Why You Don't Need a Business Plan
For a truly micro-business, or being self-employed, a business plan is a recipe for disaster. A formal business plan can be over 100 pages, full of all kinds of strange things like ‘competitive market analysis’ and ‘financial forecasting.’ Ugh. You know who reads business plans? Banks and funders. You know who writes business plans? Businesses […]
How to Use Systems Without Turning into a Heartless Zombie
You can tell as soon as you pick up the phone before the other person has even said anything. That little silence, the clattering in the background, tells you it’s a telemarketer on the other end of the line, and there is nothing they have to say that is worth your precious time. The business […]
How to Hand Off Your Most Hated Tasks
A few years ago I hired a bookkeeper because, frankly, I hated bookkeeping so much that I wasn’t doing it. I hated it, felt overwhelmed and intimidated by it. And our taxes were a mess. So I happily handed off the bookkeeping task to someone who had been referred to me. A YEAR later I […]
How to be Consistently, Creatively Productive
== Flash back two years == As I sit down to write an article, I feel stumped. I’ve got an hour to “get it done,” and meanwhile I’m just staring at the screen… 55 minutes later, with a few sentences written, I have to stop, and I’m off to the next thing- two back-to-back conference […]
How to Tame a Hydra-Headed Business Project
That book you wanted to write, that retreat you wanted to lead, the website you wanted to create? It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Now, weeks or months into it, you’re facing the seven-headed hydra of ancient Greek mythology. Every time you finish a task, two more sprout in its place. […]
The Healing Power of Marketing
I was waiting for the tapioca pudding. In the same way many of us wait for customers. We were having a great conversation with some friends over for dinner, but I have to admit, I was a little distracted, thinking about the tapioca pudding we were going to be having for dessert. If this happens […]
Is Your Answer to "What Do You Do?' Acting Like a Crazed Boy Scout?
In the United States, the Boy Scouts of America have a reputation for helping little old ladies across the street. Isn’t that nice? You would think so, but what if these strapping young men in blue uniforms were grabbing unsuspecting elderly women, and slinging them over their shoulders? Imagine thousands of our honored elders being […]
An Email Signature That Really Holds Water
You know that little dangling thing-a-ma-jig that hangs on the end of your emails? Your email signature? I bet you don’t pay it much attention. But, all the same, you’re kinda counting on it doing its job. You’re counting on the perfect person reading it, clicking the link to your website, and becoming the perfect […]
When Being Pushy Is the Best Thing to Do
A couple of weeks ago I was furiously dumping baking soda into our oven, as a red hot spark travelled from the middle of the heating element towards the back wall. Luckily, between the baking soda, and just cooling down time after turning the oven off, it all stopped before disaster struck. Once my wife […]
When Giving a FREE Sample Is Worse than Political Anarchy
It seems like an obvious maneuver: give something away for free to draw more customers in. I see my favorite grocery store do it, and it works incredibly well- the store is mobbed, especially on Saturdays, when the samples are outrageous. But, I’ve seen vendors in the store giving away free samples, but gain negligible […]