Step One is Showing Up

SCOTTYOUNG.COM: My roommate was trying to get in shape. He talked about the goal often, so I offered to help him stay motivated. However, on the day that we were going to exercise, he was procrastinating.

Finally, as it got later and later, I told him out of frustration that he said he wanted my advice, and, “Step one was to get to the gym before it closes!”

He laughed at my exasperation and we did go to the gym before it closed. Since then saying, “Step one!” has been an inside joke for whenever someone fails to put in the basic effort for a goal they supposedly care about.

Forgetting Step One

I had my own moment of forgetting step one. When I moved to Vancouver, one of my main goals was to meet as many people as possible. I wanted the same rich social life I had built in Winnipeg and in France.

One of my strategies for doing that was to use the site MeetUp.com to join interesting groups and attend their gatherings. But after a few weeks, I had registered for a dozen groups, but hadn’t attended a single meeting. I had forgotten step one.

How often do you forget step one? Wanting to be a successful blogger, but failing to write regularly. Wanting to get in shape, but not showing up at the gym. Wanting to learn a language, but never having conversations with people who speak it.

There’s No Excuse for Skipping Step One

Step one is interesting because it only requires effort. Writing a bestselling novel requires some luck and skill. Writing a novel requires only that you show up to write every morning.

Because step one isn’t dependent on any external factor, it is also a good measure of how committed you are to a goal. If I professed a desire to be a great writer, but I never wrote anything, I’m simply not committed to that goal. There’s no excuse for failing step one.

What was funny about our comment, “Step one!” is that it immediately pointed out the obviousness of our blunders. Wanting to be in shape, but not going to the gym or wanting to meet people but not leaving the apartment were clear failures.

If I had been going to events to meet people 3-5x per week and I still hadn’t made any progress building good friends, that wouldn’t be a step-one failure. From that point, I could honestly say I was putting the effort in, but my strategy or tactics might be off.

Step Two

Step one is definitely needed for any goal, but it’s rarely enough. As I wrote about in last week’s article, just showing up to the gym wasn’t enough for me to make gains. I needed to be obsessively focused on fitness for a burst of time.

The same is true of any goal. Just showing up and putting in the prerequisite effort won’t necessarily get you there. It requires a good strategy, tactics and often an intensity you don’t get just by showing up.

However, all those things are step two. Unless you can honestly say you’ve completed step one, step two is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter what writing technique you use, if you never sit down in front of a blank page.

Having Your “Step One!” Moment

A new rule I’m trying to enforce is that I’m not allowed to complain about anything unless I’m completing step one. Before I make a comment about being frustrated with a situation, I need to ask myself if I’ve honestly showed up enough.

If I have done step one, then the patient process of experimenting, changing strategies, researching, introspecting and looking for a solution comes into play. But all that mental effort and debugging is a waste if step one remains unfinished.

Reminding myself of step one is also liberating. It short-circuits the unhealthy over-thinking of simple situations. If you aren’t showing up, then there’s no need to carefully think through the situation—just follow step one!

It’s All About Attitude

Attitude is everything

SUCCESS.COM  We are what we think we are—not what we appear to be on the outside. An absolutely essential ingredient for success is a positive self-image. The world operates on the basis of the law of attraction: what you are and what you think will attract corresponding conditions. If you have a negative self-image, you attract negative results. If your self-image is positive, you attract positive results. This may appear simplistic, but it is absolutely true.

Your mental picture of yourself determines the measure of confidence you bring to using your potential and working toward your goals. Psychologists estimate we use less than a third of our actual potential. By increasing your potential even slightly, you can make a sizable improvement in your effectiveness.

What are your thoughts about how big of a piece attitude has in your overall wellness both personally and professionally?

Read the rest of this article on success.com here.

8 Tips for Using Social Blogging to Grow Your Business

INC.COM   Here are some tips to help you make the most of social blogging:

1. Position yourself as an expert. When people are looking for a product or service, oftentimes they will first look for information about the subject on the Internet. In general, blogging is about having conversations in a public space that position you as a subject matter expert. “The type of discussions you ideally should have ought to be answering questions that people out there on the Internet are searching for,” says Adria Richards, Organic Technology Consultant and blogger. “For me, social blogging is a way to have conversations with potential customers and to draw traffic to your site.” For instance, you can answer questions from consumers via Twitter, which is a popular thing to do.

2. Share experiences and information. Social blogging is often used to share experiences in addition to business ideas and concepts. Always seek unique opportunities to share your ideas and offerings with not only your readers, but their associates as well, which will eventually bring in more prospects. Announce upcoming events, awards, and other news. But do it in a conversational tone. Hopefully, your target audience will retweet or share your story. Don’t overlook Tunmblr, which is popular in the microblogging realm. Users can post text, photos, quotes, links, dialogues, audio, video, slideshows and “Tumble” other posts. Tumblr provides the option of custom domains. You can auto-syndicate to Facebook and Twitter. Users can track stats with Google Analytics.

