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Forget About Your Ship Coming In – Think about the Captain

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For @ChrisCree , @SheilaS , and @BeckyMcCray

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about how often we end up looking and caring in the wrong direction.

A friend is going for a job or a contract and does everything she can to be all that person wants. Then hears “I’m sorry, but you’re just not a great fit for this job.” She’s so involved in that one position that she’s crushed and any other option is a loss.

Another person so needs a sponsor to move his project forward. He puts together what is a most compelling argument. The potential partner, unfortunately, doesn’t have the resources to help. He sees time lost and his inability to convince someone.

Both are waiting for their ship to come in.

Every day I talk to someone who’s got a grand plan for how things will lay out or how things should be, will be, if only that ship comes in. Listening to them talk you can almost see that ship in the distance on the horizon. The hidden assumption is that the ship will come in and pick them up.

That’s the problem, even if that is a ship in the distance, you don’t own it. Who knows where it’s going? Even if it comes in, where it goes is up to the captain.

What if we slightly shift our vision — stop looking at that one ship and starting thinking about a world full of captains?

Sometimes the harbor is filled with ships waiting to take on working staff and paying passengers. Sometimes is not. But one thing’s sure more than most. Some of people who run the ships have gotten to know each other.

It’s the person, not the job or the sponsorship, that my two friends should be tracking … care about the “captain,” not the ship. Lots of folks have reasons to want to ride along with them for some reason. You can’t negotiate your way on board if the right person doesn’t care about you.

If you want a chance at the real opportunity …

Get the “captain” to fall in love with your vision and to believe in its reality. Move the “captain” to feel like a hero and smart for helping you.

You see …

Even if the captain’s ship isn’t going where we’re going, that person still knows a whole network of other “captains.” If we communicate the value of what we’re doing, chances are most captains will start looking for a ship going in our direction.

Care about the captain and not the ship.

How can you shift your vision to the people who can get you where you’re going?

Liz's Signature

Listen … Are You Doing Enough?

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Italians, Prohibition, and Internet Strategy

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My grandmother, Liza, was born in northern Italy in 1884. She was as tall as I am. I’m not sure, but that might be why she immigrated to this new land.

When Liza arrived here at the turn of the twentieth century, she ended up in a village of about 1000 people. Almost all of them spoke Italian. Most of the men worked in nearby the coal mines. My grandma ran a saloon.

Somewhere along the line, Liza got married and had three children — my father, my uncle, and my aunt. All three grew up speaking two languages. In 1919, two things happened.

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  1. The United States Congress passed the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.
  2. My dad — of course he wasn’t my dad yet — turned 12 that summer and left home.

My dad traveled about 7 days to get to the biggest town, two towns over and 30 miles away. He found a job, working as an Italian shoemaker’s helper for 50 cents a week. He found a place to live with a brother and sister who offered a room in their home. They were Italian immigrants … and bootleggers.

My first generation American worked for the shoemaker, worked in a factory, and worked in the 700-degree heat as man who silvered mirrors. He used tell stories about what he learned in every job he took. He also talked business in Italian and English at the dinner table of his landlord every night when he went home.

He never was a bootlegger, but he a learned lot from the guy who was. He used to say that had he been, we’d have been a lot richer when I was growing up. But that’s not my point. He was plenty successful as it was.

At the height of the American Depression — two more things happened.

  1. The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution ended Prohibition on December 5, 1933.
  2. My dad and the bootlegger who became his partner opened a saloon that same day.

You might think that Internet strategy works differently. It doesn’t. The Internet is wider and faster. You don’t have to walk for days, but the people are the same.

Italian or English, Online or offline … strategy is a practical plan to use the conditions and your unique skills and position to act on opportunities as they come.

I’m sure there were lots of folks who talked about building a saloon when prohibition was over. But in that town my dad and his partner were the only ones who didn’t just talk.

Are you doing enough?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Have the BIG Idea for the Next Twitter? What’s that Worth?

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A Guest Post by Carol Roth

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What if you had the BIG IDEA that trumps Twitter — the one that could get everyone to leave the Fail Whale for your newly imagined super-site? Or maybe your idea is for the next VitaminWater or Under Armour – what would that be worth?

You may know someone who came up with a great idea, or maybe you came up with one yourself – an idea that someone else pursued and made major money from. If you could just find a way to get paid for thinking of the next big business idea, you would be set for life. .

The problem is, you can’t.

