Stop the bleeding!

When shit hits the fan, then you need to prioritize what to do first. Here is what I do:

1. Stop the bleeding
   These are short term fixes to stop the effect of issues that may devour the business of its cash. 
2. Fix the problem
   This is a long term process that identifies the source of the problems and fixes them and then makes required changes in process and procedure to ensure that the problems do not reoccur.

Full article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/stop-bleeding-fixing-revenue-issues-robert-sababady?trk=pulse_spock-articles

Semantics or just a missunderstanding

The GREAT Greek Scholars gave us the study of meaning that is used for understanding human expression through language - they called it Linguistic semantics (σημαντικός).

The Word DIGITAL  is understood in a very diversified way. The two main meanings today are:

• the technical process of digitization
• the manner in which brands communicate - engagement through social media and mobile applications

The lack of distinction between the two is magnified by marketing jargon that indulges in keeping inline with trends. Marketers use the ambiguity of the way we understand the meaning of words to generate an emotion.

So what is the difference?
Geeks and people who work heavily with google apps and IT systems to generate  traffic usually tend to understand digital as IT and IT tools.
Customer Service and marketing communication staff perceive digital as the engagement that is generated from technology. The want the benefits of being able to push information to Csutomers/Potential Customers and to respond instantly to incoming requests.

The same issue with lingual semantics come with the expression SEO. Originally coming from the acronym for "Search Engine Optimization" was a technical term, but now in the world of digital communications, marketing communications use the acronym SEO as a word meaning PR in the digital world.

We as people have done this for years. We have branded words to our own requirement. Language has its dynamics and examples such as Hoover the manufacturer of vacuum cleaners is synonymous with the verb "to hoover" as in to use a vacuum cleaner to clean something.

... and life goes on!

Golden rules of running a business from home

Tony Paull is a person a met on google + in the  Community.
Tony is a Consultant who works with small and Medium size businesses. He recently shared a list of what he calls tips on how to run a business from home. This is a GREAT checklist for both those who are starting a home based business as well as for those that all ready run one.

I strongly recommend reading this  post here: Tony Paull's blog.

The article has the following key points in the checklist. As a small or home business owner there are enough “big issue” problems to deal with on a day-to-day basis, so to help get some of the more mundane, but still important headaches out of the way, here are some of the ideas that were shared. 

1. Choose your office area carefully. Make sure your workspace is comfortable and something you look forward to spending time in. The more isolated from the rest of the home the better. This also helps to keep the “young ‘uns” out. It is important that the rest of the family understand that this is a work area and not a storage room for family accounts, books, toys or old CD players.
2. Separate home from business. This applies to expenditures, furniture, support equipment (computer, printer, fax, etc.) and of course life style. Install a separate landline for business use only. Use an answering machine with a professional message or alternatively outsource your messaging system to a call centre. 
3. Above all else this is your home. Remember that although the home is also your office, it is “our home” to the rest of the family. As you don’t want intrusions into your business area, don’t take your business into the family area. 
4. For the single home business owner. Keep the noise celebrations with your friends down to a conservative “roar”. Remember your neighbors! 
5. Don’t be afraid to work elsewhere. Sometimes it relieves the tension or removes mental blocks to take your work elsewhere – the garden, next to the pool or at a coffee shop, or even the local library. Use what works for you! 
6. Having a home based business is not a crime or a sign of failure. There are millions of folks all over the world running very successful businesses from their homes. Don’t be embarrassed by the fact that you work from home. In fact, flaunt it! 
7. Be professional. One of the potential drawbacks of a home business is the lack of a suitable meeting venue. If you are able to convert an unused room or area into a quiet and professional looking meeting room than do it. If not, look for venues elsewhere – your Chamber of Commerce offices, a hotel with a meeting room or conference facility, are examples. 
8. Create a working administration system. If you are not sure how best to set up your admin support and backup structures, get help. You really do not need to fall foul of the taxman because you can’t find that shoe box that contains your receipts. 
9. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Be clear on what you can do (or what the other members of the family can do) and what is outside of your experience or expertise, and accept that you will need help from external sources from time to time. Shop around before committing to third party providers. 
10. Ensure you insure. There are a lot of insurance companies that offer special deals for home based businesses. You need to adequately cover your equipment but you also need to look into cover for yourself, i.e. life cover and Key man insurance. This is critically important if you are the primary breadwinner. Also keep in mind that if you have employees working from your home or you have suppliers or customers on the premises, you may need to cover them through policies such as Third Party insurance. 
11. Know the local law. It also helps to get to know your “local Bobby”, especially if you have expensive equipment in the house or customers and suppliers parking outside. Be careful that your home business is not encroaching on municipal by laws but even if not, be considerate towards your neighbors. All the grinding, cutting and welding you will do manufacturing steel gates in your garage is really going to annoy them and is bad neighborly behavior. 
12. Get the numbers right. If accounting is not your thing than employ a professional from the start. Many a smart idea has gone south due to bad financial management. 
13. Work on your public profile. The only way people or other small businesses are going to buy from you or use your services is if they know about you. Home businesses tend to focus on the market in their immediate vicinity so look to engage with the local business fraternity such as the Chamber of Commerce, Industry Associations and local forums. Be visible in your community gatherings, for example, sponsor local school sporting events which has the added benefit in that they will probably allow you to advertise at the events. 
14. Set clear rules for employees. Whether you employ full time or part time staff be sure to explain the rules of your home to them. Certain rooms are out of bounds, clean up after themselves, meals will only be had in the kitchen and don’t park on the neighbors lawn or block their driveway entrances. No drinking of alcohol at work, unless of course they buy it (just kidding), but jokes aside, it is a practice that should be avoided even when celebrating your million dollar contract. The associated noise or inebriated employees driving in a suburban area with the likelihood of children on the streets is not a good idea and won’t impress your neighbors.