3. Keep it fresh and mix it up. Frequent one note updates can be a major turn off for say Facebook fans, while Twitter followers are more accustomed to frequent posts. Try to mix it up. Spark up conversation with the help of images and videos. Marketing experts suggest businesses update their audiences on a regular basis but only if there’s something new, informative and interesting to say. Even if you need to repeat an update to promote a current offer or a call to action for a project, put a new twist on it each time.

4. Encourage interaction and feedback. Your company can benefit from valuable feedback through comments and suggestions. Do a call for action in your posts. You can also gain insight about your audience using Q&A, bookmarking icons, link builder, wordtracker, Google Adwords and so on. Make it easy for your readers to share posts. Encourage them to share tips and personal experiences with using your products or services. Just make sure you are on hand to respond to any comments, says Richards. Failing to do this is a sign that you don’t respect or care about your audience.

5. Use schedulers and update apps. Seesmic is an app that supports Facebook, Twitter and even Yammer, which is a private messaging version of Twitter. Seesmic lets you update and view content from different social networks. You can follow trends, update statuses or write messages. Also, take advantage of status update schedulers for Facebook, Twitter, LikedIn, and other sites. Hootsuite is one favorite. It’s free and it’s capable of delivering updates to various social networking sites. Cotweet is another.

“It’s been proven that there are certain times when people are reading blog posts and checking social media,” says Richards. The most popular times to post or make an announcement are 9 am, 12 pm, 3 pm, and 6 pm throughout the business day. “The best days are the middle of the week, because on Mondays people are trying to get into the swing of things and on Fridays people are thinking about the upcoming weekend.”

6. Make your blog the central hub. Have your blog serve as the central location for where you make announcements, suggests Richards. “It should be the final resting place and then everything should branch out from there. Why? Because you are in control and at the end of the day when you look at Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn at any time they can change their policy and restrict how people access your data.” You can create information on your blog and then promote it using other social network tools, adds Richards.

7. Link back to your website. Make sure everything you do is somehow tied back in to your company website. Use RSS feeds so your main site always has fresh content, which improves search engine rankings, says Martin. Use your Twitter account to build links to your blog. Use tags and keywords that make your posts more searchable. Google Keyword Tools is a great device, adds Martin.

8. Use a personal touch. Having your employees or even the president post updates can help revolutionize how your business communicates with your customers and associates. Take Bill Marriott, chairman and CEO of Marriott International, he is one of the most famous corporate bloggers worldwide. His “Marriott On The Move” interactive weekly posts has won the site loyal fans. You can follow his updates on Twitter @Billmarriott. Marriott’s personal involvement has had a far-reaching impact within the company. Since first launching their CEO’s blog, the company has continued to grow in the social media sphere by adding more blogs, several different Twitter feeds and even its own online community for Marriott Rewards members.

Read more of this article here.

The Six Traits of a Successful Small Business Owner

A new report attempts to identify a winning formula.

By Courtney Rubin

There is no magic formula for small business success, but most owners who do well share the same six personality traits, according to a new report.

The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute report hopes to explain why only 1 in 2 small businesses will survive more than five years, according to Small Business Administration figures. The study – called Six Dimensions That Characterize Success-Oriented Small Business Owners – is based on analysis of a survey of 1,100 small businesses with between 2 and 99 employees. (The Institute is run by the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, and it conducts ongoing research on what it calls “the Index of What Matters Most” to small businesses.)

Top of the list for successful entrepreneurs is the ability to collaborate. Those who can delegate, build strong relationships with their management teams, employees, and others are more likely to click with customers.

The other five traits frequently found in flourishing small business owners:

• Being self fulfilled. Good small business owners put a high price on the fulfilment their companies provide them, relish being their own boss, and enjoy being in control of their personal income. They value “doing something for a living that I love to do,” “being able to decide how much money I make,” and “being able to have the satisfaction of creating something of value.”

• Future-focused. Small business owners who thrive are good at both short- and long-term planning. They’re as likely to have a well thought-out plan for the day-to-day running of the business as a road map for how to run the business for years.

• Curious. Good entrepreneurs are always reading and asking questions. They want to learn everything from why a particular business failed to how to find, motivate, and keep good employees.

• Tech-savvy. Perhaps not surprisingly, the best small business owners invest time and money on their company’s website and are likely to “rely a great deal on technology to help make our business more effective and efficient.” (For more on why social media is worth a company’s time, check out this guide.)

