Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want and Change the World

Author : Chris Guillebeau

Overall, I loved this book and didn’t really know what to expect when I first picked it up, but the title and subtitles caught my eye.  The book reinforces  many of the believes I’ve always had and Guillebeau’s introductions and thoughts on the subject were quickly reinforcing my own beliefs on the subjects of doing whatever you feel passionate about, regardless of influences or social peer pressure.  The book is separated into 3 sections:

• The remarkable life
• Reclaiming work
• The power of convergence

Posted by Mike King under Life | 6 Comments »

I am happy to provide another great guest article, this week by James Lee, who is a promotions and marketing analyst for small businesses.  Please provide any comments below and I hope you enjoy his article!

My mom was a huge fan of the late, great Gourmet magazine, a culinary monthly full of complicated recipes that took time to prepare and cook. Her favorite column in Gourmet, though, was Gastronomie Sans Argent or, translated from French, “Cooking Without Money.”  Its recipes involved only fresh ingredients prepared by simple methods. These recipes did not include expensive ingredients like saffron and truffles!  Communicating your marketing message is the same way. You don’t need to spend a fortune as long as you keep the message fresh and simple.

Here are some tips I’ve picked up through research and experience and from clients to get your message to the table sans argent. You can try them a la carte or pair them with an event you have spent money on — a trade show, an opening, a open house, a giveaway — to extend the life of your event, for nearly free.

Write

If you are like most business owners, you have a website and may even have started a blog, but you update your blog a few times per year, if at all. Why? Because although blogging is free, writing takes time and time is money – more so than ever when you are running a business. But we know that a regularly updated blog can help to bring traffic and interest to your website – and consequently your business. One of our clients alerted me to a simple solution: write shorter posts. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Keep your posts short, sweet, and daily. If you can’t think of anything to write about, post a quote of the day, or a picture of the day. You can even make these posts on the run, from your phone. WordPress has a mobile plug-in (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/mobileadmin/), and so do most other blogging platforms. Or post via email using Posturous (https://posterous.com/) or your blogging platform’s email protocol (here is the one for WordPress: http://codex.wordpress.org/Post_to_your_blog_using_email).

A quote of the day sounds silly. But if you also tweet it, and share it on your Facebook page, you’d be surprised how many Twitter followers and Facebook likes you’ll get just by sharing quotes that people find either funny or inspirational. People will print them out and tape them to office bulletin boards.

Writing an e-newsletter will also help to keep your business name in front of subscribers. But if you try this route, don’t overdo it. One newsletter a month is usually enough to remind subscribers that you exist, without irritating them into unsubscribing. Also, be sure to give your subscribers a reason to open your emails. Try including a coupon or special deal in every newsletter.

Microblog

If your blog posts will always be super-short, you might want to try microblogging instead. Microblogging sounds complicated, but if you use Twitter, you are already microblogging. You may want to branch out, though, into Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com), or even smaller microblogs such as Plurk (http://www.plurk.com) or Jaiku (http://www.jaiku.com). Microblogging is easy to do on the run, from your phone. Tumblr will even let you phone in an audio post. You can also microblog by email with Posturous. To build up an audience for your microblog, follow other microbloggers – they will tend to follow you back, and their followers may follow them to you.

One caution: there are a plethora of microblogging sites these days – but not all microblog networks reach the same demographic. Choose your microblog venue or venues carefully, choosing the one that best suits your customer base. There are even microblogs geared to specific geographic areas, such as Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging site.

Shoot

Video. With your camera or your phone. One option is to shoot video at community events that your business participates in – that way, suddenly, anyone who attended the event has a reason to visit your website. Or make videos about your expertise or experience in your niche. Provide a link to the video in your e-newsletter or e-blasts to keep your message going. You may want to post the video to YouTube as well. Or sign up for your own free YouTube channel.

Another creative option that works well for certain kinds of businesses is to add a live webcam feed to your website. This works well if your business is often mobile. For example, some cruise ships have webcams mounted on the front of the ship. But even if you are not running a cruise line (let’s face it, most of us aren’t), you can still put a webcam in your place of business. For businesses in locations that are big tourist destinations, a fun option is to train the webcam on your view of the local scenery: mountains, a local park, whatever is scenic and can be seen from your workplace. (I wouldn’t focus a webcam on the inside of your business – that just makes customers edgy, as if you think you are about to be robbed.)