What do I want to achieve today?

Two steps to improve your day:

1. Every morning start the day by writing down just 3 things you would like to achieve by the end of the day.
2. It is as simple as that! Then at the end of the day assess what you achieved.

I read the famous mirror quote by Steve Jobs quite often i.e.:

"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

and it is GREAT - however it works more like a KPI - an index to tell you if you are on the right road that will get you to your final destination.

On a daily basis however I find that writing down three things that I need to achieve by the end of the day give me the personal feeling that I have used the day well and that I am ready to move forward.

Here are some examples on how simple these three things can be:

1. Make 5 phone calls to people who should try my products
2. Write the first version of a document that I need to present next week
3. Call up a friend and arrange to meet for coffee
4. Close the sale to a specific Customer to stage two - agree on a date for the presentation
5. Meet with the Sales staff and ask for ideas on how to utilize the vacation season this year

Some of them are simple tasks. Others require more preparation work.

I always like to put one item on the list, that I know I will do (say 95% sure). This helps keep my confidence level up in case I do not achieve the other two goals.


At the end of the working day, take your piece of paper and assess your achievements. The answers have to be simple YES or NO. no shades of grey. If you have to return to any item the following day to "finish it", you have to answer NO.

Traps
There are some traps that you need to be aware of:

1. Leaving assessment late at night. If I do this, I find, that I am too tiered to assess properly and the exercise is wasted for that day. Assess at a specific time and enter a reminder into your calendar. e.g. 16:30.
2. Non achievable tasks. This is when there are too many dependencies to be fulfilled in order to answer YES at the end of the day. IF you have too many  dependancies, then this is not a task for the day, but something that requires longer term planning. break it down into three or four items and put them down on your next lists
3. Three things list becomes my medium term objective - sometimes I get focused so much on these short term items, that I loose perspective - In order to keep the perspective, you will need to ask yourself a modified Steve Jobs type question  like "Will these items help me get to where I am going". If not, then get yourself a cup of coffee and starting thinking about what your three things for today should be

Enjoy!

Using short URLs in a post - brilliant for google+ and other socialmedia posts

I love Google's URL shortner. Why - because it is from google.

A URL shortner basically takes a looooooong URL and gives you a short URL for you to use in your blog, website or social media. This is very uselfull if you have a limited amount of characters for your post, or when the original URL is crazily long. Helps your post look professional too.