The biggest bummer about business is that the ideas behind them aren’t worth anything. As Chris Brogan says, “I could totally do that doesn’t mean anything if you don’t.”

A penny for your thoughts … if you’re lucky

Nobody whose head is screwed on straight will buy a business idea from you (or anyone else) because any value related to a business idea is in its implementation. Maybe if you give someone a business idea they will one day send you a coupon for a free product, but that is about it.

The further something gets away from an idea, the more value that exists. Things like

  • customers
  • profits
  • innovative technology
  • competitive barriers to entry

create value.

The reality of the lack of value in business ideas is a shock and a disappointment to many people who want to get compensated for thinking of “the next big thing.”

Sure, the idea kicks off setting the business in motion, but coming up with an idea is a one-time thing that isn’t particularly difficult, doesn’t require much risk and doesn’t take a lot of work. Even if you laid in your bed fine-tuning the idea every night before you went to sleep for six months, this work pales in comparison to the amount of work required to get the business started and to make it successful. The more action you take and the greater the results that you achieve from that action, the more value you will create.

That BIG Idea for the next Twitter, Vitamin Water or Under Armour really isn’t worth anything at all.

All of the other facets of starting and running the business, of which there are many, are quite difficult to do. They require a lot of risk to do and to do well. They aren’t done once, but have to be attended to on pretty much a daily basis. They take a lot of hard work. So, in looking at this whole thing we call a business, would you place a lot of value on a one-time idea that took no risk to produce, or on the other myriad tasks that have to be done indefinitely, day-in and day-out, that take a ton of risk and hard work?

Bottom line: It’s not the idea; it’s the execution over time that counts.

Are you ready to put the work into that BIG Idea of yours?

—–
Carol Roth writes Unsolicited Business Advice (TM) or aspiring entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and other small business owners, at CarolRoth.com You can find her on Twitter as @CaroJSRoth

Thanks, Carol. Ideas are everywhere. Execution is not.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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6 Cold Truths about Building New Business in 2010

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Strategy and Focus

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Yesterday I was working with a serious professional on how to use the Internet to grow his national business. He had sent me a list of questions about strategy, productivity, time management, SEO and directories, how to use Twitter, how to write stronger headlines, and how to follow Chris Brogan’s advice from the SOBCon2010 webinar that online business should concentrate on finding revenue. We looked at his blog for a few moments and talked about what makes a compelling blog post.

Strategy and new business is all focus and knowing the cold truth.

6 Cold Truths about Building New Business

My business client said some thing like,

“I’m having so much fun figuring out Twitter. It’s hard to know that I’m doing the right things with my time.” I suggested he Google, “I’m addicted to Twitter” to see that he’s not alone.

Part of the Internet addiction is the lovely relationships and community that it brings to us. Keeping that going can be very alluring, even when it takes our time and focus away things that might be earning. Managing time and ourselves as we build and manage our relationships is crucial to surviving and thriving as a business.

Until you know and feel your focus as an Internet citizen, review these these cold truths often.

  1. Perceived productivity won’t move you forward. Tweaking a blog, updating a status, and talking on Twitter can all be useful business actions. But stop often to make sure what you’re doing is on the path to getting new business and not work that doesn’t connect to it. Everyday I see folks who talk on Twitter only to their friends … as if some customers or clients will “discover” them. Just as often I guide folks who spend all of their time working their blogs, never meeting a potential client – kind of like someone who stays home forever, dressing up every night to go out, wondering why a date never shows.
  2. Your friends don’t owe you work. A wonderful and cherished ethic of the social web is “givers get.” It’s true, but don’t over-invest in it. It’s not about friends taking their time, their work, and their reputation to build your business for you. We start our work lives getting told what to do and it seems natural to go to our friends and say “put me to work for you.” But a simple “what can I do to help you?” puts the work of finding your strengths, carving out a role, and figuring out how you might fit into their business on them. That’s asking more than most folks have time to do.
  3. An idea is not an offer. Have you noticed that ideas are everywhere, but people who execute on their ideas are fairly rare? If you want to work with someone, go beyond the idea to a plan that shows at least in broad brush strokes how the idea would roll out. Be able to explain the benefits, the timing, and the budget. Even if the client you approach can’t buy in, he or she will be able to tell you more specific reasons. You can tweak the plan and have something tangible to present to the next one.
  4. Most new business is outside your current network. It’s fun to hang on Twitter and talk about business with our colleagues. It’s also easy. We already know where to who’s there and how to start the conversation. But new clients and customers are usually not the people in our existing networks. Move into circles and networks that don’t know you or what you offer.
  5. Negotiation is never about your goals. Align your goals for funding revenue with the goals of the folks you want to buy in. If you can sit on the same side of the table and show how doing what you want will make them a hero while it also makes their jobs easier, smarter, and more meaningful, then you’ll get the attention you’re looking for.
  6. You can’t stay offline. You can’t stay online. Growing businesses are learning that a seamless existence of multiple channels that reach out to clients and customers. Telephone and email are still great social tools and many deals still need to get sealed in person. Don’t make the mistake of thinking the tools determine your strategy. Your customers and the worlds they habit do.