Connect

For some people, using social media becomes a second job. Some people (Charlie Sheen springs to mind) hire social media interns to promote their businesses. But we can’t all be Charlie Sheen, and some of us have enough to do just running our businesses. Do connect, but find ways to do it that don’t cause social media to eat up your entire day. Set up your blog to automatically tweet or otherwise microblog itself, and post itself to Facebook. Or save time by writing a day’s worth of tweets or microblogs at once, and use a tweet scheduler such as Autotweeter (http://www.autotweeter.in) or HootSuite (http://hootsuite.com) to set up the tweets for certain days and times (11 a.m. and 4 p.m. are good, high traffic Twitter times). If you want to tweet a business event or sale, you can set up all your tweets for weeks in advance, if you choose to – after all, you know what date you have chosen for the event.

Free advertising

Advertising doesn’t have to cost a fortune. First, there are the old standbys, the free listings you can get in directories that are all over the Internet starting with Yellow Pages. Make sure your business is in them all, with up-to-date address and phone information, a map, and, most important, your URL. Yahoo offers free classifieds, and you can always advertise on Craigslist. It’s not only free. It’s popular for people looking for a specific item, or sometimes just browsing in the miscellaneous section.

But don’t stop with the old standbys. Try making an effort to comment at all the websites and blogs that you visit regularly. Each time you comment, include your website URL (most comment forms will ask you for it, but they may not publish it with the comment, so add the URL line under your signature). Make sure that your comment is worthwhile, so that it stays up and is not flagged as spam. You’ve just created a link that will drive traffic back to your website!

James Lee is a promotions and marketing analyst for small businesses. James has been researching and writing for Amsterdam Printing’s Small Business Promotions for the past several years. He has owned small businesses and his work with Amsterdam Printing is focused on assisting small businesses use personalized promotional materials such as apparel, pens, calendars and mugs for marketing purposes.

Posted by Mike King under Business | 15 Comments »

How to Make Your Next 30 Days The Best Ever

Author : Tom Connellan

I have always enjoyed business books written with strong things to teach, but done in a fable or story context, such as Lencioni’s book, The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team.  Connellan has done the same with The 1% Solution since it is written as a story, yet with very clear elements taught to the reader.  This particular story is of a guy, named Ken who had reached a point where things seemed to be a struggle in his life and he was noticing vast differences in people around him, some doing well, some struggling.  The coach of all people on his son’s soccer team met Ken and steered him towards a new path with the help of a group of others in a 1% solutions team.

The concept from the group was clear, that doing everything in your life just one percent better and constantly striving (deliberately) to improve just one percent can have dramatic positive consequences.  The difference between many first place medals in Olympics and no metal is often as small as 1% so that 1% can make a big difference. Whether you are after an Olympic goal or not, everyone has the ability to be better than they are, and the 1% solution provides a model and outlook towards life to do just that, be better.

As Ken meets and spends time with each of the 6 people in the 1% group, he learns important concepts about learning, improving and focusing his life around becoming a better person in many areas.  The group of 6 is realistic in having Ken think about how to get better than what HE already is, instead of thinking about where he’d like to be the best which compares to others and often holds people back from improving step by step.  The messages are very practical and cover a lot of personal development aspects I’m sure many people have seen or heard.  The author puts them into context of a person’s life and tells them in a way that is compelling and believable.  Here are just a few of the examples and messages from the text:

• You can’t be 100% better than everyone else, but you can be 1% better at hundreds of things
• Not everyone can be great, but everyone can be better than they are right now
• The more you get done, the more motivated you are to do things.  So you do more things, and you get even more motivated.  It’s a self-feeding cycle!
• The way to start is by taking action – even if it’s a small action.
• Too many people who have been around for 30 years don’t really have 30 years’ experience.  They have one year’s experience 30 times.
• What sets apart the top 1% is that they cycle throughout the day between periods of concentrated effort and planned recovery.

So, there are many other messages and I think you will certainly enjoy this book.  The author covers and uses motivation and engagement topics, teaches elements of the Pareto or 80/20 principle, emphasizes Gladwell’s 10000 hours to become an expert message, covers deliberate practice to get better faster, dives into a 30 day formula to form or break habits, includes the important aspect of properly resting and recovering from 1% progress and finally includes how all this can then be passed on to others and shared again.    If you’ve read a ton of other content in personal development, you will likely not come across anything really new in this but at the very least; it will reinforce many common aspects of becoming a better person.  If you’re searched and read some content on personal development and want a book that is easy to read yet packed with useful content and tips, then this book is definitely for you. It is an easy read, fairly short and the story is well written with a good mix of dialogue where Ken learns from the 1% group and narrative writing of his thoughts and actions.  There are additional resources at the author’s website if you want more information.  I’d love to hear your comments or questions about the book if you have read it or not, as the topics are all worthy of discussion!