• Action oriented. Successful founders are proactive and always “differentiating ourselves from our competitors,” survey respondents said. They were less worried than other small business owners about the state of the economy, and more likely to look at adversity as “a kick in the rear to help you move forward.”

Said Mark D. Wolf, the institute’s director: “Success-oriented small business owners are a special breed of highly motivated, caring and curious individuals. They effectively balance their personal and business goals, take advantage of others’ expertise and continually seek to learn the best practices exhibited by peer companies.”

How to Get Creative: Stop Trying

Creativity can come out of nowhere. The trick is to sense it—and ride it to the end.
From the July/August 2011 issue of Inc. magazine  A few weeks ago, I was on fire. I was working on some designs for a prototype of a new software product, and the ideas were flowing as they hadn’t in months. Every day, I felt as if I were accomplishing two or three days’ worth of work. I was in the zone, and it felt fantastic.

It lasted about three weeks. And then I found myself back at my old pace. Instead of being superproductive, I was sort-of productive. Some days, I felt as if I barely accomplished anything.

So what was wrong? Nothing at all.

I believe it’s perfectly fine to spend some of your time, maybe even a lot of your time, not firing on all cylinders. Just like full employment isn’t necessarily good for an economy, full capacity isn’t always great for your mind.

This will be anathema to the multitudes who worship at the altars of Motivation and its close relation, Productivity. Indeed, when I meet with ambitious young entrepreneurs, I am invariably asked, “How can I get more done in fewer hours? What can I do to jump-start my creativity? How can I keep my edge?”

Here are the three answers I can offer: 1. You can’t. 2. Stop trying so hard—if it feels like work, something’s wrong. 3. Do less stuff.

Motivation, productivity, efficiency—these things are not constants. In my experience, they come in waves. They ebb and flow, and there’s no sense in fighting it. The key is to recognize a productivity surge when it appears, so you can roll with it.

I think about work the same way I think about the weather. Sometimes it’s snowy or rainy or foggy at work. When that happens, I stay “inside”—and take care of the busy work, the boring stuff, the small things that need to get done. But when things warm up, it’s time to head “outside,” to get creative, focus on the interesting problems, and ride the wave of creativity as long as it lasts. It may be days, weeks, even months.

This doesn’t apply only to those who are in charge. If you manage people, it’s important to remember that your employees and colleagues are human, too. They won’t always be motivated to do what you’d like them to do when you want them to do it. Their creativity will ebb and flow, just like yours.

This, of course, is a source of frustration for many managers, who continue to believe that if they change this or tinker with that, they’ll be able to squeeze more of the good stuff out of their people. But you can artificially motivate someone for only so long. It’s nearly impossible to fight the natural rhythm of motivation and productivity. You’re better off recognizing that than waging war against reality.

Of course, that does not mean you should simply sit back and do nothing. When I detect that an ordinarily creative employee hasn’t been in the flow for a while, I will ask him or her about it, try to get the issue out in the open. In some cases, it turns out that he or she is simply not interested in his or her current project. Other times, there are external issues—such as a personal crisis—that cause motivation to flag.

If it’s something I can help with, I often suggest shifting to another part of the project that’s more in line with his or her motivations. If it’s something beyond my control, I just let it work its way out of the employee’s system. If it becomes a long-term issue, then there’s a problem that needs to be addressed by other means. In fact, we recently instituted 30-day paid sabbaticals for every three years worked. This is in addition to standard vacation time. So far, one person has taken us up on it. No one was particularly surprised when he returned to work more motivated—and productive—than ever.

Jason Fried is co-founder of 37signals, a Chicago-based software firm, and co-author of the book Rework, which was published last March.

Discover Your Marketing Mindset

by Marla Tabaka

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to understand the value of what you offer, and to find the words to share your wonderful offerings with a larger audience.

• What is unique about my product or service?
• What is unique about ME and how does that enhance my product or service?
• How does it help others?
• How does it enhance the lives of my clients/customers?
• What are some of the things my clients have said about their experience with me or my company?
• Would my clients feel good about telling others about their experience?
• Is there something I can do to help those happy clients to easily spread the word of this experience?
• What can I do for my clients/customers to thank them for their business?
• Is there anything I can do to make my product of service more affordable for them on occasion?
• What are the most common words I hear others use to describe their experience of my product or service?
• How can I use those words to describe it to my future clients?
• If I don’t tell more people about my offerings what am I depriving them of?

Continue reading on inc.com

New Chapter Launch in Rochester, MN

Are you slow moving in the morning and not quite thinking a clear thought until noon? The new Rochester chapter is for you! It meets in the Home Federal building on West Circle Drive from noon to 1:30pm on Wednesdays.

There has been a ton of interest in this group and some of the main occupation slots have already been filled so you will need to touch base with the president, Dan (507-990-1721), to see if there’s still an opening for your profession.