno's Grocery Stores, Why spend the cash at Bruno's when you could have paid me directly.

Even if you design the cards for free, you have to pay the $100 cash to get them printed.

Timely

Note too that bartering is only going to work - really work - if at the moment we shake hands on the deal you have a service I really want, can use, and can profit by AT THAT TIME. Anything else is a deferred payment plan.

Suppose you are a financial consultant, or a tax-planner, or a real-estate agent. I have no plans to buy a house, now or ever. That may change, but really, what's the point of holding a little IOU that offers $$$ off my next house purchase? I don't need a tax planner; I have a good accountant who is overkill for my little operation.

Barter might work if you provide a service (Web Site Makeover and Search Engine Optimization) that I could really use right now (My web sites are in disarray and I can't set aside the time).

Cash Value

If the service has a direct cash value, then we aren't really bartering, we are negotiating a payment plan.

If you offer to supply me with $100 worth of ground beef, I have to store the meat in my freezer and draw on it over a long period.

That doesn't help me pay the rent, phone bill, or bus fare, all of which require currency of the realm.

If your business centers on the supply of exotic tea, your offer to supply me with $100 of exotic tea at cost is equivalent to the $100 you spent to obtain the tea, so why not just pay me the $100 instead? And there's not much point in your paying off the $100 by taking me to the supermarket and helping me load up with $100 of groceries - why not just pay me the $100 in cash instead?

Negotiation

Otherwise it seems to me I'm better off issuing an invoice and waiting to be paid.

It being understood that this job I will do, but no other until that first invoice is paid. That is, I'm not in business as a bank.

So When Will Bartering Work?

I predict that your past history and future opportunities will demonstrate that bartering between solo entrepreneurs will work only when:

1) Each party has a surplus of time (commodity) and expertise they can make available at no dollar cost to themselves.

2) Each party has a service (not a product) of value to the other.

3) The service satisfies an immediate need for the other party.

4) The service or product is not a direct translation of cash value ("One hundred dollars worth of groceries").

5) The barter is not a thinly-disguised negotiation at deferred payment. ("I'll build your web site when you are ready").

If we assume that all solo entrepreneurs are short of cash, and assign a likelihood of 10% to each of the conditions above, then you have a 0.001% chance of negotiating a successful barter; that's one in a-hundred-thousand exchanges.

Hardly seems worth it, does it?

Sunday, February 07, 2010
Times Online: "For where money-based exchange is restricted, people must produce a wider range of goods, either for their own consumption or to increase the chance of having something they can swap for something they want. This is unfortunate, because the more things you do, the worse you will be at them."

Speaking of Butterflies ...

I delivered a presentation this morning "Proposals", no big deal. Ninety minutes (less introductions) to chat and discuss how I go about writing proposals that make money.

My first presentation for Enterprise Toronto and, of course, I want it to be a big success so that they'll call me back (It was, and I hope they will).

Traveling to the auditorium I had a bad case of nerves, as I usually do whenever I am about to deliver training or speak at an event.

Why is this?

I stood in front of a computer programming class for the first time in July 1969; I've delivered training courses in the thousands; I've spoken at various groups in the hundreds, at least.

I'm good at what I do, and usually get rave reviews.

Why Nerves?

A 63-year old kindergarten teacher once told me that she too gets nerves on the first day of school. Why? Her audience, in many cases, can't tie their own shoelaces. How can she be worried about their feedback?

She explained to me that on the first day of school, she is aware that she is the first teacher these children will have, and their education, and hence their entire life, can be colored by her relationship with them, more so than with any other teacher.

And she wants to do her best; she wants to be perfect in molding these little lives.

Perhaps that's it. I want to help the people who take the time to come listen to me.

In that case, nerves is GOOD!

Don't Let Fear of Speaking Dissuade You from Speaking.

Global Warming

11,000 years ago, Toronto was covered in a 2-mile thick sheet of ice. There's no doubt about it - the planet has warmed up since then.

But statements such as "The hottest summer I've ever known" are meaningless, since in every one's life, one summer is going to be the hottest, and the longer you live, the more likely it is that this summer will be IT!

So it is with items for your monthly email newsletter (or "brag" at your local networking meeting, or ....).

In each week, by definition, there has to be a single event that qualifies as "the best this week"; there has to be a "worst mistake this week"; there has to be a "most glaring example this week", and a "best computing tip this week". Or month.

There are no excuses for failing to come up with a "best" or most-significant in any category you choose to name, for any period you care to pick, short of a few minutes.

Come now: What's the best compliment you've received in the past 30 days? And what did it tell you about yourself?

The Easy Touch-Me-Again

We are told to "touch" our contacts once a month (or once per two months, whatever), and we are warned against a too-frequent touching ("spam").

But what of the exciting opportunity to meet with the internet marketing guru early next month? We've had the phone chat a week ago, and he says he is impressed with our "follow-up" technique".

What's a good excuse to "stay in touch" and remind him of the upcoming meeting?

Easy:

A short email asking him to identify the approximate location where we are to meet "So that I can schedule my other appointments that day around the location".

I get to remind him that I am here, that we are to meet the first week of February, and that I am persistent in my follow-up!

What is Your Biggest Asset?

You may never know!

At best it may take you a long time to find out.

For many years now I have thought of myself as a "computer programmer", although over the past ten years I've struggled to distance myself from labels such as "macros", 'VBA" and so on.

For about 10 years of my life I was a full-time "trainer" - I taught "Word" and "Excel" and myriad desktop applications.

I have had three instances where businesses asked me to sell their product or service, but failed in misery, because I didn't think I was a "salesman" - Dark suit, white shirt, black tie, bushed-aluminium briefcase, foot wedged in the door".

Bess King told me in 1993 that I was a consummate salesman, because every time I stood in front of a class I was selling the idea to use computers in a better way. I was flattered but didn't really hear what she said. 15 years down the tubes.

Last week an internet marketing guru asked to meet with me, "Id like to explore the possibilities of you coming on board".

I should take a whole day off and contemplate who I am.

Things to consider:

• I am very quick-witted; I can't be beat when it comes to fast thinking.
• My accent is polyglot - prep-school English, goldfields Australian, Canadian, a bit of Tennessee and overtones of 2 ½ years in Paris. I am told that my accent is intriguing on the telephone.
• I am tenacious. Bulldogs run away in fear.
• I have a code of ethics and a sense of integrity that borders on the pathological. I have been known to return to a diner after a night worrying that I didn't leave a big enough tip the day before.
• My sense of humor verges on the insane. I can always get a laugh out of any situation, and feel accepted only when the present company wraps its arms around my shoulder and shares at joke at my expense.

There's More, But Here is the Message:

People I know think of me in the terms I've listed above.

People I know, every one of them, have no idea of the programs I've written, how they work, what they can do, the sum of my encyclopedic knowledge (of computers, genetics and the origins of The Third Balkan War).

What do you suppose a new client might buy?

Don't Delete - TRASH!

I phoned a colleague today, "What's up?". He was searching for an email address.

"Don't you have it in your mail program?"

No; he deletes emails as he is done with them.

Take a close look at your hard drive.

Your mailbox is one of the smallest large files on your hard drive, and your hard drive is less than 25% full anyway.

Consider, within your email client (Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora, Outlook etc.) creating a folder each month. Name it with the year and month, thus "Trash_201001" for January this year, "Trash_200912" for December last year, and drag your completed emails into the corresponding trash folder.

You can ask your email client program to search the trash folder(s) by to, from, subject, text body, date and so on in unlimited combinations and reduce your head-scratching time from hours to seconds.

Computers are designed to perform boring and menial tasks, freeing our brains up for the creative stuff.