Just about all URL shortners work in the same way, but even though I cannot prove it, I have this inherent gut feeling that google does a better job with URLS that are its bread and butter for search indexing and Ad revenue.

A lot of people use Bitly. A fuller list can be found on the WiKipedia article on URL shortening.

GogtshtrURLS ;)

#TAG this and #TAG that - what to DO and what NOT to do

Image by Quin Dombrowski on from  Hootsuite  that is telling us to get SERIOUS about Social Media!

This EXCELLENT article on the do's and dont's of how to use hastags, gives practical information on understanding hastags and using them to you benefit.

Take some time off and read through it if you want to do hashtagging right!

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

This quote from Theodore Roosevelt is so GREAT, just making you focus on what you can do at any given moment.

Charles Coy, who runs the Cornerstone blog wrote a fantastic post putting down the TOP three mantras that make you want to have a good day.

 Cornerstone is leading SaaS software development company with a focus on People related aspects of doing business. i.e. from Talent management in HR all the way to sales management via the CRM.

Have a look at their solutions for Small Businesses. They bring solutions from the Enterprise world and make them accessible to small businesses.

Use your PC to send text messages via your mobile phone

 

http://mightytext.net/

I was sceptical about this solution when I first saw it. But when I tried it - WHOW!!!!!

It is an extension of your smartphone on your PC - phone book, messages (SMS) call history etc...

For those who prefer to type in things on a keyboard or tidy up their smartphone on a big screen, using a mouse and keyboard - this is GREAT!

The product comes from a a Silicon Valley based group of enthusiasts. have a look at the details here

Crowdcast - a brilliant way to run a webinar for free

An easy way to run a webinar for free - using all the google+ tools and managing them in one session.

The beauty about Crowdcast is that it allows you to:

1. communicate with a large group in a manageable way
2. easily respond to questions that you have already replied in an easy manner

Try it and use it for free!

click on the link to go to the Crowdcast web site: https://www.crowdcast.io/home

DO CUSTOMERS USE live chat?

I personally use live chat whenever I can!

I respect your time!

Tim Ferriss wrote this magnicifent short article on how to email busy people. He gives a brilliant example of how to write a good email with template phrases. Have a look here:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-tips-emailing-busy-people-tim-ferriss

It takes less then 2 minutes to read, but will open your mind to answers to questions you ask yourself constantly - Why did he not reply/respond to my email. Did he even read it?

I love checklists

(picture from Provide Support blog) 

Checklists are my favorite way of ensuring that i have "EVERYTHING" done.

I recently came across another type of checklist - the type that allows you to check if you are doing things RIGHT. This one was on Customer Service (what could be more important?). It has a somewhat attractive title, but addresses the main ways of communicating with Customers who contact you with and have reached or a near to reach "boiling point" at the beginning of a conversation with a Customer Service Rep.

11 Customer defusing phrases is written by Emily Hunter on a Customer Service blog called "Provide Support". Emily Hunter crafts content on behalf of the call center software experts at Kova Corp.

I'm a shameless cheerleader according to this Guru! ! !

Seth Godin is a person that has always inspired me - mainly by pinpointing in a very straightforward manner what I am doing wrong!

This time he made me aware that I should choose my role in a project very carefully, understand the role and then stick to the rules define my role. Here are the roles when working with a team of brilliant designers and mad scientists:

• Generous skeptic
• Shameless Cheerleader
• Fierce advocate

Take a read here:  Thoughts for the consigliere by Seth Godin

Enjoy and open your mind to be inspired!

The sales funnel for Internet purchases

This is an eye opener. The author Michael Litt of Vidyard and describes for us how to use video to influence the purchasing process on the Internet. Michael breaks down the purchase process into five step:

• Interest
• Learn
• Evaluate
• Justify
• Purchase

This GREAT article from Marketing Land, Michael breaks the sales funnel down by stats and also give excellent insight on how th make Views move through to the Purchase stage.

This is a good article for all those who are struggling with  to convert viewers into purchasers (views into sales).

Sometimes you need to go back to basics!