As the recession eases, you might notice that we’re hearing less and less about following links and “shiny objects.” Businesses are realizing that time well invested on the Internet can reap huge benefits.

What other cold truths do we need to know about building new business? Bet you know one I’ve missed.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Are You Mission Critical?

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A Position of Power or a Call to Service?

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I know a man who describes his ideal job in a simple nine words.

Whatever I do, I want to be mission critical.

When he first said that, I thought he was describing a position of power and adrenalin. Now I see it more as call to service and collaboration.

Are You Mission Critical?

The difference between a truly strategic mission and a shaky vision is the practical and human understanding that we can’t go it alone. Strategy only works when it serves the people who help us grow.

The people we serve have their own missions.

  • Some missions are about physiology and survival — breathing, food, clothing, shelter. and sex.
  • Some missions are about security and safety — personal and financial security, health and safety, feelings of wellbeing and protection.
  • Some missions are social — sense of family, close friends, support networks, a sense of intimacy.
  • Some missions are about personal identity — visibility, attention, fame, respect, self-esteem, personal integrity.
  • Some missions are philosophical — personal growth, saving the world, promoting a cause, being part of something bigger.
  • Some missions are worth dying for.

Great service wraps our mission around the mission of the people we serve.

What people do or how they do it is less important than the mission that drives them. If we understand their mission, we can be the catalyst that gets them to realize that goal. That is the definition of mission critical.

How do you wrap your mission around the mission of the people you serve?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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How Your Instincts Will Blow It for You, if You Don’t STOP!

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Strategy Is More Than Meets the Eye

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When I was small I liked to hold up my thumb and index finger to frame a tall building in the horizon to make it seem as if the building was smaller than my hand. Today I took picture of the face of my full-sized keyboard that makes it appear as if all of the keys fit into less than a 2-inch high span.

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We know it isn’t true, but our eyes want to believe it. Humans do that kind of thing a lot. Our senses and our instincts sometimes lead us down a shaky path. They tell us that the Earth is flat; that stars are tiny; and that when we are threatened we should fight or run.

It’s all perspective and assumptions.

How Your Instincts Will Blow It for You, if You Don’t STOP!

We have a conflict in a meeting, get a nasty comment on Twitter or some writes a critical blog post about us and instinct kicks in. Our hearts start pumping and our minds begin to form a defense. It’s the “flight or fight” instinct and it will blow it for us, if we don’t watch out.

Few things in our work or social lives need the protection from deadly consequence of the fight or flight instinct. We’re more rational now. Yet the reptile part of our brains still emits the adrenalin that makes us want to respond more quickly than our thinking. We’re ready to put out fires, but the best firefighters focus on the results.

If we respond while we’re still focused on the event, our perspective and assumptions are like the pictures of the building and keyboard — out of proportion to reality. We lose sight of other points of view and possibilities. Other people become tiny enough to squash. It’s easy to snap, crack, bend, or break something or ourselves, only to find out later that we didn’t have the whole plot.

Hard as it might be to STOP and walk it off, a little time and distance from the “event” usually brings a clearer, calmer and more appropriate response.

  • Think about every possible reason, ludicrous and crazy that might have caused the event.
  • Think of how hard it might be to explain your fury to a stranger 10 years from now.
  • Realize the power you give when you take on the defense.
  • Decide how the person you want to be would rise to a response.
  • Think of the impact of your response on the people around you. If you respond on the Internet, think how you’ll see that response 1, 2, or 10 years from now when you see your words again.

You might question the behavior. You might ignore it. You might express your thoughts and future expectations. Or you might end a relationships because you’ve found out that your values don’t match up. It’s unlikely that you’ll instinctively throw water on a grease fire and make things worse.

Strategy is not automatic. Strategy is doing what works.

How do you keep your instincts from blowing for you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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