Posted by Mike King under Book Reviews | 8 Comments »

I’ve always enjoyed the topic of goal setting and have both read and written many articles on goals.  This week I have a guest post by Jesse Langley, who gives another look at the benefits of goal settings

In the past twenty years, the pace of life has accelerated at breakneck speed. Technology has put the world at everyone’s fingertips—on-demand entertainment, online stores that deliver overnight, webcams you can use to talk to friends across the globe. Instead of taking a tried and true way to weight loss or education, everyone’s looking for the quick fix, or the shortcut.

Life can work that way, but it doesn’t last very long—and then, you end up looking for another quick fix to replace the one that failed you last time around. People now expect things to happen immediately, with little effort and with very little personal cost to themselves.

But life isn’t virtual, and success and happiness can’t be ordered from Amazon. If you want to improve your life, it will take time, dedication, and organization. Creating the kind of life you want requires that you set goals for yourself. Begin by identifying what you want, setting goals to make it happen, and laying a plan that allows you to succeed.

Your heart’s desire

So, what is it that you want out of life? Do you want to begin a new life, or just improve the one you have? Are you working toward a particular goal, like buying a new car or moving into a better apartment? Start making a list of the things you want—lists can serve as visual tools that remind you of your goals and ambitions. Once you’ve made your list, prioritize your goals from “most important” to “least important.” That way, you can put your energy into the things you want the most.

Best-laid plans

You’ve got your list of goals written and arranged, it’s time to come up with a plan. Anything worth having requires working for it, and creating a strategy is half the battle. If you want to pursue an education, research the best options for earning a degree. If  online training or distance learning will make it easier to reach your goals more quickly, choose the school that will give you the best education in the field you choose.

If you want make a large purchase like a new car, put together a financial plan that allows you to take care of your monthly expenses while saving money for your goals. And don’t be afraid to ask for help: not everyone knows how to manage money efficiently, and getting advice from experts will only help you reach your goals more quickly.

Do some life housecleaning

Many of us hold on to people, places and things from our past, whether they’re good for us or not. Doing a major spring cleaning-type overhaul of your living space is a great place to start: get rid of anything you don’t use or need, and anything that might hold unpleasant memories. Donate any items that can be reused to gain good karma. Rearrange your living and working spaces so that they’re comfortable, and pay particular attention to things like your closet and your computer to be sure they’re organized and easy to navigate.

Getting your life organized can help you clear your space, but housecleaning has to involve looking at more than just the physical influences in your life. Doing an inventory of your personal relationships can also force you to examine how the people in your life affect your goals. Friends who are constantly negative, or a significant other who doesn’t support you, can become toxic.

Likewise, friends and family who offer encouragement and ideas on how to succeed can give you the energy you need to work harder toward your goals. Decide which people in your life are lifting you up, and which are holding you down—how you deal with those relationships is up to you, but you’ll need to find a way to interact with the folks who may (or may not) have your best interests at heart.

Find your center

Religion and faith can be a source of inspiration and strength. Attending religious services, or studying your religion’s holy texts, often helps us put certain aspects of life in perspective. Religious studies and services also give people the opportunity to build a community in which they are accepted, encouraged, and counseled on how to deal with life’s obstacles.

You don’t have to be religious to make a deep and spiritual connection with others. If you don’t subscribe to any faith, you can still set time aside to meditate, or to simply let your body and brain relax. Finding your center, finding a place or environment that makes you feel calm and allows you to recharge, can give you the strength you need to get through the ups and downs of your life.

Keep at it—even if it doesn’t work

Taking each of these steps—and committing to them long-term—is a lot of work in itself. But once you’ve set yourself up for success, the only thing to do next is stay vigilant. Stick to a schedule, keep your lists and other visual aids handy, and devote yourself to your goals every day.

One of the most important things to remember is that you won’t always meet your goals the first time around. Rely on your good friends and family to cheer you on, and don’t forget to give yourself a break every now and then if you backslide, or if a plan falls through. Failing or falling short doesn’t spell defeat for you—instead, take it as a lesson and try a new approach next time. Part of meeting your goals is not giving up on them—so, don’t give up.

Setting and achieving your goals isn’t easy—but it’s not supposed to be. Working toward your goals might take months, or even years. But learning to set goals, developing the discipline and self-determination to carry through on your actions, and keeping yourself focused on the big picture will give you more than just what your heart desires. Learning to set goals and achieve them will serve you well in all aspects of your life.

Jesse Langley enjoys spending time with his family, watching athletics, and writing about professional and personal development strategies.  He writes regularly for Professional Intern

Posted by Mike King under Success | 5 Comments »