The begining of the year has some blind traps:

1. We have a new annual budget so we start to think  what to do in January - WRONG! You should start in Summer/Autumn the previous year as January of the comming year is when you need the results! Don't wait till Winter as you will be fully engaged in making the year-end sales targets and closing the fiscal year.
2. Things are slow when it comes to decision making - some people aren't back from Winter vacation while others are still recovering from the New Year's party and are still in holiday mood. Have the decisions you need for January made and signed off against in December - before you break for Christmas!
3. Changes within your organization or with your suppliers/customers - this bring organizational chaos for a while before things start working. People need time to adjust to the new changes. Make your changes in December, so that in January your organization is coming out of the "drop" that changes initially generates.

Neil Patel of Marketing Land does a brilliant job in this article of reminding us about January - he also has 6 brilliant tips on how to keep your web site healthy - have a read. It will be time well spent! the article is called:

6 Huge Marketing Pivots You Might Have To Make In The Next 12 Months

The difference between what we are doing and what we are capable of doing would solve most of the world's problems

"The difference between what we are doing and what we are capable of doing would solve most of the world's problems "

is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi.

Tom Asacker talked about it in a TED presentation titled "Why TED Talks don't change people's behaviors". Take a look at it - very interesting stuff!

I too have watched the passionate speach by Sir Ken Robinson on "How schools kill creativity". I too have never utilized that knowledge to make a profound change in the system of education - I have quoted him - as his story embeds itself in the mind.

But to get back to Tom Asacker, our brain works in a specific way:

• aestetics (the look and feel of what we percieve) that stimulate our sensory pleasure - nice looking goods or nature
• controls  (inforamtion that gives a sense of being empowered) data that gives us the feeling that we are in control
• identity (the story we tell ourselves by ourselves - who we think we are) and this moves our desires

 and that is the path that the brain takes to keep us "powered up" to move forward.

So lots of links today - enjoy!

A great new microsystem that is affordable

5pillows - Help Desk made easy

The thing I like about microsystems as an IT Architecture technology, is that it gives you as the business owner the opportunity to manage change in an agile way.

If it doesn't work, then you fix it or step back and take another route! This is ideal for small and medium size businesses that often don't have neither the time nor financial resources to analise their specific business needs - BUT they always know what they want to achieve.

 



I have been looking at 5Pillows recently. This is a GREAT microsystem that you can add on to your
business to better manage your Customer Experience without having to invest time and money in a complicated system that requires even more resources to use and manage.

5Pillows is built in the philosophy of microsystem architecture and allows a small or medium size company to:

1. Manage the Helpdesk (ticketing, queues, reports and info)
2. Manage both gmail emails, FB and twitter feeds all in one place (voice is apparently coming soon)
3. Maintain history of correspondence with Customers
4. Track NPS (Nett Promoter Score) index on your work with Customers

Have a look for yourself - you can use the system for free for 15 days, and then choose a package that suites your business. They also maintain a GREAT blog that really shows that they understand the meaning of the Customer's perspective

A good search result is one that gives you what you are looking for

Ever wondered why search engines give you results that are either out of context or just not meaningful? Google has openly told content providers what to do to give the users usefull search results. So why don't they do it?

Unfortunately, instead of concentrating on writing good content, most writers are writing text to position the domain or web page. Google talks about his over and over again - one of my favourite Youtube videos is a talk by a lead for search and discovery on google play. What amaizes me most is that there are only 30k views todate. I would have thought that this is the most important subject that website owners, app owners and people responsible for SEO should be interested in.

WRONG!

So why are we not interested in listening to Google tell us the way the architect their algorythms to provide search results?

I'm a google fan

You can love or hate Google, but it is hard not to enjoy and appreciate the products that Google puts onto the market.

Having used many different solutions from email to blogging, I always find myself coming back to Google Apps. Why? - Because it works. Because it is simple. Because Google Apps address my needs as a private individual and running a small business.

Just to make things clear - I know that Google is a mega huge Corporation that is generating massive profits for its stakeholders. But at the end of the day, it shares a tiny little bit of its tools with me, the SoHo type users and makes my life better. I wish other large Businesses could do the same as opposed to there PR departments spending money trying to convince me that they are doing something beneficial for society.

Have a GREAT day!